
Theory Underground
Theory Underground aims to make challenging philosophical and theoretical work accessible, not by summarizing, but by aiding those who seek to engage in this work as a way of life. Keep up with everything at theoryunderground.com
Latest episodes

May 14, 2024 • 1h 53min
The Psychoanalytic Library in Berlin: Theory Underground, Timenergy, and Psychoanalysis
Probably the best way to start with Theory Underground. Amazing event from the American Idiots tour. Thanks so much to Ivar, Thomas, the Psychoanalytic Library, and everyone who came!
ABOUT / CREDITS / LINKS Become a monthly TU Tier Subscriber to access to the TU HUB, which includes past, ongoing, and upcoming courses, special events, office hours, clubs, and critical feedback that will help you evolve your comprehension capacities and critical faculties, via the website here: https://theoryunderground.com/product/tu-subscription-tiers/ (Whatever tier you subscribe to in the month of March 2024 will be promoted to the privileges of the next one up (e.g. Tier 1 will have Tier 2 privileges, etc.!).)
Don’t have time for that but want to help anyway? Consider supporting the patreon here: Welcome to Theory Underground. https://www.patreon.com/TheoryUnderground
Get TU books at a discount: https://theoryunderground.com/publications
Theory Underground is a lecture, research, and publishing platform by and for working class intellectuals, autodidacts, and academics who want to do more than they are able to within the confines of academia.
Think of Theory Underground like a Jiu Jitsu gym for your brain. Or like a post-political theory church. It doesn’t matter. None of the analogies will do it justice. We’re post-identity anyway. Just see if the vibe is right for you. We hope you get something out of it!
If you want to help me get setup sooner/faster in a totally gratuitous way, or support me but you don’t care about the subscription or want to bother with the monthly stuff, here is a way to buy me something concrete and immediately useful, then you can buy me important equipment for my office on this list (these items will be automatically shipped to my address if you use the list here) https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/2MAWFYUJQIM58?
Buy me some coffee: https://www.venmo.com/u/Theorypleeb https://paypal.me/theorypleeb
If Theory Underground has helped you see that text-to-speech technologies are a useful way of supplementing one’s reading while living a busy life, if you want to be able to listen to PDFs for yourself, then Speechify is recommended. Use the link below and Theory Underground gets credit! https://share.speechify.com/mzwBHEB Follow Theory Underground on Duolingo: https://invite.duolingo.com/BDHTZTB5CWWKTP747NSNMAOYEI See Theory Underground memes here: https://www.instagram.com/theory_underground/ https://tiktok.com/@theory_underground
Missed a course at Theory Underground? Wrong! Courses at Theory Underground are available after the fact on demand. https://theoryunderground.com/courses
MUSIC CREDITS Logo sequence music by https://olliebeanz.com/music https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/legalcode Mike Chino, Demigods https://youtu.be/M6wruxDngOk

May 13, 2024 • 1h 10min
Religious Atheist + Christian Defense of Theology | Samuel Loncar and Daniel Garner of O.G. Rose
What better way to open the question of theology than with Samuel Loncar of The Becoming Human Project and Daniel Garner of O.G. Rose? Two amazing friends of the channel. Check out their work! You'll love it!
ABOUT / CREDITS / LINKS Become a monthly TU Tier Subscriber to access to the TU HUB, which includes past, ongoing, and upcoming courses, special events, office hours, clubs, and critical feedback that will help you evolve your comprehension capacities and critical faculties, via the website here: https://theoryunderground.com/product/tu-subscription-tiers/ (Whatever tier you subscribe to in the month of March 2024 will be promoted to the privileges of the next one up (e.g. Tier 1 will have Tier 2 privileges, etc.!).)
Don’t have time for that but want to help anyway? Consider supporting the patreon here: Welcome to Theory Underground. https://www.patreon.com/TheoryUnderground
Get TU books at a discount: https://theoryunderground.com/publications
Theory Underground is a lecture, research, and publishing platform by and for working class intellectuals, autodidacts, and academics who want to do more than they are able to within the confines of academia.
