Audience of One

My guest today is Gurwinder Bhogal. Gurwinder writes The Prism, a blog covering the ways technology and psychology conspire to fool us, and how we can withstand the assault on our senses. We talk about writing, bugs in our psychological software, how we can better understand and manage our emotions and reactions, and the pursuit of finding truth. — (00:38) Gurwinder’s background (03:59) Language as the programming language of humanity (11:21) Do humans want to recognize the bugs in our OS & can we convince people to want to do it? (14:16) How much can we actually change our operating system? (30:07) Are our emotions ever valid? (32:01) What is intuition and is it useful? (41:56) Are there systems & institutions that can help the rewiring of humanity at scale? (54:33) How do you know where to draw the line in finding truth vs. trusting sources? (56:25) Gurwinder's final question for listeners — The Prism: https://gurwinder.substack.com/ Gurwinder’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/G_S_Bhogal Spencer’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/SP1NS1R Spencer’s blog: https://spencerkier.substack.com/

Alpha Barry is the founder of Temple, which builds cities to make the world more prosperous and beautiful, as well as Monolith, which founds and funds companies building Africa’s industrial economy. We talk about his vision for Temple and Monolith, why we need new cities — and the opportunities and challenges of building them — and why Africa is the right place to build these ventures. — (00:50) Alpha’s background (04:59) What is Temple? (08:45) Why Africa (and Nigeria in particular)? (15:00) What's the right mix of private and public involvement to make this succeed? (18:50) Picking what to own; first principles vs. leaning into expertise (24:30) Temple's ideology & ethos (29:24) Recent city-state case studies (36:09) Pre-mortem: what could failure look like? (40:38) What do you have to get right at the beginning? (47:59) Balancing domestic & foreign talent (54:16) His first crack at Temple (58:10) Types of ventures he sees being built as a result of Temple (01:04:07) 20th century governance & infrastructure vs. 21st century technologies (01:10:57) Alpha's final question for listeners — Temple: https://www.templecities.com/ Monolith: https://www.monolithlabs.org/ Alpha’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/alphaxbarry Alpha’s personal site: https://alphabarry.xyz/ Spencer’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/SP1NS1R Spencer’s blog: https://spencerkier.substack.com/

Visakan Veerasamy (AKA Visa) is a writer, both on Twitter and through his books Friendly Ambitious Nerds and Introspect — both of which I highly recommend. We talk about writing; networks, scenes, and subcultures; deviants and outliers; being introspective; and more. — (00:42) Visa's background (05:45) Online networks need a cultural paradigm shift to realize its true potential (12:25) We need clusters of independent yet connected communities encouraging pro-social behaviors (18:16) Change comes from small, bottoms-up movements (26:25) The next round of recruiters for the scene (29:04) Historical scenes & outliers, and how to manufacture more of them (34:44) Being authentic & informal, & attracting intrinsically motivated people (43:03) The lifecycle of sub-cultures (46:44) Accepting & encouraging deviants (55:26) Writing Friendly Ambitious Nerds and Introspect to Introspect (01:02:26) What he wants to write next (or rather, what wants to be written) (01:07:13) Trying to become more ambitious, & the tradeoffs of improving your strengths or weaknesses (01:20:13) Visa's final question for listeners — Visa’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/visakanv Visa’s website: https://visakanv.com/ Introspect: https://visakanv.gumroad.com/l/introspect Friendly Ambitious Nerds: https://visakanv.gumroad.com/l/FANbook Spencer’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/SP1NS1R Spencer’s blog: https://spencerkier.substack.com/

