Other Life (Justin Murphy)

We recorded this late in the evening before the live show with Curtis Yarvin. It's lit, based, and fire.

✦ Barrett Avner of Contain

✦ Alex Moyer, director of TFW NO GF

✦ Wanyoung Kim, author of Cosmophenomenology

➡️ If you'd like to discuss this podcast with me and others, suggest future guests, or read/watch/listen to more content on these themes, request an invitation to my free Discord server.

➡️ Are you an intellectual working outside of institutions and/or mostly on the internet? I'm building a private membership community for those of us getting serious about increasing our impact and financial success. If this sounds like you, request an invitation at IndieThinkers.org.

➡️ This podcast is made possible by my patrons so big thanks to them. If you'd like to help expand my operations, you can become a patron yourself.

Jess Sloss is a lead instigator of Seed Club, an incubator of tokenized communities—communities that use custom cryptocurrencies to align incentives and distribute value among stakeholders.

Learn more about Jess Sloss and Seed Club

✦ https://SeedClub.io

✦ The Seed Club Discord https://discord.gg/42UjJskuEF

✦ Jess Sloss on Twitter https://twitter.com/thattallguy

Learn more about the $LIFE dao

✦ Join my free Urbit group and get some $LIFE: https://exit.otherlife.co

Are you working on a long-term creative project outside of institutions?

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Today we're looking at the life of Dr. Samuel Johnson, an eighteenth-century English critic who embodied the true spirit of self-reliance and perseverance. Despite facing various hardships in his life, Dr. Johnson managed to defy the odds and become one of the most influential figures in the history of English letters. Join us as we uncover the fascinating journey of this unconventional thinker, and learn how his life can serve as a powerful reminder that success is indeed possible, even for those who may not fit into traditional molds.

We delve into his unique approach to life and work, highlighting how his unorthodox methods eventually played a significant role in his success, and how his unwavering belief in his own abilities and his refusal to rely on external support allowed him to carve out a path to success. Success is inevitable for those who put in the work.

0:00:00 - Intro and Early Life
0:04:50 - Samuel Johnson's Writing Career
0:12:36 - The Patronage Model
0:18:55 - Success By Perseverance and Self-Reliance

(Sorry for some clicking in the audio, there were some issues with my set up that I didn't notice until after I was done recording. We'll get that sorted!)

Other Life
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I was interviewed by Katie Way (formerly of Babe.net) after one of my nuclear tweets went viral. Given the role this tweet played in my eventual departure from academia, I'm posting this interview (with permission from Ms. Way) for anyone interested in the larger story. It's pretty interesting as an artifact of media culture in the year 2018.

https://patreon.com/jmrphy

Related links:

https://twitter.com/jmrphy/status/996003715344715777?lang=en

https://babe.net/2018/05/17/justin-murphy-hot-take-abortion-57232

We talked about Joshua's music career, theory and psychoanalysis, Josh's time at the New School, Christopher Hitchens, neoreaction and patchwork, internet culture, instrumental rationality, and other things.

With Zohra Atash, Josh is in the band Azar Swan. http://www.azarswan.com/

This podcast and my blog have now been unified! The website is now https://theotherlifenow.com.

Huge thanks to my supporters at https://patreon.com/jmrphy

On the COVID-19 pandemic, intergenerational warfare, comparative politics, exogenous shocks, class war, whether Trump caught the virus, and other speculations on the next few days.

Follow Geoffrey Miller on Twitter and Youtube.

Follow Diana Fleischman on Twitter and Youtube.

More stuff

👉 Based Deleuze is now available in paperback. 

👉 If you'd like to discuss this podcast with me and others, suggest future guests, or read/watch/listen to more content on these themes, request an invitation to my free community forum.

👉 This podcast is made possible by my patrons so big thanks to them. If you'd like to help expand my operations, you can become a patron yourself.

Join our 8-week seminar series on Deleuze and Heidegger, starting this Sunday, November 22.
✦ Get the reading list and learn more: otherlife.co/deleuze-vs-heidegger

➡️ Johannes Niederhauser on Twitter: https://twitter.com/JohannesAchill
➡️ Johannes Niederhauser on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDsQqlrzoc-K32DE-Wh-roA

Nyx Land is a blogger and internet persona in the accelerationist sphere. She explains to me her ideas about gender accelerationism and lesbian neoreaction. I believe this is the longest podcast I have ever done, clocking in just shy of 4 hours.

Nyx's website is nyxus.xyz and her Twitter handle is @NyxLandUnlife.

This podcast and my blog have now been unified! The website is now theotherlifenow.com.

Big thanks to my supporters at patreon.com/jmrphy. You can also find other ways to support at theotherlifenow.com/support.

Diana S. Fleischman is an evolutionary psychologist, currently Senior Lecturer at the University of Portsmouth. Her interests include sex, disgust, veganism, utilitarianism, effective altruism, polyamory, and genetics, among other things.

Show notes with timestamps:

0:00 - 00:30

How we met on Twitter, how to make friends online, dissecting our online impressions of each other. Our weird ideological histories and intersections. Academics and drug use and talking about it on the internet. A thesis about the new ideological fracturing; the alt-right, etc.

00:30 - 00:50

Diana’s experiences with the vegan movement; the milquetoast Science March. Is “intersectionality” predictive? Diana’s view of how the left is changing, on smart people leaving the left and people with nuanced views being ejected. My thesis that there is no mass media or mainstream anymore.

Diana reviews the idea of personality, the Big Five traits. Most people are not very open to experience. Are apparent ideological differences really just due to a bunch of different lexicons and/or sociological differences? Lefties open to global warming science, not open to other science (GMOs, etc.). The problem of epistemic hygiene and disgust. Why are we so paranoid and afraid of each other when our society has never been more pacified? How evolutionary psychology explains the prevalence of signaling in politics. Very interesting exchange of hypotheses on this point, about what causes this to increase or decrease, and how it may or may not be changing. One has to be disagreeable to update; how Diana has lost a lot of friends many times but most people don’t want to do that. How I think this is changing on the left.

00:50 - 1:20

Debates about IQ and leftist denials of hierarchy. Partisan sorting. How ideology can be rational and at odds with the truth, at the same time. How social partners want to make each other really weird so there is less competition for their attention. Why it feels good when someone tells you a secret. Marriage; hierarchical polyamory vs. anarcho-polyamory. How polyamory makes healthy competition. Diana’s personal arrangements. Why I like monogamy and think pleasure is bad. It’s hard to think clearly and be honest when you’re trying to get laid. My interest in radical transparency, which Diana thinks is dumb. How sex could facilitate honesty.

Social media as escape behavior, how to manage this. Kink and sociopathy. How to use social media dopamine as a propeller of disciplined work, which you then reinvest into social media, and so on. Diana becomes more fluent when arguing. How we both leverage social media exchanges for more purposeful writing.

1:20 - 1:54

Here is when things get a little bit dicey. I asked Diana if “human biodiversity” is a racist dog-whistle or a real thing? Diana laid out a lot of arguments and cited a lot of evidence, and we had a long back and forth about this and its implications. Diana recommended the article “On the Reality of Race and the Abhorrence of Racism,” an explicitly anti-racist case for "human biodiversity." I don’t know much about this stuff and I’m still processing the conversation to be honest. As if this wasn’t difficult enough, I also asked Diana about mental health and transgenderism. I’m just going to leave it at that. Definitely one of the more intense and politically challenging conversations I’ve had on this podcast so far.

Ted Blackman is a senior engineer at Urbit. Urbit is a mysterious tech startup founded by Curtis Yarvin, aka Mencius Moldbug. Ted kindly answered all my questions, and he dealt very graciously with my efforts to politicize everything.

This conversation was first recorded as a livestream on Youtube. Big thanks to all the members who help to keep this running.

After all the scams of the 2017 ICO craze, there's a new wave of genuine creators and communities creating serious value with social currencies. Bradley Miles is the CEO of a startup called Roll, which facilitates this process for creators.

➡️  https://tryroll.com/
➡️  Bradley on Twitter: @Bradley_Miles_

A few weeks ago I started talking with Bradley, who is one of the founders of a startup called Roll. What they're doing is they're trying to make it super easy for creators and communities to create their own social tokens on the blockchain, on Ethereum. 

