Volition was originally launched in 2022 to run interviews with people whose careers I admired. To learn about how they switched between different kinds of work, learned new skills, and flexed their agency.

These episodes will continue to be available in the podcast history but with this episode the podcast is relaunching with a new focus. I recently started a new writing project, Skillful Notes, which investigates how people, organisations, and countries build competence. Going forward Volition will host recordings of Skillful Notes essays and case studies, alongside interviews with a mix of scholars who are investigating how we become capable of new things and builders who are becoming more competent in their respective fields.

For this first episode in the new chapter of Volition we'll a recording of the first Skillful Notes essay on Apprenticeship. I hope you like it.

If you have any feedback of any kind please don't hesitate to share.

Show Notes:

(0:18) Michael’s languages background

(3:41) How Latin operates as a gateway drug for appreciating the general structure of language

(6:50) Why philology is the atomic element of historiography

(8:26) How Michael sent a letter to every federal minister in Canada

(14:48) The dangerous and precarious dynamics of a life in policy

(19:08) Anything the government says or does is technically policy and all policy has both an operational and a political aspect

(20:10) The artefacts of policy work

(25:30) Michael’s connection with Nassim Taleb and an argument for how we should think about multiculturalism in the context of history.

(35:44) How this connection led on to a connection with Tom Holland

(38:11) Expanding our knowledge of history as the route to better understanding of a broader multiculturalism

(39:36) Spengler and how a historian can remain truthful but still say interesting things

(45:28) The vision of the Sassanian empire as the continuation of the Near Eastern tradition of civilisation

(50:34) Michael’s new book In Defence of Civilisation

(58:38) The foundations of civilisation evidenced in old kingdom Egypt: Clarity, Beauty, and Order

(1:05:14) Homer as the preservation of a high culture that was no longer present

(1:15:30) How our subjectivity has triumphed over our sense of a universal humanity

(1:20:54) How relativity, and chaos theory have affected art

(1:23:41) China’s present day attempt to recapture civilisation through a return to Confucianism

References made in this episode:
- Michael’s personal site. He’s also active on Twitter
- Jason Kenney, a Canadian conservative leader and the former premier of Alberta
- Nassim Taleb, the cantankerous defender of statistical accuracy and the author of The Black Swan
- The infamous Mary Beard Tweet, Taleb’s response and Michael’s article on the topic
- Oswald Spengler and The Decline of the West. This lecture gives a great summary
- Michael’s most recent book The Last Empire of Iran and his next book In Defence of Civilisation (set for release in April 2023) here’s a teaser Michael released

Show Notes:

(3:40) That time that Justin printed off a copy of pipe bomb plans

(7:30) What is what like living in an Oil & Gas town and what drove Justin to leave

(11:52) How and why Justin set up a tech newsletter for Vernon

(15:32) The joys of working in co-working space

(18:09) How to iterate into creating a coworking space

(20:05) Conservatives love talk radio

(23:08) The sheer joy of getting to broadcast on the internet

(28:05) All the intricacies of being creative before the internet

(30:38) Why and how good businesses have “margin”. How Justin builds breathing room into his day-to-day

(33:11) How this idea of margin influenced Transistor’s decision to avoid getting into the ads business

(39:25) Avoiding crypto cult dynamics

(41:55) Keeping your head straight when the internet is messaging you

(45:57) Everyone is susceptible to cults of personality we should be constantly skeptical of them

(48:59) How we should try and bring scientific thought more into our everyday conversations

(49:32) The internet is a great magnifier but it is not necessarily truth seeking

References made in this episode:
- https://transistor.fm/ the only place to distribute your podcast
- It Might Never Go Away, be careful when you put something on the internet. You never know what it’s full life might be
- You can’t find usenet groups today (or maybe you can but I’m not sure how) but to get the vibe of Alt 2600 check out this MIT site
- A dot matrix printer in action (link)
- Vernon, BC
- Stony Plain, AB
- Kalamalka Lake, truly stunning
- BioWare, the makers of some of the most glorious story-based games including Star Wars: The Old Republic and Mass Effect
- 630 Ched and CBC
- Ham Radio, the amateurs entry point to the world of broadcasting before
- Unfortunately I was unable to find a copy of Superhero High School. Hopefully, one day it will reemerge
- Good Businesses Have Margin
- The Transistor Handbook and Values something to aspire to as a set of principles for your company