I share some thoughts on JD Vance being selected as Trump’s running mate. One thing we can say is that, for better or worse, this is the most exciting pick he could have made. People with unorthodox ideas and without the approval of mainstream institutions have more of an opportunity to have a cultural and policy impact than before. This is far fro…

Hannah is a friend of mine and a successful career woman who lives in a major American city. She describes her job as an “influencer,” which I think undersells all that she does. Regardless, Hannah joins the podcast to talk about two things. First, we discuss what’s been going on with Biden. We really are in uncharted territory. I can’t hide my bia…

One straightforward explanation for why people have fewer kids these days is opportunity costs. Life used to be pretty boring. You lived in a small village and didn’t travel all that much, so creating life might be one of the only ways to even meet new people. Today, we have many more chances for fun, recreation, and adventure. This theory explains…

A reader offered to pay Rob and I to review two movies: Zulu (1964), and They Live (1988), and here we take him up on it. Apparently, both of these films have cult followings among far-right types. I happened to like Zulu. I’ve always enjoyed reading military history, and seeing how a siege works in practice, or at least a portrayal of it, is alway…

I was going to call this “From Mosul to McKinsey,” but Rana Mallah (X, Substack) suggested this title instead. I replied that no wonder she works in consulting, since that’s pretty good! ISIS in Mosul, June 2014. Rana and I met at Manifest a few weeks ago and I was deeply impressed with her story. She was born in 1997 in Iraq, which was probably th…

When the ordinary thought of a highly cultivated people begins to regard “having children” as a question of pros and cons, the great turning-point has come. For Nature knows nothing of pro and con. Everywhere, wherever life is actual, reigns an inward organic logic, an “it,” a drive, that is utterly independent of waking-being, with its causal link…

Today I have the pleasure of talking to Daniel Hess, a father of six who goes by the name “More Births” on X. Pronatalism in the US as far as I can tell remains mostly an online movement, largely promoted through Elon Musk tweets and the work of the Collinses. To people who spend a lot of time online, this can make it seem more powerful than it act…