As it’s Halloween in a few days, I decided to focus on Edgar Allen Poe and the Tell-Tale Heart for this months live session. There’s a reading of Poe’s magnificently unhinged narrator, some philosophical poking about in the darker corners of the human mind, and the somewhat question of whether we’d actually recognise our own self-deception if it slapped us in the face. Given that most of us can barely admit to taking a wrong turn without blaming the sat-nav, I’m not terribly optimistic.

As always, the Q&A descended into a glorious car crash. Careening off the rails into the nature of consciousness, Buddhism, techno feudalism, and my apparently limitless ability to cock up a livestream. I also managed to acquire roughly six months’ worth of future episode ideas, courtesy of some wonderfully enthusiastic listeners (this is all just a thinly veiled plot to farm for ideas).

Huge thanks to everyone who joined in and contributed to the chaos. The recording is below. Come for the philosophy, stay for the increasingly questionable life choices of a man talking nonsense about existential dread at two in the morning.

I run these at 8PM EST on the last Tuesday of every month. Look out for the Substack Live posts that go up a week before the event. The next one is on the 24th of November.

Much love, David x