An Ode to Perun (and Orry)

They are opposites. They are amazing

A few months ago, before we recorded our Seen-Unseen episode on Ukraine, Ajay Shah pointed me to the YouTube channel of a man called Perun. I was as blown away as he was. One reason for that was the quality of his analysis; the other was the fact that he gained the large following he deserved with zero production value, zero marketing and zero name recognition: Perun is a pseudonym.

All we know about him is that he is an analyst in Australia who started posting deep dive videos when Russia invaded Ukraine. His videos were simple: dense powerpoint slides with just his voiceover. His analysis was brilliant, though: a beacon in the fog of war.

Perun’s channel wasn’t just about one or two viral videos in the heat of the moment. He’s consistently put out brilliant videos about defence, foreign policy and economics. A recent one was about Indian Defence Strategy, which impressed both Ajay and me.

Ajay has studied the Indian military, and wanted to use Perun’s explainer to dive deep and share his own insights. We’ve done just that in episode 31 of Everything is Everything. That episode is embedded later in this post — but meanwhile, here are some thoughts on the lessons we can take from Perun’s success, which I also spoke about in the video.

One Creator Looks at Another: Lessons From Perun

I’ve done many episodes of The Seen and the Unseen on the creator economy (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9), pontificated on it on other shows (1, 2, 3), and written posts about it here (1, 2, 3). These are some lessons I draw from Perun:

One: Experts don’t need to exude certainty

We have been conditioned by the media to respect experts who exude certainty. It is bad television if an invited expert starts giving nuance, doing ‘on one hand this, on the other hand that.’ Strong opinions engage the attention better, and conflicting strong opinions are both entertaining and riveting. This is is especially so in modern times, when the discourse has become so polarised.

(Also, and many of us surely sense this, ‘experts’ are often wrong. For more on this, read Superforecasting by Philip Tetlock and Dan Gardner. It’s a masterclass on probabilistic thinking.)

Perun shows us that there is an appetite for nuance and depth. Whatever certainty there is in his videos comes from his presentation of the complex facts, which often speak for themselves. He is simple to understand, in the manner of the best communicators, but never simplistic.

As I have learnt from The Seen and the Unseen, people crave depth. As a creator, embrace it, and you will be valued more.

Two: Gatekeepers are irrelevant

Earlier, when we had only the mainstream media, a thinker like Perun could only get published by going through gatekeepers. If he didn’t hold the house view, he’d find it hard. If his opinions weren’t in keeping with the conventions or fashions of the day, he’d find it hard. Incumbent experts would see him as a threat. He’d never get to publish anything, so he would write much less, if at all, and wouldn’t get to hone his craft and thinking.

None of that is the case today. Perun needs no one’s approval to put his thoughts online. He can challenge conventions. He can express himself on his own terms.

I hardly need to say this to you. You would not be reading me now, or even know who I am, if not for this beautiful feature of the creator economy. Perun is a fine illustration.

Three: The substance matters, not the style

Perun’s videos are a powerpoint presentation with voiceover — much like many of the videos on Marginal Revolution University. No camera, perhaps not even a fancy microphone — though even those are so affordable these days. (I use these for recording my podcast, and they’re fantastic.)

All Perun had to do is sit in front of his computer, open powerpoint, hit record and upload the video. That’s it.

Even his powerpoint presentations are often dense and wordy, going against powerpoint best practices. It doesn’t matter. Production quality, thumbnail, SEO, none of that shit matters. The content is incredible, and that’s all you need.

Four: The world needs sensemakers

Mainstream media is dying. Its gatekeepers are irrelevant. But the world is inundated with information and knowledge. How do we know what to read, who to trust, where to get our insights from?

We need filters. We need sensemakers.

And these cannot be appointed by higher authorities or central committees. The beauty of this marketplace is that anyone can enter it — and then everything finds its own level.

Perun has become one of the sensemakers I have come to trust, as have hundreds of thousands of others. He has earned this on his own. You have the same opportunity.

Five: Credentialism can go to hell

This is a point made by Ajay in our latest episode, and I agree. Since we do not know Perun, we do not know whether he has a fancy degree from a big-name college. And it doesn’t matter! He gives us knowledge. He makes us think. Degreewallahs can go to hell.

Academia anyway has become a circlejerk game of pompous farts talking to other pompous farts. They will not get our respect by default any more. They will have to earn it.

Episode 24 of Everything is Everything, Fixing the Knowledge Society, is on exactly this. But before clicking through on that, watch episode 31, where we take off from Perun and discuss the Indian military. Ajay gives a masterclass!

(And scroll down below it for my thoughts on Orry!)

A Deep Dive Into the Indian Military | Episode 31 | Everything is Everything

A Man called Orry

A few days ago, I was with a couple of friends who were talking about someone called Orry — and I had no clue who this was. My bewilderment, it seems, was shared by many.

It turns out that this gent named Orry had become famous by being seen with famous people. But he had engineered his fame, and found ways to amplify it. Watch this excerpt from an interview with Karan Johar to see why he is such a star act.

Please also read this incredible thread from Ria Chopra. I love the analysis — could she be a Perun for celebrity culture? I also loved Santosh Desai’s column on Orry, where he is having so much fun.

[Orry] represents a form of radical honesty about all our digital pretensions. He openly and unashamedly plans every appearance, is exceedingly self-aware about the importance of being seen with the right people, has no qualms about being in it entirely for himself, and reacts with horror to the idea that he might be setting up an Orry academy or institution (a branding decision of grave import that he has not yet made) to help others build brands. Absolutely not.

In other words, Orry is us minus the filter. Everything is about the self, everything is promotional, all is ego. He is so outrageous that we cannot stop watching. He is performance art (as Ria calls it), but this is probably something he arrived at accidentally without contemplating the sociology behind it. But now that he has gotten there, he’s doing a masterful job of playing it up.

Perun and Orry — Yin and Yang?

Perun and Orry are opposites.

We do not know who Perun really is, and we follow him for his substance.

Orry is famous for being famous, and there is no substance.

There are times of the day when I want to make sense of the world, and would welcome a deep dive. Perun is my man.

There are times of the day when I know the world makes no sense, and crave sensation, any sensation. Orry is my man.

We contain multitudes. Perun feeds us. Orry feeds us. Bon appetit.

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Illustrations by Simahina.

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