Other Life

After getting some heat for our livestream together, Nina Power sat down with me in London to set the record straight on her political views. I spoke little and mostly let her riff. I've probably never spoken with anyone whose political ethic comes closer to my own. We pretty much summarize this podcast's concept: A radical left politics of the other life. A radical left politics based on the search for truth, frank speech, and immanent relationships. Part 1 is about Nina's upcoming book, What Do Men Want? Nina addresses the accusation that she's a Men's Rights Activist (MRA); discusses how feminism should think about incels; why women should try to understand concepts popular in MRA circles (e.g., The Game, hypergamy, the "red pill," etc. You can watch a video clip of this part here. Part 2 is about left-paganism, acid communism, and friendship. Nina responds to accusations about "blood and soil" fascism and participating in a "red-brown alliance." We talk about the Outside; philosophy as self-defense; knowing one's own mind, etc. You can watch a video clip of this part here. In Part 3 we talk about human sacrifice; Bataille and the Left-Sacred; on feeling trapped in the depressed radical left; redemption and exit; rectifying mistakes; honesty as freedom; courage; and the bravery of friendship as a portal to what I call (with Foucault) the other life. You can watch a video clip of this part 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 here. Big thanks to all the patrons who help me keep the lights on.

Sonya Ellen Mann runs communications for the Zcash Foundation. Sonya's a thinker and writer interested in economics, tribalism, and cypherpunk. We talk about the Pink Pill, cypherpunk, crypto, and anarcho-capitalism among other things. This was a fun, high-energy romp through a lot of topics... Sonya's website is sonyaellenmann.com and you can find her on Twitter @sonyaellenmann. 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: http://bit.ly/2FAi4g0 This conversation was first recorded as a livestream on Youtube. To participate in future livestreams, 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 help keep this running.

Logo Daedalus is a writer, best known on Twitter (@Logo_Daedalus). He has a new book out, called Selfie, Suicide: or Cairey Turnbull's Blue Skiddoo. We talk about Logo's politics, his experience self-publishing his book, Wyndham Lewis, and the rise of Andrew Yang among the so-called Alt-Right, among other things. 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 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 help keep the lights on.

Nina Power is a philosopher and writer, and DC Miller is a writer best known for his opposition to the Shutdown LD50 campaign. This talk has become quite a scandal. In response to this talk, someone wrote a ridiculous Open Letter Concerning Nina Power, and Nina just today published a response. You can watch the original conversation here, on my Youtube channel. Other Life is a pretty punk-rock-DIY affair, run by one person — and I'm not an audio engineer. As this podcast becomes more popular, I'm aware that I really should up the production quality. If you strongly agree, become a patron; influxes of support incentivize me to invest in production quality. Big thanks to all the current patrons, for helping all this to exist.

DC Miller is a controversial but misunderstood person. He is a writer in London outcast from polite society after his opposition to the Shutdown LD50 campaign two years ago. I've talked with him enough to know he is not the evil caricature his enemies make him out to be, but I still don't understand his views fully. In this livestream we will try to get to the bottom of what DC really thinks. In doing so we make a series of distinctions about conservatives, fascists, neoreactionaries, and free-speech leftists. DC wrote the book, Dracula Rules the World and Mark Zuckerberg is His Son. You can find a list of his other writings at dcxmiller.tumblr.com. This was first recorded on March 8, 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 this podcast with me and others, suggest future guests, or read/watch/listen to more content on these themes, request an invitation. Big thanks to all the patrons who keep this running.

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..."

I'm joined by @systemkei, who works in the field of Automated Reasoning and wrote the article "Pacific Dialectical Materialism:" http://debayou.net/pacific.html 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 Feb 20, 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.

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.

This livestream took place the day after my hearing for "gross misconduct" was scheduled. On being fired vs. resigning — on ruling the void and the work of social scientists such as Peter Mair and Wolfgang Streeck — is Lacan a charlatan? — and how to pick a major. More below... The blog post corresponding to this podcast is: Evaluating Exit Modes: Resign or Be Fired? (How Academia Got Pwned 11) This was first recorded on February 14, 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 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 keep this running.

