How Civilizations Die

Your Life is a Hypothesis

The Earth has become small -- and the Last Man lives the longest.In 1885, Nietzsche foresaw mankind's transformation into a being who cares only for safety and contentment -- the final step before he gives up his higher nature. Jonathan Wallis joins Wolf Tivy to help us understand the Last Man.0:00 — Intro0:32 — The greatest threat is not disorder but the Last Man3:39 — Radical potential is always recuperated, domesticated, defanged16:46 — Cults reenact the logic of modernity23:45 — You have to live the hypothesis37:20 — Civilization is the ability to pass the crown51:34 — There is no soul-atom; you are an intersection of forces

Machiavelli's Virtue

Machiavelli saw that Christianity had made Italy weak, servile, and prey to criminal men. His answer: ground politics in "what is", not imagined republics — and dare great men to act on it. The consequences founded the modern world. Duncan Umphrey joins us to discuss the Machiavelli's virtue.

The Machine Gun Killed Democracy

Ben Landau-Taylor discusses Carroll Quigley's thesis on how weapons systems shape political order—how military technology determines whether a society ends up democratic, authoritarian, or something else entirely.

The War that Destroyed the Greek World

The Peloponnesian War destroyed the Greek world and exposed the violence behind the civilized facade, much like the World Wars of the 20th century. Maxim Dmitrienko walks us through Thucydides' timeless History.

Why Study Greek Philosophy?

Should a student of the 21st century read Plato and Aristotle? Stephen Pimentel explains how Greek philosophy helps us to see past the conceits of our own era.