A random commenter called my post âai slop.â Obviously, thatâs nonsensical given that I wrote the first draft with pen-and-paperâand the first draft is nearly identical to the final draft.
But thatâs how Noise works. Itâs random.
At least, on the surface it is. Look deeper, though, and you see it points directly at the money.
Not because this commenter is a future customer; he likely isnât. But heâs useful for a far more important reason: he tells me exactly what content I need to be posting to speak to those who *will* become customers.
When you look past the Noise and the Spectators, you see that my online business *solves problems* for human beings.
Donât be too attached to that language. I wince a little at it myself, because the connotations are messy. But thereâs something useful about it, so letâs run with it.
Solves. Problems.
Noise. Spectators. Latent Leads.
Hereâs the facts:
Spectators donât want you to solve their problems. The notion that theyâre here to be *changed* is absurd to them. Offensive, even. Theyâre here to kick back and relax. To watch their story while they eat dinner.
Thatâs fineâlet them.
But donât take their comments literally. Ninety-nine percent of the time, those comments are motivated by guilt over passive consumption. They *want* to be better, but theyâre not ready yet.
Thatâs fineâwe all spectate at something or other.
Noise, on the other hand, is deeply dissatisfied. It wants change. And it wants *you* to be the vehicle.
It does not matter what the comment says, for the comment is Noise. What matters is only your reaction to the Noise.
The normal advice is block, ignore, delete (and whatever you do, DONâT REPLY).
But in the temple, Noise is sacred, and must *always* be replied to.
Thatâs where the money comes from, after all. The thing worth paying for.
That doesnât mean you must use the âreplyâ feature in the app; thatâs a separate matter. But you will *never* get the money as long as youâre ignoring the things that matter to you.
Ignore the Spectators, not the Noise.
The Spectators are the ones who are so wracked with guilt that theyâll say anythingâANYTHINGâto make themselves feel like Good People for consuming your content. Just ignore them. Let them wrestle with their own conscience.
Your job is only to use the Noise to generate Signal so that the Latent Leads know where to go. Theyâre the only ones who matter. The ones youâre building for.
Theyâre frustrated. Youâre not giving them *enough*. Theyâre the Swifties. Their comments are filled with urgency because they *actually want a response*.
The Spectators donât. Once they comment, the books are balanced on their end and any reply beyond âThanks for the comment!â is just making more work for them.
But the Latent Leads would feel *hurt* if you thanked them.
The way Ralphie was hurt when the secret message was revealed to be âBe sure to drink your Ovaltine!â
Because he was in it to win it.
He didnât care about Ovaltine; he felt no obligation towards the company. He was not a Spectatorâhe was a Latent Lead. And they blew it. They pushed chocolate milk and forgot all about Little Orphan Annie.
But Ralphie didnât forget. He *couldnât*. His miserable life wouldnât let him.
The creator must work only with negative space, as a sculptor does when carving a block of marble.
Itâs tempting to sculpt the positive spaceâto say the thing you want your audience to hear, or to think, or to believe, or whatever.
But this is only arrogance. Youâre not separate from your audience and cannot âinfluenceâ them. All you can do is react to themâto let them influence *you*.
This is where the money comes from.
Not from convincing anyone youâre worth paying, but from getting out of the damn way so that the people who *want* to exploit you can do so unimpeded.
You must sacrifice yourself at the altar of their pain.
That means carving out an intimate relationship with pain, as intimate as the relationship Michelangelo had with the bits of marble that were *not* David. The rest is off-limits.
Only when youâre willing to go THERE will they pay.
When I see fart jokes, I get excited. Because it means my work *didnât* land, and thatâs exactly how I want it. I means my persona was read as âarrogant, authoritarian schoolteacherâ rather than âchill, non-threatening YouTuber.â
Iâve been chillâitâs an easy gig. I can be âone of the guysâ no problem. Thatâs the default and Iâm good at it. But that would be underachieving for a brain like mine.
So that puts me in an awkward spot. Itâs the spot a judge is in when he puts on the black robe. Suddenly, heâs a hard-ass. But whatâs the alternative?
No robe â people go âwait, whoâs this guy?â
Heâs the Judge: the guy confident enough to wear the robe and pretend thatâs all he is. Because he knows just how bad it can get.
But donât think he doesnât enjoy it when an arrogant clown talks back to him. Heâd be a lousy judge otherwise. The clown is proof the robe *worked.* Just like the fart joke is proof the formalism worked.
No one makes fart jokes in an environment where they feel safe and respected. Itâs not a âha ha, letâs all laugh togetherâ kind of joke.
