Other Life

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/rebelwisdomOther Life✦ I write a free newsletter about philosophy, science, and tech to +6,000 academics, creators, founders, and hackers. Subscribe at https://otherlife.co✦ If you like the podcast, do me a favor and leave a review on Apple podcasts! https://otherlife.co/reviewIndieThinkers.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

If you like the show, please leave a review on Apple Podcasts: OtherLife.co/review✦ Get our Ivan Illich reading list at IllichCourse.com✦ Subscribe to the newsletter at OtherLife.co✦ If you're working on long-term intellectual work outside of institutions, request an invitation at 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

Wolf Tivy is Editor-in-Chief of Palladium Magazine. We discuss Wolf's theory of how a network of outsider seed institutions can reboot the US government; Palladium's aesthetic of Luxury Political Theory; why Palladium is structured as a non-profit; how they're layering in community features via Patreon; and why cloud countries and charter cities are unlikely to succeed without going through the US government.✦ Wolf Tivy: http://wolftivy.com/✦ Palladium Magazine: https://palladiummag.com/✦ Get Palladium's beautiful print mag: https://www.patreon.com/palladium✦ I write a free newsletter to more than 6,000 academics, founders, investors, and indie thinkers. Subscribe at https://otherlife.co✦ Are you working on long-term intellectual work? Request an invitation to https://IndieThinkers.org

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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

Jacob's Twitter: @cryptochamomileAdam's site: http://counterengineer.com/blogContain podcast: https://www.patreon.com/contain

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

Is Satanism going mainstream, or is it angelicism in disguise?With Barrett.✦ Download the René Girard reading list at girardcourse.com​✦ Request an invitation to indiescholars.org

Geoff Shullenberger is a lecturer at NYU. Download his free Girard study guide at GirardCourse.com. Learn more about Geoff Shullenberger✦ Outsider Theory newsletter: OutsiderTheory.com✦ Outsider Theory podcast: OutsiderTheory.fireside.fm✦ Geoff on Twitter: twitter.com/daily_barbarianJoin us for Geoff's 8-week course on René Girard✦ GirardCourse.comWorking on your own research or creative work?✦ Request an invitation to IndieThinkers.orgIn this podcast, we discuss:Week 1: Introduction to Mimetic TheoryWeek 2: Rivalry, Resentment, and ConversionWeek 3: The Founding Murder, the Scapegoat, and SacrificeWeek 4: Deciphering MythWeek 5: The Scandal of ChristianityWeek 6: Girard Contra Nietzsche and FreudWeek 7: The Persistence of Scapegoating

My take on Eric Weinstein's long-awaited research paper, and other cringe coming out of the Rogansphere.✦ Text me at +1 (303) 529-2047, I want to hear what you think✦ Download the René Girard reading list at girardcourse.com​✦ Request an invitation to IndieThinkers.org​

Samo Burja is the founder of a consultancy called Bismarck Analysis, but he's interesting to me primarily as a theorist and researcher who has carved out an impressive niche for himself as an independent intellectual. I've invited Samo on the podcast to learn more about his ideas, but also to look under the hood of his larger operation because I think there's a lot to learn there, especially for all the rest of us who are finding our own ways to conduct professional-level intellectual work outside of traditional institutions.Samo's website: samoburja.comSamo's book, Great Founder Theory: samoburja.com/gftSamo's Twitter: twitter.com/samoburjaBismarck Analysis: bismarckanalysis.com✦ If you're doing intellectual work outside of institutions, check out 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✦ Working on your own intellectual project? Go to 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

Recorded in-person during the recent collapse of the Texas electrical grid, 20-year-old Sierra Armor explains everything you ever wanted to know about the difference between Gen-Z art hoes, edgelord e-girls, quirked up shawties, and what these mysterious young women are looking for in a potential podcaster BF. We also learn what the younger e-girls think about: Deanna Havas, Cum Town, Tim Dillon, Kantbot, Anna Khachiyan, Thomas777, Paul Town, and many more.Connect with Sierra Armor aka Unbridled Id✦ Sierra on Twitter: @unbridled_id✦ Sierra on Instagram: instagram.com/unbridled_id✦ Sierra's quirked up Substack: sierraarmour.substack.comConnect with the Other Life podcast✦ Text me anything at +1 (303) 529-2047, I'm trying to connect with listeners more✦ I write a free weekly letter to 6k indie thinkers: OtherLife.coSupport the Other Life podcast✦ Leave a review on Apple Podcasts✦ Support Other Life on Patreon at patreon.com/jmrphyAre you working on a long-term intellectual project?✦ Request an invitation to IndieThinkers.org

