The future of regulation? Look to the stars — Introduction
How might regulation work in a connected world? A world where a tiny virus can spread from one end of the globe to another in next to no time? A world where you could work with a producer in Hollywood while in your jammies in Dundee? What do we even mean by regulation and why on earth would we look to the stars?
These are all great questions, so follow my lead as we explore them together. As your intrepid guide, I’ll level with you — regulation is not a space I know well. Neither are any of the methods, tools or systems we’re going to explore. To be honest, I know only the tiniest bit about the stars, most of it learnt watching Star Trek. So… why on earth would you listen to me?
Firstly, “what is the future of regulation?” is an interesting question and I like interesting questions. To help me understand what’s possible, I’ve broken this big question down into all the little questions I couldn’t answer confidently. I’ve polled experts who’ve generously shared their hard-won intelligence with me. Will I always guide you to the right place? Likely not. We’ll probably get lost, but we’ll get lost together. This is less of an “follow me, I’m an expert” piece and more of a “Let’s take a group hike into the unknown!” piece.
If you’re curious, will speak up when we’re going off-piste, or you have an interest in any of these things, sign up here to join me:
- Regulation and regulators
- Astronomy and the stars
- Data and ethical use of it
- Systems thinking
- Network theory
- Graph databases
I might even throw in some tidbits about pace layering and modes of thought. At the end, we may have something worthwhile, or we might be gloriously lost. In any case, stick with me and I’ll stick with you.
I’m writing this as a series of short, sweet posts. I tried for far too long (around 6 weeks on and off) to write something more … polished. What I learnt is this — because regulation is outside my domain of expertise, I ended down far too many rabbit holes. So I’m changing tack. This series will be intermittent but as frequent as my muse dictates.
Along the way, I promise you three things:
- I will keep going and persevere to the end of the journey
- I will always take you with me, no terms will be left undefined
- I will connect the dots so things make sense
Right, that’s enough for post 1 of n (where n in statistics is the number of subjects considered.) See I promised not to leave you hanging (and stats people are likely about to tell me that’s not the best way to explain n!)
P.S You might want to check back here occasionally as I’ll add links and a reading list. You can also come yell excitedly with me on twitter: ekoner.