Think of Theory Underground like a Jiu Jitsu gym for your brain. Or like a post-political theory church. It doesn’t matter. None of the analogies will do it justice. We’re post-identity anyway. Just see if the vibe is right for you. We hope you get something out of it!
If you want to help me get setup sooner/faster in a totally gratuitous way, or support me but you don’t care about the subscription or want to bother with the monthly stuff, here is a way to buy me something concrete and immediately useful, then you can buy me important equipment for my office on this list (these items will be automatically shipped to my address if you use the list here) https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/2MAWFYUJQIM58?
Buy me some coffee: https://www.venmo.com/u/Theorypleeb https://paypal.me/theorypleeb
If Theory Underground has helped you see that text-to-speech technologies are a useful way of supplementing one’s reading while living a busy life, if you want to be able to listen to PDFs for yourself, then Speechify is recommended. Use the link below and Theory Underground gets credit! https://share.speechify.com/mzwBHEB Follow Theory Underground on Duolingo: https://invite.duolingo.com/BDHTZTB5CWWKTP747NSNMAOYEI See Theory Underground memes here: https://www.instagram.com/theory_underground/ https://tiktok.com/@theory_underground
Missed a course at Theory Underground? Wrong! Courses at Theory Underground are available after the fact on demand. https://theoryunderground.com/courses
MUSIC CREDITS Logo sequence music by https://olliebeanz.com/music https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/legalcode Mike Chino, Demigods https://youtu.be/M6wruxDngOk

May 10, 2024 • 1h 10min
Author of The Pragmatist's Guide To Crafting Religion - Malcolm Collins
ABOUT / CREDITS / LINKS Become a monthly TU Tier Subscriber to access to the TU HUB, which includes past, ongoing, and upcoming courses, special events, office hours, clubs, and critical feedback that will help you evolve your comprehension capacities and critical faculties, via the website here: https://theoryunderground.com/product/tu-subscription-tiers/ (Whatever tier you subscribe to in the month of March 2024 will be promoted to the privileges of the next one up (e.g. Tier 1 will have Tier 2 privileges, etc.!).)
Don’t have time for that but want to help anyway? Consider supporting the patreon here: Welcome to Theory Underground. https://www.patreon.com/TheoryUnderground
Get TU books at a discount: https://theoryunderground.com/publications
Theory Underground is a lecture, research, and publishing platform by and for working class intellectuals, autodidacts, and academics who want to do more than they are able to within the confines of academia.
Think of Theory Underground like a Jiu Jitsu gym for your brain. Or like a post-political theory church. It doesn’t matter. None of the analogies will do it justice. We’re post-identity anyway. Just see if the vibe is right for you. We hope you get something out of it!
If you want to help me get setup sooner/faster in a totally gratuitous way, or support me but you don’t care about the subscription or want to bother with the monthly stuff, here is a way to buy me something concrete and immediately useful, then you can buy me important equipment for my office on this list (these items will be automatically shipped to my address if you use the list here) https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/2MAWFYUJQIM58?
