Robert Lin
@robertl.in
3.4K followers 530 following 2K posts
One day, my tweets are all I'll leave behind. Building #atproto stuff in public bc I believe in an open web. 🧬 robertl.in/xna 📝 robertlin.substack.com 🕰️ @now.robertl.in 📜 @history.robertl.in 🦋 Joined: Feb 6, 2024 📍 Cincinnati, Ohio - USA 🍄 Chaga
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Loved doing this w/ @codenprose.bsky.social!🥳

Notes:
0. Omg, I ramble A LOT. I apologize! Pls listen to this on 2x.😅

1. Paraphrasing @jay.bsky.team: "Today's [Substack] could be tmr's adversary." Curation's the next big thing. Whoever who builds SS on top of @atproto.com will become a millionaire!
Robert Lin
If you feel lost, laugh and create
open.substack.com
8. Ideas live in a whole ecosystem unto themselves. When an idea grabs you, you'll know it. It requires no intentionally.

9. "Death of culture" is nonsense. Movies may be insipid now but look at TV shows! We're in Peak TV right now. Also, things are totally random. (Rao's wife example ab Masters.)
7. @jdahl.bsky.social: "Do we create or discover ideas?"

@nayafia.bsky.social: "Neither! We (humans) are *infected* by ideas. I subscribe to a 'microbiome version' of ideas. We are merely the *hosts* of ideas that infect us. We have little agency what ideas move us or how heavily they grab us."
6. "Mimetic Galapagos" - in the "global town square" ppl who tweet often already know each other! Yes, there may not be formal coordination, but it's a "loosely organized cabal" of ppl affirming each other to present the perception there's broad consensus. In reality, they're not independent actors!
Thu-Oct 16, 2025

“...it’s who I am—it’s all I am. I’ve alienated everyone in my life, and I’ve pushed everyone else away. But it didn’t matter because I could always count on the men upstairs. But now they’re gone, and I have no one.”

Domestic Violets (2011) - @thenormannation.bsky.social
Thursday - October 16, 2025

“I don’t even remember what it’s like not to be a writer. It’s who I am—it’s all I am. I’ve alienated everyone in my life, and I’ve pushed everyone else away. But it didn’t matter because I could always count on the men upstairs. But now they’re gone, and I have no one.”

Brandon is listening now, and I can see him looking at me, wondering how Curtis could say this to his own son, that he has no one. But I know that he’s right. The most important people in this man’s life—the people who have mattered to him most—aren’t my mother or his wives or me or Anna or Allie. The people who matter most are the people in his head. That is loneliness.

Domestic Violets (2011) - Matthew Norman
5. "There's now so much to pay attention to. So we pay attention to more things but at a shallower level. Quality control declined. People are just grabbing a meme without deeply interrogating it+mindlessly passing it along."

We spread ideas bc they move us in way (eg. confirm our biases/beliefs).
4. "Stories are a vessel/marketing gimmick for ideas. The fun part's figuring out how to effectively transmit an idea. Biodiversity of ideas is critical. Dark forests/cozyweb is abdicating the commons+are dangerous. The tension between these two spaces is evolving. The enabling tech is very recent."
Watched 100 Meters with the crew last night. Really enjoyed it! (After we watched Demon Slayers last month, I've gotten anime-pilled! 😄)

"There's one very simple rule in this world: Running the 100m faster than anyone else can solve almost anything."
100 METERS | Official Trailer - In Theatres October 10
YouTube video by GKIDS Films
youtu.be
3. "The Girardian scapegoat is an individual or group chosen by a society to absorb its tensions & redirect collective violence towards, thereby restoring social order and stability. This mechanism works by creating a single, unified target for a community's conflict." (Summary from Google Gemini.)
Notes:
1. "At every org I've been at, my title/role has simply been to be a @nayafia.bsky.social".

2. Taboos are antimemes. They have a "social penalty drag coefficient" that slows their spread (eg. Curtis Yarvin). Antimemes are useful bc they act as a shibboleth to identify your tribe. Test ppl!
Nadia Asparouhova - Ideas that Infect - Antimemetics, Attention, Ideas, and Action | Dialectic 22
YouTube video by Dialectic Podcast with Jackson Dahl
youtu.be
Wed-Oct 15, 2025

My father is staring up sadly at the big, tangerine-colored building. “How could this be? I played darts with Allen Ginsberg here.”

“Who?” asks Brandon.

Domestic Violets (2011) - @thenormannation.bsky.social
Wednesday - October 15, 2025

“Don’t be an ass, Brandon,” says Curtis. “They didn’t change the West End. They’d never be allowed to do that.”

“I think he might be right, Dad,” I say.

He waves us both away, two stupid kids, but it doesn’t matter. Once a troop of marching academics and writers has its orders, there’s no turning back, even as those of us in the front see the bright orange awning growing closer and closer. No one wants to say anything when we actually get there.

“What in the holy shit?” asks Curtis.

“See, Pulitzer, what I’d tell you?”

Sonya shushes her son.

My father is staring up sadly at the big, tangerine-colored building. “How could this be? I played darts with Allen Ginsberg here.”

“Who?” asks Brandon.

A chalkboard sign by the door advertises CREDIT CRISIS SPECIAL: MOJITOS 2 FOR 1! “What in the hell is a mojito?”

Domestic Violets (2011) - Matthew Norman
Tue-Oct 14, 2025

“Exactly,” said Dumbledore, beaming once more. “Which makes you very different from Tom Riddle. It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.”

