A Podcast and a Telegram
It’s been several days since my last essay, and while I was planning on finishing a riff on of Russian polymath Vernadsky’s noosphere concept, I am instead nursing a hangover incurred from several hours of dancing with a group of very friendly and energetic Colombian exchange students. That actually got me thinking about some of the differences between Latin and Western civilizations, and whether the centrality of the Dance in Latin American culture may point the way to identifying the Spenglerian civilization-symbol of Latin culture. I’ll probably write something about that soon, unless - squirrel!
In the meantime, for anyone who’s ever wondered what my voice sounds like1, or pondered just how inarticulate I really am when I’m speaking off the cuff and don’t have the opportunity to edit2, now’s your chance. Harrison Koehli and Luc Koch invited me to hang out with them on their excellent podcast MindMatters, and the episode is now live:
https://www.sott.net/article/469941-MindMatters-John-Carter-of-Substack-Conspiracy-Clown-World-and-the-New-Dissidence
I got a chuckle out of the episode description:
Culture wars, political convulsions, social upheavals - you name it. If you're like us, we're always on the lookout for new voices giving their take on these strange times and just what the heck it is we're watching unfold in the West. There are a good many bloggers, pundits and observers out there, but...there can be only one. Enter John Carter (nom de plume), who writes "Postcards From Barsoom." A veteran of the academic world and all its woke garbage, John found himself transported to the fantastical realm called Substack, where he became a warrior battling various mythological beasts, alien armies and malevolent foes, armed solely with his mighty keyboard and nimble mind.
In just a short time, John has shown himself to be a voice worth listening to. And speak with aplomb he does. His writings are insightful, challenging, creative, and playfully hilarious. And in our conversation today, nothing is off the table: science, psychology, spirituality, philosophy, politics, sci-fi - whatever ideas have the explanatory power to help describe and understand the world we're facing. At a time when we're being barraged by the weapons of 'cognitive conquest' nothing is important than communicating the ideas that could provide a good sword and shield, and a means with which to face the future.
Harrison privately informed me that he wanted to add that Substack’s lower gravity makes me much stronger than the average inhabitant, which I thought was funny enough to share. Honestly, people have more fun with my nom de guerre than I do. It hardly seems fair.
I’ve been listening to MindMatters for a while now. It’s consistently fascinating, the hosts are smart guys with broad interests and great insights, and the subjects they discuss and the guests they bring on cover a wide array of compelling topics. It was thanks to them that I found out about Ian McGilchrist, for instance. Just to give you a sample, their last few episodes included an interview with Russell Gmirkin about his new book Plato’s Timaeus and the Biblical Creation Accounts: Cosmic Monotheism and Terrestrial Polytheism in the Primordial History; a discussion of a book by Peter Turchin of cliodynamics fame, Ultrasociety: How 10,000 Years of War Made Humans the Greatest Cooperators on Earth3; and a two-part deep dive on James Lindsay’s work uncovering the Marxist origins of critical race theory. All of those are probably more interesting than listening to me ramble on.
On another note, I started a Telegram channel, because why the hell not. Here’s the invite link to Postcards From Barsoom on Telegram. I figure I can use it to help promote the essays that get posted here, and maybe pick up a few more subs. However, since you’re the first to hear about it, it currently has one (1) subscriber: me. Which rather defeats the purpose. “But why join?” I hear you ask. “What do we get out of it?” Glad you asked! For your entertainment and mine, I’ll share short, random thoughts that don’t rise to the length of an essay, memes that make me laugh, and whatever random interesting oddities I come across in my daily perusal of the Intertubes4. Right now there’s basically nothing there because talking to myself seems pointless and sad. But if I get any subs I’ll certainly post, so come on over.
I’ve often been told I have a voice made for radio. Or maybe it’s my face. Fortunately for me, you won’t be finding out what my face looks like, so you’ll never know.
The answer is: pretty inarticulate. When I listen to myself, I discover that my favourite words are ‘um’ and ‘uh’.