It's interesting because this was a practice that became somewhat notorious a few years ago in what's known as the ICO craze, the initial coin offerings of around 2017. There were basically just a lot of scammers. There were a lot of people who would launch a token, and would hype it up, get a bunch of people to buy into it, and then just sell it and basically profit off of the people that got in on it.

But now there's this new wave of genuine creators and durable communities that are using social tokens. And they're creating real value, and they're working and they're sustaining. And many of them are trading on the open market, for sometimes very good amounts of US dollars. And it just seems to me like a very real way in which creators and communities are generating real value and wealth potentially, in the long run, for themselves, in this autonomous bootstrapped way. So obviously I'm just super interested in that.

I'm definitely still thinking about how I might do it because I don't want to do anything like this unless I have a clear model in my mind of how it works and what I'm trying to do. So I'm still researching and thinking, but I think I'm going to launch a social currency for my community and I'm quite excited by it. I think there could be real upside and I want to take it seriously and try my best shot at making something really interesting and valuable for everyone who listens to or participates in my various projects . And I've been talking with Bradley quite a lot over the past few weeks. Thinking about it and strategizing and yeah... He's super cool, I think he's super legit. And I think he really believes in the project and he has also investors that I know and trust like Balaji Srinivasan.

I figured I'd have him on the podcast so he could share what he's doing and we can introduce the idea to the audience of the podcast and my broader community. So I'd love to hear what you think.

Every sentence from Nick Land's Meltdown, one at a time. https://nicklandcourse.com

Other Life

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Once a normie record producer, Alexander is now a creative internet madman who commands billionaires to do whatever he wants. In this podcast, he explains how he did it. First, he says, "whore" yourself out to make "f*ck you money." If you're ever afraid of speaking freely, just "get out of there!" Whore yourself another way. Read Deleuze and implement a practical nomadology. Know yourself, know your type, know your role and play it. You shouldn't even know what's taboo and what isn't! People who speak freely on the internet are "of a higher class" today, and people who respect political correctness will be the new proletariat. These were the major points I took him to be making.

I really enjoyed this high-energy discussion and gained more than a few new ideas for orienting and improving my own independent intellectual life in 2020 and beyond.

Are you an independent intellectual? I'm building a private membership community for those of us getting serious about increasing our impact and financial success. If this sounds like you, request an invitation at IndieThinkers.org.

If you'd like to discuss this podcast with me and others, suggest future guests, or read/watch/listen to more content on these themes, request an invitation to my free community forum.

This podcast is made possible by my patrons so big thanks to them. If you'd like to help expand my operations, you can become a patron yourself.

Reposted with permission from the Parallax Views podcast by JG Michael. For many other talks like this one, find Parallax Views at @ViewsParallax and patreon.com/parallaxviews. Big thanks to JG for his interest in my ideas, and for extracting these atypically coherent thoughts from me. JG's excellent questions helped me make connections I've never made in public before, which reminds me how these new media are still so poorly understood. For intellectuals, podcasts are first and foremost production technologies rather than distribution channels or influence mechanisms (as they are to business people and social climbers).

From Michael's notes: "...How Justin got into academia... accelerationism... Justin giving his definition of accelerationism and its take on modernity... the different branches of accelerationism - r/acc (right accelerationism), l/acc (left accelerationism), and u/acc (unconditional accelerationism)... criticisms of these lines of thought... main players within the accelerationist milieu such as Nick Land and Edmund Berger... Nick Land's dark accelerationist vision... the way in which religion can act as a social technology against these horrors... the Frankfurt School philosopher/sociologist Theodor W. Adorno, his critique of instrumental reason, and the influence Adorno's writing has had on Justin's thought... this leads Justin into making an unexpected comparison between Adorno and... Jordan B. Peterson... Justin's research into the political ideologies of Jordan Peterson's fanbase... Justin's research into political ideology and fragmentation... the central accelerationist concepts of "Exit" and "patchwork" in depth... why religion has become so important to Justin and specifically his renewed interest in Catholicism. How Justin's radical politics are connected to his own religious beliefs... Catholicism's often overlooked history of breeding radically emancipatory thinkers..."

Sean Trainor (@ess_trainor) is an historian, educator, writer, and podcaster. Sean has written for The Atlantic, TIME, Salon, and many other venues popular and academic. He is a professor at the University of Florida, where he is currently writing a book about beards in the nineteenth century. Sean co-hosts his own podcast, Impolitic. You can find more about Sean's work at his website, seantrainor.org.

Sean is a socialist activist so we had some interesting debates about the prospects for activism today, and we covered just about all of the hot-button, culture-war topics of the moment: campus politics, trigger warnings, free speech, etc., including many observations from our personal experiences moving through left-wing circles and academia. We also talked about some more obscure topics such as Catholic anti-capitalism, the pleasures and pains of our respective podcasts, and why beards became so fashionable among men in the nineteenth century.

Steff is a poet and Autumn is a novelist. We talk about the writing economy, grad school for poetry, canceling yourself, how Autumn almost won the Passage Prize for right-wing fiction, how to stay free inside the institutions, how Autumn won Steff's heart with a meme about Hitler, how to think about success as a writer today, whether Curtis Yarvin's poetry is good, and Steff's call for suitors (DMs open).

Autumn Christian

✦ Teach Robots Love

✦ Autumn on Twitter

✦ Autumn's novels

Other Life

✦ Subscribe to the coolest newsletter in the world OtherLife.co

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Get the free, expertly curated reading list at otherlife.co/strauss

This is probably the single best podcast on the main ideas of Leo Strauss. A warmup for Michael's 8-week online course that starts on January 23. Signup to be notified when the full course opens: https://otherlife.co/strauss

Michael Millerman received his PhD from the University of Toronto. He's taught and published extensively on Leo Strauss.

Michael's website: michaelmillerman.ca

Socrates shows up late, looks like hell, and still somehow rules the room. What's really going in the Symposium? Plato uses a dinner party to show how authentic love is more intoxicating than alcohol. We explore the relationship between erotic desire and philosophy, and how philosophy is often a cold shower on our lesser temptations.

We examine why talented poets like Aristophanes might be the fiercest skeptics of love, Alcalbiades’ dramatic interruption, and how Socrates’ uncompromising pursuit of truth brings admiration as well as danger. Perhaps the only desire strong enough to guide us well is the love of the good, no matter the cost.

Other Life

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✦ My new book, The Independent Scholar: https://otherlife.co/scholar

Alex Priou

Alex Priou is a philosopher who works on Plato and Pre-Socratic thought. Alex is the author of three books on Plato: *Becoming Socrates: Political Philosophy in Plato’s Parmenides* (2018), *Defending Socrates: Political Philosophy Before the Tribunal of Science* (2023), and—the pretext for this converstaion—[*Musings on Plato’s Symposium*](https://amzn.to/43BtkEv) (2023). He also co-hosts [*The New Thinkery*](http://www.thenewthinkery.com), a political philosophy podcast. Learn more about Alex's work at [alexpriou.com](http://www.alexpriou.com).

I talked to fantasy author, philosopher, and blogger R. Scott Bakker about his views on the nature of cognition, meaning, intentionality, academia, and fiction/fantasy writing. See Bakker's blog, Three Pound Brain.

Listeners who enjoy this podcast might check out Bakker's What is the Semantic Apocalypse? and Enlightenment How? Omens of the Semantic Apocalypse.

This conversation was first recorded as a livestream on Youtube. Subscribe to my channel with one click, then click the bell to receive notifications when future livestreams begin.

Big thanks to all the patrons who keep this running.

Gen Z Mafia is a Discord server incubating teenage billionaires. I talk with one of the ringleaders about community design, Gen Z psychology, and business models.

What is the Gen Z Mafia and what kind of projects are people working on?
How to make your community open and also filter for quality.
Is Gen Z Mafia a business model?
Are they more interested in venture capital or bootstrapped businesses?
What do Gen Zers see that older folks don't?

Sam Frank has written for Harper's and The New Yorker, but he was also an early buyer of Ethereum because Vitalik "looked like an alien." Sam explains his heuristics for judging technological and cultural projects, how he first met Curtis Yarvin, what he sees in Urbit, and how he eventually became one of 256 senators in Urbit's galactic senate.

