96 Episodes
Hacking State 55 - Aneil Mallavarapu: Why AI Can't Be Conscious
Aneil Mallavarapu is a biochemist, award winning computer scientist, and Managing Partner at Humain Ventures; investing in early stage life science and health tech startups. We talk about his pioneering work in systems biology at Harvard that led to the creation of Little b, a programming language for modeling biological systems with modularity and abstraction, the phenomenology of consciousness, the “hard problem” of consciousness, taking consciousness as fundamental, the limits of radical materialism, why our brains are not like classical computers, reconciling theories of consciousness with physics, the computational intractability of consciousness, the specter of AI civil rights, and Austin as the epicenter of the emerging science of the mind.Aneil on X: https://x.com/aneilbaboo His paper, "Programming with models: Modularity and abstraction provide powerful capabilities for systems biology"If you enjoyed this talk, please leave a review on Spotify/iTunes.Listen on:Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@alexmurshakApple: Spotify: RSS: https://feed.podbean.com/hackingstate/feed.xml Get full access to Hacking State at www.alexmurshak.com/subscribe
Hacking State 49 - Alex Petkas: Greco-Futurism and the Return of Zeal
Alex Petkas is host of Cost of Glory podcast. He holds a PhD in Classics from Princeton, and teaches on persuasion, heroes, and Plutarch’s "Parallel Lives." We talk about the value of Plutarch’s “Parallel Lives”, the contemporary thirst for heroes and grand narratives, Platonism vs. Stoicism, Archeofuturist aesthetics, why futurism is ripe for our cultural moment, his Rostra group and training men in the art of rhetoric, and why our future depends on recovering the spirit of zeal. Cost of Glory: On X: https://x.com/costofgloryWebsite: https://www.costofglory.comIf you enjoyed this interview, please leave a review on Spotify/iTunes.Support Hacking State:Listen on:Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@alexmurshakApple: Spotify: RSS: https://feed.podbean.com/hackingstate/feed.xml Get full access to Hacking State at www.alexmurshak.com/subscribe
Hacking State 48 - Raw Egg Nationalist: Health, Hormones, and Social Control
I am joined by Raw Egg Nationalist, creator and publisher of Man’s World Magazine, co-founder of Kindred Harvest, and author of "The Eggs Benedict Option". We discuss the relationship between individual health and the political system, his upcoming book with Passage Press, “The Last Men,” the consequences of declining testosterone levels and sperm counts, the harmful effects of environmental xenoestrogens, MAHA (Make America Healthy Again), the dangers of reliance on Ozempic and other GLP1 agonists, the iatrogenics of the medical industrial complex, and his upcoming speech at the 2025 Natal Conference.Raw Egg Nationalist on X: https://x.com/Babygravy9If you enjoyed this interview, please leave a review on Spotify/iTunes. Support Hacking State:Listen on:Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@alexmurshakApple:Spotify:RSS: https://feed.podbean.com/hackingstate/feed.xml Get full access to Hacking State at www.alexmurshak.com/subscribe
47 - Alex Priou: From Plato to Palantir - Philosophy's Place in Technological Society
Alex Priou is Associate Professor of Political Philosophy and Interim Dean of the Center for Intellectual Foundations at University of Austin, as well as co-host of The New Thinkery podcast.We discuss the place of the Great Books in education, a justification of political philosophy in terms of the good life, his review of Palantir's Alex Karp's and Nicholas Zamiska's book, “The Technological Republic,” the challenges posed by life mediated through technology, the interplay between great thinkers, and his upcoming book on Plato’s “Republic” and Thucydides’ “History of the Peloponnesian War”, exploring how times of decadence create a desire for revolutionary politics and drawing parallels to the pitfalls of today.Alex PriouPersonal site: https://alexpriou.com/UATX profile: https://www.uaustin.org/people/alex-priouOn X: https://x.com/alexpriouIf you enjoyed this interview, please leave a review on Spotify/iTunes.Support Hacking State: https://hackingstate.substack.com/subscribeListen on:Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@alexmurshakApple: Spotify: RSS: https://feed.podbean.com/hackingstate/feed.xml Get full access to Hacking State at www.alexmurshak.com/subscribe
Hacking State 46 - ARX-HAN: The Shape of Meaning
ARX-Han is a novelist and publisher of the Decentralized Fiction Substack. He joins me to discuss cultural accelerationism, shame and masculinity, nihilism and the crisis of agency, and AI & fears of human obsolescence. Follow ARX-Han onX: https://x.com/ARX_Han Substack: https://www.decentralizedfiction.com/ His novel, INCEL: https://www.amazon.com/INCEL-Novel-ARX-Han/dp/B0CJLCZVCG/If you enjoyed this interview, please leave a review on Spotify/iTunes.Support Hacking StateListen on:Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@alexmurshakApple:Spotify:RSS: https://feed.podbean.com/hackingstate/feed.xml Get full access to Hacking State at www.alexmurshak.com/subscribe
Hacking State 45 - Edward Luttwak: The Vitality of War
Edward Luttwak is a legendary military historian and grand strategist, known for his books “Coup d’Etat: A Practical Handbook,” “Strategy: The Logic of War and Peace,” and “The Rise of China vs. The Logic of Strategy.”We discuss:* How Russia and Ukraine is an 18th century war* Why Israel-Hezbollah war is the real modern war* Europe’s demographics of death* Why “the fertility crisis is a vitality crisis”* War as the engine of Europe* China’s military prospects* The Heroic Danes* National Service as the key to countries’ futuresEdward Luttwak on X: https://x.com/ELuttwakIf you enjoyed this interview, please leave a review on Spotify/iTunes.Support Hacking State: https://hackingstate.substack.com/subscribeListen on:Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@alexmurshakApple: Spotify: RSS: https://feed.podbean.com/hackingstate/feed.xml Get full access to Hacking State at www.alexmurshak.com/subscribe
Hacking State 44 - Daniel Hess: Fixing the Fertility Crisis
Daniel Hess is the writer behind More Births, ideas for reversing the collapse in global fertility. MoreBirths is a data-driven resource dedicated to helping humanity to understand and ultimately solve the low birthrate crisis that has taken hold across the world. We discuss: - Factors contributing to the fertility crisis - Why Israel is an exception among developed nations in fertility - The power of strong pro-natal belief - Components of the “Fertility Stack” - The Amish as the highest fertility group in America - The importance of allo-parenting and grandparents - The role of religiosity -Why economic arguments don’t explain low fertility - Embattlement as an explanation for nations’ fertility - The limits of egg freezing and IVF - The effectiveness of pro-natal public policy interventions - How the housing we build affects fertility More Births Substack: https://www.morebirths.com/Daniel Hess on X: https://x.com/MoreBirthsIf you enjoyed this interview, please leave a review on Spotify/iTunes.Support Hacking State: Listen on:Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@alexmurshakApple: Spotify: RSS: https://feed.podbean.com/hackingstate/feed.xml Get full access to Hacking State at www.alexmurshak.com/subscribe
Hacking State 43 - Jonathan Scharf: The Future of Energy
Jonathan Scharf is a NanoEngineering PhD energy consultant specializing in renewable energy. They discuss the future of the grid: nuclear, AI, and renewables. They also cover Jonathan's eclectic background, his transition from academia to industry, and the importance of interdisciplinary approaches in tackling energy challenges. The conversation delves into the current state of nuclear energy adoption, the regulatory hurdles it faces, and the hype surrounding new technologies in the energy sector. Jonathan emphasizes the need for effective communication and collaboration among stakeholders to drive meaningful progress in renewable energy. This conversation goes into the intersection of AI, energy demand, and consulting, highlighting the rapid evolution of technology and its implications for industries. The speakers discuss the increasing complexity of AI systems, the importance of bridging technical knowledge gaps in energy sectors, and the role of machine learning in consulting. They emphasize the necessity of domain knowledge in effectively utilizing AI tools and the cultural shifts affecting workforce development. Additionally, the conversation addresses recruitment challenges in a changing landscape, advocating for a more nuanced approach to hiring.Scharf Energy Consulting:scharfenergy.comIf you enjoyed this interview, please leave a review on Spotify/iTunes.Support Hacking State: https://hackingstate.substack.com/subscribeListen on:Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@alexmurshakApple: Spotify: RSS: https://feed.podbean.com/hackingstate/feed.xml Get full access to Hacking State at www.alexmurshak.com/subscribe
Hacking State 42 - Daniel Schwarzhoff: Meditation For Emotional Resilience in Politics
In this conversation, Alex Murshak speaks with Daniel Schwarzhoff Jr., co-founder of the See meditation app, about the importance of emotional regulation in today's political climate. They discuss the unique approach of the app, which focuses on non-contemplative meditation, and how it aims to help individuals build resilience against stress. The conversation delves into the nature of stress, the role of resentment in emotional responses, and how manipulation through emotional dysregulation plays a significant role in politics. They also explore the collective response to societal stress and the psychological implications of these dynamics. In this conversation, Alex Murshak discusses the dangers of harboring resentment and the impact of ideology on individual psychology. The discussion also explores the ripple effect of individual change on broader societal dynamics, particularly through the lens of emotional resilience and meditation practices. They share insights into the development of a meditation app designed to facilitate personal growth and emotional well-being, highlighting its simplicity and effectiveness. The conversation concludes with reflections on the importance of intentionality in using technology and the potential for personal transformation.The See meditation app: https://theseeapp.com/ Daniel Schwarzoff on X: https://x.com/dschwarzhoffjrIf you enjoyed this interview, please leave a review on Spotify/iTunes.Listen on: Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@alexmurshakSpotify:RSS: https://feed.podbean.com/hackingstate/feed.xml Get full access to Hacking State at www.alexmurshak.com/subscribe
Thom Ivy - The State of Persuasion
The always enlightening Thom Ivy joins me to discuss pheromones, bioenergetics and Peating, state management, hypnosis, and propaganda.Thom on X: https://x.com/thom_ivy_1If you enjoyed this interview, please leave a review on Spotify/iTunes.Support Hacking State: https://hackingstate.substack.com/subscribeListen on:Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@alexmurshakApple: Spotify: RSS: https://feed.podbean.com/hackingstate/feed.xml Get full access to Hacking State at www.alexmurshak.com/subscribe
Cody Moser - Systems Intelligence and the Mysteries of Life
Cody Moser is a PhD candidate in Cognitive Science at the University of California, Merced studying collective intelligence, system collapse, complex systems, and networks.We cover the challenge of integrating humanity into science, the collapse of public spaces, consequences of social institutions moving online, how network structures optimize innovation, how AI reveals the anti-human incentives of many of our systems, living things and the theory of dissipative systems, and the mystery of life for statistical physics.My AI For Government Affairs Startup https://lawgiver.aiIf you enjoyed this interview, please leave a review on Spotify/iTunes.Support Hacking State: https://hackingstate.substack.com/subscribeListen on:Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@alexmurshakApple: Spotify: RSS: https://feed.podbean.com/hackingstate/feed.xml Get full access to Hacking State at www.alexmurshak.com/subscribe
Hacking State 39 - Nathan Worcester: American Dynamism
Nathan Worcester covers national politics and energy for The Epoch Times. We talk about - Views from the 2024 Presidential Campaign trail - Prospects for American Re-Industrialization - Nuclear deregulation and the future of American energy - DOGE Nathan on X: https://x.com/nnworcesterMy AI For Government Affairs Startup https://lawgiver.aiIf you enjoyed this interview, please leave a review on Spotify/iTunes.Support Hacking State: https://hackingstate.substack.com/subscribeListen on:Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@alexmurshakApple: Spotify: RSS: https://feed.podbean.com/hackingstate/feed.xml Get full access to Hacking State at www.alexmurshak.com/subscribe
Hacking State 38 - Logan Allen: Zorp, NockChain, A Market For Zero Knowledge Proofs
Logan Allen is the CEO of Zorp, an applied research company building NockChain and the Nockstack. We discuss how NockChain combines proof-of-work with zero-knowledge proofs, creating incentives for proof generation at scale. The conversation covers how zero-knowledge proofs enable state compression for large computations and Zorp's approach to building secure infrastructure for network tribes. We explore practical applications like verifying computations in nuclear reactors and power stations, the economics of zero-knowledge proof markets, and how the Nockstack provides tools for high-security production environments. Nock's minimal instruction set makes it simple enough for one person to understand, forming the foundation for this secure computing infrastructure.Zorp: https://zorp.io/If you enjoyed this interview, please leave a review on Spotify/iTunes.Support Hacking State: https://hackingstate.substack.com/subscribeListen on:Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@alexmurshakApple: Spotify: RSS: https://feed.podbean.com/hackingstate/feed.xml Get full access to Hacking State at www.alexmurshak.com/subscribe
