Audience of One

Rich Bartlett helps people grow high-trust communities & decentralised organisations. He’s the co-founder of tech co-op Loomio, community building network Microsolidarity, management consultancy The Hum, and director of the social impact collective Enspiral.

We talk about microsolidarity, fellowship and belonging, being optimistic and pessimistic about the future, cooperation and coordination, increasing agency, commitment, and identifying what you’re good at.

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(01:04) Why do we need better human coordination? (06:25) Straddling the line between optimistic and pessimistic; being “pro” things instead of “anti” (12:23) Stories drive cooperation (15:51) Does he have a fundamentally good view of human nature? (20:24) How to increase human agency (27:10) How and when do you know to commit to something? (33:33) Identifying what you're uniquely good at (37:57) Rich’s final question for listeners

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My guest today is Gurwinder Bhogal. Gurwinder writes The Prism, a blog covering the ways technology and psychology conspire to fool us, and how we can withstand the assault on our senses. We talk about writing, bugs in our psychological software, how we can better understand and manage our emotions and reactions, and the pursuit of finding truth.

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(00:38) Gurwinder’s background

(03:59) Language as the programming language of humanity

(11:21) Do humans want to recognize the bugs in our OS & can we convince people to want to do it?

(14:16) How much can we actually change our operating system?

(30:07) Are our emotions ever valid?

(32:01) What is intuition and is it useful?

(41:56) Are there systems & institutions that can help the rewiring of humanity at scale?

(54:33) How do you know where to draw the line in finding truth vs. trusting sources?

(56:25) Gurwinder's final question for listeners

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Alpha Barry is the founder of Temple, which builds cities to make the world more prosperous and beautiful, as well as Monolith, which founds and funds companies building Africa’s industrial economy. We talk about his vision for Temple and Monolith, why we need new cities — and the opportunities and challenges of building them — and why Africa is the right place to build these ventures.

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(00:50) Alpha’s background (04:59) What is Temple? (08:45) Why Africa (and Nigeria in particular)? (15:00) What's the right mix of private and public involvement to make this succeed? (18:50) Picking what to own; first principles vs. leaning into expertise (24:30) Temple's ideology & ethos (29:24) Recent city-state case studies (36:09) Pre-mortem: what could failure look like? (40:38) What do you have to get right at the beginning? (47:59) Balancing domestic & foreign talent (54:16) His first crack at Temple (58:10) Types of ventures he sees being built as a result of Temple (01:04:07) 20th century governance & infrastructure vs. 21st century technologies (01:10:57) Alpha's final question for listeners

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Visakan Veerasamy is a writer, both on Twitter and through his books Friendly Ambitious Nerds and Introspect — both of which I highly recommend. We talk about writing; networks, scenes, and subcultures; deviants and outliers; being introspective; and more.

— (00:42) Visa's background (05:45) Online networks need a cultural paradigm shift to realize its true potential (12:25) We need clusters of independent yet connected communities encouraging pro-social behaviors (18:16) Change comes from small, bottoms-up movements (26:25) The next round of recruiters for the scene (29:04) Historical scenes & outliers, and how to manufacture more of them (34:44) Being authentic & informal, & attracting intrinsically motivated people (43:03) The lifecycle of sub-cultures (46:44) Accepting & encouraging deviants (55:26) Writing Friendly Ambitious Nerds and Introspect to Introspect (01:02:26) What he wants to write next (or rather, what wants to be written) (01:07:13) Trying to become more ambitious, & the tradeoffs of improving your strengths or weaknesses (01:20:13) Visa's final question for listeners

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Ava is the writer of the Bookbear Express Substack, where she discusses human interaction and relationships through the lens of her own life. We talk about writing, reading, how a massive audience can change your writing, vulnerability, finding your thing to commit to, and how AI will impact dating and relationships.

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(01:21) Ava's background (02:21) Her novel (03:40) Going from creative outlet to 100s of subscribers (06:40) Has her writing evolved with the growing audience? (10:01) Why she hasn't gone full time on writing yet (14:10) Writing authentically & vulnerably (19:30) Honesty, clarity, and emotion (23:33) What you read heavily influences your writing (25:38) Commitment & focus - finding the thing to commit to (28:58) Do 1-2 things really well & differentiating between what you find intellectually interesting vs. can actually see yourself doing (33:48) The dating game & what needs to change (38:31) Love vs. attachment & three definitions of love (41:58) How AI will impact relationships, love, & intimacy (50:01) Beauty, precision & rigor, & expression (51:34) Ava's final question

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Michael Ashcroft is a climate and energy consultant turned Alexander technique teacher. Michael talks and teaches about awareness through his blog and course, “Expanding Awareness”.

