600k Q&A - Masculinity Crisis, Woke Pushback & Lex Fridman

Yeah, monk mode's great unless you don't fill the space with something productive because something will fill the space. And this vacuum just sucks in the lowest common denominator or the, the path of least resistance, which is usually bull... Change your friends, stop drinking, create some goals. What would have had to have happened in six months time for you to look back on those six months and consider them a success? Ask yourself that question. That's where you need to start. Hello, everybody. Welcome back to the show. It is a 600,000 subscriber Q&A episode. As usual, I've asked for questions from YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, and Locals, and I'm going to try and get through as many as I can. Uh, I have condensed a bunch down, a lot to do with 2023 and goals and podcasting and whatnot, so I tried to condense them together as much as I can. As always, thank you so much for all of the support. It really does mean the world to me. Every time that you share an episode or comment with something reasonable and insightful and useful, it really does help, so thank you to everyone out there. Let's get into it. Chris Le-Povden, "You said recently that your Spotify shows that 96% of your audience has joined you this year, 2022. Do you know how many of those 96% are new listeners and how many are migrating from other platforms?" So, no, I don't, but that stat did surprise me that this is just about to be year six of the show, so it'll be almost five years that we've done the show, and 96% of listeners found me during 2022, um, which blew my mind. Uh, I'm not sure, I think that Spotify is starting to capture more of the audience from other podcasting, uh, platforms and also from YouTube. Um, I certainly use Spotify for most of my podcasts now. There's some that I still use on Apple Podcasts, but most of my listening happens on Spotify. I think the search function is great. I think that, uh, the different variants of speed that you've got in terms of your listening, your playback speed is really great. So yeah, I can see Spotify continuing to accumulate more and more listeners, but I would imagine a lot of it is just new people that didn't listen to the show before that now are. Mainmanmick, "After listening to your podcast, I've given up alcohol and gone back to college at 27. Got any tips?" First off, congratulations. That's amazing. Uh, giving up alcohol will give you the biggest competitive advantage over pretty much everybody else that you can think of. Uh, and going back to college at 27 involves swallowing a lot of pride. Whatever life path you'd gone down before, uh, has now been completely closed and you're going to be probably one of the older people in the lectures that you attend. So, props for that. That's very, very admirable. Uh, in terms of tips, just knuckle down, you know? The bottom line is that your timeline is a little bit more condensed because of whatever you've spent the last sort of eight or nine years doing, and that means that you need to knuckle down. So, focus. Spend some time working hard, use your maturity to your advantage because you're going to be more conscientious, you're going to understand the world better, you're going to have better self-control and discipline. So use that. Use that and continue to try and push back. I mean, making that call, I, I think it's safe to assume that you've got pretty good things ahead of you if you're prepared to do that at 27. Jase66, "What's the last strong opinion you had changed your mind on?" Birth control, hormonal birth control. So Doctor Sarah Hill, the episode that I did with her just took my head off. I c- I couldn't believe how wild, unsophisticated, scary the changes are to everything about a woman. Her entire psychological profile. Her mate preferences are more feminine. Uh, sh- you can lock in a type of protein folding in the brain which gives you a predisposition to be more anxious or depressed throughout life if you take them during your formative years, which is when most girls will start taking birth control, during puberty or whatever. Uh, so the Jonathan Haidt and Greg Lukianoff thing about The Coddling of American Mind and there's this onset of, um, increases in anxiety amongst girls around about the time that social media was introduced. But has anybody accounted for the base rate of the introduction of hormonal birth control or the increased prevalence of use of hormonal birth control around that time? I don't think that they have. It changes, uh, girl age... Girls that are on hormonal birth control show an increased preference for bisexuality. Uh, like, it, it's crazy. So I, I previously was super everybody should take it, we don't want unwanted pregnancies, teen pregnancy is both bad for the child and bad for the mother, um, and now I, I don't know what the solution is. I don't think that there is a particularly good solution. Uh, I think that expecting teenage girls to understand, like, safety of ovulatory cycles and using one of those under the tongue natural cycle test things to track on an app, I think that's un- pretty unrealistic. Uh, so it's that (sighs) and it's pretty scary and I don't think that there is a, an easy answer to it yet. Marc Kusen, "Recommended books?" I have a list of 100 that you should go and read and it is at chriswilx.com/books. It's 100 of my favorite, most interesting, and impactful books that I've ever read and the summaries about why I like them and links to go and buy them and they're all categorized and you should go and read it right now. If you need books, this is the place to go. Chriswilx.com/books and it's completely free. Tuono Carter, "Are you going to micro-dose on mushrooms with Michaela P at your New Year's bash?" Uh, she will be in Miami. I'm currently in the UK. However, I took a pretty moderate dose of mushrooms when I was with Michaela in Vegas about three weeks ago and watched Cirque du Soleil live, which was an experience, whilst I was coming up on mushrooms. Uh, and then ended up in Omnia nightclub and Zach bought Andrew Tate's Hustler's University in the middle of the club because he lost nods on. Uh, and then we went cold plunging at five in the morning and played ping pong for money. So, I think I've, I've...... done my partying and mushrooms for at least the next couple of months. That was a, that was a heavy night. Cloudbloom, "Does Bruno Mars is gay?" Sure. Sure. Lee Ham, "Chris, if you could write a book, what would you write a book about?" Okay, so it looks like 2023, I may start writing something. Um, there's two broad directions that I would go down. One would be about the current state of the mating market and the challenges that it's facing. I think that there needs to be a full-length treatment on that, which is not, uh, manosphere, all women are bitches, and not, uh, sort of soft and cu- cuddly chicken soup for the soul. It needs to blend the insights from evolutionary psychology with what's going on in terms of the data for the modern world, with an insight around culture and what is happening with sex and relationships and, and intimacy, uh, from a, a cultural standpoint, and then it needs to try and be applied. The problem that I have, and the scary thing about it, is (clears throat) it's a really massive undertaking. Like, that's a huge book. If, if I got that book right, it could be a, a, a really important, very well-selling cultural moment. But getting it right is such a huge task that it's kind of intimidating, frankly. And I keep having conversations with my book agent about why it's scary to me and, and why I don't feel like I'm qualified to write it, and then he keeps on telling me, "Shut up. Like, just try writing it and see what happens." So, that is one. And the other one would be a collection of the lessons that I have learned from the podcast, so trying to really synthesize, like the 16 lessons from 2022, but stretched out many more lessons, uh, longer, more examples, more narrative, more stories, uh, and try and stretch that out into a book format. So, uh, I mean, if you wanna tell me which book you prefer, that would be great. Maybe comment below with whether you would want the one about mating or the one about lessons first or second. 'Cause I'm gonna write both, I think, eventually. It's just a case of which one do I go for first? And any other thoughts would be great. But yeah, I, uh, I really can't wait to, to try and write. I think it's the mental equivalent of trying to run an ultra race or something, and, uh, I'm gonna enjoy the process of finding out just how much suffering I can deal with. R- rsnulvin, "Did you think you'd get to 600K subs so quickly?" I don't think that we've got there that quickly, actually. I mean, it's been five years, right? So, this bedroom, where I am right now, is where the, uh, start of the podcast... But actually, the start of the podcast was at my office in, uh, Jesmond, about three, four miles from here. But we've been doing this for five years. Me and Dean have always said that we think the channel is hopelessly undersubscribed and hopelessly underplayed, and we don't really know why. Maybe it just took a little bit of time for us to pick up a little bit of speed. But I still don't think that we're where we should be. And, and maybe every creator thinks this, right? You, you obviously produce the channel that you would want to watch, but if I wasn't the person making Modern Wisdom, I would subscribe the shit out of it. I think that the guests that are on are, like, always interesting and diverse and, yeah, i- it is the show that I would listen to, and I think that we've got way, way, way more headroom. But it is nice to finally start to feel like, um, we're getting recognition and, uh, the market or whatever, the audience is starting to see that this is a, something worth watching and listening to. It does feel very, very good. Rp8072, "Does your back ever give you any tr- any troubles anymore? Any tips?" So, yes it does. I'm actually flying to Colombia at the start of February to go and get stem cell treatment, intradiscal injections, and, um, IV and sleeping in a barometric chamber and a bunch of other stuff. That's with BioXcellerator in Colombia. Um, if you have a bad back, I have two episodes with Dr. Stu McGill, who is the number one back pain specialist on the planet, and he has