Hacking State 37 - Jessica Solce: Forging A Country
Director & Producer Jessica Solce joins me to discuss Forging A Country, her latest film documenting Nayib Bukele's 2024 re-election in El Salvador. We cover why Western liberalism's playbook is insufficient for El Salvador's problems, her approach to documentaries with ideological implications, reflections on her opus, Death Athletic, film and propaganda, streaming platform politics, filming over long timelines, accessing high profile documentary subjects, and discovering a film's aesthetics.My AI For Government Affairs Startup, LawgiverIf you enjoyed this interview, please leave a review on Spotify/iTunes.Support Hacking State: https://hackingstate.substack.com/subscribeListen on:Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@alexmurshak Apple: Spotify: RSS: https://feed.podbean.com/hackingstate/feed.xml Get full access to Hacking State at www.alexmurshak.com/subscribe
36 - Eric Kaufmann: Breaking Taboos to Win the Culture War
Eric Kaufmann is a professor of politics and Director of the Centre for Heterodox Social Science at the University of Buckingham. He is also Adjunct Fellow at the Manhattan Institute. We talk about his new book "The Third Awokening" and cover: how quasi-religious left-wing liberalism bears more responsibility for Wokeness than “radical neo-Marxist” Theory, the weaponization humanistic psychotherapy and trauma, “Be kind” as an ideology, the simple emotional structure behind it: minorities good, majorities bad—the making sacred of historically marginalized race, gender, and sexual minorities as a structure of taboos, conservatives' failure to win culture, his defense of negative liberty, Wokeness as a meme, Gen Z’s shift to the right, comparing the free speech climate of the US, the UK, and Canada, and the coming intensification of cultural politics.Support Hacking State:My startup: https://lawgiver.aiIf you enjoyed this interview, please leave a review on Spotify/iTunes.Listen on:Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@alexmurshak Apple: Spotify: RSS: https://feed.podbean.com/hackingstate/feed.xml Get full access to Hacking State at www.alexmurshak.com/subscribe
35 - Ben McCormick: Getting to Know Kinode
Ben McCormick, a lead developer at Kinode, joins me to discuss the birth of Kinode, the need for backend tools in crypto, choosing Web Assembly for peer-to-peer computing, breaking out of the Feudal structure of Web 2.0 and creating coordination power outside tech oligopolies, how to popularize permission-less infrastructure, getting started developing on the network, and the grand vision for Kinode.Kinode is a decentralized operating system, peer-to-peer app framework, and node network designed to simplify the development and deployment of decentralized applications. It is also a sovereign cloud computer, in that Kinode can be deployed anywhere and act as a server controlled by anyone. Ultimately, Kinode facilitates the writing and distribution of software that runs on privately-held, personal server nodes or node clusters. - The Kinode BookThe Kinode Book: https://book.kinode.org/Discord: https://discord.gg/mYDj74NkfPKinode on X: https://x.com/kinode Dartfrog: https://kinode.org/blog/hello-dartfrogIf you enjoyed this interview, please leave a review on Spotify/iTunes.Support Hacking State: https://hackingstate.substack.com/subscribeListen on:Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@alexmurshak Apple: Spotify: RSS: https://feed.podbean.com/hackingstate/feed.xml Get full access to Hacking State at www.alexmurshak.com/subscribe
34 - Charles Haywood: Political Action, Foundationalism, Advice for Ambitious Young Men
Charles Haywood is the Maximum Leader of The Worthy House, publisher of over 600 book reviews, and creator of a framework for the renewal of society called Foundationalism.We talk about how buying machinery from a defunct hair products manufacturer made him tremendously wealthy, The Worthy House and refining his politics by writing hundreds of book reviews, the (im)possibility of political action today, Foundationalism, right wing "elites", the meaning of left wing violence, why Europe is over, the fertility crisis as an existential threat to civilization, and advice for ambitious young men.The Worthy House X: https://x.com/TheWorthyHouse Site: https://theworthyhouse.com/ Foundationalist Manifesto: https://theworthyhouse.com/2021/06/17/the-foundationalist-manifesto-the-politics-of-future-past/Hacking State is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.WAITLIST for my AI Legislative Startup, Lawgiver: https://lawgiver.aiIf you enjoyed this interview, please leave a review on Spotify/iTunes.Listen on:Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@alexmurshak Apple:Spotify:RSS: https://feed.podbean.com/hackingstate/feed.xml Get full access to Hacking State at www.alexmurshak.com/subscribe
33 - Nina Power: Defamation and Free Speech in the Internet Age
I speak with Nina Power about her harrowing defamation suit court battle, the narrowing window of free expression in the West, novel problems of anonymity, pseudonymity, and identity presented by the internet, the antagonism of the philosopher and the city, and the need for cultural tools to push back against authoritarian overreaches in free expression. Nina Power on Substack: https://ninapower.substack.com/ Read the court judgement yourself: https://www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Miller-and-Power-v-Turner-08.11.23.pdfIf you enjoyed this interview, please leave a review on Spotify/iTunes.Support Hacking State: https://hackingstate.substack.com/subscribeListen on:Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@alexmurshak Apple: Spotify: RSS: https://feed.podbean.com/hackingstate/feed.xml Get full access to Hacking State at www.alexmurshak.com/subscribe
Anomaly Interview, Enlightened Tribalism, and Lawgiver AI
First, new content:Hacking State 32 - Jonathan Anomaly: The Virtues of Enlightened TribalismIn this interview Jonathan Anomaly introduces the concept of Enlightened Tribalism, a virtuous mean between blind tribalism and undiscerning universalism. We discuss why tribalism gets a bad rap, the evolutionary origins of tribalism, how altruism gets selected for in groups, liberal cosmopolitanism as a response to the excesses of nationalism in World War I and World War II, the difference between Enlightened tribalism and pathological tribalism, pitfalls in the ways liberals propose to extend altruism indefinitely, the problems with genetically engineering people for altruism, why people are not fungible to institutions, the moral case for Enlightened Tribalism, and why real diversity requires a rejection of cosmopolitan liberalism. Anomaly is a world renowned expert on the science and ethics of genetic enhancement and the Academic Director of the Center for Philosophy, Politics, & Economics in Quito, Ecuador. Read the paper on Enlightened TribalismJonathan Anomaly’s site: https://jonathan-anomaly.com/Quitting My Job, Building a StartupYou may have noticed the pace of content for Hacking State has dramatically reduced in recent months. This is because I finally took the leap and quit my job to build a startup at the end of May.For the last year I’d been building LLM-based applications, along with a lot of cloud and full-stack development work for my former employer. It was a great experience that allowed me to develop a broad set of skills rapidly and completely independently as a development team of one. However, I became increasingly dissatisfied with tasks that took me away from learning LLM-based frameworks to focus on more traditional web dev work. Every day I saw accelerated gains in the advancement and tools for LLMs, and began to intensely FOMO. I knew I needed to spend more time in AI tools, but was waiting for a non-obvious application that matched my interests.Then, in February, I was struck with a vision for applying LLMs to parse, summarize, and eventually simplify legislation. Several weeks later, Elon Musk Xeeted a potential future feature for Grok that would summarize bills as well. This was sufficient validation for me that it was an idea worth pursuing, and that if I failed to do so, someone else would eventually.LawgiverAILawgiverAI was born on the basic principle that law is code. Legislation should be simple, easy to understand, and use standardized, clear language. Much of mis-governance may be attributable to the obscurantist, lengthy, intractable, and deadening language of legislation. LLMs provide an unprecedented opportunity to make sense of all the unstructured data embedded in the U.S. Statutes at Large (comprising both acts of Congress, as well as the U.S. Code of Federal Regulations.) This corpus is so large and intricate, that its precise size has yet to be documented anywhere. These facts constitute an unsustainable and ultimately undemocratic state of affairs for U.S. citizens where the laws under which they and their corporate entities are governed are incomprehensible and ever-growing in scope and size.LawgiverAI seeks to make legislation legible. By making it so, we can make it more transparent and more tractable, giving people a handle on the law; and eventually, mapping out its topography entirely.Ultimately, this is a project aimed at legal formalization. Through formalization, there can be accountability and understanding. Through accountability and understanding, we can restore freedom.For now, we are developing a helpful research tool for think tanks, policy analysts, and lobbyists. You can play with our demo and intelligently chat with a bill here.We are also seeking early stage angel investors, and potential beta testers. If you are interested in either investment or becoming an early user, email me here: alex@lawgiver.aiThere’ll be more content from Hacking State soon.Thank you for subscribing,Alex MurshakIf you enjoyed this interview, please leave a review on Spotify/iTunes.Support Hacking State: https://hackingstate.substack.com/subscribeListen on:Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@alexmurshak Apple: Spotify: RSS: https://feed.podbean.com/hackingstate/feed.xml This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.alexmurshak.com/subscribe
31 - Nick Simmons: Urbit + Octu Ventures
Nick Simmons is a cofounder and member of Octu Ventures, a member-driven venture DAO investing in teams building on Urbit. Urbit comprises a decentralized network of personal servers, a unique digital ID system, and a decentralized peer-to-peer networking protocol. Altogether, these constitute load-bearing pillars of a truly digital civilization. We talk about the Urbit stack, Octu's thesis behind a member-driven venture DAO, Urbit as a new coordination technology, the importance of persistent digital identities that are not real names, encoding offline social technology in digital online network technology, the robustness and fault-tolerance of the Urbit network, and building the load-bearing pillars of a digital civilization.Find Nick on Urbit: ~simfur-ritwed Octu: https://octu.ventures/ Hydra Ventures: https://www.hydraventures.xyz/If you enjoyed this interview, please leave a review on Spotify/iTunes. Support Hacking State: https://hackingstate.substack.com/subscribeListen on:Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@alexmurshakApple:Spotify:RSS: https://feed.podbean.com/hackingstate/feed.xml Get full access to Hacking State at www.alexmurshak.com/subscribe
30 - Alexander Pacheco: Building a Network of 150
Alexander Pacheco is the founder of social media platform, 150. Based on Dunbar’s Limit, 150’s innovative social network leverages insights from network science to create a small-town feel that elides many of the downsides that come with incumbent social media giants.Alexander walks us through using anthropology and human nature to shape the network topology of 150 to more closely reflect the way we socialize and build connections in real life, how trust in networks is where the real value lies, the formula for high-quality consensus-building, and why bi-directional, exclusive networks are the optimal structure for building effective high-trust communities.Get 150:https://150.earth/https://twitter.com/150_incAlexander Pachecohttps://twitter.com/alexandercurvesIf you enjoyed this interview, please leave a review on Spotify/iTunes.Support Hacking State: https://hackingstate.substack.com/subscribeListen on:Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@alexmurshakApple: Spotify: RSS: https://feed.podbean.com/hackingstate/feed.xml Get full access to Hacking State at www.alexmurshak.com/subscribe
29 - Kevin Dolan (Bennet's Phylactery): Rebooting Natalism for the 21st Century
I’m joined by cofounder and organizer of the 2023 Natal Conference in Austin, TX, Kevin Dolan. We talk about the conception of a conference to promote having more babies, the various religious and techno-optimist factions of the Natalist Movement, environmental detriments to fertility, how we’re radically undervaluing motherhood, thought-terminating technical solutions to the fertility crisis, surrogacy, expanding freedom of association as the key to self-replicating communities, like-minded community as a solution for the alienation of motherhood, and setting sights on Natal Conference 2024. “It’s not about stopping the rain, it’s about building a boat” - Kevin Dolan Find out about the Natal Conference: https://www.natalism.org/ Follow Kevin on X: https://X.com/extradeadjcbIf you enjoyed this interview, please leave a review on Spotify/iTunes. Support Hacking State: Listen on: Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@alexmurshakApple:Spotify:RSS: https://feed.podbean.com/hackingstate/feed.xml Get full access to Hacking State at www.alexmurshak.com/subscribe
28 - Charles Rosenbauer and Olli Payne: Finding the Keys to Our Possible Futures