Ava (@noampomsky) is the writer of the Bookbear Express Substack, where she discusses human interaction and relationships through the lens of her own life. We talk about writing, reading, how a massive audience can change your writing, vulnerability, finding your thing to commit to, and how AI will impact dating and relationships. — (01:21) Ava's background (02:21) Her novel (03:40) Going from creative outlet to 100s of subscribers (06:40) Has her writing evolved with the growing audience? (10:01) Why she hasn't gone full time on writing yet (14:10) Writing authentically & vulnerably (19:30) Honesty, clarity, and emotion (23:33) What you read heavily influences your writing (25:38) Commitment & focus - finding the thing to commit to (28:58) Do 1-2 things really well & differentiating between what you find intellectually interesting vs. can actually see yourself doing (33:48) The dating game & what needs to change (38:31) Love vs. attachment & three definitions of love (41:58) How AI will impact relationships, love, & intimacy (50:01) Beauty, precision & rigor, & expression (51:34) Ava's final question — Ava's Twitter: ⁠https://twitter.com/noampomsky⁠ Bookbear Express: ⁠https://ava.substack.com⁠ Spencer’s Twitter: ⁠⁠https://twitter.com/sp1ns1r⁠⁠ Spencer’s blog: ⁠⁠https://spencerkier.substack.com⁠ — Ava's Substack recommendations: Maybe Baby: https://haleynahman.substack.com/ Morning Person: https://www.morningpersonnewsletter.com/ Between a Rock and a Card Place: https://carolinecala.substack.com/ Grief Bacon: https://griefbacon.substack.com/

Isabel is a writer, both on Twitter (@isabelunraveled) and through her Mind Mine blog/newsletter. We talk about building your intuition muscle, being rational vs. gut-led, vulnerability, the importance of humility, and more. — (00:37) Isabel’s background (04:26) Gradual vs. discrete change (05:53) Nurturing intuition & balancing the practical vs. intuitive (11:15) Are there downsides to listening to your intuition too much? (14:38) Intuition takes a leap of faith (18:11) Repeating themes in her work (22:54) How she cultivates openness and vulnerability (26:23) The thing we want most in life (33:00) Finding your style & voice (38:23) Importance of a clear mind (39:30) Does everyone have the capacity &/or desire to fully examine life? (46:05) What drives her (48:23) Balancing writing for yourself vs. for an audience (54:00) Re-teaching yourself the same lessons (57:21) Isabel’s final question for listeners (01:00:11) Truth repeats — Isabel’s Twitter: twitter.com/isabelunraveled Mind Mine: https://mindmine.substack.com Spencer’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/sp1ns1r Spencer’s blog: https://spencerkier.substack.com

Michael Ashcroft is a climate and energy consultant turned Alexander technique teacher. Michael talks and teaches about awareness through his blog and course, “Expanding Awareness”. We talk about what Alexander Technique is and isn't, how to cultivate awareness, effortless effort, the importance of direct experience, and much more. — (00:33) Michael's background (02:25) Why he was drawn to Alexander Technique (04:36) What is Alexander Technique? (07:05) The challenges of repurposing the technique for broader use & teaching it online (09:01) Metaphors for getting people "there" (11:57) Why we aren’t normally in a state of expanded awareness (14:58) Can awareness be permanent? (19:20) Common blockers to cultivating awareness (21:27) Non-doing & effortless effort (24:12) (un)consciousness & (un)naturalness (27:34) Can we pre-empt the need for “unlearning”? (30:40) Do we lose anything by being over-aware? (37:31) The relationship between awareness and flow (41:29) What Alexander Technique isn't & what it could be (45:13) Where Alexander Technique fits with traditions like Buddhism and Taoism? (48:43) Being emotional vs. rational (52:58) Going from consultant to teacher-solopreneur (58:09) Archeologists vs. architects (01:04:38) Michael's final question — Michael’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/m_ashcroft Expanding Awareness: https://expandingawareness.org/ Spencer’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/sp1ns1r Spencer’s blog: https://spencerkier.substack.com