Buy me some coffee: https://www.venmo.com/u/Theorypleeb https://paypal.me/theorypleeb
If Theory Underground has helped you see that text-to-speech technologies are a useful way of supplementing one’s reading while living a busy life, if you want to be able to listen to PDFs for yourself, then Speechify is recommended. Use the link below and Theory Underground gets credit! https://share.speechify.com/mzwBHEB Follow Theory Underground on Duolingo: https://invite.duolingo.com/BDHTZTB5CWWKTP747NSNMAOYEI See Theory Underground memes here: https://www.instagram.com/theory_underground/ https://tiktok.com/@theory_underground
Missed a course at Theory Underground? Wrong! Courses at Theory Underground are available after the fact on demand. https://theoryunderground.com/courses
MUSIC CREDITS Logo sequence music by https://olliebeanz.com/music https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/legalcode Mike Chino, Demigods https://youtu.be/M6wruxDngOk

May 8, 2024 • 5h 13min
Timenergy and The Commons - David McKerracher and Cadell Last at De Plek / Brussels pt 1
The theme of day one is on Timenergy and The Commons. In the same way that Žižek talks about how a concept can evolve just in how it gets applied to something, likewise I would say that timenergy theory evolves in this event because of three factors: 1. New audience (it always takes on some new clarity with new audiences), 2. Bringing it expressly into dialogue with the commons, which I have never tarried with… I do get into it elsewhere, but never in a sustained engagement… the particularity of this audience, specifically the work that Joris is doing, helped me clarify the difference between The Commons and a commons. Conceptualizing timenergy in relation to The Commons as opposed to a commons is a fruitful contradiction I look forward to getting into more in the future. Especially how I quilt the whole thing by saying that necessary labor is part of the commons. 3rd, and lastly, Owen Cox and Raven of the Dark Renaissance were there. This was only seven or so hours after I had published my response to Cox’s manifesto titled The Paglian Right. So while timenergy and the Commons is the explicit theme, this making myself intelligible to Owen and Raven in light of their engagement with our talks becomes a big part of the rest of this event and the following day. What is it we are doing? How does it relate to things people care about now? Why is Theory Underground so hard to make sense of within the existing framework of assumptions embedded in political subjectivities today? For delving into such questions you won't find anything better than these two videos. Make sure to subscribe to Philosophy Portal on YouTube and Substack!
ABOUT / CREDITS / LINKS Become a monthly TU Tier Subscriber to access to the TU HUB, which includes past, ongoing, and upcoming courses, special events, office hours, clubs, and critical feedback that will help you evolve your comprehension capacities and critical faculties, via the website here: https://theoryunderground.com/product/tu-subscription-tiers/ (Whatever tier you subscribe to in the month of March 2024 will be promoted to the privileges of the next one up (e.g. Tier 1 will have Tier 2 privileges, etc.!).)
Don’t have time for that but want to help anyway? Consider supporting the patreon here: Welcome to Theory Underground. https://www.patreon.com/TheoryUnderground
Get TU books at a discount: https://theoryunderground.com/publications
Theory Underground is a lecture, research, and publishing platform by and for working class intellectuals, autodidacts, and academics who want to do more than they are able to within the confines of academia.
Think of Theory Underground like a Jiu Jitsu gym for your brain. Or like a post-political theory church. It doesn’t matter. None of the analogies will do it justice. We’re post-identity anyway. Just see if the vibe is right for you. We hope you get something out of it!
If you want to help me get setup sooner/faster in a totally gratuitous way, or support me but you don’t care about the subscription or want to bother with the monthly stuff, here is a way to buy me something concrete and immediately useful, then you can buy me important equipment for my office on this list (these items will be automatically shipped to my address if you use the list here) https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/2MAWFYUJQIM58?
Buy me some coffee: https://www.venmo.com/u/Theorypleeb https://paypal.me/theorypleeb
If Theory Underground has helped you see that text-to-speech technologies are a useful way of supplementing one’s reading while living a busy life, if you want to be able to listen to PDFs for yourself, then Speechify is recommended. Use the link below and Theory Underground gets credit! https://share.speechify.com/mzwBHEB Follow Theory Underground on Duolingo: https://invite.duolingo.com/BDHTZTB5CWWKTP747NSNMAOYEI See Theory Underground memes here: https://www.instagram.com/theory_underground/ https://tiktok.com/@theory_underground
Missed a course at Theory Underground? Wrong! Courses at Theory Underground are available after the fact on demand. https://theoryunderground.com/courses
MUSIC CREDITS Logo sequence music by https://olliebeanz.com/music https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/legalcode Mike Chino, Demigods https://youtu.be/M6wruxDngOk

4 snips
May 6, 2024 • 1h 6min
Psychoanalysis, Truth, Bullshit, Philosophy, and Religion with Duane Rousselle
Duane Rousselle, an expert in Lacanian psychoanalysis and author of several influential books, dives deep into the validity of psychoanalysis, questioning its connections to faith and philosophy. He shares his journey from anarchist organizing to the complexities of psychoanalytic thought. Rousselle tackles generational fears shaped by technology and critiques traditional education through the lens of Ivan Illich. The discussion reflects on truth claims and the transformative potential of engaging with confusion in learning, shedding light on the intricate dance between belief and academia.