And thatâs exactly what Iâm looking for.
The joke is a sign that I âwent THEREââI put my brainpower on display. Just for an instant. Not enough to win a Nobel prize, but enough for someoneâs alarm to go off. For them to say âoh shit, he said something I donât understand.â
This stuff isnât *supposed* to be easy. Itâs dense and theoretical. And for better or worse, thatâs why Iâm into it. You donât get a masterâs degree in cryptography and then do YouTube social dynamics the ânormalâ way.
No, you build a temple. You declare yourself the priest. And you take it seriously, as seriously as a mathematical proof or a software build. And it either checks out or it doesnât. Thatâs where you fix your gaze. Right THERE.
Because your influenceâand the money they pay youâis only as good as your willingness to go THERE. To the place where the proof is all that matters, and the clown just means they hear you down below.
Religion is based on arbitrary faith in the unseen. But the temple is deliberately modeled on the work itself.
It could be a piano technique, a meditation instruction, a marketing exercise, whatever. The axioms are chosen and the protocol is defined. You don't have to 'believe in' anything, but if you want to operate within the system, you have to play by the rules of the game.
If formalisms make you uncomfortableâif they seem 'religious' to youâthat's likely because you're used to environments that prioritize social comfort over precision.
Michael Korman
A random commenter called my post âai slop.â Obviously, thatâs nonsensical given that I wrote the first draft with pen-and-paperâand the first draft is nearly identical to the final draft.
But thatâs how Noise works. Itâs random.
At least, on the surface it is. Look deeper, though, and you see it points directly at the money.
Not because this commenter is a future customer; he likely isnât. But heâs useful for a far more important reason: he tells me exactly what content I need to be posting to speak to those who *will* become customers.
When you look past the Noise and the Spectators, you see that my online business *solves problems* for human beings.
Donât be too attached to that language. I wince a little at it myself, because the connotations are messy. But thereâs something useful about it, so letâs run with it.
Solves. Problems.
Noise. Spectators. Latent Leads.
Hereâs the facts:
Spectators donât want you to solve their problems. The notion that theyâre here to be *changed* is absurd to them. Offensive, even. Theyâre here to kick back and relax. To watch their story while they eat dinner.
Thatâs fineâlet them.
But donât take their comments literally. Ninety-nine percent of the time, those comments are motivated by guilt over passive consumption. They *want* to be better, but theyâre not ready yet.
Thatâs fineâwe all spectate at something or other.
Noise, on the other hand, is deeply dissatisfied. It wants change. And it wants *you* to be the vehicle.
And yetâŚitâs Noise.
Sit with that for a minute or two. Let it hurt.
It points directly at the money.
36 minutes ago | [YT] | 2
View 2 replies
Michael Korman
It does not matter what the comment says, for the comment is Noise. What matters is only your reaction to the Noise.
The normal advice is block, ignore, delete (and whatever you do, DONâT REPLY).
But in the temple, Noise is sacred, and must *always* be replied to.
Thatâs where the money comes from, after all.
The thing worth paying for.
That doesnât mean you must use the âreplyâ feature in the app; thatâs a separate matter. But you will *never* get the money as long as youâre ignoring the things that matter to you.
Ignore the Spectators, not the Noise.
The Spectators are the ones who are so wracked with guilt that theyâll say anythingâANYTHINGâto make themselves feel like Good People for consuming your content. Just ignore them. Let them wrestle with their own conscience.
Your job is only to use the Noise to generate Signal so that the Latent Leads know where to go. Theyâre the only ones who matter. The ones youâre building for.
Theyâre frustrated. Youâre not giving them *enough*. Theyâre the Swifties. Their comments are filled with urgency because they *actually want a response*.
The Spectators donât. Once they comment, the books are balanced on their end and any reply beyond âThanks for the comment!â is just making more work for them.
But the Latent Leads would feel *hurt* if you thanked them.
The way Ralphie was hurt when the secret message was revealed to be âBe sure to drink your Ovaltine!â
Because he was in it to win it.
He didnât care about Ovaltine; he felt no obligation towards the company. He was not a Spectatorâhe was a Latent Lead. And they blew it. They pushed chocolate milk and forgot all about Little Orphan Annie.
But Ralphie didnât forget. He *couldnât*. His miserable life wouldnât let him.
Trust the misery.
17 hours ago | [YT] | 8
View 1 reply
Michael Korman
The creator must work only with negative space, as a sculptor does when carving a block of marble.
