Hey folks!
Mostly Harmless Ideas just surpassed 1000 readers! To celebrate, in this special thank-you post, I want to tell you a little about the past, present, and future of this substack and give you a couple of surprises for your long-time company. At the same time, I hope this post will answer some of the questions you’ve asked on different occasions.
How we got here
Some of you asked to know a bit about my “origin story.” While I don't find it especially exciting or intriguing, maybe knowing where I come from can help you understand what you can expect from me in the future.
I was born, grew up, and currently live in the vibrant city of Havana, Cuba —a small and poor country in the Caribbean with a complicated history, to say the least. Living in Cuba is challenging for many reasons, but we have access to relatively good education, which means many of our best graduates end up emigrating
In my case, I was fortunate to be born into a supportive and relatively accommodated family —what you might call middle-class intellectuals, though class labels don't work the same way in Cuba. Thus, I was able to go to the best schools and ended up graduating in 2013 with a CS major at the most prestigious university in the country, recognized in Latin America and part of the Western academic world.
From there, my career was pretty straightforward academic: I finished a Master's in CS in 2016 and a year later enrolled in a joint Ph.D. program part-time at the University of Alicante, so I got to live in Europe for a while —including most of the pandemic— and meet people from many different backgrounds, which really widened my worldview. I married in 2018, finished my Ph.D. in December 2021, and my first daughter was born in March 2022.
Returning to Havana, I became a full-time professor, got an administrative faculty position, and recently incorporated a tiny AI startup with my two closest collaborators: my wife and our former Ph.D. advisor. I'm currently teaching full-time, researching many different AI topics, and juggling all office that with running a (small) company and parenting. We're now waiting for our second (and last) daughter, due next September.
This flash origin story is so that you understand where I'm coming from when I write. I'm now what you might call a leftist liberal intellectual, though not an extremist in any political dimension. More than anything, I believe in pluralism as the best way to build a healthy society.
My main hobbies are, unsurprisingly, reading and playing video games, although, in the last couple of years, I've reduced my play time to nearly zero. Incidentally, one thing you might find weird about me is that although I'm quite tech-savvy and enjoy all types of gadgets, I also have a soft spot for vintage stuff. I drive an old car, have old furniture, wear classic watches, and listen to heavy metal. I even got married on a steampunk-themed wedding. I got that taste from my Dad, who was my less tech-savvy influence —until he suddenly passed away in 2019 —and taught me everything I know about family and values.
As of today, I’m very fortunate to live relatively comfortably doing what I love. Thus, my primary concerns, after the well-being of my family, are education, science, and innovation. Specifically, finding ways to leverage machine learning and artificial intelligence as tools for doing good in those areas. That's what I spend most of my time thinking and writing about.
Where are we now
This substack is a big part of my concerns for education. I believe free and accessible education can be a strong force for societal improvement. For this reason, all my educational writing is free and public.
I recently activated paid subscriptions to offset part of the effort I spend doing other things so I can put a little more time into writing. To thank supporters —what I call “insiders”—, I'm now writing a weekly short, exclusive newsletter with some comments on the most recent developments in the AI world —the kind of content I wouldn't write otherwise, as it is very short-lived.
However, since I want as many people as possible to read my stuff, I’m giving complementary subscriptions to anyone who needs them and can’t afford them. More than 90% of the current insiders are enjoying some form of special offer, either free trials or huge discounts. Just email me, and I’ll happily extend one to you.
I also regularly select my most engaged free readers —those who comment a lot— and upgrade them to insiders for a full month. If you read and comment on every post, you can remain forever in the insiders’ circle for free!
With that in mind, here is my first invitation:
If want to support this substack to help make it better for everyone, this is a special lifetime 50% annual discount that I make available only for my most engaged readers.
Regarding content, I’m currently working on two large series, one on the foundations of machine learning and another on the origin story of computer science. I’m also writing articles related to computer science's most intriguing philosophical questions regarding the nature of truth, intelligence, consciousness, and more. Plus, I’m writing regular essays on educational topics. All of these will be publicly free articles, but insiders will get them 2 weeks earlier as a token of appreciation for your incredible support.
Specifically for insiders, I will keep publishing a weekly discussion thread and an exclusive newsletter. The discussion thread lets you comment on anything interesting or intriguing. In the weekly newsletter, I share my opinions and comments on the most recent stuff and answer any questions you have raised in previous discussions. I want to make these two spaces as relevant as possible for you, so I’m listening to any ideas you have to improve them.
What’s next
I intend to increase my publishing schedule this summer now that my faculty responsibilities are mostly paused. I’m working on a lot of collaborations with other substackers. This helps me, as I have to work less on each article, and you, as collaboration makes anything more solid —two heads think much better than one.
As a side note, my second baby is due in early September, so I must hurry up and put out as much as possible during August!
The thing I'm most excited about in the near term is precisely these collaborations. Except for maybe the essays —which are pretty personal—, I will aim to have all my educational content be born out of some collaboration by the end of 2023.
In fact, I want to collaborate with you! If you're just getting started with technical writing, or even if you've never written anything before, this could be an opportunity for both of us. I will get your valuable help, and you will get the chance to write for an audience of 1000+ readers. Don't worry; I'll give you all the guidance you want.
So here's my second invitation:
Email me the topic(s) you'd like to collaborate on. All my collaborators get a lifetime insider subscription!
Regarding the mid-term future, there are three ideas I'm really excited about.
The first one is easy: podcasting. That's something I've always wanted to try and never get to. I imagine something quite informal, just me and someone else talking about a cool topic, like the interviews I did a while ago, but on audio. I'd love to know if this is something you'd listen to.
The second one is much harder: an interactive course, one session a week, with live lectures, coding sessions, and whatnot. This is not something I currently have the bandwidth to consider, but if there's enough interest, I can plan it for next year, maybe. I'm unsure about the format or the topic, so I'm open to suggestions.
And the third thing is more personal: I want to write fiction. It will probably suck, but I've always been on the fringe of doing it. I've written my fair share of crappy teenage sci-fi back when I was young and naive. Now that I'm a bit older and still naive, maybe it's time to try it out. Would you read it?
And thus, my final invitation is for you to be part of this future:
Leave me a comment telling me what you would like this substack to change or improve in the near future. Everyone who comments gets 3 months of insider subscription!
That's it for today. I'm deeply thankful for your long-time support, and I sincerely hope you will stick around and become a part of everything I want to do in this substack.
Best, Alejandro.
Write fiction, but don't set your stories in the future... Take any historical event and place your fictional characters there.
I thought you wore that steampunk hat in your profile picture all the time. I was shocked to see you weren’t wearing it in that photo!!