We talk about what Alexander Technique is and isn't, how to cultivate awareness, effortless effort, the importance of direct experience, and much more.

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(00:33) Michael's background (02:25) Why he was drawn to Alexander Technique (04:36) What is Alexander Technique? (07:05) The challenges of repurposing the technique for broader use & teaching it online (09:01) Metaphors for getting people "there" (11:57) Why we aren’t normally in a state of expanded awareness (14:58) Can awareness be permanent? (19:20) Common blockers to cultivating awareness (21:27) Non-doing & effortless effort (24:12) (un)consciousness & (un)naturalness (27:34) Can we pre-empt the need for “unlearning”? (30:40) Do we lose anything by being over-aware? (37:31) The relationship between awareness and flow (41:29) What Alexander Technique isn't & what it could be (45:13) Where Alexander Technique fits with traditions like Buddhism and Taoism? (48:43) Being emotional vs. rational (52:58) Going from consultant to teacher-solopreneur (58:09) Archeologists vs. architects (01:04:38) Michael's final question

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Lenore Skenazy is the author of the Free Range Kids book and blog, and president of Let Grow — all of which focus on promoting childhood independence. We talk about how society and parents fears are disconnected from statistics, the importance of agency, the connection to current university culture, how let grow is helping, and more.

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(00:33) Lenore's background (02:17) Free Range Kids and Let Grow (12:02) The root causes of social & parental fear re: children's independence (20:50) How to mitigate fear & change parental behavior (21:26) The statistics (33:25) The importance of agency (38:36) Peter Gray's research & the impact of independence later in life (46:12) The two major Let Grow projects (50:22) Independence online (52:06) Lenore’s question for listeners

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Kyle Kowalski is an ex-marketing executive and founder of Sloww where Kyle synthesizes lifelong learning that catalyzes human development. We talk about meaning crises, psychological development, ikigai, the birth lottery, agency, and more.

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(00:26) Kyle’s background

(07:31) Why it took him 2.5 years to finally quit his job

(12:06) Why Sloww aligns with his purpose

(24:23) How he and his wife chose intentional living

(29:28) How helpful are other people’s journeys?

(32:38) Whether society cares about psychological development

(34:45) Why he's optimistic about humanity becoming more aware

(44:38) Ikigai 2.0

(54:36) The birth lottery

(01:08:02) Free will & agency

(01:22:36) What he's seeking now

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Colin Keeley is the co-founder of Verne, a holding company for SaaS businesses, and the creator of IndiePE, a course for people to learn how to buy their first small business. This episode is a great primer on hold co’s and buying online SMBs for those interested in the space.

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(00:27) Colin's background

(01:00) What attracted him to hold co’s & buying SaaS

(01:40) Why the partnership with his co-founder works

(02:34) Investment thesis

(03:37) The investment he's most excited about

(04:12) Dream investment

(05:42) Why SaaS

(06:46) What he's learned from Andrew Wilkinson and Mark Leonard

(08:27) Proprietary deal flow

(09:46) Why he creates content

(10:53) 80/20 on due diligence

(12:48) How to avoid sunk costs in deal negotiation

(14:00) Ensuring a smooth transition post-acquisition

(16:49) How to scale and delegate

(18:10) What can be taught about buying SMBs

(19:51) How people should get into the space

(21:20) Building gradually

(24:10) Biggest challenges

(25:02) Missing infrastructure in SMB acquisitions

(27:37) The biggest reason they’ll succeed

(28:21) His definition of success

(29:08) How having a kid has changed his thinking about work

(31:04) His early parenting advice

(32:28) Final question & the work he's done to figure out what game he wants to play in life

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Zohar Atkins is a rabbi and thinker. He’s the author of the blogs “Etz Hasadeh” and “What Is Called Thinking?”, and host of the "Meditations with Zohar" podcast. Zohar and I talk about academia, Judaism, content creation, and bridging philosophy and religion.

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(00:27) Background

(05:24) Thoughts on academia and the peer review process

(08:56) What Substack & podcasting offer compared to academia

(13:18) How he's such a prolific creator

(17:15) Why Judaism?

(18:41) Is there any conflict between obligation & the pursuit of truth?

(21:45) The decline of religion

(27:04) Knock-on effects of declining religiosity

(39:41) Reconciling Judaism & secular philosophy

(42:13) Being a bridge between the secular & the religious

(44:17) What's the goal of philosophy?

