Status Updates From A Little History of Philosophy

Hobbes thought we're all selfish, driven by fear and greed. If society collapsed, we'd steal and kill to survive—because in a world of scarce resources, it's rational. Life outside society? "Solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short." Why lock your door? Because we know others would take everything—and Hobbes says we're no different at heart.

Epictetus, a former slave and crippled Stoic philosopher, taught that while the body can be shackled, the mind remains free—because our thoughts are our own. His practical wisdom helped Vietnam POW James Stockdale survive years of torture and isolation by choosing not to be moved by what he couldn't control. A philosophy forged in suffering, but built for resilience.

Wisdom for Socrates was not knowing lots
of facts, or knowing how to do something. It meant understanding the
true nature of our existence, including the limits of what we can
know. Philosophers today are doing more or less what Socrates was
doing: asking tough questions, looking at reasons and evidence,
struggling to answer some of the most important questions we can ask
ourselves about the nature of reality...