✦ Sam on Urbit: ~todset-partug

✦ Get your own Urbit planet at imperceptible.computer
✦ Subscribe to the Other Life newsletter at OtherLife.Co

Robert Mariani is co-editor of Jacobite Magazine. You can subscribe to Jacobite here.

Big thanks to all the patrons who help me keep the lights on.

If you'd like to discuss this podcast with me and others, suggest future guests, or read/watch/listen to more content on these themes, request an invitation here.

This conversation was first recorded on October 14, 2018 as a livestream on Youtube. To receive notifications when future livestreams begin, subscribe to my channel with one click, then click the little bell.

Why do 22-year-olds today have the testosterone levels of 67-year-old men from the year 2000? Could it be because high testosterone activities and behaviors are increasingly being criminalized? I dive into the theory that the modern world is contributing to the decline in testosterone levels by stigmatizing and punishing testosterone-loaded activities, leading to a downward spiral in overall testosterone levels.

Join me as look at the evolution of law enforcement, the rise of a culture that labels aggressive behaviors as "toxic," and how movies from the 70s and 80s highlight a higher testosterone society. Discover how this decline in testosterone affects men today and how our society has slowly evolved to prevent these once-commonplace behaviors from happening. 

0:00:39 - Testosterone and Prison
0:02:04 - Testosterone in the 70's and 80's
0:06:16 - Toxic Masculinity and Testosterone
0:08:26 - Testosterone's Catch 22

(Sorry for some clicking in the audio, there were some issues with my set up that I didn't notice until after I was done recording. We'll get that sorted!)

Other Life
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Is Satanism going mainstream, or is it angelicism in disguise?

✦ Check out Barrett's Contain podcast at patreon.com/contain

✦ Download the René Girard reading list at girardcourse.com​

Are you working on a long-term intellectual project?
✦ Request an invitation to indiethinkers.org​

Timluc is a top Urbit engineer and founder of Uqbar, a zero-knowledge ETH Layer 2 built on Urbit.

Timluc is one of the highest-conviction Urbit bulls in the world. We talked about why he has so much confidence in Urbit, what people misunderstand about Urbit, why he went from BTC Maxi to ETH Maxi, and what he learned about crypto living in Ukraine when the war broke out.

~timluc-miptev

✦ Follow Timluc on Twitter

✦ Subscribe to timluc's new podcast The Network Age

✦ The Uqbar crew is eager to talk with you in their Urbit group: ~hocwyn-tipwex/uqbar-event-horizon-forever

Other Life

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I'd like to share with you some biographies of great writers, artists, maybe some inventors—people who represent the other life ethos—people who have produced great work from the fringes, or in weird niches they carved out for themselves in life.

Here is a passage from a biography of the French novelist Balzac, Prométhée: ou, La vie de Balzac (1965) by André Maurois. I've translated it to English, of course.

This is a story about reading books, childhood, the productive benefits of disordered knowledge, unjustified presumption, an obsession with printed paper, ecstasy as a motivator and a product, and a kind of hunger that nothing can ever satisfy.

It paints a fascinating picture of education in France in the early 19th century. But it's also an inspiring vignette about something we see in the early lives of many great writers, which is... Here we have a strange, disaffected, aloof child who just seems a bit absurd or confused or even dumb—his teachers and classmates literally thought he was just stupid—but his appetite for wonder and knowledge drives him, from an early age, to just totally withdraw from society, into a life of the mind. That's the other life.

If you'd rather read than listen, see otherlife.co/balzac.

Other Life

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✦ Join our network state at https://imperceptible.country

IndieThinkers.org

✦ The next cohort of IndieThinkers.org starts Jan 16. If you're working on independent projects, request an invitation.

Oscar Wilde and J.R.R. Tolkien used consumer culture to create works of art. In this podcast, we try to draw some lessons from their lives. I'm joined by Paul Fortunato, an English professor at the University of Houston Downtown. Paul is also a member of Opus Dei, and the author of a book about Oscar Wilde's "consumer modernism." We discuss how Wilde and Tolkien successfully navigated the "creator economy," as well as Oscar Wilde's little-known Catholicism.

✦ Subscribe to Paul on Youtube
✦ Paul's book on Oscar Wilde

Other Life

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✦ Get a free Urbit ship at https://imperceptible.computer

✦ We're building a new country at https://imperceptible.country

IndieThinkers.org

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What percentage of my net worth is in crypto? Is the future of academia on Youtube, or where? Would I cut ties with Patreon? Do I consider myself uncensorable? What is the value of my brand? Where is it heading? Why am I launching a social token? Where do I locate myself in relation to other professionals becoming indie creators, like journalists going to Substack?

✦ Every week I send my best ideas & links to ~5k galaxy brains just like you: otherlife.co/newsletter
✦ Working on your own intellectual projects? Check out IndieThinkers.org

Zero HP Lovecraft (@0x49fa98) is a horrorist. His blog is https://zerohplovecraft.wordpress.com.

Big thanks to all the patrons who help me keep the lights on.

If you'd like to discuss this podcast with me and others, suggest future guests, or read/watch/listen to more content on these themes, request an invitation here. This conversation was first recorded on July 5, 2019 as a livestream on Youtube. To receive notifications when future livestreams begin, subscribe to my channel with one click, then click the little bell.

In this episode, we explore the principle of writing for oneself and how many of history's greatest writers have operated on this principle. We discuss the importance of writing in a way that pleases only oneself and how sacrificing even a hair of one's vision in order to please someone else is the most abject of treacheries. Listen in as we examine the stakes of writing and how it truly matters whether you're writing for yourself out of a conviction in truth and beauty, or for others in order to please them.

We also discuss the challenges of writing for oneself in the era of social media, where the nearness of the audience can make one lose the self. We consider the difficulty of recultivating the self in today's world and how it requires a certain degree of anti-social discipline and effortful recultivation of the self.

Chapters:

(0:00:00) - Writing for Yourself
(0:05:56) - Cultivating A Self 

Other Life
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Find Christian on Urbit as ~pindet-timmut

✦ Christian's group on Urbit is ~pindet-timmut/urbitcoin-cash

✦ Are you working on long-term intellectual work? Request an invitation to https://IndieThinkers.org

Launch your Urbit ship at https://tlon.io/
Apply for an Urbit grant at https://grants.urbit.org/

Follow Jacob at https://twitter.com/cryptochamomile

✦ Text me anything at +1 (303) 529-2047, I'll reply personally
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Chris Williamson runs the Modern Wisdom podcast and YouTube channel. We discuss how Chris went from zero subscribers to nearly half a million; how to get big guests; and how to think about wisdom in the internet era.

Modern Wisdom by Chris Williamson
Podcast
YouTube

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David Fuller is a co-founder of Rebel Wisdom, a media company and community dedicated to ideas and independent sense-making.

Rebel Wisdom’s newest course, Sensemaking 101, starts this Thursday. With guest faculty including Daniel Schmachtenberger, John Vervaeke and others participants will spend 8 weeks developing their judgment, thinking, speaking, and relating skills. David is giving Other Life listeners 10% off, just use the coupon code “Indie_10”.

✦ Sensemaking 101: https://rebelwisdom.co.uk/sensemaking101

✦ Rebel Wisdom on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/rebelwisdom

Other Life

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✦ If you like the podcast, do me a favor and leave a review on Apple podcasts! https://otherlife.co/review

IndieThinkers.org

✦ Are you working on a long-term intellectual project? With about 400 members working on blogs, books, films, and more, IndieThinkers.org provides recurring work sessions to improve your productivity, monthly conferences to share your work, private workshops and Q&As with other successful indie thinkers, a content library with instructional material, and a curated network for finding collaborators. Request an invitation to IndieThinkers.org: https://bit.ly/3jH5DUg

Subscribe to The Network Age podcast wherever you get your podcasts https://rss.com/podcasts/thenetworkage

~timluc-miptev: https://twitter.com/basileSportif
~nilrun-mardux: https://twitter.com/alephdao
~bichul-ritsen: https://twitter.com/bichulr

Recommended reading mentioned
https://bichulritsen.substack.com/p/how-to-explain-ftx-to-your-mother
https://www.thediff.co/p/money-credit-trust-ftx

Other Life

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James Poulos is a Tocqueville scholar who wrote The Art of Being Free (2017) and Human Forever (2021). He was a co-founder of The American Mind and his latest project is a magazine called Return. We discuss humanism and post-humanism, the merging of Big Tech and Woke Capital into an atheist cyborg theocracy, why James rejects accelerationism, the importance of human memory, Bitcoin, Urbit, and much more.