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

✦ Subscribe to the podcast and leave a review at https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/other-life/id1195362330✦ My free weekly newsletter on philosophy, science, and tech: otherlife.co/newsletter✦ Fans of the podcast should join the Discord server: otherlife.co/join✦ If you're working on your own intellectual projects, request an invite to IndieThinkers.org

Check out IdeaMarket at https://ideamarket.io and learn more about Mike's writings at ribbonfarm.com/author/harmonylion.✦ Every week I send a letter to more than 5,000 writers, creators, founders, and investors: otherlife.co/newsletter✦ Subscribe to the Other Life podcast and leave a review at https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/other-life/id1195362330

To join the live podcasts, subscribe to the Youtube channel and click the bell to be notified whenever I go live: https://www.youtube.com/justinmurphy?sub_confirmation=1✦ Fans of the podcast can join my new tokenized Discord server: https://otherlife.co/join✦ Other independent intellectuals should check out: https://IndieThinkers.org

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

B just moved to Austin too—we talk about quirked up shawties and normie bug ontology so don't listen if you only like my serious podcasts.

This week was one of the craziest weeks in the history of American finance. Jacob explains the whole story of how the Reddit community Wallstreetbets is tanking a prestigious Wall Street hedge fund.✦ Find Jacob on Youtube at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkAiIqyVMwIolQnlDQ2af4g✦ Find Jacob on Twitter, @cryptochamomile✦ My newsletter is read by thousands of creators, academics & founders: otherlife.co/newsletter

I discuss my recent move to Austin TX, chaos at the Capitol, and the parallels between Bitcoin and Christianity with Jacob (@cryptochamomile).➡️ Jacob's Youtube channel

John David Ebert is a cultural critic and the author of 26 books, including Art After Metaphysics, The New Media Invasion, The Age of Catastrophe and Dead Celebrities, Living Icons.This is a warm-up for an 8-week course on Carl Jung, starting on February 20th.✦ Get our Carl Jung reading list at otherlife.co/jung✦ John David Ebert on Twitter: @johndavidebert

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/

Get the free, expertly curated reading list at otherlife.co/straussThis 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/straussMichael Millerman received his PhD from the University of Toronto. He's taught and published extensively on Leo Strauss. Michael's website: michaelmillerman.ca

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 DeckWe 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.

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

Tom Kaczynski is a successful indie thinker in a most challenging niche: Philosophy comics. Over 10 years, Tom K. has built an impressive little empire as an independent illustrator, teacher, and publisher. In this podcast, he teaches us how he did it.➡️ Tom's Cartoon Dialectics: https://uncivilizedbooks.com/shop/cartoon-dialectics/➡️ Tom's Blog: http://www.transatlantis.net/blog/➡️ Tom's column at The Comics Journal: http://www.tcj.com/category/columns/event-horizon/➡️. Uncivilized Books: http://uncivilizedbooks.com✦ If you're working on your own independent intellectual project, check out IndieThinkers.org (where I first met Tom!)

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.

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

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

Neo-China arrives from the future, as a networked and monetized video platform called Superpeer. Anirudh Pai explains why he believes education will merge with the influencer economy, in the form of paid video-calling. Other topics include George Orwell, Africa, and Reed's Law (the lesser known cousin of Metcalfe's Law).✦ Anirudh's newsletter: electricsheep.substack.com✦ Anirudh's podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/conservative-curious/id1517105543On where the truth takes placeThink about it like this, the most interesting conversations always happen after class. What if there was a way to bring that online and make it also shared? People don't really want everything layered over with a veneer of political correctness. A lot of people just want the truth, and the truth is often found, not in classrooms, but in the bar, two miles away where everyone gets together, just as it is in Davos... What the West will learn from video culture in ChinaThe consumer culture in China is radically different than anywhere else in the world. And that's namely through video. People have been doing this way longer than in the West and influencer culture, you can say, started and became popular in China.And that's because of the array of platforms that many of these influencers had. And when we think about an influencer, it's not really just somebody who's an Instagram model. All of us have specific knowledge in one domain. And they found ways to monetize that through all these different platforms. So you can look at Youku, which is like the Chinese YouTube, they might have these private WeChat groups and they might do live streaming events with this group and they're essentially living in video. So their entire day is just hopping from different video platforms to one another. They monetize through that. And for a lot of people, that's their job. That is what they do. And that's a very respectable career.One example of that I always remember is Sina Weibo, which is what people call the Twitter of China. To give you an idea of how early China was on their shift, in 2018 Sina Weibo did about $35 million, paying out creators with about, I think, 2 million paid subscribers overall.And the way they made money was, they had a 70/30 revenue share, but that's pretty crazy still. That people have been doing this in the East way longer than in the West.On Reed's Law and Superpeer's vision for networked videoSo a network effect is where the marginal benefit to each user increases as another user gets added, like Facebook, but what many people don't know is Reed's law, which is that the utility of these very massive networks scale exponentially with the network as well. So what that means is, when you have a big Facebook group, people split off into microcosms, right? And so it's like almost a Petri dish where some groups come together, others go around, and they're still finding their fit. But we have these various Schelling points where people come together and that's really the reason behind the Superpeer brand approach, which is... You might have these massive communities, thousands and thousands of people, but look at how many of those people talk. It's not actually very many, right? How many of your friends on Facebook do you interact with on the daily? Probably less than 10%, right? It's not a big sum by any means. And so when you want to design something like this, one thing you have to wonder is, how can we, from top to bottom, create the best experience and make it very easy for people to connect with one another, even inside networks, and make these communities that have thousands of people even more engaged by letting various members come together in these smaller groups and create those bonds? That, I think, nobody else is doing.

