Ben Wilson
Appearances
How to Take Over the World
Augustus Endnotes and Gladiator II Review
Hello, and welcome to How to Take Over the World. This is Ben Wilson. I've got a Rome mega episode for you today. I'm going to start off with my takeaways from the Augustus Caesar episode, the seven things I learned about how to be great in the style of Augustus.
How to Take Over the World
Augustus Endnotes and Gladiator II Review
Sponsor limited, Alex just released his first ad for it and we're already more than halfway sold out. So if you wanna come, apply as soon as you can at the link in the show notes. It's going to be a really cool experience. We hope to see you there. Okay, takeaways. My first takeaway, if you have to be harsh, do it at first. If there's any unpleasant business, take care of it at the very beginning.
How to Take Over the World
Augustus Endnotes and Gladiator II Review
know it's interesting i watched gladiator 2 which if you can just like i don't know push thumbtacks into your forearm for two hours instead you might want to consider doing that or anything more pleasurable than that than watching gladiator 2 but i sat through gladiator 2 and you know they set up this dichotomy which is so interesting that you have this gross tyranny under the emperor and then this
How to Take Over the World
Augustus Endnotes and Gladiator II Review
young, scrappy kid is fighting for the return of the republic, of democracy. And what they talk about as that counterweight, as the return to democracy, is the return of the Senate, which is interesting because in this mixed constitution, which you're discussing, the Senate represented not democracy. You did have voting bodies of the general public organized by families and all this stuff.
How to Take Over the World
Augustus Endnotes and Gladiator II Review
But the Senate represented the aristocracy, oligarchy of the upper classes as a whole represented and not. And I think people misunderstand that quite a bit.
How to Take Over the World
Augustus Endnotes and Gladiator II Review
So Augustus does this with the proscriptions. He's really harsh in taking revenge on his enemies, totally clearing them out of the Roman state, prescribing them, making sure that they are dead and gone and no longer a threat to him. And then he he is able to take on this persona of the benevolent dictator who loves everyone and treats them great.
How to Take Over the World
Augustus Endnotes and Gladiator II Review
When Augustus, again, he takes on the title imperator, but it doesn't mean emperor in the sense that we now understand it. But when he becomes princeps and kind of takes control of the Roman state, it's through a number of means. There are sometimes grain shortages or floods or disease outbreaks, and there will be riots. But the riots are never against Augustus.
How to Take Over the World
Augustus Endnotes and Gladiator II Review
They are for him to take more power. The riots are saying...
How to Take Over the World
Augustus Endnotes and Gladiator II Review
no Augustus like you can't just keep being princeps you have to take over duties as dictator and like really take control of the Roman state and so that's just to reinforce what you were saying I think people often I think it's because of this odd American experience people see this like dichotomy between the upper classes as a whole and then they kind of lump in monarchy with that against the lower classes when in reality
How to Take Over the World
Augustus Endnotes and Gladiator II Review
Then I had a few of you ask about this comment that I made that perhaps the United States can no longer be thought of as a republic, a res publica, because it is so partisan and pulled apart by factions that no one even agrees on who the state is supposed to serve.
How to Take Over the World
Augustus Endnotes and Gladiator II Review
The monarchs, as a general historical trend, tend to side more with the lower classes against the aristocracy who tend to oppose them. Yeah, they keep them in check, for sure. Exactly. Okay, so I want to talk mostly about history, but really quickly, if we do that sort of analysis, that you have three types of government...
How to Take Over the World
Augustus Endnotes and Gladiator II Review
and you have you know the romans had a mixed constitution that had elements of democracy of oligarchy and of monarchy and the american founders very much intended to do the same thing so you have the house of representatives is a very democratic branch of of or facet of the us government but
How to Take Over the World
Augustus Endnotes and Gladiator II Review
The US president is a very monarchical element of the US government, and the Senate was designed to be very aristocratic. So it starts as this mixed government. What type of government do you think a Roman, if we could transport them 2100 years into the future, and they looked at the United States of 2024, what type of government do you think they would say that we have today?
How to Take Over the World
Augustus Endnotes and Gladiator II Review
This reminds me, I've told this story on the podcast before, I'll reiterate it again. It was a key developmental lesson for me, is in college, I became a teacher's assistant for Poli Sci 2100 with Jeannie Johnson, great professor at Utah State University. And so she gave a quiz to the students on the first day of class to see if they'd done their reading before the semester.
How to Take Over the World
Augustus Endnotes and Gladiator II Review
Yeah, it is interesting that Rome had this mixed constitution, but they felt the need to have like a release valve for when truly monarchical powers were called for, which was the dictatorship, which was a part of the constitution, right?
How to Take Over the World
Augustus Endnotes and Gladiator II Review
yeah yeah i don't think the state of emergencies are in the constitution so i think it would have to be something basically extra constitutional um within an american context okay uh so let's talk about some of these similarities, because people really like to make this comparison between America and Rome. And by the way, this is not sort of happenstance.
How to Take Over the World
Augustus Endnotes and Gladiator II Review
She gives me the quizzes to grade and I grade the quizzes and she says, okay, bring them to my office, let's go over them. And so she starts going over them and she looks at three or four and gives them back to me and says, okay, I want you to go take at least one point off of every single one of these quizzes. And I thought, whoa, that's harsh. It's one out of five was the grade they could get.
How to Take Over the World
Augustus Endnotes and Gladiator II Review
The American founders intentionally evoked Rome when Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison were writing the Federalist Papers. They gave themselves the pseudonym Publius.
How to Take Over the World
Augustus Endnotes and Gladiator II Review
When George Washington, you know, resigns from the presidency, everyone calls him Cincinnati and the society of the Cincinnati becomes a really important early American institution that people don't really appreciate the significance of today. You can go and look at Mount Vernon or Monticello where Thomas Jefferson lived, and they are intentionally evoking the aesthetic of
How to Take Over the World
Augustus Endnotes and Gladiator II Review
a Roman paterfamilias landowner cultivating his land. And all the public buildings intentionally evoked Rome. Like we were trying to be Rome.
