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We treat progress as both good and inevitable. When did that become something nobody questions?
Noah McMillan played Division I football until an injury ended it, then went looking for the beliefs we mistake for laws of nature. Now he writes about them from Siracusa, the Sicilian city where Plato once lived. Chirag and Noah follow one of those beliefs, that progress is good and can't be stopped, from Plato and Aristotle through the ruins of medieval Europe to the Enlightenment. Then they ask what it means for AI, and what a builder should do differently on Monday morning.
Key Takeaways:
- The idea that progress is both good and inevitable is only a few hundred years old. Romans saw themselves as morally worse than their ancestors, even as Rome grew richer.
- Stoicism caught on because it's the most accessible way into philosophy, and a philosophy of self-command appeals in chaotic times. It did in Rome, too.
- "AI will make everything better" quietly attaches moral weight to what is a mechanical gain in efficiency.
- Noah's advice to AI builders: keep "we can make this more efficient" separate from "so we should."
- A monthly self-check worth stealing: if AI disappeared tomorrow, would you still have the skills to run your life?
Chapters:
0:00 Why Question Progress?
1:04 Why a Philosopher Moved to Plato's City
2:36 How a Football Injury Exposed Hidden Assumptions
5:24 Doxa: The Beliefs We Never Examine
6:52 Why Is Stoicism Everywhere Right Now?
11:05 Plato vs. Aristotle: Two Ways to Live Well
16:09 Why AI Already Feels Inevitable
18:03 Is "Progress Is Good" an Ancient Idea?
22:55 The New World Debates That Rattled Europe
26:06 When Two Worldviews Can't Find Common Ground
27:46 What Are We Assuming When We Say AI Will Fix Everything?
31:12 Can AI Be Reined In? Lessons From Nuclear Weapons
33:26 Soviet Electrification and Moralized Progress
35:51 Do Good Intentions Blind the Builders?
37:36 What Should an AI Builder Do Differently on Monday?
39:04 How a Philosopher Actually Uses AI
44:32 Writing Is How We Think
45:36 The Question Noah Is Still Sitting With
46:46 What Makes Someone American?
48:49 A Closing Line From Chesterton
Resources & Links:
- The Re-Examined Life by Noah McMillan (https://thereexaminedlife.com) — Noah's Substack on the beliefs we never think to examine
- The Dawn of Everything by David Graeber and David Wengrow (https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374157357/thedawnofeverything/) — the book Noah cites on Kandiaronk and Europe's encounter with the New World
- The School of Athens by Raphael (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_School_of_Athens) — the fresco with Plato pointing up and Aristotle pointing down
- Heretics by G.K. Chesterton (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/470) — source of the closing line on progress
- Daily Stoic (https://dailystoic.com) — Ryan Holiday's project, where Chirag's own path into philosophy started
- Mountainhead (https://www.hbo.com/movies/mountainhead) — the tech-billionaire satire where Marcus Aurelius gets quoted at the worst possible moment
Listen & subscribe:
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/question-everything-except-this-podcast/id1736759012
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1FCFskt7FBDZuyGtzLsQ5R
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2aiyplnabkJ7YzfWK1yISw