Default Friend writes a personal advice newsletter, defaultfriend.substack.com. We discuss how Default met two different boyfriends through Twitter, how she networked her way into tech without tech skills, some copywriting tips for creators, and my idea to create an arranged marriage agency (she's now on the team helping to build it).➡️ If you'd like an arranged marriage (arranged by us), signup here real quick: https://defaultefriend.typeform.com/to/BCsFKG16➡️ If you're trying to get serious about your own intellectual work, request an invitation to IndieThinkers.org.➡️ If you just want to support what I'm doing and get some cool stuff, consider becoming a patron at patreon.com/jmrphy.

Marriage is crazy. You’re right to think, “I’m not sure. What if it doesn’t work out? I lose so many options, etc.” It’s an impossible-to-guarantee decision with huge downsides. But if you do it right, the upside arguably approaches infinity. People postpone marriage for the same reason they're becoming less religious: we've lost the capacity for faith.➡️ I might build an arranged marriage agency: defaultefriend.typeform.com/to/BCsFKG16➡️ Submit a question for the podcast at otherlife.co/contact✦ Big thanks to my patrons who help me keep the lights on! Consider becoming one at patreon.com/jmrphy

Biz Sherbert is a fashion theorist inspired by Mark Fisher, who's figured out how to make academic theory resonate with millions of people on TikTok.➡️ Biz's blog: sherbert.biz➡️ Biz on Instagram: @markfisherquotes➡️ Biz on TikTok: BimboTheoryHow Biz is building a career publishing social theory on TikTokJustin Murphy: How exactly does fashion theory go viral on TikTok?Biz Sherbert: The one that really got big was a video explaining the history of the e-girl heart, which is just a little heart that's drawn onto the cheek of e-girls. It's a really popular makeup style in that group. It actually comes from an 18th-century and earlier European cosmetic tradition of trying to cover up deformities on the face, scars and deformities from smallpox. I think that just hit a sweet spot for people because e-girls are so well known on that platform.I started getting emails from journalists, asking me to provide insight on GenZ TikTok fashion. I've done that a couple times on Cottagecore, Dark Academia, the viral strawberry dress, Simping... They basically will write a story and they'll just look up "Cottagecore." And they'll see a couple people from " the hashtag that are on the top of the hashtag and interview them. Every single person who's found my videos has looked up "Dark Academia" or "Cottagecore" or something, and seen one of my video essays at the top of the hashtag. On the GenZ marriage postponement problemBiz Sherbert: If anyone wants to marry me from the podcast, who's listening, you can DM me @markfisherquotes on Instagram.Justin Murphy: I bet you'll get at least a couple. Just make sure they're not theorycels.➡️ Contact me or submit questions you want me to answer on the podcast at otherlife.co/contact.➡️ If you're working on your own intellectual project, request an invitation to IndieThinkers.org.➡️ Or support the show by becoming a patron at patreon.com/jmrphy.

