Is Being Smart Worth the Depression? - Alex O’Connor & Joe Folley - #1012
Modern Wisdom
10/27/25
•118m
About
Comments
Featured In
Alex O’Connor is a YouTuber, writer and a podcaster.
Joe Folley is a philosopher, writer, and host of the Unsolicited Advice YouTube channel.
Philosophy has spent thousands of years trying to teach us how to live well. But the deeper you go, the darker it gets. So what’s the point? What can we take from all that heaviness, and how do we find beauty in the darkness to make our own lives better?
Expect to learn if philosophy always meant to be practically applicable, or if that is that a modern reinterpretation, which ancient schools have been most unfairly ignored, which branches of philosophy should be jettisoned entirely, why everyone hate philosophy of mind, the differences between academic and practical philosophy, the darkest philosophies you’ve probably never heard of, why modern discourse always feel ironic and why no one speaks earnestly any more and much more...
Timestamps:
(0:00) Can Philosophy Actually Help You Live Better? (6:04) Is Modern Philosophy Trying to Be Too Intellectual? (11:44) What Do Philosophers Often Overlook? (22:35) Why Philosophy Can Feel a Bit Depressing (33:41) Is Life Worth Living? (44:47) Why Context Matters in Understanding Philosophers (54:24) Why is There Growing Interest in Panpsychism? (01:08:40) Is Consciousness Unified? (01:23:59) Emotivism 101: The Morality of Emotion (01:29:03) Is Morality Just Vibes? (01:40:59) Emotivism and the Incest Question (01:49:05) Do Philosophy Influencers Have a Moral Duty?
Sponsors:
See discounts for all the products I use and recommend: https://chriswillx.com/deals
Get Free Travel Packs, Free Liquid Vitamin D, and more from AG1 at https://ag1.info/modernwisdom
Get $100 off the best bloodwork analysis in America at https://functionhealth.com/modernwisdom
Get 35% off your first subscription on the best supplements from Momentous at https://livemomentous.com/modernwisdom
Get a Free Sample Pack of LMNT’s most popular flavours with your first purchase at https://drinklmnt.com/modernwisdom
Extra Stuff:
Get my free reading list of 100 books to read before you die: https://chriswillx.com/books
Try my productivity energy drink Neutonic: https://neutonic.com/modernwisdom
Episodes You Might Enjoy:
#577 - David Goggins - This Is How To Master Your Life: lnkfi.re/SN-Goggins
#712 - Dr Jordan Peterson - How To Destroy Your Negative Beliefs: lnkfi.re/SN-Peterson
#700 - Dr Andrew Huberman - The Secret Tools To Hack Your Brain: lnkfi.re/SN-Huberman
-
Get In Touch:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chriswillx
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/chriswillx
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/modernwisdompodcast
Email: https://chriswillx.com/contact
-
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Previous Episode
Why Superhuman AI Would Kill Us All - Eliezer Yudkowsky - #1011
October 25, 2025
•97m
Eliezer Yudkowsky is an AI researcher, decision theorist, and founder of the Machine Intelligence Research Institute.
Is AI our greatest hope or our final mistake? For all its promise to revolutionize human life, there’s a growing fear that artificial intelligence could end it altogether. How grounded are these fears, how close are we to losing control, and is there still time to change course before it’s too late
Expect to learn the problem with building superhuman AI, why AI would have goals we haven’t programmed into it, if there is such a thing as Ai benevolence, what the actual goals of super-intelligent AI are and how far away it is, if LLMs are actually dangerous and their ability to become a super AI, how god we are at predicting the future of AI, if extinction if possible with the development of AI, and much more...
Timestamps:
(0:00) Superhuman AI Could Kill Us All
(10:25) How AI is Quietly Destroying Marriages
(15:22) AI is an Enemy, Not an Ally
(26:11) The Terrifying Truth About AI Alignment
(31:52) What Does Superintelligence Advancement Look Like?
(45:04) Are LLMs the Architect for Superhuman AI?
