Why subscribe?
"If I were to try to read, much less answer, all the attacks made on me, this shop might as well be closed for any other business. I do the very best I know how - the very best I can; and I mean to keep doing so until the end. If the end brings me out all right, what's said against me won't amount to anything. If the end brings me out wrong, ten angels swearing I was right would make no difference." The Inner Life of Abraham Lincoln: Six Months at the White House by Francis B. Carpenter (Lincoln, Nebraska, University of Nebraska Press, 1995), pp. 258-259.
There are, of course, two great Anglo-American statesmen whom I turn to quite often — Abraham Lincoln and Winston Churchill. Each man, like you and me, was flawed but each rose to the occasion his time presented. Both paid dearly. There is no way out for those of us blessed (or cursed) with the gift of prophecy.
Why should you subscribe to this newsletter? I suppose it is to read my musings and to become a more informed person on matters technology, genetics, history and politics but the real reason is a bit more complicated. I am enlisting you in the process of analyzing the world. I am inviting you, as my teachers, living and dead, invited me to a life of the mind and of action. I am under no illusions of what the price of that invitation may well entail — how disruptive it may well turn out to be— for your life as well as mine.
No, I have nothing to sell you but plenty to give you.
In that pursuit I’ll do my best until the end, however soon or distant it may turn out to be. Having had a number of friends taken before their time I know it is my obligation to stay in the fight, come what may. I grew tired of complaining about how the world was so broken and so I set to the task of fixing it as best I could with the resources to which I am entrusted and gifted.
The title of this Substack is lifted from Churchill’s great book Thoughts and Adventures, which I first read when I was an undergraduate attending an academic conference in Coronado. A man, I think, should be dedicated to a life of thought and adventure, or if you will, that we should take up the duties of thought and action.
The inspiration for this work comes from reading Churchill’s collection of essays, Great Contemporaries, which left a stirring impression on me when I read it in my late teens. Some years ago I attended a conference on Churchill put on Professor James Muller at the Hotel del Coronado. My grandparents settled in Coronado and I regard it as the closest place to heaven that I’m likely to see. Coronado is a special place filled of wonder and repose. It is the home of our Navy — and of L. Frank Baum whose books inspired me. No, we’re not in Kansas anymore and probably never were.
"Hear this, young men and women everywhere, and proclaim it far and wide. The earth is yours and the fullness thereof. Be kind, but be fierce. You are needed now more than ever before. Take up the mantle of change. For this is your time." — Churchill
Full disclosure: I am also a somewhat successful entrepreneur and investor and the companies I have backed are valued at over $9B+ and counting. I try not to mix church and state but I’m human and likely mix it too often. I highly encourage you to research whatever claims I make for yourself and to trust no one. This website is not investment advice. I repeat: this website is not investing advice.
To the extent you want to reach out to me as concerns investments know this I have a three-prong test: 1.) Is it good for my family? 2.) Is it good for my country? 3.) Is it good for my soul?
I am currently serving as CEO of Traitwell.com.
Please plagiarize my work.
"The probability that we may fall in the struggle ought not to deter us from the support of a cause we believe to be just; it shall not deter me." The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln edited by Roy P. Basler, Volume I, "Speech on the Sub-Treasury" (in the Illinois House of Representatives, December 26, 1839), p. 178.
Here’s my professional bio, for those curious.
Charles Johnson is a successful entrepreneur, investor, and writer. He is presently CEO of Traitwell, a genomics company dedicated to building a biobank for the world.
Johnson was a quiet cofounder of Othram and Clearview.AI — key law enforcement technology companies.
The total value of his portfolio companies exceeds $15B and includes satellites, genetics, facial recognition, defense technology, financial tracking software, solar powered cars, submarines, and Turkish restaurant technology.
Johnson is well traveled and has briefed multiple federal agencies and was educated at Milton Academy and Claremont McKenna College. He speaks French fluently and he is quoted often in the American media. He lives (mostly) in Northern Virginia.
