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Neal Davis is a professor of computer science and the director of Urbit's Hoon School. We discuss why solving nuclear fusion might be a disaster, why Urbit computers have souls, Shinto philosophy, why you should read old books, how to select books, and much more. This was really good!

Neal Davis
✦ Neal on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/sigilante)

✦ Neal on Urbit: [~lagrev-nocfep](https://urbit.org/ids/~lagrev-nocfep)

✦ [Learn Hoon](https://hooniversity.org/) with Neal: 

✦ Get your own Urbit planet at [imperceptible.computer](https://imperceptible.computer)

✦ Subscribe to the Other Life newsletter at OtherLife.Co

Software as Soulcraft and the Metaphysics of Engineering with Neal Davis

Urbit Foundation’s Director of Developer Experience Neal Davis discusses the philosophy of development on Urbit in a wide ranging conversation that covers everything from the spirit of objects and why it’s not obvious that nuclear fusion would be of benefit to mankind.

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Professor Neal Davis Discusses why Urbit computers have souls, Shinto philosophy, and more

Studio is an application from [Tirrel](/organizations/tirrel) which enables Urbit users to turn a Groups notebook into a public blog with just a few clicks. 

One can enable comments, multiple templates, and even integrate with Sendgrid to send new posts as email updates.

![Screenshot](https://storage.googleapis.com/media.urbit.org/site/ecosystem/applications/studio.png)


Tirrel has announced on their blog that Studio’s next release will include USD payments integration, allowing individuals to use Urbit to make a storefront and accept USD.

While most Urbit applications are focused on activity within the Urbit universe, Studio is unique in its focus on connecting the fiat and clearweb worlds to Urbit.



Need a personal website, fast? Studio can set one up in under a minute.

Studio


The Mars Review of Books is the first literary publication hosted on Urbit.  Its inaugural issue includes an article on nuclear fusion from Urbit Foundation's [Neal Davis](https://urbit.org/ids/~lagrev-nocfep), book reviews from writer and man-about-town [Christian Lorentzen](https://twitter.com/xlorentzen), and reflections on millennial romance from Twitter personality [Default Friend](https://twitter.com/default_friend). The MRB can be purchased in [physical form](https://store.marsreview.org) or [read online](https://marsreview.org).

![Mars Review in Print](https://storage.googleapis.com/media.urbit.org/site/ecosystem/spotlight/marsreview-issue1.jpg)



The Mars Review of Books is a magazine in print and on Urbit covering both contemporary arts and culture as well as global sociopolitical issues.