I never had much respect for Tucker until 2020. I always saw him as a pompous neocon dork who wore a bowtie. But during the peak of COVID insanity, his viral monologues made him an authoritative and level-headed voice on the right.

However, after Tucker was fired from Fox News and launched the Tucker Carlson Network on YouTube, he started to change. His personality has become difficult to bare. He’s one-dimensional, predictable, and annoyingly agreeable with his guests regardless of how vapid they can be. Tucker has always been a bit sassy, but over the last few years — he’s become a meme of himself.

“Like, what IS that?!”

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Tucker also makes bold claims about topics that are completely unprovable. He’ll frantically claim UFOs are demons that live all around us, then finish the sentence with a passive-aggressive “obviously.”

I often find myself thinking: “No, Tucker. None of what you just said is remotely obvious to anyone.”

It’s becoming harder to take Tucker Carlson seriously.

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Anthropic recently built an AI model called Claude Mythos that is apparently so sophisticated at detecting and exploiting vulnerabilities in browsers, operating systems, and other critical software that they decided it shouldn’t be released. They were so convinced that if it ended up in the wrong hands, it could pose major risks to the economy, public safety, and national security. Its release remains on hold until tech behemoths like Microsoft, Google, Apple, and Amazon give Anthropic the green light.

I take dystopian AI narratives with a grain of salt. But given the rapid speed at which AI is progressing — it’s feasible that AI could find security loopholes across multiple websites and social media platforms that ultimately expose everyone’s information. It could even create a public database of everyone who has ever used the internet. If someone were to look up your name in this scenario, they would see everything you’ve ever said online. Yes, everyone would be fucked. But given this risk — people should take the proper precautions to reduce potential damage.

If you post under your real name, then you’re probably willing to muffle your true beliefs to protect your reputation. But if you post anonymously, then you still have to worry about your identity being exposed. Everyone should be concerned about the major security risks posed by AI.

Protecting your identity means more than just using an anonymous name and profile picture. It means completely severing your online life from your personal life. You must also ensure you aren’t leaving “breadcrumbs” — small pieces of information that can connect the two. Plenty of people are great at picking up these breadcrumbs. AI will be even better at it.

There’s a wide range of precautions you can take to protect your identity. The most extreme option is to not use the internet at all or delete all of your social media accounts. But that’s unrealistic. I prefer a more grounded approach while still being hypervigilant. In this post I will talk about the apps, methods, and common sense I use to have tight internet security and remain completely anonymous.

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If I had Boomer Derangement Syndrome, I would say:

“Boomers are slaves to the television.”

“Boomers are liberals because they worship the Civil Rights Act.”

“Boomers hoard all of the wealth.”

“Boomers only care about spending their money on ‘living their best life.’”

“Boomers don’t realize the world is harder than the one they grew up in.”

“Boomers are the reason I’m not wealthy. Boomers destroyed America.”

In this post I will discuss which issues Boomers deserve to be blamed for, and which they don’t. To start, lets review these accusations objectively.

“Boomers are slaves to the television.”

This is true.

Boomers watch significantly more TV than any other generation.1

“Boomers are liberals because they worship the Civil Rights Act.”

While Boomers tend to lean progressive, they’re moderates in comparison to Gen Z. 68% of Zoomers support DEI in the workplace, compared to only 52% of Boomers.2

Boomers also consistently vote Republican more reliably than Millennials and Zoomers.3 They also favor the death penalty and mass deportations more than younger generations.4

“Boomers hoard all of the wealth.”

The sentiment is extremely popular. 82% of Zoomers and 75% of Millennials blame Boomers for their financial problems. To add fuel to the fire, Boomers are 3x less likely than Gen X to recognize their financial decisions have an impact on younger generations.5

This is where the topic gets complicated, and requires an understanding of money.

Indeed, Boomers own most of the wealth.6

At first glance, you might assume there was an imaginary treasure chest filled with beachfront properties, luxury cars and expensive jewelry set aside for Millennials and Zoomers, but the greedy Boomers just came in and took it. You also might assume Boomers won’t sell their homes at a discount because they’re uniquely evil.

But that simply isn’t the case.

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• First and Second Date Ideas

• Demoralized Zoomers Embracing Looksmaxxing

• The Pros and Cons of Bullying

• Dealing with Ubiquitous Wokeness

• Dealing with Easily-Offended Women

• Dealing with Psychopaths on Twitter

• Cultural Differences in Relationships

• Feeling Like You’re Not High Quality

• Can Straight Men Be Happy Without Women?

• Developing Taste

• Dismantling People on Twitter

• Quitting Weed

• Unlearning Manosphere Content

• Dating Options While Living in The Middle of Nowhere

• Friend is Marrying the Wrong Girl

• Getting Over a Girl From Work

• Should I Drop Out of College Because of AGI?

Paid subscribers can ask me anything by joining my chat or DMing me directly.

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First and Second Date Ideas

Subscriber: Hey Med. Extremely basic question but I was wondering what your “go to” first and even second dates are. I’m 22 and have a bit of experience but would love to know if you have any suggestions.