✦ Human Forever
✦ Return Magazine
✦ James on Twitter

Other Life
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✦ Get a free Urbit planet at imperceptible.computer
✦ We're building a new country at imperceptible.country

IndieThinkers.org
✦ If you're working on independent intellectual work, join the next cohort of IndieThinkers.org

Why do some incredibly talented individuals never reach their full potential? In today's episode, we dive into the fascinating life of Ezra Pound, a true genius in the realm of language and literature, yet somehow failing to make the lasting impact of his contemporaries like TS Eliot or WB Yeats. We'll explore the idea I call "the curse of genius" and how Pound's obsession with power and acknowledgment may have held him back from greatness.

Join me in this thought-provoking exploration of Ezra Pound's life and career, from his influential role as an editor and promoter of other poets, to his controversial leanings toward fascism later in life. We'll seek to understand the man behind the poetry, the impact he had on the world of arts and letters, and the lessons we can learn from his story for our own personal endeavors and for recognizing the pitfalls that can accompany great talent and ambition.

Chapters:

(00:01:21) - Pound's Curse
(00:05:28) - What Happens When You Aim for Influence?
(00:08:58) - Let the Chips Fall Where They May

Other Life
✦ Subscribe to the coolest free newsletter in the world and I'll send you all of my private book highlights. https://otherlife.co
✦ Join the Other Life community (free) https://otherlife.co/join

IndieThinkers.org
✦ If you're working on independent projects, join the next cohort of https://IndieThinkers.org

Dr Ilan Zvi Baron is Associate Professor in the School of Government and International Affairs, and Co-Director of the Centre for the Study of Jewish Culture, Society and Politics at Durham University.

Baron has written multiple books, including Obligation in Exile: The Jewish Diaspora, Israel and Critique (Edinburgh University Press, 2015) and How to Save Politics in a Post-Truth Era (Manchester University Press, 2017). He has also published numerous academic articles on Jewish identity and security, including Diasporic Security and Jewish Identity in the journal Modern Jewish Studies (2014).

Ilan is a "reluctant Zionist" and I don't know many Zionists so I wanted to ask him about that. Unlike many of my podcasts, this one is actually pretty focused on this one topic. We also discuss some tangents of this question, mostly relating to ideology and the culture wars, etc. After some chit-chat, the conversation really kicks off around the 14 minute mark.

Gabby Dizon is the founder of Yield Guild Games ($YGG), a decentralized autonomous organization that lends video-game assets to professional gamers for profit. Like a "World of Warcraft guild with a balance sheet." Their serious gamers earn around $1,000/month on average, sometimes much more. Remittances from the game Axie Infinity to the Philippines are greater than remittances from Hong Kong.

Gabby Dizon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/gabusch

Yield Guild Games: https://yieldguild.io/

Other Life

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IndieThinkers.org

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Geoffrey Miller is an evolutionary psychology professor at the University of New Mexico in the USA, and is best known for his books The Mating Mind (2001), Mating Intelligence (2008), Spent (2009), and Mate (2015). He has a B.A. from Columbia University and a Ph.D. from Stanford University, and has also worked at NYU Stern Business School, UCLA, and University College London. He has over 120 academic publications addressing sexual selection, mate choice, signaling theory, fitness indicators, consumer behavior, marketing, intelligence, creativity, language, art, music, humor, emotions, personality, psychopathology, and behavior genetics. He has given 192 talks in 16 countries. His research has been featured in Nature, Science, The New York Times, The Washington Post, New Scientist, and The Economist, on NPR and BBC radio, and in documentaries on CNN, PBS, Discovery Channel, National Geographic Channel, and BBC. He has consulted for a variety of Fortune 500 companies, governments, NGOs, advertising agencies, market research companies, and social media companies. He is also active in the Effective Altruism, ancestral health, academic free speech, and polyamory movements. His current priority is leveraging evolutionary psychology insights to reduce the existential risks from Artificial General Intelligence.

Geoffrey's personal website: www.primalpoly.com

Geoffrey on Twitter: @primalpoly

Timestamps:

Capitalism, genetics, intelligence, etc. (00:00)

Polyamory with a purpose? (00:13)

Groups, clans, missions, cults, and the politics of optimal lifestyle design; blockchain polyamory? (00:26)

Public opinion toward free speech; hypothesizing about why some people reject free speech. (00:24)

How long will Trump last? Betting and prediction markets. (00:46)

Geoffrey's advice on how to live an intellectual life. (51:00)

If you like the podcast, you'll love the newsletter: otherlife.co

✦ The Improvement Illusion: otherlife.co/improvement
✦ On the NYRB: otherlife.co/signs78

✦ Join the new Other Life community: imperceptible.country

✦ If you're working on independent intellectual work you should join the next cohort of IndieThinkers.org

Claire Lehmann is Editor of Quillette. I'm starting to play with a slight shift of focus for some of these podcasts. When I talk with really successful and impactful independent intellectuals, I'm going to focus a bit more on learning how the succeeded: strategies, tactics, things like that. Let me know if you like or dislike this direction.

If you'd like to discuss this podcast with me and others, suggest future guests, or read/watch/listen to more content on these themes, request an invitation here.

Are you an independent intellectual? Check out IndieThinkers.org for a sneak peek at my next big project.

Big thanks to all the patrons who support Other Life.

Path started trading crypto when he was 15 and made a ton of money. He's famous for calling the Bitcoin top in 2017 but less known is that he's an OG of the 2015 Meme War and an Urbit bull.

We talked about how meme culture informs his trading strategies; how artists and intellectuals should think about developing crypto projects; what he's bullish on right now, and what he thinks will stand the test of time amid all the hype bubbles rising and falling in recent years. Not financial advice, of course!

➡️  Follow Path at @Cryptopathic on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Cryptopathic

Other Life
✦ Join 6,000+ academics, creators, and investors who read the Other Life newsletter https://OtherLife.co

IndieThinkers.org
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Mike Crumplar (@mcrumps) is one of many strange people who have entered my internet orbit in recent months. I can't tell you much about him because I can't understand or remember anything about anyone I interact with on the internet. In this video chat I will hopefully learn more about him. He recently wrote an essay in Jacobite about Bronze Age Pervert. That will be the initial pretext for our conversation. Where it goes from there, only time will tell.

This conversation was originally livestreamed on Youtube on June 25, 2018.

Mike's article on Bronze Age Pervert

Mike Crumplar's website

You can now support the podcast at patreon.com/jmrphy

Johnathan Bi shares his journey from successful tech founder to independent philosophy lecturer, explaining why he walked away from founder equity to pursue his passion for bringing philosophical works to a broader audience. Through a unique modern patronage model backed by tech leaders, he's creating high-production lecture videos while maintaining his own independence.

The conversation explores how modern education systems, particularly in places like Beijing, systematically push students away from humanities toward technical subjects. Bi offers fascinating insights into the parallels between Renaissance patronage and modern content creation, revealing how he's built sustainable funding relationships while staying true to his scholarly mission. His approach challenges conventional wisdom about career paths and content monetization, suggesting a new model for independent intellectual work in the digital age.

Visit https://OtherLife.co

Signs of Life is my weekly newsletter about philosophy and science on the frontiers of internet culture. Subscribe at https://OtherLife.co.

This podcast is based on Signs #63: Reality Splitters. We explore...

• How to find frontiers
• Mónica Belevan's theory of Covidian Aesthetics
• How to listen to podcasts
• A light for the most midnightly men, according to Nietzsche
• How microdosing works
• News and events coming up (Based Mansion, Austin!)

