I am inviting you to the Indigo Observatory, a peculiar corner of the internet where current events get filtered through Discworld metaphors, and where watching the status quo maintain itself becomes both entertaining and only slightly depressing.

If you are looking for breathless enthusiasm about how technology and politics are definitely getting better, it is not for you. If you want someone to point out that Lord Vetinari’s approach to governance looks suspiciously like modern Western democracies, whilst finding this observation darkly amusing, then grab a cup of tea and settle in.

What’s in the observatory

The Indigo Observatory is fundamentally about pattern recognition. Not the algorithmic kind, but the human kind: noticing that the same structures keep appearing whether you are reading about Ankh-Morpork’s guild system or looking at how NGOs have professionalised activism. Observing that technical security debt is a conveniently bloodless way of saying we built this badly and now we’re stuck with it. Watching quantum computing get hyped whilst wondering if it is the next revolution or the next blockchain.

The content explores trends in technology, politics, and systems through the lens of Pratchett’s Discworld. This is not because Discworld is a perfect metaphor for everything, but because it is a safer and more entertaining way to discuss how systems actually work versus how we pretend they work. Talking about Lord Vetinari’s committee-based revolution management is less likely to start arguments than directly discussing why modern protest movements achieve so little. Probably.

The philosophy

The observatory operates on a simple principle: things that seem new often are not, and the Discworld already mapped most of the patterns. The guild system? That’s professional certification and regulatory capture. The Patrician’s management style? That’s technocratic governance and managed democracy. Does he represent Patriarchy? The Clacks system? That’s every overhyped communication technology that promised to change everything and mostly just made things faster and louder.

This is not about being cynical for its own sake. It is about noticing patterns. When you see the same structures appearing across different contexts, whether it is medieval guilds or modern professional associations, whether it is Vetinari’s committees or contemporary stakeholder engagement processes, it suggests something fundamental about h ow power maintains itself.

The writing asks uncomfortable questions using comfortable metaphors. Why does every revolutionary movement seem to end up with an office and a meeting schedule? Why do systems that claim to enable change mostly seem designed to prevent it? Why does “being realistic” always mean accepting the status quo? These are easier to explore through Ankh-Morpork than through direct political commentary, and often clearer too.

The Patrician’s playbook

The starting piece is The Patrician’s Playbook which maps Vetinari’s system maintenance techniques onto modern governance and institutions. It is not a how-to guide. It is more of a field guide for recognising when you’re watching equilibrium seeking, co-option as strategy, or controlled failure play out in real time.

The eight mechanisms explored, equilibrium seeking, co-option as strategy, intelligence without vision, the exhaustion factor, managed opposition, guild politics, the pragmatist’s trap, and controlled failure, are not theoretical. They are observable patterns that appear consistently across different systems and contexts. The Discworld framing just makes them easier to see and much more entertaining to read about.

The observatory tracks various trends, always asking “what would this look like in Ankh-Morpork?”

The approach isn’t to pretend expertise in everything, but to notice patterns in how technologies get discussed, implemented, and hyped. When every new technology follows the same trajectory (revolutionary potential, breathless enthusiasm, disappointing reality, niche applications), that’s worth noticing. When every solution to systemic problems turns into a committee and a report, that’s a pattern.

Quantum computing gets examined for whether it’s genuine progress or the next overhyped technology that promises everything and delivers niche applications. The chip bubble becomes a case study in how systems that seemed robust turn out to be frighteningly fragile. Machines learning gets the basic treatment: what it is, what it isn’t, and why the hype cycle looks suspiciously familiar.

Who most likely would appreciate a visit

  • People who have noticed that modern systems look suspiciously like they are designed to prevent change whilst appearing to enable it
  • Anyone who finds Pratchett more insightful about politics than most political commentary
  • Readers tired of breathless tech enthusiasm and interested in pattern recognition
  • Those who suspect that “disruption” mostly disrupts workers whilst enriching investors
  • Anyone who wants to understand why the trains run on time but go in circles

The safer metaphor

Here’s the thing about using Discworld as a lens: It is fictional, so discussing it doesn’t immediately trigger defensive reactions. I can talk about how the Patrician maintains power through complexity without anyone feeling personally attacked. I can explore how guild systems prevent competition without getting into heated arguments about professional licensing or being accused of “conspiracy thinking”. I can examine managed opposition through the Guild of Agitators without immediately polarising into political camps.

The metaphor creates distance, and distance creates clarity. Once you see the pattern in Ankh-Morpork, you start noticing it everywhere else. And because Pratchett was fundamentally kind whilst being brutally observant, the tone stays curious rather than bitter. Systems are absurd, power maintains itself in ridiculous ways, and yet people keep trying to make things better anyway.

In conclusion

The Indigo Observatory will not give me or you answers. It may help with noticing patterns. It will not provide solutions to systemic problems. It will help me, and possibly you too, recognise when you are watching those problems being managed rather than solved. It will not make me or you an expert in quantum computing, machine learning, or political theory. But it might help us recognise when we are being sold hype instead of substance.

It is trend-watching for people who have learned that most trends are old patterns in new clothes, that the status quo has a thousand subtle ways of maintaining itself, and that sometimes the most helpful thing we can do is point at the absurdity and laugh whilst simultaneously taking it seriously.

Visit when you’re tired of pretending everything is fine, or tired of depression and seriousness because we seem to go around in circles, generation after generation, with only superficial “Look & Feel” changes.

Get ready to notice how remarkably consistent the patterns are. The Patrician has been running his playbook for years. It is time we recognised the game and had a good laugh (at ourselves).