I am Starting a Substack Publication
Global Swarming
The Mysterious Link was a corny kids’ show I grew up watching on Spacetoon. Every day they would present two random things. For example, a sponge and the orbit, and ask what links them. The answer was always something gloriously stupid: the sponge cleans wooden tables, tables come from trees, trees release CO2, CO2 sits in the atmosphere, the atmosphere wraps the planet, the planet rides the orbit. Done. (Its a kids show. No need to pick on how a sponge cleans a table.)
I loved it. I still do. Random connections are not just corny, they are also intelligent. Once you start looking for links between unlike things, you stop seeing the world as a list of separate items and start seeing patterns. And in a world this fast, this loud, this dynamic, patterns are the only things that hold.
Okay this is the moment where I have to think about what links patterns and swarms.
Complex things don’t make sense up close. A single bird tells you nothing about its movement. A single trader tells you nothing about a market crash. A single policy tells you nothing about economic growth. A single meme tells you nothing about culture. Equally, the swarm phenomena only resolve into shape when you zoom out and watch them move together. That’s the lens I choose to use: not what’s happening, rather what’s swarming. Capital, tech, culture, politics, memes, read these as flocks rather than headlines, and the world starts to make a different kind of sense.
Global Swarming is a pun, because reading patterns should be fun yo yo
Who this is for: You had an intellectual phase that never quite ended. You’re curious but skeptical. You read for insight, and not validation. You want the interesting part without the performance. You’re bored but not boring. You want to be entertained while feel informed.
What to expect: Quality commentary. Substance over slop. Curiosity over polished certainty. Short. Meaningful. Hidden messages. Personal stories. Culture. Satire.
The format may shift — the aim won’t. A small, engaged audience beats a large, indifferent one every time.
The curated picks are sourced from other newsletters I am subscribed to and inspired by, such as Adam Tooze Chartbook, Sham’s Gishty, Dan’s Trapital, Phan’s SatPost, Matt Levine’s Money Stuff, The Nature-Nurture-Nietzsche Newsletter by Prof Steve Stewart-Williams. Also from news outlets I got used to read from such as Semafor, Financial Times, The Economist and TechCabal. I also will be heavily channeling tweets I find interesting or random. Since I am usually the most active on X amongst my friends, I happen to become the messenger of trash news.
Frequency can change, but aiming for bi-weekly posts for now.
Enjoy the swarm doing random dances in the sky with no explanation but wonder