Read the previous analysis here.
May 15 update: I no longer agree with some conclusions of this post. I have thought of a simpler explanation. Simpler is usually better. I will add that explanation below this paragraph.
Our master persuader’s business model is simple: he sells an assortment of good ideas. Life advice as a service.
If people follow good life advice, it’s not easy to have repeat customers. At some point in his life our master persuader decided he would rather make more money from his customers and damage their lives rather than maximize the probability they follow his own advice. So he works hard to persuade them to follow the opposite of his advice, even as he gives it.
Today, I think this is more likely to be true than what I said in this analysis. I will leave the rest of “Know the Endgame” here for its analysis.
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Here’s another persuasion analysis for the Lobster family. Our genius manipulation mentor posted the first of the Xosts below recently. He then followed up on it later with the subsequent two Xosts.
The negative affect of these posts is innocuous. The reason for this is that they contain useful information, and the apparent purpose of the posts is to communicate that useful information.
Any attempt to help others see why these posts are harmful is liable to run into trouble unless your listener is adept at reading between the lines. The conscious brain interprets this literally, and sees a writer who is trying to help. On initial appearances, this post helps others avoid injuries.
This creates a layer of resistance to understanding the pernicious nature of the post. “He’s just trying to help! Why are you attacking a person who is trying to help?” If you want to fully understand my point, you have to consider a counterfactual.
Considering a counterfactual is a mentally taxing processes and many people don’t do it easily. This works to our master persuader’s advantage. The counterfactual to consider is where a person conveys the same information, but without the damaging elements.
When possible, I attempt to show people what this counterfactual would look like. I remove the damaging elements and replace them with helpful elements. Below is the result of this process for the current example.
Fundamentally the main mechanism of action by which the original version and the counterfactual differ is by subliminal messages and careful word choice. The two versions cause the reader to mentally verbalize what are in essence affirmations about their goals and their future. If you want to fully understand what I mean by this please make sure you understand “Goal Orientation, Perception, and Action.”
Whether our genius persuader uses these subliminal messages intentionally or not, the undeniable effect of those subliminal messages is to damage the lives of the people who read them. It is undeniable, that is, if you are familiar with the articles on my Substack that relate to this important concept.
Whether he does it on purpose or not is a personal opinion for you to decide. My personal opinion is that it is intentional. The reason I believe this is because this genius persuader is remarkably consistent with his application of subliminal messages to his posts.
Additionally, his subliminal messages are often extreme. We are talking about phrases like “you will become a depressed and nihilistic drug addict who loses it all.” It is difficult to put together words like this by accident.
He also has ample motive to explain this behavior. Part of his profit model involves luring people into the alt-coin “crypto casino.” It is impossible to determine if he acquires the same alt coins he encourages followers to buy far in advance at lower and possibly even $0 cost basis.
Everybody intuitively knows that the “crypto casino” gives them negative returns on expected value. It’s just like a regular casino in that regard. People subconsciously know that this is a process that ends with them paying money to the market, even if they don’t admit it to themselves openly.
Our master persuader knows this fact and employs an indirect method to part followers from their monies. He uses subliminal messages and crowd persuasion to encourage readers to aim at and to be subconsciously satisfied by an outcome where they engage in negative-expectation activities.
For example, he has an entire meme complex around proudly declaring that “he is poor” and “he is homeless” which followers gleefully imitate due to the strength of his charisma. I am entirely aware that there is a technicality whereby he is not “actually” saying that, but this is where your knowledge of “The You who is not your Thoughts” and “Goal Orientation, Perception, and Action” is incredibly valuable.
Though your conscious mind does not realize it, speech patterns like this affect the “You who is not your Thoughts” and modulate your goal orientation. To a meaningful degree, people who repeatedly read and mimic these speech patterns subconsciously desire to become poor and homeless. You should instead desire to be rich and live in a big, beautiful house with your many, many kids.
Posts like the above one are all part of a routine to make follower lives worse by shifting their goal orientation towards outcomes like “failure, rage, injury,” and so on. Why? Because when you are a successful, healthy, responsible individual who takes care of a family that depends on you, there’s no chance of you entering the crypto casino.
As far as I can tell, every part of the X funnel routine is oriented around this. He implicitly discourages child-bearing relationships, connections in your professional life, and encourages you to a purely online and isolated way of earning a living. Why? If you feel that other people depend on you or you feel that you are part of a large group building something worthwhile, there is no chance of you entering the crypto casino.
For some people, this lifestyle is good. For other people, it’s a better idea to choose a lifestyle that leaves you more connected to others. That’s not the focus of this article. I firmly believe people should trust in their own genes, gut, and instincts and explore to find a path that works for them.
The point is that essentially all of his lifestyle advice, good or not, is oriented around maximizing the chances of putting his followers in the money-losing crypto casino. Once you contextualize all of his actions this way, it is much easier to see why he does what he does.
It also allows you to appreciate his brilliance. His nudges towards this outcome are often incredibly indirect. It’s hard to see how a post that pushes people towards “failure,” “rage,” “cheating,” and “injury” would lead to increased participation in the crypto casino in the first place. But it does.
And remember, that’s already assuming you understand that this is the primary purpose of this post; not to “help people avoid injury.” If you see through all of the layers of this routine you are very, very smart.
Of course, he still has to make sure life-ruined, poverty- and homelessness-desiring followers lose their money in “the right way.” He does that in spades, with countless posts telling followers to be “long degeneracy” and that “floods of people will be desperate and bet it all on crypto.”
Doesn’t matter if those people are made up. This is a form of crowd persuasion: if a person hears about a large group of people all doing something, he is more likely to do it. Humans have a herd element just like schools of fish and bovine creatures. Sticking together reduces your chances of sticking out to the downside, so this is powerful persuasion.
What is liable to make people “desperate” in the first place? If their life has already been turned in that direction through experiences like “failure” and “rage” and “injury” which posts like this cause them to subconsciously seek.
If you are smart and you keep this full context in mind when you read the posts of this master persuader, more of his posts will make perfect sense to you. Knowing the full endgame clears your mind.
I hope to do an additional article for paid subscribers describing the features of this particular set of posts in greater detail. See you underground.
Very very interesting read. I have been subscribed to the master persuader for 3 years now. I stumbled on you in the X replies and this article has changed my entire perspective. I feel like a cult member now. What is interesting though, is that the master persuader's advice has made my life better financially. I have learned a lot of useful skills to make more money from the cartoon. But it has turned me into a money hungry person, like you stated. However, money has improved my life significantly. Such a paradox. Starting to realize that I am thinking from a "Me" perspective, while you are thinking about what the master persuader's objectives are. A lesson learned is to ask yourself, "What motivates him or her for their words and actions?" Thanks for this piece. My entire world has been flipped upside down.
Here is another simpler, and probably more accurate characterization of the methods of our master persuader. Our master persuader’s business model is simple: he sells an assortment of good ideas. Life advice as a service.
If people follow good life advice, it’s not easy to have repeat customers. At some point in his life our master persuader decided he would rather make more money from his customers and damage their lives rather than maximize the probability they follow his own advice. So he works hard to persuade them to follow the opposite of his advice, even as he gives it.
Today, I think this is more likely to be true than what I said in this analysis. I will leave it up “Know the Endgame” for its analysis.