Christlover2000 is one half of the podcast Girls Chat. You can find them at patreon.com/girlschat. This conversation was first recorded as a livestream on Youtube. Big thanks to all the financial contributors who help to keep this running.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Dave Hoover (@davehoover) is a software engineer and expert developer of Ethereum smart contracts. He wrote the book Apprenticeship Patterns: Guidance for the Aspiring Software Craftsman and runs a distributed software development firm called Red Squirrel. He is currently writing a book on smart-contract development, called Hands-on Smart Contract Development with Solidity and Ethereum. In this podcast, Dave gave me a better understanding of the potential — and the limits — of Ethereum smart contracts. I told Dave about my own ideas (see Reality Patchwork and Neo-Feudal Techno-Communism and Aristocracy and Communism) to see how my intuitions bounced off a technical expert. There's also some good stuff in here for anyone curious about learning to develop their own smart contracts. Big thanks to all the patrons who help keep this podcast going.

CryptoChamomile works in the Silicon Valley crypto space. He was raised a Jehovah's Witness, went secular, then went Christian. We talk about Silicon Valley, the problems with secularism, and why the pull of religion is more rational than people think. CryptoChamomile is on Twitter: @cryptochamomile. CryptoChamomile hosts the Youtube show Conversations with Chamomile. This podcast was originally recorded as a livestream. If you'd like to catch future livestreams, subscribe here and then click the bell to receive a notification every time I go live. This podcast is supported by its listeners. Big thanks to all the patrons of the show.

John David Ebert is a cultural critic and the author of 26 books (with traditional publishers and self-published), including Art After Metaphysics, The New Media Invasion, The Age of Catastrophe and Dead Celebrities, Living Icons. You can support his work at patreon.com/johndavidebert. We talked about John's big ideas regarding long-term cultural dynamics, Oswald Spengler, Marshall McLuhan, Heidegger, film criticism, Jordan Peterson, the history of Christianity and Islam in Europe, John's religious views, John's perspective on psychic mediums, and John's rationale for his willingness to speak with people who have certain objectionable views (people who might be called "alt-right.") I found this to be a very fun and stimulating conversation, John is a very far-out thinker and his success as a radically independent and prolific intellectual strikes me as highly admirable and inspiring. This conversation was first recorded on November 2, 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. 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: https://bit.ly/2FAi4g0 Big thanks to all the patrons who help to keep the lights on.

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

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.

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

Robin Hanson is an economist, futurist, and blogger at overcomingbias.com. I've been following Robin for a while now because he's a genuine intellectual: he thinks, speaks, and writes intensely and prolifically about whatever he wants, even if it seems weird to other people. His recently published book, co-authored with Kevin Simler, is called The Elephant in the Brain: Hidden Motives in Everyday Life. In this podcast, we talked about the new book; his larger motivation behind the book; which minds Robin would like to change; the internet; Robin's strategic insights on how to be an intellectual, especially for young-ish academic types such as myself; the near future; Robin's ideas about "futarchy"; Robin's book The Age of Em, the profit motive and the space of institutions beyond the profit motive; and a few other things.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.countryIndieThinkers.org✦ If you're working on independent creative work, join the next cohort of https://IndieThinkers.org

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.

Taylor Adkins is a translator of French philosophy. He has translated influential books by Félix Guattari, such as Machinic Unconscious (Semiotext(e) 2010), and lesser known works by Jean-François Lyotard and François Laruelle. He’s a philosophy/theory blogger at Speculative Heresy and Fractal Ontology, and co-hosts the podcast Theory Talk with Joe Weissman. You can support them and enjoy extra theory talk at patreon.com/theorytalk. Just a few of the books mentioned: Glas by Derrida Fashionable Nonsense by Sokal and Bricmont The Fold: Leibniz and the Baroque by Gilles Deleuze Deleuze and the History of Mathematics by Simon Duffy A Thousand Plateaus by Deleuze and Guattari The Cut of the Real by Kolozova

