The world moves at two speeds, fast and slow, often because of technological changes. On a historical scale, the adoption of innovations like the internet, mobile phones, solar panels, or AI feels almost instantaneous. Yet, many are left behind by socio-economic barriers. Other technologies move at a snail’s pace. Some that promised to reshape the world, such as 3D printing, crypto, the Metaverse, or AR, end up failing or retreating into niches. Others simply fade from the headlines only to become a quiet, ubiquitous presence, like cloud computing.
What consistently lags behind is our understanding of these shifts. This is partly because making sense of change is often left to academia, NGOs, or international bodies, where research follows its own specific pace. Journalism occupies the space between the hype of ‘early adopters,’ the aggressive PR of founders, and the meticulousness of researchers. It acts as a translator, distilling both the creation of new tech and the complex studies of those analyzing it for a broader audience.
Slow Forward, in its latest iteration, is a personal project aimed at tracking this moving world at a sustainable pace. I believe that before a journalist can put information into words, they must first truly grasp it. My goal for Slow Forward isn’t to remain a one-man site. I plan to bring in new voices as resources allow, because I don’t believe in asking people to work for free.
Why a dedicated site instead of Substack or Instagram? Because, in the long run, platforms make strategic pivots that can radically disrupt how we use them, or better tools simply emerge, as seen with Substack vs. MailChimp. Having dealt with this in past projects, I prefer stability. While I’ll still use these tools (a newsletter will be sent via Substack), the website remains the definitive host for long-form pieces.
Ultimately, the platform is secondary to the conversations an article can spark. Slow Forward is my bet on providing clarity in a world of endless ‘content’, where fewer and fewer articles reflect a journalist’s genuine effort to understand the world before explaining it to others.
About
Slow Forward is an independent project.
Editor: Mihai Ghiduc
Contact: mihai[at]ghiduc.ro