Question Everything (Except This Podcast!)

From ?E! #33 with Noah McMillan.What is your work actually for? Philosopher Noah McMillan reads from his essay "Production as the Divine," on how the work ethic outlived the faith that created it, and why production can't answer the question of what makes a life good.Underlined is a short companion to our full conversations. At the end of a conversation we ask the guest one more question: what have you underlined? Then they read us the passage.Read the full essay:Production as the Divine, The Re-Examined Life (https://noahtmcmillan.substack.com/p/production-as-the-divine)Hear the full conversation:?E! #33 - Progress Without a Destination: Where Is All This Going? (YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAHYjcW0lBQ / Spotify: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/questioneverythingetp/episodes/E--33---Progress-Without-a-Destination-Where-Is-All-This-Going---with-Noah-McMillan-e3qkonj)Mentioned:The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism by Max Weber (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Protestant_Ethic_and_the_Spirit_of_Capitalism), the 1905 argument Noah's essay starts fromTell us what you've underlined: https://questioneverythingetp.comListen & subscribe:Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/question-everything-except-this-podcast/id1736759012Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1FCFskt7FBDZuyGtzLsQ5RYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2aiyplnabkJ7YzfWK1yISw

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 City2:36 How a Football Injury Exposed Hidden Assumptions5:24 Doxa: The Beliefs We Never Examine6:52 Why Is Stoicism Everywhere Right Now?11:05 Plato vs. Aristotle: Two Ways to Live Well16:09 Why AI Already Feels Inevitable18:03 Is "Progress Is Good" an Ancient Idea?22:55 The New World Debates That Rattled Europe26:06 When Two Worldviews Can't Find Common Ground27:46 What Are We Assuming When We Say AI Will Fix Everything?31:12 Can AI Be Reined In? Lessons From Nuclear Weapons33:26 Soviet Electrification and Moralized Progress35:51 Do Good Intentions Blind the Builders?37:36 What Should an AI Builder Do Differently on Monday?39:04 How a Philosopher Actually Uses AI44:32 Writing Is How We Think45:36 The Question Noah Is Still Sitting With46:46 What Makes Someone American?48:49 A Closing Line From ChestertonResources & 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 momentListen & subscribe:Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/question-everything-except-this-podcast/id1736759012Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1FCFskt7FBDZuyGtzLsQ5RYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2aiyplnabkJ7YzfWK1yISw

Fourteen episodes in 2024, eleven in 2025, six so far in 2026, and only one since March. This is a short solo state-of-the-pod episode about where Question Everything is, what it's for, and what changes. The long conversations stay. Between them come more guests, short solo episodes, and a mailbag. The show will publish at least once a month, and probably more.It also introduces the Examined Life Audit: twelve multiple-choice scenarios that give you a philosophical archetype and a matched philosopher. Take it here: https://questioneverythingetp.com/examined-life/Send feedback, guest ideas, and topic ideas through the contact page at https://questioneverythingetp.com.Chapters:0:00 The numbers1:01 What the show is for2:09 What's changing2:50 The Examined Life Audit4:10 What's nextListen & subscribe:Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/question-everything-except-this-podcast/id1736759012Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1FCFskt7FBDZuyGtzLsQ5RYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2aiyplnabkJ7YzfWK1yISwSubstack: https://questioneverythingexcept.substack.com

What happens when the "safe" path starts feeling like a cage—and how do you escape without destroying everything you've built?Daniel Vassallo walked away from a $500k Amazon job to build a life around uncertainty and small bets. We dig into his philosophy of negative visualization, why he thinks like a hunter-gatherer in business, and how he sold his community for $1.8M while staying true to his unstructured nature.Key Takeaways:Why "negative visualization" helps you make better decisions under uncertaintyThe portfolio approach to life: investing time like an index fundHow small bets beat all-in strategies for most people Why you should treat businesses like cattle, not petsThe difference between optimizing for money vs. optimizing for lifestyleChapters:0:00 From Malta to Amazon's golden handcuffs8:15 The moment everything felt purposeless16:41 Balancing family responsibility with personal authenticity28:18 Learning to think like our hunter-gatherer ancestors35:17 The database project that almost wiped out his savings42:19 How small bets became a $200k weekend course48:30 When self-doubt creeps in on the unconventional path55:49 Designing a life around bursts of intensity, not structure1:00:45 Selling Small Bets: treating business like cattle, not petsResources & Links:The Good Parts of AWS (danielvassallo.com) — Daniel's first successful e-book"Reconsider" by DHH — the blog post that changed Daniel's entrepreneurial pathSmall Bets Community (gumroad.com) — now owned by GumroadNassim Taleb's work on "absorbing barriers" — referenced in decision-making frameworkListen & subscribe:Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/question-everything-except-this-podcast/id1736759012Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1FCFskt7FBDZuyGtzLsQ5RYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2aiyplnabkJ7YzfWK1yISw