May 2, 2024 • 1h 4min
Post-Bernie Pluralism and Evil | LACK podcast visits TU - Nina Power and Benjamin Studebaker
Nina Power and Benjamin Studebaker of the LACK podcast join TU during an epic marathon stream. Watch those in their entirety via this playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLlcbaQ1cp2TKEqbXCNsSO9kj9G4vtsW-P
ABOUT / CREDITS / LINKS Become a monthly TU Tier Subscriber to access to the TU HUB, which includes past, ongoing, and upcoming courses, special events, office hours, clubs, and critical feedback that will help you evolve your comprehension capacities and critical faculties, via the website here: https://theoryunderground.com/product/tu-subscription-tiers/ (Whatever tier you subscribe to in the month of March 2024 will be promoted to the privileges of the next one up (e.g. Tier 1 will have Tier 2 privileges, etc.!).)
Don’t have time for that but want to help anyway? Consider supporting the patreon here: Welcome to Theory Underground. https://www.patreon.com/TheoryUnderground
Get TU books at a discount: https://theoryunderground.com/publications
Theory Underground is a lecture, research, and publishing platform by and for working class intellectuals, autodidacts, and academics who want to do more than they are able to within the confines of academia.
Think of Theory Underground like a Jiu Jitsu gym for your brain. Or like a post-political theory church. It doesn’t matter. None of the analogies will do it justice. We’re post-identity anyway. Just see if the vibe is right for you. We hope you get something out of it!
If you want to help me get setup sooner/faster in a totally gratuitous way, or support me but you don’t care about the subscription or want to bother with the monthly stuff, here is a way to buy me something concrete and immediately useful, then you can buy me important equipment for my office on this list (these items will be automatically shipped to my address if you use the list here) https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/2MAWFYUJQIM58?
Buy me some coffee: https://www.venmo.com/u/Theorypleeb https://paypal.me/theorypleeb
If Theory Underground has helped you see that text-to-speech technologies are a useful way of supplementing one’s reading while living a busy life, if you want to be able to listen to PDFs for yourself, then Speechify is recommended. Use the link below and Theory Underground gets credit! https://share.speechify.com/mzwBHEB Follow Theory Underground on Duolingo: https://invite.duolingo.com/BDHTZTB5CWWKTP747NSNMAOYEI See Theory Underground memes here: https://www.instagram.com/theory_underground/ https://tiktok.com/@theory_underground
Missed a course at Theory Underground? Wrong! Courses at Theory Underground are available after the fact on demand. https://theoryunderground.com/courses
MUSIC CREDITS Logo sequence music by https://olliebeanz.com/music https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/legalcode Mike Chino, Demigods https://youtu.be/M6wruxDngOk

Apr 30, 2024 • 22min
Theory Underground: AMERICAN IDIOTS EUROPEAN TOUR
https://theoryunderground.com/eu-tour-2024/
ABOUT / CREDITS / LINKS Become a monthly TU Tier Subscriber to access to the TU HUB, which includes past, ongoing, and upcoming courses, special events, office hours, clubs, and critical feedback that will help you evolve your comprehension capacities and critical faculties, via the website here: https://theoryunderground.com/product/tu-subscription-tiers/ (Whatever tier you subscribe to in the month of March 2024 will be promoted to the privileges of the next one up (e.g. Tier 1 will have Tier 2 privileges, etc.!).)
