As promised, a fun appearance on The Metagame podcast. Actually, honestly, I hadn’t listened to it when I promised that. I only remembered it being fun. I never (rarely) listen back to my podcasts. Mostly because I don’t want to be influenced by…myself. But this one felt a bit different.
So I listened to it—and actually I want to up my description. This single episode could put me out of business. It packs just about everything of recent relevance I have to say into a single conversation.
I should place the success of this conversation in good part on the stoic dexterity of the host, Daniel Kazandjian. Lifting from his breakdown of the conversation, the topics include:
Alex’s creative process (i.e. meeting the daemon)
Why memes have made everyone into philosophers
That time when Alex got too meta for Bono and Robert Redford
The perils of success and how it tempts you to be formulaic
Status anxiety and the philosophy of cool
Why “selling out” stopped being a thing around the year 2000
Death initiations and managing death anxiety
Why you need a gang with a shared mission
Why society is perfectly primed for virtue to become cool
How wokeness acts as a shield for capitalism
The benefits of having a stoic conversation partner
Alex’s anxiety-inducing ritual before going on stage
(Oh, the title of this post will be explained in the podcast, too).
This was so much fun. Thanks for the great conversation 🙏
🔥