Update: Paywall Down; Everything Free

And other changes

tl;dr all content is now free. Content now segmented so you can pick and choose what you want. I might start a podcast

It's that time of the season when The Living Philosophy gets a shake up.

A few months ago, I decided to play with Substack's paywalling features. It was a worthy experiment, but I've decided to bail. No more paywalled archive, no more paywalled posts; just good, clean, philosophical fun.

Why, you might ask?

Primarily, it's about evolution. What I am, and what this is, continues to evolve. The rules of online content creation are “find your niche, and let it imprison you”. I did this for a while. It was very successful. And as long as it aligned with my soul's trajectory, it was awesome and I loved it, and I want it back. But, gain the world, lose your soul; to thine own self be true; journey before destination, etc., etc. I look forward to the day when those rails of my life run in parallel again. There's no sweeter sound than a flywheel's rotation.

In the meantime, change brews, and I've gotta let it cook.

That brings us to the paywall decision.

As I continue to moult and reform, and moult and reform, I feel uneasy about what the value proposition of paid membership is. This period is like an awkward adolescence where the old is not quite dead, and the new is not quite born. It's liminality with all the concomitant exhaustion and excitement, and it's certainly not everyone's cup of tea. So, in this transition phase, it's simpler to make content free for all.

Also, being human, social feedback matters. So much of my insight has come from rambling at people and attuning to the moments where their eyes light up. The paywall reduces the opportunities for that kind of feedback loop. In liminal times, that's a high cost.

And so, as long as I continue my nomadic wanderings through the desert between worldviews, I'm going to figure things out in public.

If you're like me and you've outgrown your tribes and don't know where you belong, I'm sure you'll enjoy this time. I like the idea of The Living Philosophy as an oasis for fellow nomads. For my part, I'm going to continue this cartography of No Man's Land I seem to have set out upon. If you want to support a fellow nomad in his wandering, I would deeply appreciate that, though I have nothing to offer you but my gratitude.

This may lead to occasional outbursts of begging. But, the yellow-robe wearing monks of ancient India were content to go house to house and beg for alms to continue their work, and they birthed not one, but two major world religions. So as far as business models for liminal nomads go, one could do worse.

Choose your own adventure

The past few months, I've been releasing three pieces of content every week: the Philosopher's Toolkit, the Poetry/Book Club and the Weekly Update.

The former has more traditional appeal, while the latter two are for those who are more invested in whatever this nomadic philosophical quest of mine is.

Until now, the latter have been behind the paywall. But I am hoping that opening them to the world will create a more enriching experience for all. I would love for the book club to be a vibrant space to discuss great ideas. And I feel like the weekly updates are the most honest account of my nomadic meanderings. They are my journal entries as I meander through the No-Man's Land.

However, as an acolyte of Inbox Zero, I want to save you from the scourge of email overwhelm. Fortunately, Substack has a sections option which allows us to segment these things. There'll be The Living Philosophy main section where I'll post all the content you expect from me — long-form articles, videos, aphorisms, The Philosopher's Toolkit etc. Then there'll be Book Club (self-explanatory enough) and Nomadica (where I'll share the weekly updates and other reflections that don't belong in the other sections).

If you just want the main line of The Living Philosophy then you need only opt out of Nomadica and the Book Club. I hope there's an easier way of doing this, but if not, here's Substack's guide to unsubscribing from sections (you can also just email me and I'll take you off the list).

Podcast

On a closing note, I'm toying with two more ideas.

First, starting a podcast. I LOVE chatting to people about ideas. I've become genuine friends with half of the people I've done podcasts with in the past. I usually have a lot of fun and get lit up with inspiration afterwards. It seems like this could be a great way of moving through the desert while having a heap of fun and taking everyone along for the ride. This is something I've wanted to do on and off for three years now. It feels like it's getting close to happening (recommendations for guests are welcome). It ties in with the point about social insight.

Secondly, I'm considering writing about AI. I've been experimenting with AI a lot recently. There's so much I think people should know, especially as a non-technical coder. I'm contemplating a separate publication for this to serve as a record of my experiments, and a layman's place to get the AI news that affects the lives of normal people. That feels a bit too off-card to include in The Living Philosophy so if it happens that'll be a separate publication.

The quest continues,
James