feral free agents chat

[@coscorrodrift]

This was really good, I kinda follow everyone but didn't know malcolm's story that in detail. I did miss seeing more about Kai, he barely introduced himself and is one of the ppl I know less. he's playing the host role and does a good job at that and idk the context of how the call came about but still would've liked to know more ab him some notes / timestamps for me /whoever: 36:30 Visa: all the random little things that you do, all contribute to your sense of self-directedness, even if it's silly or arbitrary, especially if it's silly or arbitrary, that are not directed by "this is the expected utility of X", those are the things you really wanna do i f with that. something ive had on my backburner for a long long time is just doing a list of all my skills, silly and not silly, all these silly little projects or things, i'm lowkey proud of inside of me, but that i feel like it's stupid to put on a "resume", or whatever. i'd thought of it more in the "skills"/"activities" etc frame rather than the "projects" angle and i think there's something to that. the "feral agent" frame is makin me ponder though, i feel more energized towards it within this frame, maybe having the "project" aka "proof of work" is a helpful thing to consider. reflecting on it though, i think that many of my skills that i do have aren't backed by projects i'm necessarily proud of or that i did bc i wanted, it's maybe stuff from a tutorial or something like that. but i guess that in itself is something to think about, why do i have so many more projects on certain skillsets than in others 46:00 LMFAO that's me and yes that's exactly it, i was gonna say it but visa did already. if someone wants to watch it it's called "ummm... so this happened" and it has me holding up 70€ in the thumbnail, about 5 months ago from the time of this vid. it definitely was an important mindset shift, it kind of "legibilized" "value" that I in a "revealed preferences" kinda way "knew" it had (would i spend so much time doing something i thought had no value?), but that it's hard to tell. 48:25 aight yeah that's exactly what i was trying to say 56:00 Malcolm reframe of having an asset that makes as much as half a million in stocks would pay in dividends 59:20 Paul: "I don't give a fuck" hahaahahahahaha brilliant ("that's why i don't apologize for having to take care of my daughter, ppl in a company would be like 'im so sorry',") so real, the priorities are clearer in feral agent world, less expectation to conform to a certain kind of polite standard that if analyzed further it's probably against many people's values in some way, more ability to actually express your values 1:04:30 what Romeo? maybe a link in the desc would be helpful. couldn't find this one. Malcolm: stop being traditional "self-help" "2nd person user" and think if "I" relate / this applies to "me" 1:08:40 Visa: ppl care less about negative variance, they care about positive variance, careful with "editor mindset" bc that gets you into "reduce negative variance" mode but can also reduce positive variance. "They make the journey less interesting" 1:12:35 Paul: "just because I'm not maximizing on the default game does not mean I'm not ambitious, ambition has been stolen by the default path and we need to steal it back" banger holy shit lol 1:23:53 Visa: "feralness is facing your feelings every moment" "if you ask me when i feel the most feral it's when i had a plan and then i'm like 'wait that's fake, i can do whatever, fuck this' and then i go do something else" LMFAO 1:29:00 Michael talking about how even when making money he still feels the cultural/societal weight of feeling like "wasting time". I wonder how much this is about societal and how much this is about a struggle in priorities/values (not when Michael feels like that but when i do bc i rel8. well not the money making part lol but still). for example Paul with his kid at 59:20 has the values and priorities of what "wasting time" isn't, doubt whatever society tells him phases him and he actually feels like he's wasting time when he's w his daughter. Like, he doesn't need to rationalize anything he just when he's with his daughter feels "this is it. this is worth it". But i do feel like I'm wasting time when im scrolling on twitter sometimes even if i can post-hoc rationalize it as something that's part of a creative process or a feral agent process or sth like that. 1:30:00 Paul talking about cities like Boston NYC or london being "heavier" in that Michael sense, Michael saying how he has to remind himself he's on a different path of the Mckinsey friend in london. Contrasted to Bali where everyone's a weirdo. Made me think of how I view Madrid. I think there is a side of Spanish culture that is way more laid back and that values free time, that values "not doing anything for the sake of not doing anything" if it's with family/friends, that places a lot of value in having long lunches or dinners and sitting out in terraces having drinks etc, but i think that it's also a country with a culture (i think inherited / copied from the French for historical reasons, monarchy, institutions, etc) that really holds the "worker of the State" job as the golden standard (we call it "funcionario"), because the conditions of the job in terms of balance between job security, pay, vacation time, etc are pretty decent, but that it comes with a certain baggage of a lot of pressure to conform to that whole "bureaucratic" structure and to really have to live within the timings of these "golden handcuffs" if you will. You essentially know you won't work in august, but you also know no one else will, you know you'll never lose your job if you don't do a good job, but you have to live with the pain of others working like that, 9-5, M-F life, local, regional and national holidays, etc. which i personally find depressing but that there are people who find the fun in that. I've a friend who just passed some exam who essentially lands you into these kinds of positions, and he says a phrase that people in times of Fernando VII would say, "vivan las cadenas" ("long live the chains!") lmfao. This was when after some liberal reform, that king brought back absolutism lmfao. He's also p rightwing so i guess he always says shit with that "RETVRN" type vibe, but I think I can sense that spirit in a big chunk of the population of either side of the political spectrum. 1:40:00 Visa talking about not respecting or admiring, but "seeing the beauty" "looking at the full person that they are" "Looking at them flourishing" in the context of a star athlete who grindsets at 6am. Great great great wording i really resonate with that, I think it's something i really vibe with that. i do have this "external observer fascination" with some things that i know aren't for me but that i think they're dope

[@visakanv]

cosco does it again, GOAT-class comments

[@garrett-houghton]

Really helpful to get a window into how you all manage the psychological aspects of self-directed paths. Thank you for sharing this conversation!

[@visakanv]

glad to be of service!

[@dungaribateka]

Woww! This was amazing. I'd certainly want to join the feral free agents world.

[@colinbarnes9084]

i really enjoyed this conversation. it's pretty thrilling to hear from people who have had similar outlooks and thoughts as my own on this feral free agent subject as i have rarely encountered people like this in non-internet spaces. i especially jived with this idea of personal faith and just doing what intuitively seems correct without really thinking. I've been experimenting with this in my own life by paying attention to when i am specifically "trying" (typically these thoughts literally contain the words "try" or "should") to do something and then not doing that. it will be interesting to see how this works out as i have recently been given an opportunity to really go all in on the feral free agent lifestyle. this conversation showed up at a perfect time for me in that regard. it's wonderful to see these real examples of success and have it reinforced that one can basically do whatever they want 🙏

[@visakanv]

glad to hear it colin! all the best!!

[@malcolm_ocean]

"a perfect time" for you - want to share more about your own situation and what the journey looks like from your current vantage point?

[@visakanv]

This was a casual chat that a bunch of us got together to have to try and be helpful to anybody else embarking on a feral free agent life-path. I hope to update the timestamps with more useful chapter notes soon here's a transcript of most of the chat: docs.google.com/document/d/1Cx3cDCmsHVZLOm-LXsKl_G5Hekjmmhz98-S1FivOadY/edit?usp=sharing please feel free to leave notes, ask questions, etc!