been a massive help to me, and most of my understanding about the back and the spine and core stiffening comes from him. So, just search Chris Williamson Dr. Stu McGill and you'll see two episodes. The first one especially is just a beautiful overview of everything that he thinks, um, and if you want to go deeper into that, his book, Back Mechanic, is fantastic. He's got three exercises, the S- the McGill big three, and then he focuses a lot on, um, offset carries, so like, single arm, kettlebell carries, suitcase carries, et cetera. They, they are a very, very good place to start. Christopher Dunne, "Congrats dude! Any hints on who your special guest is mid-January?" Yes, because today that this episode goes out will be one day after I've announced who it is. It's David Goggins. Just saying that sentence sounds (laughs) crazy. David Goggins is the guest that I went and recorded with in Las Vegas. Um, I had it planned and lined up for nearly six months, and it took a lot of work to get there. Um, the production is, I would maybe say, the be- the most beautiful podcast that's ever been recorded. Call me wrong, but I, I adore it. Um, and I think that it was just such a great time to speak to him. He was in a good place, so was I. The episode flowed fantastically. We got really deep at some points. Um, yeah, it's, it's really, really lovely. And, uh, I, I can't wait to get it out. I can't wait to show you guys the conversation. Uh, he's only doing two podcasts at all. So, he did Rogan, um, December 4th, 2018, he did Rogan. December 6th, 2022, four years and two days later, he does Rogan again. Then 10 days later, he did Modern Wisdom, and now he's going away for another four years. So, if you like David Goggins, that's all you're getting, I'm afraid, for the next four years. You're not getting any more of him. It's gonna be Rogan's episode, my episode...... and that's it. But yeah, it's, it's spectacular. It's two hours of just gorgeous insights from one of the hardest men on the planet, so get ready for that. (notification sound) James Sargeant1, "What Newcastle uni accommodation did you go to?" I was at St. Mary's in Fenham, on Fenham Park Hall Road, uh, Park Hall Drive, I think it's called. Uh, I put Newcastle down as my insurance rather than my firm, which means that you get put into the shit accommodation, so I was placed in accommodation which is four miles outside of the center of town and we needed to get a bus in whenever we wanted to go to uni or to go out drinking, uh, and you needed to get a taxi home. I think we walked home a few times, but it's brutal walking four miles in freezing cold. Uh, it wasn't fun, but yeah, St. Mary's. M- mm- mmain, I am butchering names yet again, I... Everybody needs to make better usernames so that I don't do this every single Q&A. (notification sound) "What are your thoughts on not seeing other women for some time while building yourself?" Okay, so there is a great blog post called Monk Mode by Illimitable Man, and you should go and check that out. He is a, a fascinating guy, really interesting dude, and, um, Monk Mode was pretty formative for me, maybe five, four or five years ago when I first read it, and, uh, (coughs) it just helps to remind you that focusing on, I think there's three Is, isolation, introspection, and something else. Long story short, I think that it's a good idea. Um, I think that there are... there is a limited amount of time that you can invest your money, uh, your... There is a limited (laughs) amount of hours that you can invest your time into, and chasing tail takes up a lot of it, especially as a guy, right? As a guy, you are inevitably going to be the person who spends more time messaging more girls, because more of them are going to say no, so you do need to spread the market more, and you need to do the whole wooing thing, and it's effortful and emotionally can be quite taxing too. So, I think a focused period where you develop yourself and then reenter the mating market as a, an upgraded, uh, more confident, more capable individual with a new skillset is a very good idea, and, uh, that blog post is a good place to start. But otherwise, like if you can't be bothered to read the blog post, just commit to three months where women aren't going to be a priority to you and focus on whatever it is that you want to focus on. Now, make sure that you do not do, "I'm not going to speak to girls for, for three months and I'm going to smoke weed and play COD." Like, this needs to be in service of something that you care about. It can't just be for no reason at all. But yes, I highly, highly recommend doing that. HarryKeenan37, "Who is someone in the self-help space you think is overrated?" (clears throat) Rhonda Byrne, the author of The Secret. Yes, the author of The Secret, Rhonda Byrne. Horseshit, as far as I can see. Encourages people to take a passive, low agency, low sovereignty, uh, victim mentality when the world doesn't deliver what it is that they want. It encourages people to, like, wish it, believe it, and have the world make them achieve it, as opposed to it being you that is the architect, the designer, the engineer, the driver, the fuel of all of the things that you want to do. Rhonda Byrne needs to get in the fucking sea, as far as I'm concerned. (notification sound) Lomeez, "No question, just a huge thank you. Quality content, incredible work ethic, inspiring. Thank you." Thank you as well. Martenkasic, "Two million subs next year." That would be big. That would be... I would be surprised. I mean, this Goggins episode is going to do a lot of work for us, which will be great, but I think if we could get toward one mil, up toward one mil by the end of next year, I would consider that a massive success, given that at the start of last year we were at 250 and the year before that we were at 80 or something. So, uh, anywhere close to one mil by the end of this year and I would consider that a success. (notification sound) Lotertin, "How's the relationship with alcohol nowadays?" Very good. Um, better than when I was sober and better than when I was drinking beforehand. Um, the reintroduction of alcohol after a really, really extended period of sobriety is a little bit of a difficult one because your tolerance is a way off and you don't really know how to use it. You, you don't have a place in your life for alcohol, uh, and I've just found a place in my life for it now. So if I'm flying, um, home from Austin for Christmas and the lady server comes over and says, "Would you like a glass of champagne after I sit down in the plane?" Like, I'm gonna say yes. I, I feel like I deserve that. It's been a, a big year. But for the most part, I don't feel the need to drink. There is no pressure to drink. Um, uh, going sober at the end of your 20s, or, uh, uh, at any point after you've learned what it's like to live a degenerate lifestyle for a bit, it's such a superpower. I can't describe how big of a change it makes, especially if you're part of a culture, you know, uh, working class towns in maybe the UK or the US or Canada or Australia or whatever, where a lot of your culture is, is born out of drinking, um, and that's what young people do every weekend. You need to deprogram that, and it, it, it is great. My, my relationship with alcohol now is fantastic. I haven't sent it too hard. I did it once in 2022, um, but was drinking whenever I wanted, which wasn't that often, and when I did drink, had almost complete control over how much it was and how I felt the next day. It was great. Joey Duckworth, "Do you think we have a crisis of masculinity? Do men lack purpose? How can we change this without radical leftists calling everything we do toxic?" Okay, big one. Um...The term toxic masculinity, there is definitely a big problem there. I think it was originally a term used to describe prison inmates and quickly was taken from the fringes of academia and used to describe any behavior that a man does that you find objectionable or just uncouth, basically. So first off, reframing what toxic masculinity means would be a good idea, and pushing back against it and highlighting the fact that this is a stupid term that shouldn't be used for things that aren't genuinely toxic. Do I think we have a crisis of masculinity? Yes. I think that there aren't many firm places for men to stand at the moment. It's very hard to find a ... to find anywhere that you can, uh, feel proud about being as a man that doesn't quickly get lambasted as some sort of, uh, oppressive patriarchal overreach that you're trying to impose on the rest of the world, and on the other side of that, that isn't so submissive and, um, uh, agreeable that it doesn't feel anything close to masculinity. You know, courage, competence, um, uh, doing hard things, striving, achieving, like, protecting, providing, those are elements of masculinity that you should be able to feel proud about, but because of this linguistic game with the toxic stuff, it does mean it's hard to find a place, a, a way to be able to do those things without immediately being shouted at for having done them, which is stupid, right? It's like being gaslit out of your own gender role. Uh, do men lack purpose? Um, I think everybody lacks purpose at the moment. I don't think that women are having an easy time of it either, and this is, like, terrible to say if you're a part of the manosphere, which I'm not, but girls aren't having a fantastic time either. Like, they've got rates of anxiety through the roof, whether that's due to hormonal birth control, social media, whatever it might be. Uh, 50.1% of women are childless by 30. Like, they're not having a fantastic time either, so both men and women lack purpose. The difference is that men are, are being accused of being, like, the architect of both their own and everybody else's misery, as opposed to I think women do still get more sympathy on average from culture at the moment than men do. Um, how can we change this without radical leftists call everything we do toxic? It needs to be a pushback. There needs to be, um, what I've called, like, the third wave manosphere or holistic masculinity, whatever you wanna call it. We need to be able to blend together the insights that genuinely make men feel powerful and capable and like they ... It's an aspirational vision for men to become, whilst also accepting the fact that there are ways that that can go