Øyvind Solstad ☀

Every time I hear the term "podcast" in a story or even when people win big awards for their podcasts, I wonder why I have never gotten any kind of recognition for this and other contributions. I know there are people who think my contribution was just adding an element to RSS at some point, not even sure I actually added that element, but that isn't how you make a medium come to life. You have to iterate, evangelize, look for talented people who can make the medium happen and when all that doesn't make it happen, do it yourself, and show everyone that you don't need to be a CNN or NPR or MTV to do it. It's one of the reasons we have so many diverse sources of ideas and information. When I get tired of a podcast I look around and find a new one to explore and learn from. The medium may never make enough money to make anyone rich with money, but it has *always* been a source of wealth of knowledge, first about itself (in 2004) and today about every damn thing. So far the only mega-rich famous dude who has credited me is Jason Calacanis, which is strange because he and I had a falling out in the early days of RSS, over an event at a now-defunct conference. At first I didn't trust it, we were feuding for years, it seems. But he has had a rebirth it seems, and some of the things he does and says make me uncomfortable, but on the other hand, you take the recognition where you get it. And I am starting to trust his generosity of spirit. I'm going to release the most ambitious software of my long career pretty soon. I got so tired of the way Google is running the web as if it were a corporate platform, I thought why don't we try starting over with the web, use all the formats and protocols that work, but totally eliminate the corporate ownership. The reason this project worked now is Claude Code. In the last year I've built or restored four real products that combined define the web as if Markdown, RSS and Websockets existed when Netscape came out, and instead of evolving around JavaScript and CSS, the power belongs to the users, not the content providers. That simple change of rules for the web says if you want to write and publish via the web, it can't be fucked with by a Google-size monopoly or even a Substack-size monopoly. I'm 71 years old, and haven't needed money since my first and only IPO in the 80s. I invested conservatively, and occasionally bet on a long shot, and one of them came out great. I don't have the kind of money @jason has, but I don't need it either. I have what I call "transcendental money" -- ie it accumulates value through appreciation and interest all on its own, and I don't spend as much as it makes so it transcends time. Which has made it possible for me to practice my art all this time, which is developing and showrunning software as a medium. That situation aligned me with the web perfectly, because it doesn't need money to keep going either. Anyway I want to thank @jason for having a big heart, and hope many other people who perhaps I have offended by speaking my mind, will be as generous. I did more than get podcasting off the ground, and I ain't done yet! ;-) PS: I can't believe how old I am. But I have taken reasonably good care of myself, and managing large projects has gotten a lot easier for one person thanks to the AI tools that have come along and finally come to sufficient maturity that you really can manage large complex projects that way.