Managers and dreamers [523]

Greetings from The Borders...

I’m Christian Payne, documentalist. In this weekly dispatch I seek out novelty, explore the relations between things, what we share and consume, plus where we might be going. Thanks for joining in.

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#TheAction

Just back from Thinking Digital 2025, and this year Herb Kim and his team absolutely nailed it. Thoughtful curation, a great tone throughout, and a real sense that some tech-minded people are genuinely trying to make the world better.

There were some that were inventing things that didn’t solve a problem at it’s root, and other brilliant minds focusing on fixing things at source.

I took a few photos and captured a few conversations but it was strange dropping my thoughts into Bluesky and Mastodon and being unable to link many of the speakers. It’s more likely they’re focused on Linked. Or perhaps they were doing great things because they’re just ignoring the socials.

I really hoped they were not still hanging on to Twitter and wasn’t going to head over to check. I avoid Twitter like I would a pub I almost got glassed in. The landlord is a knob, there’s always a fight, it’s filled with shitheads and just not worth poking your head in.

Thankfully we have the break times and corridors to catch up with fellow curious minds, kindred geeks, and those quietly shaping the future.

I don’t want this sentence to look like an advert, but if this kind of an event interests you get a ticket for next year and i’ll see you there. Most of the people I chatted with had their company pay for them, some were volunteering for their ticket. Or if you’re able to get to Newcastle or Gateshead the night before or after the event, we’re always plotting in one bar or another.

It’s great to catch up with old friends and see Rob (on the right) finally make it to his first TDC.

Ross Dargan and Rob Amour

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#ThePictures

I got to see Brendan Dawes talk this week. Who is on Bluesky. He had me thinking differently about coding generative art. He designs processes to produce emotive data-art that emerges from systems and structures, often evolving beyond what he could consciously imagine.

Where I once thought there was a disconnect, I now see it’s less about controlling outcomes, and more about orchestrating the conditions for surprise and something meaningful to emerge. A conjuring of emotion and beauty from raw information.

Check out his work.

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#TheWords

Wonderful words from the late Tom Robbins

Refuse to Play it Safe. Live Dangerously, Live Lovingly.

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Sam Kahn’s article argues that traditional journalism’s obsession with “reporting” often misses deeper truths, and calls for a more reflective, analytical approach to understanding the world.

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I have been asked to answer these questions for inclusion in a school textbook:

• 1. What do you use technology for?

• 2. What is your favourite piece of tech/software and why?

• 3. Where do I see technology going in the next 10-15 years?

• 4. You’re someone who loves technology and connection, but you also appreciate solitude and the analogue world — how do you find a balance?

• 5. If the laws of physics weren’t an issue, what would you invent tomorrow to improve humanity?

This really got me thinking. I’ll check if it’s ok for me to share my answers in this dispatch and if so i’ll answer them in a podcast for supporting subscribers.

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#TheSound

Here are a few phone recordings I captured at Thinking Digital.

It was Rob’s first time at TDC and I used him as a guinea pig to see if I could upload to Audioboom in a browser using the app VRP7 and iCloud.

In a noisy restaurant I get to find out about a platform that is like Duolingo for sign language

At breakfast before the conference I get to talk autonomous boats with Andy

Feeling a little out of my depth, I felt compelled to find out more about Masers after Sophia-Rose Long’s amazing talk.

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#TheConsumed

All I had in this section was the note. ‘Baked Beans and Peas on Radio 4’. Then I remembered this piece on the radio where the combination was slated. I immediately put both on the shopping list and am still to make something. Is the combination something you have experimented with? Got a recipe or should I just stick it all in a pan?

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#TheThings

At Thinking Digital there was a cat flap that filmed and scanned your cat on entry, to see if it was carrying a dead animal. If so it would deny access.

Why not address the cause and not the consequence? Surely a bell on a collar could prevent the hunt in the first place by warning potential prey?

A Catflap for £500 or a bell for £4

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Today I saw a good friend showing off their Meta infused Ray-Ban glasses. We all love to play with shiny new tech, but what exactly are you inviting into your life and the lives of everyone you meet when you let a large corporation sit on your face?

Yes, I know, I thought we went through all of this with Google Glass. Thankfully that flopped. But as tech like this becomes ubiquitous, so does the idea that nothing is truly private anymore.

I think any perceived benefits from this tech are mute when you consider the real cost. Also that you can and probably are doing much of the same things on your phone or AirPods. At least with a phone you can choose when to point it at stuff and which mega corp gets the data. In some cases you can even keep the data yourself.

The moment you put these 'smart' glasses on you become a mobile data collector, able to capture the faces, voices, and actions of anyone around you. Do you have the consent of all those still hanging on to an expectation of privacy?

As your attention, speech, and behaviour are tracked, even unconscious habits can be profiled, predicted, and monetised. The data these devices deliver to you could also be subtly curated to align with Facebook's interests, blurring the line between reality and influence.

Then what about family, friends and the general public? They may not feel safe around you, or they'd at least be uncomfortable knowing they might be recorded, analysed or quantified. This will certainly have some effect on personal interactions.

After a while, lived experience becomes product-mined, analysed, and sold as moments of human attention while presence become someone's profit.

Plus the more data you gather, the more it could be used to steer your decisions, (like we need to give them any help in that) from what you buy, to how you vote.

And forget about a hacked pair of smart glasses that stream everything you see and hear to malicious actors... what makes you think you can trust the corporations with this kind of access to your every waking moment? Try not to glance over a password, or sensitive numbers on a spreadsheet.

The corporation behind this tech is not empowering you. You're just a drone. They didn't make this tech for you. Or the parent walking their child to school. Or the tourist, the poet, the protestor, or the passerby. It was built to capture, process, and profit—from what you see, say, and share. They made it for the data. For the predictable patterns. For the advertising models. For the shareholders.

Of course I can see the benefits of wearable tech. I've spent years experimenting with it. I just want you to question the motives of those asking you to put it on.

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#TheThanks

Massive thanks to the paying subscribers who continue to support this dispatch and the adventures/experiments that make it. You know who you are. ♥️

If you value these words, ideas and curation, please consider an upgrade to paid…

Or if you prefer a random hat tip you can do that via PayPal

or Monzo …Either way… Thank you for reading, sharing, liking and supporting a human doing manual work with their brain.

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#TheWeb

• People are getting their tattoos removed.

• 11 things I hate about AI

• There are very few local peeps on the Documentally community map. Have you added yourself?

• Twitter. Breaking the bird.

• Do you trust Zuckerberg to solve your loneliness with an 'AI Friend'?

• Are Gen-Z really that gullible?

• Some of my other places include these… plus Letterboxd for film logging, Discogs for my physical music collection, Strava for documenting exercise and my audio RSS feed stores recordings.

• RIP the world’s poorest president, Uruguay's José Mujica.

• Clean energy just put chinas co2 emissions into reverse for first time

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#TheEnd

Thanks for reading.

I’m now off to prepare for a weekend with a house full of guests and more than likely, a few drinks.

Have a great weekend.

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"Gardens exists on the threshold of artifice and nature, conscious decision and wild happenstance" - Olivia Laing, A Garden Against Time

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Socialise.

See you out there.

Over…

A ❤️ is a high-five, a comment is a hug. A supporting subscription earns my undying love.