Top all-time · #2943
Erik Torenberg
Personal blog · eriktorenberg.substack.comculturepoliticsstartups
Erik Torenberg's personal blog at eriktorenberg.substack.com covers culture, politics and startups. Since 2020, 26 different Hacker News readers have linked it 75 times, most often “Truth, Status, and Tribes”. It is still writing: the last post was on 2026-10-02, and you can follow it by feed.
Too few sampled comments (4) to say how often HN recommends it.?
Why HN links it
HN readers link this Substack for its essays on ideas, solitude and startup culture. One commenter called it a fountain of new thoughts and named it their favourite blog of 2024.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 4 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
Explorations and inquiries into my curiosities: culture, politics, tech, business, and human nature.
Most-linked posts?
- Truth, Status, and Tribes4 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2021-08-01
- Burnham, Elon, and the Revenge of Entrepreneurial Capitalism3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2022-10-08
- The Higher Education Bubble2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2020-08-09
- The Hypocrisy of Elites2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2022-07-17
- How to Build Curation Businesses2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2020-10-05
- On Hustle Culture2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2022-03-06
- People Are Different2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2023-12-03
- On Solitude2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2021-09-27
- See Your Career as a Product – Erik Torenberg's Thoughts2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2020-10-12
- Justice Eats the World2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2022-06-18
What Hacker News says?
In 2024 I've discovered a blog that was a fountain of new thoughts and ideas for me: https://eriktorenberg.substack.com
Comment linking /
on “Ask HN: Favorite blog in 2024?”Submitted On Solitude as a story · 199 points
HN discussionI think you are conflating System 1 and System 2 thinking (from Kahneman's _Thinking Fast and Slow_ [1]). Frauds typically work by triggering our System 1 ("lizard brain", containing our emotions and our innate mate selection/attraction) which selectively / temporarily disables our System 2 (cognitive / rational faculties). We have words to describe the abstractions in the mind ("ego", "defense mechanism") which for…
Comment linking /p/truth-status-and-tribes
on “Beware of the Perfect Gentleman”Submitted Build Personal Moats as a story · 173 points
HN discussionhttps://eriktorenberg.substack.com/p/on-solitude was a post that was on HN a while ago. It basically agrees. We get some good things from solitude.
Comment linking /p/on-solitude
on “You're not lacking creativity, you're overwhelmed”Submitted On Longevity as a story · 44 points
HN discussionThe opposing case: >..the incentives of a managerial class are not the same as the incentives of the lone entrepreneur. They have different timelines, risk profiles, and diversification/skin in the game. The managerial class is often motivated by a huge salary, so they’re more likely to play it safe to preserve their job. Even if the companies fail, they’ll get extremely rich. They’re just trying to hang on for as l…
Comment linking /p/burnham-elon-and-the-revenge-of-entrepreneurial
on “The end of founder worship, and a reset of toxic startup values”Submitted Burnham, Elon, and the Revenge of Entrepreneurial Capitalism as a story · 38 points
HN discussionSubmitted Burnham, Elon, and the Revenge of Entrepreneurial Capitalism as a story · 20 points
HN discussionSubmitted The Hypocrisy of Elites as a story · 11 points
HN discussionSubmitted Reputation Markets as a story · 9 points
HN discussionSubmitted David Sacks' Intellectual Journey as a story · 8 points
HN discussionSubmitted The Hypocrisy of Elites as a story · 6 points
HN discussionSubmitted Contra Paul Graham on Wokeness as a story · 5 points
HN discussionSubmitted How to Break into Startup Investing as a story · 5 points
HN discussionSubmitted The Hunter Economy as a story · 4 points
HN discussionSubmitted We Need More Founders as a story · 4 points
HN discussionSubmitted The Sovereign Individual Investment Thesis as a story · 4 points
HN discussionSubmitted My Art of Accomplishment Retreat as a story · 3 points
HN discussionSubmitted The Matching Problem in Dating as a story · 3 points
HN discussionSubmitted Justice Eats the World as a story · 3 points
HN discussionSubmitted How do you know when to leave a company? as a story · 3 points
HN discussionSubmitted On Hustle Culture as a story · 3 points
HN discussionSubmitted Will the US be forced to inflate it's debt away? as a story · 3 points
HN discussionSubmitted Let's Talk about Luddites as a story · 3 points
HN discussionSubmitted The Rise of Therapy Culture as a story · 3 points
HN discussionSubmitted Markets and Communities as a story · 3 points
HN discussionSubmitted Opportunities in Education as a story · 3 points
HN discussionSubmitted Building and Investing in Marketplaces as a story · 3 points
HN discussionSubmitted See Your Career as a Product – Erik Torenberg's Thoughts as a story · 3 points
HN discussion