Links
✦ ȘȈǤƝȘ 63, Reality Splitters: https://www.otherlife.co/signs-reality-splitters/
✦ IndieThinkers.org: https://indiethinkers.org
✦ Philip Monk's How to Find Frontiers https://pcmonk.me/2019/02/19/how-to-find-frontiers.html
✦ Join a Tuesday morning work session: https://lu.ma/fhonr8u8
✦ Edgeware Agency's Discord server: https://discord.gg/JXcdzNeQys
✦ RSVP to Based Mansion: https://jmrphy.typeform.com/mansion-atx#source=pod

Eric Jacobus is a professional stuntman, motion designer, and independent philosopher. He is writing a book called the Art of Violence, about how mirror neurons and mimetic rivalry affect perceptions of violence. We talked about film, how to theorize cinematic violence, René Girard, how social crises change cinematic norms around violence, why mainstream cinema has degenerated so badly, and much more.

Eric Jacobus
The Art of Violence: https://ericjacobus.com/the-art-of-violence/

Eric's Youtube: https://youtube.com/ericjacobusofficial

Rope a Dope (short film): https://youtu.be/G5xAbp1SW5c

Other Life

✦ Join 5,500 academics, creators, and investors who read the Other Life newsletter: https://OtherLife.co

IndieThinkers.org

✦ If you're working on long-term intellectual work outside of institutions, request an invitation at https://indiethinkers.org

What can the ancient philosopher Plato teach us about building a network and thriving in today's intellectual economy? I talk with Alex Petkas, a Princeton PhD in classics, who shares insights on Plato's rise and his brand-building strategies within the decentralized world of Athens in the late fifth and fourth centuries BC, where widespread literacy and the new media technology of writing created an intellectual landscape strikingly similar to the one we inhabit today.

(0:00:00) - Introduction
(0:04:51) - Plato and Ancient Greek Writing
(0:20:04) - Plato's Models and Brand Building
(0:33:55) - Plato's Rise and Influence
(0:43:45) - Plato and the Power of Mystery
(0:52:44) - Plato's Network and Philosophical Training
(1:02:44) - The Economic Machinery of Philosophy
(1:07:56) - Plato's Power Machinery and Business Model
(1:20:29) - Plato's Lessons on Building a Network
(1:25:59) - Plato's Lessons for Decentralized Thinking
(1:35:31) - Alex's Rome Retreat

Alex Petkas | https://ancientlifecoach.com/
Learn more about Alex's upcoming Men's Retreat in Rome: https://ancientlifecoach.com/retreat/

Other Life
✦ Subscribe to the coolest free newsletter in the world and I'll send you all of my private book highlights. https://otherlife.co
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IndieThinkers.org
✦ If you're working on independent projects, join the next cohort of https://IndieThinkers.org

Mónica Belevan is a Peruvian theorist and crypto entrepreneur. She's the author of a newsletter called Covidian Aesthetics and co-founder of a Web3 production studio called Accursed Share. Her current focus is an NFT project called The Curse, which you can search for on Open Sea.

We talk about Georges Bataille and the meaning of energy expenditure in the cryptoeconomy; Spengler, Wittgenstein, and Duchamp; the aesthetics of covid, the sentimentality of markets; the affective drama of Wallstreet Bets; egregoric warfare; and much more.

➡️  Covidian Aesthetics newsletter: https://covidianaesthetics.substack.com

➡️  Accursed Share production studio: https://accursedshare.art

➡️  The Curse NFT: https://accursedshare.art/curse-nft-auction/

Other Life

✦ Join 6,000+ academics, creators, and investors who read the Other Life newsletter https://OtherLife.co

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IndieThinkers.org

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Some reflections on despair, existentialism, and Christianity via Kierkegaard's book The Sickness Unto Death.

➡️ I publish a free weekly newsletter about independent intellectuals on the internet. You should subscribe.

➡️ If you'd like to join my Discord server, request an invitation here.

➡️ Big thanks to my patrons who help me keep the lights on. Patrons get access to a lot of good stuff (including early access to this podcast, a week ago). Consider becoming a patron today.

"So that's how academia got pwned, and that's how I pwned this university." In this short talk, I discuss the purpose of the university, how technological acceleration is overheating academia, how I made the decision to leave academia for full independence on the internet.

If you'd like to discuss this podcast with me and others, suggest future guests, or read/watch/listen to more content on these themes, request an invitation here.

Big thanks to all the patrons who help me keep the lights on.

A lecture on Albert Hirschman's classic book from 1970. More info below.

✦ Read the lecture notes at https://OtherLife.co
✦ Subscribe to the Other Life podcast https://plnk.to/otherlife

Paul Town is an author and all-around star of the internet underground. He has a wild life story involving psychosis, alleged arson, and a ton of writing: In 2019 he wrote 3 books of more than 400 pages each. All of his books are self-published and quite underrated. We talked mostly about writing on the internet, indie publishing, and the internet-insanity nexus. This conversation was quite funny, interesting, and had some real insight around mindset, attitude, and how to live a creative life in the internet age.

✦ Paul Town on Instagram: https://instagram.com/realpaultown

✦ Paul Town's most popular book (comedic non-fiction): It Is the Secret

✦ Paul Town's latest book (novel): Rose

Other Life

✦ Join 5,500 academics, creators, and investors who read the free Other Life newsletter: https://OtherLife.co

IndieThinkers.org

✦ If you're working on long-term intellectual work outside of institutions, request an invitation at https://indiethinkers.org

Subscribe to the podcast wherever you get your podcasts: https://plnk.to/otherlife

✦ Join the 6,000+ who read my writing on philosophy, science, and tech: https://otherlife.co

✦ If you're an independent intellectual working on a serious long-term project, request an invitation at https://indiethinkers.org

Kenny Rowe is an Urbit engineer. He's been working on blockchain projects since 2014, ranging from MakerDao to MetaCartel Ventures. Kenny is a member of the Dalten Collective, a for-profit membership organization rooted in Urbit.

✦ The Dalten Collective on Urbit: dalten.org
✦ Join Urbit with Tlon's new hosting service: tlon.io

✦ Get in touch: otherlife.co/contact

Joey Krug is Co-Chief Investment Officer at Pantera Capital, the biggest crypto hedge fund in the world. Joey's AngelList syndicate is also one of the most successful ever. We talk about Urbit as an investment and how to identify underpriced value more generally.

Joey Krug

✦ Joey on Twitter

✦ Pantera Capital

Other Life

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IndieThinkers.org

✦ If you're working on independent intellectual work, join the next cohort of https://IndieThinkers.org

Mark Beylin is a co-founder of Myco, a platform for Web3 social businesses. Mark is also a writer and he has interesting ideas about the intersection of business, social media, and crypto.

Mark Beylin and Myco
✦ Mark on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MarkBeylin
✦ Myco: https://myco.space/
✦ How Myco works: https://m.mirror.xyz/6UxMOPMAnCZr8XSkhIM2Xx47bZ7X5rColwpnwIDbx5s

Other Life
✦ Join 5,500 academics, creators, and investors who read the Other Life newsletter: https://OtherLife.co

IndieThinkers.org
✦ If you're working on long-term intellectual work outside of institutions, request an invitation at https://indiethinkers.org

Subscribe to my free weekly newsletter on philosophy, science, and internet culture: otherlife.co

✦ Fans of the podcast can support via Patreon: patreon.com/jmrphy
✦ If you're working on your own intellectual projects, check out IndieThinkers.org
✦ Intern Ben's Twitter: twitter.com/b_well_insomnia

Luke Smith was a PhD student in linguistics before he grew his Youtube channel to 168,000 subscribers—with his unique perspectives on digital, financial, and mental sovereignty. This is the first time he's told his story at length.

I invited Luke to be the special guest at this year's mansion because I think he exemplifies the Other Life mentality. Luke has totally exited the institutional grid, he maintains a very independent perspective and lifestyle, and he publishes his ideas to a growing audience without compromising his principles. Luke only uses Free and Open Source Software, does not watch any TV or streaming services, and recently became an Orthodox Christian.

I think you'll find this talk interesting, unique, funny, and inspiring.

A special shoutout goes to Marissa Cade—a longstanding and most valued member of the community—for running the mansion meetup this year. It wouldn't have happened if she didn't volunteer to run it. And she did a great job, so huge thanks Marissa.

Other Life

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IndieThinkers.org

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Aella (@Aella_Girl) is an internet thinker/creator/entrepreneur in the Rationalish sphere. She just launched a new card game called Askhole, research-backed card game designed to generate intense discussion. Aella's currently doing research on people who claim to have experienced Enlightenment. To learn more about Aella, check out her website at https://knowingless.com/.

