Well, that was fun.

If you missed the Post-Individualism forum last night, it was a blast. We had 123 folks join us to hear Yancey Strickler from Metalabel, Kei Kreutler from Other Internet, and Jack Self (with a cuppa) from Real Review. Here are some highlights:

  • Yancey defines the post-individual experience as happening "when someone accepts their individuality, but feels called for a variety of reasons (social, creative, metaphysical, financial) to seek greater meaning and context with others."
  • Identity after the internet, and the relationship between memory and identity. Kei believes we're living through a a "spam renaissance" and in 5 years' time, we might not be able to remember what it means to be a human online.
  • The relationship between post-individualism and capitalism, and Jack's concept of "Playlist Personalities". According to Jack, the proliferation of identities on the internet are mainly there to create products and sell you stuff.
  • We also covered "Brat summer", fandoms, lore and memes — and how these are signals that point to a post-individualistic future.
Watch Recording

The pre/post poll also showed some shifts, so we must have done something right. We asked: "Are we entering a post-individualistic age?" at the beginning of the session:

And then again at the end:

In other news, we've started onboarding some incredible humans to our new Contributors Community — so if you're a researcher, strategist or just cultural curious and want to get paid to write Seeds and Observations as well as work on Protein Agency briefs:

Apply Here

P.S. All approved contributors get a complimentary Freelancer Membership that unlocks the entire Protein research archive and more!

Seeds

Aphex Sink

"As our identity continues to splinter (digital, physical, legal), I find myself questioning whether to embrace the multiplicity or fight it. Do I adopt a pseudonym (horcruxing myself)? Do I strive for complete authenticity in every context (honoring my legal personhood)? Hard to answer, but something I’ve been thinking about often." Garrett Herzik's comment from the Forum chat last night

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