Vibe Shifts and the Art of Existence

Lectures et analyses, January 2025.

Happy end of January! The times are dark, but we read on.

This was supposed to be more of a list of what I read over the past month, but turned into a loosely-interconnected manifesto—the sort of thing I find useful for forcing myself to clarify half-conscious thoughts, but is probably an interminable slog to most everyone else. Hence this table of contents for people who might want to skip to what they’re interested in:

• How I approach thinking about the present

• The gay reasons I wanted to read Foucault’s History of Sexuality, and other stuff I’ve been reading in connection with that

• Straight people problems (sort of)! Featuring Foucault, Plato, and the TikTok relationship guru Jillian Turecki

• Novels by Tony Tulathimutte, ARX-Han, and A. Natasha Joukovsky

• Links to articles, essays, and podcasts I recommend this month