Med: I prefer getting drinks on the first date. I like to pick a place with a good ambiance that isn’t too loud so you can both hear each other. It’s a great way to get to know each other and flirt, assuming you’re a fun drunk. If you’re a depressing drunk or a sloppy drunk, then I don’t recommend getting drinks on the first date.

If the first date goes well then I’ll also do drinks on the second date. If I see it going somewhere long-term then I’ll do dinner, but I typically save that for the third date.

In America, you’re usually sitting across from each other at restaurants and it can feel a bit like like an interview. It’s less intimate.

Demoralized Zoomers Embracing Looksmaxxing

Subscriber: Hey Med, I think a lot of trends that popped off over the last few years (Looksmaxxing, Male Depression Industry content, online self improvement), are all responses from a demoralized generation.

Gen Z guys have a weird new gnostic worldview where they feel suffocated by the modern economic system and culture. The rise of popularity in the content I mentioned, reflects a constant (online) search for more knowledge, as a way to escape the system by bypassing it

I’m 26, I don’t see modern culture or the economic system changing soon. Though my own attitude to this isn’t defeatist, I see many guys who are completely broken down by it. My question is, how do you revitalise young men in this context?

Med: Everyone is a product of their environment to some extent, but not everyone. Some people are naturally more skeptical and move to the beat of their own drum. They’re more likely to think and do things for themselves. I like to think my subscribers fall into this category.

But looking at the bigger picture — a lot of these issues are economic and structural. I listed some of the issues both men and women are facing in the below post.

America will need to do a complete 180 in how the country operates to give young people a path to live a good life instead of embracing nihilism.

That being said, that doesn’t mean people don’t have options. There’s still plenty of ways to carve out a good life for yourself, but it’s much harder now than it needs to be.

The Pros and Cons of Bullying

Subscriber: Can you elaborate on how stopping bullying in schools led to men becoming weak? Are there boundaries of behavior you think should be enforced by schools --- even if you think the anti-bullying movement went too far?

Med: Men have ways of checking each other’s behavior. That’s usually done by making fun of each other or calling each other a faggot or a pussy when they’re being weak. The intention isn’t to damage, but to make us tougher and hold ourselves to higher standards as men.

That being said, bullying is a real thing. Some kids get picked on mercilessly for no reason and don’t necessarily become tougher because of it. In high school, these types of bullies are often directing the rage they have towards their parents on people weaker than them as an outlet because they’re powerless at home.

On one hand, this can inspire the person getting bullied to get stronger and defend themselves. On the other hand, there shouldn’t be no rules in high school. Otherwise, it becomes violent. Bullies need to be checked as well.

Unfortunately our culture is too coddling of everyone’s feelings and has gone overboard to the point where there’s no middle ground to let boys be boys.

Dealing with Ubiquitous Wokeness

Subscriber: What are your views on not cutting your nose off to spite your face? For example say there’s a restaurant you really enjoy but they decide to go on a woke rampage and throw support at several causes you disagree with. Could also be said about musicians, authors, the world at large.

When you find something you like but then they support gay race communism it’s hard to take that thing serious again.

Med: It comes with the territory at this point, so it’s pretty unavoidable. Products are a means to an end. For example, if a cafe makes incredible coffee, but all of the baristas are obese troons, then so be it. I don’t like it, but as long as the coffee is good, then I can let it go. There’s not much you can do about it. The other option is to open up your own cafe, or live like a hermit. Neither seem worth it.

Dealing With Easily-Offended Women

Subscriber: Hey Med, do you think girls have become more scared of men in recent years? From my recent dating experience, it seems like you have to walk on eggshells in the early stages just so you don’t “scare hoes”. I don’t know if it’s their anxiety, SSRIs, pills, or socials that’s driving it.
How do you navigate these waters?

Med: If you can give me an example I can give you a better answer, but in general — it’s good to not scare the hoes. Some women have definitely been programmed to be hypersensitive and look for reasons to be offended, but not all of them.

Regardless, you should hide your “power level” around women, especially in the early stages. After trust is built and they’re very attracted to you, they’re more likely to look the other way or embrace your value system.

Dealing with Psychopaths on Twitter

Subscriber: Hey Med, I think I stumbled upon a phenomenon in Twitter, where I said something objectively funny but I know have a swarm of crazy (women) people coming in and misinterpreting and sick their friends to just call you some of the most vile and creepy stuff. Ultimately, I think it’s a huge waste of time to be on Twitter, which is pushing me to leave, but I don’t wanna give the idiots fuel. But the long-term goal is ultimately to leave so how did you reflect on that because your account was huge and I looked up to you but you stepped away and I’m sure you got tons of shit every day in tandem you probably got a lot of support too.

So my direct question is, how did you deal with the Internet crazies on Twitter and then how did you finally decide to leave because I think I need that help of a push to leave

Med: You sent this question over prior to me publishing The Death of Twitter, but I didn’t mention anything specific that caused me to leave. Honestly, it was a long time coming. Over the last 2 years I became increasingly frustrated with how stupid and hostile the people are there. I was also heavily shadowbanned. Something just clicked one day. “This place is beneath me. I don’t like it here. Why am I doing this?”