wrong, and also accepting the fact that men and women need to work together and be friends and not be adversaries. Like, a lot of guys that want positive masculinity have a very negative view of femininity. Like, look, you don't get it both ways. Like, you have to be able to work collaboratively with the other sex if you're going to expect them to complement you. So, progressing on from this adversarial men-and-women-are-against-each-other world would be great, dispensing with toxic masculinity, uh, re-pedestalizing stuff like bravery, courage, um, protecting, providing, et cetera. I think all of those things would be great. And that can happen through culture as well, right? Like, it's not just small creators like me. Um, the more times that a classically masculine show like Top Gun comes out and does really well, it reinforces the fact that, look, like, this is actually what people want. They don't wanna be patronized or told that they're pieces of shit because they like f- fast cars and guns. Caleb R G: "Is there a reason behind the buzz cut? You had that beautiful curly hair." So, I did. So, Dean, if you can make a photo of my hair appear, uh, from Take Me Out, that would be great. Uh, this was a haircut that I had for a long time. For the people that are just listening, um, it's like a Waafro. It's a white guy afro, um, and it was very big, and it made me very recognizable on the front door of nightclubs for a long time, for many years. Uh, and I got to, like, 25, 26, and I thought, "I can't ... In all good conscience, I can't keep having this haircut because I look a bit silly," and I wanted to grow up, and I wanted to look more mature, and I also wanted to look more masculine. It's not a massively masculine hairdo. Uh, and the buzz cut happened during COVID because it was the only haircut that I could get legitimately without slowly growing back into that hairdo. Uh, so, uh, it's just stuck. I might grow my hair back next year into what I had between the long hair and this one, um, but we'll see. O Henry Barr: "Ever had moments where you wish you could turn off your evolutionary psychology obsession?" Yes, a lot. One of the problems of learning evolutionary psychology is that you stop seeing people as people and you start seeing them as puppets on the end of the strings of their evolutionary programming, and there's a quote that I always use about, "The choice is be- between becoming aware of your mental afflictions or the discomfort of becoming ruled by them," and the discomfort of becoming aware is much lower than the discomfort of being ruled because I hate the idea of anything having control over me that isn't my own sovereignty. It's the reason that I stopped alcohol for a thousand days. I stopped caffeine for 500 days. I want me to be the architect, the sole sovereign controller over everything that I do in my life. I don't wanna be controlled. And yet, I know that I'm a rider on top of an elephant, right, and that I can, like, pretend or make believe like I'm steering this huge, big, lumbering thing, which is my programming and my biases and my disposition, all of that stuff, um, but taking control of what you can control is really important. The problem with learning more about evolutionary psychology is you realize how little you have control over and how much of the things that you thought were, um, unique, idiosyncratic, beautiful, cultivated insights or, or, or dispositions that you do have-... turn out to be, uh, something that's ingrained, or it turns out to be something that you're maybe going to struggle to get past. And yeah, um, the only way out is through as far as I can see with this. If you love the insights from evolutionary psychology, understanding why you are the way you are, which I do, you're going to keep learning more and more. And the solution isn't to kind of ignore them or forget about them or hide away from them, it's to, uh, transcend and include, right? It's to realize this is a part of my understanding and I now need to, I need to integrate them into a holistic view of myself that realizes that there are limitations, that realizes that there are predispositions, but that actually, um, uses that information to make me a better person, not to feel like a, a, a nihilistic, apathetic, uh, human that's just at the mercy of whatever it is that his genes decided. Pierre Ogis, "Any advice for a 27-year-old guy who can't stop partying, doing drugs, and sleeping around?" That's a tough one. Um, it depends whether or not you want to stop. M- you, you shouldn't stop doing those things if you don't feel like you want to, right? Just because I did at pretty much bang on that age doesn't mean that you necessarily should. I think that it is a better life, I th- I'm sad that I didn't do it earlier and stop the degeneracy a little earlier, but I also, like, I had fun in my 20s. It was really fun, and I also have stories and experiences that have shaped where I'm at now. Hurrying along maturity is something that you can do. If you are serious about wanting to stop doing it, the plan to do it is pretty easy, right? The gateway to most of the things that you're doing is a combination of your friends and alcohol, so you need a new friend group or the friends within your existing friend group, you need to splinter some of them off and say, "Why don't we try and focus on knuckling down for the next however long?" The problem is, the temptation to go and drink and party and do all the rest of it is very high. And if there's two of you, it only takes one sometimes to fall back into temptation a little bit to drag the other one along as well. So, if you are the most disciplined person in your friend group, and it sounds like you might be, you're going to be carrying the weight in part of your, m- uh, sober partner or whatever you want to call them. You're going to be having to help them along, or conversely, you're going to see them as kind of pulling you back a tiny little bit. Um, I would change your friend group. Uh, I would focus for a period of six months on not drinking. If you don't drink, you're not going to do drugs and p- and sleep around and, and party, right? Like, alcohol is the gateway to all of this stuff. Uh, and set yourself a goal, you know? "I'm going to write a blog post once a week for every six months. I'm going to gain five pounds of lean muscle. I'm going to lose 3% body fat. I'm going to accumulate this new skill." Whatever it might be. Those are the things that you n- you need a reason to not do it. I had a reason to not do it. When I stopped drinking, I decided, "Right, I'm going to spend all of this time reading, doing self-development, meditating every day." I had a bunch of things that filled that space, so it didn't feel like... Again, your man from earlier on that was asking about, uh, m- going monk mode, yeah, monk mode's great unless you don't fill the space with something productive, because something will fill the space. And this vacuum just sucks in the lowest common denominator or the, the path of least resistance, which is usually bullshit. Change your friends, stop drinking, create some goals. What would have had to have happened in six months time for you to look back on those six months and consider them a success? Ask yourself that question. That's where you need to start. Lydia Garbutt, "Would you rather have spaghetti fingers or lasagna feet?" Um, it's basically would you rather have hands or... Would you rather lose your hands or lose your feet, right? Because the spaghetti fingers and the lasagna feet are m- mostly useless. Probably lasagna feet. I feel like I could survive better with hands and no feet than with feet but no hands. However, I would have concerns about dogs coming along as I'm wheeling myself along in a wheelchair and trying to nibble at my toes. That wouldn't be very fun. So, I'd need to find some sort of spaghetti functional encasing shoes, like wellies perhaps, like Wellingtons. Or I could try and get custom-made crockery pots in the shape of shoes that I could sort of slot my spaghetti toes into maybe. Denis Kamanyu... Kamany... Kam- Kamany... Kamunya... Kamunya. Fuck. "Plan on bringing (laughs) Sam Harris." Um, so yeah, I'm still a massive fan of Sam, you know, for... Whatever his transgressions of sacred cows last year, uh, I think he's great. Uh, he has been a hugely influential, uh, thinker for me. And I would love to speak to him at some point, and I'm sure that I will do eventually. Um, I do think he probably needs a little bit of time just to, uh, come up with some new stuff. Like, he's been... It's been a little while since he's put out any original content in terms of a book. Even his most recent book was kind of like a synthesis of conversations that he'd had on the podcast. So, I'd be very interested to see where he goes next and, e- e- if it was me, I would love to see him go back into the, um, t- uh, death and the present moment, meaning of life, existential stuff. That's where I think Sam is at his best. That and mindfulness. So, I hope that he goes back into that. Alex O'Connor, "Has there been a time where a guest said something and you thought, 'That's fucking stupid,' but didn't want to say it at the time to their face?" There must have been. I can't think of any specific examples at the moment, but there absolutely must have been. Um, it's strange, man. It's strange sitting down opposite someone and, and-... having a conversation, but also knowing that it's being watched. It's, it's both a conversation and a performance, and you try not to be as performative as possible, but you need to be a little bit performative, right? 