JA Westenberg
@joanwestenberg.com
The Greek Stoics wanted you to accept death. The LinkedIn Stoics want you to accept your open-plan office.
December 26, 2025 at 10:55 AM
The Greek Stoics wanted you to accept death. The LinkedIn Stoics want you to accept your open-plan office.
If you can’t explain your choice of romantic partner using a 2x2 game theory matrix + three references to 19th-century Prussian educational reform, do you even love them? Or are you just a series of poorly optimized biological heuristics wearing a North Face fleece? This Substack post will
December 24, 2025 at 8:31 AM
If you can’t explain your choice of romantic partner using a 2x2 game theory matrix + three references to 19th-century Prussian educational reform, do you even love them? Or are you just a series of poorly optimized biological heuristics wearing a North Face fleece? This Substack post will
"It has been said from old times that a battle is a succession of mistakes and that the party which blunders less emerges victorious"
- Okumiya
- Okumiya
December 24, 2025 at 2:04 AM
"It has been said from old times that a battle is a succession of mistakes and that the party which blunders less emerges victorious"
- Okumiya
- Okumiya
The Cycle:
1. Observation: "The sky is blue."
2. Critique: "Saying the sky is blue centers a specific ocularcentric hegemony."
3. Synthesis: "The sky is a social construct."
4. Result: 14% chance the sun is actually a hallucination by 2029.
1. Observation: "The sky is blue."
2. Critique: "Saying the sky is blue centers a specific ocularcentric hegemony."
3. Synthesis: "The sky is a social construct."
4. Result: 14% chance the sun is actually a hallucination by 2029.
December 23, 2025 at 10:55 AM
The Cycle:
1. Observation: "The sky is blue."
2. Critique: "Saying the sky is blue centers a specific ocularcentric hegemony."
3. Synthesis: "The sky is a social construct."
4. Result: 14% chance the sun is actually a hallucination by 2029.
1. Observation: "The sky is blue."
2. Critique: "Saying the sky is blue centers a specific ocularcentric hegemony."
3. Synthesis: "The sky is a social construct."
4. Result: 14% chance the sun is actually a hallucination by 2029.
The people most obsessed with longevity are invariably the ones you’d least want to live forever.
December 23, 2025 at 3:21 AM
The people most obsessed with longevity are invariably the ones you’d least want to live forever.
Bari Weiss built her brand on being “cancelled” from the NYT. She now runs a media company, appears on every major podcast, and speaks at sold-out events. If this is cancellation, I would like to be cancelled. Please cancel me. I am once again asking to be cancelled.
December 22, 2025 at 11:30 PM
Bari Weiss built her brand on being “cancelled” from the NYT. She now runs a media company, appears on every major podcast, and speaks at sold-out events. If this is cancellation, I would like to be cancelled. Please cancel me. I am once again asking to be cancelled.
Why do all the longevity bros look so tired?
December 22, 2025 at 8:09 PM
Why do all the longevity bros look so tired?
The Four Horsemen of the Information Apocalypse:
1. Selection Bias
2. Audience Capture
3. The Gell-Mann Amnesia Effect
4. Thinking you’re immune to the first three…
1. Selection Bias
2. Audience Capture
3. The Gell-Mann Amnesia Effect
4. Thinking you’re immune to the first three…
December 22, 2025 at 10:26 AM
The Four Horsemen of the Information Apocalypse:
1. Selection Bias
2. Audience Capture
3. The Gell-Mann Amnesia Effect
4. Thinking you’re immune to the first three…
1. Selection Bias
2. Audience Capture
3. The Gell-Mann Amnesia Effect
4. Thinking you’re immune to the first three…
Actually in Europe the Last Alliance of Men and Elves would be considered center-right not progressive
December 22, 2025 at 1:33 AM
Actually in Europe the Last Alliance of Men and Elves would be considered center-right not progressive
I have spent 45 minutes reading a Wikipedia page and am now prepared to explain why a multi-billion dollar industry involving 50,000 experts is actually a simple coordination failure that could be solved by one clever spreadsheet. Do not AMA. Do not pass go.
December 22, 2025 at 1:11 AM
I have spent 45 minutes reading a Wikipedia page and am now prepared to explain why a multi-billion dollar industry involving 50,000 experts is actually a simple coordination failure that could be solved by one clever spreadsheet. Do not AMA. Do not pass go.
Pundits treating AmFest as the pulse of American politics is like Marvel executives watching Comic-Con crowds cheer and concluding that 100% of Americans will see their next film on the opening weekend. Self-selected enthusiasm conventions tell you about self-selected enthusiasts. This is not hard.
December 21, 2025 at 11:23 PM
Pundits treating AmFest as the pulse of American politics is like Marvel executives watching Comic-Con crowds cheer and concluding that 100% of Americans will see their next film on the opening weekend. Self-selected enthusiasm conventions tell you about self-selected enthusiasts. This is not hard.
The instinct to leave money on the table in exchange for a better relationship with your audience is neither naive nor unsophisticated.
The right price is the one that lets you actually enjoy what you're doing.
www.joanwestenberg.com/why-my-news...
The right price is the one that lets you actually enjoy what you're doing.
www.joanwestenberg.com/why-my-news...
Why My Newsletter Costs $2.50
In the 1980s, Minor Threat frontman Ian MacKaye discovered he was opening for The Damned at a show where tickets cost $13.50. His response was to voluntarily cut his band's pay in half. When MacKaye later formed Fugazi, he instituted a rule that became legendary in punk circles: a
www.joanwestenberg.com
December 21, 2025 at 9:32 PM
The instinct to leave money on the table in exchange for a better relationship with your audience is neither naive nor unsophisticated.
The right price is the one that lets you actually enjoy what you're doing.
www.joanwestenberg.com/why-my-news...
The right price is the one that lets you actually enjoy what you're doing.
www.joanwestenberg.com/why-my-news...
After years of fucking around and compromising and second guessing, I have settled on 3 principles when it comes to my blog:
1. No analytics beyond whatever is baked into Ghost
2. No sponsorships and no advertising, not now, not ever
3. I will never charge more than $2.50 a month for membership
1. No analytics beyond whatever is baked into Ghost
2. No sponsorships and no advertising, not now, not ever
3. I will never charge more than $2.50 a month for membership
December 21, 2025 at 8:12 PM
After years of fucking around and compromising and second guessing, I have settled on 3 principles when it comes to my blog:
1. No analytics beyond whatever is baked into Ghost
2. No sponsorships and no advertising, not now, not ever
3. I will never charge more than $2.50 a month for membership
1. No analytics beyond whatever is baked into Ghost
2. No sponsorships and no advertising, not now, not ever
3. I will never charge more than $2.50 a month for membership
Looking at you Thomas
December 21, 2025 at 1:00 PM
Looking at you Thomas
I don’t know what a podcasting extinction event looks like. But I am entirely convinced that we need a reset.
We need a new beginning.
At the very least, the “Cambrian Explosion” of podcasting could do with a pruning.
www.joanwestenberg.com/podcasting-...
We need a new beginning.
At the very least, the “Cambrian Explosion” of podcasting could do with a pruning.
www.joanwestenberg.com/podcasting-...
Podcasting Could Use a Good Asteroid
I'm told there are now over 4.5 million podcasts in existence.
The industry is worth 40 billion dollars, 158 million Americans tune in monthly, and the medium has finally achieved the kind of cultural ubiquity previously reserved for terrestrial radio or the evening news.
But if you actually spend
www.joanwestenberg.com
December 21, 2025 at 11:41 AM
I don’t know what a podcasting extinction event looks like. But I am entirely convinced that we need a reset.
We need a new beginning.
At the very least, the “Cambrian Explosion” of podcasting could do with a pruning.
www.joanwestenberg.com/podcasting-...
We need a new beginning.
At the very least, the “Cambrian Explosion” of podcasting could do with a pruning.
www.joanwestenberg.com/podcasting-...
The most successful grift of the modern era was convincing the smartest people in the world that 'changing the world' means optimizing the click-through rate on ads for mattresses that ship in a box
December 21, 2025 at 9:16 AM
The most successful grift of the modern era was convincing the smartest people in the world that 'changing the world' means optimizing the click-through rate on ads for mattresses that ship in a box
I think it's important that we as a society stop obsessing over who was at Epstein's dinners, I write bravely, in a column where I do not mention I was at one of Epstein's dinners
December 21, 2025 at 2:49 AM
I think it's important that we as a society stop obsessing over who was at Epstein's dinners, I write bravely, in a column where I do not mention I was at one of Epstein's dinners
The defining social post format of 2025:
“{Misinterpreted half truth.}
Not {X}. Not {Y}. Not {Z}.
Just {idiotic explanation.}”
“{Misinterpreted half truth.}
Not {X}. Not {Y}. Not {Z}.
Just {idiotic explanation.}”
December 20, 2025 at 11:51 PM
The defining social post format of 2025:
“{Misinterpreted half truth.}
Not {X}. Not {Y}. Not {Z}.
Just {idiotic explanation.}”
“{Misinterpreted half truth.}
Not {X}. Not {Y}. Not {Z}.
Just {idiotic explanation.}”
Our collective intellectual culture seems to have calcified around a cohort of thinkers who achieved prominence roughly ten+ years ago and have been coasting ever since…
www.joanwestenberg.com/comfort-foo...
www.joanwestenberg.com/comfort-foo...
Comfort Food for the Thinking Class: The Great Intellectual Stagnation
Wander into any bookstore (I dare you.)
The non-fiction table will be all but dominated by the usual suspects: Malcolm Gladwell's latest exploration of how some counterintuitive thing is actually the opposite of what you'd expect, a David Brooks meditation on character and virtue, something by Michael Lewis about how
www.joanwestenberg.com
December 20, 2025 at 9:54 PM
Our collective intellectual culture seems to have calcified around a cohort of thinkers who achieved prominence roughly ten+ years ago and have been coasting ever since…
www.joanwestenberg.com/comfort-foo...
www.joanwestenberg.com/comfort-foo...
Grounded intellectual work, when it happens, if it ever happens again, is uncomfortable. It tells you things you don't want to hear, makes arguments that threaten positions you hold.