I interview the founding editors of Possibilia, a magazine dedicated to showcasing realistic, optimistic science fiction. They’re bringing positive visions of the future in digital and in print—replete with short stories, nonfiction companion pieces, and illustration.We talk about the constraints of keeping sci-fi optimistic and realistic, working with writers to meet these constraints, future-adjacent technologies, how private information (cryptography) beats raw compute power, SPACE INFRASTRUCTURE, optimism as a positive telos for humanity, e/acc’s death drive, the Principle of Explosion, generative art as the catalyst for up-skilling artists, stories as social technology, magic lamps, new futurism aesthetics, and the challenges of running a magazine bridging art and technology.https://twitter.com/bzogrammerhttps://twitter.com/OlliPayneIf you enjoyed this interview, please leave a review on Spotify/iTunes.Support Hacking State: https://hackingstate.substack.com/subscribeListen on:Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@alexmurshakApple: Spotify: RSS: https://feed.podbean.com/hackingstate/feed.xml Get full access to Hacking State at www.alexmurshak.com/subscribe
27 - Lomez: Keeper of the Press
I speak with father of the Passage Prize and Keeper of the Passage Press, Lomez.Passage Prize started as an open call for literary and artistic submissions to find untapped talent from the Twitter anon sphere. It quickly exceeded its initial ambitions, drawing artists both obscure and famous to claim their spot in the coveted limited run print edition book, and a share of the $20,000 prize. From the success of the Passage Prize contest, the Passage Publishing company was born. Lomez and I speak about the origins of the Passage Prize, the hole in the market for right-of-center artists to share their work, the dearth of vitality in conservative art, surprises from the first submission, how they selected for quality, the gap in publishing that Passage Publishing is aiming to fill, its relationship with Man's World and Mystery Grove Publishing, and his vision for the future of the Passage Press.Buy book(s): https://passage.press/ Passage Press on X: https://x.com/PassagePress Lomez on X: https://x.com/L0m3zIf you enjoyed this interview, please leave a review on Spotify/iTunes.Support Hacking State: https://hackingstate.substack.com/subscribeListen on:Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@alexmurshak Apple: Spotify: RSS: https://feed.podbean.com/hackingstate/feed.xml Get full access to Hacking State at www.alexmurshak.com/subscribe
Hacking State 26 - Stephen R.C. Hicks: Ayn Rand and High Romanticism
On Ayn Rand, Objectivism, the resonance of Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead, the development and spread of Individualism, high Romanticism, Rand's polarizing characters, the relationship between altruism and selfishness in her works and philosophy, Ayn Rand's large influence on entrepreneurs, and the intellectual subculture of Randian academics. Stephen R. C. Hicks is Professor of Philosophy at Rockford University and Executive Director of the Center for Ethics and Entrepreneurship, and Senior Scholar at The Atlas Society. Stephen R. C. Hicks: https://www.stephenhicks.org/If you enjoyed this interview, please leave a review on Spotify/iTunes. Support Hacking State: Listen on: Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@alexmurshakApple:Spotify:RSS: https://feed.podbean.com/hackingstate/feed.xml Get full access to Hacking State at www.alexmurshak.com/subscribe
25 - Kevin MacDonald: Jewish Group Evolutionary Strategy | Cofnas-MacDonald Debate, pt.2
For part 2 of the Cofnas-Macdonald debate I interview evolutionary psychologist Kevin Macdonald. We go over his response to Nathan Cofnas' objections to the Jewish Group Evolutionary Strategy laid out in "The Culture of Critique" series, his explanations for outstanding Jewish influence, conscientiousness, emotional intensity, and affect intensity as notably Jewish personality traits, Ashkenazi verbal tilt in IQ, the history of Jewish advocacy for immigration, the dispute over group-level selection in evolutionary biology, and his response to the charge of antisemitism.Youtube interview: Relevant Links:https://kevinmacdonald.nethttps://nathancofnas.com/debate-with-kevin-macdonaldhttps://x.com/nathancofnashttps://nathancofnas.comIf you enjoyed this interview, please leave a review on Spotify/iTunes.Support Hacking State: Listen on:Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@alexmurshakApple: Spotify: RSS: https://feed.podbean.com/hackingstate/feed.xml Get full access to Hacking State at www.alexmurshak.com/subscribe
24 - Nathan Cofnas: Jewish Group Evolutionary Strategy | Cofnas-MacDonald Debate, pt.1
Nathan Cofnas is Faculty of Philosophy at the University of Cambridge, working in philosophy of biology and ethics. We discuss his paper “Still No Evidence for a Jewish Group Evolutionary Strategy” in the context of his ongoing debate with Kevin MacDonald and "The Culture of Critique” series. We cover explanations for outstanding and disproportionate Jewish success, differences in Jewish intelligence, whether Jews are particularly ethnocentric, Jewish involvement in Multiculturalism, Liberalism, mass immigration, and other political & intellectual movements, Margherita Sarfatti and Jews’ role in Italian Fascism, and the relationship of these unanswered questions to antisemitism.Relevant Links:https://nathancofnas.com/debate-with-kevin-macdonaldhttps://x.com/nathancofnashttps://nathancofnas.comIf you enjoyed this interview, please leave a review on Spotify/iTunes. Support Hacking State:Listen on:Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@alexmurshakApple: Spotify: RSS: https://feed.podbean.com/hackingstate/feed.xml Get full access to Hacking State at www.alexmurshak.com/subscribe
23 - Zero HP Lovecraft: Toward a Christo-Nietzschean Synthesis
I speak with sci-fi horrorist Zero HP Lovecraft on his Six Components of Religious Experience, a functionalist approach to religion, the concept of God becoming increasingly abstract and far away (divine distance), how Christianity can benefit from Nietzsche’s bitter medicine, Christianity’s struggle with modern sexual mores, pathological altruism, why goodness is strength, regaining self-possession, submitting to tradition to gain mastery over craft, and the tension between self-love and self-abolishment driving Western man.Relevant Links:Zero HP Lovecraft on X: https://x.com/0x49fa98Zero HP Lovecraft on Substack: Toward a Functionalist Understanding of Religion - Toward a Functionalist Understanding of Religion, Pt. 2: The American Civic Religion - Toward a Functionalist Understanding of Religion, Pt. 3: Christo-Nietzschean Synthesis - If you enjoyed this interview, please leave a review on Spotify/iTunes.Support Hacking State: https://hackingstate.substack.com/subscribeListen on:Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@alexmurshakApple: Spotify: RSS: https://feed.podbean.com/hackingstate/feed.xml Get full access to Hacking State at www.alexmurshak.com/subscribe
22 - Luca Cacciatore: The State of Christianity in America
Luca Cacciatore joins me to discuss Christianity in America, the decline of religiosity, the Second Great Awakening, how technology mediates religiosity, faith and fertility, religion grappling with science, the Evangelical Revolution, and the dearth of compelling Christian narratives for young men.If you enjoyed this interview, please leave a review on Spotify/iTunes.Support Hacking State: https://hackingstate.substack.com/subscribeListen on:Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@alexmurshak Apple: Spotify: RSS: https://feed.podbean.com/hackingstate/feed.xml Get full access to Hacking State at www.alexmurshak.com/subscribe
21 - Kino Corner: Great Films Touch Our Lives
I am joined by Kino Corner to discuss movie making, film as a medium for capturing the zeitgeist of different eras, shooting on digital, film, and hybrid, the economics of why mid-budget movies have disappeared, crowdfunding movies, The Killer (Fincher, 2023), Asteroid City (Anderson, 2023), drifting from the binge model of TV series', and the Kino Corner's 5 masterpiece film recommendations.Relevant Links:https://www.youtube.com/c/thekinocornerhttps://x.com/thekinocornerhttps://instagram.com/the_kino_cornerhttps://letterboxd.com/TheKinoCornerIf you enjoyed this interview, please leave a review on Spotify/iTunes. Support Hacking State: https://hackingstate.substack.com/subscribe Listen on: Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@alexmurshak Apple:Spotify:RSS: https://feed.podbean.com/hackingstate/feed.xml Get full access to Hacking State at www.alexmurshak.com/subscribe
20 - Michael Millerman: Heidegger, Dugin, and Strauss - The Rewilding of Philosophy
Michael Millerman joins me to discuss starting a philosophy school, why tech and startups are seeking wisdom, whether Western philosophy is still a living tradition, objections to the usefulness of philosophy, leading students to the eternal questions, the intimate pleasure of communing with old friends, Martin Heidegger's influence on Alexander Dugin, Leo Strauss and Heidegger's disagreement on philosophical historicism, our place in the cave beneath Plato's Cave, Millerman's intriguing encounter with Dugin, why Dugin is a dangerous philosopher, his take on "Selective Breeding and the Birth of Philosophy," and the potential for the rewilding of philosophy.Relevant Links:Millerman on X: https://x.com/M_Millerman The Millerman SchoolBeginning with HeideggerIf you enjoyed this interview, please leave a review on Spotify/iTunes.Support Hacking State: Listen on:Spotify:RSS: https://feed.podbean.com/hackingstate/feed.xml Get full access to Hacking State at www.alexmurshak.com/subscribe
19 - Bitcoin Gandalf: Satoshi's Immaculate Coinception
I sit down with Bitcoin Gandalf for a deep dive on Satoshi's immaculate coinception. Gandalf is a large influencer in the Bitcoin space and works in Bitcoin mining.Bitcoin is one of the most innovative technologies of the last century from a governance and coordination perspective. I believe it has the potential to be a vehicle for civilization-level reconfiguration of value.We cover our respective journeys in becoming "orange-pilled" on Bitcoin, the Bitcoin mining industry from the inside, Bitcoin maximalism, its potential to supplant existing fiat currencies, the virtues of self-custody, Bitcoin ETFs, Bitcoiners (community), proof of work vs. proof of stake, where we are in the current hype cycle, and getting into Bitcoin for noobs.You can find Gandalf on:https://x.com/BTCGandalfSuggested Reading:Bitcoin White Paper: https://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdfIf you enjoyed this interview, please leave a review on Spotify/iTunes.Support Hacking State: https://hackingstate.substack.com/subscribeListen on:Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@alexmurshakApple: Spotify: RSS: https://feed.podbean.com/hackingstate/feed.xml Get full access to Hacking State at www.alexmurshak.com/subscribe
18 - Nikolai Yakovenko: Exploring DeepNews
DeepNews is using LLMs to aggregate and summarize the latest news across the internet, seeking to change the way we digest news.Nikolai Yakovenko is an ex-Twitter, Google, and Nvidia machine-learning engineer who initially forayed into Web3 with his venture 'DeepNFTValue,' which uses machine learning to estimate the value of NFTs; before also going on to create DeepNews.We cover using generative AI for compression, why this application of LLMs could better deliver news from primary sources across the internet in real time, the narrative neutrality of the AI-platform, concerns about information accuracy, misinformation, fidelity, and robustness, as well as potential areas for improvement.You can find Nikolai on:https://x.com/ivan_bezdomnyhttps://substack.com/@nikocryptoRelevant Links:https://deepnewz.comhttps://www.deepnftvalue.comIf you enjoyed this interview, please leave a review on Spotify/iTunes. Support Hacking State: https://hackingstate.substack.com/subscribeListen on:Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@alexmurshakApple: Spotify: RSS: https://feed.podbean.com/hackingstate/feed.xml Get full access to Hacking State at www.alexmurshak.com/subscribe
17 - Will: Anthrochauvinism
In this conversation, I speak with Will (@latinxputler) about Anthrochauvinism, an alternative to e/acc & decel ideologies.We cover his experiences in the early days witnessing the formulation of e/acc (Effective Accelerationism) in groupchats as a response to Effective Altruism. His reservations about transhumanism and encounters with post-human or anti-human AI researchers. We then get into laying out the concept of Anthrochauvinism as a reactionary, human-centric orientation that puts technology in service of us. Finally, we touch on reproductive technology and genomics when considered from an Anthrochauvinist perspective.Will on X: https://twitter.com/LatinxPutlerReadings mentioned:The Artilect War by Hugo de Garishttps://www.amazon.com/Artilect-War-Controversy-Concerning-Intelligent/dp/0882801546https://agi-conf.org/2008/artilectwar.pdf The Question Concerning Technology by Martin Heidegger https://www2.hawaii.edu/~freeman/courses/phil394/The%20Question%20Concerning%20Technology.pdfIf you enjoyed this interview, please leave a review on Spotify/iTunes.Support Hacking State: https://hackingstate.substack.com/subscribeListen on:Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@alexmurshakApple: Spotify: RSS: https://feed.podbean.com/hackingstate/feed.xml This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.alexmurshak.com/subscribe
16 - Grant Dever: Nuclear Texas
