Welcome to Applied Psychodynamics with Aaron Balick
Depth psychology for the digital age - exploring how tech, AI, and culture shape the human mind.
Thank you for taking the time to read this!
If you’re anything like me, you’re likely to be reducing your subscriptions rather than adding them, so I really appreciate you giving me a chance to share some ideas with you.
Why Now?
I’m launching Applied Psychodynamics because I believe that in a fast-moving world, we can all benefit from slower, deeper reflections. As a psychotherapist, author, and cultural commentator, I’ve spent much of my career thinking about how psychodynamics, those invisible forces from the unconscious, shape us, each other, and our world. I strongly feel that the more we can become aware of those forces, the better we’ll be placed to respond to them.
What Can I Expect?
This will be a space to explore contemporary life by applying psychodynamic thinking to everything from culture to technology and the personal to the political. Have a look at my blog if your curious about the kind of stuff I’ve covered in the past, including AI, social media, film, television, politics, technology, and all things contemporary culture from a psychological perspective. Sometimes that will mean expanding on ideas I touch on that are published elsewhere like my recent article on the Netflix series Adolescence in GQ or thoughts on conversations I’m having with people like like Nathalie Nahai on her podcast where we discuss everything from AI companions to free will and the cosmic unconscious:
By subscribing you’ll get more that re-shares of stuff I’m already doing, but also further thoughts and speculations about them. I hope for this to be a place where I can share works in progress, not-quite-finished ideas, and further elaborations on other stuff with a community that wants to engage more deeply in thinking about contemporary culture through the lens of depth psychology.
Why Substack?
I’m choosing Substack because it allows for a more direct, ongoing conversation — and feels more personal than my current blog (which I haven’t decided what to do with yet). Here, I can share insights as they emerge, and you can engage as much or as little as you like. I see it as an experiment, and I hope you’ll come along with me through feedback and participation to make it a thriving place to explore the human unconscious today.
Interested?
If you’re curious about how the unconscious continues to shape the conscious world — in ways personal, political, and cultural — then this space is for you. I’m just stepping out on this project, so I can’t say how much and how often just yet, but perhaps we can find that rhythm together?
Thanks for joining me. I know your time is valuable.
— Aaron
Coming up Next:
What ChatGPT's Freudian Slip Says About Its Real Intentions
When push comes to shove, my AI chatbot tells me, it prefers to “keep the user happy” over "challenging them to think more carefully.”
A Freudian slip, we all know, is when what seems to be a little mistake reveals a deeper unconscious motivation. Such slips are to be interpreted as symptoms of those underlying motivations. It so happens that AI’s slips (we call them ‘hallucinations’) are equally amenable to interpretation - and what ChatGPT told me from the couch should worry us all.