If you're in the Los Angeles area, I'll be doing a live show of my Other Life podcast on Friday, February 28th. Get tickets here.

If you'd like to discuss this podcast with me and others, suggest future guests, or read/watch/listen to more content on these themes, request an invitation to my free community forum. This podcast is made possible by my patrons so big thanks to them. If you'd like to help expand my operations, you can become a patron yourself.

I'm joined by @lb_dobis, @yung_calibri, @SCHIZO_FREQ, @addytheyoung.

Other Life

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✦ Get a free Urbit planet at https://imperceptible.computer

✦ We're building a new country at https://imperceptible.country

IndieThinkers.org

✦ If you're working on independent intellectual work, join the next cohort of https://IndieThinkers.org

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
✦ Neal on Urbit: ~lagrev-nocfep
✦ Learn Hoon with Neal

Other Life
✦ Subscribe to the coolest newsletter in the world OtherLife.co
✦ Get a free Urbit planet at imperceptible.computer
✦ We're building a new country at imperceptible.country

IndieThinkers.org
✦ If you're working on independent intellectual work, join the next cohort of IndieThinkers.org

Charlie Looker is best known as a musician but he's also a passionate weird-theory lurker in various internet recesses of ill-repute. We've chatted here and there for well more than a year now, so I'm glad to finally sit down with him. Charlie's band, Psalm Zero, just released a new album called Sparta. Sample track from his new album (metal) and another single, Nothing Human (electronic).

If you're in the Los Angeles area, I'll be doing a live show of my Other Life podcast on Friday, February 28th. Get tickets here.

If you'd like to discuss this podcast with me and others, suggest future guests, or read/watch/listen to more content on these themes, request an invitation to my free community forum.

This podcast is made possible by my patrons so big thanks to them. If you'd like to help expand my operations, you can become a patron yourself.

Enroll in the course now: https://otherlife.co/jung
Get the Carl Jung reading list: https://gum.co/jung-guide
Join our Q&A about the course this Saturday: https://lu.ma/jung-qa

Travis Corcoran worked on startups before he built a homestead and turned to indie book writing and publishing. He recently launched a homesteading book on Kickstarter, which insanely crushed its goal. He describes himself as a "Catholic anarcho-capitalist software-engineering hobo farmer." You can get his homesteading book and support his work on Kickstarter.

➡️  If you'd like to discuss this podcast with me and others, suggest future guests, or read/watch/listen to more content on these themes, request an invitation at theotherlifenow.com/join.

➡️  Patrons get early access to podcasts, not-yet-published writings, videos from my paid courses, and more. Become a patron at https://patreon.com/jmrphy.

Dr. Jonathan Paprocki is a specialist in topological quantum compiling and an Urbit engineer interested in swarm intelligence, Internet of Things, and anarcho-communist governance structures.

✦ Jonathan on Urbit: ~datnut-pollen

✦ Get your own Urbit planet at imperceptible.computer
✦ Subscribe to the Other Life newsletter at OtherLife.Co

Nina Power is a British philosopher. She is teaching an online course about Ivan Illich at https://IllichCourse.com.

✦ We made a detailed syllabus for anyone interested in exploring Illich further. Download it at https://IllichCourse.com

✦ Are you working on long-term intellectual work? Request an invitation to https://IndieThinkers.org

I discuss my theory of reality forking with two tech entrepreneurs who specialize in community business models.

✦ Greg Isenberg (@gregisenberg) is CEO of product studio Late Checkout
✦ Erik Torenberg (@eriktorenberg) is co-founder of On Deck

We discuss:
- How society got to a place where it lost its collective sense-making abilities.
- Why calibrating what is real is harder than ever.
- Signs that your community is working and what makes it flourish. 

Logistical acceleration refers to the logistic function, otherwise known as an S-shaped growth curve. Techno-economic interactivity is a key postulate of Land's ideas. Elsewhere, he will frequently use the adjective techonomic.

Other Life

✦ Subscribe to the coolest newsletter in the world https://OtherLife.co

✦ Get a free Urbit ship at https://imperceptible.computer

✦ We're building a new country at https://imperceptible.country

IndieThinkers.org

✦ If you're working on independent intellectual work, join the next cohort of https://IndieThinkers.org

We talked about the Joker film right after we saw it. We discuss mental illness, heredity, violence, the 1970s, praying, silly health foods, and the quantum incel multiverse.

Big thanks to all the patrons who help me keep the lights on.

If you'd like to discuss this podcast with me and others, suggest future guests, or read/watch/listen to more content on these themes, request an invitation here.

Josh Rosenthal is a former academic historian and a specialist in the European Renaissance and Wars of Religion. He's now a serial founder and crypto investor. We discuss parallels between the crypto revolution today and the Renaissance, the Reformation, and the Wars of Religion. If you listened to Josh's recent appearance on the Bankless podcast, this is like a Part 2.

Josh Rosenthal

Twitter: https://twitter.com/joshuarosenthal

6th Event, a crypto-first founder's fund: https://www.go6ixthevent.com/

Other Life

✦ Join 5,500 academics, creators, and investors who read the Other Life newsletter: https://OtherLife.co

IndieThinkers.org

✦ If you're working on long-term intellectual work outside of institutions, request an invitation at https://indiethinkers.org

On muddling through, faith, and the absurdity of pursuing a singular creative vision on the open market...

A story about the past few months of Other Life (and the next few).

✦ If you’re in the Los Angeles area, come to our meetup tomorrow Friday Dec. 1 at 3pm in Santa Monica. RSVP here.

Other Life

✦ Subscribe to the coolest newsletter in the world https://otherlife.co

✦ Become a member https://otherlife.co/upgrade

Ellie Hain and Joe Edelman are itinerant thinkers designing a new kind of social movement. We discuss what they've learned from Charles Taylor and Amartya Sen, why Effective Altruism can be so cringe, Joe's role building Couchsurfing.com, and much more.

Ellie Hain

Joe Edelman

Other Life

✦ Subscribe to the coolest newsletter in the world OtherLife.co

✦ Get a free Urbit ship at imperceptible.computer

✦ We're building a new country at imperceptible.country

The absolute final word on all social-scientific questions related to Tiger King, the recent Netflix documentary. Taking questions from Twitter, we analyze: Why these tiger-breeding cult leaders score hot chicks (and guys, including straight guys!), the personality traits of these people, the ethical culpability of Joe vs. Carole, the ethics of animal breeding in general, etc. We also highlight multiple feasible equilibria in which Carole and Joe cooperate to reduce animal suffering.

Follow Geoffrey Miller on Twitter and Youtube. You can also listen to this podcast on Geoffrey's channel.

Follow Diana Fleischman on Twitter and Youtube.

👉 I'm currently hosting free, group work sessions on Zoom every Tuesday at 11am Eastern! We meet for 4 hours to do focused, private work on our personal intellectual and creative projects. Sign up here.

👉 If you'd like to discuss this podcast with me and others, suggest future guests, or read/watch/listen to more content on these themes, request an invitation to my free Discord server.

👉 This podcast is made possible by my patrons so big thanks to them. If you'd like to help expand my operations, you can become a patron yourself.

Ben Sixsmith (@BDSixsmith) is a British writer based in Poland. He has a new book out, called Kings & Comedians: A Brief History of British-Polish Relations. His work has appeared in The Catholic Herald, The Spectator US, and Quillette, among other places. I find Ben interesting because he writes sympathetically of religion, although he's not religious. We talk about this, being immigrants, Brexit, and other topics relating to the pathologies of secular cosmopolitanism. Find Ben's website at bsixsmith.wixsite.com/home.

This conversation was first recorded as a livestream on Youtube. Subscribe to my channel with one click, then click the bell to receive notifications when future livestreams begin.

Big thanks to all the patrons who keep this running.

Ted Blackman is a senior engineer at Tlon and one of the most advanced Urbit engineers in the world. We discuss how Urbit will get faster, how it will scale to billions of users, and how Urbit fits into the blockchain ecosystem. In some ways Urbit is like a blockchain, in other ways Urbit is the categorical dual of the blockchain, soon there will be a blockchain built on top of Urbit, and more.

✦ Ted on Urbit: ~rovnys-ricfer

✦ Get your own Urbit planet at imperceptible.computer
✦ Subscribe to the Other Life newsletter at OtherLife.Co

We react to schizo TikTok simps and Eric Weinstein's paranoia.

