Jesse Michels is an investor at Thiel Capital and the creator and host of ‘American Alchemy’, a Youtube channel dedicated to highlighting the most heretical thinkers and ideas of our time. He joins the show to discuss the transmission theory of consciousness, whether mushrooms are aliens, the reawakening of the Boomers and MUCH more! Important Links: - American Alchemy - https://www.youtube.com/@JesseMichels/about - Jesse’s Twitter - https://twitter.com/alchemyamerican Show Notes: [00:01:00] Main Podcast [00:02:52] The modern-day Robert Anton Wilson [00:08:31] Why Jesse started American Alchemy [00:17:12] The transmission theory of consciousness [00:22:17] Why mushrooms may have catalysed human civilisation [00:24:19] Paradigm shifts and heretical thinking [00:27:31] Are mushrooms aliens? [00:35:08] Nixon, psychedelics & brainwashing [00:54:45] The reawakening of the Boomers [01:03:02] AGI, qualia & quantum physics [01:10:40] AI, learned helplessness & Twitter [01:26:06] Reality is a compressed version of something much larger - MUCH more! Books Mentioned: - The Half-Life of Facts: Why Everything We Know Has an Expiration Date; by Samuel Arbesman - The User Illusion: Cutting Consciousness Down to Size; by Tor Norretranders - Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid; by Douglas Hofstadter - The Beginning of Infinity: Explanations That Transform the World; by David Deutsch - The Immortality Key : The Secret History of the Religion with No Name; by Brian C. Muraresku - The New Inquisition: Irrational Rationalism and the Citadel of Science; by Robert Anton Wilson - How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression and Transcendence; by Michael Pollan - Chaos: Charles Manson, the CIA, and the Secret History of the Sixties; by Tom O’Neill - Weird Scenes Inside the Canyon: Laurel Canyon, Covert Ops & the Dark Heart of the Hippie Dream; by David McGowan - Prometheus Rising; by Robert Anton Wilson - Quantum Psychology: How Brain Software Programs You & Your World; by Robert Anton Wilson - The Cosmic Trigger trilogy; by Robert Anton Wilson - Communion: A True Story; by Whitley Strieber
If you’ve heard me speak for more than five minutes you’ve probably caught me dropping a Robert Anton Wilson reference (or several). Wilson is one of the most interesting (and underappreciated) writers I’ve ever come across — a Nostradamus for modern times. I was delighted to sit down with Gabriel Kennedy, author of the excellent biography Chapel Perilous: The Life and Thought Crimes of Robert Anton Wilson. I could talk about this stuff for days, and we had a blast discussing Wilson’s ideas, influence and impact. Consider it a beginner’s guide to avoiding cosmic schmuckery. I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did. For the full transcript, episode takeaways, and bucketloads of other goodies designed to make you go, “Hmm, that’s interesting!”, check out our Substack - https://8ca54796.streaklinks.com/CJPd0z7cXCh07hc4JAiMaKTC/https%3A%2F%2Fnewsletter.osv.llc%2F. Important Links: - Chapel Perilous: The Life and Thought Crimes of Robert Anton Wilson - https://www.amazon.com/Chapel-Perilous-Thought-Crimes-Robert/dp/B0DK41G53G/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3JZ9Q1RO98E1N&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.Czmhug9IMKKmy7KGG3nNIA.2ETXElpAiN7dFj6bcjbFRWmrhOrcf5QpUQhn9d8BfXo&dib_tag=se&keywords=the+life+and+thought+crimes+of+robert+anton+wilson&qid=1740658077&sprefix=the+life+and+thought+crimes+of+robert+anton+wilson%2Caps%2C141&sr=8-1; by Gabriel Kennedy - The Thinker and the Prover - https://thinkerandprover.com/617155c0ea874ca2a34c6983d3a52d14; by Jim O’Shaughnessy - Gabriel’s Substack - https://gabrielpatrickkennedy.substack.com Show Notes: 0:00:00 Intro 0:01:11 The most interesting man of the last fifty years? 0:08:21 How can we escape chapel perilous? 