'Cause if, if it was just a conversation with you and your friend over coffee, you'd go down whatever rabbit hole you wanted, which (clears throat) wouldn't be a very enjoyable listening experience. So, uh, I'm sure that there are a, a bunch of time, and you, Alex, say stupid things to my face all the time when we're on FaceTime, and, uh, I, I don't tell you, so perhaps we should record them and then I can give you some examples. S- Fuck me, how am I gonna pronounce this? Sixyovakshansipadzidana2432, fucking nailed it, bro. "How much do you think your looks have shaped your life? Where would you think you would be if you were very ugly instead?" It's a good question. So part of the, like, black pill worldview, I had a conversation with this guy called Wheat Waffles a little while ago, um, and one of the criticisms that comes out of the black pill is anybody that is an above average looking guy giving dating advice to normal guys should be kind of dispensed with because the experience of the above average looking guy is not replicable or, um, uh, usable by those that aren't. Mm, I don't know, maybe that's true, maybe it's not. But in terms of pretty privilege and the halo effect, like, yeah, it, it gets people ahead. I certainly seem to have more luck in life than I think is fair, but then there's been a bunch of times where I've felt pretty unlucky. Like, I was hopelessly alone and isolated throughout most of my childhood, uh, like, the, literally the most unpopular person in school for, throughout all of school, got to college and still kind of felt quite displaced, got to uni and even though I, I kind of had positioned myself in the right place at uni, there was still a lot of discordance that was going on there. Throughout most of my 20s, you know, the, the social stuff, I was still trying to find my feet with how all of that worked, um, so it's not like life has been a breeze. However, it probably has helped in some regards. It's probably ... I mean, it got me modeling jobs, which gave me practice on camera, which has meant that when I've come to podcasting it's been easier. It got me on two reality TV shows, although they didn't really help anything that I care about at all, apart from giving me some interesting philosophical insights about a direction of life that I don't want to go in. I, I don't know where my life would be if I looked different. Um, the podcast is heavily, heavily geared toward audio, uh, which is, you know, a, a beautiful equalizer for anybody that doesn't think that they have a face for doing YouTube, and I, I don't know whether that would've made any difference at all. The accent and the work that I've done on speech and diction and stuff hasn't been influenced at all by the way that I look, um, but I, I don't know. Life would probably suck a bit more, I'd get invited to fewer f- fewer parties and things, but, um, you have the opportunity to compensate if you look differently, uh, by being extra funny, and it can sometimes play into ... I mean, like Tim Dillon, right? He's ex- not exactly the, the most handsome, beautiful man on the planet, although I'm sure that some of his gay guys find him, he sounds like he goes through enough twinks to, uh, suggest that there is a market for Tim Dillon, but he fucking crushes because he developed a different part of himself, so, uh, swings and roundabouts, I think. Everybody gets different allocations of points throughout their life and you should be, uh, careful about judging where someone's at now as opposed to where they were previously. Oltan Cassily, "Is there any guest in 2023 you would really want to have a conversation with?" Oh man, so many. Um, I'm really keen to try and get Alandabot on, on From the School of Life. Been in touch with him a little bit. Aland if you're watching, if you are, whatever, 40 minutes into a Q&A on this podcast, uh, let's, let's start moving this forward. I would really love to speak to him. He was, him and Sam Harris and Peterson were like the three, the big three for me in terms of how, uh, my, uh, like, emotional education, philosophical education, worked throughout f- my, back end of my 20s. I'd love to bring Rogan on. Uh, we've been talking about doing it at some point, but obviously he's a super busy guy, so we'll have to see. Um, I also have stopped posting as much my upcoming lists of guests. I used to do it all the time, I used to just, at the beginning of each month list everybody that I had coming up, because some podcasters were using my tweet as their (laughs) to like front run guests, reach out, and basically they didn't need to do their own guest booking because I just posted what I'd done my work on, which is a bit of a shame because I think that was cool to, like, tell everybody who, who it was that I, I had coming up. Um, I'd love to bring Huberman back on again. Uh, I would like to speak to Peterson. I know that everyone wants me to talk to Andrew Tate, but I think he's in a Romanian jail at the moment, which might be difficult. Also, going to see where, where he goes next, I'd like to do a conversation with him that's a little bit more different, so I want to see what he starts talking about next. Uh, Sam Harris would be great, uh, Bill Burr would be great. Tim Dillon would be fantastic, I'd love to speak to Tim. Shane Gillis is definitely up there. Mark Normand last year was fantastic to get him on, really appreciated that. Derek from More Plates More Dates, probably bring him back on again, I really enjoyed that one. Schultz round two, I re- that conversation was one of the most fun, um, like two-hour periods that I've had. Uh, so there's a lot. There are absolutely tons. Um, there's probably a couple that I'm forgetting. I feel like there's maybe one or two that I'm really forgetting from that list. But yeah, I, there's some. Mindful Mitch, "Fuck, marry, kill, Rogan, Schultz, Peterson?" (groans) Okay. Fuck, marry, kill, Rogan, Schultz, Peterson. Um, I feel like ... I feel like (laughs) uh, killing Rogan would be-... the, the, the "best," um, trophy that I could have, like, you know, use his pelt, take it, like skin it and use his pelt as, like, an entrance mat into the podcast studio in the future. Um, fuck Peterson, might as well give him a good time, you know what I mean? Like, a young buck showing, showing Jordan a good time. And I'll marry Schultze, seems like he's a, a, a very nice guy. I think he went and took his missus away over Christmas to some Saint Tropez type, nice Costa Rica-y sort of holiday thing. So, there we go, kill Rogan, fuck Peterson, marry Schultze. Uh, six words that I never thought I would say. What's with the Justin Timberline hair? There we are again. I, dude, if you have curly hair, there are two options mostly, right? Shave it off or grow it long, and I was sick of growing it long. Bealright. "Did Andrew Huberman change anything in your daily life?" Uh, tons. I mean, that guy is an absolute monster, right? Uh, sleep supplements, I use his Sleep Cocktail every night, magnesium L-threonate, uh, apigenin, and L-theanine. The sunlight before screen light rule is just great, first thing in the morning. Um, he really reinforced the importance of, of sunlight, and I think that's been one of his biggest contributions in terms of, uh, like, applying, uh, his insights to people. Fucking hell, so much. So much stuff. Um, also, he's, he's very, uh, open to having his mind changed, and I really appreciate how he ... has strong opinions loosely held, as in he believes the things that he believes, but if he sees countervailing evidence, he's happy to change his mind. Um, that is, like, very, very rare, and I think that it comes out with having a non-culture war, non-political, uh, focus for a long time, especially coming out of academia. Hopefully that would be the case, all academics should be prepared to change their views if they see evidence that convinces them otherwise. Uh, yeah, he's, the guy's a beast, and I take a lot from him, and I'm looking forward to speaking with him again next year. Tim Cairo, "How much you recommend abstaining from alcohol considering your own experience?" Should have bundled these together. Uh, lots. See previous answers. Absolutely loads. Like, I, I... It will change your life. Six months of sobriety will change your life. Justin Fall One, "Is Athletic Greens worth the hype? About to give it a go." I highly recommend it. It's not just me, right? It's Tim Ferriss, Joe Rogan, Andrew Huberman, like, Doctor David Sinclair. Like, these are people that are either experts within their field of longevity and health, or people that have tried pretty much every product under the sun. I did the same. I've been through every different greens drink, and this is the best one. Uh, and you can go to athleticgreens.com/modernwisdom if you want the sign-up, and it's 60-day money back guarantee and a bunch of other free stuff. But I highly recommend it. If there was one supplement that I was going to take every day, it would be Athletic Greens. RP8072, "Does your back..." Oh, we've got two back questions in here. Uh, Joanna PL, "Are you more or less careful with your choice of the guest the bigger the show gets?" That's a good question. Um, I actually think that you've got a little bit more leeway as you get bigger. Now, you're obviously going to be scrutinized more heavily, but you are more capable of having a difficult conversation, or one where you need to push back. And you've also accumulated more goodwill from the audience. So I mean, I've stepped outside of whatever world people want to accuse me of being in, um, whether it be, like, center-right, or a, a cook for fucking fascists, or whatever it is that people want to accuse me of. Like, people like Helen Lewis, um, Rutger Bregman, he was the dude that called out all of the rich people at the Davos thing. Like, he's really fucking left. Destiny. Had a bunch of people on that I'm not, uh, the audience seemed, you guys seemed to be very prepared to take at face value and actually listen to what they had to say, which is fucking brilliant. Like, having a reasonable audience is all that I could ask for, and I think that you accumulate that by showing that you're acting in good faith and by having conversations consistently that are reasonable and bringing on a variety of points of views. Um, there is an element where if you're putting this out to a thousand people as opposed to a million people, there is a, a, a responsibility that you need to have to not just allow, um, crazy views to go unchallenged. I think that's what Rogan realized after the, um, Peter McCullough and whoever the other guy was, it was some other dude from, that did COVID-y stuff. That's what he realized, was that, um, balance and pushback is something that he felt he needed to do. So, uh, yes, to one degree or another, I'm careful with the way that I speak to the guests, but I also think that you've got, uh, broader access with more skills, and also the audience is more forgiving, right? They're, they're prepared to... A lot of the time now, I'll get a comment that says something like, uh, uh, "Interesting guest, don't agree with them, but really