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Explore every episode of the podcast Other Life

Dive into the complete episode list for Other Life. Each episode is cataloged with detailed descriptions, making it easy to find and explore specific topics. Keep track of all episodes from your favorite podcast and never miss a moment of insightful content.

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TitlePub. DateDuration
Don't Be a Slave: Nietzsche on Philosophy and Slavery04 Mar 202400:08:44

For references, see Nietzsche on the Pride of the Philosopher in Contrast to the Slave

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

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

We're Back: On how I fixed the company (a big lesson for independent scholars)17 Feb 202400:20:01

A personal reflection and update on my 5-year journey to design a new kind of scholarly life for the internet era. In a previous podcast, I shared how the Other Life company hit some hard times. Here I explain what I learned from that, and how I've turned it around. I share some meditations on the pursuit of weird goals, finding one's own path, and some new things I've come to learn about entrepreneurship. The ultimate meaning and purpose of the "other life" concept has really come home to me in the past few months.

Other Life

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


IndieThinkers.org

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


  • (00:00) - A Late Night Message
  • (01:19) - On authenticity
  • (04:12) - Creativity vs. Business
  • (10:51) - The Creator Economy and Power
  • (11:50) - Network Power
  • (14:46) - The Fear of Failure
  • (16:19) - What is the Other Life?
  • (18:53) - On Truth
  • (19:17) - The Future of Other Life
Vanishing Virility: Understanding the Modern Testosterone Crisis15 May 202300:11:36

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

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

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

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


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

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

Urbit for Creators with Josh Lehman, Director of Urbit Foundation02 Apr 202101:34:42

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

On NFTs, Papa John, Twitter Purge, Meghan Markle, Q&A26 Mar 202101:03:51

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

What Do Edgelord E-Girls Want? With @Unbridled_Id18 Mar 202100:53:43

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.com

Connect 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.co

Support the Other Life podcast
✦ Leave a review on Apple Podcasts
✦ Support Other Life on Patreon at patreon.com/jmrphy

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

On TikTok Alpha Males and Eric Weinstein10 Mar 202101:35:51

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

On Vaush, Tim Pool, and Antiracist Baby with Live Q&A02 Mar 202101:24:08

✦ 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

A Literal Marketplace of Ideas with Mike Elias of IdeaMarket.io24 Feb 202100:59:33

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

My $5k Deal with Ben, China, Bitcoin, Christianity - Live Q&A17 Feb 202101:18:36

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

On Outsider Teaching with Carl Jung Lecturer John David Ebert11 Feb 202101:02:08

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

Quirked Up Whodies07 Feb 202101:23:12

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.

Revolt Against Wall Street with Day Trader Jacob29 Jan 202101:29:38

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

Dr. Samuel Johnson: Hustler, Savage, Grifter, Great10 May 202300:19:45

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

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

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

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

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

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

Capitol Riots and Bitcoin Christianity24 Jan 202101:44:49

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

Carl Jung's Model of the Psyche with John David Ebert18 Jan 202101:05:09

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

Building Startup Cities with Dryden Brown of Bluebook Cities11 Jan 202100:54:46

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/

Leo Strauss on Persecution, Education, and Revelation with Michael Millerman04 Jan 202101:24:57

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

Reality-Forking Communities with Erik Torenberg and Greg Isenberg26 Dec 202000:51:34

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. 

Q&A on Crypto, Community, and the Future of Other Life15 Dec 202001:32:23

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

The Business of Indie Philosophy Comics, with Philosopher-Illustrator Tom K of Uncivilized Books11 Dec 202000:52:18

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!)

How Creators Are Creating Money for Their Communities, with Bradley Miles of Roll04 Dec 202000:49:43

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.

