Tom Beck

@tombeck.eth

354 Following

1214 Followers

Tom Beck pfp

Build in public. Create in private.

0 reply

1 recast

12 reactions

Tom Beck pfp

Just published: "Fiction in the Age of the Phone" I explore why we're all comfortable reading nonfiction on our phones but reach for physical books when it comes to fiction. It comes down to what I call the clash between "the hyperlink mind" and "the dream mind." I also propose two potential paths forward for fiction writers in the digital age. Read it here: https://paragraph.xyz/@driftless/fiction-in-the-age-of-the-phone?referrer=0x33514A171B0eC657a0237Dd388fAA4f39eE2a2E4

0 reply

1 recast

6 reactions

Tom Beck pfp

I've been thinking a lot about why I never read fiction on my phone, despite consuming countless nonfiction articles there. Anyone else notice this pattern? Working on a longer piece about this for my @paragraph newsletter, The Driftless, probably coming out this weekend.

2 replies

0 recast

2 reactions

Tom Beck pfp

Apparently it will now cost 25% more to watch Canadian YouTubers

1 reply

0 recast

4 reactions

Tom Beck pfp

My toddler after I spend two hours cooking dinner

6 replies

11 recasts

89 reactions

Tom Beck pfp

I really enjoyed @danicaswanson's article on thinking about systems for writing. Social media is designed to highlight the ephemeral. We all know why: it keeps users addicted and scrolling the feed (which can be sold to advertisers). But how might you design a social media experience that highlights persistence? 🤔 https://paragraph.xyz/@danicaswanson/quality-writing-is-systemic?referrer=0x33514A171B0eC657a0237Dd388fAA4f39eE2a2E4

1 reply

1 recast

16 reactions

Tom Beck pfp

Extremely excited to learn that my essay, "Farcaster is a Car" won first place in the @kiwi contest! Huge thanks to the judges, and to the Kiwi and @purple teams. If not for this contest, there's a good chance I never write this essay. I had the idea months ago, where I left it sitting in my notes app. But when I saw the contest, I just knew I had to finish it, and share it.

16 replies

3 recasts

47 reactions

Tom Beck pfp

If it’s on a social media feed, it’s content. If it’s in a museum, it’s art.

2 replies

0 recast

3 reactions

Tom Beck pfp

The social media feed is a liminal space—and we’re all stuck in it.

0 reply

0 recast

6 reactions

Tom Beck pfp

I really enjoyed this article from @sach. I've been trying to think of interesting ways to utilize LLMs in writing and this spurred some promising rabbit holes.

1 reply

0 recast

6 reactions

Tom Beck pfp

"Wallet" feels like the wrong analogy. "Passport" feels like a better fit—an invitation to explore a new world.

1 reply

2 recasts

4 reactions

Tom Beck pfp

I finished a new essay, "Farcaster is a Car" which I'm submitting to the @kiwi Farcaster 2026 writing contest. It tackles the question of marketing and growth by reimagining what social media could be. The ideas were inspired by Nassim Taleb's insight that new forms of technology have a tendency to fix problems introduced by previous technology. It got me thinking: what problems in Web2 social media can Farcaster fix? The answer I came up with was context collapse. In this essay, I draw on an analogy between Farcaster and the early automobile, from historical, practical, and cultural angles. Using crypto (and AI) technology, Farcaster has the potential to unlock a "mobile self," turning users into builders who can create their own contextual experiences while maintaining continuity across the web. https://paragraph.xyz/@driftless/farcaster-is-a-car?referrer=0x33514A171B0eC657a0237Dd388fAA4f39eE2a2E4

4 replies

10 recasts

26 reactions

Tom Beck pfp

Instead of grass, I touched ice this weekend.

11 replies

7 recasts

80 reactions

Tom Beck pfp

Thinking about my writing for 2025, I feel ready to go all-in on the "slowcore" approach. It starts by reframing how I write online: - Remove the marketing lens from sharing my work - Share because a piece moves me, not to grow an audience - Choose platforms and methods that feel low-stakes and enjoyable I plan to start with my Substack, "The Unnerving." Pivoting it to a digital (haunted) garden for my creepy stories. An archive of sorts. More to come on that shortly!

2 replies

1 recast

16 reactions

Tom Beck pfp

Great piece that explains why you should read history. Not to "learn from the past's mistakes" as some tedious people think, but to correct this little quirk of the brain that tends towards doomsdaying. When you read history, you realize, 1) some things are eternal and it’s better to come to terms with them than fret needlessly, 2) almost nothing is eternal, even and especially what was once thought eternal, and that progress is possible, solutions can be found, and we can make things better, and 3) everyone always thinks the world is ending, and they have always been wrong (so far). https://substack.com/home/post/p-153316573

1 reply

7 recasts

33 reactions

Tom Beck pfp

What's the most interesting way to publish fiction these days? 🤔 Is it still just magazines and paper books? Any ideas?

7 replies

0 recast

10 reactions

Tom Beck pfp

Haussmann was a visionary who saw Paris’s future as a museum-city and built accordingly. How thankful we should be for the empty space around Notre Dame so that tourists may mill about with space to breathe!

1 reply

0 recast

6 reactions

Tom Beck pfp

Easy “follow all” right here.

0 reply

0 recast

5 reactions

Tom Beck pfp

The only reason to buy a memecoin is if you think it’s funny. Thankfully, I’ve never bought a memecoin.

0 reply

0 recast

2 reactions

Tom Beck pfp

Festina lente. Latin for “make haste slowly.” A wonderful slowcore defense of procrastination by Nassim Taleb in his book, Antifragile. I’ve found procrastination to be a powerful (and poorly-understood) tool. Waiting helps reveal what is actually important. Everything feels urgent in the moment but rarely is. Learning to delay action filters out the irrelevant.

2 replies

0 recast

4 reactions