Doug Belshaw @dougbelshaw.com · 12hNow this was *interesting*, and is pointing us on the path to RELAY 000
Doug Belshaw @dougbelshaw.com · 29/09/2026I've built Watershed, a free five-minute check on how well your organisation works as a system. Rate 12 plain statements and see which loops keep your problems coming back. For charities, co-ops and public services. Nothing leaves your browser. substrate.dougbelshaw.com/watershed 000
Doug Belshaw @dougbelshaw.com · 29/09/2026I'm in Toronto for a few days over the weekend for a Mozilla Alumni gathering. I return early evening on Monday so have most of the day free if there's anyone who fancies meeting up? 000
Doug Belshaw @dougbelshaw.com · 29/09/2026Favourite music albums of 2026 so far: 1. Fink - The City Is Coming To Erase It All 2. Boards of Canada - Inferno 3. Beck - Ride Lonesome Not necessarily always in that order. Fight me. 030
Doug Belshaw @dougbelshaw.com · 28/09/2026Trying a new thing, kind of a #weeknote but at the start of the week! Here's #Weekstarter 40/2026 substrate.dougbelshaw.com/weekstarter-... 120
Doug Belshaw @dougbelshaw.com · 27/09/2026A European voice assistant for the Rabbit r1 substrate.dougbelshaw.com/carrot 310
Reposted by Doug BelshawTom watson @tomcw.xyz · 27/09/2026In a world of easy answers what we really need is space and time to work reflect, adapt evolve. Maybe we need friction. tomcw.xyz/finding-fric...tomcw.xyzFinding frictionIn a world of easy answers what we really need is space and time to work reflect, adapt evolve. Maybe we need friction. 021
Reposted by Doug BelshawRoland Meyer @bildoperationen.bsky.social · 26/09/2026AI #slopaganda is not so much about fakes or disinformation. It's about aligning the world with your preformulated descriptions of it, making reality disappear behind its formulaic image, rendering visible all your fears at once in order to enjoy them more. It's a technology of fascist daydreaming 17683228
Doug Belshaw @dougbelshaw.com · 26/09/2026That woman is a menace. Hilariously, she once tried to crack onto a mate of mine 😅 100
Doug Belshaw @dougbelshaw.com · 25/09/2026Definitely. I keep meaning to do a "how to work with me" page but I'm concerned it would actually put people off doing so 😅 020
Doug Belshaw @dougbelshaw.com · 25/09/2026Your sessions were one of the reasons I decided, at short notice to go to Cranfield! I had a great time regardless, but glad I also get to attend your workshops, albeit virtually 🙂 110
Doug Belshaw @dougbelshaw.com · 24/09/2026This week, I had to tell someone (with a PhD!) who just fed my interview with them into AI and called the output "academic research" that I withdrew consent. Perhaps there needs to be an AI driving license? 100
Doug Belshaw @dougbelshaw.com · 24/09/2026Those who went to private school, worked for the IDC, and advised Michael Gove don't get to criticise attempted education reforms. Or at least, at the same time as being taken seriously. 110
Doug Belshaw @dougbelshaw.com · 24/09/2026"The art of progress is to preserve order amid change and to preserve change amid order." – A.N. Whitehead 010
Doug Belshaw @dougbelshaw.com · 23/09/2026On November 25th, I'm running a practical tools-based introduction to Systems Thinking. It's free, experimental, and there's only 10 places + a waitlist: luma.com/zj3iw6ksluma.comSightlines: a practical introduction to Systems Thinking · Zoom · LumaThree simple, interactive tools for thinking more clearly about a complex situation. In this free, participatory one-hour Zoom session, you will use Sightlines… 041
Doug Belshaw @dougbelshaw.com · 23/09/2026Some brief reflections on #SysPrac26 – Day 2 substrate.dougbelshaw.com/sysprac26-da... 000
Doug Belshaw @dougbelshaw.com · 23/09/2026Unexpectedly got 2 copies of CW-PUB-001 / Field Notes on Productive Friction available for purchase (limited to 50 copies, UK addresses only, no digital version) cognitivewallpaper.com DM me or contact via hello [at] dynamicskillset [dot] com Comments off here to encourage direct contact only.cognitivewallpaper.comCognitive Wallpaper — Register of PublicationsA register of publications on the textures of attention, the architecture of thought, and the patterns we mistake for productivity. Issue 001 exhausted. Later entries withheld. 011
Doug Belshaw @dougbelshaw.com · 21/09/2026#SysPrac26 – Day 1 substrate.dougbelshaw.com/sysprac26-da... 000
Doug Belshaw @dougbelshaw.com · 19/09/2026Debería tomar más fotos substrate.dougbelshaw.com/debera-tomar... 000
Doug Belshaw @dougbelshaw.com · 19/09/2026Big Tech & AI: "Guilty until proven wealthy" substrate.dougbelshaw.com/big-tech-ai-... 010
Doug Belshaw @dougbelshaw.com · 19/09/2026”Civilisation is a thin film across an ocean of chaos.” — Werner Herzog 000
Doug Belshaw @dougbelshaw.com · 19/09/2026Despite all our accomplishments we owe our existence to a six-inch layer of topsoil and the fact it rains 212029
Doug Belshaw @dougbelshaw.com · 17/09/2026You might also like swarm.fieldstation.xyz which @tomcw.xyz is developing further to add a redundancy layer and bittorrent style resilienceswarm.fieldstation.xyzShared AI · a FIELD STATION experimentShared AI — a FIELD STATION experiment in collective compute: can several ordinary devices become one AI computer? 000
Doug Belshaw @dougbelshaw.com · 17/09/2026Today I hath been in the Big Smoke at a #CoTech event, my first since @weareopen.coop closed its doors in May. Was great to see everyone! As someone said while I was in London, I am merely "between co-ops" 😉 000
Doug Belshaw @dougbelshaw.com · 16/09/2026A friend of *mine* that I totally didn't make up works in nuclear and has moved his family to the moon with a month's supply of oxygen. 000
Doug Belshaw @dougbelshaw.com · 15/09/2026What happens when AI fades into the background (like gigabit fibre)? substrate.dougbelshaw.com/what-happens... 000
Doug Belshaw @dougbelshaw.com · 15/09/2026It'll be my daughter's first gig, so a great place to start 110
Doug Belshaw @dougbelshaw.com · 15/09/2026Oh fantastic! I've got tickets for February to go with my duaghter. New album is superb 🙌 110
Doug Belshaw @dougbelshaw.com · 14/09/2026Sure, we can use big data centres to run #AI, but what about sharing the compute power on our own machines? Curious? Come along: luma.com/ts8bmupnluma.comHow might we run AI in a different way? · Zoom · LumaWe're changing direction on FIELD STATION experiment #001. Rather than using co/core to exchange AI inference between participants, we will use SwarmLLM to run… 020
Doug Belshaw @dougbelshaw.com · 14/09/2026Quite excited by the potential behind what we'll be experimenting with tomorrow! 010
Doug Belshaw @dougbelshaw.com · 14/09/2026Riffing on @danhon.com's latest and considering both sociotechnical systems and the legibility of conversations in the light of Apple's announcement of 'Live Rewind' substrate.dougbelshaw.com/the-legibili... 011
Doug Belshaw @dougbelshaw.com · 13/09/2026I've read, and re-read @thejaymo.net's fantastic INTERNET OPERATOR zine and, in this note, share some of my favourite ideas from it: substrate.dougbelshaw.com/internet-ope... 030