With regard to internet crazies, I wrote about this in Internet Psychopaths - Part 1: The Obsessive. But to summarize, I got used to it after a while. Haters are like gnats. Blocking them feels like turning on the windshield wipers. They’re gone for good. When it comes to obsessives, I came to accept that I trigger a certain type of guy in a pretty profound way, and I actually feel bad for them. Most of them just want me to like them. Regardless, never acknowledging their existence is the way to handle them. They usually move on.

Cultural Differences in Relationships

Subscriber: l’ve been seeing this girl for 3 months now, she is drop - dead gorgeous, smart and incredibly funny

I really like her and I enjoy her company a lot, because of this I naturally made her my girlfriend and so far it has been going exceptionally well

The problem is, she comes from a completely different culture and faith to mine, to the point I experience a sense of cultural shock and looming dread on the very long term

We are both still young, working but still in college etc. We have touched on the culture compatibility topic before but have had to redirect it after understanding where it is heading

I’m stuck between a rock and a hard place, I would feel devastated ending such a fantastic relationship because of an issue I do mostly see as more neurotic than logical, but at the same time I can’t shake of this doubt and fear that I could be leading her on

Med: Cultural and religious differences can definitely cause tension. But if the relationship is fantastic and you two actually love each other, then you’ll navigate those waters as you cross them. I wouldn’t end the relationship preemptively. You will regret it. If it doesn’t work out, at least you know you gave it your best shot. See it through.

Feeling Like You’re Not High Quality

Subscriber: You’ve talked before about men holding more cards than they realize in dating. But practically speaking, does that apply for the top 20, 10, 5, 1 percent man, or does it apply to any reasonably put-together guy? Im certain most of your readers putting in work to have something going on but just factually most guys won’t end to rich/high status/good looking.

I want to take more agency with women and have more self confidence in dating but don’t want to be delusional either

Med: It all comes down to you. I wouldn’t think about dating in terms of how men as a concept are perceived by women. What matters is how you perceive yourself. If you’re honest with yourself and perceive yourself highly, then women will too.

I also wouldn’t think about this “top 20%” thing too much. It’s mostly relative and unmeasurable, therefore it’s make-believe. There are some objective measures, but they’re mostly common sense. As you said, being well put-together goes a long way, as well as not being broke. If there’s things you need to do to get there, then you should do them.

But focusing too much on how you look and less on who you are as a man is going to make you feel hopeless. Prioritizing looks simply isn’t how women operate. They prioritize character above the superficial.

Go to the gym as much as possible. Get big. This will increase your testosterone significantly. This will make you feel better about yourself. I know this is very basic advice — but it works.

I also recommend reading some of the posts I linked below.

Can Straight Men Be Happy Without Women?

Subscriber: Can a heterosexual man be genuinely happy without any sexual and romantic activity in his life? If so, what are the conditions?

Med: No. Any man who claims otherwise is lying to himself.

Developing Taste

Subscriber: How do I develop taste?

Med: Everyone has taste, but not necessarily good taste. I don’t know if good taste can be taught, but I can only speak for myself. I believe Beauty is objective. I have strong instincts for what is and isn’t beautiful. Something is either beautiful or it isn’t.

Don’t be ashamed about wanting and being allured by the most beautiful things. I think a lot of people have bad taste because they don’t feel worthy of possessing Beauty, or allowing Beauty to completely overtake them.

Dismantling People on Twitter

Subscriber: How do I dismantle people with words? (like the way you do it on twitter lol)

Med: I don’t have great instructions when it comes to this. I’m just honest and call things as I see them.

Quitting Weed

Subscriber: Hi Med, what would you say to help someone like me to quit smoking weed daily? I’m 27, never dated before or even been on a date (I’ll admit I’m petrified of Women. Not sure why but the idea of a relationship seems impossible), I’m not fat but I’m also not ripped I have a slight build, I’m somewhat attractive since I’ve gotten compliments before, I’ve been dead broke my whole life but I started a business that is doing better lately, I’m in debt because I spent a lot of money on self-help content ever since COVID (with plans to pay off since I have work in my books), I have good friends who will help me if I need it, and I smoke weed everyday. Not to mention I live with my parents with siblings who enforce very liberal views, with plans to move out in the coming months.

I’m on it 24/7 and I don’t like it. It smells bad, makes me anti-social, less confident, I feel like it suppresses my testosterone since I feel so small in a room full of people. I obviously recognize all of this and how bad the stuff is. But I continue to smoke it because living sober in reality feels even worse given the above situation. I’m working hard to get out of the crappy environment I’m in at home and I need to do the inner work because I don’t handle pressure too well.

Any advice, critiques, or comments is appreciated. Thank you

Med: I also used to smoke weed a lot, so I know how you’re feeling. It definitely has all of the effects you listed. I stopped cold turkey, so that’s what I recommend you do. You will feel strange being sober for a while, and less like yourself — but you will see benefits quickly. You will likely have very vivid dreams for a while because weed suppresses REM sleep. You’ll also start to think clearer and have more energy. This process is bringing you back to homeostatis.