Elizabeth Suhay is a political scientist who specializes in the study of public opinion and political psychology, especially regarding beliefs about the causes of inequality. In particular, her work has made some intriguing discoveries about how and why different individuals do or do not believe genetics are an important causal explanation for various phenomena. Dr. Suhay is Assistant Professor at American University, where she is also contributing to a large project on Evidence-Based Science Communication with Policymakers. Given that debates about genetics and inequality are back in the spotlight today, instead of joining that debate I am more interested in exploring social-scientific angles that might help us decode why these debates are so controversial, confusing, and endless. So I reached out to Elizabeth for an apolitical, scientific angle on the psychology of how and why genetic explanations tend to be adopted or rejected. Elizabeth explains how and why individuals on the left and right favor or reject genetic explanations for different human characteristics. We talk about motivated reasoning, who really believes what and to what degree, and the role of media in activating motivated reasoning about genetic attributions. Dr. Suhay's research mentioned in the podcast: 2017. "Discord Over DNA: Ideological Responses to Scientific Communication about Genes and Race." Alexandre Morin-Chasse, Elizabeth Suhay, and Toby Jayaratne. Journal of Race, Ethnicity, and Politics 2(2): 260-299. Published version & abstract / Author PDF. 2016. "Lay Belief in Biopolitics and Political Prejudice." Elizabeth Suhay, Mark Brandt, and Travis Proulx. Social Psychological and Personality Science 8(2): 173-182. Published version & abstract / Author PDF. 2013. "Does Biology Justify Ideology? The Politics of Genetic Attribution." Elizabeth Suhay and Toby Jayaratne. Public Opinion Quarterly 77(2): 497-521. Published version & abstract / Author PDF.

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.

Roman Montero (@PantaKoina) is the author of "All Things in Common: The Economic Practices of the Early Christians." We had a long conversation about religion and communism (duh), Christianity, Protestantism, Catholicism, rationality, love, and marriage. Roman's book can be found on Amazon here. Roman also wrote a short synopsis of the book available on Libcom.org. You can also find a video recording of our conversation here.

Uriel Fiori (@cyborg_nomade) is a theorist and translator based in São Paulo, Brazil. He's an expert on the work of Nick Land, having translated and archived many of the various fragments Land has scattered around the web. We talked about Uriel's idea of "left-wing neoreaction (LRx)," how to combine a commitment to equality with realism about objective inequalities, Proudhon and early modern anarchism, mutualism, Nick Land, patchwork, blockchain, and we even snuck in some #cavetwitter at the end. Uriel's website is antinomiaimediata.wordpress.com and he is active on Twitter as @cyborg_nomade.

Philipp Streicher is a doctoral researcher in Informatics at the University of Sussex. Philipp studies photic brain stimulation, i.e. the use of light to boost brain activity. He is currently trying to combine light stimulation protocols with neurofeedback technologies, to help people improve their brain function. His startup, Augmind, recently won funding in the 2017 StartUp Sussex competition. I visited Philipp at his lab, he conducted one of his experiments on me, and then we recorded this podcast. We talked about brain stimulation, economics, politics, and more. You can find Philipp's web page at the University of Sussex here. You can also find a nice video about Philipp's Augmind project here.

Greg Osei is a Soul/R&B musician, performer, storyteller, and model. His music combines African, Latin, and Afro-Caribbean musical styles, in English and Spanish. He performs regularly throughout New York City. He describes his mission as creating spaces of "possibility, change, questioning, incitement, joy, helpful discomfort, and ultimately love through art and a collaborative creative experience with his audiences." Greg just released a new video of a performance at Sofar Sounds, which you can find here. I asked Greg to chat with me because I remember him as a very powerful person. We went to high school together, so when I recently saw his work on the internet I thought it'd be fun to see what he's been up to. I've always been drawn to performers because I'm interested in the aesthetics of existence; I'm not a performer but I do want to exist more truly, which is to say, more beautifully. Genuine performers have specialized knowledge about how to exist aesthetically, so there is a lot we can learn from them. And Greg is definitely a very authentic performer in the sense that his performance tendency colors how he carries himself, his everyday demeanor, attitude, speech, etc. This is why I remember him as a very powerful person, because the ability to perform is the ability to shape reality. You can find Greg's website at gregosei.com. You can also find Greg Osei on Instagram here, and on Spotify here.

