Brandon’s initial interest in penny stocks and bitcoin, and the crypto boom and bust cycles
Brandon’s artistic background, interest in mid-century modern to 70s aesthetics, modern art, and malls
Why Brandon shifted from painting to creating NFTs
The process of creating and minting NFTs
Why Brandon uses the blockchain, Proton
Virtual real estate in the metaverse and Decentraland
Brandon’s response to skeptics and his advice to focus on the project and not fret about the booms and busts
Brandon’s bullishness on long-term economic opportunities for artists to be at the forefront with VR
The importance of having a theme and why Brandon thinks Robert should create NFTs for his art and book, Vaporfornia
Political burnout and the rise in alternative cultural scenes
Robert Stark and Matt Pegas talk to Default Friend about online subcultures, incels, and generational trends. Default Friend, Katherine Deee, is a writer, cultural commentator, cultural anthropologist, internet historian, and digital native. Check out Default Friend’s Substack, Default Wisdom, her writings for the Claremont Institute’s American Mind, and follow her on Twitter.
Topics:
Thoughts on various political-spheres including the intellectual dark web
The politicization of sex and relationships
On being a proto-Femcel
The impacts of dating apps and income inequality on the “sexual market place”
New York Times article, A Manifesto Against Sex Positivity, reviewing Default Friend’s writings on the backlash against hookup culture
The rise in conservative feminism and woke puritanism
Generational differences between Millennials and Zoomers, and cultural shifts from the 00s-to the 2010s, and 2020s
The trend in the end of mass youth subcultures and the rise in fusionism of “hybrid collages” and nostalgia based upon past generations’ nostalgia
The internet as the astral plane
Prediction of a tech backlash in the 2020s Justin Murphy’s and Alex Kaschuta’s neo-traditionalism
Robert Stark talks to Keith Preston about the geopolitics of the war in Ukraine. Keith Preston is a historian, social scientist, political analyst, author, lecturer, trends researcher, and the editor of Attack the System. Follow Keith on Twitter.
Topics:
The Geopolitical background of the conflict, the unprovoked narrative, and NATO expansion
How sanctions often fail at their intention of brining about regime change
How the conflict is accelerating geopolitical realignments and the bifurcation between the West and a Eurasian block
The motives and military strategy of the Ukrainian government
Whether the Russian invasion of Ukraine would have been less likely to have happened under Trump
Neo-McCarthyism, Russo-phobia, and the crackdown on civil liberties
The rise in a convoluted hybrid of American nationalism and woke culture
Worst case scenarios of the war escalating into direct conflict between Russia and the US and NATO
The fragmentation and polarization of American society, enclavism and Bill Bishop’s Big Sort
Supply chain issues and the potential for a global economic crisis
The historical context of the Witch Trials as an era of harsh Darwinian selection COULD THERE BE A SILVER LINING TO THE CHAOTIC EXCESS OF MALES?
The impact of Malthusian selection pressures on fertility trends
Why populists or dissidents seizing power would not impede the incoming civilizational collapse
The evolutionary psychological motives behind woke culture, and why wokeness will wane out in the long run
Why techno-dystopian scenarios of the elite using technology to enslave the masses will not happen
How the rise in conspiracy theories are a sign of the winter of civilization
Why enclaves will be the Neo-Byzantiums of the future
The housing crisis and why NIMBYism is dysgenic
The social and psychological reasons to why terrorism will become much worse in the future
The scientific measurement of cycles of crisis, including the work of Peter Turchin and Jani Miettinen’s research on GENERATIONAL HORMONE CYCLES
The high probability of World War III and a global economic catastrophe this decade
Robert Stark is joined with Matt Pegas and Dan Baltic to discuss his new novel, Vaporfornia. Vaporfornia is a surreal dark comedy, a coming of age story set in California, and is the sequel to Robert’s first novel, Journey to Vapor Island. This show is a simulcast with Matt and Dan’s dissident, counter-culture, literary podcast, New Write. Vaporfornia is available for purchase on Lulu publishing. Also check out Matt’s review of Vaporfornia.
Topics:
Contrasting Vaporfornia with Journey to Vapor Island, and how both novels capture the zeitgeists of their respective eras
The niche genre of the satirical moving adventure story
Literary comparisons to a Confederacy of Dunces, William S. Burroughs’ Naked Lunch, Lucky Jim, Voltaire’s Candide, and Gulliver’s Travels
The situational humor and dramatic irony
Vaporfornia as a satire of the themes in Robert’s Substack that delve into California’s social, political, class, and demographic dynamics
Vaporfornia as a travelogue for California
Allegories and symbolism in the book Saudade, a longing for what could have been or nostalgia for lost futures Gio Pennacchietti’s video about how Robert’s literary fiction and visual art complement each other
The protagonist’s personal and political journey
The politics of the “Chad Centrist” presidential candidate Roger Blackstone
Whether Robert Stark will run for California Governor or have a Vaporfornia tour some day
