Opening the Drawer

How a Collection of Obsessions Became a Column

Think of your home; think about the homes you’ve visited, all clean, organized, and meticulously kept. But there is always one drawer that hides the mess. It holds things that don’t seem to belong anywhere else. They’re not trash; they’re important. You just don’t know what to do with them.

I’m Atakan, and this is my drawer.

I’m a developer who has ADHD and probably some of that undiagnosed autism. I’m interested in tech, history, business, politics, art, literally anything I become obsessed with for a period of time.

The information age made it easy to learn about almost anything, which was amazing. But for someone who can’t stop collecting, it turned into something else: a drawer full of information that might one day connect and become useful.

Now we’ve moved into what they call the intelligence age. As my bio says, “ADHD brain meets AI era.” AI makes learning and trying different things much faster and much easier, but the main thing is the feeling of power it gives you.

The feeling that you can do anything.

But if you are out of control with it, well, it starts to overflow. I find myself talking about world politics in full detail or explaining something from history like a professor teaching a class. But I’m in a bar, and no one is there for a new drunk learning experience about how the conflict between Iran and the U.S. started long before 1979, how AI companies compete for market share, or how China disrupts those companies’ plans.

I’ve always tried to find something I’m passionate enough to write about, but the problem was that I couldn’t decide. I’m sure some of you can relate to that.

The light-bulb moment came when I realized that, even though all my interests seemed unrelated, they actually weren’t. There is always another perspective to consider, another point where those interests connect. Tech crosses over with politics and power, and if you go deep into the motivations behind technology, you find yourself in history, like the AI war between the U.S. and China.

And that was it. I decided to create a personal column called Blabbing About. My job and my main interests are in tech and business, so those will be the main topics. At least when you look from afar. When you come closer, you’ll find perspectives that connect tech and business with sociology, psychology, power dynamics, politics, and more. The idea is to make you think twice, question what you’re seeing, and maybe find yourself reading and researching a topic you thought you had no interest in.

That’s how I decided to use the items in that drawer.

If you’re interested, follow along. My first article will be about AI and FOMO, but not about missing the next model, the next tool, and so on. It’s about the FOMO you create for yourself.

Until then, be cool.
-atkntepe