0:24:04 The anti-determinist, rock & roll philosophy of Bob Wilson 0:34:32 Tune in: a 30 minute masterclass on the influences, ideas and impact of Robert Anton Wilson 1:09:36 How to avoid becoming a cosmic schmuck 1:14:33 Who influenced Wilson the most? 1:23:30 Why you should read Wilson 1:29:37 Gabriel as World Emperor Books & Articles Mentioned: - The Thinker and the Prover - https://thinkerandprover.com/617155c0ea874ca2a34c6983d3a52d14; by Jim O’Shaughnessy - Chapel Perilous: The Life and Thought Crimes of Robert Anton Wilson; by Gabriel Kennedy - Prometheus Unbound by Robert Anton Wilson - Quantum Psychology: How Brain Software Programs You and Your World by Robert Anton Wilson - The Illuminatus! Trilogy by Robert Anton Wilson and Robert Shea - Cosmic Trigger Volume I: Final Secret of the Illuminati by Robert Anton Wilson - The New Inquisition: Irrational Rationalism and the Citadel of Science by Robert Anton Wilson - Prometheus Rising by Robert Anton Wilson - Quantum Psychology: How Brain Software Programs You and Your World by Robert Anton Wilson - The Waste Land by T. S. Eliot - From Ritual to Romance by Jessie L. Weston - Finnegans Wake by James Joyce - Science and Sanity: An Introduction to Non-Aristotelian Systems and General Semantics by Alfred Korzybski - On the Einstein Podolsky Rosen Paradox; by John S. Bell - How the Hippies Saved Physics: Science, Counterculture, and the Quantum Revival by David Kaiser - Character Analysis by Wilhelm Reich - Man Meets Dog by Konrad Lorenz
"Some writers, they write just from the top of their cerebral cortex. They haven't distilled it. The coffee hasn't dripped through the bean yet, and you haven't gotten the good cup of java yet." ~ Gabriel Kennedy unpacks what made Robert Anton Wilson such a talented writer... Full episode: https://youtube.com/watch?v=i7LkO8tHLBc&t=2s Links, highlights & transcript: https://newsletter.osv.llc/p/the-life-and-thought-crimes-of-robert
Watch Episode 1 here: https://youtu.be/61inGcokuBk “All of our old models are collapsing. Information flow is accelerating so fast that we don’t know what’s going on most of the time. We’ve got to learn to put a lot of things in the “maybe” state and keep open minds.” ~ Robert Anton Wilson Robert Anton Wilson wrote that in 1992—much before the internet had a significant penetration across the globe. Over the decades, the internet has brought such exponential change to almost every aspect of our lives, that it makes the quote by Robert feel both like an understatement, and ever more important at the same time. Your understanding of the Second Law of Thermodynamics is no more limited to the teaching capability of your local school teacher when you can watch a lecture from a professor at MIT on YouTube. You no more have to travel to the other side of the globe for better work opportunities when you have Zoom and Slack. The three big media houses do not have their monopoly on your news anymore, instead, they’ve been replaced by Substacks and podcasts run by individuals. The examples of how the internet has affected every aspect of our lives are endless—both good and bad. We believe we are now at an inflection point where the old models will soon stop working and those who are able to put a lot of things in the “maybe” state and keep open minds will thrive, while those who remain attached to the status quo will find life ahead much difficult. We’re calling this inflection point, “The Great Reshuffle”. Today, we are releasing our first video exploring The Great Reshuffle and how *you* can prepare better for the world that’s shaping up as we speak. And no, we are not going to give you a set of rules or a prescription to follow, but help you understand the new models that are going to replace the old ones. In this introductory video, we discuss the importance of probabilistic thinking, the transition from a corporate employee to a knowledge worker, how the internet is the greatest variance amplifier and how you can leverage it, the democratization of media, and a lot more! Please watch, and subscribe along as we make sense of this Great Reshuffle in the weeks and months to come. Enjoy! Episode Chapters: 00:00 - Recap from Episode 1 00:46 - Part 2 begins 03:46 - Rise of Leverage 08:13 - Governments 10:50 - Mobility of Capital 11:28 - Change in Healthcare 12:52 - Change in Belief Systems 14:56 - Meme Wars 16:00 - Conclusion and Summary