appreciate their point of view." I don't think that you would get that if you hadn't put in whatever, 600 reps of showing that this is the sort of show that you can expect. Uh, Jamal Maroon, "Who do you f- believe is the most underappreciated modern thinker?" Very difficult question. Um, one that I would love to see more of would be Alain de Botton. He's kind of backed out of The School of Life stuff. I don't think he's written anything for a while. The last book that he wrote, which I really loved, was, uh, An Emotional Education. Uh, that's a School of Life book, but that's, it was written by him, narrated by him, but done under the pseudonym, or whatever, of The School of Life. And I th- I get the impression that he is slowly stepping away from The School of Life to allow that organization to be able to run on its own.Fuck, man, this cough, this chest thing, this chest infection that is going around the UK is murdering people. So, if you are anywhere else, don't come to the UK. We have something that's way, way worse than a pandemic. Um, but yeah, Alain de Botton, I would like to see him, uh, step up a little bit more. Maybe he's taking a break, maybe he's doing less stuff, I'm not really too sure, but, uh, he would be someone that I think could add a massive amount of value. Not that he hasn't already, not that he isn't very accomplished, um, but I'd love to see more from him. Nathan Colosimo, this is a long one. "Hey Chris, I'm 16 and have been watching the show for one to two years now, since the start of my self-development journey. Currently, I just can't relate to anyone else around me because of all of the things I do. Fitness, mindfulness, health, learning, social media and running my business. I've only had one to three friends that I feel like talking for most of my life, but I really want to work on social skills as well. So, my question would be, how can I find other people like me at this point of my life? Should I just accept that there's not going to be that many and set my bar lower? I just really don't like talking to people I find boring or not on that wavelength. This might be a me problem of perspective though. Thanks." Fuck, that is such a smart question. Dude, I- I was functionally retarded at 16, and ... I mean, that's a really, really high level question to ask, it's a fantastic position to be in. A few, like, applicable ... I could just gush about the fact that you're a- a highly developed 16-year-old for a while, but obviously you need something that you can use. Uh, one solution would be to get older friends, right? To hang around with people that are older than you. I don't mind, um ... if some 22-year-old kid came to me that was w- w- mindful and well-balanced, like, I would happily take them under my wing and, like, have a chat. I've got a bunch of friends that are younger than me, like tons. Video Guy Dean, I think when we started working together was 22, and I would've been, whatever, like 30, uh, 29 or something like that. So, uh, maybe get older friends who are more aligned with your, like, uh, expedited maturity. Um, yeah, you are probably going to ex- have to accept that if you want same-aged friends, you're an outlier, which means that unless you can find other outliers, it's going to be more difficult for you to find people to talk to. Yes, you want to work on social skills, but it's not like you can only work on those with people that are your age. Um, monk mode would be a potentially good solution. One thing I would be slightly cautious of is that at your age, the formative experiences socially are super, super important because the grind is always going to be there. But if you allow the social side to atrophy, uh, and to fall away, that's going to put you at a real disadvantage. That was my issue, right, as someone that basically had zero social skills at the age of 17 or 18, uh, I had a lot of catching up to do and you don't want to let that fall away. So, find older friends, um, but keep doing what you're doing, man. Like that- that foundation will allow you to be so adaptable and so flexible and so, um, uh, quick to progress that I- I ... you're not going to have any problems. You're going to be absolutely fine. Nate Cousins, "Have you stopped/sold your involvement in the nightlife events business?" Yes, I have. I worked and exit from that, uh, this summer finally, which took a little while. It's very difficult to sell a, um, to sell a- a club promotion business because there's no assets. The only asset is the brand, right? And the brand is worth a hell of a lot because the brand is the vehicle for earning the money, and most successful nightlife events businesses are very cash rich. They're, um, quick turnover. No one is walking into a nightclub and saying, "I'll pay you on 60 days," or anything. It's a very good vehicle for generating cash. The problem is, how the fuck are you supposed to create any kind of, uh, number of value over that? Do you say, "Oh, it's one year's revenue. It's two years revenue." It's the most volatile industry in the world, as far as I'm concerned, so no, you can't really do that. But also, it's not nothing. So it took us a- a long time to work out what that number was and then did that, uh, and pushed it off. But Darren, my business partner, is still spanking it in the UK. I'm actually going for pizza with him later on today, which is going to be great. So, uh, really, really proud of everything that we did but it was time to move on. Matt Reynolds, "Are you going to invite Joe Rogan on your podcast?" Yes, I am. That will happen whenever it happens, but I- I absolutely can't wait. I'm gonna do something ridiculously special. I've already chosen the location of where we're going to film it. It's gonna be ... it's gonna look like something out of a Final Fantasy end boss, uh, fight. It's gonna be great. Abigail Cross, "Congratulations on the follower count. My question is, what has been your greatest, not necessarily biggest, achievement?" Fucking hell. Um, probably learning to be proud of myself, I think. Um, for a long while I didn't resonate with the things that I did. I didn't feel like, uh, I was worthy of praise or love or- or whatever, uh, and I couldn't work out why. I didn't know why I didn't have this same, like, existential sense of connection to, uh, compliments from people or- or love or care from people, and I think it's because I was playing a role, right? Throughout a lot of my 20s I was this big name on campus, big dick around town, like party boy club promoter, um, and that was only a part of my persona but I'd allowed it to subsume my entire person. And when I stopped doing that and I started to tell the truth more and started to, sort of, live in a little bit more alignment, I actually started to connect with what people said, uh, and how they felt about me and so on and so forth. So becoming proud of myself, uh, giving myself enough of a reason to, uh, like, feel pride and love. Probably that. William Cummings, "What are your best tips for someone who wants to start their own YouTube channel?" There were about 100 questions to do with this, some to do with podcasting and some to do with YouTube.Best tips for someone who wants to start their own YouTube channel. Um, I would take Video Creators's 30 Days to a Better YouTube Channel course. It's about, uh, 200 bucks and it'll teach you a lot of the basics when it comes to thumbnail design and how to title your channel and algorithm and stuff like that. You need to understand the physics of how YouTube works. That's really, really important. That's something that I didn't learn up until, it was only two, three years ago. It was three years ago when I took that course and, um, or was it two years ago? I think it was two years ago. Anyway, it's very important. You should do it. Um, be consistent. Find a way to produce videos that isn't incredibly arduous. If every time that you sit down with a blank piece of paper to write your outline or script or whatever it is, you, it, it makes you feel terrified or resentful or bitter or bored or nihilistic or procrastinate, the process isn't working well enough. You need it to be as free-flowing as possible, right? You need the creation of videos to be as easy as you can. It's the same reason why I have one of these here in both... There it is. Like, uh, for the people that are listening, it's a, a remote, a $10 remote control thing. Uh, and what you do... Piss (laughs) . And what you do is, uh, plug lights into wall sockets, press those buttons, and then that turns everything on. So in the press of four buttons, everything comes on. Camera comes on, lights come on, everything. So I've made the, um, production part, the recording part of making a podcast as frictionless as possible. Everything is always set up. You need to have that same process, uh, you need to have that same structure with your process, right? It needs to be as easy as possible. Uh, be consistent. Uh, learn the physics of the platform. 30 Days to a Better YouTube Channel from Video Creators is a great course. Um, focus on sound before, uh, light and camera, and focus on light before camera. You can have an average camera with great lighting that looks fantastic and a great camera with average lighting that looks shit. People are more concerned about sound than they are about the way that the video looks. Um, and just get going. Like you need to learn by iterating, so just start producing stuff and see where you end up. Joseph Buonadonna, "Hey Chris, congrats on the new milestone. Nowadays the term woke is used to describe reactionaries on the political left, the kind who get in a tizzy if you don't strictly adhere to the ever-changing lingo they have for various minority groups. However, I feel that all too often it is used as a proverbial cudgel, often by those on the political right, against legitimate activists who are working for a better tomorrow. So my question is this. In your personal opinion, what is the difference between the woke left and those who are genuinely fighting for issues such as racial justice, LGBT rights, environmentalism, et cetera? Love to hear your thoughts." Really great question, and very difficult, right? Um, by using nitpicking, i.e. picking the most ridiculous examples from one side as representatives for the entire side, by the people that don't like them, uh, you can quite easily sort of smear an entire movement. Like calling someone a, a leftist now, like that, that's just a description of their political leaning, but it's also like a pejorative term, like accusing someone of being a leftist now. And that's been done primarily because you do have these sort of blue-haired screechy people that are poor examples. If I was somebody that was from the left, I would feel pretty embarrassed by them. Um, what would the solution be? It, the entire volume needs to be turned down on the discourse, and you need to have people from both sides of the fence wanting to genuinely engage in a well-meaning discussion. The problem is that the incentives online do not, uh, it's not conducive for that because on the internet, the most outrageous, outlandish take that is the most pithy, dunk beat-down that you can come up with is the one that is going to get the most traction. So the incentives online encourage people to speak in a way which disparages the other side in a low-resolution, un-nuanced, insulting manner. That's something that you can't get around. Um, "In your personal opinion, what is the difference between the woke left and those who are doing it?" The difference would be are you doing it because you genuinely care about the, uh, plight or the issue that it is that you're talking about? And have you thoroughly researched it? Those would be the people that are well-meaning and that we should listen to and that should be given a platform. Or are you doing it because it is the current, uh, in vogue cultural and political ideology to have, and it is an easy way for you to morally grandstand and gain status, clout, and p- have performative empathy that puts you on a pedestal? If you're doing it for those reasons, fuck off into the sea. That is the difference between the two. One person is doing it because they genuinely care about the issues at hand, and the other person is doing it because they see an easy route to accumulate status whilst having to do nothing difficult to accumulate it. That's the difference between the two. How you fix it, that's a more difficult question. Carfalog: "Congratulations Chris. My question is where the term bro science originated from. It's a phrase that has made its way into my vocabulary from your podcast and I was curious as to its origins." Uh, Dom Mazzetti, who is a YouTuber that does, pretty sure his channel is, like, called BroScience or something, uh, but yeah, he, uh, that was the first person that I learned it from. It's just anything that is unsubstantiated inclinations that you think, "This might be right. This sounds about right, or it seems right to me," uh, and it is a very nice way... You know the, I spoke to Schultz about that thing where comedians have got the...... get out of jail free card. They can press a light that goes on over their heads and you're like, "Oh, I was just telling a joke. It doesn't matter. You don't need to accuse me of being a bigot." This is the same, but for psychology and philosophy insights, I can just say, "Uh, so here's something that I've just bro scienced, i.e. don't take the next 30 seconds or 60 seconds seriously. I'm pulling this out of my ass. I hope that it goes well." Is it a little bit of a, uh, like a low ball, um, way to make yourself not culpable for the things that you're talking about? Maybe, but it works. Greenandblue, "What's your advice for being surrounded by negative people from work to home life and from the negativity that seems to have taken over online? Without becoming a recluse, it seems impossible to escape." Find positive people, man. Like you can offset an entire world of negativity with a few positive people, and this is something that I learned since being in America. The American disposition is way more positive than pretty much anywhere else. Sometimes it can be annoying, right? But my housemate, Zack, is a really good counterbalance to me. I am this sort of slightly more dour, slightly more chill, peaceful guy, and he is this massive, excitable Alsatian. Uh, and he pulls me out of my positivity and I, uh, out of my, whatever, negativity, uh, and I provide order to what it is that he does. So I've got, you know, a group of friends in Austin that are fantastic counterbalances and there's maybe, like let's say there's five of them that I focus on, and all of them are able to outweigh the internet. So just find a small group of people and rely on them. Sierra619, "Congratulations, Chris. You deserve it. One of the best podcasts I have listened to." Thank you. "I love that you have a large amount of topics and different people come on. Keep up the amazing work." Thank you very much. Q, "It would be interesting to me to start a podcast. However, I don't have a YouTube channel or an Instagram that I post frequently on. I haven't made a name for myself. When you started your podcast, was it hard to find people that would take their time to talk to you, especially someone like Jocko or Jordan Peterson that are extremely busy? They probably have plenty of people that would take, that would like that time. Do you have to make a name for yourself in some other way before you can have a podcast?" Absolutely not. Every person that thinks that Love Island or Take Me Out or being a club promoter gave me any kind of platform for beginning this podcast could not be more wrong. I came out of Love Island with, I think, 7,000 more followers on Instagram than when I went in, and the show was so tiny in season one, which is why I'm not, uh, quite easy for me to dispense with that label, because nobody knew that I'd done it basically. That most people find out about me doing Love Island from me telling them about it on the podcast, as opposed to it being some springboard that created the career. Um, the way that I got a lot of guests on the show, uh, you know, episode three and four I think were Dave Castro, the director of the CrossFit Games, and Dan Bailey, uh, CrossFit OG. Um, James Clear was within the first 30 episodes. I think Robert Greene was within the first 40 episodes. I just reached out to people. People are very responsive if you are, uh, respectful of their time and kind, and it just seems to work. Do not be afraid of reaching out to people and DMing them or sending emails. Uh, they are very, very responsive to it. When you're talking about the Jockos and the Petersons of the world, yeah, like, you're going to need an in. You need a warm lead. They're not going to speak to you for the most part unless you do get a referral from one place or another. Um, that is more challenging, but that's just networking, right? Like you're probably only three degrees of separation from Jocko Willink in any case. So okay, I'll continue to expand the net until I get to the stage where I've got level one, then level two, and then level three, and then you got them. Noah Wilson, "You damn legend you. How are you now this morning? What I'm asking is, I guess, are you still hungry? You've come a long way pretty much from near bottom to top in just, to top just one year. Will we see the takeover of Chris Williamson next year, or are we taking another year to execute our goals with precision to add tools to the Rolodex? Can't wait to see where we will go." I think 2023 is gonna be a year that I really put my foot down. Like my plan is to fist fuck 2023. I would be... I think this is a year where all of the preparation that I've done up until this point starts to really get put on a pedestal, and yeah, I, I wouldn't bet against me this year unless I put my foot in my mouth, uh, and have some huge error, which is always a possibility. But yeah, I'm g- I'm really gonna try and make some big waves this year. Uh, y- it's interesting that you talk about is a- another year to add tools to the Rolodex, because that is something that I saw for a very long time. You know, sat right there next to where I'm recording on this little seat with this blanket on my lap, meditating or journaling or reading or, or doing fucking introspective work or whatever it was that I was doing, right? That is a price that you need to pay in order to be able to be ready to take advantage of whatever platform comes down the line. Um, you know, going on Rogan was phenomenal, but I'm very, very glad that I'd accumulated 500 episodes before I had the chance to go on. If I'd done that at 150, I wouldn't have been ready. If I'd done that at 400, I would've been less ready. So all of the work that you get to put in to accumulate the skills that you need means that when the opportunity finally comes, you can take advantage of it. That's the way that you should see it. All of the time that you're sat spinning your wheels wishing that you had better opportunities in front of you, you can take that as, "I'm gonna be more ready when that opportunity finally does rear its head," and that's how I've seen it. But I think I'm done with the accumulating of skills bit for a little while, and it's now time to step out onto the stadium floor.Double, "Do you want to get married and have children any time soon? How many children?" Uh, can't wait to be a dad, can't wait to get married. Do I want to have them any time soon? I'm not sure. Uh, how many children? I think two to three. I, I'm, I'm an only child, right, so for me, one is a, it's, I think it's suboptimal, but it's not a, a ridiculous amount of children to have. However, I do think that on average, I, I would like, I think three. Ideally, two boys and a girl in the order that my business partner Darren had, which was boy, boy, girl. I feel like that's a, a good way to do things. However, for every boy that you have, it does increase the chances of your son being ga- so I could have, I could have a straight, I could have a gay, and I could have a girl, like the big three. Uh, "Do you want to..." No, that's the same one. Harrington Jah, "How do you continue to find new content and interests?" Bro, there, I have more things that I want to learn about than 10 lifetimes would give me enough room to, to delve into. There is an endless amount of stuff that I'm interested in, so, I don't know. I, uh, I just, I, I, I really want to keep on finding the most interesting people who right now no one knows about and the world needs to, and continue to put them at the forefront of this ever-growing platform. Like, that would make me very happy. Uh, I find it on Twitter, on Instagram, I find it in books, I find