Guest
Podcast 2021-09-23

Nick Gillespie || Libertarianism, Soft Parenting, and Cancel Culture

with Guest

Today it’s great to have Nick Gillespie on the podcast. Nick is a libertarian journalist who is currently an editor at large at Reason. A two-time finalist for digital National Magazine Awards, Gillespie’s work has appeared in the New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times, The New York […]

Episode Details

Show Notes

Today it’s great to have Nick Gillespie on the podcast. Nick is a libertarian journalist who is currently an editor at large at Reason. A two-time finalist for digital National Magazine Awards, Gillespie’s work has appeared in the New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Post, Slate, Salon, Time.com, Marketplace, and basically any other publication that you’re ever going to read. The Daily Beast named Nick one of “The Right’s Top 25 Journalists”, calling him “clear headed, brainy…among the foremost libertarians in America.”

Topics

  • Reason: “free minds and free markets”
  • What does being a libertarian mean?
  • A critique of American’s intervention in Afghanistan
  • Nick’s childhood and upbringing
  • The values of libertarianism
  • Parallels between Maslow and libertarianism
  • Nick’s pseudonym Mr. Myxzptlk
  • Child-proofing the world
  • How parenting styles and expectations shape children
  • The millennial experience of pressure and self-actualization
  • The paradox of marginalization and acceptance in current society
  • The purpose of cancel culture
  • Canceling people in positions of power

 

Seven core insights

What 11 years of conversation
revealed

  • 01
    Being over DoingThe richness of presence and inner life over constant productivity.
  • 02
    Creativity over EfficiencyMaking space for imagination and originality in a world that prizes optimization.
  • 03
    Self-Actualization over AchievementBecoming the fullest version of yourself, not just reaching the next milestone.
  • 04
    Deep Fulfillment over HappinessPursuing meaning and depth rather than fleeting positive feelings.
  • 05
    Self-TranscendenceGoing beyond the self to serve something larger — the highest expression of human potential.
  • 06
    Meaning & CompassionThe threads that run through every great conversation — purpose, connection, and care.
  • 07
    Human PossibilityThe unwavering belief that every mind is capable of far more than we’ve been told.

About the guest

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Podcast Guest

Keep exploring

11 years of
human possibility

478 episodes exploring creativity, intelligence, well-being, and what it means to be fully human. The archive is yours to explore.