In Book II of Plato’s Republic, Glaucon tells the story of the Ring of Gyges. A man finds a ring that makes him invisible. Once he realizes nobody can see what he does, he uses it to take what he wants, seize power, and escape punishment. Glaucon’s challenge to Socrates: Are people actually good or are we good because we’re afraid of being caught, judged, rejected, or punished? Imagine you had the ring. Nobody could discover what you did. There would be no legal consequences. Nobody you cared about would ever find out. Would your behavior change? And if it would, what does that say about morality? A few directions you could take this: - Is an action still moral if you only do it because you fear consequences? - Does being a good person require doing the right thing when nobody is watching? - Would everyone eventually abuse the ring? - Are reputation and social pressure actually necessary for morality? - If someone wants to do something terrible but chooses not to, are they still good? Reading: Plato, Republic, Book II, 359c–360d.

Starting THIS SUNDAY, our weekly Curiosity Meetings are becoming something more structured. We’re officially beginning a full Introduction to Philosophy course inside The Curiosity Club. Instead of each Sunday being a separate discussion topic, we’re going to work through philosophy step-by-step together, reading major thinkers, breaking down their ideas, and discussing how those ideas connect to real life. I’ve created a new classroom called 🏛️ Philosophy School for everything related to the course: https://www.skool.com/the-philosophy-academy-7958/classroom/112b5377?md=ed8975180fc44c36a67d717c4505c9b2 Our first unit will be: 🌿 Unit I — The Good Life We’ll explore questions like: - What makes a life worth living? - What is virtue? - What does it mean to live well? - What actually makes us happy? Each unit will take roughly 2–3 Sunday calls, so we can slow down and actually understand the material instead of rushing through it. Before starting, please make sure you read the “READ THIS FIRST” page in Philosophy School. It explains exactly how the readings, Sunday calls, discussions, and recordings will work. I’ve also already uploaded our first reading: 📖 Plato’s Apology — the story of Socrates being put on trial and defending the way he chose to live. (You do not need to finish the entire reading before Sunday). Since we’ll be exploring it over the next few weeks, just aim to read the first 5 pages or so before our first session. On Sunday, I will present and give everyone the context, break down what we’ve read, explain the important ideas, answer questions, and then we’ll discuss it together. And if you can’t make a Sunday call, don’t worry, recordings will be added to the classroom so you can follow along at your own pace. Really excited to start this next chapter with all of you. First Philosophy School session starts this Sunday!!!!!!!!

Thank you Jerry for joining today’s call, it was great to meet you!! And now for the big update for those that weren't able to make it... Starting next Sunday, we’re officially beginning our Intro to Philosophy course inside the community. We’ll be working through foundational thinkers like Plato, Aristotle, Epictetus, and many more as we go. Here’s how it’ll work: 1. I’ll post the first readings inside Skool sometime this upcoming week 2. You’ll have time to read through them before Sunday 3. Then on Sunday’s call, I’ll break down the key ideas, give context, answer questions, and we’ll discuss the readings together as a group So keep an eye on the feed this week 👀 The first readings are coming soon. Really excited to start this with all of you :-)

Often in my low moments, I wonder if we have already passed into the nether and all of what we call life is simply us living out our memories. I doubt it, but it's interesting how they say our life -- that is, our memories -- flashes before our eyes moments before death. What if that, is this?