It sounds like you know this is holding you back, so I recommend stopping today.

Unlearning Manosphere Content

Subscriber: Hi Med, What advice would you give to someone trying to get out of the Male Depression Industry? Without divulging too much, I have spent a few years consuming the opinions of people I really shouldn’t have, and I was young and impressionable enough to uncritically take these assumptions on board, to the point where it’s almost unconscious. I am someone who has struggled with self-confidence for a very long time, and I’d very much appreciate any tips you have on how to un-fuck myself.

Big fan of your essays, thanks for all you do.

Med: The fact you’re aware of the effect it’s had on you is 80% of the battle. Most men aren’t able to admit they’ve been brainwashed. So the fact you have the confidence to admit that goes a very long way.

There’s a big unlearning process to come. The more you stay away from it and the more you learn about life and women through your own direct experiences, the more confident you will be. This won’t happen overnight, but I guarantee you it will happen over time. You’re on the right track.

Dating Options While Living in The Middle of Nowhere

Subscriber: Hi Med, I have a specific question but would also appreciate any advice you have on my situation as well.

I’m a 32 year old woman and single again after a 5ish month relationship. I’m not stopping traffic but I’m not bad looking either. I have a professional degree and the white collar job that comes along with it. It’s a good money and it’s pretty lax, but it’s a bit of an albatross. I work basically 100% from home. I live in the middle nowhere because I want to be close to my mom who’s older and because I don’t have a reason to be anywhere else.

Together, WFH and being in the middle of nowhere are basically catastrophic for meeting anyone. My now ex-BF, who I met through an app, lived about an hour away. He lived close to the city that’s closest to me (it’s a third rate city and not worth living there).

I don’t have a lot of family. Just my mom, a brother I’m not close with, and a few relatives in New England.

The most important thing to me is meeting the right guy (I had one long failed relationship in my 20s, I wasn’t out partying). I can go anywhere in the US that I can afford (not NY, DC, Boston, etc. I’d be scrounging for sure), but I have no reason to be anywhere in particular but here.

I have so much to choose from and so little to go on. And no where in the US really excites me. I’d have moved to a big city already if they weren’t all overrun with crime, overpriced, and stinking of weed. A small city that’s pretty safe and skews to my age group would be great. Any suggestions? Also, my politics are very similar to yours so I’d prefer not be in a place that’s totally liberal.

Also, I’ve heard the dating apps are dead now. Is that true?

Med: I would take advantage of the fact that you have the financial means to move to a better location. Dating in low population areas can be rough.

I recommend checking out cities that are more middle-of-the-road politically. They’ll be less likely to be crime-ridden and reeking of weed. It’s not guaranteed, but I would start there. Take a few weekend trips to see what feels best.

Friend is Marrying the Wrong Girl

Subscriber: Hi Med, hope you’re doing well. A question for your next AMA, if any is planned in the future: my friend is marrying his Oneitis of 12+ years. He desperately wants kids, she’s firmly against it and gets emotional when he brings it up. He says if she says no he’ll marry her anyway but fears he’ll end up cheating. I’ve been dropping hints this could breed resentment, but haven’t pushed hard. How far should I go, and what’s the best angle?
Thanks for being a voice of reason in these times.

Med: I don’t recommend straight up telling him he’s marrying the wrong girl because it will cause permanent tension in the friendship. I would approach this by making it about him and asking him questions that he’ll will come to the right answers to. “Are you sure you’ll be okay with never having kids?” and “If I told you I was settling down with a girl I’ll inevitably cheat on, what would you tell me?”

It’s painful to watch, but you need to accept that he very well might make a bad decision. What matters is that you tried your best to help him without hurting your friendship.

Getting Over a Girl From Work

Subscriber: Hey Med-- question for your next AMA (apologies in advance for the length, but have been saving this for a while (and wanting to ask this question was a big motivation for signing up for your Substack, actually)):

I started a job a few years ago where I had instant chemistry with a girl roughly my age, who was the only decent looking chick in the whole office. Everyone else at the company was also significantly older than us and they’d constantly tease me about her, and would often note she was flirting with me. Maybe they slightly exaggerated at first, but as time went on, it became clear there was a palpable mutual tension when we’d talk, but I mentally brushed all of this off because I had a girlfriend and she had a boyfriend.

A year or so into the job, on a work trip, she barged into my room at 2 am after we had a night out to complain about the company culture (and other bullshit), basically crying on my shoulder. I didn’t make a move (I also don’t believe in cheating and was motivated by those principles), but after that, I began to see her slightly differently, especially as my relationship with my gf began gradually unravelling (for other reasons entirely). She ended up breaking up with her bf before I broke up with my gf and we generally had bad timing, but she’d still text me a lot, be flirty, etc.

