Ask Me Anything—09/02/2024
This is an AMA thread for premium subscribers only. Ask me anything.
Some updates:
Currently on my way to NYC. September 2-9. I’m delivering a lecture about the psychology of social status on Friday evening (Sept 6). Tickets are sold out, and you can join the wait list here.
Cornell University: I’ll be doing a book talk on September 10 at 5:30pm. You can get your book signed by me if you want. Free and open to the public. Details here.
SF/San Jose: September 11-16. Visiting my mom and sister. I’ll probably rent a car and make the 4 hour drive up to Red Bluff/Redding. Some of you may be aware that in the bay area, police have essentially stopped enforcing traffic laws. Roads are in disrepair in many parts of California; you could knock a tooth filling loose driving on the thoroughfares out here. Also learned you can do 110 MPH on I-5 and no one cares.
September 17-Sept 23. In Singapore, where I’ll be a guest speaker at Balaji’s annual Network State Conference. Details here.
I recently spoke with Fraser Myers on Spiked. A brisk 20 minute conversation discussing victimhood, poverty, and luxury beliefs, among other topics:
A reminder to subscribe to my account on Twitter/X. There I post unfiltered thoughts, brief insights, stray observations, and some occasional hot takes that are too short to be Substack essays.
What I’m currently reading:
Eve: How the Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Human Evolution by Cat Bohannon
The Creative Act: A Way of Being by Rick Rubin
Just as Deadly: The Psychology of Female Serial Killers by Marissa A. Harrison
Novelist as a Vocation by Haruki Murakami
If you want to write, you gotta write. Instead of actually writing, though, many writers will indulge in a delusion, convincing themselves that reading about writing is an equally productive use of time. I’m no different
Recently finished The Expat by Hansen Shi. I don’t read much fiction, but this enjoyable fast-paced thriller gripped me right from the beginning
Recently finished Late Admissions by Glenn Loury. It’s as great as everyone says. See my conversation with Glenn here
And with that, AMA.