Our current crop // slop does the opposite.
www.joanwestenberg.com/comfort-foo...
Our current crop // slop does the opposite.
www.joanwestenberg.com/comfort-foo...
Comfort Food for the Thinking Class: The Great Intellectual Stagnation
Wander into any bookstore (I dare you.)
The non-fiction table will be all but dominated by the usual suspects: Malcolm Gladwell's latest exploration of how some counterintuitive thing is actually the opposite of what you'd expect, a David Brooks meditation on character and virtue, something by Michael Lewis about how
www.joanwestenberg.com
December 20, 2025 at 4:19 AM
Grounded intellectual work, when it happens, if it ever happens again, is uncomfortable. It tells you things you don't want to hear, makes arguments that threaten positions you hold.
Our current crop // slop does the opposite.
www.joanwestenberg.com/comfort-foo...
Our current crop // slop does the opposite.
www.joanwestenberg.com/comfort-foo...
Our intellectual "scene" is entirely occupied by a class of professional idea-havers, who've been entirely had by their own ideas, who exist in almost perfect symbiosis with the institutions they're theoretically critiquing.
www.joanwestenberg.com/comfort-foo...
www.joanwestenberg.com/comfort-foo...
Comfort Food for the Thinking Class: The Great Intellectual Stagnation
Wander into any bookstore (I dare you.)
The non-fiction table will be all but dominated by the usual suspects: Malcolm Gladwell's latest exploration of how some counterintuitive thing is actually the opposite of what you'd expect, a David Brooks meditation on character and virtue, something by Michael Lewis about how
www.joanwestenberg.com
December 20, 2025 at 2:29 AM
Our intellectual "scene" is entirely occupied by a class of professional idea-havers, who've been entirely had by their own ideas, who exist in almost perfect symbiosis with the institutions they're theoretically critiquing.
www.joanwestenberg.com/comfort-foo...
www.joanwestenberg.com/comfort-foo...
Charles Dickens in 1843: "what if I wrote a story where a man learns not to be a dick"
Humanity: "holy shit"
Humanity: makes 400 adaptations
Humanity: continues being dicks
Humanity: "we should adapt this again"
Humanity: "holy shit"
Humanity: makes 400 adaptations
Humanity: continues being dicks
Humanity: "we should adapt this again"
December 19, 2025 at 3:40 AM
Charles Dickens in 1843: "what if I wrote a story where a man learns not to be a dick"
Humanity: "holy shit"
Humanity: makes 400 adaptations
Humanity: continues being dicks
Humanity: "we should adapt this again"
Humanity: "holy shit"
Humanity: makes 400 adaptations
Humanity: continues being dicks
Humanity: "we should adapt this again"
My year in review:
Some things worked. Some things didn't. The kid grew taller. The work got harder. I wrote the words anyway. Drank the coffee. Paid the rent. Lost a few people. Found myself still here. That's the year. That's every year. That's the breaks.
Onwards.
Some things worked. Some things didn't. The kid grew taller. The work got harder. I wrote the words anyway. Drank the coffee. Paid the rent. Lost a few people. Found myself still here. That's the year. That's every year. That's the breaks.
Onwards.
December 19, 2025 at 1:54 AM
My year in review:
Some things worked. Some things didn't. The kid grew taller. The work got harder. I wrote the words anyway. Drank the coffee. Paid the rent. Lost a few people. Found myself still here. That's the year. That's every year. That's the breaks.
Onwards.
Some things worked. Some things didn't. The kid grew taller. The work got harder. I wrote the words anyway. Drank the coffee. Paid the rent. Lost a few people. Found myself still here. That's the year. That's every year. That's the breaks.
Onwards.
Podcasting doesn't need more "two guys in a room" shows. It needs a good asteroid.
www.joanwestenberg.com/podcasting-...
www.joanwestenberg.com/podcasting-...
Podcasting Could Use a Good Asteroid
I'm told there are now over 4.5 million podcasts in existence.
The industry is worth 40 billion dollars, 158 million Americans tune in monthly, and the medium has finally achieved the kind of cultural ubiquity previously reserved for terrestrial radio or the evening news.
But if you actually spend
www.joanwestenberg.com
December 18, 2025 at 11:17 PM
Podcasting doesn't need more "two guys in a room" shows. It needs a good asteroid.
www.joanwestenberg.com/podcasting-...
www.joanwestenberg.com/podcasting-...
My conscious brain: 'We should learn linear algebra to better understand neural networks.'
My revealed preferences: 'We are going to scroll specifically the parts of Wikipedia that list defunct 19th-century breakfast cereals.'
My revealed preferences: 'We are going to scroll specifically the parts of Wikipedia that list defunct 19th-century breakfast cereals.'
December 18, 2025 at 8:35 AM
My conscious brain: 'We should learn linear algebra to better understand neural networks.'
My revealed preferences: 'We are going to scroll specifically the parts of Wikipedia that list defunct 19th-century breakfast cereals.'
My revealed preferences: 'We are going to scroll specifically the parts of Wikipedia that list defunct 19th-century breakfast cereals.'