Tokenizing Content with Kenny Rowe of the Dalten Collective29 Nov 202000:35:19

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

Can We Escape? On Deleuze and Heidegger with Johannes Niederhauser17 Nov 202001:21:33

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

Plato Uncovered: Building Influence in the Ancient and Modern World02 May 202301:40:57

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

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

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


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

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

Video Futurism: Networked & Monetized, with Anirudh Pai of Superpeer13 Nov 202001:12:31

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

Think 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 China

The 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 video

So 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.
Dating and Mating Via Twitter with @Default_Friend05 Nov 202001:07:47

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.

On Marriage30 Oct 202000:25:37

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

Making Social Theory Viral on TikTok with Biz Sherbert23 Oct 202001:19:42

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 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 problem

Biz 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.

Buying Mansions Without Money and Writer-Entrepreneurship with Max Nussenbaum of On Deck16 Oct 202001:18:56

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: @maxnuss

On 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

How to Build a Mafia with Sudarshan Sridharan of Fion.tech09 Oct 202001:13:06

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@fion.tech)
➡️  Follow Sudarshan on Twitter @itzsuds

As 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.


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Growing a Social Science Newsletter from a Creator House in Mexico, with Brett Goldstein01 Oct 202000:57:57

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.

Meet the Gen Z Mafia, with Ringleader Emma Salinas24 Sep 202001:07:25

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?

Should you start a Substack?19 Sep 202000:32:52

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.

Self-Publishing Non-Fiction with David Kadavy11 Sep 202001:17:52

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.

Oscar Wilde and J.R.R. Tolkien with Paul Fortunato02 Mar 202300:59:51

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

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

Other Life

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IndieThinkers.org

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Internet Vitalism04 Sep 202001:08:00

A talk I gave to Gen Z Mafia (Gen Z Mafia). Thanks to Emma Salinas (@emmalsalinas) for all the great questions.

Works Cited:

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 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?

Tech Twitter's Christian Wunderkind Nicole Williams17 Aug 202001:16:43

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.

From Hacker to Homesteading Author with Travis Corcoran10 Jul 202001:29:02

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.

The Lindy Scam: A Case Study of Paul Skallas26 Jun 202000:38:33

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

Introduction to Georges Bataille with Nina Power19 Jun 202001:26:48

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's Insubordination10 Jun 202001:04:46

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.

Selling Zines and Quitting Jobs with Sonya Mann28 May 202001:42:12

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

How Aella Makes Bank on OnlyFans21 May 202001:14:39

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.

Do Not Despair (Kierkegaard and The Sickness Unto Death)07 May 202000:34:18

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.

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➡️ 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.

Radical Politics for Control Societies: Based Deleuze Lecture 424 Apr 202001:18:43

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 Burchell. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011.

Foucault, Michel. Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison. Translated by Alan Sheridan. New York: Vintage Books, 1995.

Murphy, Justin. “Parrhesia and the Future of Honesty (Talk given at the Invisible College, London).” Other Life (blog), October 11, 2019. https://plnk.to/otherlife/e/1000453126804

Navia, Luis. Diogenes the Cynic: The War Against the World. Amherst, NY: Humanity Books, 2005.

Shannon, Claude E. “A Mathematical Theory of Communication.” The Bell System Technical Journal 27, no. 3 (October 1948). https://doi.org/10.1002/j.1538-7305.1948.tb01338.x

YouTube Radicalization is a Myth with Mark Ledwich24 Feb 202300:45:08

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

Check out Mark's research at transparency.tube.

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

Other Life

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

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

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

IndieThinkers.org

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Engineering negative virality16 Apr 202001:03:57

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 decided to elaborate it through a case study of this one particular tweet.

The tweet. https://twitter.com/jmrphy/status/1197664774097522688

✦ I have a free course on this stuff, called Revolutionary Internet Galaxy-Brain.

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

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

The Social Science of Tiger King with Geoffrey Miller and Diana Fleischman02 Apr 202001:46:49

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

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

Follow Diana Fleischman on Twitter and Youtube.

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

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

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

Midnight B4 Moldbug in LA27 Mar 202001:15:07

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

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