“It's tremendous, the amount of information we're always taking in, but the human biological mechanism seems to be all about closing the aperture. We can't let in that much light, it's just it's too much. And so [Robert Anton] Wilson's role then is to teach people to just let in a little bit more and more light, a little more and more awareness...” ~ Gabriel Kennedy... Full episode: https://youtube.com/watch?v=i7LkO8tHLBc&t=2s Links, highlights & transcript: https://newsletter.osv.llc/p/the-life-and-thought-crimes-of-robert
"You have to examine yourself. You have to realize when you are a cosmic schmuck." ~ Gabriel Kennedy channels Robert Anton Wilson... Full episode: https://youtube.com/watch?v=i7LkO8tHLBc&t=2s Links, highlights & transcript: https://newsletter.osv.llc/p/the-life-and-thought-crimes-of-robert…
"He was very Dionysian. His books went with music more than stuffed shirts and long, boring dry sentences. Bob was Joe Strummer on the typewriter..." ~ Gabriel Kennedy on the rock & roll philosophy of Robert Anton Wilson... YouTube: https://youtube.com/watch?v=i7LkO8tHLBc&t=2s Links, highlights & transcript: https://newsletter.osv.llc/p/the-life-and-thought-crimes-of-robert…
Watch Part 2 here: https://youtu.be/2JhWhEczHpY “All of our old models are collapsing. Information flow is accelerating so fast that we don’t know what’s going on most of the time. We’ve got to learn to put a lot of things in the “maybe” state and keep open minds.” ~ Robert Anton Wilson Robert Anton Wilson wrote that in 1992—much before the internet had a significant penetration across the globe. Over the decades, the internet has brought such exponential change to almost every aspect of our lives, that it makes the quote by Robert feel both like an understatement, and ever more important at the same time. Your understanding of the Second Law of Thermodynamics is no more limited to the teaching capability of your local school teacher when you can watch a lecture from a professor at MIT on YouTube. You no more have to travel to the other side of the globe for better work opportunities when you have Zoom and Slack. The three big media houses do not have their monopoly on your news anymore, instead, they’ve been replaced by Substacks and podcasts run by individuals. The examples of how the internet has affected every aspect of our lives are endless—both good and bad. We believe we are now at an inflection point where the old models will soon stop working and those who are able to put a lot of things in the “maybe” state and keep open minds will thrive, while those who remain attached to the status quo will find life ahead much difficult. We’re calling this inflection point, “The Great Reshuffle”. Today, we are releasing our first video exploring The Great Reshuffle and how *you* can prepare better for the world that’s shaping up as we speak. And no, we are not going to give you a set of rules or a prescription to follow, but help you understand the new models that are going to replace the old ones. In this introductory video, we discuss the importance of probabilistic thinking, the transition from a corporate employee to a knowledge worker, how the internet is the greatest variance amplifier and how you can leverage it, the democratization of media, and a lot more! Please watch, and subscribe along as we make sense of this Great Reshuffle in the weeks and months to come. Enjoy! Episode Chapters: 00:00 - Intro & Disclaimer 00:38 - Overview of the Great Reshuffle 03:15 - The new world 06:08 - The old world 08:31 - Why Jim? 10:02 - Future of Work 13:18 - Variance amplification 14:55 - The old rule book for success 18:22 - The fight of the elites Watch Part 2 here: https://youtu.be/2JhWhEczHpY