How to Take Over the World
Augustus Endnotes and Gladiator II Review
Yeah, it was like an intentional LARP. It was not something organic. It was, yeah, yeah. And so there has been this comparison. And so I think, and you know, Benjamin Franklin, of course, famously, at the end of the Constitutional Convention, some woman outside asks him, you know, what kind of government do we have? And he says, a republic, if you can keep it.
How to Take Over the World
Augustus Endnotes and Gladiator II Review
And there's been this sort of anxiety about keeping the republic throughout our entire history. I think we've always been asking ourselves, do we still have a republic? And so I think this has been like a 250-year thing of asking ourselves, are we Rome? Are we still in our Republican phase? Are we in our imperial phase?
How to Take Over the World
Augustus Endnotes and Gladiator II Review
And trying to make this comparison, figure out where we stand in relation to Rome has been like this parlor game for 250 years. We're engaging in a long American pastime. So what are some of the similarities that we see between this current time and Rome. What period of time would you say is most similar to our own?
How to Take Over the World
Augustus Endnotes and Gladiator II Review
So that's like a 20% deduction for everyone. And I said, oh, okay, I'm surprised to hear that. And she hands back one quiz that I had marked five out of five. And she said, do you really think this person understood this content? Absolutely, as well as possible. Five out of five, perfect knowledge of the material that was assigned.
How to Take Over the World
Augustus Endnotes and Gladiator II Review
I read through it and I said, no, but it's the first quiz of the semester. And so I figured I'd give them a little bit of wiggle room. And she said, that is the exact opposite approach you should take. If you give them wiggle room now and get strict later, then they won't know what the standard is. And they'll feel like you're changing it on them. They'll be confused and they'll resent you for it.
How to Take Over the World
Augustus Endnotes and Gladiator II Review
Yeah, yeah, that's interesting. So if you think about America and the timeline, Our empire really starts towards the end of the 19th century. So Spanish-American War is really like our first big foray, right? Philippines, Cuba, and the Monroe Doctrine, you know, exerting some influence on Latin America.
How to Take Over the World
Augustus Endnotes and Gladiator II Review
And then you see a pretty big expansion in World War I, where for the first time we start to exert a lot of influence over Europe. And then that influence is really solidified in World War II. where American institutions have quite a bit of sway over over European countries. And so now, like
How to Take Over the World
Augustus Endnotes and Gladiator II Review
To me, that is sort of, I don't know what I would compare it to, if it's the Roman conquest of Greece or if it is like Augustus, who basically solidifies the borders of the empire. Like, yeah, you'd have some little more incursions into Britannia and Germania, but like really from Augustus, the borders are kind of what they are for the Roman empire. But now we're 80 years on. from that.
How to Take Over the World
Augustus Endnotes and Gladiator II Review
And I guess the question is, you do have like this friction of saying, okay, well, we're getting all this influence, all this power, all this money, and who does it go to? Who does the state belong to? You now have this dichotomy between the heartland and the more cosmopolitan ruling class. And I guess the question is how long can something like that go on? What does history tell us?
How to Take Over the World
Augustus Endnotes and Gladiator II Review
If however, you're more strict now, and you're very exacting, then people are going to try and live up to that standard. And if you need to give them a little more wiggle room later on, then they'll be grateful for it. But if you give it to them now and take it away later, they won't be grateful, they'll be resentful.
How to Take Over the World
Augustus Endnotes and Gladiator II Review
Thank you for listening to how to take over the world.
How to Take Over the World
Augustus Endnotes and Gladiator II Review
And that was a really important lesson for me to learn to do exactly what Augustus did, which is if there's any unpleasantness, do it at the beginning, be strict at the beginning, be firm. If you're taking over a new role as a manager or as a CEO, You don't want to come in and give out freebies and be the nice guy at first.
How to Take Over the World
Augustus Endnotes and Gladiator II Review
You want to do any of the unpleasant business right at the beginning, be strict, exact very high standards. And then if you need to make compromises or be generous later on, you can do that and people will appreciate it. But if you do it very first thing, then people are going to walk all over you. So Augustus did the right thing by being harsh at first.
How to Take Over the World
Augustus Endnotes and Gladiator II Review
So after my takeaways, Alex Petkus is coming on to discuss the similarities between Rome and the United States of America, where we are in terms of the spectrum from republic to empire and what we can expect in the future as the U.S. gets further from its republican past. And then to close it out, I'll talk about my end notes and some of the other notes and quotes from the episode that I liked.
How to Take Over the World
Augustus Endnotes and Gladiator II Review
Okay, number two, be gaze, stare, and don't blink. Remember what Michael Caine said, pick an eye and lock onto it when you are speaking to someone. Try and stare without blinking. That is a powerful gaze. It locks people into what you're saying and has a very charismatic effect. Okay, we've gone over that a lot, but still something that's reiterated, the gaze.
How to Take Over the World
Augustus Endnotes and Gladiator II Review
Number three, hurry slowly, or as other people put it, be quick, but don't hurry. Slow is smooth and smooth is fast. Yes, you want to move quickly. That is crucial to all of these conquerors and all of these great innovators and executives. Everyone that we've covered on here has had the attribute of moving quickly, but don't be out of control.
How to Take Over the World
Augustus Endnotes and Gladiator II Review
So yes, hurry, but hurry slowly, as Augustus likes to say. Okay, number four, there is no substitute for being there. Augustus constantly toured his provinces.
How to Take Over the World
Augustus Endnotes and Gladiator II Review
he constantly was in the forum was constantly meeting with other senators he was always there to lead leadership requires actually knowing what you're talking about surprise surprise but i think many people think that they can lead simply through metrics and kpis key performance indicators some people think they can just use data to lead but that's not possible
How to Take Over the World
Augustus Endnotes and Gladiator II Review
so there is this law good hearts law good hearts law uh is that when a measure becomes a target it ceases to be a good measure okay why is that well let's say that your measure is revenue okay well then you can just increase revenue by increasing ad spend and lowering your profitability to zero And you're actually losing money, but your revenue is growing. Oh, okay.
