Why this newspaper?
An inventor who also writes about democracy — that sounds odd, until you see that it is all the same thing.
By Jacobus van Merksteijn · 8 min read · 23 May 2026
How do you do all that at once?
People often ask how one person can do so many different things at once. Designing coatings for ship hulls, sketching a fusion reactor, developing a new physics model, writing about democracy and education.
As if it were a coincidence that one mind holds all of that together.
My answer is always the same
Because it is all the same thing. Whoever understands the flow of water around a ship's hull also understands why a society stagnates.
Whoever sees that a molecule behaves like a colliding marble also sees why a school system that only counts and never weighs will eventually run dry.
Seeing connections between things that others view in isolation — that is what I call intelligence.
Why start a newspaper?
Because the existing media do not make those connections.
What you can expect here
One thread a month
Each month an edition appears with a handful of articles grouped around a single thread. Coatings, biomass, fusion, the 7D model. Politics, education, economics.
No party colours, no advertising
No hidden agenda. Free, for ever. No tracking, no sale of your data. Unsubscribe with one click at the bottom of every edition.
Discussion below every article
Respond, disagree, probe further. AI helps me keep the conversation productive — spam out, summaries in. I read and respond myself, but the filters do the heavy lifting.
The Open Visor
Because I want us to be able to look each other in the eye when we make a claim. Not anonymous, not from the hip, not through a rear-view mirror. Open, with argument, with respect for whoever knows better.
"Whoever thinks only within the walls of his own discipline is not a scientist but a civil servant of the known."
Welcome to edition one. Let us begin.
Why this paper?
Seeing connections between things others consider separately — that is what intelligence means.
People often ask how one person can do so many different things at once: designing coatings for ship hulls, sketching a fusion reactor, writing about democracy and education. The answer is always the same: because it is all the same thing. If you understand how water flows around a ship's hull, you understand why a society stagnates.
Existing media do not make those connections. A science editor writes about nuclear fusion. A political editor covers elections. Neither asks whether a fusion reactor and a school system might obey the same law. This paper attempts to do exactly that — in plain language, open to contradiction.
The Open Visor publishes monthly, free of charge, without advertising, without party allegiance. Each edition bundles a handful of articles around a single connecting thread. Discussion is open beneath every piece. Unsubscribing takes one click.
The name
So that we can look each other in the eye when we make a claim. Not anonymous, not from the hip. Open, with argument, with respect for whoever knows better. "Anyone who thinks only within the walls of their own discipline is not a scientist but a civil servant of the known."