Preamble

A picture of me for context:

Rules

• Writing leads to clarity - this is a truism that everybody understands but is rarely taken advantage of. You don't understand something until you can explain it, and you often don't realize you can't explain something until you go to write it down.

• A solid foundation is the key to a tall building - if you want to be a life-long learner, having a solid foundation of the basics is important. Most people think they have internalized the basics, and writing them down is worthless, but I also think most would be shocked at how hard it is.

• You need a system of record - having a robust system of record written in your own words that you can reference is a strong foundation.

• Writing, especially on the internet, is good for you - I believe in the David Perell doctrine, full stop. Hard to argue against such an asymmetric opportunity as putting your thoughts down in writing, broadcasting them into cyberspace, and seeing what happens.

• You are what you eat - time and attention are the only scarce resources, and they should be spent wisely. In the deluge of content vying for that attention, trusted curation is a powerful tool.

So my goal in publishing Cowboy Computer is to think clearly about topics that are important to me, build a repository of explanations in my own words of things I think are useful to know, test my ideas, attract others with similar ones, and curate worthwhile content.

I also intend to update that repository as I learn more or change my mind. If something you read sounds familiar - good; I read it too and thought it was worth remembering.

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