Max Nussenbaum is an author and entrepreneur who currently runs the On Deck Writing Fellowship, a new Silicon Valley take on modern education and career acceleration. We talk about how On Deck is helping writers become entrepreneurs; how Max bought a mansion in Detroit when he was 23; why JFK is overrated; what cults teach us about community building; and optimal strategy for Who Wants to Be a Millionaire (which Max was on).➡️ On Deck Writing Fellowship is open: beondeck.com/writers➡️ Max on Twitter: @maxnussOn buying a mansion with no money...Max Nussenbaum: We were 23-year-olds when we decided to buy this mansion at a tax auction. And we asked a bunch of other people, we knew some of whom had fixed up houses themselves: "Hey, is it crazy for four 23 year olds who don't know anything about construction to buy a mansion, that's a total tear-down, and try to fix it up themselves?" And that is crazy, just to be clear, like I think in objective reality. And every single person we talked to was like, "Nah, do it, go ahead." It's just like that kind of place. So we purchased, it was just a mansion that had been abandoned. Was a total wreck. It was a seven-bedroom, 3,500 square-foot mansion in what... in 1920 was the richest neighborhood in America. Purchased at tax auction for just over $8,000 that we raised from a Kickstarter...Justin Murphy: Wait, $8,000 total? Max Nussenbaum: Yes, now that's very misleading because we ultimately put over $200,000 into actually fixing up the house. We formed an LLC, found an outside investor. It was essentially a very micro-scale, real estate development project because obviously we did not have anywhere close to $200-grand ourselves. So the $8,000 figure is misleading, but yeah, eight grand and the house was ours. It needed a new roof, new plumbing, new electrical, new wiring, new everything. Justin Murphy: What was the business model though? Max Nussenbaum: It was literally a basic real estate plan. We're going to rehab this house, we're going to rent it out to other young people, as a co-living, co-working space and there's going to be rental income and then eventually we're going to sell it and it's going to be worth a lot more. I would guess it's probably worth $400-$450,000, which would be about double what we spent and put into it.It would have been totally worth it, even if we never made any profits from it.How Max is building the On Deck Writing Fellowship... Max Nussenbaum: I joined [On Deck] to launch a writer fellowship, which is basically for anyone who's writing publicly and independently for the web. I think independent writers are essentially a form of micro entrepreneur, right? If you want to start a newsletter there's so much, you have to learn how to do that goes into that other than just being good at writing.But if you go Google, how to find users, how to get users for your SaSS product, you'll find tons of resources. If you were going to look up how to get readers for your email newsletter, there's really just a comparative dearth of information. And a lot of what you would find is like, assuming your email newsletter is the first part of a sales funnel from a company.And it's going to tell you how to do SEO keyword research, which is... If you're an independent writer who wants to speak or write from the heart about something, you are interested in, that's not really the right approach for you at all. ➡️ If you'd like to join my Discord server, request an invitation here: otherlife.co/join/➡️ Become a patron at patreon.com/jmrphy

Sudarshan Sridharan is a 20-year-old co-founder of the wildfire prediction startup Fion.tech, and co-creator of the Gen Z Mafia. We discuss: How to launch a tech startup when you're only 20; how VCs want deal flow but college kids want party flow; how awkward outcasts can "flip the switch" to start networking; how to use Twitter; and the benefits of being silent and elevating others.➡️ Suds' startup predicting wildfires: Fion.tech➡️ Fion is hiring engineers and enterprise sales (email [email protected])➡️ Follow Sudarshan on Twitter @itzsudsAs soon as I understood, "OK, I talk to much," people don't like this about me, like I lacked social awareness. Then I started really just honing in on that stuff when I was like 16-17ish. By the time I got to college, I immediately flipped the switch from being this kid that was just running businesses and trading stocks to "Yo, I'm a party promoter."Like I literally just showed up to school, carrying around a bag of king-sized Skittles around my dorm, and anybody who was like, "Yo, can I get some Skittles?" I'd be like, "Give me your Snapchat." And so naturally that first day I got... 200 people added me and then one guy was like, "Hey, come to this party."I went to that party. And then I started posting those parties on my Snapchat. So within the first week of school, I had 2000 people who added me, like freshmen who are looking for parties. Very quickly I knew, like how VCs want deal flow, kids want party flow. So if I just give them all these parties, people are gonna like me. From there I realized, "OK, I've got this following. I should probably be using it." So I started like just posting, basically like my Snapchat became my blog, a blog of my life and I learned very quickly how to push content, and that might seem not that important, but I think community building is a lot of... finding people of a general demographic and then adding value to them.✦ To join my Discord server, request an invitation here: otherlife.co/join✦ Big thanks to my patrons. Become one at patreon.com/jmrphy

Brett Goldstein writes the newsletter SocialStudies.news, teaching social science to founders and covering Tech Twitter. We talk about the untapped riches of social science for creators and founders, and how to think about branding and growing content-creation projects from niche academic disciplines. We also talk co-living and hype-house business models, as Brett calls in from OnDeck's Launch House in Tulum, Mexico.The number of different stories in a single newsletter seems inversely correlated to how shareable it is. That’s why newsletters are becoming Wikipedia pages: comprehensive one-stop shops on particular concepts or entities.If indie creators optimize for growth, they’ll just morph into normal businesses. That’s great if you want that, but leaving some optimization on the table probably gives: More longevity (it’s more fun) and uniqueness (personality is a moat).Understand sprezzatura. If it looks like you invested a ton of effort, people are less impressed with your content. They expected better. Crappy production quality sets the expectation bar low, which means your audience gets more dopamine per insight.➡️ Brett's newsletter, SocialStudies.news➡️ Brett on Twitter @thatguyBG➡️ The OnDeck Fellowship at beondeck.com✦ If you're working on your own long-term intellectual project, request an invitation to IndieThinkers.org.

