Subject Matter 14: Other Internet, Online Education
A small update from Subpixel Space and Other Internet.
We're currently exploring alternative education at Other Internet, our research and strategy consulting arm. With the student debt bubble reaching a peak and the future of American public and private college in question, I've become convinced that humanities and social sciences must find a new identity. For me, however, and perhaps for you as well, it's easy to see that new extra-institutional spaces for rigorous learning are already appearing everywhere. They are in Slacks, in DMs, in Discords and Telegram channels, in newsletters and in nebulous clouds of Twitter avatars populating thought into 280-character threads. Current academics and internet-writers and former CEOs and anonymous 0x handles lead these groups, setting a high bar for discourse and facilitating conversation.
The energy is here, and I suspect it will only increase. We've decided to launch a few trial initiatives into this space, starting with a few online reading groups and workshops. The first two are reading groups led by friendly associates of ours. I've included early signup discount links for both.
Cult finance writer Byrne Hobart leads "Surveying Financial Manias," a course in the history and theory of financial bubbles. https://otherinter.net/misc/sfm-discount
Drew Austin of the well-known Kneeling Bus newsletter leads "The Digital Transformation of Physical Space," about the effects of the internet on the built environment, and vice versa. https://otherinter.net/misc/dtops-discount/
Naturally, I'll be participating in both, as will Darren and Bryan. Join in with us and we'll all find out how to run online reading groups together. We'll also be running more of these, including shorter form workshops, and if you want to hear more as they come, sign up for the Other Internet newsletter too https://otherinternet.substack.com/. In the future, updates about the workshop initiative will be broadcast there.
And also, if you're a public thinker or a writer online and would like to think with us about how to directly monetize your thinking and research through workshops or reading groups for your audience, please reply to this email. We would like to help you figure this out.
..
New Publications
Sam Hart and Laura Lotti and I were invited to an unconference in August and ended up hosting a small discussion on the theme of "brands as consensus systems." The sessions proved remarkably generative, and we ended up working on a more full, written version of the material. How brand dynamics work in a networked environment is considerably different than the pre-internet model. How they work after blockchain projects, where users are literally owners in the platform, is a completely new type of permissionless narrative formation organism. We published these thoughts under the title Headless Brands. This is the first publication directly from Other Internet. https://otherinter.net/web3/headless-brands/
I also published my own new essay back in August. Jobs To Be Done is an exploration of psychology, teleology, and voids. https://subpixel.space/entries/jobs-to-be-done/
Finally, one last thing. The residency at Trust in Berlin is over, and I'm back in New York. See you here and there.
..
Reading
Tamar Shafrir - The Monstrous Intimacy of the Online Self - https://tamarshafrir.com/FT-The-Monstrous-Intimacy-of-the-Online-Self
A Market Correction in the Humanities - https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/a-market-correction-in-the-humanities-what-are-you-going-to-do-with-that
Sam's Evolutionary Theory collection on Are.na - https://www.are.na/sam-hart/evolutionary-theory
Listening
JPEGMAFIA - All My Heroes Are Cornballs
Inoyama Land - Danzidan-Pojidon
Spote Breeze - LLIP LLICH
..
Until next time.
We're currently exploring alternative education at Other Internet, our research and strategy consulting arm. With the student debt bubble reaching a peak and the future of American public and private college in question, I've become convinced that humanities and social sciences must find a new identity. For me, however, and perhaps for you as well, it's easy to see that new extra-institutional spaces for rigorous learning are already appearing everywhere. They are in Slacks, in DMs, in Discords and Telegram channels, in newsletters and in nebulous clouds of Twitter avatars populating thought into 280-character threads. Current academics and internet-writers and former CEOs and anonymous 0x handles lead these groups, setting a high bar for discourse and facilitating conversation.
The energy is here, and I suspect it will only increase. We've decided to launch a few trial initiatives into this space, starting with a few online reading groups and workshops. The first two are reading groups led by friendly associates of ours. I've included early signup discount links for both.
Cult finance writer Byrne Hobart leads "Surveying Financial Manias," a course in the history and theory of financial bubbles. https://otherinter.net/misc/sfm-discount
Drew Austin of the well-known Kneeling Bus newsletter leads "The Digital Transformation of Physical Space," about the effects of the internet on the built environment, and vice versa. https://otherinter.net/misc/dtops-discount/
Naturally, I'll be participating in both, as will Darren and Bryan. Join in with us and we'll all find out how to run online reading groups together. We'll also be running more of these, including shorter form workshops, and if you want to hear more as they come, sign up for the Other Internet newsletter too https://otherinternet.substack.com/. In the future, updates about the workshop initiative will be broadcast there.
And also, if you're a public thinker or a writer online and would like to think with us about how to directly monetize your thinking and research through workshops or reading groups for your audience, please reply to this email. We would like to help you figure this out.
..
New Publications
Sam Hart and Laura Lotti and I were invited to an unconference in August and ended up hosting a small discussion on the theme of "brands as consensus systems." The sessions proved remarkably generative, and we ended up working on a more full, written version of the material. How brand dynamics work in a networked environment is considerably different than the pre-internet model. How they work after blockchain projects, where users are literally owners in the platform, is a completely new type of permissionless narrative formation organism. We published these thoughts under the title Headless Brands. This is the first publication directly from Other Internet. https://otherinter.net/web3/headless-brands/
I also published my own new essay back in August. Jobs To Be Done is an exploration of psychology, teleology, and voids. https://subpixel.space/entries/jobs-to-be-done/
Finally, one last thing. The residency at Trust in Berlin is over, and I'm back in New York. See you here and there.
..
Reading
Tamar Shafrir - The Monstrous Intimacy of the Online Self - https://tamarshafrir.com/FT-The-Monstrous-Intimacy-of-the-Online-Self
A Market Correction in the Humanities - https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/a-market-correction-in-the-humanities-what-are-you-going-to-do-with-that
Sam's Evolutionary Theory collection on Are.na - https://www.are.na/sam-hart/evolutionary-theory
Listening
JPEGMAFIA - All My Heroes Are Cornballs
Inoyama Land - Danzidan-Pojidon
Spote Breeze - LLIP LLICH
..
Until next time.
Don't miss what's next. Subscribe to Subject Matter by Toby Shorin: