The Bluefinch
For years, I’ve wrestled with a question that I suspect many writers face: how do I balance the personal with the professional? How do I write in a way that feels authentic—whole, even—while acknowledging that not every audience is interested in the entire package?
These questions are not just about writing, of course. They’re about identity. We live in a world that loves a tidy compartment, but I’ve never been able to put myself neatly into one box. Some days, I want to write about artificial intelligence and its implications for financial markets. Other days, I want to talk about the peculiar satisfaction of perfecting a bread recipe or the joy of a musical arrangement. The challenge is how to combine these threads without feeling like I’m either oversharing or underserving my readers.
And then there’s the thornier issue: my lifelong struggle with perfectionism. My writing never seems to measure up to the lofty standards I’ve set for myself, and as a result, too much of it has languished in the limbo of drafts. Oddly enough, this perfectionism doesn’t plague me in other creative pursuits. I don’t agonize endlessly over a piece of art or a software project in the same way. But with writing, it’s as if I’m always standing on the edge of a diving board, hesitating just a moment too long before the plunge.
The tension between shipping and iterating is real. Iteration is never really done, and yet at some point, things need to go out the door. The hurdle for me has been a persistent feeling that my writing isn’t insightful enough, or good enough. And yet, when I think back to when I started writing, I wasn’t so self-conscious. I wrote what I found interesting. Now, I try to also consider what you might find interesting. That’s not as selfless as it sounds—it’s more a trick I’ve developed to push myself to publish. If I can believe that my writing is useful or thought-provoking to even a small audience, I can quiet the inner critic enough to hit “post.”
Which brings me to why I’m here. I’m launching The Bluefinch, a home for my thoughts on two topics I find endlessly fascinating: artificial intelligence and financial markets. Individually, these are fertile grounds for exploration, but it’s the increasing overlap between them that really excites me. I believe this intersection is going to produce some of the most transformative ideas of our time, and I’m eager to dig in and share my thoughts with you.
So, what do I hope you’ll get out of The Bluefinch? A few things:
A clearer understanding of why and how crypto and AI work, and why they’re so transformative—not just to financial markets, but to the broader economy. These technologies are fundamentally reshaping how we think about systems of value, trust, and intelligence.
A peek into the cutting-edge changes happening right now—before most people know about them. In today’s world, knowing something even a few months ahead of time can give you a significant edge. My aim is to help you plan, strategize, and adapt to these shifts before they go mainstream.
A sense of the bigger picture, especially how these emerging technologies intersect with traditional systems and policies. Broadly speaking, these technologies are already making profound impacts on the foundational structures of society. Many of the political and social struggles we face today have their roots in the changes brought about by—and in support of—these advancements.
So, if you enjoy the pieces I share, I hope you’ll forward them to someone who might also find them interesting. Or just keep reading yourself—that works too.
Warmly,
-Alex
