Experiments in philosophy and social science.

In this episode, I look back on my journey with Urbit, the ambitious project to rebuild the internet, why I stepped back, detailing the project's unexpected twists, including the challenges faced by startups attempting to build on the platform and the surprising return of founder Curtis Yarvin. I take an honest look at how his initial timeline expectations were off and the difficulties encountered, like the "death by a thousand paper cuts" from technical issues that made building on Urbit painful. This period offered significant learning about technology projects, market sentiment, and the allure of hype cycles. I share how these experiences shaped my current, more measured approach, as well as my year long involvement with Zorp, a startup from the Urbit ecosystem now building Nockchain, a novel zero knowledge proof of work blockchain. He discusses the potential of ZKPs and why I've adopted a strategy of patient, behind the scenes work before public promotion. I also discuss working on Nockchain, even building an anonymous following for its blog from scratch. I talk about Nockchain's imminent "fair launch," where anyone can begin mining. This episode is a candid reflection on past miscalculations and a look at a new venture in radical sovereignty technology.01:21 Discovering Urbit 02:44 Involvement with Urbit 04:44 Challenges and Reflections 05:38 The Independent Scholar 06:57 Urbit's Market Dynamics 15:31 Urbit Startups and Setbacks 22:49 The Rise and Fall of Urbit 23:38 Orbit's Struggles and My Realizations 24:54 Current State and Future Potential of Urbit 31:42 The Promise of Zero Knowledge Proofs 35:18 Introducing Nock Chain 38:31 Reflections and Lessons Learned 45:05 The Launch of Nock Chain Other Life ✦ The coolest free newsletter in the world: https://otherlife.co ✦ The monthly PRINT edition: https://otherlife.co/upgrade ✦ My new book, The Independent Scholar: https://otherlife.co/scholar

Other Life

Urbit, Nockchain, and the Current State of Sovereignty Technology

This episode unpacks the seventh and eighth sentences of Nick Land's "Meltdown," where "soft engineering slithers out of its box into yours" and "human security is lurching into crisis." We consider how Land's vision of programming the body manifests in surprising ways, from COVID-19 as a biological agent turned symbolic force, to the AI of Ex Machina. The idea of the human body as a programmable interface, with roots in William Burroughs, is central to understanding these unfolding crises. This episode also touches on the rapid, horizontal replication that bypasses old hierarchies – seen in actual cloning, the way internet personalities jump expertise ("transversal replication" via Deleuze & Guattari), and even how IVF restructures reproduction. Cyberotics, like AI girlfriends, and the merging of biological and memetic viruses further illustrate this acceleration where boundaries dissolve and new forms of replication flood in.Other Life✦ The coolest free newsletter in the world: https://otherlife.co✦ The monthly PRINT edition: https://otherlife.co/upgrade✦ My new book, The Independent Scholar: https://otherlife.co/scholar

Soft-Engineering, Transversality, Human Security System (Nick Land, Meltdown, Sentences 7-8)

This episode unpacks a key sentence from Nick Land's "Meltdown": "As markets learn to manufacture intelligence, politics, modernizes, upgrades, paranoia, and tries to get a grip." What does it mean for markets to "manufacture intelligence"? It's not merely a figure of speech. Drawing on Hayek and Mises, the discussion highlights how markets function as literal intelligence-generating systems. The surprising efficiency of early stock markets, like the Dutch East India Company's, serves as a stark illustration of market mechanisms creating new forms of social awareness. The conversation then considers politics's reaction to this ascendant market intelligence. Land's sentence suggests that much of political modernism, along with its heightened paranoia, is an attempt to cope with or "get a grip" on forces it cannot fully direct. This frames political history as a continuous, often failing, effort to assert control over the intelligence emerging from market processes, from Soviet collectivization to the "paranoid style" in American politics. These ideas find a striking parallel in today's discussions about Artificial Intelligence. As AI accelerates the creation of intelligence, familiar calls for control and "safety" emerge. Referencing Land's "Machinic Desire," the episode touches upon "Politically Organized Defensive Systems" (Pods) and their core rule: "the outside must pass by way of the inside." This offers a lens on current debates around AI governance and the push to centralize oversight of a rapidly escalating new intelligence. Other Life✦ The coolest free newsletter in the world: https://otherlife.co✦ The monthly PRINT edition: https://otherlife.co/upgrade✦ My new book, The Independent Scholar: https://otherlife.co/scholar

Markets Learn to Manufacture Intelligence and Politics Modernizes (Nick Land, Meltdown, Sentence 3)

Socrates shows up late, looks like hell, and still somehow rules the room. What's really going in the Symposium? Plato uses a dinner party to show how authentic love is more intoxicating than alcohol. We explore the relationship between erotic desire and philosophy, and how philosophy is often a cold shower on our lesser temptations. We examine why talented poets like Aristophanes might be the fiercest skeptics of love, Alcalbiades’ dramatic interruption, and how Socrates’ uncompromising pursuit of truth brings admiration as well as danger. Perhaps the only desire strong enough to guide us well is the love of the good, no matter the cost. Other Life ✦ The coolest free newsletter in the world: <a href="https://otherlife.co/">https://otherlife.co</a> ✦ The monthly PRINT edition: <a href="https://otherlife.co/upgrade">https://otherlife.co/upgrade</a> ✦ My new book, The Independent Scholar: <a href="https://otherlife.co/scholar">https://otherlife.co/scholar</a> Alex Priou Alex Priou is a philosopher who works on Plato and Pre-Socratic thought. Alex is the author of three books on Plato: *Becoming Socrates: Political Philosophy in Plato’s Parmenides* (2018), *Defending Socrates: Political Philosophy Before the Tribunal of Science* (2023), and—the pretext for this converstaion—[*Musings on Plato’s Symposium*](<a href="https://amzn.to/43BtkEv">https://amzn.to/43BtkEv</a>) (2023). He also co-hosts [*The New Thinkery*](<a href="http://www.thenewthinkery.com/">http://www.thenewthinkery.com</a>), a political philosophy podcast. Learn more about Alex's work at [<a href="https://alexpriou.com/">alexpriou.com</a>](<a href="https://alexpriou.com/">http://www.alexpriou.com</a>).

Justin Murphy

Other Life by Justin Murphy

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