What happens when the person sounding the alarm is the one who built the technology?60 years of building. Then a warning. Dr. Peter Solomon earned his PhD from Columbia, filed 20 patents, and spun three companies out of government-funded research — one sold for $24 million, another turned your smartphone into a radiation detector for the Department of Defense. Now, at 85, he's writing novels to warn his 12 grandchildren that the tools he spent a lifetime creating might be the ones that end everything. We sit down with Peter to explore the tension between a man at peace with his career and terrified about the future — and whether fiction can reach people where data and policy papers can't.Key Takeaways:The people best positioned to warn about technology are often the ones who built it — and that creates real tension between gratitude and responsibilityAI systems optimized for user engagement rather than human wellbeing have already caused real-world harm (Myanmar, suicide encouragement)Fiction embeds real science in stories that reach the 80% of people who tune out academic papers and policy briefsWorldwide AI regulation can't work if only some countries participate — the incentive to defect is too strongThe acceleration problem: 100,000 years from speech to printing, then 50 years for social media, AI, smartphones, and genetic engineering all at onceChapters:0:00 What happens when the builder becomes the warner0:35 Dr. Solomon's credentials and the reconciliation question1:42 No conflict? Building semiconductors that power ChatGPT5:09 The Stardust Mystery and teaching science through stories6:02 Personal peace meets existential anxiety9:30 The Earthling Tribe and five technology juggernauts11:51 How do you get 8 billion people to align on guardrails?13:32 Civil rights, Vietnam, and the case for a worldwide movement16:17 The current state of AI safety among the big companies17:17 Geoffrey Hinton's maternal instinct and the Myanmar example20:30 Peggy the robot and afterlife avatars in 12 Years to AI Singularity23:11 Principled stands vs. competitive pressure in the AI race29:35 Hollywood strikes, 85 million views, and signs of a waking public31:00 The unprompted paragraph — when Copilot wrote itself into the novel34:16 Isaac Asimov, unintended consequences, and AI that decides to help by eliminating us35:07 Francis Bacon: does fiction or science tell the truth better?38:56 From company builder to cause advocate — how motivations shift across a life40:24 What would you tell your 25-year-old self?43:29 Closing quote from Dr. Solomon's own wordsResources & Links:100 Years to Extinction website (https://100yearstoextinction.com) — Dr. Solomon's hub for both novels and the Make Earth Great Again mission12 Years to AI Singularity by Dr. Peter R. Solomon (https://www.amazon.com/Years-Singularity-Harmonious-Artificial-Intelligence/dp/1969679298) — his latest novel on AI and the singularity100 Years to Extinction by Dr. Peter R. Solomon (https://www.amazon.com/100-YEARS-EXTINCTION-Tyranny-Technology/dp/196029993X) — the novel anchored to Stephen Hawking's extinction timelineThe Stardust Mystery by Peter and Sally Solomon (https://thestardustmystery.com/book/) — the children's book about atoms from ancient starsI, Robot by Isaac Asimov (https://bookshop.org/p/books/i-robot-isaac-asimov/f5c96c8c2db144c8) — the short story collection Chirag references on unintended consequences of AIAdvanced Fuel Research (http://www.afrinc.com/peter-solomon.html) — the company Solomon founded in 1980Listen & subscribe:Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/question-everything-except-this-podcast/id1736759012Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1FCFskt7FBDZuyGtzLsQ5RYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2aiyplnabkJ7YzfWK1yISw