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?

Especially for people like me—if you write mostly about abstract intellectual topics that are not directly useful—writing should be the way you build your audience and not the way you monetize your audience. After you’ve built an email list through consistently publishing your writing for free, you can monetize in other ways, which make more sense and will earn you more money in the long-run. I wrote a blog post about this at otherlife.co/should-you-start-a-substack.➡️ Contact me or submit questions you want me to answer on the podcast at otherlife.co/contact.➡️ If you're working on your own intellectual project, request an invitation to IndieThinkers.org.➡️ If you just like what I'm doing, consider becoming a patron at patreon.com/jmrphy.

I spoke with David Kadavy about what he's learning self-publishing non-fiction books. Really practical and useful for anyone thinking about writing a book. He shares a lot of insider knowledge on Amazon's publishing system, whether and how you should use paid ads, and much more. Check out his work at https://kadavy.net/ and follow him on Twitter at @kadavy.I want to encourage people to publish a book tonight. I actually did this. You can put whatever name you want in the author field, you can publish a 500-word anything tonight, you can run some ads on it, you can try to get a friend to buy it. See what happens, watch your ranking, go through the process. You can unpublish it, if you want. But once you go through that process and once you see your book up on Amazon and you're like, that was scary easy. It really gets your gears going. I have books that are 4,000 words. I've got how to write a book. It's available as a free blog post, but it still makes me thousands of dollars.My strategy was very much: Write about whatever I'm interested in, create content about anything that interests me or anything. Then review, the search traffic and just see what search terms are coming in. Through that process, you can begin to find the things that are interesting to people, and that people will pay for.Eventually you have to make tough choices where you see an opportunity and you can't follow it. So this online dating blog that I was talking about, I made a $150,000 off of this site during its lifetime. I killed it, several months ago. 'Cause sometimes you got to burn your boats, especially if you're a person who's curious.➡️ If you're working on your own intellectual projects, request an invitation to IndieThinkers.org.➡️ Become a patron of the podcast at patreon.com/jmrphy.

A talk I gave to Gen Z Mafia (Gen Z Mafia). Thanks to Emma Salinas (@emmalsalinas) for all the great questions.Works Cited:Hard-Forking RealityOn Liberal PacificationIndieThinkers.orgWhere are the hottest countercultures today? What will happen to academia? What is my advice for young people? What Schelling points will emerge after academia? Why has academia has become left-wing since the 1990s? Can we make society more accepting of weird thinkers? Why do many of the countercultures today have a right-wing tendency? What caused the Left to gain dominance over mainstream institutions? Which conspiracy theories are directionally compelling? Should aspiring authors self-publish or try to get a traditional book deal? What will post-pandemic politics look like? What it's like living with two evolutionary psychologists? How will psychedelic drugs affect politics? What is my long-term vision for IndieThinkers.org?

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.

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.

Paul Skallas aka Lindy Man is an acolyte of Nassim Taleb. He operates a particularly strange and, frankly, dubious hustle selling ebooks. This is a case study on his operation.➡️ Learn more at OtherLife.co➡️ Request an invitation to IndieThinkers.org

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.

Anna Khachiyan from Red Scare tells the story of how she left her PhD program at NYU; how she has more intellectual influence because of it; whether living in NYC is worth it for creators; and many other things. Find Anna on Twitter at @annakhachiyan and Red Scare on Patreon. ➡️ 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.

We look under the hood of Sonya's business operations as a writer and zine-maker.Check out Sonya Mann at sonyasupposedly.com or on Twitter at @SonyaSupposedly.➡️ Learn more at OtherLife.co➡️ Request an invitation to IndieThinkers.org

Aella is a blogger who recently started on OnlyFans, the new decentralized porn platform revolutionizing the adult industry. We talk about the sociology and economics of OnlyFans, and Aella's experiences so far.Follow Aella on Twitter at @Aella_Girl.➡️ Learn more at OtherLife.co➡️ Request an invitation to IndieThinkers.orgNew intro/outro music by composer Philip Daniel via IndieThinkers.org. Check out his Youtube channel.