Rob the Protopian Punk, here. I’m a writer, novelist, musician, late starter, restarter, tech skeptic and the Count of Monte Cristo.
Netspiel is a project and community dedicated to those who feel as though they’ve been left behind: the late bloomers, anyone restarting from scratch, anyone unsure of how to get started at all. You are not alone and you are welcome here.
This isn’t an advice column, but rather a chronicle of my journey to get back on my own two feet. I lost my job at thirty-two, moved back in with my parents to assist with care-taking, then spent three years unemployed. In that time, I went back to school, changed careers and managed to regain my independence. Now, I’m learning how to live my life again. More importantly, I’m asking the question: “Who exactly am I?”
I know I’m not the only person stuck in these circumstances. So many of us are starting or restarting our lives later than we expected: moving out later, finding a job later, dating later. There’s a lot of shame that comes with arrested development, but I reject it. If you’re in the same boat, you should too. It can always get better. Your life is just starting, no matter how old you are.
Here, on Netspiel, I’ll share what I’m learning as I rebuild my life and my identity. I’ll discuss everything from the simple lessons I pick up, to achievements along the way, to culture, philosophy, spirituality, music, tech and beyond. All through the lens of someone getting a chance to start fresh.
Why do you call yourself a Protopian Punk?
It’s downright dystopian out there. Sometimes I feel like I’ve woken up in a cyberpunk novel: mega-corporations battling for my attention, technology that infiltrates our minds and bodies, climate disasters, artificial intelligence. It’s all rather bleak…and we don’t even get the cool trench coats.
The counter-point to dystopia is typically considered to be utopia: an ideal, even perfect world, where human beings live in absolute happiness and fulfillment. However, utopian thinking can be just as bleak as dystopian thinking. Perfection is impossible and the “ideal” is a subjective metric. One man’s utopia is another man’s dystopia.
That’s why, when envisioning a better future than our present, I prefer the term protopia. Created by the futurist Kevin Kelly, a protopia describes a society that improves incrementally over time, sometimes backsliding, but always with an eye toward progress…and not just technological, but natural, moral and societal progress as well. Protopians believe that even if things can never be perfect, they can get better, they can improve.
It can be easy to give into despair or hopelessness when looking at all the problems that face us, especially if you feel like you’re already behind in life. That’s why protopian thinking is so essential. To forge a better future, both as a society and as an individual, you must first accept that things can actually improve. That progress is still possible. This isn’t blind optimism, but rather, the raw determination that one can grow without needing to “hustle” or “optimize”.
So instead of a cyberpunk, call me a Protopian Punk.