THE COLLECTION
A life leaves
a paper trail.
Mine includes arguments, ideas, enterprises and quite a few things I would like to find again.
I am bringing the work together here so that a useful thought does not disappear because I wrote it somewhere else. The collection begins with selected published essays and new notes. Over time, it will make room for the documents, presentations, journals and other pieces I choose to share.
Some work records what I thought at a particular moment. Some still explains how I think today. I want both to remain intelligible, with their dates and origins attached. Forty-five years deserves a little order. Only a little; curiosity should still be allowed to wander.
17 entries
Fun and learning. I mean both.
My definition of life, and why neither half works particularly well without the other.
Name it. Then we can think.
A feeling, a problem, an ambition: give it a name precise enough to do something with.
What I mean by value for value
The principle applies to a business agreement, a friendship and the way I choose to spend my life.
I reserve the right to change my mind
Conviction needs reasons. When the reasons change, I owe reality another look.
An idea has work to do
The questions I want answered before an attractive thought becomes an expensive undertaking.
Wealth, and the life it serves
I see earned wealth as an achievement and a means of living more freely. Neither requires an apology.
Stablecoins Will Succeed When People Stop Thinking About Stablecoins
Why payments should be judged by what customers can complete, what they pay and how failures are resolved.
If Everyone Has the Same Payment Rails, What Makes a Fintech Worth Anything?
The judgment and customer experience a fintech must contribute when its competitors can buy similar infrastructure.
Reality Is Back in the Boardroom (and It’s About Time)
A case for accountable leadership, measurable contribution and ownership in business.
Liquidity First: How I’m Building Zen and Atlas Rails for a Permissionless, Value-for-Value Financial Future
The founding argument for organising Zen around the movement of value.
The Zen Entertainment Playbook: The Fan Engine That Hollywood Forgot
A proposed model linking creators, audiences, rights and revenue across film, music and live events.
How To Set The Best Brand Values And Why It’s So Important
Defining brand values and expressing them through company decisions and customer experience.
‘Feel’ - Robbie Williams
A personal appreciation of the song’s arrangement, emotional force and place among my favourites.
Does the Observer Create Reality? A Rational Rebuttal
What observation can tell us about reality, and why I reject the claim that consciousness creates it.
Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle: Epistemic Limit or Metaphysical License to Evade Reality?
Where quantum uncertainty ends and the philosophical claims made on its behalf begin.
The Axioms of Epsilon
First contact tests the rigour of Serra’s thinking as an alien intelligence demands consistency before conversation.
From Kant to “Shut Up and Calculate”
An argument for reality and causality as foundations of physics.