(48:52) Why aren't more people engaged with philosophy?

(53:15) Has philosophy “progressed”?

(55:38) What's the meaning of all this?

(58:54) Final question for listeners

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James Pierce is a writer and executive coach, and claims to have found enlightenment. We talk about sincerity, surrender, coaching, the ego, and truth.

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(02:10) Is enlightenment a binary event or gradual journey?

(3:23) The best metaphor for enlightenment

(04:24) The role of language

(05:22) Our conception of time

(06:44) Does the ego go away entirely?

(07:06) The greatest misconception about enlightenment

(09:04) What’s left of “you”?

(09:36) The role of sincerity

(10:56) Surrendering

(12:46) Intuition

(14:27) Enlightenment isn’t intellectual

(15:58) Can you force sincerity?

(17:46) Relationships

(20:32) What do we fear most?

(21:40) Why do you participate in society?

(23:38) What is truth?

(24:36) Can practices like journaling and meditation actually help?

(26:15) Why coach & is it actually useful?

(28:18) Enlightenment at scale

(29:32) Being enlightened and a high performer

(33:41) What question should everyone ask themselves?

(34:47) What is a true desire?

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Nicolas Cole is a writer and the co-founder of Ship30for30, a leading online writing program. We talk about self limiting beliefs, building Ship30for30, how to write on the internet, and much more.

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(00:24) Nicolas’ background

(04:19) Why writing

(07:01) Being the top writer on Quora & getting his break

(13:57) Impact of AI on writing

(17:46) Ship30for30 origin story

(20:37) What is Ship30for30 really selling?

(23:47) Top self-limiting beliefs of wannabe writers

(27:49) Are popular online writing styles inauthentic?

(31:57) Long-term thinking & writing forever

(34:21) The goal of writing

(36:52) Branding, marketing, & community building

(40:59) Overlooked opportunities in writing

(44:36) Nicolas’ next year and decade

(47:17) His question for listeners

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Jeremy Giffon is the former general partner of Tiny, a holding company for cash-flowing businesses. Jeremy and I talk about Tiny and acquiring businesses, science and religion, the origins of culture, why you shouldn’t take advice, and what he’s working on next.

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(00:31) Jeremy’s background

(4:52) Starting MediaCore while in high school

(7:24) How to get more high schoolers startup-like experience sooner

(11:02) What is Tiny & how is it different

(14:41) What’s enabled Tiny to be great

(19:47) Growing popularity of acquisition entrepreneurship and holding companies

(27:29) Qualities of great companies

(32:03) Greatest lessons from Tiny’s founders, Andrew Wilkinson and Chris Sparling

(38:21) Why advice is overrated

(41:48) Why he left Tiny and what’s next

(46:22) On the origins of Western culture

(51:32) Science and religion

(58:59) Pre- and post-fall

(01:10:34) What he’s optimizing for in life

(01:14:56) His take on enlightenment

(01:17:31) His question for listeners

(01:18:51) Whether there are “true desires”

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Henrik Karlsson is a Swedish entrepreneur, poet, programmer, anthropologist, art curator, and most notably, writer of the blog, Escaping Flatland. We talk about writing, creating your milieu, apprenticeships, learning, networks, parenting, and more.

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(01:53) How he got started writing

(03:23) His “aha moment” writing on the internet

(06:57) Wh more people don’t publish

(08:57) Helping creators & thinkers get early traction

(11:50) Showing the inside of your head

(16:33) How to combine the work of masters & your own voice

(20:22) Why he left Sweden to homeschool his daughters

(24:21) The learning environment he’s trying to create for his daughters

(28:22) Have we lost the apprenticeship model?

(31:40) Online apprenticeships

(37:23) Role of AI in apprenticeships

(39:29) What do the next 6 months and 10 years look like for Escaping Flatland?

(46:09) One question for listeners

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Rohit Krishnan is a former McKinsey consultant and venture capitalist, and author of the blog, Strange Loop Cannon. We talk about being a generalist, curiosity, futurism, probabilism, granting, parenting, and more.

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(00:33) Tradeoffs of being a generalist

(08:01) Parenting & curiosity

(11:13) Probabilism & uncertainty

(16:40) Delta between the future you invest in vs. want to see

(24:33) Grants & funds for individuals

(32:23) Personal investment strategy

(37:22) Rohit’s theory of innovation

(43:02) AI unlocking creativity

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