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (1998) - J.K. Rowling
Tuesday - October 14, 2025

“It only put me in Gryffindor,” said Harry in a defeated voice, “because I asked not to go in Slytherin. . . .”

“Exactly,” said Dumbledore, beaming once more. “Which makes you very different from Tom Riddle. It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.” Harry sat motionless in his chair, stunned. “If you want proof, Harry, that you belong in Gryffindor, I suggest you look more closely at this.”

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (1998) - J.K. Rowling
Notes:
1. Jamie Dimon: "You could drive a truck thru accounting rules. Fortress balance sheet."

2. On buying Bear Stearns & then later being sued by the US gov: "I would not trust the US gov again. From one admin to another, they don't care what the previous admin may've promised or committed to."
The Jamie Dimon Interview: How JP Morgan Became an $800 Billion Bank
YouTube video by Acquired
youtu.be
Mon-Oct 13, 2025

“There are all kinds of courage,” said Dumbledore, smiling. “It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends. I therefore award ten points to Mr. Neville Longbottom.”

Harry Potter & the Sorcerer’s Stone (1997) - J.K. Rowling
Monday - October 13, 2025

Dumbledore raised his hand. The room gradually fell silent.

“There are all kinds of courage,” said Dumbledore, smiling. “It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends. I therefore award ten points to Mr. Neville Longbottom.”

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (1997) - J.K. Rowling
7. I ❤️ social media. To me, it embodies the spirit of the original internet. We're all connected by a "red thread"—you never know whom your post/skoot will reach when you launch it into the ether. At just the right moment, just the right person may read your words+be inspired/find courage. Be fate.
6. My ideal social media experience is if I had a simple BUILT-IN way to filter posts to be only from users w/ only < X followers or 0-1 likes/replies. Idc ab seeing big accounts. I want a "fat middle" on social networks, something to fight power law effects for a more evenly distributed ecosystem.
5. My personal site's a temple to me!🥳 Every book I've ever read, movie I've ever watched, person I've ever interacted w/ is on robertl.in! The idea's to give a single unifying place for all my various experiments: fiction writing, art, @threejs.org tinkering, essays; all there for ppl to find me!!🎉
4. As @jasonkpargin.bsky.social has observed, "the young blood of today think of FB [& other app] icons on their phone as 'the internet'. They don't know what bookmarks/URLs even are." I think getting ppl to navigate to aggregator sites is a heavy lift in 2025 unless you're HN/already established.
3. Everyone wants to own "top-of-funnel" rn. Ergo, the sudden explosion of social networks atm: Robinhood/Substack Notes/Sora2. No company in their right mind's going to trust Zuck/Elon for their traffic. Whoever builds a social layer that unifies all these fiefdoms on @atproto.com will become rich!
2. I have colleagues who are always renovating their homes. I have no actual physical IRL skills though so I fiddle with my website instead!! (Ergonomics of ctrl-z also remain undefeated!!💪) "Help people find you." and also: "To meet other interesting ppl, you need to first be interesting yourself."
Loved doing this w/ @codenprose.bsky.social!🥳

Notes:
0. Omg, I ramble A LOT. I apologize! Pls listen to this on 2x.😅

1. Paraphrasing @jay.bsky.team: "Today's [Substack] could be tmr's adversary." Curation's the next big thing. Whoever who builds SS on top of @atproto.com will become a millionaire!
Robert Lin
If you feel lost, laugh and create
open.substack.com
Sun-Oct 12, 2025

“Remember Cedric. Remember, if a time should come when you have to make a choice between what is right and what is easy, remember what happened to a boy who was good, and kind, and brave... Remember Cedric Diggory.”

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2000) - J.K. Rowling
Sunday - October 12, 2025

“It is my belief — and never have I so hoped that I am mistaken — that we are all facing dark and difficult times… A week ago, a student was taken from our midst.

“Remember Cedric. Remember, if a time should come when you have to make a choice between what is right and what is easy, remember what happened to a boy who was good, and kind, and brave, because he strayed across the path of Lord Voldemort. Remember Cedric Diggory.”

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2000) - J.K. Rowling
TY for posting this! I think it's a fair Q and I've also wondered as well. I like X when I've used it periodically (eg. It's how I learned ab pSEO).

I definitely think X is important in that it exposes what a substantial contingent of ppl do actually believe. I do think it's influencing ppl.
Sat-Oct 11, 2025

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.

Pride and Prejudice (1813) - Jane Austen
Saturday - October 11, 2025

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.

However little known the feelings or views of such a man may be on his first entering a neighbourhood, this truth is so well fixed in the minds of the surrounding families, that he is considered the rightful property of some one or other of their daughters.

Pride and Prejudice (1813) - Jane Austen
Fri-Oct 10, 2025

Somewhere along the way, men all got together and agreed that we’d all pretend not to understand women. For the most part, this is bullshit.

Domestic Violets (2011) - @thenormannation.bsky.social
Friday - October 10, 2025

Somewhere along the way, men all got together and agreed that we’d all pretend not to understand women. For the most part, this is bullshit. Right now, as the first signs of hurt betray this façade of feminist anger, I know that she’s interpreted what I just said as me telling her that she’s not good-looking . . . or at least not as good-looking as Katie. But I’m so mad at her that I let her keep thinking it.

Domestic Violets (2011) - Matthew Norman
Ik plummeting TFR is a huge concern atm. (Population collapse, entire countries disappearing inside a century, etc.) Idk where the state of science currently is but someone should work on a surefire way to induce twins (maybe through IVF?🤔)—childbirth could be more efficient! 2+ kids per pregnancy!!