How to Take Over the World
Augustus Endnotes and Gladiator II Review
Well, then we'll just prioritize profitability. Well, you can get really, really profitable by just cannibalizing growth and taking growth to zero and focusing on profitability. Oh, okay. Well, we'll come up with some hybrid metric. It doesn't work that way. No matter what metric you come up with, there is a way to game it.
How to Take Over the World
Augustus Endnotes and Gladiator II Review
And in fact, if you optimize for it, it's going to cease to be a good target. That's why... You just have to know what it is you're talking about and what good performance really looks like. It reminds me of Steve Jobs when he was the owner of Pixar. He set out his milestones for 1998. OK, and what were these milestones?
How to Take Over the World
Augustus Endnotes and Gladiator II Review
Number one, a bug's life opens in November to very strong, critical and box office success. You don't hear any KPIs there. It's just everyone is expected to know what that means. very strong, critical and box office success. He is a leader who was there like Augustus was. And so he just knows what that means. Number two, PR efforts yield Pixar branding and creative credit for a bug's life.
How to Take Over the World
Augustus Endnotes and Gladiator II Review
Again, no KPIs, no complicated ways of trying to measure it. It's just, he has a good grasp of what's happening. And so he'll know if that happened or not. Number three, Toy Story 2 becomes a great feature film. Again, like, okay, you're getting the picture. None of this stuff is metrics driven.
How to Take Over the World
Augustus Endnotes and Gladiator II Review
It is all subjective, but it can be that because the leader is there on the ground and really knows what he's talking about. Augustus...
How to Take Over the World
Augustus Endnotes and Gladiator II Review
And, and... I will be offering my review of Gladiator 2 which I won't say anything about right now. Maybe I thought it was the greatest movie of all time. Maybe I thought I would rather eat broken glass than watch it again. I'm not telling because you have to subscribe to hear my Gladiator 2 review. So again, for you free listeners, you are going to get about half of this episode.
How to Take Over the World
Augustus Endnotes and Gladiator II Review
uh if you'll recall was more present in his provinces than any emperor for uh i can't remember who it was that eventually surpassed him you can listen in episode one maybe you'll remember better than me but it's like a couple hundred years later until someone else he's in the provinces as much as him so there is no substitute for actually being there and knowing what success looks like and being present with it okay number five relationships rule the world
How to Take Over the World
Augustus Endnotes and Gladiator II Review
This is how he ruled. He was not the greatest military leader. He wasn't the most intelligent person, although he was extremely intelligent. He wasn't the world's greatest speaker. No one thought he was the world's greatest attorney. But he just knew everyone and had these great relationships. And he ruled through these relationships. So you need to have a guy. You can call for everything.
How to Take Over the World
Augustus Endnotes and Gladiator II Review
You need to have great relationships if you want to rule the world. Relationships rule the world. Okay. Number six, go for a minimum viable coalition. Very successful politicians, which is ultimately what Augustus was, they aggressively cater to the interests of one particular highly motivated group. And then from there, build up just enough of a coalition to win.
How to Take Over the World
Augustus Endnotes and Gladiator II Review
You don't want to be the person who has the broadest appeal, at least not initially, because that means that no one is enthusiastic about you. You want to have a very narrow appeal, and you want to build that appeal to just a large enough coalition to win. So that's what he did. While Marc Anthony was quickly trying to move beyond his Caesarian origins and be broadly popular with a lot of people,
How to Take Over the World
Augustus Endnotes and Gladiator II Review
Octavian at the time says, no, no, no. I am going to really double down on being Julius Caesar's heir and serving the interests of these people, of this faction. And that's how he comes to power. He has that minimum viable coalition. So if you're going to politics, think about that. Who are the people I can really champion? Not who are this broad coalition that I can reach out to.
How to Take Over the World
Augustus Endnotes and Gladiator II Review
Who are the people that are going to be my fanatical supporters? And I think that has corollaries in business and other domains as well. And then lastly, do something new and make it seem old. Okay, so what do I mean by that? Well, so Bleakin writes, the monarchy made its garment, so to speak, out of Republican cloth. Okay, so he was making something new.
How to Take Over the World
Augustus Endnotes and Gladiator II Review
He was essentially creating a monarchy, an empire out of Rome and the Roman Republic, but he made it seem like the old thing. He made it seem like the same old Republican government. And so that made it popular. It made it familiar. People were willing to go along with it. And this is a formula for success.
How to Take Over the World
Augustus Endnotes and Gladiator II Review
So for example, if you look at the rise of Christianity, I did that episode a few episodes ago. the Romans did not like Christians because they were monotheists. And they thought that the Christians should worship all the gods like everyone else does. Come on, why are you guys so particular? Why are you so snooty? Why do you think you're better than us? So the question arises, what about the Jews?
How to Take Over the World
Augustus Endnotes and Gladiator II Review
Why did the Jews get away with only worshiping one God? Which they did. They didn't get as much persecution. And the Romans would give you a very straightforward answer, which was, yeah, but the Jews, their religion is very old. And so we're willing to make an exception for them. They would have said by virtue of its antiquity is the word that was used.
How to Take Over the World
Augustus Endnotes and Gladiator II Review
And if you would like to support the show and get the full episode, subscribe at takeoverpod.supercast.com. You can find that link in the show notes or you can subscribe on Apple Podcasts. Thank you, premium subscribers. You guys are the best. You mean the world to me. By the way, for those of you who would like to interact with
How to Take Over the World
Augustus Endnotes and Gladiator II Review
So the Christians made the argument, well, actually, we are the scriptural fulfillment of Judaism. We are the true Judaism. We are the ones who have a religion that go back hundreds of years. And they're the schismatic ones because they're unwilling to recognize the Messiah, which they themselves prophesied of. Okay, obviously I'm not here to take sides on that.
How to Take Over the World
Augustus Endnotes and Gladiator II Review
I'm not here to tell you to believe in Christianity. What I am here to tell you is that they did a very smart thing by appealing to the antiquity of their religion. This really is an old religion. People trust things that are old. They want to be a part of them. There's an inherent romanticism and attraction to things that have stood the test of time.
How to Take Over the World
Augustus Endnotes and Gladiator II Review
And so, you know, Augustus was smart to say, no, no, this is not something new. This is something old. This is the old Republican way. It reminds me of Facebook. What's, well, you know, now Facebook is not so new, but when it came out, what could have been newer than Facebook? It's completely new technology, social networks, you know, that's, that's new, right? But Facebook's
How to Take Over the World
Augustus Endnotes and Gladiator II Review
the name were an actual thing at Harvard where it was started and in many Ivy League schools. And it was a literal book with people's faces and some basic biographical information and details so that you could flip through and get to know the people in your university. So it's like, yeah, it's this new technology, but it's also just this old thing.
How to Take Over the World
Augustus Endnotes and Gladiator II Review
It's the Facebook that people knew at these Ivy League schools. And so it was creating something new, but making it seem old. That's what Augustus did. And I don't think if he had been open and honest about the empire, that it would have succeeded. people would never have put up with. Yeah, this is a monarchy. Get used to it. He had to clothe it in the antiquity of the Roman Republic.
How to Take Over the World
Augustus Endnotes and Gladiator II Review
And that's what allowed him to build this new thing. He, as Bleakin puts it, made it out of old Republican cloth. Okay, so there you go. Those are my takeaways for how to be more like Augustus Caesar. So let's move into my conversation with Alex Petkus about the question of whether America is Rome and what that tells us about the future of America and its republic.
How to Take Over the World
Augustus Endnotes and Gladiator II Review
Just a reminder, I am going to cut this episode off. somewhere in the middle of this conversation with Alex. And if you would like to hear the end of it, as well as my thoughts on the legacy of Augustus Caesar and some of my end notes, please subscribe at takeoverpod.supercast.com. Okay, without further ado, here is my conversation with Alex Petkus of The Cost of Glory.
How to Take Over the World
Augustus Endnotes and Gladiator II Review
Hello, and welcome to How to Take Over the World. This is Ben Wilson, and today we are welcoming to the show Alex Petkus of the Cost of Glory podcast. Alex, how are you? Ben, doing great. How about yourself? Doing well.
How to Take Over the World
Augustus Endnotes and Gladiator II Review
the how to take over the world community and learn more strategies from the greats, I'm going to be doing a retreat with Alex Petkus of the Cost of Glory podcast in Austin, Texas on January 23rd through the 26th. We'll be learning about the ancient art of rhetoric and how to be a better speaker and leader.
How to Take Over the World
Augustus Endnotes and Gladiator II Review
Anytime that I do an episode on someone from the classical world, ancient Greek or Roman, I always feel a little bad because I know that Alex knows the history a little bit better than I do. So sometimes it's fun to bring you on after the fact and dive a little bit more into history.
How to Take Over the World
Augustus Endnotes and Gladiator II Review
into some of these classical stories and i just did this episode on augustus and augustus is a really interesting character because he comes at the end of the roman republic in the beginning of the roman empire and this is a story that resonates throughout history, especially for America, a lot of people like to talk about, are we at the end of the Republic?
How to Take Over the World
Augustus Endnotes and Gladiator II Review
Are we at the beginning of the American empire? Are we in the middle of the American empire? People kind of debate, try and often relate America to Rome and try to discuss where we are in this progression. And so I guess to start with Let's go back and define a republic. What is a republic and what would that word have meant to someone in the time of, say, Augustus?
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
So it's kind of out ahead of of the other ships going forward and and mapping stuff out before the other ships come down river. They're they're going down a river in Quebec. and the French send some fireboats. So these are just boats. That's exactly what it sounds like, right?
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
They drench them in flammable material and liquids, and then they light them on fire and just kind of shove them towards the British fleet, hoping that they will crash into British ships and catch them on fire. And so, you know, as the surveying boat, he's in charge of these surveying boats. Again, he's not an officer, but they're just little surveying boats.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
So he's in charge and he's able to use these little surveying boats, not ships of war, to divert the fire ships. And so he receives some recognition for that. He's kind of a war hero for his job in diverting these fire ships. So he does this for a few seasons in Canada. He goes back to England a few times during one of those times he gets married.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
And then on another trip back home, he's showing people at the Admiralty, you know, basically Naval Command for the British Navy. Hey, look at these maps I've made. And look how useful they are. Look what we're doing with them. And they're very impressed. And so I say, OK, well, you know, we really do enable this guy to do even more.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
The captain in Star Trek is named James Kirk. Okay. captain cook's ship was called the endeavor captain kirk's ship is called the enterprise the star trek mission is to explore new worlds seek out new life and boldly go where no one has gone before and that is reminiscent of exactly what james cook was trying to do with his journeys And this is not coincidental. This is intentional.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
And so they outfit him with a ship, an actual ship, a frigate instead of just these little boats that he had been using before. And so, yeah, they commission him. He is made the captain of a ship. Again, a very rare honor, right? He's not a gentleman. He's not supposed to be eligible to even be an officer, let alone a captain. I guess technically he's not a captain. He is a lieutenant.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
but he's essentially acting like a captain. He is given full command of a ship. So this is a huge promotion. It would have been a scandal if it wasn't James Cook. You know, he's making a reputation for himself as someone very innovative and very smart. Again, this is a very, you know, extremely rare honor for a non-gentleman to be able to become an officer.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
He only gets this opportunity because he's doing this different thing of surveying these coasts. And so it goes to this point of you want to be different. You want to be unique. Yes.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
If you're talented and you want to rise quickly, it's better to be in charge of a small team where you can demonstrate real results rather than just to be a cog, even if it's in maybe a more prestigious organization within your company. Right.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
uh this goes back to horatio nelson another great british sailor he used this to great effect so rather than taking subordinate positions on bigger ships which is what everyone did right it's like oh if you can get on a first-rate ship then that's exactly what you want to do.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
But he took positions on smaller ships, on little frigates, because he would rather be in charge and be able to show what he can do and demonstrate his value as someone who's actually in charge and has the opportunity to demonstrate results rather than just being a part of a bigger machine. So anyways, if you wanna rise quickly, that's what you wanna do.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
Find those places where you can actually be in charge, demonstrate results. So he does this for a few years. And during one of those years, he is a scientifically minded, quantitative person, and he observes an eclipse. And so he takes careful notes and observations and writes down notes on this eclipse. And these notes make their way back to the Admiralty, back to scientific circles in England.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
And so people say, okay, this is someone who is very smart and capable and is scientific minded and is oriented towards discoveries. Okay, why is that important? Because... There is a plan by the Royal Society, which is the preeminent scientific organization of the time. And there is a plan to send a ship to Tahiti in the Pacific Ocean to observe the transit of Venus. That is, you know, Venus.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