We envision a nuclear Texas. Grant Dever is a research fellow at FREOPP (Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity) who writes about energy policy, with a focus on nuclear power. He earned his degree in economics and business from the University of Rochester. During the pandemic, Grant cultivated community for IndieThinkers.org—an accelerator for independent thinkers on the internet. He also authored "Lead The Future: Strategies and Systems for Emerging Leaders."The conversation touches on Texas as an independent energy powerhouse and the challenges with its power grid. Dever also speaks about the role of tech giants in advancing Nuclear Energy. By adopting demand response and managing intermittency, power-intensive applications like bitcoin mining, training LLMs & hydrogen production can be transformative in nuclear energy proliferation. The discussion concludes with a note on the opportunities in the Texas energy sector, particularly when diverging from federal directives, standing as the lone star state.You can find Grant on: Website: https://grantdever.com/Substack: FREOPP: https://freopp.org/the-freopp-scholar-grant-dever-badbe66c8b7eX: https://twitter.com/grantadeverBook: https://www.amazon.com/Lead-Future-Strategies-Systems-Emerging-ebook/dp/B0828895H4Relevant Links: https://freopp.org/rethinking-u-s-nuclear-energy-regulation-7639c7e88642https://blog.freopp.org/were-not-going-to-have-another-chernobyl/f you enjoyed this interview, please leave a review on Spotify/iTunes.Support Hacking State: https://hackingstate.substack.com/subscribeListen on:Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@alexmurshakApple: Spotify: RSS: https://feed.podbean.com/hackingstate/feed.xml Get full access to Hacking State at www.alexmurshak.com/subscribe
15 - Brendon Marotta: Children's Justice
Brendon Marotta is a filmmaker, author, and podcaster. We talk about his book, Children's Justice, which applies critical theory to the controversial topic of infant circumcision. We go through his decision to appropriate the tools and tactics of critical theory in service of this issue, apprehensions around taking circumcision up as a social justice or human rights concern, my discomfort with everything about this, childhood trauma and its reverberating effects on adults and institutions, rhetorical methods borrowed from Foucault and others to make his argument, barriers for men and parents to discussing circumcision, and why he sees advocacy around this issue as a microcosm for opening a broader discussion around the treatment of children.Brendon Marotta's feature-length documentary, "American Circumcision" garnered numerous nominations and awards at film festivals, including Best Documentary at the Lone Star Film Festival (2017), The Silver Jury Prize at The Social Justice Film Festival (2017), Best Documentary Feature at Outer Docs Film Festival (2018), and is available on Netflix (non-US) and Prime video.Gods of AI (2022)Brendon Marotta Site: https://brendonmarottaX: https://x.com/bdmarottaIf you enjoyed this interview, please leave a review on Spotify/iTunes. Support Hacking State: Listen on: Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@alexmurshakApple:Spotify:RSS: https://feed.podbean.com/hackingstate/feed.xml Get full access to Hacking State at www.alexmurshak.com/subscribe
14 - Stephen Pimentel: Reviewing "Selective Breeding and the Birth of Philosophy"
Engineer and essayist Stephen Pimentel joins me for a review of the recently released bestselling book in Political Philosophy, Costin Alamariu’s “Selective Breeding and the Birth of Philosophy”. In this discussion we go deep in tracing the argument, point-by-point, of Costin’s thesis concerning the twin emergence of philosophy and tyranny out of the idea of nature, and its teaching and preservation in the aristocratic regime.We attempt to tour the line of argument in sequential fashion, laying out the basic premises, consequences, and conclusions Costin provides, as well as its potential reverberations for our understanding of classical political philosophy; and hint at potential future implications, given advances in technology and age of the current regime, of this timely and unexpectedly popular hit.We go through the early anthropological account of pre-philosophical societies under the sway of collective nomos, the introduction of natural law from martial-aristocratic pastoralist conquerors, the discussion of Pindar and his insights for the aristocracy's self-understanding, phusis and its connection to physicality, the emergence of nature outside the city by breeding and training as a re-wilding project aimed at cultivating men of andreia and phronesis, Callicles and Socrates in Plato's Gorgias--turning Platonic political philosophy on its head, and Nietzsche's resurrection of aristocratic radicalism in service of the preservation of philosophy for the production of genius.Get the book: https://www.amazon.com/Selective-Breeding-Philosophy-Costin-Alamariu/dp/B0CJ3ZDHF6 Stephen Pimentel: https://twitter.com/StephenPiment Get full access to Hacking State at www.alexmurshak.com/subscribe
13 - Steve Hsu: Polygenic Embryo Selection, Improving LLMs, & Getting Nearly Cancelled
Steve Hsu is Professor of Theoretical Physics at Michigan State University, as well as the founder of Genomic Prediction and SuperFocus AI; he also hosts the Manifold podcast, and the Information Processing blog. Steve and I speak about polygenic risk scoring and embryo selection, using AI to predict phenotype from genotype, in-vitro fertilization (IVF), egg freezing, eugenic public policy, addressing Christians' and right-wing traditionalists' concerns, SuperFocus AI's plan to eliminate hallucination in large language models (LLMs) by separating memory from inference, introspection for LLM error correction, and surviving a cancellation attempt at MSU.Steve Hsu: On X: https://twitter.com/hsu_steve Personal Site: https://infoproc.blogspot.com/ Manifold podcast: https://www.manifold1.com/ Genomic Prediction: https://www.lifeview.com/ SuperFocus AI: https://superfocus.ai/If you enjoyed this interview, please share & leave a review on Spotify/iTunes.Support Hacking State: Listen on: Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@alexmurshakApple:Spotify:RSS: https://feed.podbean.com/hackingstate/feed.xml Get full access to Hacking State at www.alexmurshak.com/subscribe
12 - Garrett Dailey: Designing Business Around Philosophy
Garrett Dailey is the founder of Aion Enterprises, a business philosophy and design firm. We speak about the meaning of Aion, building a business around philosophy, individuation, the Candy Cane model of reality, and the importance of aesthetics for catalyzing people with a compelling vision of the future.“Any sufficiently complex thought is philosophy.” - Garrett DaileyAion: https://www.aion.enterprises/ https://twitter.com/AionEnterprisesGarrett Dailey: https://twitter.com/Liber_RexIf you enjoyed this interview, please leave a review on Spotify/iTunes. Support Hacking State: Listen on:Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@alexmurshak Apple: Spotify: RSS: https://feed.podbean.com/hackingstate/feed.xml Get full access to Hacking State at www.alexmurshak.com/subscribe
Hacking State 11 - Disgraced Propagandist: The World of Dissident Marketing
Disgraced Propagandist (Isaac Simpson) is the founder of WILL, a dissident marketing agency, and The Carousel Substack and podcast. We speak about how Will does dissident marketing for a cohort of new natural “wholesome” brands, the marketing industry as the canary in the coal mine for workplaces becoming Longhouses, the power of branding, the meaning of The Carousel metaphor, nostalgia, the “hype dad” archetype, his literary influences, and NEVER APOLOGIZE!WILL, the agency: https://willtheagency.com/On X: https://x.com/WILLtheagencyThe Carousel:Disgraced Propagandist: On X: https://x.com/DisgracedPropSite: https://isaacsimpson.com/If you enjoyed this interview, please leave a review on Spotify/iTunes.Support Hacking State: https://hackingstate.substack.com/subscribeListen on:Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@alexmurshakApple: Spotify: RSS: https://feed.podbean.com/hackingstate/feed.xml Get full access to Hacking State at www.alexmurshak.com/subscribe
10 - Razib Khan: Genetic Time Traveling
Razib Khan is a population geneticist, has a popular Substack on genetics and history, and is a co-founder of GenRait.We speak about his role in the scientific ecosystem, the effect of the computing revolution on ancient genetics and genomics, why he’s most interested in Eurasian steppe populations, how ancient DNA has shed light on theories in archeology and philology, the effects of delayed fertility on genetic quality of offspring, prenatal genetic screening and gene editing, selection effects of modern environments, his startup, GenRait, and his antics on Twitter/X.Website: https://www.razib.com/ Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/razibkhan GenRait: https://www.genrait.com/ Support Hacking State: https://hackingstate.substack.com/subscribeListen on:Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@alexmurshak Apple: Spotify: RSS: https://feed.podbean.com/hackingstate/feed.xml Get full access to Hacking State at www.alexmurshak.com/subscribe
8 - Bo Winegard: Aporias of Human Nature
Bo Winegard on life after cancellation, why we should talk about group differences in intelligence, Aporia - a new magazine courting heterodox social science and philosophy, victimhood rhetoric, the tedious relationship of truth to justice, anonymity vs. identity, are we at peak wokeness?, noble lies, epistemic accelerationism, limits to academic discourse in public, and his proposal for a Republic; if you can keep it. Bo WInegard is a Social Psychologist and Aporia Magazine's Executive Editor. Bo Winegard on Twitter: https://twitter.com/EPoe187 Aporia Magazine: https://www.aporiamagazine.com/Support Hacking State: https://hackingstate.substack.com/subscribeListen on: Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@alexmurshakApple:Spotify:RSS: https://feed.podbean.com/hackingstate/feed.xml Get full access to Hacking State at www.alexmurshak.com/subscribe
7 - Mark Wilcox: 21e8 and Computational Data Markets
Mark Wilcox on 21e8, his information architecture company, computational data markets, why compute is money, Bitcoin’s role in all this, price discovery via compute, how AI is destroying people’s belief in the computer, deleveraging from the U.S. dollar, decision theory, the curse of dimensionality, and moving back to base primitives.“The problem to solve is how much compute it takes to generate value.” - Mark WilcoxMark Wilcox on Twitter: https://twitter.com/mwilcox21e8 (company):Twitter - https://twitter.com/21e8ltdN.Z. - https://21e8.nzU.S. - https://21e8.com Support Hacking State: https://hackingstate.substack.com/subscribeListen on:Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@alexmurshakApple: Spotify: RSS: https://feed.podbean.com/hackingstate/feed.xml Get full access to Hacking State at www.alexmurshak.com/subscribe
6 - Jason Snyder: Growing Doomer Optimism
I speak with Doomer Optimist cofounder and faculty in the Department of Sustainable Development at Appalachian State University, Jason Snyder, about finding the others, using the internet to encourage localism, Balaji Srinivasan’s The Network State, homesteading, the value of embodied work, regenerative agriculture, resource independence, and our disagreement on degrowth.Doomer Optimism is an eclectic metamodern movement building a template for post-collapse.“I don’t think the industrial food system as its currently composed is sustainable.” - Jason SnyderJason Snyder on Twitter: https://twitter.com/cognazorAbout Doomer Optimism:Twitter: https://twitter.com/DoomerOptimism Website: https://www.doomeroptimism.com/Support Hacking State: https://hackingstate.substack.com/subscribeListen on:Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@alexmurshakApple: Spotify: RSS: https://feed.podbean.com/hackingstate/feed.xml Get full access to Hacking State at www.alexmurshak.com/subscribe
5 - Jonah Davids: Mental Health is Unwell
Jonah Davids' new Substack, Mental Disorder, explores the science and politics of mental health from a data-driven perspective. Jonah is also Communications Director at the Center for the Study of Partisanship and Ideology.We spoke about why being a psychologist has no noticeable effect on the efficaciousness of talk therapy, the lack of evidence in mental health treatment, how CBT became the gold standard and why its not more effective than other therapies, the case for fixing your material conditions to improve mental health, lowering barriers to entry for mental health workers, how mental health professionals are less mentally healthy than the general population, and more...Jonah on Twitter:https://twitter.com/jonahdavids1Jonah on Substack:Related writings: On CBT:On the sadness of psychologists: Whether loneliness should be considered a public health problem: Support Hacking State: https://hackingstate.substack.com/subscribeListen on:Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@alexmurshakApple: Spotify: RSS: https://feed.podbean.com/hackingstate/feed.xml Get full access to Hacking State at www.alexmurshak.com/subscribe
4 - Cody Moser: The Science of Innovation, Core-Periphery Networks, Internet Polarization
Cody Moser is a PhD student in the Department of Cognitive and Information Sciences at University of California, Merced. His work focuses primarily on the evolution of human behavior and human institutions. We spoke about his work generating formal network models with agent-based modeling, the life history of organizations, core-periphery dynamics and why "loser" nodes are necessary for network innovation, the tension between explore-exploit tradeoffs in organizations, generative adaptive systems, path dependency and organizational longevity, why we want hyper-hyper polarization on the internet, and more... "Innovators come from the outside." - Cody Moser Cody Moser's blog: https://culturologies.co/ His Twitter: https://twitter.com/LTF_01 UC Merced bio: https://cogsci.ucmerced.edu/content/cody-moser His recent paper on core-periphery networks in innovation:https://culturologies.co/files/coreperiphery.pdf All Intelligence is Collective Intelligence:https://www.neuralpress.org/_files/ugd/1dd990_f5fc8a4eef6142b48e387daa9c4454e7.pdfThe Ties That Bind Us:https://culturologies.co/files/HungarianConservative.pdfInternet polarization:https://culturologies.substack.com/p/internet-polarization-reform-and?nthPubSupport Hacking State: https://hackingstate.substack.com/subscribe Listen on: Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@alexmurshakApple:Spotify:RSS: https://feed.podbean.com/hackingstate/feed.xml Get full access to Hacking State at www.alexmurshak.com/subscribe
