Freedom and Fulfilment

Personal Development, Spirituality & Psychedelics

4 Free Thinking Influencers Actually Worth Paying Attention To

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In today’s world we are inundated with ‘noise’ and experience information overload at every turn.

There is simply too much to look at, too much to read, too much to watch –

You could spend every waking minute of your life consuming online content (a nightmarish scenario) and you still wouldn’t get through even a tiny fraction of it.

So what’s a person to do?

Don’t watch TV – that’s a given.

Don’t read the newspaper – and that includes online news.

Don’t listen to the radio.

Don’t spend time on social media – here’s Seth Godin in a recent interview on social media:

Social media wasn’t invented to make you better – it was invented to make the companies money. You are an employee of the company and you are the product that they sell.

They have put you in a little hamster wheel and they throw little treats in now and then – but you’ve got to decide, what’s the impact you’re trying to make?

So – social media is mostly a waste of time.

But of course, you don’t want to be totally disconnected from the outside world. “No man is an island,” as the saying goes.

So who to follow? Who should you actually pay attention to?

I have 4 suggestions:

  • Joe Rogan (@joerogan)
    Comedian, UFC commentator, hunter, host of JRE Podcast & magic mushroom enthusiast

Check out those links – they are all worth following.

So what can we learn from these guys?

A Strong Personal Brand Trumps Everything
(And if it doesn’t yet, wait ~5 years and see what happens)

Each one of these guys has created a strong personal brand and they each have a big ‘moat’ around everything they do.

This provides freedom of expression, influence, and is why no one can really touch them.

They don’t rely on institutions or organizations to think or act for them. They have their own opinions, their own audiences, their own products and businesses and because of that – no one owns them.

These guys can say whatever they like, take a lot of criticism, and yet still sell books, appear on podcasts (the most listened-to podcasts in the world) or on TV, and despite attacks from the mainstream continue to actually grow the number of viewers/readers they have.

(You could probably add Donald Trump in here too)

A bird flying solo in the sky to represent free thinking
Build a big moat & you won’t be beholden to anyone

Controversy only makes them stronger, and it backfires on the critics.

When the media calls attention to the supposedly [outrageous/racist/sexist/Islamophobic/bigotted/etc.] things they say, more new people are exposed to their ideas, and a certain percentage of these people realize they are actually sensible – and boom, their audience increases.

Nassim Taleb calls this being “antifragile” – where you actually benefit from what is traditionally meant to harm. Antifragility is what happens in the social media age when you have a strong personal brand.

Start STRONG in one area – then expand later into everything else

Most of these guys started very strongly in one niche area –

  • Sam Harris – Promoting hard atheism, back when this was actually a controversial position to take
  • Scott Adams – The Dilbert comic was (and still is) massively successful
  • Joe Rogan – Began with stand-up comedy & TV and was successful in both
  • Naval Ravikant – Successful in the tech industry as a founder & CEO

And all of them later successfully expanded into other areas –

  • Joe Rogan – Massively successful podcast with millions of downloads/month, commentates on UFC, entered supplement industry & has a rabid fanbase who follow him everywhere
  • Naval Ravikant – Became a highly successful VC in Silicon Valley, also now appearing on popular podcasts and sharing ideas about philosophy, life, the universe etc.

Once you’re successful on your own terms, you can pivot later into whatever you want.

A man with his third eye open to represent free thinking
Technology makes us all world-builders, and free & independent thinking is the future

It’s OK to have (very) controversial opinions, and to share them loudly

Although these guys don’t all share the same opinions – far from it – they do have one thing in common and that is that they are not afraid to speak their mind.

Now obviously, financial independence and a large following helps, but –

Public perception of what’s acceptable to say or not say IS changing – and it’s changing right before our eyes.

(It’s happening faster that most people imagined it would – me included)

Spurned forward by the rise of ‘outrage culture’ and the plain-to-see insanity of the SJW ‘Ostrich Brigade’, there is currently a public backlash against much of the PC nonsense we’ve been putting up with for the last 10, 20, 30 years.

(Again, see the rise of Donald Trump)

Until not too long ago, remaining anonymous online was the norm – most people voicing controversial opinions kept their identity secret because they feared for their safety, reputation, or livelihood…

And while that may still be the case for some – as we move towards a global economy based more and more around short-term remote work and the traditional power structures of the media and political establishment continue to fall away…

The arena of free speech will open wider and wider until –

What we end up with is a true free exchange of ideas in a global society based on rational discourse, *actual* direct democracy (made possible through technology) and a culture that values informed political participation, the exploration of human consciousness and collective cooperation individuals to achieve our full human potential.

(I hope)

That’s it for now.

Who do you think is worth following? Leave a comment below and let me know your thoughts.