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)

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: Feminist implications of Darwin and the politics of sexual selection. (00:00) How the advent of bodyguards affected sexual politics. (00:07) How to critique capitalism with evolutionary psychology. (00:17) How being creative is a handicap. (00:24). Can psychological knowledge provide an edge for creating radical social change? (00:31) Declining fertility rates and anti-natalism. (00:37) How the denial of IQ differences prevents us from criticizing cognitive domination. (00:50) Will China soon dominate the world? (00:55) How China’s use of molecular genetic technologies could lead to global domination in two generations. (01:01) Antifa, guns, and why, if there is going to be revolution, Geoffrey thinks it’s not going to be an intersectional revolution. (01:08)

Will Sharkey is an ultraleft Catholic schoolteacher and Philosophy PhD. He is a member of the UK-based anti-capitalist organization Plan C. You can find more about Will and his work on his website, williamduncansharkey.com. You can also find him as @Anonyleftcommie. A lot of people ask how I can be interested in Catholicism and communism at the same time. With Will's help, this is now the single best thing I've produced on this topic to date. Will is also above average in his tolerance for what some people might consider outrage-worthy notions. Not that he necessarily agrees, but he has a very open-minded and generous conversational ethic. I think there are a few vaguely dicey talking points I float here and there, and Will was totally unperturbed. In my recent intellectual and political conflicts of late, Will hasn't always agreed with me, but he's never rejected our relationship as people and interlocutors because of it. So I count Will as a model open-minded left-revolutionary who I am very lucky to know. Timestamps The first 30 minutes is chatting about schools and teaching and just general chit-chat. Things get deeper at around 33 minutes when Will starts to tell me about Pier Paolo Pasolini, the famous Italian anarchist communist intellectual (about whom I know nearly nothing). From there it's off to the races, mostly about our different views on the three things we both share: Catholicism, anarchism, communism, and how those things add up.

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.

This is the audio from a talk I gave to Plan C London on January 19, 2016. You can find the slides for this talk at the following links: PDF or HTML.

Sam Berkson is a poet and blogger. Sam is a really passionate and active writer, performer, and organizer (of culture and politics) in London. We recorded this podcast in Sam’s flat in Tottenham at 3am on a Friday night. Sam's recent book, Settled Wanderers, is out now with Influx Press. You can find more of Sam's work on his website and you can hit him up at @AngrySamPoet. Notes with timestamps general patterns of the universe!!! 00:01 full automation or nah? 00:03 what’s up with Red Bull owning the whole world of extreme sports? 00:06 the crazy growth in performance in extreme sports 00:07 linguistic invariance, principles and parameters 00:14 even educated people basically don’t know shit 00:16 how natural human mental functioning is really faulty 00:18 the metaphor of the elephant and its rider 00:19:30 right-wing vs. left-wing models of human needs 00:24 the problem of aggregating from individualism to tribalism to global community 00:28 nobody does anything great out of desperation 00:44 why you have to be realistic about what thinking can do - 00:46 talking with people isn’t about solving problems but doing something meaningful 00:47 if listeners don’t like my podcasts then they're fired! 00:49

Russell Bentley is Professor of Political Theory at the University of Southampton, where he researches and teaches across the history of political thought, from ancient Greek to contemporary American politics. He also has experience in the upper echelons of university administration (formerly Associate Pro Vice-Chancellor of Education at the University of Southampton), from which he brings to us some uncommonly frank and revealing insights into higher education today. I invited Russell to chat with me because there are very few people I’ve met in academia who are at once so professional and candid about their views from within the belly of the beast. You can find Russell on Twitter at @RKBntly.

