Sam Alaimo is a Navy SEAL who discovered Stoicism after leaving the military. He is a cofounder of Zero Eyes, an AI company stopping gun violence, and writes at whatthen.org.

Caleb and Sam discuss how affluent societies need philosophy, whether virtue alone makes life good, and why Ernst Jünger remains one of history’s most fascinating thinkers. The conversation moves from ancient philosophy to World War I trenches to the risks of letting AI do our thinking.

(00:00) Sam’s background and writing journey

(04:00) How Stoicism helped after military service

(06:20) Why affluent societies invented Stoicism

(08:00) AI as a war on human reason

(10:30) Epictetus: the most extreme example

(15:00) Marcus Aurelius: emperor and philosopher

(20:10) Why Epictetus avoided the word “virtue”

(24:10) Stoicism as energetic, not passive

(26:20) Where the Stoics got it wrong

(30:20) Existentialism and Stoicism on freedom

(34:20) Ernst Jünger: war hero and philosopher

(38:20) Storm of Steel and phenomenology of war

(44:30) Philosophy divorced from reality

(47:20) Jünger’s fiction and diaries

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Thanks to Michael Levy for graciously letting us use his music in the conversations:

https://ancientlyre.com/

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