Audience of One

John Koenig is the author of The New York Times' Best Seller Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows, a dictionary of made-up words for emotions that we all feel but don't have the words to express. We talk about his book, identity and individuality, contradiction, writing, the human experience, fatherhood, and more. — (00:44) Why use "sorrows"? (02:51) Did he ever expect the dictionary to be what it is now? (05:48) Existential wonderment and loss (08:50) Truth, internal dialogue, and contradiction (14:00) Contradiction of definitions (17:02) Is introspection valuable? Can you know who you are? (20:43) Not focusing on the present (24:18) Self-actualization vs. contentment (30:26) How you perceive people vs. how they really are (35:57) Next book: Sonder (39:03) Does sensitivity make life more difficult? (41:54) Career identity & pigeonholing (44:24) Writing vs. video (47:32) How fatherhood changes work & focus take on his work; finding meaning in community & ritual (51:25) Where does meaning reside? (53:27) Creative process takeaways for kids; self-expression and art (55:15) John's final questions for listeners — John’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/obscuresorrows [https://twitter.com/obscuresorrows] Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows (Amazon): https://www.amazon.com/Dictionary-Obscure-Sorrows-John-Koenig/dp/1501153641 [https://www.amazon.com/Dictionary-Obscure-Sorrows-John-Koenig/dp/1501153641] YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/obscuresorrows [https://www.youtube.com/c/obscuresorrows] Spencer’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/SP1NS1R [https://twitter.com/SP1NS1R] Spencer’s Blog: https://spencerkier.substack.com/ [https://spencerkier.substack.com/]

Dylan O’Sullivan is a curator, editor, and writer at O'Shaughnessy Ventures and Essayful. Dylan and I talk about writing, taste, discipline vs. inspiration, timelessness vs ephemerality, boredom and solitude vs. the internet, inciting a digital renaissance, not lying to yourself, and more. — (00:45) Curating & editing vs. writing (05:39) Fear of never writing quality work or living up to your idols (08:32) Discipline vs. inspiration (15:49) Balancing technology & ephemerality with the timeless (17:44) Solitude, getting better at the craft, and having a "normal" life (21:09) Boredom (26:32) Short attention & the effect on art & mediums (29:54) Lack of original works & risk taking (36:43) Digital renaissance; timeless stories & works (44:15) What is timeless & what will become timeless (48:17) Creativity & the subconscious (52:08) Long form writing vs memes (55:00) Above all, don't lie to yourself (01:00:29) Books he’d have in his bookstore window (01:03:38) Three favorite directors & their three movies (01:05:34) Final question for listeners — Dylan’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/DylanoA4 [https://twitter.com/DylanoA4] Essayful: https://www.essayful.co/ [https://www.essayful.co/] O'Shaughnessy Ventures: https://www.osv.llc/ [https://www.osv.llc/] Spencer’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/SP1NS1R [https://twitter.com/SP1NS1R] Spencer’s Blog: https://spencerkier.substack.com [https://spencerkier.substack.com]

Steve Schlafman is a venture capitalist turned transition coach. We talk about lostness, transformation, curiosity, mindfulness practices, his new Downshift program, being a husband and father, and more. — (00:59) Lostness, navigating liminal identity space, personal transformations (18:31) Head and heart, mind and body; intellectualizing emotions & feelings (25:52) The role of curiosity; people, world, self (29:52) Using practices as a means to an end (34:21) Is downshifting antithetical to the history of humanity (advancement)? (41:32) When to upshift (46:27) Stillness & silence (52:43) Renewal, rediscovery, experimentation (57:39) Spouse support during transformations (01:02:35) Balancing ambition & being a father (01:06:54) Final question for listeners: what stops you from being at your best — Steve’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/schlaf [https://twitter.com/schlaf] Personal Site: https://www.schlaf.co/ [https://www.schlaf.co/] Downshift: https://www.downshift.me/ [https://www.downshift.me/] Spencer’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/SP1NS1R [https://twitter.com/SP1NS1R] Spencer’s Blog: https://spencerkier.substack.com [https://spencerkier.substack.com]

Matt Clifford is a co-founder of Entrepreneur First and leads their AI efforts, as well as chair of ARIA, the UK’s Advanced Research and Invention Agency. We talk about EF, talent investing, ambition, why we don’t have more Thiel Fellowships, his new focus on AI, and AI safety concerns. — (00:59) Talent matters most (03:17) Scarcity of talent x culture (09:16) Founder qualities: effectiveness, unlocking resources (14:37) Can you teach ambition? (16:44) Failure to learn is an anti-signal (19:13) Alternative funding: income share agreements, adverse selection, longer term bets, & government funding (27:11) Why don't we have more grant programs or patrons, like the Thiel Fellowship? Scaling taste in talent & the macro talent allocation problem (41:32) Focusing on AI & handing off the EF CEO role (47:00) Is AI safety futile? Threat models and radical uncertainty (53:31) Final question for listeners — Matt’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/matthewclifford [https://twitter.com/matthewclifford] Entrepreneur First: https://www.joinef.com/ [https://www.joinef.com/] Personal Site: https://www.matthewclifford.com/ [https://www.matthewclifford.com/] Spencer’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/SP1NS1R [https://twitter.com/SP1NS1R] Spencer’s Blog: https://spencerkier.substack.com [https://spencerkier.substack.com]

Joscha Bach is a cognitive scientist and AI researcher. We talk about our relationship with & models of reality, creativity and curiosity, animism and self-organizing software, stages of development, and more. — (01:25) The dream world; how we interact with & perceive reality (03:49) Fear (05:16) Self, consciousness, & awareness (08:10) We're a coarse pattern on top of base reality (11:13) Presence & perceptual windows (12:16) Is this model mechanistic & reductionist? (13:50) Life exists to minimize free energy (16:47) What makes us different from other sentient beings & structures (20:35) Creativity: self-transformative exploration (23:40) Curiosity as uncertainty reduction (29:20) Exploration vs. exploitation (32:45) Combating social norms & conditioning; being a nerd (35:18) Knowing which models to update (37:56) Being a creator; being able to build & maintain (43:21) Everything can be understood (44:13) Animism; everything is self-organizing “software” (48:48) Natural vs. human-created “software” (50:57) AGI vs. natural intelligence (55:15) Limited by the locality of our sensory inputs (56:33) Stages of lucidity & development (01:03:35) Convergence of global traditions (01:09:40) Issue with Buddhism (01:14:16) Where does the animism and software arise from? (01:17:58) Building a coherent world, together — Joscha’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/Plinz [https://twitter.com/Plinz] Joscha's Substack: https://joscha.substack.com/ [https://joscha.substack.com/] Personal Site: http://bach.ai/ [http://bach.ai/] Spencer’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/SP1NS1R [https://twitter.com/SP1NS1R] Spencer’s Blog: https://spencerkier.substack.com [https://spencerkier.substack.com]