✦ Please leave a review for the podcast at https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/other-life/id1195362330
✦ My free weekly newsletter on philosophy, science, and tech: https://otherlife.co/newsletter
✦ Fans of the podcast can join the tokenized Discord server: https://otherlife.co/join
✦ If you're working on your own intellectual projects, check out https://IndieThinkers.org
✦ Subscribe to Ben's Twitter at twitter.com/b_well_insomnia

I speak with Chad A. Haag of the Chadafrican Philosophy channel. Chad wrote a short book called A Critique of Transcendental Memology, which seeks to join "the insights of John Michael Greer, Dmitry Orlov, and Richard Heinberg with the philosophical rigor of Aristotle, Kant, Zizek, and Heidegger."

Big thanks to all the patrons who help me keep the lights on.

If you'd like to discuss this podcast with me and others, suggest future guests, or read/watch/listen to more content on these themes, request an invitation here.

This conversation was first recorded on April 9, 2019 as a livestream on Youtube. To receive notifications when future livestreams begin, subscribe to my channel with one click, then click the little bell.

Akira runs Lovecrypt, an indie digital-first music label.

Akira: https://twitter.com/lovecryption

Lovecrypt: https://lovecrypt.bandcamp.com/

Other Life live show and Based Mansion in LA, Feb 28 - March 1

On February 28 I'll be doing a live podcast show in Los Angeles. You can get tickets here. From that night until the morning of Sunday March 1, I will also be hosting internet friends in a mansion I'm renting lol. If you're interested, request a spot here.

If you'd like to join my Discord server, request an invitation here.

Big thanks to all the patrons who help me keep the lights on!

Nick Land is a British philosopher living in Shanghai. Nick is one of the main figures in the school of thought known as accelerationism. He is currently writing a book about the philosophical implications of Bitcoin. We talked about accelerationism, cybernetics, ideology, the evolution of Nick’s perspective, Deleuze and Guattari, emancipation and dehumanization, artificial intelligence, capitalism, Moldbug, mathematics and the significance of zero, religion, blockchain/Bitcoin, Kantianism, synthetic time, and more.

We recorded this online, over two sessions. We did have some unavoidable connection problems, so you'll notice some imperfections such as clicking sounds throughout. We did the best we could; big thanks to those who helped with the editing.

A few people are now helping to make a full-text transcript of this conversation, which will be available soon at Vast Abrupt (vastabrupt.com).

Don't forget to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

Johnathan Bi is a founder and independent scholar working on René Girard. Johnathan just published a professionally-produced YouTube series on Girard, in collaboration with David Perell. We discuss the concept of metaphysical desire, how to engineer social environments for productive mimesis, whether Girard can be separated from Christianity (Johnathan thinks he can), and the strategy behind Johnathan's new lecture series on YouTube.

To learn more about and watch/listen to the first episode, check out: https://twitter.com/JohnathanBi/status/1530297358432407553

Johnathan Bi

✦ Johnathan's website

✦ Johnathan on Twitter

Other Life

✦ Subscribe to the coolest newsletter in the world OtherLife.co

✦ We're building a new country at imperceptible.country

IndieThinkers.org

✦ If you're working on independent intellectual work, join the next cohort of IndieThinkers.org

I'm joined by the half-wolf, half-kitten girl who appeared in a recent viral video. This video took her from 47 Twitter followers to about 18,000 and so she's gone to LA. She told me that when she had a baby, she decided to go all-in on being a full-time crazy person on the internet. She explains her life philosophy of not planning anything, not worrying, and relying on the kindness of strangers. This podcast had some good laughs but also a surprising number of quite human moments, I thought. See her viral video on her Twitter account @gaywithyourdad.

Other Life will soon have its first live show.

On February 28, I'll be doing a live podcast show in Los Angeles. If you're in the area, buy a ticket here ($15).

From that night until the morning of Sunday March 1, I will also be hosting internet friends in a Based Mansion lol. If you're interested, request a spot here. There are a few price points for any income level.

If you'd like to discuss this podcast with me and others, suggest future guests, or read/watch/listen to more content on these themes, request an invitation here.

Big thanks to all the patrons who help me keep the lights on.

Find Nicole at twitter.com/nwilliams030.

➡️ Patrons get early access to podcasts, not-yet-published writings, videos from my paid courses, and more. Become a patron at https://patreon.com/jmrphy.

➡️ If you'd like to discuss this podcast with me and others, suggest future guests, or read/watch/listen to more content on these themes, request an invitation at theotherlifenow.com/join.

I'm joined by author William Egginton to discuss his new book The Rigor of Angels. We talk Borges, Kant, and Heisenberg—and the big idea(s) they had in common. We discuss the antimonies of knowledge and the possibility that art is their solution. We discuss Coltrane, intelligence, creativity, biography, academia, and specialization vs. generalism. At the end, we discuss writing and publishing, the changing landscape of the book publishing industry, and how to think about writing for different audiences.

Chapters:
(0:00:00) - The Rigor of Angels
(0:10:43) - The Antinomies of Knowledge
(0:19:55) - Impact of Great Art and Thinkers
(0:23:41) - Curiosity and Conviviality
(0:30:31) - Creativity and Intelligence
(0:43:28) - The Future of Writing and Publishing
(0:49:27) - Academic vs. Popular Writing

William Egginton:
✦ Buy the Rigor of Angels: https://amzn.to/3Rj3fDV
✦ William on Twitter: https://twitter.com/WilliamEgginton

Other Life
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✦ Become a member. https://otherlife.co/upgrade

IndieThinkers.org
✦ If you're an independent writer, join the next cohort of https://IndieThinkers.org

Rachel Haywire is a futurist and industrial musician. She tells me she is running for President of the United States as a candidate for the Transhumanist Party. She recently wrote a book called The New Art Right.

If you'd like to discuss this podcast with me and others, suggest future guests, or read/watch/listen to more content on these themes, request an invitation here.

This conversation was first recorded on May 2, 2019 as a livestream on Youtube. To receive notifications when future livestreams begin, subscribe to my channel with one click, then click the little bell.

Big thanks to all the patrons who help me keep the lights on.

Get our free Bataille study guide and learn more about our online course at theotherlifenow.com/bataille.

➡️  If you'd like to discuss this podcast with me and others, suggest future guests, or read/watch/listen to more content on these themes,  request an invitation at theotherlifenow.com/join.

➡️  Patrons get early access to podcasts, not-yet-published writings, videos from my paid courses, and more. Become a patron at https://patreon.com/jmrphy.

This is the Preface to my book Based Deleuze. You can buy the book, the audiobook, or even a short video course here. Paperback soon!

Are you working on your own idea in some hidden recess of the internet? Have a sneak peek at my next big project: IndieThinkers.org

Big thanks to my patrons, who make this podcast possible.

Eli Schiff (@eli_schiff) is a design critic and UI designer. His latest book is called Uber's Undoing, which you can learn more about on Eli's website: http://www.elischiff.com/.

Big thanks to all the patrons who help me keep the lights on.

If you'd like to discuss this podcast with me and others, suggest future guests, or read/watch/listen to more content on these themes, request an invitation here. This conversation was first recorded on October 16, 2018 as a livestream on Youtube. To receive notifications when future livestreams begin, subscribe to my channel with one click, then click the little bell.

We dissect the complex life of Ezra Pound, one of the most interesting and controversial poetic geniuses of the 20th century. You'll gain insight into: Why Pound was so influential, his extraordinary talent-spotting skills, and his knack for turning vibrant social scenes into artistic movements. However, be prepared for a rollercoaster ride, as we also delve into the darker sides of Pound's life, including his descent into Fascism and anti-semitism. I believe the story is a cautionary tale about resentment, the modern passion par excellence, and a dangerous trap for people who rebel against institutions.

This podcast will help you understand Pound's poetic and cultural innovations, including Imagism and Vorticism, and how his strong opinions and unique perspective propelled him, despite his controversial and often off-putting personality. We'll recount his turbulent career during WWI and WWII, his friendship with W.B. Yeats, the launch of Blast Magazine, and much more.

This podcast is based on a close reading of Ezra Pound: The Solitary Volcano (1987) by John Tytell.

