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Diary of a CEO · 2023-04-10 · 2h 07m

Chris Williamson: New Research On Why Men And Women Are No Longer Compatible!

Chris Williamson on the loneliness epidemic, the modern dating crisis, hypergamy, male sedation, and how discipline and small promises build confidence.

Chris Williamson: New Research On Why Men And Women Are No Longer Compatible!
The guest

Chris Williamson — Entrepreneur, former Newcastle club promoter and Love Island contestant turned host of the Modern Wisdom podcast (70M+ downloads).

The gist

Chris Williamson traces his path from a bullied, lonely only child and club-promoter party-boy persona to a curiosity-driven podcaster, arguing success is often fueled by a toxic fear of insufficiency. He breaks down how to build genuine confidence through action and unbreakable small promises rather than affirmations. The bulk of the conversation examines the loneliness and dating crisis: collapsing male friendships, rising sexlessness, female hypergamy and the 'tall girl problem', and the fallout of #MeToo on everyday courtship. He offers his 'male sedation hypothesis' (porn, video games and social media calming young men) and proposes solutions like red-shirting boys and re-pedestalizing motherhood. The talk closes on regret as an inevitable feature of opportunity cost, and a tender message to his younger self.

Big reveals

  • Williamson says he avoided losing drive after easing his insufficiency by replacing fear-based drive with crippling curiosity as his fuel.
  • His single most impactful habit was sleeping with his phone outside the bedroom and walking before screen-time each morning.
  • He introduces the 'tall girl problem': as women rise in education/employment, the pool of equally-or-more accomplished eligible men shrinks.
  • Cites research that 50% of men aren't actively pursuing any interaction with women, casual sex included.
  • Lays out his 'male sedation hypothesis': porn, video games and social media titrate men out of status- and mate-seeking behavior.
  • Proposes 'red-shirting boys' (starting school a year later) and re-pedestalizing motherhood as dating-crisis solutions.
  • Shares Christopher Hitchens' line 'in life we must choose our regrets' as a framework for decision-making.
  • Reveals that on a small mushroom dose he saw his younger self and concluded that boy was worthy of love without offering anything.

Things worth remembering

  • Men reporting six or more close friends fell from ~55% in 1990 to 21% in 2020; those with zero close friends rose fivefold to 15%.
  • One in three men aged 18-30 hasn't had sex in the last year; sexlessness tripled from 8% to 28% between 2008 and 2018.
  • A Morgan Stanley study projects 45% of women aged 25-45 will be single and childless by 2040.
  • A man with a master's degree gets 90% more right swipes on Tinder than one with only a bachelor's.
  • Williamson cites an estimate that men aged 18-30 in the US spend ~2,000 hours a year gaming, stoned, or on prescription drugs.
  • On dating apps women swipe right on ~4.5% of profiles while men swipe right on ~60%, with roughly three men per woman.
  • A meta-analysis cited via Stephen Shaw's Birth Gap claims ~80% of women who aren't mothers after their fertility window didn't intend to be childless.
  • 80% of men report not approaching a woman for fear of seeming creepy, while 84% of women say they want the man to make the first move.
  • Williamson recounts the Peterson rat study showing rats pull harder toward cheese when also fleeing the smell of a cat.
  • Claims the single biggest predictor of health outcomes is the number of close connections, beating quitting smoking, gym, or alcohol.

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Guest’s ownMedia

Modern Wisdom

Chris Williamson

“I now have the opportunity with my podcast Modern Wisdom to commercialize, utilize, weaponize that so that I can bring people in that I'm interested in.” — Chris Williamson 00:02:32
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