3 - Jae Yang and John Bugnacki: Tacen and the Wild West of Tech
Jae Yang and John Bugnacki of Tacen join me to discuss financial sovereignty, the regulatory state of crypto in the United States, the Wyoming stabelcoin, and why you have to go to the frontier for better governance and technology.Tacen is working on a crypto exchange that is fast, non-custodial, and cross-chain. Project TXA is a settlement network that allows cross-chain settlement.Jae Yang is the founder and CEO of Tacen and the Chief Architect of Project TXA. John Bugnacki is Deputy General Counsel and Director of Regulatory Policy at Tacen.Jae Yang: https://twitter.com/jae_tacen Tacen: https://www.tacen.com/ Tacen Twitter: https://twitter.com/tacen_app Project TXA: https://www.txa.app/Project TXA Twitter: https://twitter.com/ProjectTXA Support Hacking State: https://hackingstate.substack.com/subscribeListen on:Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@alexmurshakApple: Spotify: RSS: https://feed.podbean.com/hackingstate/feed.xml Get full access to Hacking State at www.alexmurshak.com/subscribe
2 - Matthew Mehan: Classical Education & the Moral Training of Self-Government
Matthew Mehan is Associate Dean and Assistant Professor of Government for Hillsdale College’s Steve and Amy Van Andel Graduate School of Government in Washington D.C.We spoke about the relationship of poetry to philosophy, the value of a classical liberal arts education, technology and the Tyranny of Velocity, raising children with social media, politicization of education, the moral training of self-government, and how to create leaders of tomorrow.Hillsdale profile: https://dc.hillsdale.edu/Profiles/Matthew-Mehan/Matthew Mehan is also the author of popular children's books:Mr. Mehan's Mildly Amusing Mythical Mammals:https://www.amazon.com/Mehans-Mildly-Amusing-Mythical-Mammals/dp/1505112494The Handsome Little Signet:https://www.amazon.com/Handsome-Little-Cygnet-Matthew-Mehan/dp/1505120608 Support Hacking State: https://hackingstate.substack.com/subscribeListen on:Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@alexmurshak Apple: Spotify: RSS: https://feed.podbean.com/hackingstate/feed.xml Get full access to Hacking State at www.alexmurshak.com/subscribe
A Final Message - Subscribe to Hacking State!
The new show, Hacking State is now up and live. Please go check it out at hackingstate.substack.com. All future interviews and audio essays will be located on the new feed. Thank you all once again for listening. Hope to see you there.Support Hacking State: https://hackingstate.substack.com/subscribeListen on:Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@alexmurshak Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/hacking-state/id1689677076 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1XB9XYULrAY4dp0qIJVvCg RSS: https://feed.podbean.com/hackingstate/feed.xml Get full access to Hacking State at www.alexmurshak.com/subscribe
1 - Robin Hanson: Prediction Markets & Futarchy
Robin Hanson and I discuss prediction markets, decision markets, Futarchy, and Demarchy. We cover simple and more elaborate applications of prediction markets, common objections to them and barriers to implementation at the organization level, when a prediction market becomes a decision market, his vision for Futarchy--a proposed system of government whereby elected officials use prediction markets to inform policy decisions based on measurable objectives--and Demarchy, another alternative governance mechanism where policy-makers are chosen at random from among the population. Professor Robin Hanson is Associate Professor of Economics at George Mason University and a research associate at the Future of Humanity Institute of Oxford University. Robin Hanson's Twitter: https://twitter.com/robinhanson Personal site: http://mason.gmu.edu/~rhanson/home.html University bio: https://economics.gmu.edu/people/rhanson On prediction markets: http://mason.gmu.edu/~rhanson/ideafutures.html On Futarchy: http://mason.gmu.edu/~rhanson/futarchy.html Support Hacking State: https://hackingstate.substack.com/subscribe
37: Nina Power - The Radical Traditionalism of Ivan Illich
Nina Power is a cultural critic, social theorist, philosopher, author, and translator. Her upcoming book, “What Do Men Want” is forthcoming later this year.Take the Illich course from Nina herself at https://Illichcourse.com Use coupon code AGORA to get 30% off!We discuss the works of Roman Catholic priest, theologian, philosopher, and social critic, Ivan Illich, covering some of his most famous works such as Deschooling Society, Medical Nemesis, & Tools for Conviviality, we also discuss learning networks, social media & the state, iatrogenic harm and the medical-industrial complex, sex, gender, and economic neutering, and Illich's conceptions of conviviality, austerity and eutrapelia.-Agora Politics is a podcast dedicated to making sense out of our outdated theories of politics.I’m Alex Murshak, political theorist.Subscribe to my channel for videos: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSDjdhAe9Z7EatYg3OGLKug Follow Agora Politics on Twitter: https://twitter.com/agora_politics/Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/amurshak/— Subscribe on:Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSDjdhAe9Z7EatYg3OGLKugApple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/agora-politics/id1496531814Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/agora_politicsSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5xfgHAlhswC6PWlTZC5S58?si=fY-OxZqASPWtxFnAqyLCbgWherever you find your podcasts Get full access to Hacking State at www.alexmurshak.com/subscribe
36: Secrets of Performance with Alex Feinberg
Alex Feinberg's work focuses on optimizing performance to get the best in health and business. We cover:- His journey through professional athletics, finance, tech, and fitness- Understanding human nature for success in business and sports- His investigations into conspiracy and the shadow world- Hedging against inflation and rule by fiat- Breaking out of systems that condition learned helplessness- The importance of training as a closed feedback loop- Pathologies of large institutions- The political implications of entrepreneurship- Strength as a precondition for freedomYou can follow Alex on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/alexfeinberg1Agora Politics is a podcast dedicated to making sense out of our outdated theories of politics.Subscribe to my channel for more videos: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSDjdhAe9Z7EatYg3OGLKug Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/amurshakFollow Agora Politics on Twitter: https://twitter.com/agora_politics— Subscribe on:Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSDjdhAe9Z7EatYg3OGLKugApple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/agora-politics/id1496531814Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/agora_politicsSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5xfgHAlhswC6PWlTZC5S58?si=fY-OxZqASPWtxFnAqyLCbgWherever you find your podcasts Get full access to Hacking State at www.alexmurshak.com/subscribe
35: The Horrors in Waiting with Zero HP Lovecraft
I am joined by writer, horrorist, and anonymous internet denizen Zero HP Lovecraft. We discuss anonymity and pseudonymity, peer-to-peer censorship, asymmetric cyberwarfare, the origins of Zero HP Lovecraft, horrific and utopian technological visions of the future, the dark side of technology, acceleration and human agency, his latest work “Don’t Make Me Think”, multi-sensory narrative experiences, cancellation, and The Zero HP NFT. Read Zero HP LovecraftOn Substack: https://zerohplovecraft.substack.com/On Site: https://zerohplovecraft.wordpress.com/On Twitter: https://twitter.com/0x49fa98Agora Politics is dedicated to upgrading our outdated theories of politics. Doing so requires honest and forthright engagement with not only academics, entrepreneurs, and intellectuals, but luminaries of all types who are tuning in to the zeitgeist and attempting to synthesize stories of the past, with knowledge of the present, and visions of the future. Anons like Zero HP play a vital role in the ecology of the discourse by pushing the Overton Window up to, and in some cases, beyond its limits.Agora Politics is a podcast dedicated to making sense out of our outdated theories of politics.I’m Alex Murshak, political theorist.Subscribe to us on Youtube for videos and interviews: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSDjdhAe9Z7EatYg3OGLKug Follow Agora Politics on Twitter: https://twitter.com/agora_politics/Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/amurshak/— Subscribe on:Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSDjdhAe9Z7EatYg3OGLKugApple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/agora-politics/id1496531814Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/agora_politicsSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5xfgHAlhswC6PWlTZC5S58?si=fY-OxZqASPWtxFnAqyLCbgWherever you find your podcasts Get full access to Hacking State at www.alexmurshak.com/subscribe
34: An Exercise in Constructive Disagreement with Brent Cooper
I am joined by director of the metamodern think tank, Abstract-Org's Brent Cooper, for an exercise in constructive disagreement.We come together from different perspectives to address leaky abstractions, The IDW, Critical Race Studies vs. Critical Race Theory, Intersectionality, globalization & cosmopolitanism, Modern Monetary Theory (MMT), and thinking big in the face of endemic incrementalism.Agora Politics is about upgrading our outdated theories of politics. To do so, we need to be willing to have challenging conversations that not only push us to our intellectual limits, but our interpersonal and ideological limits as well. None of us are born with a worldview out of whole cloth, it is shaped by our disposition, upbringing, and experiences. What we mustn’t forget, however, is that the choices we make will influence our perspective now, in the future, and how we interpret the past.I’m Alex Murshak, political theorist.Subscribe to my channel for videos and interviews: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSDjdhAe9Z7EatYg3OGLKug Follow Agora Politics on Twitter: https://twitter.com/agora_politics/Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/amurshak/— Subscribe on:Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSDjdhAe9Z7EatYg3OGLKugApple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/agora-politics/id1496531814Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/agora_politicsSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5xfgHAlhswC6PWlTZC5S58?si=fY-OxZqASPWtxFnAqyLCbgWherever you find your podcasts. Get full access to Hacking State at www.alexmurshak.com/subscribe
33: An Eclectic Spacewalk with Nicholas McCay
Nicholas is writer, author, and creator of the Eclectic Spacewalk project. We talk about the Overview Effect, the dangers of overarching narratives abstracting away from particulars, connection through storytelling, making the invisible visible, information flows, Open Source Everything, the 2nd psychedelic renaissance, and his hope for a moon base. You can find more of Nicholas' writings and learn more about Eclectic Spacewalk on Substack & Medium, and follow him on twitter @Espacewalk.–Agora Politics is a podcast dedicated to making sense out of our outdated theories of politics.Follow Agora Politics on Twitter: https://twitter.com/agora_politics/Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/amurshak/— Subscribe on:Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSDjdhAe9Z7EatYg3OGLKugApple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/agora-politics/id1496531814Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/agora_politicsSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5xfgHAlhswC6PWlTZC5S58?si=fY-OxZqASPWtxFnAqyLCbgWherever you get your podcasts! Get full access to Hacking State at www.alexmurshak.com/subscribe
32: Heraclitus of Ephesus – Philosopher of Fire
Heraclitus stands alone among the pre-socratic philosophers. Contradictory, riddlesome, and enigmatic, he remains one of the most influential, yet least well-understood figures in Western philosophy. Born to a noble family in Ephesus, a city in Ionia, Greek Asia Minor, present day Turkey. Supposedly, he passed on a kingship, awarding it instead to his brother, to pursue a life as a roaming philosopher. He was self-taught. Heraclitus is not associated with any of the prominent schools of philosphy known to us from the time, and is regarded as an independent thinker and misanthrope, one who looked to break away from orthodoxies that pervaded his day. He drew influence from Anaxamander, Thales, and others; was critical of Pythagoras, and was most notably influential on Cratylus, who brought his philosophy to Athens, where Plato was introduced to it. Aristotle viewed Heraclitus as contradicting the Law of Noncontradiction, and regarded his unusual style of obscurantist, pithy, and ambiguous assertions as incoherent. Regardless, he proved influential not only to the Stoics, but also to nearly all of Western philosophy that followed.Whenever you hear of the life of Heraclitus, they will say we don’t know much on the account of his life due to the sparse remaining fragments of his writings, and suspiciousness of the stories passed down from later writers, or sayings attributed, that may be imposed or fabricated altogether. Most of what we know comes from a single source, Diogenes Laertius and his Lives. In his lifetime, Heraclitus, produced but one book, which was stored in the great Temple of Artemis at Ephesus. and has since been lost in time. This work was supposedly tripartly divided into sections on cosmology, politics, and theology. The book was so inlfuential in its time, despite there being only one original copy available to whoever ventured to seek it out. It spawned a legion of followers, known as the Heraclitians, posthumonously. What remains of his life’s work comes down to us in fragments, 12 9, which constitute the perplexing, paradoxical, playful, somewhat sardonic philosophy of the Weeping Philosopher.A sampling of the fragments will constitute our main subject today. In true Heraclitian fashion, I will expound upon selected fragments, and give but my interpretation of what might be meant. Some have decided, in other readings, to choose passages at random, employing random number generators for the task, a method which I find to be trivializing to both Heraclitus and the student of Heraclitus. The philosopher himself encouraged what we might recognize as Stoic virtues of courage, rectitude, and an overall antiplebian, even aristocratic orientation. Therefore it is prudent to exercise one’s capacity for discernment in selecting from his works; to do otherwise is to treat him not as a philosopher, but as an archaic curiosity, observed voyeuristically in the zoo of ancient ideas. Core Heraclitian principles: the unity of opposites, the theory of flux, the primordial flame in all things and which was there in the beginning, will make themselves known as we go along. It is worth noting, that a not insignificant portion of the meaning that would be passed down in writing, even discounting our lack of original volume, may be lost in translation, as many of his sayings and espousings involved semantic and rhetorical wordplay, but neither I, nor most of you, read Ancient Greek. If you find my interpretations wanting, I’d encourage you to posit your own. There are only 130 fragments, most of which are quite brief, so those of you looking to see for yourself what Heraclitus was all about, can easily work through them in under an hour to gain familiarity, and even seek out additional translations/footnotes/and interpretations, to complement the ones provided here. In keeping cognizant of the principle of flux, I expect my own understandings to change going forward. After all, you can’t cross the same fragment twice. Get full access to Hacking State at www.alexmurshak.com/subscribe
