I've started a cult...for one

Hello everybody,

I’ve started a cult.
A cult of one.
It’s my tongue-in-cheek coping mechanism.

There are no robes or chants.
I did briefly consider a welcome pack, but that felt like admin.

The world is feeling pretty fucking weird, huh?

There’s a super strange energy in the air.
Everything feels unhinged.

The levels of propaganda are off the charts.
And this is only the beginning.

So I’m creating my own life philosophy
and opting out of mainstream thinking.

I’m leaning into absurdism.

“The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion.”

— Albert Camus

This sounds heroic.

In reality, it mostly means disappointing people.

This is not a manifesto.

It’s a messy collection of thoughts,
with contradictions,
and a bulging Notes app
that would be enough to guarantee an ADHD diagnosis alone.

I’m rebelling against societal norms
and conventional wisdom that make no sense to me.

But without the witty placards.

I’m leaning further into nonconformity
because I need a framework built on my values and beliefs,
a way to decide what I let in, and how I respond
when reality is being warped with propaganda.

Most societal norms are outdated

The fabric of society consists of many illusions.

The illusion of control.
The illusion of certainty.
The illusion of security.
The illusion of freedom.
Our education system.
And the traditional path of
school → university → corporate work.

These ideas were passed down
as conventional wisdom.

They made sense once.

But many of them are outdated in an AI world.

What is considered good thinking today
will likely be obsolete in the next decade or two.

Like mullets, tight jeans, and soft perms in the eighties.
Or pretending the world is stable.

Our thinking and worldview
are shaped by social conditioning.

Social conditioning

Social conditioning is the process
of training individuals
to respond in ways approved by society
and peer groups.

It’s how ideas, beliefs, and expectations
are ingrained in our psyche.

In other words:

Conventional wisdom
Societal norms
Societal expectations

Passed down from generation to generation,
like heirlooms, except instead of a watch,
you inherit grandma’s trauma.

Unfortunately for us,
social conditioning is created by neurotypicals
for other neurotypicals.

Which is why we don’t live in harmony
with societal expectations.

It’s why we’ve always felt left out.
Or weird.
Or like we’ve missed an important memo.

How social conditioning works

The two most common mechanisms
of social conditioning are:

👉 Reward and punishment
👉 Relentless repetition of messaging

Obedience at school is rewarded.
Naughtiness is punished.

Handing your work in on time is rewarded.
Missing the deadline is punished.

Comforting, if you like rules.
Less so if your brain treats time
as a vague suggestion.

The second mechanism is repetition.

Simple slogans repeated endlessly.
Via authority figures and the media.

“Make America Great Again.”
“Get Brexit done.”

When we’re exposed to this messaging long enough,
our mind starts to believe the bullshit
as absolute truth.

Propoganda

They use propaganda in the same way:
Repeat lies long enough
and it stops sounding like control
and starts sounding like the truth.

This is how we’re conditioned
into group thinking.

Multipotentiality in the AI world

AI is disrupting the traditional path
(the education system and the job market,
a.k.a. the rat race).

Many of the current societal norms
and conventional wisdom
will no longer make sense.

They will be obsolete.

The illusions holding the fabric of society together
will be exposed.

And propaganda will scale with social media and fake AI videos to levels never experienced in humanity before.

It feels important to have
a philosophical anchor
to guide uncertain paths.

A mental model
to help make better decisions.

I’m obsessed with this idea
because my daughter is 11.

I think constantly about
what her future will look like
and how I can help her prepare for it.

At the same time, I’m thinking about
how multipotentialites
can leverage multi-talents
and multidimensional thinking
to thrive, create meaning,
and make money in this AI world.

I don’t have the answers.

But I do have curiosity
to explore options.

The most important thing to remember is this:

If we don’t consciously choose and protect our values and mental models,
they will be chosen for us at scale.

P.S I’m going to share how I’m building my own personal philosophy on here soon, in case it’s useful.