When we were finally both single, I became self consciously interested in her and I made a move on her at the end of a long night, where I drank too much, and she rebuffed me in a pretty embarrassing way (I leaned in to kiss her and she jerked back aggressively). It was terribly awkward the next day but she was nice enough and we agreed to act like nothing happened, but she definitely made it clear she wasn’t interested in me. Two weeks after this rejection, she invited me to accompany her on a work trip across the country, just the two of us. I was confused but agreed to go. We ended up having an incredibly romantic dinner, holding hands briefly, going on a bar crawl, etc. I invited her to my room and she came up but left pretty quickly after (she also mentioned that night she was in a “situationship” with a new guy at the moment). After that, I basically concluded, I should mentally get over her. She’s now actually in a relationship (again, different guy) and acts noticeably different to me (she used to send me random stuff on instagram, walk into my office to chat every day, etc). Her change in behavior stemming from now entering a serious relationship, leads me to believe she was either self consciously leading me on for fun, or I just got really unlucky with timing.

This isn’t a very pointed question, but I guess I’m struggling to mentally compartmentalize this kind of behavior from a woman. Is there anything I could’ve done differently? If we find ourselves both single again, is there a different approach to employ when engaging her? Thanks in advance for your insight.

Med: I hate to say it but I think she may have seen you more as a friend given she rejected you when you tried to kiss her but still invited you to go on a work trip across the country. Either that or she’s the type of girl to juggle multiple guys at once without sleeping with them. Basically a cock tease.

In terms of what you could have done differently, it’s hard to say given I don’t know exactly what happened that night or the context of where you two were. If you drank too much, then that’s probably why. Next time just be mindful of how much you’re drinking so you don’t come off too sloppy. Don’t be too hard on yourself though. It happens to the best of us.

If she is single again, I wouldn’t approach her. I would see if she comes to you. If she does, then don’t make yourself too available. Build tension to make her want you more, then tell her you want to take her out on a date. I would be bold about it so she knows that you know what you want.

But I wouldn’t linger on that possibility for too long. I would try your best to move on. You’ll definitely think about her less if you go on more dates.

Should I Drop Out of College Because of AGI?

Subscriber: Med, I turn 20 years old this month. As the date draws closer, my soul grow heavier. I don’t fear age or death, only mediocrity and the permanent underclass. My only desires are saving America, learning, and adventure. Thus, I am grappling with a newfound decision to drop out in May to pursue a meaningful job opportunity. I am mission-oriented by nature, and the idea of 2 more years of classes taught by begrudged cat ladies makes me gag. I know the degree has value, but it feels like a waste of precious time right now, especially as AGI looms on the horizon.

Am I getting oneshotted by the online SF nerds? Do you have any advice to myself and other young men experiencing similar emotions? Do you forsee any hidden pitfalls that I’m currently failing to calculate into my decision?

Thanks and God Bless

Med: It’s normal to feel this way at your age, but you should spend your 20’s making and saving as much money as possible and building up your status in whichever field you decide to go in.

I strongly recommend not dropping out of school because you will have less options in the future. I’m sure your teachers are annoying as fuck, but try not to focus on that. Your classes are a means to an end.

Having your bachelors degree is still important. You’re halfway there. See it through and then reassess your options. Dropping out of school will only limit those options.

I wouldn’t worry about AGI. If neuroscientists don’t know what human consciousness is, then dorks in San Francisco don’t know what digital consciousness is. That doesn’t mean jobs won’t be replaced, but everything isn’t coming to an end.

Yes, it’s possible you’re being one-shotted by SF nerds.

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But Twitter wasn’t always this embarrassing. It used to be a site where everyday people could mock celebrities, journalists, and politicians. The memes were hilarious. The ideas were cutting-edge. Today, Twitter is nothing like that. It’s decayed into a propaganda machine, a recycling plant, and a slop casino.

Twitter was a big part of my life for 6 years. I had a lot of fun there. To honor it, I will give Twitter’s demise a proper autopsy.

Jack Dorsey, Founder & CEO of Twitter

I created my account in 2020, during Twitter’s most censorious period. Soon after Trump branded COVID as The China Virus, the knives were out. If you were against lockdowns, wearing masks, or social distancing — your account could be suspended for no reason without recourse. The terms of service were arbitrary. If you didn’t post anything controversial, you could still get banned merely for following a controversial account. It was extremely frustrating.

The Twitter Files, an investigation into Twitter’s collusion with the Biden administration, revealed that Jack Dorsey isn’t particularly ideological — he’s just a coward. He lost control of the company he founded. Twitter was taken over by his most liberal employees.

In late 2021, Jack stepped down and promoted a man named Parag Agrawal to CEO. He isn’t worth mentioning.

Elon Musk, ‘Chief Twit’ of X

In October 2022, Elon Musk swooped in to save Twitter. He declared our constitutional right to free speech was at risk and bought the company for a whopping $44B.

Elon was initially hailed as a hero. Spirits were high. He walked into the Twitter headquarters holding a sink…so they could “let that sink in.”

Get it!?

Elon made some significant changes:

• Reversed the Bluecheck policy. Only journalists, politicians, and celebrities could have the esteemed bluecheck. Now anyone can have it, as long as you verify your ID and pay for X Premium.

• Reinstated banned accounts. Some of the most controversial right-wing figures, from Alex Jones, to Nick Fuentes, to Milo Yiannopoulos, and then-former President Donald Trump, were allowed to post again.