26: The Death Speech of Socrates - Excerpt from The Apology + Analysis (RELEASED)
In Western philosophy, we have yet to move beyond the life and death of Socrates. Though his time has long since passed, we would be remiss to think there’s nothing to be gained, or to be remembered, by returning to accounts of this legendary figure. Socrates, the gadfly of Athens. A man, held in such high esteem that he is revered even to this day, despite writing nothing down to be recorded for posterity, and otherwise lacking in the accouterments of worldly and material success. Not a conqueror of lands and peoples, but of minds, and maybe even souls. Despite the persistence of his spirit, he was put to death by the city he sought to serve, mocked and derided, in his own time, by men and women less noble than himself. In my recent conversation with Michael Millerman, on the political philosopher Leo Strauss, we talked of the irresolvable tension between the philosopher and the city, between knowledge and custom, between truth and piety. Strauss, too, believed in returning to the Great Works, to begin anew our confrontation with the most fundamental questions. Questions surrounding the interplay among these forces are eternal and remain relevant for philosophers and in all places and all times. If the aim of this show is to move beyond mere entertainment or a frivolous notion of education, then in seeking a way forward for political theory, we ought to individually revisit these old questions, the forms in which answers of various kinds were bequeathed to us, and gradually begin to live out our presuppositions in practice. Philosophy, after all, is most fundamentally about doing, not just thinking.So here, presented for you now, is an excerpt of Socrates’ parting words upon receiving the sentence of death from his Athenian jurors, followed by a brief analysis of this particular segment of Plato’s Apology, which I wrote for a senior seminar on the 4 Trials. The cited translation is from 4 Texts on Socrates by Thomas G. and Grace Starry West. Get full access to Hacking State at www.alexmurshak.com/subscribe
31: The Tyranny of Materialism with Cody Moser
Cody Moser is an anthropologist and PhD candidate studying cultural evolution in the department of cognitive and information sciences at University of California Merced. We talk about science and scientism, famed molecular biologist Rupert Sheldrake, his theory of Morphic Resonance, and what he calls the 10 tenets that make up the ideology of scientific materialism, asking whether evolution has a telos, how to reboot scientific exploration through patronage, tolerating cranks and free inquiry, and barriers to growth & innovation, not only in science, but in institutions more broadly.Agora Politics is a podcast dedicated to making sense out of our outdated theories of politics.Subscribe on:Twitter: https://twitter.com/agora_politicsYoutube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSDjdhAe9Z7EatYg3OGLKugApple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/agora-politics/id1496531814Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/agora_politicsSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5xfgHAlhswC6PWlTZC5S58?si=fY-OxZqASPWtxFnAqyLCbgWherever you find your podcasts. Get full access to Hacking State at www.alexmurshak.com/subscribe
30: Exploring the Search Space of Game~B with Jim Rutt
Jim Rutt is the former CEO of Network Solutions, and former chairman of the Santa Fe Institute for the study of complex systems sciences, as well as host of the Jim Rutt Show, an interview podcast series examining cutting-edge thinking in science and technology and the future of our economic, political and social systems and institutions.Jim Rutt joins me to talk Game~B, an ambitious, decentralized civilization-level operating system for optimizing human flourishing.We cover: the origins of Game~B, the financial drivers pushing us to extinction, technological hygiene in a world of information overload, the prospects for blockchain, DeFi, and federated trust, revivifying Kibbutz-style Dunbar-level communities, debt, competence-based leadership, liquid democracy, the tradeoffs of design vs. iteration, staving off predators in Game~B, forming strong social bonds irl, and parasitizing Game A. You can find Jim Rutt at: https://www.jimruttshow.com/The website for Game~B: https://www.game-b.org/The Game~B wiki: https://www.gameb.wiki/Pre-Game~B Emancipation Party: http://emancipationparty.org/– Agora Politics is a podcast dedicated to making sense out of our outdated theories of politics.Website: https://agorapolitics.comTwitter: https://twitter.com/agora_politicsSoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/agora_politics–I’m Alex Murshak, Political TheoristSubscribe to my channel for interviews & videos on political theory: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSDjdhAe9Z7EatYg3OGLKug You can follow me on Twitter @amurshak: twitter.com/amurshak— Subscribe on:Twitter: https://twitter.com/agora_politicsYoutube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSDjdhAe9Z7EatYg3OGLKugApple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/agora-politics/id1496531814Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/agora_politicsSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5xfgHAlhswC6PWlTZC5S58?si=fY-OxZqASPWtxFnAqyLCbgWherever you find your podcasts Get full access to Hacking State at www.alexmurshak.com/subscribe
29: Notes on the Future of Decentralized Organization with Richard Bartlett
Richard Bartlett is an expert on decentralized organizations as well as cofounder of The Hum Team, Enspiral, & Loomio. We talk about practical anarchism, the Occupy movement’s experiments in radical democracy, escaping domination and coercion, Patterns of Decentralization, debt, and the future of work. You can follow Richard on Twitter: @richdecibelsYou can follow me on Twitter: @amurshak--Agora Politics is dedicated to making sense out of our outdated theories of politics.Subscribe on:Twitter: https://twitter.com/agora_politicsYoutube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSDjdhAe9Z7EatYg3OGLKugApple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/agora-politics/id1496531814Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/agora_politicsSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5xfgHAlhswC6PWlTZC5S58?si=fY-OxZqASPWtxFnAqyLCbgWherever you get your podcasts Get full access to Hacking State at www.alexmurshak.com/subscribe
28: Civilization & Hypermodernity with John David Ebert
John David Ebert is a cultural critic, poet, and author of over 20 books, including: Art After Metaphysics, The New Media Invasion, The Age of Catastrophe, and Dead Celebrities, Living Icons. We talk about mentorship, constructing a bespoke education, the Monomyth, the Night Sea Journey, ideology vs. myth, Spengler, civilizational life cycles, late stage American Imperialism, wether Western Civilization is doomed, hermeticism, radical subjectivity, Anima & Animus possession (Jung), tension between the sexes, civilizational immune systems, Schmitt’s Political Theology & the State of Exception, hyperreality, and living intellectual life outside academic institutions. Get full access to Hacking State at www.alexmurshak.com/subscribe
27: Informational Mutually Assured Destruction with Matthew Pirkowski
Matthew Pirkowski joins me to discuss crypto, money and the state, sovereignty and global arbitrage, multipolar traps, corporation and defection, information warfare, complexity catastrophe, time preferences, and fitness vs. truth.You can follow Matt on Twitter: @MattPirkowskiIf you enjoy this episode, please consider funding more conversations like these with our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/agorapolitics--You can follow Agora Politics on Twitter: @agora_politicsFollow Alex Murshak: @amurshakAgora Politics is a podcast dedicated to making sense out of our outdated theories of politics.Subscribe on:Twitter: https://twitter.com/agora_politicsYoutube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSDjdhAe9Z7EatYg3OGLKugApple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/agora-politics/id1496531814Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/agora_politicsSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5xfgHAlhswC6PWlTZC5S58?si=fY-OxZqASPWtxFnAqyLCbgWherever you find your podcasts Get full access to Hacking State at www.alexmurshak.com/subscribe
The Death Speech of Socrates - PREVIEW/TEASER
-- SUBSCRIBE ON PATREON FOR FULL EPISODE --In Western philosophy, we have yet to move beyond the life and death of Socrates. Though his time has long since passed, we would be remiss to think there’s nothing to be gained, or to be remembered, by returning to accounts of this legendary figure. Socrates, the gadfly of Athens. A man, held in such high esteem that he is revered even to this day, despite writing nothing down to be recorded for posterity, and otherwise lacking in the accouterments of worldly and material success. Not a conqueror of lands and peoples, but of minds, and maybe even souls.Despite the persistence of his spirit, he was put to death by the city he sought to serve, mocked and derided, in his own time, by men and women less noble than himself. In my recent conversation with Michael Millerman, on the political philosopher Leo Strauss, we talked of the irresolvable tension between the philosopher and the city, between knowledge and custom, between truth and piety. Strauss, too, believed in returning to the Great Works, to begin anew our confrontation with the most fundamental questions. Questions surrounding the interplay among these forces are eternal and remain relevant for philosophers and in all places and all times. If the aim of this show is to move beyond mere entertainment or a frivolous notion of education, then in seeking a way forward for political theory, we ought to individually revisit these old questions, the forms in which answers of various kinds were bequeathed to us, and gradually begin to live out our presuppositions in practice. Philosophy, after all, is most fundamentally about doing, not just thinking.So here, presented for you now, is an excerpt of Socrates’ parting words upon receiving the sentence of death from his Athenian jurors, followed by a brief analysis of this particular segment of Plato’s Apology, which I wrote for a senior seminar on the 4 Trials. The cited translation is from 4 Texts on Socrates by Thomas G. and Grace Starry West Get full access to Hacking State at www.alexmurshak.com/subscribe
25: Uncovering Leo Strauss with Michael Millerman
Political scientist Michael Millerman joins me to discuss the philosophy of Leo Strauss, esoteric writing, and Alexandr Dugin's 4th Political Theory.We talk about Leo Strauss, the tension between the philosopher and the city, why some of the best intellectual work is happening outside academia, the crisis of rationalism, the value of returning to the great works, esoteric writing, the necessity of subtlety, grounding our conceptions of the good, Alexandr Dugin and the 4th Political Theory.Michael Millerman received his PhD in Political Science from the University of Toronto, lectures and tutors on matters of political philosophy, produced original English translations of Alexandr Dugin's books, and is the author of "Beginning with Heidegger: Strauss, Rorty, Derrida, Dugin and the Philosophical Constitution of the Political".Check out Michael Millerman's channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCp19_tJlXTN8kXoHJx7mIXQLearn more about Michael Millerman's work: https://MichaelMillerman.ca __If you liked this interview and want to hear more, support me on Patreon: www.patreon.com/agorapoliticsAgora Politics is a podcast dedicated to making sense out of our outdated theories of politics.__Follow us on:Twitter: twitter.com/agora_politicsYoutube: www.youtube.com/channel/UCSDjdhAe9Z7EatYg3OGLKugApple: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/agor…cs/id1496531814Soundcloud: @agora_politicsSpotify: open.spotify.com/show/5xfgHAlhswC…qASPWtxFnAqyLCbgWherever you find your podcasts. Get full access to Hacking State at www.alexmurshak.com/subscribe