(52:18) How Close are We to the Point of No Return?
(01:01:07) Experts Need to be More Concerned
(01:15:01) How Can We Stop Superintelligence Killing Us?
(01:23:53) The Bleak Future of Superhuman AI
(01:31:55) Could Eliezer Be Wrong?
Sponsors:
See discounts for all the products I use and recommend: https://chriswillx.com/deals
Get 15% off your first order of Intake’s magnetic nasal strips at https://intakebreathing.com/modernwisdom
Get 10% discount on all Gymshark’s products at https://gym.sh/modernwisdom (use code MODERNWISDOM10)
Get 4 extra months of Surfshark VPN at https://surfshark.com/modernwisdom
Extra Stuff:
Get my free reading list of 100 books to read before you die: https://chriswillx.com/books
Try my productivity energy drink Neutonic: https://neutonic.com/modernwisdom
Episodes You Might Enjoy:
#577 - David Goggins - This Is How To Master Your Life: lnkfi.re/SN-Goggins
#712 - Dr Jordan Peterson - How To Destroy Your Negative Beliefs: lnkfi.re/SN-Peterson
#700 - Dr Andrew Huberman - The Secret Tools To Hack Your Brain: lnkfi.re/SN-Huberman
-
Get In Touch:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chriswillx
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/chriswillx
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/modernwisdompodcast
Email: https://chriswillx.com/contact
-
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Next Episode
How to Fix a Culture of Emasculated Men - Scott Galloway - #1013
October 30, 2025
•105m
Scott Galloway is a professor of marketing at the New York University Stern School of Business, a public speaker, entrepreneur and an author.
Why are so many young men struggling today? In a world that often focuses on the oppression of others, it’s easy to forget that men are part of that story too. What’s actually being done to address men’s challenges, and how can both society and men themselves help turn things around?
Expect to learn why men struggling is actually affecting women too, why the left haven't recognised the problems men face and deal with, what is broken in manhood for the current generation, the 4 variables every man should be solving for, the one stat the keep Scott up at night about the state of young men, what boys lose when men don’t have a father figure, the best kind of risks that build men, what healthy masculinity actually looks like and much more...
Timestamps:
(0:00) Why are We Inserting Women into Men’s Issues? (15:03) The Quiet Return of Soft Bigotry (25:47) Are Progressives Finally Ready to Talk About Men’s Issues? (33:23) Are Men More Emotionally Fragile Than Women? (44:41) How #MeToo Movement Rewired Male Behaviour Around Women (55:16) Why Male Friendships are So Hard to Build (01:03:23) What is Broken in Modern Manhood? (01:11:56) Why Women Seek a Provider and Protector (01:22:01) How Sex Motivates Men (01:31:06) Kindness is a Man’s Secret Weapon
Sponsors:
See discounts for all the products I use and recommend: https://chriswillx.com/deals
Get 35% off your first subscription on the best supplements from Momentous at https://livemomentous.com/modernwisdom
Get up to $350 off the Pod 5 at https://eightsleep.com/modernwisdom
Get a Free Sample Pack of LMNT’s most popular flavours with your first purchase at https://drinklmnt.com/modernwisdom
Get $100 off the best bloodwork analysis in America at https://functionhealth.com/modernwisdom
Extra Stuff:
Get my free reading list of 100 books to read before you die: https://chriswillx.com/books
Try my productivity energy drink Neutonic: https://neutonic.com/modernwisdom
Episodes You Might Enjoy:
#577 - David Goggins - This Is How To Master Your Life: lnkfi.re/SN-Goggins
#712 - Dr Jordan Peterson - How To Destroy Your Negative Beliefs: lnkfi.re/SN-Peterson
#700 - Dr Andrew Huberman - The Secret Tools To Hack Your Brain: lnkfi.re/SN-Huberman
-
Get In Touch:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chriswillx
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/chriswillx
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/modernwisdompodcast
Email: https://chriswillx.com/contact
-
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
If you like this episode you’ll love
Promoted