Doug Belshaw
@dougbelshaw.com
Helping mission-driven organisations navigate complexity. Consultant, facilitator, and critical friend.
Pinned
Doug Belshaw
@dougbelshaw.com
· Nov 18
👋 Hi, I'm Doug. I deleted my Twitter account in 2019 as I could see the way the wind was blowing.
I'm part of a #coop focusing on #learning, #technology, and #community.
Probably best known for my work on #OpenBadges and #DigitalLiteracies
Currently studying towards an MSc in #SystemsThinking
I'm part of a #coop focusing on #learning, #technology, and #community.
Probably best known for my work on #OpenBadges and #DigitalLiteracies
Currently studying towards an MSc in #SystemsThinking
It turns out I write a longer #weeknote if I'm watching football on TV at the same time
blog.dougbelshaw.com/weeknote-06-...
blog.dougbelshaw.com/weeknote-06-...
Weeknote 06/2026
What I've been up to this week.
blog.dougbelshaw.com
February 8, 2026 at 4:10 PM
It turns out I write a longer #weeknote if I'm watching football on TV at the same time
blog.dougbelshaw.com/weeknote-06-...
blog.dougbelshaw.com/weeknote-06-...
A rough attempt at laying out what in philosophy is most relevant for AI.: https://thoughtshrapnel.com/2026/02/07/a-rough-attempt-at-laying.html
February 7, 2026 at 7:31 AM
A rough attempt at laying out what in philosophy is most relevant for AI.: https://thoughtshrapnel.com/2026/02/07/a-rough-attempt-at-laying.html
The heart is ancient and hasn't had any updates: https://thoughtshrapnel.com/2026/02/07/the-heart-is-ancient-and.html
February 7, 2026 at 6:54 AM
The heart is ancient and hasn't had any updates: https://thoughtshrapnel.com/2026/02/07/the-heart-is-ancient-and.html
The winners will be headless: https://thoughtshrapnel.com/2026/02/07/the-winners-will-be-headless.html
February 7, 2026 at 6:50 AM
The winners will be headless: https://thoughtshrapnel.com/2026/02/07/the-winners-will-be-headless.html
Octopus people: https://thoughtshrapnel.com/2026/02/06/octopus-people.html
February 6, 2026 at 9:14 PM
Octopus people: https://thoughtshrapnel.com/2026/02/06/octopus-people.html
February 6, 2026 at 9:03 PM
Nouns are important, but verbs (workflows, processes) are too.
This is part 2 of my series on mental models in times of polycrisis.
It looks at extended minds and tools - and how they change the way we think and act together.
blog.dougbelshaw.com/mental-model...
#SystemsThinking #MentalModels #DigitalLiteracies
It looks at extended minds and tools - and how they change the way we think and act together.
blog.dougbelshaw.com/mental-model...
#SystemsThinking #MentalModels #DigitalLiteracies
Building a 'thinking system' to help you be less wrong
If you are trying to practise epistemic humility, but your tools punish revision and reward certainty, the tools will win. You will end up locked into unproductive system which is atrophying your abil...
blog.dougbelshaw.com
February 6, 2026 at 2:30 PM
Nouns are important, but verbs (workflows, processes) are too.
This is part 2 of my series on mental models in times of polycrisis.
It looks at extended minds and tools - and how they change the way we think and act together.
blog.dougbelshaw.com/mental-model...
#SystemsThinking #MentalModels #DigitalLiteracies
It looks at extended minds and tools - and how they change the way we think and act together.
blog.dougbelshaw.com/mental-model...
#SystemsThinking #MentalModels #DigitalLiteracies
Building a 'thinking system' to help you be less wrong
If you are trying to practise epistemic humility, but your tools punish revision and reward certainty, the tools will win. You will end up locked into unproductive system which is atrophying your abil...
blog.dougbelshaw.com
February 6, 2026 at 8:10 AM
This is part 2 of my series on mental models in times of polycrisis.
It looks at extended minds and tools - and how they change the way we think and act together.
blog.dougbelshaw.com/mental-model...
#SystemsThinking #MentalModels #DigitalLiteracies
It looks at extended minds and tools - and how they change the way we think and act together.
blog.dougbelshaw.com/mental-model...
#SystemsThinking #MentalModels #DigitalLiteracies
I'm bored with Bluesky. No matter what I try it's just endless politics 😕
Politics, as Oliver Burkeman points out, is *not* the base layer of reality:
substack.com/@oliverburke...
