Intellectual promiscuity

I’ll listen to anyone, once.

I’ll flirt with any good idea. I like to collect them the way some people collect vintage records or exes they still text occasionally.

Maybe I’m just non-committal, but when it comes to ideas, I live a proudly non-monogamous life. I’ll chase a spark from a comic book philosophy panel, tumble into a rabbit hole from a tweet by someone with 312 followers, or get hypnotized by Alan Watts’ voice as he explains the illusion of self. Sometimes it’s a TikTok about fasting. Sometimes it’s an academic paper with more footnotes than you can count. Substacks, YouTube explainers, Reddit threads about magic mushrooms—whatever. Whoever. Wherever.

I’m not so picky about where I find ideas. I am, however, discerning about what I take from them, how I weigh them, and who gets to stay in my mental rotation. But I’ll give almost anything five minutes to make its case. Ten if it’s funny or entertaining.

I like to collect ideas. All ideas, really. It doesn’t mean I have to agree …