Pseudonymous writer Parakeet joins me to discuss her viral essay "Skittle Factory Dementia Monkey Titty Monetization."

I first heard about Parakeet a couple weeks ago when I saw half of my Twitter feed and half of my Substack Notes feed sharing her essay, including a bunch of people I wouldn't expect to share an essay with "Monkey Titty" in the title. I read it immediately, and saw why. Parakeet describes universally applicable ideas with the color turned up to 11 so they stick.

We explore the "dementia personality" - how our core thought loops shape who we are and might one day define us. Parakeet shares insights from working at a dementia facility, explains her Skittle Factory metaphor for personality (and researching Skittle Factories), and reveals her unconventional productivity hack that's transformed her writing output.

We talk about her writing process, gifs, why more people should read George Orwell's Politics and the English Language, and what she learned from her once-half-paralyzed dance teacher. Plus, hear the bizarre true story behind the "Monkey Titty" portion of the essay title and why Parakeet believes everyone should re-read Atlas Shrugged as an adult.

Key moments:

(5:35) Origins of the dementia personality concept

(10:30) Can we change our core mental loops? (15:18) Skittle Factory Mass Extinction Events

(21:50) Rewiring your brain through Luigi Jazz

(30:05) Why this essay got shared by so many smart people

(31:50) Using gifs(40:31) Parakeet's productivity hack

Reading Recs from Parakeet:

Parakeet: YOUR EYES ARE LEAKING CORPORATE CUM™

Parakeet: ALGORITHMIC GROOMING OF YOUR INNER CHILD™

George Orwell: Politics and the English Language

Ayn Rand: Atlas Shrugged

Hyperlegible is sponsored by my friends at Readwise, who build software that helps you get the most out of your reading. If you want to give it a try, go to readwise.io/hyperlegible where you start a free trial and get all the articles discussed here on Hyperlegible automatically added to your account.

Thanks to Jim Portela for editing and getting the parakeet animation to work!