Don’t have time for that but want to help anyway? Consider supporting the patreon here: Welcome to Theory Underground. https://www.patreon.com/TheoryUnderground
Get TU books at a discount: https://theoryunderground.com/publications
Theory Underground is a lecture, research, and publishing platform by and for working class intellectuals, autodidacts, and academics who want to do more than they are able to within the confines of academia.
Think of Theory Underground like a Jiu Jitsu gym for your brain. Or like a post-political theory church. It doesn’t matter. None of the analogies will do it justice. We’re post-identity anyway. Just see if the vibe is right for you. We hope you get something out of it!
If you want to help me get setup sooner/faster in a totally gratuitous way, or support me but you don’t care about the subscription or want to bother with the monthly stuff, here is a way to buy me something concrete and immediately useful, then you can buy me important equipment for my office on this list (these items will be automatically shipped to my address if you use the list here) https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/2MAWFYUJQIM58?
Buy me some coffee: https://www.venmo.com/u/Theorypleeb https://paypal.me/theorypleeb
If Theory Underground has helped you see that text-to-speech technologies are a useful way of supplementing one’s reading while living a busy life, if you want to be able to listen to PDFs for yourself, then Speechify is recommended. Use the link below and Theory Underground gets credit! https://share.speechify.com/mzwBHEB Follow Theory Underground on Duolingo: https://invite.duolingo.com/BDHTZTB5CWWKTP747NSNMAOYEI See Theory Underground memes here: https://www.instagram.com/theory_underground/ https://tiktok.com/@theory_underground
Missed a course at Theory Underground? Wrong! Courses at Theory Underground are available after the fact on demand. https://theoryunderground.com/courses
MUSIC CREDITS Logo sequence music by https://olliebeanz.com/music https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/legalcode Mike Chino, Demigods https://youtu.be/M6wruxDngOk

Apr 26, 2024 • 1h 51min
"There's a lot of rot." Ashley Frawley on Sociology, James Lindsay, Trucker Protests, and Freedom
Dr. Ashley Frawley joins Dave and Nance at Theory Underground to talk about her work. You can follow her on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/@AshleyAFrawley This conversation with @AshleyAFrawley is from one of the Epic Marathon Streams at Theory Underground in 2024 - you can see the whole thing here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLlcbaQ1cp2TKEqbXCNsSO9kj9G4vtsW-P
ABOUT / CREDITS / LINKS Become a monthly TU Tier Subscriber to access to the TU HUB, which includes past, ongoing, and upcoming courses, special events, office hours, clubs, and critical feedback that will help you evolve your comprehension capacities and critical faculties, via the website here: https://theoryunderground.com/product/tu-subscription-tiers/ (Whatever tier you subscribe to in the month of March 2024 will be promoted to the privileges of the next one up (e.g. Tier 1 will have Tier 2 privileges, etc.!).)
Don’t have time for that but want to help anyway? Consider supporting the patreon here: Welcome to Theory Underground. https://www.patreon.com/TheoryUnderground
Get TU books at a discount: https://theoryunderground.com/publications
Theory Underground is a lecture, research, and publishing platform by and for working class intellectuals, autodidacts, and academics who want to do more than they are able to within the confines of academia.
Think of Theory Underground like a Jiu Jitsu gym for your brain. Or like a post-political theory church. It doesn’t matter. None of the analogies will do it justice. We’re post-identity anyway. Just see if the vibe is right for you. We hope you get something out of it!
If you want to help me get setup sooner/faster in a totally gratuitous way, or support me but you don’t care about the subscription or want to bother with the monthly stuff, here is a way to buy me something concrete and immediately useful, then you can buy me important equipment for my office on this list (these items will be automatically shipped to my address if you use the list here) https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/2MAWFYUJQIM58?