24: Theory on the Outside with Geoff Shullenberger
Geoff Shullenberger is creator of the Outsider Theory blog and newly launched Outsider Theory podcast, as well as Senior Lecturer at New York University’s Expository Writing Program. We talk about his Outsider Theory project, conspiracy & elite paranoia, our schizophrenizing media complex, Boudrillard and Hyperreality, scapegoating, Marcuse’s concept of Repressive Tolerance, and touching third rails of American politics.You can learn more about the Outsider Theory project on Geoff's blog at: https://outsidertheory.com/Follow Geoff on Twitter: https://twitter.com/daily_barbarian— If you liked this interview and want to hear more, support me on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/agorapoliticsAgora Politics is a podcast dedicated to making sense out of our outdated theories of politics.Subscribe on:Twitter: https://twitter.com/agora_politicsYoutube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSDjdhAe9Z7EatYg3OGLKugApple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/agora-politics/id1496531814Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/agora_politicsSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5xfgHAlhswC6PWlTZC5S58?si=fY-OxZqASPWtxFnAqyLCbgWherever you find your podcasts. Get full access to Hacking State at www.alexmurshak.com/subscribe
23: Love in the Age of Information with Raven Connolly
Raven Connolly hosts Socratic Speed-dating and sensemaking sessions at The Stoa. You can find out more about Raven’s work at TheStoa.ca and follow Raven on Twitter @spiral_virus.We talk about the acceleration of trends in online dating and romance due to the pandemic, the institution of marriage and non-monogomy, influencer culture, mimesis, and sexual inequality, declining fertility in the West and technological substitutes for intimacy, the value of organized religion, the Bible in Western Culture, life around a common calendar, and the decision to choose to love.Agora Politics is a podcast dedicated to making sense out of our outdated theories of politics.Subscribe on:Twitter: https://twitter.com/agora_politicsYoutube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSDjdhAe9Z7EatYg3OGLKugApple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/agora-politics/id1496531814Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/agora_politicsSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5xfgHAlhswC6PWlTZC5S58?si=fY-OxZqASPWtxFnAqyLCbgWherever you find your podcasts Get full access to Hacking State at www.alexmurshak.com/subscribe
22: Cultivating a World We Can Live In with Jason Snyder
Jason Snyder is faculty in the department of sustainable development at Appalachian State University.We talk homesteading, localism, permaculture, population decentralization, and possibilities for alternative, sustainable, human-centered communities.You can find Jason @cognazor on Twitter.Agora Politics is a podcast about the future of politics.Subscribe on:Twitter: https://twitter.com/agora_politicsYoutube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSDjdhAe9Z7EatYg3OGLKugApple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/agora-politics/id1496531814Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/agora_politicsSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5xfgHAlhswC6PWlTZC5S58?si=fY-OxZqASPWtxFnAqyLCbgWherever you find your podcasts Get full access to Hacking State at www.alexmurshak.com/subscribe
21: Color Revolutions and How To Fight Them (RELEASED)
A Color Revolution is a term coined by Russian military strategists for the preferred way the United States enacts regime change.The goal of staging a color revolution is to create conditions suitable to have a pretext for military intervention on behalf of the people, either internally or externally, to get rid of the current regime.So named because the protesting forces involved usually coalesce around a symbolic color of resistance, such as the Rose Revolution in Georgia in 2012, the Orange Revolution in Ukraine in 2014,or the Tulip Revolution in Kyrgyzstan in 2005, it is a specific playbook for regime change designed for a world in which the prospect of infinitely escalating mimetic violence must be off the table. The question then becomes how does one facilitate a people’s revolution, with minimal violence and cost. Agora Politics is a podcast dedicated to making sense out of our outdated theories of politics.Subscribe on:Agora Politics: https://agorapolitics.comTwitter: https://twitter.com/agora_politicsYoutube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSDjdhAe9Z7EatYg3OGLKugApple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/agora-politics/id1496531814Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/agora_politicsSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5xfgHAlhswC6PWlTZC5S58?si=fY-OxZqASPWtxFnAqyLCbgWherever you find your podcasts Get full access to Hacking State at www.alexmurshak.com/subscribe
20: Violence and Sacred Rites with Will Buckner
Will Buckner is a research assistant at the Human Systems and Behavior Lab based in the Department of Anthropology at Pennsylvania State University. Evolutionary anthropologists trace the origins and development of human nature and culture in societies around the world. Join Will Buckner (@evolving_moloch) and I as we delve deep on secret societies, initiation rituals, tribalism, the Hobbesian-Rousseauian split in the Western mind, technological complexity and the incentives surrounding human violence, belief systems, sexual violence, and a number of other topics. Will also writes on cultural traditions and conflict patterns on his blog, TraditionsofConflict.com; and for such popular outlets as Quillette, Nautilus, Areo, and a number of other publications.Agora Politics is a podcast dedicated to making sense out of our outdated theories of politics.Subscribe on:Twitter: https://twitter.com/agora_politicsYoutube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSDjdhAe9Z7EatYg3OGLKugApple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/agora-politics/id1496531814Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/agora_politicsSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5xfgHAlhsOr wherever you get your podcastsIf you like the work I'm doing at Agora Politics, and want to hear more interviews like this one, consider becoming a supporter on Patreon: https://patreon.com/agorapolitics Get full access to Hacking State at www.alexmurshak.com/subscribe
19: Bracing for Whiteshift with Eric Kaufmann
Eric Kaufmann is professor of Politics at Birkbeck College, University of London, and author of "Whiteshift: Populism, Immigration, and the Future of White Majorities".Eric’s research interests focus on demography, ethnicity, nationalism, and the study of white ethnic majorities in Western countries, We talk about what Eric lays out as the 2 whiteshifts that are coming, Why support for right-wing populism in Western nations is driven by demographics, identity, and attachment, not economics, the causes of the dearth of scholarship on ethnic majorities, left modernism, the mutability of white ethnic identity, we touch briefly on critiques of critical race theory, intersectionality, and some of the responses to these lines of inquiry, we deal with the myth of conspiratorial white genocide, and learn why Professor Kaufmann sees the embrace of a symmetric multiculturalism as the only rational, humane path forward.Agora Politics is a podcast dedicated to making sense out of our outdated theories of politics.Subscribe on:Twitter: https://twitter.com/agora_politicsFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/agorapoliticsYoutube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSDjdhAe9Z7EatYg3OGLKugApple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/agora-politics/id1496531814Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/agora_politicsSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5xfgHAlhswC6PWlTZC5S58?Wherever you find your podcasts! Get full access to Hacking State at www.alexmurshak.com/subscribe
18: On Anarcho-Tyranny (RELEASED)
On Samuel Francis' Anarcho-tyranny, the managerial state, the McCloskey affair, and the right-left convergence on corrupt governance.Agora Politics is a podcast dedicated to making sense out of our outdated theories of politics.Subscribe on:Twitter: https://twitter.com/agora_politicsFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/agorapoliticsYoutube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSDjdhAe9Z7EatYg3OGLKugApple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/agora-politics/id1496531814Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/agora_politicsSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5xfgHAlhswC6PWlTZC5S58?si=fY-OxZqASPWtxFnAqyLCbgPatreon: https://patreon.com/agorapoliticsWherever you find your podcasts Get full access to Hacking State at www.alexmurshak.com/subscribe
17: Hacking Genes and Memes with Razib Khan
Razib Khan is a geneticist, writer, and public intellectual. He hosts a show on genetics and evolution “The Insight”, and “Browncast”. He has written for The New York Times, National Review, India Today, Slate, City Journal, and a number of other publications. We talk consumer genomics, heritability of political preferences, demographic shifts, Ashkenazi ancestry, cultural evolution, India vs. China, and China’s coming demographic collapse.Agora Politics is a podcast dedicated to making sense out of our outdated theories of politics. Get full access to Hacking State at www.alexmurshak.com/subscribe
16: Prediction For Our Brave New World with Cody Moser
Cody Moser is an evolutionary anthropologist and Cognitive and Information Sciences grad student at University of California Merced.We cover:How much has the world has changed since Coronavirus?Peter Turchin’s 2020 prediction, Intra-Elite competition, Cliodynamics, Ideological herd immunity, Are we in a civil war?, Reorganizing society after the Great Reset, Return to Localism, Microcredentialing and the future of online education, The end of universities as the gatekeepers of knowledge, Will this be the end of cities?, Elite overproduction, Declining birthrates in the West, Anthropology as a Science,The Intellectual Dark Web,and more... Get full access to Hacking State at www.alexmurshak.com/subscribe
15: The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas (RELEASED)
A reading of "The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas" by Ursula La Guin.Last night,I was on twitter seeing updates on the Democratic National Convention, and I was thinking about the choices in front of us and how we, as individuals, might avoid becoming deranged by our complicity in a system that leaves us but few actionable choices from which to decide our future.For some reason, I was reminded of this short story by Ursula La Guin, which I had read years ago and since forgotten; called “The Ones who walk away from Omelas.” It is the story of a decadent, wonderful, mystical place where everything is perfect and beautiful, but inside all understand that their opulence is sustained by a dark secret. And all who know this and choose to stay are complicit in this darkness.Given the comparison my mind drew between the struggle to live nobly inside of imperfect systems, I thought it would be useful to consider this parable as we reflect on the choices ahead of us.Original Text: https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/d317/ba42f5716881c691d652672f66de87b4d677.pdf Get full access to Hacking State at www.alexmurshak.com/subscribe
14: Cancelled Culture: Bo Winegard
Bo Winegard is an independent scholar and former assistant professor at Marietta College, with research in areas of evolutionary and social psychology.We covered:- Cancel Culture: is it real? - human variation- academic freedom - being cancelled- cultural displays and male status hierarchies- all male coalitions- masculinity - what can be doneFollow Bo on Twitter: @EPoe187Agora Politics is a podcast dedicated to making sense out of our outdated theories of politics.Subscribe on:Patreon: https://patreon.com/agorapoliticsApple podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/agora-politics/id1496531814Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/agora_politicsSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5xfgHAlhswC6PWlTZC5S58?si=fY-OxZqASPWtxFnAqyLCbg Twitter: https://twitter.com/agora_politicsFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/agorapolitics Get full access to Hacking State at www.alexmurshak.com/subscribe
Pod clips: Upgrading Our Collective Software
From Episode 3: What is Agora Politics?Full episode: https://soundcloud.com/agora_politics/3-what-is-agora-politics/s-LYzreIjJQVEJoin the Agora Politics community and support the show: https://agorapolitics.locals.comAgora Politics is a podcast dedicated to making sense out of our outdated theories of politics.Subscribe on:Patreon: https://patreon.com/agorapoliticsApple https://podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/agora-politics/id1496531814Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/agora_politicsSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5xfgHAlhswC6PWlTZC5S58?si=fY-OxZqASPWtxFnAqyLCbg Twitter: https://twitter.com/agora_politicsFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/agorapolitics Get full access to Hacking State at www.alexmurshak.com/subscribe
Pod clips: Cody Moser - Universities and Monasteries
From Episode 1: Digging at the Universal Substrate with Cody MoserFull episode: https://soundcloud.com/agora_politics/cody-moser-master-track-2120-1202-pmJoin the Agora Politics community and support the show: https://agorapolitics.locals.comAgora Politics is a podcast dedicated to making sense out of our outdated theories of politics.Subscribe on:Patreon: https://patreon.com/agorapoliticsApple https://podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/agora-politics/id1496531814Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/agora_politicsSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5xfgHAlhswC6PWlTZC5S58?si=fY-OxZqASPWtxFnAqyLCbg Twitter: https://twitter.com/agora_politicsFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/agorapolitics Get full access to Hacking State at www.alexmurshak.com/subscribe