Politics, as Oliver Burkeman points out, is *not* the base layer of reality:
substack.com/@oliverburke...
Oliver Burkeman (@oliverburkeman)
There’s an idea I keep circling back to because I can’t figure out exactly how to express it, but iI think it’s really important, and it’s something like this: politics isn’t the base layer of reality...
substack.com
February 5, 2026 at 9:16 PM
I'm bored with Bluesky. No matter what I try it's just endless politics 😕
Politics, as Oliver Burkeman points out, is *not* the base layer of reality:
substack.com/@oliverburke...
Politics, as Oliver Burkeman points out, is *not* the base layer of reality:
substack.com/@oliverburke...
"A complex system, contrary to what people believe, does not require complicated systems and regulations and intricate policies. The simpler, the better. Complications lead to multiplicative chains of unanticipated effects.
(Nassim Nicholas Taleb, Antifragile)"
(Nassim Nicholas Taleb, Antifragile)"
February 5, 2026 at 5:59 PM
"A complex system, contrary to what people believe, does not require complicated systems and regulations and intricate policies. The simpler, the better. Complications lead to multiplicative chains of unanticipated effects.
(Nassim Nicholas Taleb, Antifragile)"
(Nassim Nicholas Taleb, Antifragile)"
Using Anytype + Claude Code (MCP server) for research
YouTube video by Doug Belshaw
www.youtube.com
February 5, 2026 at 12:53 PM
“Talk of cognitive bias often sounds like an accusation – as if some people are biased and others are somehow 'objective.' In reality, bias is inevitable when our finite human brains try to cope with a complex, fast-changing world. Our evolutionary hardware just wasn't designed for it.”
Shifting mental models is upstream of policy and personal advice
blog.dougbelshaw.com/mental-model...
#polycrisis #mentalmodels #systemsthinking #complexity
blog.dougbelshaw.com/mental-model...
#polycrisis #mentalmodels #systemsthinking #complexity
How to be less wrong in a polycrisis
The world is a confusing place. Although the temptation is to seek certainty, the best approach is to become a little less certain, a little more curious, and a lot more willing to revise our judgemen...
blog.dougbelshaw.com
February 4, 2026 at 3:43 PM
“Talk of cognitive bias often sounds like an accusation – as if some people are biased and others are somehow 'objective.' In reality, bias is inevitable when our finite human brains try to cope with a complex, fast-changing world. Our evolutionary hardware just wasn't designed for it.”
Shifting mental models is upstream of policy and personal advice
blog.dougbelshaw.com/mental-model...
#polycrisis #mentalmodels #systemsthinking #complexity
blog.dougbelshaw.com/mental-model...
#polycrisis #mentalmodels #systemsthinking #complexity
How to be less wrong in a polycrisis
The world is a confusing place. Although the temptation is to seek certainty, the best approach is to become a little less certain, a little more curious, and a lot more willing to revise our judgemen...
blog.dougbelshaw.com
February 4, 2026 at 10:00 AM
Shifting mental models is upstream of policy and personal advice
blog.dougbelshaw.com/mental-model...
#polycrisis #mentalmodels #systemsthinking #complexity
blog.dougbelshaw.com/mental-model...
#polycrisis #mentalmodels #systemsthinking #complexity
Reposted by Doug Belshaw
PhD Studentship: A Systems Thinking Approach to Understanding and Preventing Male Suicide – SHORT DEADLINE stream.syscoi.com/2026/02/03/p...
PhD Studentship: A Systems Thinking Approach to Understanding and Preventing Male Suicide – SHORT DEADLINE
via Steve Hales at SCiO, who says: Please be aware of this opportunity. Unfortunately the deadline I only a couple of weeks off. Please click on the link to apply: PhD Studentship: A Systems Thinki…
stream.syscoi.com
February 3, 2026 at 3:05 PM
PhD Studentship: A Systems Thinking Approach to Understanding and Preventing Male Suicide – SHORT DEADLINE stream.syscoi.com/2026/02/03/p...
I've recently started using Anytype and thought it might be useful to share this
www.youtube.com/watch?v=DtHZ...
Anytype is pretty cool, I'm enjoying getting to grips with it: anytype.io
www.youtube.com/watch?v=DtHZ...