• Rebranded Twitter to X.

• Changed the business model to compensate posters for their viral posts.

• Loosened the terms of service to let anyone say whatever they want, subject to the laws of the country they were posting from.

Given the other massive companies Elon runs, he slowly became less involved in running X. He hired Linda Yaccarino as CEO in 2023, who stepped down 2 years later. After she left, Elon passed the torch to someone else.

Nikita Bier, Head of Product at X

Nikita Bier was hired as Head of Product, but is functionally CEO. Nikita has a long career in creating viral dopamine loops.

Prior to joining X, Nikita started a company called tbh in 2017 — an app for high school students to vote on popularity contests. He sold it to Facebook for $30M. It was shut down 10 months later because nobody used it.

In 2022, Nikita started a company called Gas, which did the same thing as tbh, except users could pay to see who voted on each poll. Gas was eventually bought by Discord. It was also shut down in less than a year because nobody used it.

Since Elon hired Nikita — X has become significantly worse.

A brief preview of what you’ll see on the ‘For You’ page of X today.

• Recycled ‘right wing aesthetic’ tweets from 2021.

• Recycled viral tweets posted by people living in India or Nigeria.

• Recycled gender discourse. Every 3 months there’s another debate over the attractiveness of dad bods, the ethics of age gap relationships, and dating app screenshots. No new points are made.

• Black people asking each other questions, which often get over 20K likes. “Ya’ll ever wake up be like nah?”

• Elon retweeting his army of fanboy accounts based in India with “💯” or “Yeah”

• Political hysteria and conspiracy theories.

Elon hired Nikita to make X more of a viral dopamine loop than it already was. He’s doing his job well.

Pinpointing exactly what killed Twitter isn’t easy. There were a lot of changes and a massive influx of users from all over the world. I will go over a few factors that played a significant role.

Monetization

After Elon changed the business model, I was getting paid over $1,000 every month merely to post my thoughts. Six months later, I was demonetized with no reason given and no option to appeal. I was already posting for the love of the game for five years prior to my first payout, so I never expected to get paid. It was nice while it lasted.

But Elon isn’t just paying “pure posters” like myself. X is funding lives of luxury for people living in India and Nigeria who learned how to game the system by stealing viral tweets from Americans and posting cultural ragebait.

To address this problem, X revealed the country each account is posting from. Sadly, this wasn’t effective. Americans still get rage-baited by people in the third world every day. They don’t even bother to check.

Favoritism

Nikita is crafting the culture of X based around accounts he personally likes. He often sends huge payments to posters arbitrarily. For example, a slop account based in New Zealand posted a picture of Steve Job’s daughter that went mega-viral. The poster complained he wasn’t compensated enough, so Nikita sent him $10,000 USD. He will also send 5-figure payments to posters he likes then tell X he “wants to see more posts like this.” What he means by that is completely unclear. His preferences aren’t documented in X’s terms of service. Regardless, this incentivizes people to change what they post about, which greatly affects what people see in their For You tab.

Given Nikita’s taste, X has devolved into a hybrid of LinkedIn and a right wing version of Reddit. Nikita favors people who post with their real name and face. Given their jobs and reputations are at stake, they tend to be more “normie-friendly” than anonymous accounts who tend to be much edgier. As a result, anons are often shadowbanned. Even if they have large following and are verified with a bluecheck — their posts get little visibility. Their replies are often hidden and labeled as spam.

In addition, X has become just as censorious as Twitter was in 2020, especially for anonymous posters. Anons are getting suspended again with no reason given and no option to appeal. Given Elon’s fervent support of free speech, one might assume he would address this issue and correct it. But he hasn’t. In hindsight, I believe Elon only bought Twitter to prevent himself from getting banned.

Lastly, and most seriously — prominent anons have been doxxed without the doxxers facing any consequences. Despite this being against X’s terms of service, doxxers don’t get banned. Recently, a well-known account’s full name and address was featured at the top of X’s news tab. A few hours later, someone showed up at his house. Whether this carelessness is intentional, an oversight, or driven by AI — X is putting people’s lives at risk.

The message is loud and clear: anonymous posters are not welcome.

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Democratization

If I had to boil down Twitter’s death to one cause, it wouldn’t blame any of the specific changes listed above. I blame the people. Since opening the floodgates of free speech, there’s now more people talking to each other than ever. This isn’t necessarily a good thing. I will list a few reasons why.

Intelligence

Globally, the average IQ is ~100. That means most people can handle day-to-day tasks — but abstract reasoning, pattern-recognition, and original thinking isn’t most people’s strong suit. The average person simply isn’t very bright.

Despite seeing the 300th debate over Leonardo DiCaprio’s taste in women, most people still give their two cents. If there’s a rumor about an account or celebrity, people will gossip about it on the timeline for days. If you put 🚨BREAKING: at the start of a post, millions of people will believe it as evidence of something that actually happened.

The algorithm gives the people what they want. If originality isn’t what they want, then the algorithm won’t give it to them. If someone posts a picture of a skinny girl with a caption saying “I like it when girls are a little chubby like this” (despite being the 1,000th person to make that joke) and it gets 5,000 likes — then the algorithm will push that post to the top of the feed. The system is working as designed.