There's a tiny bit of static at the beginning but it goes away! Mindy Isser writes a low-key advice column newsletter in all lowercase. She is a labor organizer but also a very funny and sweet person who is fun to talk with. We used to be internet enemies but then became friends. We also made a movie together a few years ago. Here we talk about our romantic relationships, our different models of revolutionary politics, Drake (his record label made us remove the song we played, sorry Drizzy we still cool though right?), and a few other things. There is a video version of this conversation on Youtube, here. Here is the movie we made forever ago, "Meeting Mindy Isser in Real Life" (30 min) Here is Mindy on Twitter (@mindyisser) Here is Mindy's low-key radical hipster (in a good way) advice column newsletter written in all lowercase, "towards a fully automated luxury communist future"

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.

Dan Goss is a happy revolutionary. Unlike me Dan actually works hard on many active political campaigns. We first met through Plan C. Although Dan is a very committed and serious organizer, he's also very based and reflective and funny, too, which is why I asked him to do a podcast. We are joined by Rosie Hiscock, who is a working actress and musician. We recorded this podcast in Dan's home in London. Notes with timestamps: how to shut down a coal mine in South Wales (1:56) activist guilt, and work guilt, and why they're fucked up (7:50) doing direct action just for fun (9:05) honesty as the only radical political obligation (9:40) don't be insecure about seeming selfish (13:00) don't do stupid activist shit if you don't honestly believe it's going to make revolution (15:00) why I like Plan C (15:30) Dan is against altruism and selfishness (15:50) What if the joy of our relationships was the only thing? (18:15) don't care what some random activist group thinks (18:50) maybe we need a cult with no leader (24:30) how does one become ungovernable? (34:20) acting and performance as a political skill (37:25) The power of self-observance (38:00) Rosie teaches us the Alexander Technique (39:00) the political significance of a slouching posture (41:40) resentment and conservatism (52:30) how is Dan so happy all the time? (55:00) on becoming revolutionary or hating yourself (63:00) how the fear of being offensive turns people off to politics (74:30) the idiotic performances of activism (75:00) refuse anything that does not feel like the liberation of your soul (76:20) radical politics is learning how to live (83:00)

Most people think "communism" is crazy but actually it's really easy and hilarious. We're already doing it and it's great. Here, we teach you exactly how to start now.

Dr. Jonathan Havercroft is Associate Professor of International Political Theory at the University of Southampton. He has published work on the historical development and transformation of state sovereignty, 17th century and 20th century political philosophy, space weaponization and security, global dimensions of indigenous politics and hermeneutics. He is currently working on the ethical dimensions of international norms, theories of political affect, and the role of agreement in democratic theory and practice. His book Captives of Sovereignty (Cambridge University Press, 2011) looks at the historical origins of state sovereignty, critiques its philosophical assumptions and offers a way to move contemporary critiques of sovereignty beyond their current impasse. # Notes Why Jonathan loves betting on the ponies (00:06). I'm cool with eating animals because animals eat animals and would eat me (00:14). Academics who sell-out their expertise are pretty lame, but I have a plan (00:24). Why self-help gurus are usually full of shit but sometimes useful (00:40). Academic efficiency stuff (47:00). What Jonathan learned from hiring a personal trainer (00:55). Jonathan's kettlebell routines (00:59). Running and high-intensity intervals, pros and cons regarding stress (1:12). Jonathan's proposal for a national house-cleaning service to overthrow the patriarchy; fully automated luxury communism, etc. (1:35).

