Gemini in tension

Authors: Caolan <caolan@caolan.uk>

Posted: 04 March 2021

Exploration attracted me to Gemini. I delighted in the spaces people created - each corner unique - a window onto another life without the blandness of a platform. For me, it re-kindled the early web.

Part of my excitment was discovering how people stretched its capabilities. ASCII art, sed-based wikis, escape codes, favicons - hacks the lot of them, but I love that they were attempted. They push against Gemini's borders giving it life but also defining its outline. They help me grasp its purpose.

Ironically, Gemini is an effort to scale back - not expand - but by constricting our movement, it gave focus to our creativity.

To apply Gemini's restrictions too stubbornly, however, would risk suffocating it. And, as the spec becomes increasingly solid and immovable, I hope we don't turn to silencing Geminauts that twist it into beautiful new experiments.

To do so would break this delicate tension.

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