Post-COVID Desperation

The decline of X mirrors an overall decline in the quality of people. Since COVID — cool, smart, and interesting people with unique perspectives have become harder to find. The average person is more isolated, less social, and less sexually active than ever. Most people simply don’t have a life outside of the internet. Given this physical isolation, status isn’t necessarily reached through in-person achievements anymore. Status can be earned just as easily on the internet.

On X, having a lot of followers often equals high status. You will become a regular on the ‘For You’ tab regardless of if you’re just a moronic slop account.

This person is merely recycling “green polo nationalism” posts from 5 years ago. But the influx of new users from the third world don’t know that. He earned himself 1M views and probably a handsome payout. It’s never been easier to become a big account on X.

Conspiracy Brain and The Right Wing Slopfest

Politics has become such a dominant force in America that it replaced culture. The quality of TV shows and movies have plummeted because the politics of the writers are woven into the plot and the actors they hire. Art has been replaced with propaganda. Politics is at the top of most people’s minds.

The rise of endless politics, combined with traitorous government policy and lack of transparency, has birthed what can best be called conspiracy brain. Candace Owens earned herself a massive audience by making every political issue about The Jews. Tucker Carlson often entices people with conspiracy brain by boiling down political issues to aliens and demons.

In addition, since Trump won the 2024 election — “posters are in control.” The Trump administration hired right wing posters from X to post propaganda for the Department of Homeland Security and The White House’s X accounts. This created an incentive to turn otherwise intelligent posters into Trump’s personal cheerleaders in hopes of getting hired, making healthy critiques of his policies close to impossible.

The online right went from edgy and intelligent dissidents to predictable propagandists and braindead conspiracy theorists. Your options are to be slavishly pro-Trump or hysterically anti-Trump. Blanket answers to complex questions are rewarded while clear and nuanced thinking is attacked.

Most people who have been posting on Twitter for years agree that it was significantly higher quality under Jack Dorsey. The harsh limitations on free speech forced people to be more creative in how they expressed themselves. As a result, people who posted there were more clever, more interesting, and most importantly — funnier.

I’m a free speech absolutist in an abstract sense. Bad ideas must be challenged. People in prominent positions who abuse their power must be be mocked. Good ideas by intelligent minds should earn their way to the top. But as we’ve seen — that simply isn’t how it works in practice.

True meritocracy can take place when intelligent people have the right to free speech. But we simply don’t have an intelligent population, and we probably never did. There’s a reason why governments hand out bread and circus treats to distract people from more serious issues that affect their every day lives. The Pentagon posting videos of blowing up boats instead of the FBI cracking down on violent crime, for example. The people gobble it up. The rabble are easily propagandized. The average person just can’t help themselves.

The algorithm is a mirror, and that mirror can teach us a lesson. The fall of Twitter proves the world isn’t supposed to be talking to each other. There should be very high standards for who can enter the town square.

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A wise man once told me: "Walk up to every girl you're attracted to and just start talking to her." I did that for an entire summer. It was the best advice I ever received. More on that later.

Talking to women shouldn’t be a “numbers game.” That’s a concept for men who will have sex with anything. These men don’t respect themselves. They’re sloppy and have poor taste.

If you only approach girls you find intoxicatingly hot, then it’s not a numbers game. Lowering your standards is bad for your soul. Swing for the fences.

“But Med — she’s out of my league! Who am I to walk up to a 10?”

Do you hear yourself? You’re already admitting defeat.

If you get rejected — who cares? Now you have experience in getting rejected by a 10. Approaching a 9 will be less scary.

The hardest part is getting past the point when you’re nervously checking her out and racking your brain for an excuse to talk to her.

“What should I say? Should I use a pick-up line?”

One-liners aren’t my style. They’re inauthentic.

Either way, it doesn’t necessarily matter what you say.

And no — I’m not going to tell you what to say. It’s on you to figure that out. That’s the only way you’re going to develop your own style.

That’s how I figured it out.

All that matters is that you just do it.

Here’s what I learned that summer.

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A good woman is transparent. If she wants you to trust her, she will go out of her way to prove that to you. If she feels anything could get in the way of this bond, she will get ahead of it.

A good woman trusts men she admires. If she respects you, and you honor that respect, she will let you make nearly every decision for her, down to what she’s eating that day. She wants to meet a man she feels is safe to surrender to.

A good woman is pleasant. She doesn’t want to nag you because she doesn’t want to undermine you. Her presence is easy to be around.

A good woman is friends with other good women. She isn’t ignorant to the ways of how women can treat each other. She chooses her friends carefully, and may have very few.

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Bryan and I lived next door to each other since we were 5. We were inseparable. We’d climb our shared fence just to talk to each other. We’d eat dinner at each other’s homes. I was part of his family and he was part of mine.

Bryan was always a bit unstable. Something would trigger him then he would throw a fit and start hitting people. Teachers would say “Bryan snapped again.”

