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...
Jan 04, 2021•1 hr 25 min•Ep. 116
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.
Dec 26, 2020•52 min•Ep. 115
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 inte...
Dec 15, 2020•1 hr 32 min•Ep. 114
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: h...
Dec 11, 2020•52 min•Ep. 113
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 crea...
Dec 04, 2020•50 min•Ep. 112
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
Nov 29, 2020•35 min•Ep. 111
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...
Nov 17, 2020•1 hr 22 min•Ep. 110
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/id1517105543 On where the truth takes place Th...
Nov 13, 2020•1 hr 13 min•Ep. 109
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 ...
Nov 05, 2020•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 108
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/conta...
Oct 30, 2020•26 min•Ep. 107
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: BimboTheory How Biz is building a career publishing social theory on TikTok Justin 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 h...
Oct 23, 2020•1 hr 20 min•Ep. 106
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 T...
Oct 16, 2020•1 hr 19 min•Ep. 105
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 suds@fio...
Oct 09, 2020•1 hr 13 min•Ep. 104
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 correlat...
Oct 01, 2020•58 min•Ep. 103
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?
Sep 24, 2020•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 102
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 que...
Sep 19, 2020•33 min•Ep. 101
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 p...
Sep 11, 2020•1 hr 18 min•Ep. 100
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 Reality On Liberal Pacification IndieThinkers.org Where 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 tod...
Sep 04, 2020•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 99
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 ....
Aug 17, 2020•1 hr 17 min•Ep. 98
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,...
Jul 10, 2020•1 hr 29 min•Ep. 97
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
Jun 26, 2020•39 min•Ep. 96
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....
Jun 19, 2020•1 hr 27 min•Ep. 95
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 pod...
Jun 10, 2020•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 94
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
May 28, 2020•1 hr 42 min•Ep. 93
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.org New intro/outro music by composer Philip Daniel via IndieThinkers.org . Check out his Youtube channel....
May 21, 2020•1 hr 15 min•Ep. 92
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....
May 07, 2020•34 min•Ep. 91
This is Lecture 4 (out of 6) in the Based Deleuze lecture course. You can get the whole series at gum.co/deleuze. ➡️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. Consider becoming one here. Works Cited Deleuze, Gilles. “Postscript on the Societies of Control.” October 59 (1992): 3–7. Foucault, Michel. The Courage of Truth (The Government of Self and Others II) . Edited by Frédéric Gross. Translated by Graham Burche...
Apr 24, 2020•1 hr 19 min•Ep. 90
In-depth case study of a nuclear tweet. After my globally nuclear tweet about Greta & Epstein, I thought a lot about the factors that predict negative virality (AKA being "ratio'ed" on Twitter; getting a high ratio of replies to retweets, i.e. a lot of backlash relative to endorsement). A few weeks later, when drafting a quick tweet, I had a very strong intuition that the tweet would be ratio'ed hard. When I turned out to be right, I gained confidence in my theory of negative virality and de...
Apr 16, 2020•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 89
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 Geof...
Apr 02, 2020•1 hr 47 min•Ep. 88
We recorded this late in the evening before the live show with Curtis Yarvin. It's lit, based, and fire. ✦ Alex Moyer, director of TFW NO GF ✦ Wanyoung Kim, author of Cosmophenomenology ✦ Barrett
Mar 27, 2020•1 hr 15 min•Ep. 87