They can tell that Venus during this time on this particular day is going to cross in front of the sun. So the transit of Venus means Venus. And so what they want to do is send different scientists to different parts of the world to observe the transit of Venus from different vantage points. And for all of them to carefully note down where exactly it crosses the sun and when exactly it does.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
And that's going to enable them to calculate the exact distance that Venus is from the earth and therefore the exact distance that the sun is. from the earth. So this is a collaborative effort between the Royal Society and the Royal Navy. And so a deal is struck that this voyage to observe the transit of Venus will also explore the South Pacific. In particular, they're going to look for
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
the continent of Terra Australis. So that is this assumption. If you look at the Northern Hemisphere, you've got this huge mega continent, right? Which is Europe, Asia, and Africa. They're all connected. And Africa is mostly in the Northern Hemisphere. Only a little bit of it is in the Southern Hemisphere. Same is true of Asia. Vast majority of it is in the Northern Hemisphere.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
And so by the thinking of the time, they think Well, then the same must be true of like there must be an equivalently large continent in the southern hemisphere to balance it out. And we know that's not South America. South America is pretty small. It's not even as big as North America. And so they're looking for this giant southern continent. And they think, you know, it's probably rich.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
The creators of Star Trek really admired James Cook and used this as a template, a model when they created Star Trek. I'm not the first person to make this comparison. James Cook really was the closest thing we have to a real life Star Trek, you know, visiting, exploring all these completely new, adventurous, exciting places.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
There's lots of opportunities there. So. So they want to combine these missions. Okay, we'll send someone to Tahiti to observe the transit of Venus. And at the same time, they can explore the Pacific Ocean and look for this lost continent, Terra Australis. And so as they are looking for the right person to lead this mission...
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
james cook is the obvious man for the job because he's very capable he's got a proven track record of charting foreign territory that he's done in canada and of making scientific observations so he combines all the things that they need into one person so he's given a ship it's called the endeavor and he's outfitted with a crew
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
both a sailing crew from the Royal Navy, as well as a scientific crew from the Royal Society. The chief scientist was named Joseph Banks. And Joseph Banks is sort of the opposite of Captain Cook in many ways. Cook was kind of unassuming, gangly. He was plain, you know, not the most handsome guy. He was temperate and methodical, right?
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
Very calm, you know, X, Y, Z, A, B, C, go through all the steps. Um, not like a romantic figure, which is exactly what Joseph Banks was, okay? He was aristocratic. He was handsome. He was daring. He was a womanizer. He was, you know, the things they had in common, they were both very tall and they were both extremely intelligent. You know, Banks is this really brilliant scientist.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
But, you know, when they go to these islands, as I mentioned previously, Cook will never sleep with the women. Banks has... Has no compunctions. You know, he is there for scientific inquiry. Yes, he loves science. He loves learning new things. He loves discovery, but he also loves new experiences and having a good time.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
So they're very different people, but it would be this remarkable partnership of opposites combining to accomplish unbelievable things together. Before we keep going, I want to talk about this. If you're not watching YouTube, this is Instantized Creatine from Gains in Bulk. Creatine is the only supplement that I take every day.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
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How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
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How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
And so I was interested in this story because it is really interesting and exciting, but also because it's something I've been thinking a lot about recently is how does one live an adventurous life like this? How can we find excitement like someone like James Cook? Because we live in a world with no unexplored corners, no unknown peoples. And I don't know if I have the answer.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
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How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
You won't regret it. That is gains in bulk. Okay. So on this first journey, Again, they're going to Tahiti. So they set off, they stopped briefly in Madeira, just some islands out in the Atlantic, and then they start going westward. It's interesting.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
One of the first things you read about James Cook is that he takes Machiavelli's advice and he punishes very severely, very early to establish that he's in command. He has expectations that must be met. And that keeps him from needing to punish very often going forward.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
So from the book Discoveries by Nicholas Thomas, he writes, if he had a problem, one of the solutions was to make his command visible. He made discipline tangible by flogging men. The report is pretty bald. On the fourth day, he punished Henry Stephen Seaman and Thos Dunster Marine with 12 lashes each for refusing to take their allowance of fresh beef.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
Thomas goes on later to say, how the endeavors seamen and officers regarded their captain at this particular time is something that can only be guessed at. The very sparse indications and the lack of any suggestion in various logs that the commander was harsh or overbearing make it seem that if Cook was a literal man and one legally obliged to be an autocrat, he saw the need to be a benign one.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
Okay, so he punishes pretty harshly at the beginning, but not extravagantly so. He's not going out of his way. He's just saying, I'm going to enforce the rules as they are. There's not going to be any leniency, especially not early on. So this isn't abnormal on a British ship, and it's not a big deal. Cook is stern and exacting, but he's not like a glutton for punishment.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
So after this minor incident, they continue west. They round Cape Horn, go around the southern tip of South America. They stop briefly. at that very Southern tip in Tierra del Fuego. So that is the islands right off the Southern tip of Argentina. And this is their first moment of exploration. the natives of these islands in Tierra del Fuego had never encountered Europeans before.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
And so they come ashore, they meet these people, they make some friendly contact. Joseph Banks, again, that's the head scientist, he sets off inland for a bit to explore and try to learn more about these people. And when he and the people he brings with him, which is not the whole ship, it's just a small group, when they go to do this,
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
they get caught by a sudden surprise snowstorm and a couple of people actually tragically die. So, you know, that's not a great way to start the journey. But I mean, if you're thinking about this like Star Trek, right, if we're in the James Cook movie, this is great. I mean, they're already exploring new lands, going places that no one from Europe has ever gone before.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
And they're meeting these these new people. And yes, it's dangerous. People are already dead, but it must have been incredibly exciting at the same time. Here is how Cook describes these people who have never been encountered by Europeans before. Quote, They are something above the middle size of a dark copper color with long black hair. They paint their bodies in streaks, mostly red and black.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
Their clothing consists wholly of a Guanaco skin or that of a seal. Um, so anyway. Like, I don't know. It's just so fun and exciting to think about meeting new people for the first time and cataloging, okay, what do they eat? What do they wear? How many of them are there? What do they look like? What's their hair color? What's their skin color? Like, I don't know. I just...
