Steve writes, creates videos, and podcasts. His goal is “to create the most accurate worldview possible and communicate it clearly.”
Steve was homeschooled his entire childhood but got a degree in Political Science that he thinks was useless. His primary research interests are in philosophy, political theory, and economics.
Steve strongly disagrees that you need an academic degree to make substantial contributions to philosophy.
Universities performed a useful function—to centralize knowledge and make it accessible to intelligent people. But with the internet decentralizing knowledge, academia is starting to lose its purpose. He believes that in a few decades, self-studied philosophers will become the norm.
Writing
He writes in a way that is accessible to anyone interested in big ideas. He avoids jargon.
Workflow
He works from 8pm to 3am.
- Before evening, he spends several hours reading and researching.
- After this, he takes a long hot shower, where he does his deepest thinking. He uses waterproof notebooks to capture his thinking.
- After his shower, he dumps his ideas into his laptop.
- The next day, he revises his words in a longer and more deliberative process.
How he started
He wrote a few articles.
Then wrote his first book.
He then wrote weekly philosophic articles.
His goal
Instead of writing a large book, he wants to write several shorter books on specific topics.
Defining philosophy
Steve prefers to use philosphy with the small letter P which means “the process of discovering the abstract principles of any field.” For him, understanding someting means understanding its abstract principles.
On the value of studying philosophy
Studying our ideas is inescapable. All decisions flow from our conscious and subconscious ideas about the world.
Advice to self-directed philosophers
Go really deep into ideas. This will help you defend yourself.
If somebody wants to make a living doing freelance philosophy, I’d caution: it’s an uphill battle. We don’t yet live in a world where self-studied intellectuals can get a whole lot of respect. Perhaps in ten years things will be different, but we aren’t there yet.