Hacking State

I am joined by Charles Rosenbauer and Olli Payne of Possibilia Magazine. Possibilia is an ambitious literary magazine showcasing realistic, optimistic science fiction. They’re bringing positive visions of the future in digital and in print—replete with short stories, nonfiction companion pieces, and illustration.
 
We talk about the constraints of keeping sci-fi optimistic and realistic, working with writers to meet these constraints, future-adjacent technologies, how private information (cryptography) beats raw compute power, SPACE INFRASTRUCTURE, optimism as a positive telos for humanity, e/acc’s death drive, the Principle of Explosion, generative art as the catalyst for up-skilling artists, stories as social technology, magic lamps, new futurism aesthetics, and the challenges of running a magazine bridging art and technology.
 
https://www.possibiliamag.com/
https://twitter.com/bzogrammer
https://twitter.com/OlliPayne
 
 
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I speak with father of the Passage Prize and Keeper of the Passage Press, Lomez.
Passage Prize started as an open call for literary and artistic submissions to find untapped talent from the Twitter anon sphere. It quickly exceeded its initial ambitions, drawing artists both obscure and famous to claim their spot in the coveted limited run print edition book, and a share of the $20,000 prize. From the success of the Passage Prize contest, the Passage Publishing company was born.
Lomez and I speak about the origins of the Passage Prize, the hole in the market for right-of-center artists to share their work, the dearth of vitality in conservative art, surprises from the first submissions, how they selected for quality, the gap in publishing that Passage Press is aiming to fill, its relationship with Man's World and Mystery Grove Publishing, and his vision for the future of the Passage Press.
 
Buy book(s): https://passage.press/
Passage Press on X: https://x.com/PassagePress
Lomez on X: https://x.com/L0m3z
 
 
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On Ayn Rand, Objectivism, the resonance of Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead, the development and spread of Individualism, high Romanticism, Rand's polarizing characters, the relationship between altruism and selfishness in her works and philosophy, Ayn Rand's large influence on entrepreneurs, and the intellectual subculture of Randian academics.
Stephen R. C. Hicks is Professor of Philosophy at Rockford University and Executive Director of the Center for Ethics and Entrepreneurship, and Senior Scholar at The Atlas Society.
Site: https://www.stephenhicks.org/
 
 
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For part 2 of the Cofnas-Macdonald debate I interview evolutionary psychologist Kevin Macdonald. We go over his response to Nathan Cofnas' objections to the Jewish Group Evolutionary Strategy laid out in "The Culture of Critique" series, his explanations for outstanding Jewish influence, conscientiousness, emotional intensity, and affect intensity as notably Jewish personality traits, Ashkenazi verbal tilt in IQ, the history of Jewish advocacy for immigration, the dispute over group-level selection in evolutionary biology, and his response to the charge of antisemitism.
 
Youtube interview: https://youtu.be/_tIut3USaFM
 
Relevant Links:
https://kevinmacdonald.net/
https://nathancofnas.com/debate-with-kevin-macdonald
https://x.com/nathancofnas
https://nathancofnas.com
 
 
If you enjoyed this interview, please leave a review on Spotify/iTunes.
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Nathan Cofnas is Faculty of Philosophy at the University of Cambridge, working in philosophy of biology and ethics. We discuss his paper “Still No Evidence for a Jewish Group Evolutionary Strategy” in the context of his ongoing debate with Kevin MacDonald and "The Culture of Critique” series. We cover explanations for outstanding and disproportionate Jewish success, differences in Jewish intelligence, whether Jews are particularly ethnocentric, Jewish involvement in Multiculturalism, Liberalism, mass immigration, and other political & intellectual movements, Margherita Sarfatti and Jews’ role in Italian Fascism, and the relationship of these unanswered questions to antisemitism.
 