Lenore Skenazy is the author of the Free Range Kids book and blog, and president of Let Grow — all of which focus on promoting childhood independence. We talk about how society and parents fears are disconnected from statistics, the importance of agency, the connection to current university culture, how let grow is helping, and more. — (00:33) Lenore's background (02:17) Free Range Kids and Let Grow (12:02) The root causes of social & parental fear re: children's independence (20:50) How to mitigate fear & change parental behavior (21:26) The statistics (33:25) The importance of agency (38:36) Peter Gray's research & the impact of independence later in life (46:12) The two major Let Grow projects (50:22) Independence online (52:06) Lenore’s question for listeners — Lenore’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/FreeRangeKids Free Range Kids blog: https://www.freerangekids.com/ Free Range Kids book: https://www.amazon.com/Free-Range-Kids-Parents-Teachers-Grow/dp/1119782147 Let Grow: https://letgrow.org/ Spencer’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/sp1ns1r Spencer’s blog: https://spencerkier.substack.com

Kyle Kowalski is an ex-marketing executive and founder of Sloww where Kyle synthesizes lifelong learning that catalyzes human development. We talk about meaning crises, psychological development, ikigai, the birth lottery, agency, and more. — (00:26) Kyle’s background (07:31) Why it took him 2.5 years to finally quit his job (12:06) Why Sloww aligns with his purpose (24:23) How he and his wife chose intentional living (29:28) How helpful are other people’s journeys? (32:38) Whether society cares about psychological development (34:45) Why he's optimistic about humanity becoming more aware (44:38) Ikigai 2.0 (54:36) The birth lottery (01:08:02) Free will & agency (01:22:36) What he's seeking now — Kyle’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/KyKow Sloww’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/SlowwCo Sloww: https://www.sloww.co/ Spencer’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/sp1ns1r Spencer’s blog: https://spencerkier.substack.com

Colin Keeley is the co-founder of Verne, a holding company for SaaS businesses, and the creator of IndiePE, a course for people to learn how to buy their first small business. This episode is a great primer on hold co’s and buying online SMBs for those interested in the space. — (00:27) Colin's background (01:00) What attracted him to hold co’s & buying SaaS (01:40) Why the partnership with his co-founder works (02:34) Investment thesis (03:37) The investment he's most excited about (04:12) Dream investment (05:42) Why SaaS (06:46) What he's learned from Andrew Wilkinson and Mark Leonard (08:27) Proprietary deal flow (09:46) Why he creates content (10:53) 80/20 on due diligence (12:48) How to avoid sunk costs in deal negotiation (14:00) Ensuring a smooth transition post-acquisition (16:49) How to scale and delegate (18:10) What can be taught about buying SMBs (19:51) How people should get into the space (21:20) Building gradually (24:10) Biggest challenges (25:02) Missing infrastructure in SMB acquisitions (27:37) The biggest reason they’ll succeed (28:21) His definition of success (29:08) How having a kid has changed his thinking about work (31:04) His early parenting advice (32:28) Final question & the work he's done to figure out what game he wants to play in life — Spencer’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/sp1ns1r Spencer’s blog: https://spencerkier.substack.com/ Colin’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/ColinKeeley Verne: https://www.vernehq.com/ IndiePE: https://www.indiepe.com/

Zohar Atkins is a rabbi and thinker. He’s the author of the blogs “Etz Hasadeh” and “What Is Called Thinking?”, and host of the "Meditations with Zohar" podcast. Zohar and I talk about academia, Judaism, content creation, and bridging philosophy and religion. — (00:27) Background (05:24) Thoughts on academia and the peer review process (08:56) What Substack & podcasting offer compared to academia (13:18) How he's such a prolific creator (17:15) Why Judaism? (18:41) Is there any conflict between obligation & the pursuit of truth? (21:45) The decline of religion (27:04) Knock-on effects of declining religiosity (39:41) Reconciling Judaism & secular philosophy (42:13) Being a bridge between the secular & the religious (44:17) What's the goal of philosophy? (48:52) Why aren't more people engaged with philosophy? (53:15) Has philosophy “progressed”? (55:38) What's the meaning of all this? (58:54) Final question for listeners — Spencer’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/sp1ns1r Spencer’s blog: https://spencerkier.substack.com/ Zohar’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/ZoharAtkins Zohar’s Philosophy blog: http://Whatiscalledthinking.substack.com Zohar’s Torah blog: http://Etzhasadeh.substack.com Meditations with Zohar podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/meditations-with-zohar/id1608391571