it in other podcasts that I listen to, I find it in blog posts. Been a massive fan of, uh, Substack this year and started subscribing, not to tons, but to some really good ones. Some of the good ones that I subscribe to, uh, Rob Henderson, Gwenda Bogle, Eric Hoel, uh, Pirate Wires by Mike Solana, uh, Adam Mastroianni's, uh, Experimental History, Astral Codex 10. Those are the main ones that come to mind, and, uh, The Browser as well, but that's not a Substack technically. Um, those are, I, that's been where I've got a, a lot of new content insights, uh, but the vehicle for that is just f- ass-shaking curiosity, like, just a, a reality distortion field of curiosity. Josh Duymel, "Thoughts on why all these random dating shows are so popular?" Uh, yeah, I mean, (clears throat) what is it? Love Is Blind, uh, um, there was one that was to do with dating if you were twins, uh, that my friends Henry and Will were on, Love Island, The Bachelor, The Bachelor in Paradise, uh, Too Hot to Handle as well, that's just done its second season. The reason that I think they're so popular is because fundamentally people understand that finding a partner is an important part of your life, and people want to observe the process of that occurring. Like, it is one of the fundamental gossip generators that human tribes would have had for a long time, who is dating who, who is changing in terms of status and, um, accolades within a group, a small group, right? It's never a dating show with 500 people on it. It's always a dating show that's very, very small. If you were to take a Dunbar number group of 150 humans, the number that are between the ages of 18 and 35 would probably be about 10 to 12 that would be available, maybe. Uh, that's now just, who is the available dating group? We'll take everybody else. We'll take the kids and the parents and grandparents out of the way, and the ones that are already mated off, and we'll throw the, the remaining group into an island or a villa or something and we'll let them battle it out, and then we'll discuss who is the bastard or the cool one amongst them. That's why I think it's compelling. It's also compelling because it is chicken soup for distraction and it generates a shit ton of content. It makes people very tribal, you know, like, "I'm an Adam Collard person," or, "I'm a," like, whatever. You pin your colors to the flag of whichever person it is that you're watching. Uh, Victorj, "When are you having Matthew Walker on the show?" So, Matthew Walker is the guy that wrote Why We Sleep and number, I think it's number 1109, uh, his episode on Rogan was one of the most important podcasts that I ever listened to. I had completely degraded my sleep mostly throughout my 20s from being a club promoter. However, I have heard a lot of criticisms about Matthew Walker's book and I don't know why. Uh, I, I haven't done enough digging, but he has been in a bit of bother, and I would probably need to do some research before because there's a lot of criticisms floating around. That being said, his lesson of focus on sleep is very important. Uh, before I would bring him on, I would want to probably do a bit of scrutiny on those criticisms. And maybe if that was the case, that would be a good angle to have him on the show to talk about to get him to address some of those, uh, 'cause I don't think I've heard him do that. Tim D Simons, "Did you find Jocko difficult to deal with? It sounded like he was giving very little." (laughs) Yeah, so, uh, I don't think... He tweeted about it about a month afterward or a couple of months afterwards. Someone had mentioned, "You seemed a little bit off," uh, "on the podcast with Chris. Was there a problem?" Uh, and I think he said he hadn't trained that morning, which had put him in a mood. Uh, he was fine. I mean, if you want to go and listen to his episode with Michaela or his episode with Lex, both of which I listened to in preparation for the episode I did with him, mine was, like...... a hug. Mine was, mine was a warm cuddle throughout most of it, so there are, uh, gradations to what a, whatever, 30-year veteran Navy SEAL's, um, frosty disposition can get to. And he was ... It was fun, like, and also a really important learning experience for me to have this big production, to fly all the way out to San Diego, to sit down with this guy that I knew, you know, hundreds of thousands, millions of people were going to watch these episodes and these clips. And it was really important for me to feel that pressure of, "Fuck, like this isn't going to be just an easy walk in the park where I can poke him with a short question and then see a huge answer fall out of him." So that was really important. I took it as a very valuable, like, strategic learning opportunity. Uh, and we got on well. I'd, like I'd love to have him back on. I think I will, but, uh, yeah, maybe make sure that he trains before we record next time. QuietTech25: "Favorite evolutionary biology books?" I'm gonna give you evolutionary psychology just 'cause evolutionary biology isn't really my area of expertise. Uh, I would say The Moral Animal by Robert Wright. Again, uh, chriswillex.com/books. All of these will be in there. Go and get it, free reading list, blah, blah. Uh, Moral Animal by Robert Wright, The Ape Who Understood the Universe by Steve Stuart Williams is the number one primer. The, in fact, just The Ape Who Understood the Universe by Steve Stuart Williams, all you need is that book. And then from that you can tumble into David Buss's Men Behaving Badly, uh, or David Buss's The Evolution of Desire. Geoffrey Miller, The Mating Mind. Um, but start off with Steve's book. It's great. Uh, A, AP_Vox: "Is it safe to work out commando?" Depends how big your dong is, I suppose. Rattlesnake.tv: "Has it been difficult to cater your message around YouTube censorship?" Uh, not really. Um, I, we've got popped, we got popped for a conversation I had with Schultze. One of the clips got diddled, um, and I ... Maybe one or two others, but generally my relationship with YouTube so far has been great. Uh, my partner/manager there is also fantastic, Katya, uh, and if there's ever any problems I can usually speak to her. I think the rules on YouTube are a lot more tight than some people would like, but for me, my, like, Overton window of what I typically want to talk about doesn't, at least on a podcast, not necessarily in private, doesn't stray too far outside of that. So I don't feel like I need to be too constrained. Stemistrello: "Why is the background split in red and blue lights?" Uh, not sure what you mean. Uh, if it's this, if it's the fact that I've got teal and copper here, it's because it is a color palette that I absolutely adore. I really like that it's sort of classic Hollywood look. It's kind of Ad Astra-y, space travel meets sort of old and worldy filament bulb shit. Uh, I just like it. I thought it was cool. Uh, SmithAmb: "What is your number one life hack and why?" Speed up your trackpad. Put your trackpad speed to as fast as it goes and your mouse will move around the screen more quickly. Like, thank me later. Joe S.: "Hey, Chris, what is the single best advice you have heard for guys in their 20s?" Work hard. Like, learn how hard you can work, actually. Um, push yourself to the limit, the absolute limit of how hard you can work, because that is going to set a tone of what you can expect from yourself later in life. Like, learn to love work. Learn to love working, learn to love working hard, learn to appreciate sacrificing now for, uh, rewards in the future. Joseph Tucker: "How do you think YouTubers will adapt their style in 2023? Are you planning to do anything differently?" Uh, this short form stuff seems to be a big part of it. Like, people are really pushing hard for YouTube Shorts. Um, I don't think that audiograms are going to take off. I don't think you're going to see those, like, audio clips where there's no video associated with them and it's a waveform with captions. Just don't think that they're able to compete with video clips, so all of these sort of clippable audio services, I, I don't think that it's there. When you, when almost all podcasts are available in video, audio isn't going to take over in clips. Um, in terms of adapting stuff, w- we're just gonna keep on doing what we do.Uh, the conversations that I have, the quality of them in terms of the guests that come on, the room that they have to breathe, the reasonableness and the insightfulness of the audience, you guys, and keep on doing those big productions like what you're going to see from the Goggins episode, which, again, I ... Like, if I could get four or five of those a year out, I don't need to do anything else. I can keep ticking over with the normal episodes and those will be the flagship, super eye-catchy, uh, growth engine bits. It'll be perfect. IncredibleMet: "Hey, Chris, love your work. You talk a lot about the manosphere and the issues that they address heavily in their content with your guests. Do you pla- plan on having a conversation directly with a few of those guys and gals in that space any time soon?" It depends on what you mean by manosphere. It depends on whether you mean, uh, David Buss and Geoffrey Miller, who are the guys that did the studies that the guys in the manosphere misquote or, uh, turn into their own. Like, I much prefer going to the actual source. If I'm gonna talk about hormonal birth control, I don't wanna do it with some guy that once was, like, part of a men's rights Reddit thread and wants to say about how hormonal birth control is allowing all women to be sluts. I'd rather speak to Dr. Sarah Hill, who is the woman that did the work. The manosphere at the moment needs, like ... I don't know. It needs sanitizing. It needs to be more collaborative. It needs to be more mindful. It needs to be more holistic. It needs to be more positive. It is a fucking negative space to be in, and it needs to not see women as adversaries. Like-I don't consider myself a part of the manosphere, I don't consider myself a part of red pill. I'll keep on speaking to the people that do the research and having great conversations with them about their insights maybe at some point in the future, but I, I, no, I don't feel like I have a massive amount to gain from that just yet. We'll see. Um, Boyo Terry, "Hi, Chris. How have you managed to avoid any drama? I have thought about