No Doesn’t Always Mean No

“Only our concept of time makes it possible for us to speak of the Day of Judgment by that name; in reality it is a summary court in perpetual session.” —Kafka

I’m almost done with my latest book (in print), The Independent Scholar, a much improved v2 of the rough draft I circulated digitally many months ago.

Fresh work should start flowing at a normal rate soon!

In this issue, some things I’ve been reading and what’s new around the community:

• Italian Futurism

• Nietzsche’s Genealogy of Morals

• TV Economics After Streaming

• A Meeting in Quito, Ecuador

• Why No Doesn’t Always Mean No

“Back to the Futurists” by Daniel Miller

Miller traces the path of Italian Futurism into—and out of—Fascism. The Futurist movement, which was anti-conservative and pro-dynamism, sought to attack mediocrity by any means necessary. Marinetti's militant nationalism saw the nation as the supreme political structure for maximizing cultural energy. The Futurist Political Party (FPP) initially influenced Mussolini's Fasci di Combattimento but their relationship soured as Mussolini became more... well… Fascist. It’s really quite a good little biography, I never quite read all these little strands pieced together in one place. Miller argues that today we need a reactivation of Futurism to combat "enervation, mediocrity, cowardice, pettiness, and the apocalyptic inertia of the eternal current year." A new Futurism would combine pragmatic technological engagement with an ethos capable of harnessing these forces. Read in IM-1776 Issue 5.

Why a Hit TV Show Is Worth Millions Less Than It Used to Be (Forbes)

The TV industry has been absolutely murdered by streaming, with hit shows now generating significantly less revenue for creators, producers, and actors.

Previously, separate entities produced and distributed shows, allowing for profitable resales and syndication deals where everyone involved got a nice cut. For instance, the actors from the hit show Friends negotiated 2% of the show's profits, with Jennifer Aniston earning $17.5 million in residuals last year alone. With the rise of streaming platforms like Netflix, the producer and the distributor are the same entity, and they make money through subscriber growth, so everything changes.

The streaming system disincentivizes long-running shows, as there's no additional revenue from creating new episodes once the hit brings all the new subscribers it will bring (the old hits would run for more than 100 episodes because money was made on every new episode, whereas the new hits stop around 30 episodes). The top show right now is The Bear, and its star, Jeremy Allen White, only earns $750,000 per episode, whereas Jennifer Aniston was earning $1M per episode of Friends (not even counting the royalties for years after). The creator of The Bear, Christopher Storer, is only earning $5 million annually, whereas the old-guard creators of hit TV shows such as Dick Wolf could earn around $100M or more.

Today, top TV actors are more like lawyers and doctors now, no longer the kings and queens they were back in the day. Capitalism is so rough on capitalists! Consumers are the only winner here and they’ve won hugely. Link.

How Empires are Built, August 22-25

Longstanding member of the community Alex Petkas (Cost of Glory) is organizing a weekend retreat in Quito, Ecuador, August 22-25. It’s called "How Empires are Built" and I’m going. I’ve never been to South America and I’m not getting any younger, so I said why not? The event’s not cheap but it looks epic, there’s a professional team helping to run things, etc. Other guests you may recognize include Samo Burja (Bismarck Brief), Lomez (Passage Press), and quite a few others I believe. The event is open to writers, founders, investors, artists, business people, and history enthusiasts interested in empires and network-building. Learn more and see photos on Alex’s Substack and apply to join here.

Nietzsche’s Genealogy of Morals (Preface & Essay 1), July 29 at 8am Central

This book is probably the most interesting counterpoint to the New Testament. You can find multiple free editions online, e.g. here.

While reading, please prepare some written observations, or at the very least some questions for discussion. I'll begin with some remarks on what I find most interesting, but these meetings are primarily for you to develop your own ideas around the material.

Guests are welcome to RSVP here, members can RSVP here (free).

No Doesn’t Always Mean No

About 13 summers ago, I met the woman who would become my wife at the Barnes and Noble in Rittenhouse Square, Philadelphia. On the second floor, in the cafe. No mutual friends, no dating app, just books and hormones. I was 25, she was 21.

Later that night I told my roommate: “Dude, I’m gonna marry this girl.” I really said that. She ghosted me at first, but I didn’t give up, and eventually won her love. We married about 2 years after the day we met. We were pretty silly kids back then, but the world would teach us many lessons, and the spirit would guide us, and we would become adults together. Returning last month after some 8 years since my last visit, the Barnes and Noble was my first destination. It’s gone now. Soon to be a restaurant.

Philadelphia gave me so much more than anyone could ever hope to receive from a city, I can hardly complain about one shuttered bookstore.

But we recently learned we have a second child on the way, so as I looked up at the second floor under construction, I felt sad that we’ll never get to show the kids where mom and dad first met, as kids ourselves.

Thanks for reading.

I can’t wait for this book to be done…

Honestly, the first 5 years of this whole adventure have just been a big, messy warmup.

I feel like this book is really just the beginning. It does feel great to get the story on paper.

This is where I go from “on a mission to design a new model of the scholarly life” to “I’ve achieved a new model of the scholarly life, and here’s the proof.”