So, 2020 is coming to an end and any visions that I had about publishing somewhat regularly this year didn't amount to a hill of beans, as they say. In other words, this blog was about as much of a dumpster fire as the year itself was.
That said, there were a couple of bright spots in an otherwise utterly devastating year, in particular the virtual access to leading thinkers, etc. who would normally only be seen in person at conferences. In addition to various tech-related conferences from AWS etc., that went virtual this year, it is nice just to hear smart people talk about things that they are thinking about (such as the programs put on by the World Science Festival). One hope that even in a future "we can meet safely in the same room" world, the virtual option will remain for such things. (And, given where we will soon be with the climate crisis, limiting the amount of conference travel will probably be a good thing.)
It was also useful for people to get a better sense of who actually keeps our modern world running (spoiler alert -- none of them make a lot of money or have millions of followers on social media). I'm talking about the folks who literally grow, process, and deliver the food that we eat; keep the power on and water clean; repair our crumbling infrastructure; unload the trucks, stock the shelves, and ring up our purchases in brick-and-mortar shops; and those first responders and healthcare workers putting in the long hours under strenuous conditions to keep us healthy and safe.
Although I anticipate a rocky start to 2021, let's hope that we are all in a much happier place by this time next year.
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