Lessons from the greatest books ever written and the wildest thinkers who ever lived. Read by 9,000 readers, writers, founders, and investors.
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To win the culture war, leave the culture war.
Justin Murphy16 days ago
“All sorts of things in this world behave like mirrors.” —Lacan
Justin Murphya month ago
"The world is becoming hypersensitive to signs."
"There is something in the synchronization of emotion that surpasses the power of standardization of opinion that was typical of the mass media in the second half of the 20th century."
On Algorithmic Publishing with Dignity
Why intelligence and knowledge are overrated, while honesty and courage are underrated.
Justin Murphy2 months ago
“You are hanging on by a very fine thread, and I dig that about you.”
Three reflections toward the acceleration of traditional knowledge.
Why the future belongs to the wordcel tinkerer.
On reading Plato's Republic, writing better, and another nail in the coffin of institutional publishing.
"Humanity forgets... that it is a rigor of chess masters, not of angels." —Borges
Justin Murphy3 months ago
"Your business is to learn the names of programs, the long formal names, names the owners seek to conceal. True names."
"Always do what you are afraid to do." —Mary Moody Emerson
A short summary of the most remarkable economics book I've read this year, Gregory Clark's The Son Also Rises (2014)
"Life eternal is the supreme good, death eternal the supreme evil, and that to obtain the one and escape the other we must live rightly."
"The things I want are not in any country, nor in any job." —William Gaddis
And what you should do instead.
Justin Murphy4 months ago
Meet the 7-foot albino who says you should petition directly the chambers of the historical absolute.
What the media won't tell you about the famous media theorist.
Can social science vindicate religion, or should we respect the Cartesian Bargain instituted 400 years ago?
“I cannot conceive any work of art as having a separate existence from life itself.”
"If a man isn't willing to take some risk for his opinions, either his opinions are no good or he's no good." —Ezra Pound
On the Pursuit of Artistic Excellence
"It all starts for you with a casual channel-hopper question: What's happening on the other side?"