Why TFS?

A long way back

Many years ago, I studied journalism and broadcast media for a BA Communications in Sydney, and completed two years of three. I loved it, but there were too many things going on, it was too much. I was working at the time, averaging 65 hours a week in event technical management at the Sydney Convention Centre, and playing in a band, living the dream.

Deep down, I was also struggling with the passing of my eldest brother, Ross, not 14 months prior, by his own hand.

Something had to give. My brother lives in my heart, but I've deeply regretted not finishing the degree.

The truth is, from that time, I've written fiction and non-fiction, all unpublished, for reasons that stretch into a book I plan to publish towards the end of 2024, called 'a sack of cats - journeys into nothingness and knowing'.

Writing is life

I must write; it's core to my being. The Fragile Sea purpose can be found in the tag line:

deep research | deep thought | human connections

where finance, energy, science, nature, technology, society, and humanity meet

Connections; that's what it's all about. I'm interested in joining the dots in new ways from multiple areas, to reach for moments that stop the clock. It's a rare thing to achieve but a genine aspiration. New thinking, provocative, challenging...

The advice I've read is that a newsletter should focus on a niche and build an audience that way. Well, my brain doesn't work that way. Over the years, I've gathered a library of over 2,500 books and hundreds of research papers on different subjects; I’ve spent a lifetime reading, thinking, writing, trying to join points of light, and digging deep in the mud, in the obscure, searching for nuggets, for connections.

And every book, every paper, every web source, changes me, for I live in continuous learning; each book evokes a snapshot of time and place, where I was, and where my mind was on this great journey, at the time of that first reading.

The idea behind the bi-weekly newsletter

I believe there is a gap, and missing connections to a place where all the areas of interest meet, the amazing people doing amazing things in them, and the things we aren’t doing and should be, as social animals, some of us fortunate to live in coherent societies. I need to publish what I see, what I've searched for and can't find, and what I've found.

It should be simple enough, plain English, less words, smaller words; but some of the subjects are richly complex. The challenge is to forever improve on understanding complexity, simple, engaging, accurate stories, to find and bring to light emergent connections between disparate and symbiotic subjects.

I guess it's a jump into a polymath universe, it goes against the grain of most niche focus blogs, also experimenting with language, long form, and short form, it’s really launching into the dark unknown – I’m excited because I've wanted to do this for so long. I don’t mind failing to get better, I just can’t do the same way twice, always restless, it’s the only way I can learn.

Please visit here for more detail on the format of the bi-weekly newsletters and the research notes.

Why did I name it The Fragile Sea?

Well, I thought about doing this a long time ago and obtained the domain name, long before reading Nassim Nicholas Taleb's book Antifragile: Things That Gain From Disorder. I guess I knew before reading it that there are a great many things growing increasingly fragile.

I've no appetite for argument with his books, having read most of them. It seems to me that anti-fragile would be a better place to get to, but I just don't think we are anywhere near reaching that land of hope and glory any time soon, in critical areas to do with our survival. And things can go fragile very quickly.

The Sea is humanity, power, food, freshwater, AI, space, energy, in a great wide, deep, ocean of consciousness, presenting real issues to grapple with. The Fragile Sea is all of these things.

Somehow, I want to add to the record on some deeply necessary, fast-moving subjects that are critical, existential, maelstroms. Connections, reaching out to others, searching for commonsense answers.

Commonsense people coming together

My deepest dream is so start a movement of commonsense, apolitical people, coming together, and working for our future generations, to make it through the eye of the needle and get beyond. A learned society open to all.

All of these are who I am and why I write.

So welcome! I hope you like The Fragile Sea web, newsletters, research notes, and comedic faction, and thanks for stopping by!

Take care,

Brent

P.S. Be sure to stop by About and visit the other pages as you want, to gain a complete picture. My own journey is here.

The Terms are in plain English and important also.

Just to note from the Terms page: The Fragile Sea does not pursue any political, religious, anti-religious, or hidden agenda, and if we like something we will say so (or not), without fear or favour. If we do mention another content writer, link, service, or product, it's because we want to, observing journalistic practice.

Thanks and welcome again. :-)