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
That's a really difficult one. But I do think in doing this episode, I came to some answers and I have some ideas that I'll explore at the end of how we can live a life like this. Like, no, you can't set out to the high seas like James Cook did. But I think there is a way. to capture a lot of the sense of thrill and adventure and excitement that he had in his life.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
It seems very exciting. There's one other incident that I think demonstrates kind of what this would have been like for him. And they have these three Hosh men. That's the name of the local tribe. These people they're encountering, the Hosh. And so they get these three Hosh men and they bring them on board the ship.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
They're not just trying to observe, but they're like, hey, you know, this is a cool moment of cultural contact. And they say, do you want to like check out our thing? You want to see our ship? And these guys come on board. And here's a report. This is again from the same biography. Quote, Banks notes that one of the three men who came on board the ship said,
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
Seemed to be a priest or conjurer, or at least we thought him to be one by the noises he made, possibly exercising every part of the ship he came into. For when anything new caught his attention, he shouted as loud as he could for some minutes without directing his speech either to us or to any one of his countrymen.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
Modern knowledge of the varied activities of the several kinds of Haas shamans is limited, but it is entirely possible that ritual formulae were being pronounced and that some pollution or spiritual threat was being dispelled. Banks registers, however superficially and hesitantly, something that was real and dynamic in an indigenous cosmology. All right.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
So again, like, I don't know, just imagine what that's like. New area, new territory, new people. And now they're coming on board and one of them is a shaman and he is like casting out spirits from every part of your ship. Again, it just must have been incredibly cool and exciting to witness it if you remember of this expedition. So they stop in Tierra del Fuego in mid-January.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
They leave on January 17th and they sail for a few months and then make it to Tahiti on April 13th. Tahiti is not unknown. They've had some limited contact with Europeans. So the endeavor knows what to expect a little bit, a very little bit. And the Tahitians know what to expect a little bit from Europeans. So they arrive. And again, like if you go to Tahiti now, it feels like a paradise.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
You know, if you go to Hawaii or if you've been to any Polynesian island. You know what that feels like. And it's incredible. Can you imagine what it must have felt like in the mid 1700s? These guys are from England and they show up and it's warm. The landscape is picturesque. A party goes ashore and the local Tahitians give them banana or plantain leaves as an emblem of peace.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
And they give them gifts of beads to the Tahitians. And, you know, immediately the relations are relatively friendly between the Tahitians and the Endeavor. So like, man, again, like these places are paradises now.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
But if you think about them back then, when it's totally unexplored, not totally again, Tahiti, not totally unexplored, but, um, certainly like only, uh, maybe a couple dozen people from Europe have ever seen this place. And, um, it just must've been even more of a paradise. Again, established friendly relations.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
Banks writes that, quote, in short, the scene we saw was the truest picture of an Arcadia of which we were going to be kings that the imagination can form. Okay, so these people are just like, this place is perfect. Arcadia means just like a primitive place
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
James Cook was also a great leader and a very accomplished man. He's worth studying for the leadership tactics that he used to keep his crew together and allowed him to accomplish so much. I should mention also that his life is not uncontroversial. During the madness of 2020 and all the riots that went on in the United States and all over the world,
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
uh utopia right completely unspoiled but by anyone else and you know you hear in there he says we're gonna be kings of this place like they they can already sense that um yeah this is a place that they're really gonna be able to enjoy part of the allure again was sexual sexual contact between sailors and native women was well quickly would become quite common
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
It proved to be an enduring problem for Cook. He's always trying to tamp down on it. But he's unsuccessful in that for a number of reasons. One is... I mean, people are, are attracted to exoticism and that goes both ways, you know? So these sailors are into these native women. A lot of the native women are into the sailors, you know, these are people from a new cool land and that goes both ways.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
There's also a lot of prostitution, um, especially eventually. Why? Well. essentially these, well, both people, the Europeans have a lot that is very valuable. to the Tahitians because they have metal, which the Tahitians don't have. And even very small amounts of metal can be very valuable to a society that doesn't have it. And they've got guns.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
I mean, they don't trade guns so much, but they've got various provisions and materials and technology the Tahitians don't have. And so often they will trade that for sex. So it's very hard to stop this from happening. And Cook is not very successful in stopping it from happening. Sexual contact and venereal disease is not the only problem.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
Again, I mentioned that the Europeans have all this valuable stuff. And basically from the first moments they arrive, the Tahitians begin stealing from the endeavor. And this creates conflict. Captain Cook, you can't just let this happen. He doesn't want to antagonize the Tahitians. It's very complex, right? How do we stop this from happening without antagonizing them?