Anytype is pretty cool, I'm enjoying getting to grips with it: anytype.io
Creating a kanban board in Anytype
YouTube video by Doug Belshaw
www.youtube.com
February 3, 2026 at 12:54 PM
I've recently started using Anytype and thought it might be useful to share this
www.youtube.com/watch?v=DtHZ...
Anytype is pretty cool, I'm enjoying getting to grips with it: anytype.io
www.youtube.com/watch?v=DtHZ...
Anytype is pretty cool, I'm enjoying getting to grips with it: anytype.io
Building your sense of agency by granting yourself permission to do the things you are already allowed to do: https://thoughtshrapnel.com/2026/02/03/building-your-sense-of-agency.html
February 3, 2026 at 9:32 AM
Building your sense of agency by granting yourself permission to do the things you are already allowed to do: https://thoughtshrapnel.com/2026/02/03/building-your-sense-of-agency.html
This post connects 3 strands:
1. Reimagining continuum of ambiguity as continuum of legibility
2. Some political theory
3. The practice of working openly as "calibrated legibility"
1. Reimagining continuum of ambiguity as continuum of legibility
2. Some political theory
3. The practice of working openly as "calibrated legibility"
Rethinking ambiguity as legibility: sometimes you want your work easily understood by many, sometimes you don't (and that's OK)
Connecting my continuum of ambiguity to political theory about visibility, opacity, and what "working openly" actually means:
ambiguiti.es/ambiguity-le...
Connecting my continuum of ambiguity to political theory about visibility, opacity, and what "working openly" actually means:
ambiguiti.es/ambiguity-le...
Ambiguity, legibility, and working in the open
I have started to think of ambiguity as a question of legibility. Sometimes I want things to be easier to read, understand, and act on for a wide range of [...]
ambiguiti.es
February 2, 2026 at 4:44 PM
This post connects 3 strands:
1. Reimagining continuum of ambiguity as continuum of legibility
2. Some political theory
3. The practice of working openly as "calibrated legibility"
1. Reimagining continuum of ambiguity as continuum of legibility
2. Some political theory
3. The practice of working openly as "calibrated legibility"
Rethinking ambiguity as legibility: sometimes you want your work easily understood by many, sometimes you don't (and that's OK)
Connecting my continuum of ambiguity to political theory about visibility, opacity, and what "working openly" actually means:
ambiguiti.es/ambiguity-le...
Connecting my continuum of ambiguity to political theory about visibility, opacity, and what "working openly" actually means:
ambiguiti.es/ambiguity-le...
Ambiguity, legibility, and working in the open
I have started to think of ambiguity as a question of legibility. Sometimes I want things to be easier to read, understand, and act on for a wide range of [...]
ambiguiti.es
February 2, 2026 at 12:20 PM
Rethinking ambiguity as legibility: sometimes you want your work easily understood by many, sometimes you don't (and that's OK)
Connecting my continuum of ambiguity to political theory about visibility, opacity, and what "working openly" actually means:
ambiguiti.es/ambiguity-le...
Connecting my continuum of ambiguity to political theory about visibility, opacity, and what "working openly" actually means:
ambiguiti.es/ambiguity-le...
Reposted by Doug Belshaw
We are, effectively, being fracked to death.: https://thoughtshrapnel.com/2026/02/01/we-are-effectively-being-fracked.html
February 1, 2026 at 9:05 AM
We are, effectively, being fracked to death.: https://thoughtshrapnel.com/2026/02/01/we-are-effectively-being-fracked.html
Sometimes the work is rest: https://thoughtshrapnel.com/2026/02/01/sometimes-the-work-is-rest.html
February 1, 2026 at 8:38 AM
Sometimes the work is rest: https://thoughtshrapnel.com/2026/02/01/sometimes-the-work-is-rest.html
A bit more than a to-do list: https://thoughtshrapnel.com/2026/02/01/a-bit-more-than-a.html
February 1, 2026 at 8:32 AM
A bit more than a to-do list: https://thoughtshrapnel.com/2026/02/01/a-bit-more-than-a.html
Because I learned a second thing at the end of my two days of vertigo: That my idea was terrible.: https://thoughtshrapnel.com/2026/02/01/because-i-learned-a-second.html
February 1, 2026 at 8:27 AM
Because I learned a second thing at the end of my two days of vertigo: That my idea was terrible.: https://thoughtshrapnel.com/2026/02/01/because-i-learned-a-second.html