Harrison wrote an essay discussing the book on his Substack in which he connected it to political ponerology concepts, which then inspired me to compose a fun essay describing the relationship between military technology and social organization, which Harrison then talked about on the Turchin episode. That was cool. It’s weird listening to people talking about your work when you’re not present to reply.
Also, Telegram has stickers. Telegram’s stickers are sick. It’s my favourite thing about that platform really.
Loved it! I left a comment on youtube for the algo, but I'll paste here as well : Libertarianism isn't a system that is imposed. Right brain engagement is needed to see that any shifts towards a more libertarian society will be culturally driven. The more widespread the assumption that intiating force against the innocent is immoral, the more society will thrive. Getting wrapped around the axel about how this works in specific circumstances is what the LHB is good for. These thought experiments shouldn’t be attacked as indictments of libertarian ideology as they are strawmen. The way the market will solve a problem can never be known ahead of time, this is what entreneurs are for and only some will succeed in each new speculation regardless of how skilled.
I agree that the will to fight is lacking due to a crisis of moral legitimacy within the military, this spiritual crisis is not appreciated to the extent it needs to be. I’m spending a lot of time thinking about this as it is my job to optimize human performance in the population and without a robust spiritual foundation my efforts will be met with limited success at best.
Fear of death is indeed the death of freedom. Belief in God isn’t required to identify a purpose greater than merely continuing to breath. Those of us with children and an understanding of the existential threats facing civilization will not hesitate to sacrifice our lives to secure a better future for our families, if it comes to that. I think traditional theism isn’t as powerful a motivator in this regard as it isn’t nested with biological reality (yes, I am a McConkey fanboy now).
The suspicion that the universally negative health outcomes promulgated by large corporate interests is intentional is understandable, but based on an assumption that maintaining optimal health in the industrial age is easy. It isn't easy, it is very difficult. Since we have a system that incentivizes big ag and big pharma profits with health not even being a consideration, we can expect disastrous health outcomes. You don’t have to try very hard to destroy human health, you just have to put the organism in an environment it didn’t evolve to deal with. Social media, hyperpalatable calorie dense foods, pornography, pharmaceuticals, and environmental toxins produced secondary to a myriad of products that make life more convenient all conspire to destroy the health of the unwary. The fact that our bodies and minds are able to weather such an onslaught at all is a testiment to the resilience of human beings.
I agree a teleological competition is taking place, but as a McConkeyite I like to use the perceptual, cognitive, and behavioral mechaism (PCBM) framework to explain how the battle lines are drawn. There are two distinct collections of PCBM traits that are mutually exclusive. The camps I put these collections into is American and anti-American (but libertarian and woke is just one of many possible substitutes for the names). The coalitions of individuals that express these PCBM traits employ particular strategies to spontaneously align with mutually supportive conspecifics. The result is an ongoing cold war that we are certain to win at some unknown cost. Unlike much neoreactionary commentary I’ve seen, I think this escalating into a kinetic conflict is all but impossible.
I believe what dissidents (or the hydra) will converge on is a very broad conception libertarianism with a general appreciation of the non-aggression principle (NAP) unifying an otherwise wonderfully diverse popular majority. Since woke idiots sullied the name of libertarianism this appreciation for the NAP could also be called Americanism (just look at the declaration of independence). Without a robust RHB synthetic perspective, it is difficult to see that the state is never necessary, and so it will always assert itself to the greatest extent allowed by the culture. Developing a culture of individualism with an appreciation for the value of collectives as voluntary emergent phenomenon will result in the largest possible coalition of conspecifics to supplant complete pathocratic capture. If such a culture is able to grow to a critical mass in prominence, the circulation of elite would be accelerated as they would find it much more difficult to consolidate their power using institutionally legitimized coercion.
Congrats on being invited onto Mind Matters! I've missed the show for a few weeks but have to listen now!!
Harrison asked me about having a discussion with them but I chickened out - I feel those guys are way too intelligent for me lol (plus I've got a distinctive voice, my own popular podcast, and I just don't want my other podcast listeners to put 2 and 2 together - need to remain incognito), so I've great respect for you having been on the show (even without hearing it yet).
Speaking of incognito - yes another squirrel - looking forward to that piece on why anonymity is an important thing in cases like yours.