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
Especially because like there's nothing you can do to totally cut it out. When you have something that close, it's that valuable to that many people. Like, yeah, they're just going to keep trying to steal it. And they do. Every Polynesian island they go to, basically the entire time they're there, people are trying to steal from them. So at one point,
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
This constant looting leads to an incident where a native Tahitian knocks over a sentry who's standing guard and grabs his musket. Again, imagine for a society that frequently has conflicts and wars, how valuable a musket must be. So he grabs this musket and the officer in charge orders the other guards, the other sentries to fire and they shoot and kill this Tahitian man.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
Hello and welcome to How to Take Over the World. This is Ben Wilson. Today we are talking about the great British captain and explorer James Cook. I think if I could trade places with anyone in history, James Cook is on the shortlist of people whose life that I most envy. What he was able to do just sounds so unbelievably fun and adventurous and exciting.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
And they wound a couple of others. And so they killed this guy, but they want to explain that, like, shoot, we didn't we didn't want to do this. Like, we're not mad at you guys now. They want to smooth things over. And so they basically kidnap a few Tahitians. That's their answer for how to smooth things over. Bring them on board because these Tahitians are scared now.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
statues of James Cook were defaced and sometimes torn down in places like Australia. And that is because, you know, setting aside some of the wider dynamics, to some of the indigenous peoples of Polynesia, Australia, New Zealand, you know, he's seen as a figure of colonization who brought violence and destruction to many Pacific islands.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
They're running away like, oh, you guys are killing us. They grab a few, bring them on board and sit them down and really try and explain.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
no you know uh we want to be friends quote that the man who suffered was guilty of a crime deserving of death for so we were forced to make it we were tired to the ship not well pleased with the day's expedition guilty no doubt in some measure of the death of a man who the most severe laws of equity would not have condemned to so severe a punishment so that's that's a quote from james cook and he's basically saying like we have to explain this to these people but we know that like
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
Really, no laws would have condemned this man to death. So we know this wasn't really a just killing. This is what I'm talking about. James Cook is thinking about this stuff and it's complex for him. So anyways, they have these incidents. A few people do die. This guy is not the only one. But overall, relations with the Tahitians are pretty good.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
By the way, just one other incident that I think illustrates an important element of Captain Cook's character. I'll just read this one again. Quote, That's a chieftain.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
after she refused to give him a stone axe for a nail her husband complained to banks banks promised that the man would be flogged as he indeed was on cook's instructions on april 29th before the offended people okay so this butcher offends this woman and captain cook has him flogged so that's you know whipped essentially in front of these tahitians who he has offended
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
The Tahitians, I'm quoting again, the Tahitians were horrified by the procedure. Jess was stripped, bound to the rigging, and then lashed and interceded for the man as soon as it had begun. But Cook insisted on completing the punishment. It was not his style to do things by halves. Okay. I really liked that last line. It was not his style to do things by halves.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
It reminds me of the line from Machiavelli who wrote, the Romans always avoided a middle course of action and turned to extreme measures. Weak states are always ambiguous in their decisions. Okay. So Cook was more like the Romans. He always avoided that middle course of action and turned to extreme measures. And he was never ambiguous in his decisions. He never did things by halves.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
And once he started something, he always saw it through to the very end. Okay. Anyways, so this is the general picture of things on Tahiti. One moment, it's incredibly warm. The next, it can be hostile and marked by mutual suspicion, misunderstandings. That's just to be expected, right? With two completely new peoples who are trying to figure each other out.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
I think, you know, they have things to do and they're doing them, but also there's a lot of downtime. And and these European sailors, these British sailors on the endeavor are really enjoying themselves. They even get to for the first time Europeans witness people surfing, which they can't believe. They're totally in awe.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
Joseph Banks writes about this incident where they first see Tahitian surfing, quote, We stood admiring this very wonderful scene for full half an hour. So for just half an hour, They're distracted from their work and they are just watching these people surf on June 3rd. So they've been there for a couple of months. The fateful day comes of the transit of Venus.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
Remember this is the reason that they're there. And, um, so they choose a location to observe the transit of Venus and it's a good day for it. There wasn't a cloud in the sky, just a perfect clear day for observation. Nevertheless, like it seems like based on the weather, it should be good observation, but it's not.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
And so, yeah, I can understand if you were a native Hawaiian or Tongan, you might have ambivalent feelings about colonization in general and what happened to your island through that process. I get that. However, James Cook really is kind of a misplaced target for those feelings. He was very liberal minded. He had quite an affection for the native islanders of Polynesia.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
Cook writes, quote, there was an atmosphere or dusky shade around the body of the planet. They very much disturbed the times of the contrast, particularly the two internal ones. Dr. Solender observed as well as Mr. Green and myself, and we differed from one another in observing the times of the contacts much more than could be expected.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
all right so it's not a clear observation for whatever reason and this would turn out to be the case all over the world in fact these observations of the transit venus rendered no usable data whatsoever on the distance of venus from the earth and therefore on the distance of the sun so we don't know what cook was feeling he doesn't write it down i imagine he must have at least been somewhat disappointed but you know uh his journal barely mentions it so i think on some level
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
Maybe he was excited that it was just over because now this means that he can continue on his voyage and explore, which I think was his primary passion. The reason he did all this is to explore new territories, go where no man has gone before.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
But before moving on from Tahiti, they do take a little more time to really chart it out, sail around the island and carefully map the islands and their coasts and all of that, which is what Cook does, right? He's a real pro at that. And then they also do a little bit more anthropology of exploring Tahitian culture. They're able to participate in some ceremonies.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
For example, Joseph Banks participates in a funeral and he strips down to a loincloth Again, this is an English aristocrat and he's wearing nothing but a loincloth. He has his body covered in ashes and he walks with a mourning party. And the way they mourn is they follow this path and anyone they come upon, you know, they're mad, they're mourning.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
They take clubs and sticks and they chase away anyone who they happen upon. And they're not like really hurting anyone, but they might whack you a couple of times, say, get away from this funeral. You know, I don't know.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
But again, this is just this amazing scene to me of this this proper English gentleman, basically naked, painted in ash and and chasing native Polynesians around with this this funerary group like he's a member of the group. Like it's an amazing moment of cross-cultural understanding and And yeah, just like what a cool experience that he was able to have.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