Relevant Links:
https://nathancofnas.com/debate-with-kevin-macdonald
https://x.com/nathancofnas
https://nathancofnas.com
 
 
If you enjoyed this interview, please leave a review on Spotify/iTunes. Support Hacking State: https://hackingstate.substack.com/subscribe
 
Listen on:
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@alexmurshak
Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/hacking-state/id1689677076
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1XB9XYULrAY4dp0qIJVvCg
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I speak with sci-fi horrorist Zero HP Lovecraft on his Six Components of Religious Experience, a functionalist approach to religion, the concept of God becoming increasingly abstract and far away (divine distance), how Christianity can benefit from Nietzsche’s bitter medicine, Christianity’s struggle with modern sexual mores, pathological altruism, why goodness is strength, regaining self-possession, submitting to tradition to gain mastery over craft, and the tension between self-love and self-abolishment driving Western man.
 
Relevant Links:
Zero HP Lovecraft on X: https://x.com/0x49fa98
Zero HP Lovecraft on Substack: https://zerohplovecraft.substack.com/
 
Toward a Functionalist Understanding of Religion - https://zerohplovecraft.substack.com/p/marooned-in-the-deepest-darkness-993
Toward a Functionalist Understanding of Religion, Pt. 2: The American Civic Religion - https://zerohplovecraft.substack.com/p/marooned-in-the-deepest-darkness-90b
Toward a Functionalist Understanding of Religion, Pt. 3: Christo-Nietzschean Synthesis - https://zerohplovecraft.substack.com/p/marooned-in-the-deepest-darkness-bad
 
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Luca Cacciatore joins me to discuss Christianity in America, the decline of religiosity, the Second Great Awakening, how technology mediates religiosity, faith and fertility, religion grappling with science, the Evangelical Revolution, and the dearth of compelling Christian narratives for young men.

I am joined by Kino Corner to discuss movie making, film as a medium for capturing the zeitgeist of different eras, shooting on digital, film, and hybrid, the economics of why mid-budget movies have disappeared, crowdfunding movies, The Killer (Fincher, 2023), Asteroid City (Anderson, 2023), drifting from the binge model of TV series', and the Kino Corner's 5 masterpiece film recommendations.
Relevant Links:
https://www.youtube.com/c/thekinocorner
https://x.com/thekinocorner
https://instagram.com/the_kino_corner
https://letterboxd.com/TheKinoCorner
 
 
If you enjoyed this interview, please leave a review on Spotify/iTunes.
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Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1XB9XYULrAY4dp0qIJVvCg
RSS: https://feed.podbean.com/hackingstate/feed.xml

Michael Millerman joins me to discuss starting a philosophy school, why tech and startups are seeking wisdom, whether Western philosophy is still a living tradition, objections to the usefulness of philosophy, leading students to the eternal questions, the intimate pleasure of communing with old friends, Martin Heidegger's influence on Alexander Dugin, Leo Strauss and Heidegger's disagreement on philosophical historicism, our place in the cave beneath Plato's Cave, Millerman's intriguing encounter with Dugin, why Dugin is a dangerous philosopher, his take on "Selective Breeding and the Birth of Philosophy," and the potential for the rewilding of philosophy.
 
Relevant Links:
https://x.com/M_Millerman
https://www.michaelmillerman.ca/
https://www.amazon.com/Beginning-Heidegger-Philosophical-Constitution-Political/dp/1912975793
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-AVVipiukPI 
 
 
If you enjoyed this interview, please leave a review on Spotify/iTunes.
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I sit down with Bitcoin Gandalf for a deep dive on Satoshi's immaculate coinception. Gandalf is a large influencer in the Bitcoin space and works in Bitcoin mining.
Bitcoin is one of the most innovative technologies of the last century from a governance and coordination perspective. I believe it has the potential to be a vehicle for civilization-level reconfiguration of value.
We cover our respective journeys in becoming "orange-pilled" on Bitcoin, the Bitcoin mining industry from the inside, Bitcoin maximalism, its potential to supplant existing fiat currencies, the virtues of self-custody, Bitcoin ETFs, Bitcoiners (community), proof of work vs. proof of stake, where we are in the current hype cycle, and getting into Bitcoin for noobs.
 
You can find Gandalf on:
https://x.com/BTCGandalf
 
Suggested Reading:
Bitcoin White Paper: https://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf
 
 
If you enjoyed this interview, please leave a review on Spotify/iTunes.
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