Adriana is a mental health worker based in London. She is a member of Plan C (http://www.weareplanc.org/). Notes How our ideas and speech can cut off liberation dynamics; the sociology of sorting in activist circles (00:07) Why we don't gossip or criticize other political groups, the futility of objections in favor of looking for new weapons, relationships (00:11) Adriana's experiences in mental health, NHS, CBT, etc. The power of meditation (fuck the haters). (00:15) Just because you're high-functioning doesn't mean your mentally well; how we've lowered the standard for what counts as healthy life; capitalism at best is like "choose your own mental illness." (00:16) Financial success is just profitable mental illness (00:18) How we're blackmailed into saying our lives are good (00:19) Learning how to become well together might just be the most viable program of revolutionary politics available. (00:23) Mental health is not hippie shit. (00:25) The need for immediate tools to deal with where the economic system enters our bodies; cognitive-behavioral therapy. (00:27) Focusing on your own mental health isn't selfish. It transforms relationships and institutions; charisma and the ability to embody and effect a new type of being. (00:30) People think "being radical" means saying and doing things within radical circles, but around most people at most times we are boring, lazy, and moderate. On revolutionizing everyday life. (00:44) To spread revolution you have to let go of your fucking agenda once in a while. (00:48) Political groups don't have to read Marx; just find the thing that makes everyone joyous and creative. (00:56) Why we don't recruit, Plan C. (1:08) Adriana's thoughts on the next steps; allow large groups of people to radicalize themselves in totally different ways and then aggregate and organize them. Note and record your own moments where you feel really good, show them, understand them, and ask: what is your version of this? (1:15) Revolutionary organizations should be technologies of immediate liberation; they should be direct action on your being. Also true friendships and romantic relationships, but we still have to learn how to do it because we don't really know yet (although we all pretend we do); making revolution means figuring how this works. (1:27) How much should we let ourselves be depressed? In kindness do we maybe flatter each others' depression? Should we be more aggressive, with each other and ourselves, in helping each other? How we balance these things in Plan C. (1:40) Political problems around mental health that most people don't want to talk about; mental health's contagiousness; why I think one's own mental health should be non-negotiable; some people can't "pull themselves up by their bootstraps" but actually some people can somewhat, especially with external triggers and collective supports, and why it's maybe fucked up to suggest people can't pull themselves up. (1:49) The wellness industry is fucked up, but to dismiss wellness throws the baby out with the bathwater; true wellness is radical because it spreads. (2:06) What I mean when I say I'm a revolutionary. (2:09) Even if nobody listens to this it was a success because Adriana enjoyed it and we feel pumped and connected. (2:13)

Dr. Jonathan Havercroft is Associate Professor of International Political Theory at the University of Southampton. He has published work on the historical development and transformation of state sovereignty, 17th century and 20th century political philosophy, space weaponization and security, global dimensions of indigenous politics and hermeneutics. He is currently working on the ethical dimensions of international norms, theories of political affect, and the role of agreement in democratic theory and practice. His book Captives of Sovereignty (Cambridge University Press, 2011) looks at the historical origins of state sovereignty, critiques its philosophical assumptions and offers a way to move contemporary critiques of sovereignty beyond their current impasse. Notes How I'm trying to achieve absolute disalienation and why Jonathan thinks I'm crazy; living in the UK vs. the US; childhood; why it's good to have goals even if you know you can't achieve them; Caitlyn Jenner; bathroom gender laws; is the news worth reading?; how and why my dad used to get in fights and hitchhike but I never did; the tv show Cops and cultural change since the 1990s; the rise of after school activities as social control; whether I should want to have kids and Jonathan refusing to give me advice; how to live in the most revolutionary way; the problem of charismatic power and cults; the life of Wittgenstein; left-wing stupidities; Michael Oakeshott; why Jonathan thinks I'm going to become a conservative; gambling, etc.

Aria Alamalhodaei works on art history and sells groceries for a wage. Her writing has appeared in the journal History of Photography and online outlets such as Blind Field. Her website is alamalhodaei.tumblr.com. (Aria is also my spouse, which is probably the main reason she agreed to humor me for this first test run.)Also thanks and credit to Aria for making the cover art for this podcast. :-)NotesWhy I'm starting this podcast.How we're so cool and smart.Are Jay-Z and Beyonce actual lovers or just a corporate ruse?Can jet fuel melt steel beams?If you're cool or interesting and want to be on the podcast, or know someone who might want to be on the podcast, please hit me up. Or if you just want to tell me what you think about this podcast or anything else in the future, it's my goal to actively respond and sincerely engage with people who are interested in all the things I am thinking about. :-)