The Inventors

Looking for The Inventors, the ones who make their ideas real.

published on 10.24.23

In the last year or so, I've tapped into a new network of people poking at the edges of technology (dare I say "the world"?). These people are united by a loose feeling of nostalgia and drive for novelty. It's funny that often times nostalgia is derived from the same impulse as invention. In the face of stagnation (or simple blandness) you can either look to the past or create the future. These people draw from both impulses I think. I do too. Of course, I most found these folks through Twitter, Podcasts, Printernet readers, and the occassional blog post. Here are a few of them:

• Keegan McNamara
• Adam Watters
• Jonas Peltzer
• Brennie Pellegrini
• Ida Josefiina
• Paul Rony
• Dan Hon
• Judah
• Harry Isaac
• Craig Mod
• Robin Sloan
• Frank Chimero
• Jerry Michalski
• Ted Gioia
• Andy Matuschak
• Charlie Harrington

I've already chatted with a handful of this group for my podcast. One commonality in each of the conversations was a desire to "fix" something that has been broken - whether the internet or hardware or the way we read things. And for many of us it feels like the way to improve these things that have gone awry is to synthesize the best ideas from the pre-internet era with the best ideas of the internet era. How can software + print combine to make reading the best experience possible? That is the driving question behind my company Printernet. How can computers be beautiful and functional without being imposing, lifeless, or addictive? That is the driving question behind Keegan's company Mythic Computer Co. Crucially, I don't think this group is a group of Luddites. They all believe in technology. The unifing trait seems to be closer to a kind of affinity for walking the boundary between the past and future, romanticism and futurism. And isn't that what the present should be? A beautiful blending of what came before and what is coming?

Any way, I am wondering what to call my podcast and think this theme should be part of the name. I am very drawn to the idea of invention and the title of inventor. This is because I think the impulse to create, to pull our ideas into reality, is tool-agnostic. The tools will differ (code, circuit boards, words, images) but the drive to generate is constant.