Venkatesh Rao

It really is kinda cute. I’ve now seen this cycle repeat with 5-6 cohorts of young people coming of age 5-6 years apart, starting with my own. It’s tragicomic that human development paths are so predictable. I’ve tried a few times to influence them. It’s basically impossible.

The *only* things I’ve seen steer or accelerate the dev path are: 1. Getting the right kind of romantic partner 2. Significant change in geography *and* everyday social network 3. Significant change in source of income

Working on “educating” people on stuff you’ve picked up 5 minutes ago is a sign of weak convictions. This young man, to the extent he’s not setting up a grift, is not yet radicalized. Frontline evangelism is for the shakily attached. To get those senpai notices for bigger things.

What radicalizes is a traumatizing *choice* that leaves a visible scar you cannot hide. Good seasoned radical leaders try to arrange opportunities to acquire such scars. It’s not the gang tattoo but the thing you do to get it.

The Cobra Kai S3 has an excellent example of such an incident: When Hawk is faced with the choice to break the arm of his once-best-friend Dmitri. What happens next? Watch that truly excellent t show to find out

The medium is the message though. Every cohort faces a different pattern of radicalizing threat dependent on medium. In my coming-of-age time, pre-Internet (graduated high school in 92-93), it was some sort of physical-setting public humiliation. Now it’s often online cancelation

Notice the comfort he appears to take in attaching labels to himself (paleoconservative, Republican values, social conservative, white nationalist). In someone 10 years older, there would be defensive reluctance in accepting labels because by then you’ve learned the cost.

By around 40, even the dimmest person has recognized that labels are like taxes. You want the minimum you can get away with. You certainly don’t celebrate them. But 18-30 or so, they seem like prestigious “free” prizes. Participation trophies.