Itâs tempting to sculpt the positive spaceâto say the thing you want your audience to hear, or to think, or to believe, or whatever.
But this is only arrogance. Youâre not separate from your audience and cannot âinfluenceâ them. All you can do is react to themâto let them influence *you*.
This is where the money comes from.
Not from convincing anyone youâre worth paying, but from getting out of the damn way so that the people who *want* to exploit you can do so unimpeded.
You must sacrifice yourself at the altar of their pain.
That means carving out an intimate relationship with pain, as intimate as the relationship Michelangelo had with the bits of marble that were *not* David. The rest is off-limits.
Only when youâre willing to go THERE will they pay.
21 hours ago | [YT] | 12
View 2 replies
Michael Korman
When I see fart jokes, I get excited. Because it means my work *didnât* land, and thatâs exactly how I want it. I means my persona was read as âarrogant, authoritarian schoolteacherâ rather than âchill, non-threatening YouTuber.â
Iâve been chillâitâs an easy gig. I can be âone of the guysâ no problem. Thatâs the default and Iâm good at it. But that would be underachieving for a brain like mine.
So that puts me in an awkward spot. Itâs the spot a judge is in when he puts on the black robe. Suddenly, heâs a hard-ass. But whatâs the alternative?
No robe â people go âwait, whoâs this guy?â
Heâs the Judge: the guy confident enough to wear the robe and pretend thatâs all he is. Because he knows just how bad it can get.
But donât think he doesnât enjoy it when an arrogant clown talks back to him. Heâd be a lousy judge otherwise. The clown is proof the robe *worked.* Just like the fart joke is proof the formalism worked.
No one makes fart jokes in an environment where they feel safe and respected. Itâs not a âha ha, letâs all laugh togetherâ kind of joke.
And thatâs exactly what Iâm looking for.
The joke is a sign that I âwent THEREââI put my brainpower on display. Just for an instant. Not enough to win a Nobel prize, but enough for someoneâs alarm to go off. For them to say âoh shit, he said something I donât understand.â
This stuff isnât *supposed* to be easy. Itâs dense and theoretical. And for better or worse, thatâs why Iâm into it. You donât get a masterâs degree in cryptography and then do YouTube social dynamics the ânormalâ way.
No, you build a temple. You declare yourself the priest. And you take it seriously, as seriously as a mathematical proof or a software build. And it either checks out or it doesnât. Thatâs where you fix your gaze. Right THERE.
Because your influenceâand the money they pay youâis only as good as your willingness to go THERE. To the place where the proof is all that matters, and the clown just means they hear you down below.
1 day ago | [YT] | 12
View 4 replies
Michael Korman
How much would you pay to leave such a comment?
$2?
$11?
$100?
What would you sacrifice?
A blueberry muffin?
A month of internet access?
A computer keyboard?
Would you want these words engraved on your tombstone?
Some variation on them?
Go ahead, you can make an edit.
Just one, though.
One.
2 days ago | [YT] | 51
View 13 replies
Michael Korman
Ah, the truth comes out. This was never about your budget.
Itâs about the fact that Iâm using YouTube shorts as a platform for serious business at all, rather than whatever youâre using it for.
6 days ago | [YT] | 20
View 13 replies
Michael Korman
It's not a religion. It's a formalism.
Religion is based on arbitrary faith in the unseen. But the temple is deliberately modeled on the work itself.
It could be a piano technique, a meditation instruction, a marketing exercise, whatever. The axioms are chosen and the protocol is defined. You don't have to 'believe in' anything, but if you want to operate within the system, you have to play by the rules of the game.
If formalisms make you uncomfortableâif they seem 'religious' to youâthat's likely because you're used to environments that prioritize social comfort over precision.
1 week ago | [YT] | 46
View 37 replies
Michael Korman
If youâre waiting to grow a third hand before making an attempt at the work, you've already decided to be a spectator.
Music doesnât care about your anatomy.
It only concerns itself with the necessity of sound.
1 week ago | [YT] | 34
View 28 replies
Michael Korman
The "nat geo" perspective is comfort for the tourist. It attempts to frame a YouTube channel as a specimen safely locked behind glass.
But here, there are no spectators.
There are only participants and those who offer themselves as raw material to be enjoyed by the participants.
1 week ago | [YT] | 7
View 0 replies
Michael Korman
Boring: Your comment saying "What did I just stumble upon".
Not Boring: Trying to decide whether hesitating after drawing a quotation mark counts as a 'mistake' while writing with pen + paper.
1 week ago (edited) | [YT] | 0
View 2 replies
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