Bryan and I used to fight a lot. We’d be playing normally, then out of nowhere he would snap and we’d start throwing fists. Our parents had to pull us apart. This was relatively normal given boys fight in elementary school, but his temper only got worse.

One time in middle school, he found out a girl he had a crush on started dating someone else. He got up, walked away from the cafeteria table, sat alone, then started screaming and ripping out his hair. Puberty or not, that’s pretty strange behavior for a 12 year old.

We ended up going to different high schools. Bryan was gifted. Something of a math prodigy. He skipped several grades in math at a young age and got a scholarship to an expensive all-boys private school. We didn’t see each other as often, but we’d still hang out from time to time. We started smoking weed around the same time at fifteen years old.

I didn’t have fun smoking weed with him. Everyone gets a little stupid when they smoke weed, but he turned into a vegetable. He could barely speak. When he tried, it was gibberish. He just wasn’t there. By the time he graduated, he was high 24/7. I started to hang out with him less.

He and I went to different colleges. After he first came home to visit, he told me he was gay. This was surprising, given we frequently talked about girls and he had several girlfriends. It was also strange given he was my best friend. We used to have sleepovers together.

I said “Okay. That’s fine. Just don’t hit on me or anything.” I was half-joking. I hoped he understood what I was saying, which was “Don’t make it weird.” Instead, he took it as a challenge.

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I’ve had every reason to grow bitter. I’ve been misled, lied to, and betrayed too many times to count. A purely logical person might have walked away from love altogether, deciding the cost of love was much too high. But the heart is not logical. The heights of love can outweigh even the deepest pain. I am, for better or for worse, a romantic.

As best I could, I tried to assess what went wrong in each relationship. I noticed patterns in my own behavior; how I created issues out of nowhere, criticized harshly, or acted controlling out of fear. I noticed my words greatly affect how women responded to me. I stopped calling my exes “crazy.”

Through experience, I realized beneath all differences in personality, women share a common emotional language. Above all — women need to feel safe. They need to feel beautiful. They need to feel sexually and romantically wanted. When these basic needs are met, they become pleasant to be around. I find this very endearing.

Understanding this distinction, while embracing my role as the man, made relationships easier. Similarly, I started to separate my masculinity from my personality. This only deepened my grasp of female instincts.

Masculine and feminine polarity is complementary. The stronger it is, the more intense the sexual and romantic attraction.

Here are my favorite Twitter posts on this topic from the last six years.

Enjoy 🤍

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I also like to ratio people and embarrass them publicly when necessary.

Enjoy 🤍

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In some families, being seen as a bad son or daughter is a sin higher than murder. To avoid this accusation, you’re required to have a slavish devotion to the mother and unquestionable respect for the father.

Being honest about your family is emotionally forbidden territory. You might feel grumblings about your true feelings now and then, but the underbelly is often pushed down for the sake of keeping things above board. Turning over these stones feels like playing around with Pandora’s Box. But confronting them effectively can completely reorient your psyche and how you relate to people.

Children learn by watching. How your parents treated each other is likely how you treat people, or are treated, in romantic relationships.

“You either marry your parents or become them” is great news for some people, hauntingly true for others.

In this post I’ll share how I broke the cycle with one painful, irreversible decision.

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She catalogues Gen Z’s dating challenges well, but stops short of inquiring about the psychological and cultural conditions that produced them. I found it to be surface-level and uncurious.

She connects the gender propaganda they consume online to resenting, and being afraid of, the opposite sex. But she doesn’t ask how an entire generation’s sexuality, which is inextricable from one’s identity, became confusing and foreign to them.

In this post I summarize the article then explain what’s missing.

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I’m not the first person to stop Trusting Le Plan. Many former Plan Trusters became Democrats or started urging Republicans to vote for Democrats out of spite. That’s retarded and completely against my best interests.

But I’ve been thinking about those interests. I’ve been asking myself which principles would force me to vote for one party over another.

I’ve witnessed the meaning of “left wing” and “right wing” flip several times. When I was a kid, I thought of Republicans as religious PTA moms who wanted to slap a Parental Advisory sticker on every CD that contained a curse word. Now it’s mostly Democrats who advocate for censorship.

The left used to be generally pacifist and the right more hawkish. Now both sides will support foreign wars depending on whether or not Trump supports it.

If the definition of a concept is fluid, then it means nothing. It doesn’t make sense to claim you’re right wing if the meaning of “right wing” can completely reverse in just a few years.

You could define right wing as “not left wing.” However, if the right elects someone to weaken the left, but he doesn’t, and the right continues to blindly support him anyway — then this definition means nothing.

For many Democrats, being left wing means opposing the orange and racist pedophile, Donald Trump, even when he’s acting in my best interests.

For many Republicans, being right wing means worshipping my Lord and Savior, Donald Trump, even when he’s acting against my best interests.

That isn’t right wing. That’s being a cheerleader, a propagandist, and a slave.

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Before we begin, here are some of my favorites. Enjoy 🤍

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Consider becoming a Founding Member for full access to The Twitter Vault.

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Enjoy 🤍

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My biggest post has 314K likes, my 100th biggest post has 15K likes.

Before we begin, here are a few of my favorites:

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