Thinking in Public

After being pointed towards Adam Stokes’ essays on techno-crofting, I was motivated by his thinking in public style of writing to write the blog post you are reading now. The following is a living document: some questions about the world, and things I’m interested in, that I haven’t been able to answer myself. Most are on topics “outside of my area” — as much as I hate that phrase. So if you are more knowledgeable on these things, please do get in touch for a chat. Beers on me.

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Is the Digital Markets Act the EU pushing back against technofeudalism, or quietly defending a cloud fiefdom of its own?

After seeing yet another instance of the Digital Markets Act being turned on US tech — most recently the €890 million (~$1bn) fine handed to Google in July 2026 for self-preferencing its own services in Search and the Play Store — my first instinct was an image of a courageous EU hacking away at the outstretched tentacles of a swelling, US-based cloud octopus, à la Standard Oil. Obviously not biased. But is that what’s actually happening? Is the EU genuinely refusing to prop up the cloud capitalists? Or is it clearing room for cloud capitalists of its own? I keep coming back to the EU’s push for home-grown alternatives to US tech, like Wero, the European Payments Initiative’s would-be rival to Visa and Mastercard.

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