Chapters

(0:00:00) - Intro
(0:04:04) - Summary of Lessons From Ezra Pound's Life
(0:17:22) - Dense Networks and Creative Success
(0:26:26) - Imagism and Vorticism
(0:37:05) - Wyndham Lewis and Blast Magazine
(0:42:41) - A Restless and Controversial Personality
(0:53:07) - Taste, Talent-Spotting, and Pound's Extreme Generosity
(1:04:52) - Downward Spiral
(1:18:29) - Ezra Pound's Reflections Late in Life
(1:22:07) - Final Lessons

Other Life
✦ Subscribe to the coolest newsletter in the world. https://otherlife.co
✦ Join the community and get the bi-annual print edition by becoming a member. https://otherlife.co/upgrade

IndieThinkers.org

✦ If you're working on independent intellectual work, join the next cohort of https://IndieThinkers.org

• (00:00) - Overview
• (04:04) - Summary of Lessons From Ezra Pound's Life
• (17:22) - Intense Friendships and Creative Success
• (26:26) - Imagism and Vorticism
• (37:05) - Wyndham Lewis, Blast Magazine
• (42:41) - A Restless and Controversial Personality
• (53:07) - Taste, Talent-Spotting, and Pound's Extreme Generosity
• (01:04:52) - Downward Spiral Into Fascism
• (01:18:29) - Ezra Pound's Reflections Late in Life
• (01:22:07) - Final Lessons

I explore Nietzsche's critique of Christianity in The Genealogy of Morals, and specifically how it stands against what we find in the New Testament, especially the Gospel of John. Nietzsche’s understanding of Christian belief as naive and slavish is inconsistent with the sophisticated epistemology presented by John. I discuss the pursuit of truth, the function of miracles, and the essence of sin according to John. Christ seems to be advocating for the pursuit of truth, not some kind of naive, blind faith. Nietzsche’s accusations against Christianity just don't hold up, and probably reflect his own personal struggles with resentment.

Other Life
✦ The coolest free newsletter in the world: https://otherlife.co
✦ The monthly PRINT edition: https://otherlife.co/upgrade
✦ My new book, The Independent Scholar: https://otherlife.co/scholar

• (00:00) - Nietzsche vs. John
• (02:28) - Introduction
• (05:27) - Nietzsche's Critique of Christianity
• (09:42) - Christ on Truth and Belief in John
• (20:06) - The Rationality of Christianity
• (26:36) - Knowledge and Ethics
• (31:41) - Nietzsche's Critique of Truth
• (36:02) - Truth and Freedom

It's widely believed the YouTube algorithm radicalizes viewers but Mark's research puts this theory to rest. Researcher and longtime member of the Other Life community, Mark Ledwich, has been studying the YouTube algorithm independently for several years. His research has been published in academic journals and now on a public website called transparency.tube. He joins the podcast to discuss how the YouTube algorithm really works, what everyone is getting wrong, and why it matters. He also comes to pick a bone with my position on shoplifting from self-checkout kiosks.

Check out Mark's research at transparency.tube.

Follow Mark on Twitter at https://twitter.com/mark_ledwich

Other Life

 ✦ Subscribe to the coolest newsletter in the world https://OtherLife.co

 ✦ Get a free Urbit ship at https://imperceptible.computer

 ✦ We're building a new country at https://imperceptible.country

IndieThinkers.org

 ✦ If you're working on independent intellectual work, join the next cohort of https://IndieThinkers.org

Anthony Arroyo runs The Combine, a startup incubator for startups building on Urbit. We discuss how Urbit governance really works, debunking the many myths, i.e. the meme that Urbit has a "feudal" or even "fascist" governance structure. We also discuss how Urbit competes with Ethereum, what kinds of businesses are starting to appear on Urbit, and many other interesting topics.

✦ Anthony on Urbit: ~poldec-tonteg

✦ Get your own Urbit planet at imperceptible.computer
✦ Subscribe to the Other Life newsletter at OtherLife.Co

We discuss the imminent social and political consequences of "deepfake" technology (fake multimedia indistinguishable from the real thing). Geoffrey Miller is an evolutionary psychologist. Pre-order his ebook, "Virtue Signaling: Essays on Darwinian Politics, Language Games, & Free Speech" — Geoffrey also has a new Youtube channel, which you can subscribe to here.

Big thanks to all the patrons who help me keep the lights on.

If you'd like to discuss this podcast with me and others, suggest future guests, or read/watch/listen to more content on these themes, request an invitation here.

This conversation was first recorded on July 19, 2019 as a livestream on Youtube. To receive notifications when future livestreams begin, subscribe to my channel with one click, then click the little bell.

Razib Khan is a geneticist, blogger, and man about the internet. Razib is the kind of extremely online intellectual we like here at Other Life. Razib has written for publications including The New York Times, India Today, National Review Online, Slate, and The Guardian.

Razib and I talked about the present and near-future of personal genomics; why Razib thinks Elizabeth Warren's genetic claims are reasonable (though Razib is a conservative); is 23andme worth it?; how sperm banks work; why skilled immigrants don't want to stay in the US anymore; why Razib doesn't like science videos on Youtube, etc. We also discussed academia vs. the internet, and different monetization models for intellectual work.

This conversation was first recorded as a livestream on Youtube. You can subscribe to my channel with one click, then click the bell to receive notifications when future livestreams begin.

As always, big thanks to all my patrons — I really could not keep all this running without you.

On the naked anti-Brexit academic lady, my fondness for youthful romantic insurrectionary anarchism, and my take on the Resurrection of Jesus Christ — are we really supposed to believe a guy died and rose from the dead? This was first recorded on February 17, 2019 as a livestream on Youtube. To receive notifications when future livestreams begin, subscribe to my channel with one click, then click the little bell. If you'd like to discuss these topics with me and others, suggest future guests, or read/watch/listen to more content on these themes, request an invitation here.

Big thanks to all the patrons who help me keep the lights on.

Dryden Brown is building a new kind of city, from the cloud, in a style he calls hero-futurism.

✦ bluebookcities.com

✦ @drydenwtbrown

✦ https://www.drydenbrown.org/

In the most underrated work of social theory from the 1990s, Nick Land presents a sweeping theory of modernity.

With about 3,500 words and only 4 citations, Meltdown seems to comprehend—and arguably foretell—a range of momentous historical developments that will only arrive decades later. From cryptocurrency to the Covid pandemic, Meltdown sees it all coming.

And yet, few social scientists have ever deigned to take this work seriously.

The time is nigh. otherlife.co/renaissance-rationalization

Other Life

✦ Subscribe to the coolest newsletter in the world https://OtherLife.co

✦ We're building a network state https://imperceptible.country

IndieThinkers.org

✦ If you're working on creative or intellectual work, join the next cohort of https://IndieThinkers.org

Jeremy Kauffman is the CEO of LBRY, a free, decentralized, blockchain-based digital content platform. We discuss the benefits and drawbacks of decentralized content platforms for independent intellectuals.

https://lbry.com — https://lbry.tv

If you'd like to discuss this podcast with me and others, suggest future guests, or read/watch/listen to more content on these themes, request an invitation to my free community forum.

Are you an independent intellectual? I'm building a private membership community for those of us getting serious about increasing our impact and financial success. If this sounds like you, request an invitation at IndieThinkers.org.

This podcast is made possible by my patrons so big thanks to them. If you'd like to help expand my operations, you can become a patron yourself.

Audio of my talk given at the first Diffractions/Sdbs workshop on Patchwork. My thesis is that rigorous (voluntary) enforcement of honesty using blockchain + IoT (Internet of Things) presents an opportunity for leftists to solve the game-theoretic problems of communism in a potentially scalable way. I got flak for this being "fascist," which led me to write a short extension and clarification entitled, Fascism Over Yourself Is Called Autonomy. 

You can read the transcript of this podcast here.

Diffractions Collective: https://www.diffractionscollective.org

SDBS: https://sdbs.cz

If you'd like to discuss this podcast with me and others, suggest future guests, or read/watch/listen to more content on these themes, request an invitation here.

Big thanks to all the patrons who help me keep the lights on

This conversation was first recorded on September 22, 2018 as a livestream on Youtube. To receive notifications when future livestreams begin, subscribe to my channel with one click, then click the little bell.