Introducing Thinker at the Gates
Reasons for existing
There are several reasons why I started this writing space. I wanted to help contribute to society moving toward a more sane and reasoned approach to news and information. This is more challenging than ever, considering the forces working in the other direction, but that’s exactly my motivation.
I always wanted to be a writer, and figure now is a great time to start doing it seriously. I did some freelance writing in my high school and college years, but it never quite panned out, as life events pushed me into other endeavors that were of more immediate importance. But I’ve always been an observer of current events and reader of historical events, and interested in the world around me and the mechanisms that make it work. I think this can be enough to provide engaging content to others, but I guess we’ll see.
I hope to offer some layman/concerned citizen analysis to issues of importance, inject a bit of humor when called for, and provide some foresight into what we can expect going forward. I have always been fascinated by forecasting, not fortune telling or telling the future, but making a best guess about what current and historical events may predict about how things will be in 5, 10, 20, even a hundred years or more from now. But this can’t be done without understanding (or at least trying to understand) why and how things occur today.
The title of my “column” is based on the iconic statue "The Thinker”, by Auguste Rodin. It was originally conceived as “The Poet”, and, along with a scene of demonic images, represented Dante at the Gates of Hell. Dante, of course, wrote the Divine Comedy, which provided an early human conception of hell. It thought it was fitting, as it often feels like the world we live in today is chaotic and unsettling…sort of Hell-ish, so to speak. We haven’t entered Hell yet, or rather Hell hasn’t overtaken us yet, but sometimes it feels like it’s approaching, and I’d love to help ward it off through unrelenting thought and reflection. Of course there’s always more than can and should be done, but thinking and reflecting are minimal activitites all of us can do in this endeavor. There are other paths forward we can choose, one of which would be apathy, which I cannot condone.
I hope to attract anyone interested in considering insights and questions that may be new and challenging but move humans forward into the new era that is upon us. Current events will dictate much of the content here, but this won’t be a breaking news space; instead, it will be a place where any news, old or breaking, can and will be analyzed in an insightful and fun way, and often used to forecast the future of society. I’m also a sports fan, and think that sports have a place in society, and therefore plan to include this as well.
I’m planning on a weekly column, but that could change to more or less frequent, depending on how things go from here. I’m not doing paid subscriptions at this time, but that also could change, depending on the reception. Either way, I hope to engage enough people to have a vibrant, thoughtful, and productive forum. Welcome!