doing something in the public arena of social media. It looks fun and gives me a chance to flex my sh- social and creative muscles, but I was a bit of a lad (laughs) in my younger years. I'm nervous my past will come back to haunt me. How have you managed to avoid this? Any tips?" I don't know. I don't know why, uh, drama hasn't come, uh, chasing me down. I make a point of not calling people out, except for Brian Rose from London Real. In fact, no, I just make a point of not calling out people that aren't egregious arseholes. If you're a complete dick, fine, you're up for debate with me. But as far as I'm concerned, I would much sooner have a positive conversation about something that's interesting as opposed to try and kick off beef. I think you don't really have much to worry about. The likelihood of you getting to the size where something from your past would come up to then destroy your current, what you have built is relatively small, and if you do get to that stage and you're being honest and truthful and you integrate that previous lad version of yourself into who you are now, you're basically uncancellable, and that's hopefully the situation I will get myself toward as well. Uh, Malcolm J, "Hey, Chris. Thank you for all the work you've done this year. Your podcasts have been super insightful and eye-opening. I've been wondering whether you would ever do some kind of collab with Lex Fridman. Collab- Uh, cheers and happy holidays from Miami." Thank you very much. Uh, yeah, L- Lex is a busy guy, but me and him spent, not Thanksgiving just gone, but the one before that together. Got on super well. Um, yeah, I would like to, uh, do some work with him. Maybe 2023 will be the year we're both in Austin together. But the guy is busy. He's building robots and trying to save the world, so you know, it'll happen when it happens. Raymond Tendao, "Do you meditate? If yes, I'm curious to know how it has impacted your wellbeing." Yes, I have. I've probably done between 1,000 and 1,500 sessions over the last six years, something like that. So not massive compliance, average length of probably between 10 and 15 minutes. About half of th- that has been guided through a combination of Headspace and Waking Up. Uh, and, um ... Fuck, what's Corey Allen's thing? Whatever Corey Allen's meditation program is, and the other half has been unguided. It massively impacts my wellbeing. It makes me more calm. It creates a mindfulness gap in-between stimulus and response. It gives me better insight into my own thoughts. I mean, it, it's phenomenal. It's, it's been one of the big changes that I made. Uh, Vendant Patel, "From where do you buy your T-shirts, Chris?" I'm gonna guess that you mean the ones that I wear mostly on the big episodes, 'cause I get asked about those a lot, and they're Zara. Uh, I think I'm an XL in Zara because they're made for teeny tiny little European men. Uh, but those are pretty great quality, like smart, work perfectly well, great quality cotton, and they last for a good while. Uh, other stuff, a lot of Gymshark obviously. Um, pretty much all of my wardrobe now is Gymshark and Zara. That's it. Uh, M- Amna, Amna, "Congrats, I listen to your podcast every week. Question, where should women seek advice to become better mothers?" For, I literally don't have an answer to that. I don't know, which is pretty damning. If you have any suggestions for where women can find advice about how to become better mothers, please put it in the comments. Joey Star, "What's your advice for a young man in his early 20s not wanting to fuel the promiscuity train, but f- rather find a good quality woman to settle down with and have a family?" They're out there, man. There are girls that are ready to settle down. Oh, there's more. "This is a predicament many young men (laughs) are facing. Not all of us want to submit to the degeneracy and savagery of the dating market. For many of us, following the traditional virtuous route is mor- more appealing. However, finding a woman who hasn't been dragged through the promiscuity phase is difficult." Well, you're 20, they probably haven't had a chance to get through it, so go on as many dates as you can as quickly as you can and find the one that's right and make a life with them. My business partner and his missus I think started dating when they were 19, they're now 34, 34, and 35. Three kids, two dogs, white picket fence, perfect life. Like, get started and behave in the same manner that you would want the partner that you're trying to find to behave in. So, don't go out on dates and try and fuck them on the first night. Like, spend time, make them aware that this is something serious, not something that you're looking for that's transactional. Uh, Harry Leese, "What is your favorite UK city?" Edinburgh by far, it's like real-world Harry Potter land. Con McCloskey, "Are you on TRT?" No, never been on TRT. Would consider it, would like to be on it, but no. Nick Klass, "What is your opinion on Andrew Tate being unbanned on Instagram?" Fine. Like, I, I don't mind too much really. Uh, I don't know what he did to get banned in the first place and his Instagram's kind of funny. Gavin, "What's the simplest and most effective way to trim your pubes going into 2023?" I would say Manscaped's Lawn Mower 4.0, that's the way that I do it, seems pretty useful to me. Um, Triggered Lunda, "What do you think about WEF and Jews?" That's going to be a difficult question to answer without getting canceled, is it? Well actually, no, it's not, I just don't have any thoughts on it, like, what do you mean? "What do you think about WEF and Jews?" Th- I, they share a lot of letters in the name? I don't know, I haven't done my research on that stuff. Ted Wunderlich, "Do you think that the revered historical figures had the reputational luxury of not living in a time with the internet where they couldn't have their legacies blown with bizarre interviews or bad tweets or a TMZ video or a leaked nude or text (laughs) or something? Would we view many of these people differently, possibly with less reverence if they were alive now?" Fucking great question. Yes, 100%. Uh, your...uh, mutants of the world would be seen through this much more broad lens, right? An entire worldview of this entire person. All of his foibles, the fact that he was, like, just a horrible person, by, by the sounds of things, that also happened to be a genius. At the moment, separating the art and the artist are almost impossible because people are their opinions, they are their takes online, and no one that is famous and good at one thing doesn't decide to have takes. It would be an entirely different world if that happened. Cole Campbell, "What is something that you are still proving to yourself even at this stage of your podcasting career?" Fuck, that's a good question as well. Um, still the worthy of love thing, I think, uh, that... Uh, I- even more than that actually, that... there's been a big change over the last 12 months of how much attention and... H- how many opportunities I've been getting. Like, the number of things that have come in, sponsor opportunities, um, uh, paths that I could go down, ways that I could be distracted, have been, um, like, insane. But my lack of confidence or, like, vestigial lack of confidence still lingers there, so the imposter syndrome is still pretty real. Uh, but that's starting to get, to drop away, which is nice. Um, but proving to myself that, like, I'm worthy of love without having to offer people something in return, and also that I deserve to be here, I deserve to have the successes that the show's got is probably it as well. LJ22, "Status is a frequent topic of discussion on Modern Wisdom when covering topics such as intra and intersexual competition, cancel culture, group dynamics in the dating market. If you were to give the power to convey a higher status to a particular characteristic or trait that you feel is currently undervalued in society, what would you choose for the trait you select? Who do you think best demonstrates the virtue whilst not receiving sufficient recognition for doing so?" Mothers. 100% it would be mothers. I think that the lack of pedestalization of motherhood makes it not... very un-, uh, aspirational, very, um, unmotivating to want to be that. Uh, and just pick any, any stay-at-home mum that decides to work hard, manage a household, which is not a small task, uh, make sure that the kids and everything else is oiled nicely. That would be a f- a- if we got to the end of 2030 and that was starting to become more pedestalized again, that would, I would consider that a win. Claire MacLeod, smashing it, 600K. "My question please, is there anything in your end of year review that surprised you? And if yes, why? Thank you." Haven't done my end of year review yet, so I don't know. However, if you want to do your own end of year review, you can go to chriswillex.com/review, you can see the process that I will be doing when I finish mine. Um, I would guess that it will be... one of the things that I would be surprised by, uh, will be the impact of having friends that believe in you, uh, and that support you and understand what you're doing. Like, that's a, a power that is very, very difficult to, um, realize just how good it is. Steven Mrojo, "Any chance you're going to have Michael Malice on?" Yes, for his new book, The White Pill, which you, I think you can get at White- The White Pill Book or whitepillbook.com. And I'm gonna be speaking to him right now, today, while this goes out, and it should be live this Thursday. Uh, and then David Goggins li- goes live on Monday. So it's a good, very good week that we've got. Anyway, I'm gonna leave it there. I love you all. Thank you. 600K is wild. One mil maybe by the end of 2023, that would be great. Um, keep sharing the episodes. The people that do, you are my favorite humans. It makes a massive, massive difference. Also, don't forget, if you wanna get access to all of the episodes 10 hours before they go live on YouTube, you can subscribe on Spotify to Modern Wisdom or Apple Podcasts to Modern Wisdom, they get uploaded 10 hours earlier on there. But for now, that's it. See you at 700K. What's happening, people? Thank you very much for tuning in. If you enjoyed that episode, then press here for a selection of the best clips from the podcast over the last few weeks. And don't forget to subscribe. Peace.