Everything starts with curiosity
Over in the Adjacent Possible, Rick Liebling interviewed me about writing Bandwidth:
For me, everything starts with curiosity. I read widely, listen to loads of podcasts, engage with a diverse set of researchers and technologists, and generally try to follow my enthusiasm. When you give yourself permission to dive down rabbit holes, sometimes you come across thought-provoking tidbits and access new perspectives.
Questions fascinate me more than answers, and I’m always trying to identify interesting contradictions in the world we live in. How does the media I consume shape my own personal worldview, and what happens if I invest my attention more thoughtfully? What does it mean if we choose to build a panopticon because of convenience, not coercion? Aren’t our social and political institutions just another kind of technology, and isn’t our technology a new form of human institution?
These were the kinds of questions that seemed to be simmering beneath the headlines as I worked through the rough draft of Bandwidth. Writing the book was my way of exploring their possibilities and imagining a future shaped by them.
Eliot Peper is the author of nine novels, including Cumulus, Bandwidth, and, most recently, Veil. He publishes a blog, sends a monthly newsletter, and tweetsmore than he probably should.
