Other Life

I'd like to share with you some biographies of great writers, artists, maybe some inventors—people who represent the other life ethos—people who have produced great work from the fringes, or in weird niches they carved out for themselves in life.

Here is a passage from a biography of the French novelist Balzac, Prométhée: ou, La vie de Balzac (1965) by André Maurois. I've translated it to English, of course.

This is a story about reading books, childhood, the productive benefits of disordered knowledge, unjustified presumption, an obsession with printed paper, ecstasy as a motivator and a product, and a kind of hunger that nothing can ever satisfy.

It paints a fascinating picture of education in France in the early 19th century. But it's also an inspiring vignette about something we see in the early lives of many great writers, which is... Here we have a strange, disaffected, aloof child who just seems a bit absurd or confused or even dumb—his teachers and classmates literally thought he was just stupid—but his appetite for wonder and knowledge drives him, from an early age, to just totally withdraw from society, into a life of the mind. That's the other life.

If you'd rather read than listen, see otherlife.co/balzac.

Other Life

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Luke Smith was a PhD student in linguistics before he grew his Youtube channel to 168,000 subscribers—with his unique perspectives on digital, financial, and mental sovereignty. This is the first time he's told his story at length.

I invited Luke to be the special guest at this year's mansion because I think he exemplifies the Other Life mentality. Luke has totally exited the institutional grid, he maintains a very independent perspective and lifestyle, and he publishes his ideas to a growing audience without compromising his principles. Luke only uses Free and Open Source Software, does not watch any TV or streaming services, and recently became an Orthodox Christian.

I think you'll find this talk interesting, unique, funny, and inspiring.

A special shoutout goes to Marissa Cade—a longstanding and most valued member of the community—for running the mansion meetup this year. It wouldn't have happened if she didn't volunteer to run it. And she did a great job, so huge thanks Marissa.

Other Life

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Asher Penn is the founder and editor of Sex Magazine, now in its 10th year. We talk about the magazine business, how to persist on countercultural projects for the long haul, what's cool and what's not, how to spot underground talent, the enduring value of print, what Asher learned from interviewing William Gibson, and much more. This was recorded at Urbit Assembly 2022. 

Asher Penn

Buy Sex Magazine at https://sexmag.bigcartel.com/

Other Life

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Subscribe to The Network Age podcast wherever you get your podcasts https://rss.com/podcasts/thenetworkage

~timluc-miptev: https://twitter.com/basileSportif
~nilrun-mardux: https://twitter.com/alephdao
~bichul-ritsen: https://twitter.com/bichulr

Recommended reading mentioned
https://bichulritsen.substack.com/p/how-to-explain-ftx-to-your-mother
https://www.thediff.co/p/money-credit-trust-ftx

Other Life

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Alex Lee Moyer is the director of TFW NO GF and most recently Alex's War. We discuss Alex's perspective on filmmaking, Hollywood, independent vs. institutional pathways, and why it's worthwhile to produce politically difficult work. This was recorded at Urbit Assembly 2022.

Alex Lee Moyer

✦ Watch Moyer's new documentary on Alex Jones

Other Life

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Don't Obey the Algorithms; Ye is the GOAT; my review of Sam Kriss on "The Internet is Already Over", and Nick Land Dead or Alive.

Other Life

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• (00:00) - Don't Obey the Algorithms

Every sentence from Nick Land's Meltdown, one at a time. https://nicklandcourse.com

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Now that we're past Peak Wokeness, has "heterodoxy" exhausted itself? That's the argument of David Fuller, co-founder of Rebel Wisdom, a popular but now retired media brand. We discuss the problem of audience capture, whether Eric Weinstein and Jordan Peterson lost the plot, why David and Alexander decided to shut down Rebel Wisdom, and the deep-reaching effects that Covid has had on public intellectual life.

David Fuller

✦ David Fuller on Twitter

✦ David's website 

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Joey Krug is Co-Chief Investment Officer at Pantera Capital, the biggest crypto hedge fund in the world. Joey's AngelList syndicate is also one of the most successful ever. We talk about Urbit as an investment and how to identify underpriced value more generally.

Joey Krug

✦ Joey on Twitter

✦ Pantera Capital

Other Life

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IndieThinkers.org

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Timluc is a top Urbit engineer and founder of Uqbar, a zero-knowledge ETH Layer 2 built on Urbit.

Timluc is one of the highest-conviction Urbit bulls in the world. We talked about why he has so much confidence in Urbit, what people misunderstand about Urbit, why he went from BTC Maxi to ETH Maxi, and what he learned about crypto living in Ukraine when the war broke out.

~timluc-miptev

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✦ Subscribe to timluc's new podcast The Network Age

✦ The Uqbar crew is eager to talk with you in their Urbit group: ~hocwyn-tipwex/uqbar-event-horizon-forever

Other Life

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