Pod clips: Jason Crawford - Intensive Vs. Extensive Progress
From Episode 2: Towards a New Science of Progress with Jason CrawfordFull episode: https://soundcloud.com/agora_politics/ep2-towards-a-new-science-of-progress-with-jason-crawfordJoin the Agora Politics community and support the show: https://agorapolitics.locals.comAgora Politics is a podcast dedicated to making sense out of our outdated theories of politics.Subscribe on:Patreon: https://patreon.com/agorapoliticsApple https://podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/agora-politics/id1496531814Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/agora_politicsSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5xfgHAlhswC6PWlTZC5S58?si=fY-OxZqASPWtxFnAqyLCbg Twitter: https://twitter.com/agora_politicsFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/agorapolitics Get full access to Hacking State at www.alexmurshak.com/subscribe
Pod clips: Our Prehistoric Brains
From Episode 3: What is Agora Politics?Full episode: https://soundcloud.com/agora_politics/3-what-is-agora-politics/s-LYzreIjJQVEJoin the Agora Politics community and support the show: https://agorapolitics.locals.comAgora Politics is a podcast dedicated to making sense out of our outdated theories of politics.Subscribe on:Patreon: https://patreon.com/agorapoliticsApple https://podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/agora-politics/id1496531814Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/agora_politicsSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5xfgHAlhswC6PWlTZC5S58?si=fY-OxZqASPWtxFnAqyLCbg Twitter: https://twitter.com/agora_politicsFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/agorapolitics Get full access to Hacking State at www.alexmurshak.com/subscribe
13: Mapping the Intellectual Dark Web with Oliver Traldi
I sit down with Oliver Traldi, philosophy PhD candidate at Notre Dame, essayist, and columnist for Arch Digital, to discuss the absolute state of the Intellectual Dark Web.We talked about the origins of the IDW, who’s in it, whether it’s still a thing, points of failure in having an open discussion, the paradox of anti tribalism, the regressive left, platform wars, the symbiosis of polarization, the threat of the far-right, the dissident left, and populist realignment.Join the Agora Politics community: https://agorapolitics.locals.comAgora Politics is a podcast dedicated to making sense out of our outdated theories of politics.Subscribe on:Patreon: https://patreon.com/agorapoliticsApple podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/agora-politics/id1496531814Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/agora_politicsSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5xfgHAlhswC6PWlTZC5S58?si=fY-OxZqASPWtxFnAqyLCbg Twitter: https://twitter.com/agora_politicsFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/agorapolitics Get full access to Hacking State at www.alexmurshak.com/subscribe
Pod clips: Jason Crawford - Which Problems Matter
From Episode 2: Towards a New Science of Progress with Jason CrawfordFull episode: https://soundcloud.com/agora_politics/ep2-towards-a-new-science-of-progress-with-jason-crawfordJoin the Agora Politics community and support the show: https://agorapolitics.locals.comAgora Politics is a podcast dedicated to making sense out of our outdated theories of politics.Subscribe on:Patreon: https://patreon.com/agorapoliticsApple https://podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/agora-politics/id1496531814Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/agora_politicsSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5xfgHAlhswC6PWlTZC5S58?si=fY-OxZqASPWtxFnAqyLCbg Twitter: https://twitter.com/agora_politicsFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/agorapolitics Get full access to Hacking State at www.alexmurshak.com/subscribe
Pod clips: Making it Through the Bottleneck
From Episode 3: What is Agora Politics?Full episode: https://soundcloud.com/agora_politics/3-what-is-agora-politics/s-LYzreIjJQVEJoin the Agora Politics community and support the show: https://agorapolitics.locals.comAgora Politics is a podcast dedicated to making sense out of our outdated theories of politics.Subscribe on:Patreon: https://patreon.com/agorapoliticsApple https://podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/agora-politics/id1496531814Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/agora_politicsSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5xfgHAlhswC6PWlTZC5S58?si=fY-OxZqASPWtxFnAqyLCbg Twitter: https://twitter.com/agora_politicsFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/agorapolitics Get full access to Hacking State at www.alexmurshak.com/subscribe
Pod clips: Cody Moser - The Demise Of Localism
From Episode 1: Digging at the Universal Substrate with Cody MoserFull episode: https://soundcloud.com/agora_politics/cody-moser-master-track-2120-1202-pmJoin the Agora Politics community and support the show: https://agorapolitics.locals.comAgora Politics is a podcast dedicated to making sense out of our outdated theories of politics.Subscribe on:Patreon: https://patreon.com/agorapoliticsApple https://podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/agora-politics/id1496531814Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/agora_politicsSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5xfgHAlhswC6PWlTZC5S58?si=fY-OxZqASPWtxFnAqyLCbg Twitter: https://twitter.com/agora_politicsFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/agorapolitics Get full access to Hacking State at www.alexmurshak.com/subscribe
Pod clips: Jason Crawford - Progress Is Not The Default Of History
From Episode 2: Towards a New Science of Progress with Jason CrawfordFull episode: https://soundcloud.com/agora_politics/ep2-towards-a-new-science-of-progress-with-jason-crawfordJoin the Agora Politics community and support the show: https://agorapolitics.locals.comAgora Politics is a podcast dedicated to making sense out of our outdated theories of politics.Subscribe on:Patreon: https://patreon.com/agorapoliticsApple https://podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/agora-politics/id1496531814Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/agora_politicsSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5xfgHAlhswC6PWlTZC5S58?si=fY-OxZqASPWtxFnAqyLCbg Twitter: https://twitter.com/agora_politicsFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/agorapolitics Get full access to Hacking State at www.alexmurshak.com/subscribe
12: Problematics of Postmodernism with Stephen Hicks
Stephen Hicks is Professor of Philosophy and Executive Director of The Center for Ethics and Entrepreneurship at Rockford University. We talked about his work outlining the history of Postmodernism in his book "Explaining Postmodernism: Skepticism and Socialism from Rousseau to Foucault", Postmodern epistemology, power, multiculturalism, the Paradox of Tolerance, the objective-subjective split, Metamodernism, and of course, Modernism. Get full access to Hacking State at www.alexmurshak.com/subscribe
11: First Principles Economics with Per Bylund
Per Bylund is Assistant Professor of Entrepreneurship and Records-Johnston Professor of Free Enterprise in the School of Entrepreneurship at Oklahoma State University. He is also a fellow at the Mises Institute and associate fellow of the Ratio Institute in Stockholm. His research focuses on issues in entrepreneurship, strategic management, and organizational economics.We talked about the school of Austrian Economics, the centrality of the price mechanism, the theory of the business cycle, the so-called Socialist Calculation Debate, and the ripple effects of lockdowns on the economy. Get full access to Hacking State at www.alexmurshak.com/subscribe
10: A Testosterone Hypothesis with Roy Barzilai
Roy Barzilai is an independent scholar and author of The Testosterone Hypothesis: How Hormones Regulate the Life Cycles of Civilization and Sex Wars: How Hormones Drive Gender, Race, & Culture Conflicts.We talked about his hypothesis of how hormones regulate the life cycles of civilization, how the sun effects growth cycles, chronobiology, and individualistic vs. collectivist societies. As always this show welcomes independent thinkers presenting novel ideas and Roy’s hypothesis represents one of the most interesting and wholistic theories of the rise and fall of civilizations coming from outside mainstream institutions. Get full access to Hacking State at www.alexmurshak.com/subscribe
9: Broadcasting in Public with Alex Parsell
Alex Parsell is a Development professional in major gifts and donor relations at Michigan Radio. We talk about the role of public media coming into the start of the 21st century, the funding of public radio, public media bias, the niche of public radio in the age of internet journalism, what's changed now that everyone can talk, and the difficult problem of maintaining institutional trust in an increasingly noisy information ecology. Get full access to Hacking State at www.alexmurshak.com/subscribe
8: Polarization on Lockdown with Victor Rivera
I am joined by Pepperdine University clinical psychology graduate student Victor Rivera (@cognitivicta) to discuss maintaining mental health in quarantine, how to engage with people you disagree with, how to deal with strong political disagreement with those closest to you, the importance of maintaining mental flexibility in conversation, getting through to the ideologically possessed, whether you have responsibility to speak with those you disagree with, and how to stay sane during this tumultuous time. Get full access to Hacking State at www.alexmurshak.com/subscribe
7: A Virology of Discourse with James Lindsay
James is the president and founder of New Discourses.com, an author, and one the most essential voices for making sense of the absurdity that has become our state of political discourse. Some of you may know him for his pioneering work in the Sokal Squared Hoax. We talk about critical social justice, the intellectual evolution of marxist, postmodern, and postcolonial ideas into intersectionality strain, White fragility, a new social justice encyclopedia, reflexivity, and how to confront creeping identity politics in everyday life. Get full access to Hacking State at www.alexmurshak.com/subscribe
6: Escaping the Culture War with Benjamin A. Boyce
I speak with Benjamin A. Boyce, who witnessed firsthand and is documenting the fallout from the Evergreen State College controversy. Boyce is a Youtuber and host of the Boyce of Reason podcast. We talk of how he has evolved through documenting the controversy, Intersectionality, and the wicked problem of moving past tribalism. Get full access to Hacking State at www.alexmurshak.com/subscribe
5: Based on Deleuze with Justin Murphy
Justin Murphy is a political scientist, political theorist, and author of the new book, "Based Deleuze". We talk about the life of Gilles Deleuze, what it means that he is based, the Deleuzian concept of Lines of Flight, Disciplinary vs. Control societies, Libertarian Communism, and Diogenes defacing the currency.You can find Justin's writings at: https://theotherlifenow.com/On Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfrlXVXz-pT9AmmDELhpyOwOn Twitter: @jmrphyOther Life podcast: https://jmrphy.libsyn.com/ Get full access to Hacking State at www.alexmurshak.com/subscribe
4: Sharing Liminal Space With Jared Janes & Jason Snyder
I speak with cohosts of the Both/And podcast Jared Janes and Jason Snyder on memetic mediation, the importance of psychological safety in changing minds, metamodernism, the limits of rational systems, Robert Kegan’s 5 stages framework of human development, the extreme reactions to the rise of woke culture, the lonely valley of losing a belief system, holding liminal space, contemplative practices, how enlightenment feels like falling backwards, playfulness, and the praxis Game B.Both/And: http://bothand.libsyn.com/Jason Snyder: https://twitter.com/cognazorJared Janes: https://twitter.com/JaredJanes Get full access to Hacking State at www.alexmurshak.com/subscribe
3: What Is Agora Politics?
For our third episode I interrupt our regular scheduled programming to briefly address why I started the show, where our mission stands with regard to upgrading our collective sensemaking, why I believe one-on-one dialogue is the only way through the bottleneck humanity about to face, and what we can borrow from religion, contemplative practices, psychology, cognitive science, and the emerging study of consciousness to have better conversations. Get full access to Hacking State at www.alexmurshak.com/subscribe
2: Towards A New Science of Progress with Jason Crawford
Jason Crawford runs the blog RootsofProgress.org and is one of the leading luminaries in the emerging discipline of progress studies. Jason’s work at Roots of Progress centers around investigating the crucial technological innovations that have allowed us to come out of the depravity that characterized most of human existence up until very recently. We cover Jason’s views on why the study of human progress is a moral imperative, the prospects of long-term technological and economic stagnation, relatedly, whether all the long-hanging fruit in that regard has been picked, the stalling of important industries from pesticides, to nuclear power, and the relationship between the notion of progress, free will, and agency. Get full access to Hacking State at www.alexmurshak.com/subscribe
1: Digging at the Universal Substrate with Cody Moser
I speak with evolutionary anthropology "grad student in purgatory" Cody Moser. We cover an array of topics, including: How technology is undermining the substrate culture that got us here, historical relativism vs. universalism, the Incel phenomenon, how metabolic rates effect the growth of cities, the internet and its disruption of universities as the gatekeepers of scientific knowledge, elite overproduction, Adaptationism and The Spandrels of San Marco,and a number of other areas. Get full access to Hacking State at www.alexmurshak.com/subscribe