What I do, plus too much fun
Meaningness is David Chapman's Substack newsletter, blog, and podcast. I write and speak about:
Understanding meaning, purpose, and culture through resolving fundamental, unthought emotional stances that can make us miserable
Leveling up technical work by going beyond formal rationality
Vajrayana, the life-affirming branch of Buddhism, offering a vaster, brighter, freer way of seeing, feeling, and acting
Artificial intelligence (I have a PhD in it)
I usually post at most once per week, and at least once per month, although occasionally I break those rules.
If you use the Substack app to subscribe, you’ll see my more frequent, shorter Notes on diverse topics.
Paid subscriptions
The main reason for a paid subscription is to support, encourage, and show appreciation for what I do.
You also get paid-only content—as one way of saying “thank you!” I am motivated to write mainly by reader appreciation. Reciprocally, I really do appreciate support and encouragement, whether financial or verbal!
Most of my posts are free, but I paywall a few:
Sometimes I paywall the second half of long serious posts, which may remind you of value received if you find them engrossing.
I also sometimes paywall posts that are too much fun, or sometimes quite odd! Those are just thank-yous for paying subscribers.
I aim for at least one paid post per month. These may include:
Exclusive new material, produced just for paying subscribers
Previews: pretty-much-finished versions of things I expect to make public a month or more later
Rough versions of things I hope will be public eventually, but that still need work; suggestions for improvements welcome!
Outtakes: bits of large projects that didn't fit, so I removed them, although they're interesting or amusing
Why $8 per month (or $80 per year)?
I have no idea! Those were the default prices in the Substack interface when I turned on paid subscriptions. They probably know what they are doing.
I am a true fan, and would like to give more than $80 per year!
I am deeply grateful for your generosity. You can be a Rabid Supporter and pay any amount more than $80. (There's an arbitrary default, which you can ignore.)
If you are already a paid subscriber, you can change your existing subscription plan to a Rabid one. Instructions here; they refer to Rabid Supporters as “founding members.”
$8 seems like too much!
I'm sorry! Most posts are free, so you won't miss much by not being a paid member.
If you appreciate my work and would like to support it in other ways, you could send links to your friends, post recommendations on social media, or make thoughtful comments on any of the sites.
My other sites (to read more stuff like what’s here)
Most of what I wrote before 2024 is elsewhere. Starting in 2024, I publish new writing here instead.
The other sites are online books-in-progress, not blogs. They include:
Meta-rationality, leveling up technical work by going beyond formal rationality, taking into account contexts and purposes.
Meaningness, about better ways of relating with meaning and meaninglessness; self and society; ethics, purpose, and value.
Vividness, an invitation to a vaster, brighter, freer way of seeing, feeling, and acting, via Vajrayana Buddhism.
Buddhism for Vampires, the same again, but in the form of a vampire romance novel.
Better without AI, exploring technical risks of artificial intelligence and their possibly disastrous consequences. This book is complete, with paperback and Kindle editions available.
