Why blog?

Calvin and Hobbes, October 14, 1993

Blogging nowadays is like a lot of research nowadays: a bunch of articles that get dumped in a vast dark publication blackhole.

Why write blogs? Blogs that no one will see, much less read; blogs that no one will notice, much less care; blogs that no one will find, much less appreciate. Especially today, when the visual media dominates.

But, this misses the main point of writing a blog, or, of writing itself: self-expression.

I write blogs because I have something to say and I want to say it. I write because writing makes me structure my ideas and think, understand, and learn. I write because I want to leave snapshots of my life and thoughts today for a future me to read and reflect. It is a handshake and a conversation between Me Today and Me Tomorrow.

But, of course, I don’t want this to be mere self-indulgence.

I like to believe that in this world of Twitter and Bluesky and Youtube and Instagram, there remains space for thoughtful extended writing. So, I write in the hope that someone somewhere some day will read the blogs, appreciate them, and find them useful. I write in the hope someone will write back to me and we will have a long and beautiful conversation. And I write in the hope that some else will implement ideas for which I do not have the time or expertise (I expect this to be LLMs rather than humans, with their longer attention spans and far greater reach!).

And I write because writing is difficult. Because writing is fun. And because writing improves writing.