Buy me some coffee: https://www.venmo.com/u/Theorypleeb https://paypal.me/theorypleeb
If Theory Underground has helped you see that text-to-speech technologies are a useful way of supplementing one’s reading while living a busy life, if you want to be able to listen to PDFs for yourself, then Speechify is recommended. Use the link below and Theory Underground gets credit! https://share.speechify.com/mzwBHEB Follow Theory Underground on Duolingo: https://invite.duolingo.com/BDHTZTB5CWWKTP747NSNMAOYEI See Theory Underground memes here: https://www.instagram.com/theory_underground/ https://tiktok.com/@theory_underground
Missed a course at Theory Underground? Wrong! Courses at Theory Underground are available after the fact on demand. https://theoryunderground.com/courses
MUSIC CREDITS Logo sequence music by https://olliebeanz.com/music https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/legalcode Mike Chino, Demigods https://youtu.be/M6wruxDngOk

9 snips
Apr 22, 2024 • 1h 21min
Slavoj Zizek on The Event and the Metacrisis - accepts Nick Land debate challenge!
Renowned philosopher Slavoj Žižek discusses The Event, agrees to debate Nick Land, praises timenergy concept, and delves into ideology, censorship challenges, and societal shifts in this engaging podcast episode.

Apr 18, 2024 • 1h 5min
Theory Underground's AMERICAN IDIOTS - EU TOUR organizer/participant call-in
We're going to Europe next week! We met with some of the participants and organizers for varios stops along the way, including Nina Power, Cadell Last, Carl Hayden Smith, and Lukasz. The official final version of the EU Tour gets revealed, we talk about it, and you can look at the stops and even RSVP using this link here: http://theoryunderground.com/eu-tour-2024/
ABOUT / CREDITS / LINKS Become a monthly TU Tier Subscriber to access to the TU HUB, which includes past, ongoing, and upcoming courses, special events, office hours, clubs, and critical feedback that will help you evolve your comprehension capacities and critical faculties, via the website here: https://theoryunderground.com/product/tu-subscription-tiers/ (Whatever tier you subscribe to in the month of March 2024 will be promoted to the privileges of the next one up (e.g. Tier 1 will have Tier 2 privileges, etc.!).)
Don’t have time for that but want to help anyway? Consider supporting the patreon here: Welcome to Theory Underground. https://www.patreon.com/TheoryUnderground
Get TU books at a discount: https://theoryunderground.com/publications
Theory Underground is a lecture, research, and publishing platform by and for working class intellectuals, autodidacts, and academics who want to do more than they are able to within the confines of academia.
Think of Theory Underground like a Jiu Jitsu gym for your brain. Or like a post-political theory church. It doesn’t matter. None of the analogies will do it justice. We’re post-identity anyway. Just see if the vibe is right for you. We hope you get something out of it!
If you want to help me get setup sooner/faster in a totally gratuitous way, or support me but you don’t care about the subscription or want to bother with the monthly stuff, here is a way to buy me something concrete and immediately useful, then you can buy me important equipment for my office on this list (these items will be automatically shipped to my address if you use the list here) https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/2MAWFYUJQIM58?
Buy me some coffee: https://www.venmo.com/u/Theorypleeb https://paypal.me/theorypleeb
If Theory Underground has helped you see that text-to-speech technologies are a useful way of supplementing one’s reading while living a busy life, if you want to be able to listen to PDFs for yourself, then Speechify is recommended. Use the link below and Theory Underground gets credit! https://share.speechify.com/mzwBHEB Follow Theory Underground on Duolingo: https://invite.duolingo.com/BDHTZTB5CWWKTP747NSNMAOYEI See Theory Underground memes here: https://www.instagram.com/theory_underground/ https://tiktok.com/@theory_underground
Missed a course at Theory Underground? Wrong! Courses at Theory Underground are available after the fact on demand. https://theoryunderground.com/courses
MUSIC CREDITS Logo sequence music by https://olliebeanz.com/music https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/legalcode Mike Chino, Demigods https://youtu.be/M6wruxDngOk