The State of Culture in 2024 | Ted Gioia | How I Write Podcast

Ted Gioia thinks our culture is stagnant. Algorithms have us addicted to distraction, Hollywood's out of creative ideas, and people don't read hard books like they used to. 16 lessons about writing and breaking free from dopamine culture: 1. Ted's golden rule for writing: "Always be honest." 2. Three questions to ask yourself when critiquing something: Is it fair? Is it accurate? Will this be persuasive to all fair-minded observers? 3. Struggling as a non-fiction writer? Become an expert in something first. 4. Read slowly. 5. Success won't always come quickly. Ted's career is just now taking off — 50 years after he started writing for publication. 6. People will judge you on your outputs, but you should focus on your inputs. For Ted, that means reading mind-expanding books and listening to music. He does both for 2 hours per day. Then, he writes. 7. What kind of books should you read? Ted says: "Read for mind-expansion, not entertainment, and seek out challenging books." 8. Wondering which book to read? Think of books like drugs and pick up the one that'll give you the greatest out-of-body experience. 9. Do you struggle with writer's block? Do this: (1) buy a blank journal that only you will see, (2) write about something that happened at the end of every day — but there's one rule... you have to be 100% honest, (3) do this every day for a month, and (4) sit back and read what you've written at the end of the month. You'll be surprised by how much good stuff you have. 10. Your high school English teacher was right about this one... write in the margins of your books. 11. After you finish a book, summarize it in your own words. Helps with retention. Think summaries are too time-consuming? If just spent 10 hours reading the book, devoting another hour to synthesizing it is a relatively good time investment. 10-to-1 ratio. 12. Why is our culture stagnant? Consumer brands are increasingly old standbys. Look at video games. Minecraft (launched in 2011), Call of Duty (2003), Grand Theft Auto (1997), Madden NFL (1988), and Super Mario Bros (1985). 13. How about another example? The comic book market driven by the same brand franchises that were dominant in the 60s and 70s. All of the top 20 bestsellers are from Marvel or DC Comics, which were founded in the 1930s. 14. Want a third? Hollywood sequels. They're everywhere now. Top Gun, Spider-Man, John Wick, Mission: Impossible. 15. Music is like cloud storage for societies. That's why the historians in traditional communities were usually singers. Music preserves culture and folklore. 16. Consume old stuff when you're young and new stuff when you're old. This is the opposite of what most people do. Ted is the most well-read person I've met in years. You name it. He's read the book or listened to the album. This guy knows the Western canon.

Ted's Substack is fantastic.

A very, very good conversation - and kudos to both participants that it is a conversation and not just an interview. It goes to a lot of places and is guaranteed to make any intelligent person think and maybe even get inspired. Thank you!

OMG can’t believe you got Ted Gioia on the show! I’ve loved his books for years and what he’s doing on Substack now. One of my favorite writers alive, and definitely my favorite writing style. I dream to write like him someday and honor to the craft full-time.

I first learned of Ted from his first interview on Rick Beato's YT page and have received his newsletters since. Now, he was just on Beato's page for a second interview and now on David's page! Thinking independently is still a good thing!

We all know that Ted is an intellectual. But this interviewer is super bright, super well prepared. It is heartening to see someone from a younger generation being so old worldly erudite. I am thoroughly impressed. This young man is going places.

Wow, I hadn’t heard of Ted but only 10% in and I’m hooked. Thank you David.

Inspiring conversation. Thanks so much David for curating and Ted for sharing so much wisdom on the many different facets of this conversation. Ted becoming a mystic..sounds about right..hahaha. Lots of wisdom from this man.

Ted is a genius - watching now!

Fantastic interview. Am a big fan of Ted; he’s the intellectual we sorely need in today’s culture.

Love his substack. The State of Culture 2024 was so good. I’m still thinking about consuming “Distraction.”

I'm not even 4 minutes in and oh my god, I'm so thankful to hear y'all talking about a more maximal style of writing. I love writing, and I can't stand cutting out so much because of how ADD friendly it feels like I need to make it...

Thank you both for this interview.

The news is always breaking, our phones are constantly pinging, and social media feeds have no end. We're trapped in a Never-Ending Now. We think to ourselves: "Yesterday's news is old news, so focus on the present." But this is a dangerous idea. If you're not careful, you'll devote all your consumption time to present things while ignoring the wisdom of history and the marvels of civilization. Some highlights from the interview: • There's always a flavor of the month and a flavor of the week or the thing happening now. And if you try to build on that, it collapses because those things never survive. You must seek out the timeless. You must renew your mind on the timeless truths. That's why I spend a lot of time with these old books. They're my firm anchor. • I had a professor once who taught me Milton and Dante and medieval and renaissance literature. And he told me once, Ted, I don't read any book written after 1900 because it hasn't proven itself yet. The funny thing is, I was like that for a long time. Maybe I was like 1940 or 1950, but I had this idea that I didn't want to invest in a book until it had proven its benefits to generations of readers. • If something has given wisdom to generations of readers for hundreds of years, I should open myself to that experience.

Honestly, I think this is the best interview I have even seen. I'm even more impressed by Ted's knowledge and David's ability to make difficult topics translate into easy conversations. Thanks a lot!

Beautiful chat—full of rich insights into becoming an authentic writer who has depth and substance to offer. Key takeaways: 1. How the name of "honest broker" came about: a example of how seemingly weird incidents and experiences in life turn into nuggets. 2. Input (what and how much you read) matters to your output. 3. Brutally honest journaling is the way to regain touch with the true self. This also happens to be a rare podcast where the host doesn't directly tell you to like or subscribe--and you end up doing just that.

I didn't know about Ted's existence at all. What a remarkable human being, in every sense. And what a gift to receive his wisdom at this point in my writing career, just about to start, but with enough life experience to not buy into dopamine culture's view on writing. TY for bringing this gem of an interview to us. It's helped A LOT with the issues I'm currently struggling with. TY TY 🙏🏼

I didn't know Ted before this episode... What an interesting guy! One of my favourite episodes. As always, thanks David. Your hosting is always the best. Keep it up 💪

This was great! Love Ted’s substack, and this interview was awesome, incredibly insightful. Thank you 🙏🏽

This is fantastic. I have never felt more like a slacker than I do now. Thank you for the time and thought you put into this.