I just, I would have loved to trade places with him and be experiencing this for the first time. You know, one of the other things that people comment on is, especially Cook and Banks, is the quality of Polynesian canoes. And they're called, we call them canoes, but that's maybe a little bit of a misnomer because for larger trading ships, Polynesia still had contact with other islands.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
And so these canoes are capable of going hundreds of miles from island to island, and they are quite technologically sophisticated. Yes, Polynesia was a Stone Age civilization, so no metal, no gunpowder, no mathematics, no written language. But at least in terms of navigation and in terms of boat construction, these are very well crafted.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
And someone like Banks, someone like Cook is able to appreciate them as such. Okay, the last incident they have in Tahiti, and this is an important one, is they're getting ready to leave. They've made all their observations. They've made all their measurements. They're now ready to go. Let's go find Terra Australis. Let's leave Tahiti. Okay.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
Cook is going through the manifest and checking that everyone's on board and they realize that they are missing two sailors and the two sailors have deserted. They have taken Tahitian wives and they're like, have you seen Tahiti? We're not leaving Tahiti. We're staying. We've got our Tahitian wives. They're super hot. The climate is great. This place is beautiful. We're never leaving.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
He sought to understand them on their own terms. He was often though not always lenient in terms of punishing natives for crimes such as theft. He was just a very tolerant person in general and his missions were always to explore and not to set up commercial enterprises or colonize in really any meaningful way.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
And Cook needs the men both because he can't lose these to say like he needs his crew, but also I mean, these are not the only guys to realize that this is paradise. And so if these two sailors are able to leave and desert and stay here, then how many are going to desert at the next island, right? You can't set this precedent. And so Cook says, okay, we have to find a way to get these guys back.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
This is disastrous if we let them stay. So here is the plan that Captain Cook arrives at. Maybe not the best plan, but well, okay. So they have a fort. They're not just all staying on the Endeavor. They had built this fort and they have not completely taken down the fort. They're getting ready to leave. They haven't left yet. And in this fort,
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
there are a number of Tahitians who are there to talk and to trade and whatever. There's a lot of contact between the two peoples, right? And so Captain Cook takes a half dozen, I think it's actually eight, yeah, it's eight nobles who happened to be in the fort at that time, and he kidnaps them. He takes them prisoner.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
And he says to the Tahitians, I'm not releasing these people until you return my sailors to me. The sailors say, okay, well, two can play this game. And they take a bunch of prisoners and say, we won't release them until Captain Cook releases his prisoners. Anyways, so eventually the situation is diffused and Cook gets his men back. These two sailors, they have to come back on board the Endeavor.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
It's greatly damaging to relations with the Tahitians, which Banks laments. He's like, I can't believe you did this. These people are never going to trust us again. But Cook basically takes the attitude. This was completely necessary. This got us our sailors back. I don't know there's any other way that we would have got them back.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
and who knows how many people deserted the whole mission might have failed if i didn't get these people back so you know bad move good move i mean who knows uh it worked and it was cook style to you know he actually he really respected the natives he tried to not interfere with them whenever possible but if anything endangered the mission he was going to go to extreme measures do whatever it took to make sure that that mission was accomplished that's what he does here okay
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
So with these two guys now back on board, they set off again. And by the way, they not only get their sailors back, but they have actually picked up a new crew member. He's a Tahitian nobleman named Tupaya, and he would render really crucial service in navigation translation.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
You know, this is someone who has navigated these Polynesian islands before and knows where to go, how to get there, the best way to navigate. And he speaks the language and he knows Polynesian culture, religion, politics. He's going to help them avoid a lot of the pitfalls of the things they might do that would offend the locals, things like that.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
So they're setting off for New Zealand, which was already known to exist. And they do, they make it to New Zealand and their reception there is very different from Tahiti. the locals there called the Maori and the Maori are immediately hostile. Okay. When they see the endeavor land, they run off and then they come back and attack the landing party. And one Maori is shot and killed.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
So I do think it's stupid to just condemn and slur him as some sort of genocidal maniac when that wasn't who he was at all. However, again, he did kind of kick off this process of colonization that would follow. So on some level, I kind of understand maybe the feelings of ambivalence about him as a figure.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
So they're, they're very, they have a very martial society. They're very aggressive. Um, but the, relations do eventually improve somewhat, in large part thanks to Tupea, who is able to make himself understood quite easily. So actually, luckily, Maori and Tahitian are two of the languages in the Polynesian family that are most closely related.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
And so they're mutually intelligible in a lot of ways. And that's because the Maori had arrived in New Zealand relatively recently, only in the year 1300. And they had come directly from the area around Tahiti. That's why the languages are so closely related. And Tupai is able to make himself understood quite easily. I still think actually...
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
It's not really remarked upon because no one else was able to appreciate it, but he must have been doing some clever translating at the same time. Like the languages are closely related, but they're not the same.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
And so the fact that he's able to communicate so well to me shows that he must have been quite clever to be able to, in real time, figure out these linguistic differences and make himself understood. Anyways, Tupai is able to help. And yeah, and they establish good relations with the Maori.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
A lot of the same stuff as Tahiti, sexual contact, trade, conflict, understanding, alliances, violence, the whole thing kind of replays. They also, you know, one of the things that they do kind of everywhere they go, which is interesting, is that their mission is... sort of colonize.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
They're not actually trying to set up colonies, but what they are trying to do is get ahead of any other European claims on any of these islands.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
And so what they do, it's interesting, they try and make some friendships, they make some friendships, they find a local king who they can get along with, and they'll just set up a British flag, plant it in the ground, make sure it's somewhere high and visible, and then say, hey,
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
can you do us a favor and just make sure we'll pay a little bit of money, make sure that no one ever takes down this flag. And so they say, all right. And, um, and cook admits that like, they're kind of claiming the land, but no one really knows of the locals that they're claiming the land. And, uh,
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
you know it's it's not a claim that's going to be able to stand or have any validity like if they had returned and said we own this land the maori would have been like huh what we never agreed to that and cook knows that he's not trying to claim more than is real but he is trying to get ahead of other european claims by setting up these flags okay so they have set up claims in tahiti now in new zealand the main purpose in new zealand
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
is to find out is this Terra Australis? Is this a vast continent or is this an island? So they sail around the island and they prove that, uh, no, New Zealand is actually two islands and, and not a continent. Okay. So they prove that it's an island. Then they go south.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
And on March 31st, 1770, he writes that he quote, must be allowed to have set aside the most, if not all the arguments and proofs that have been advanced by different authors to prove that there must be a Southern continent. I mean, to the Northward of 40 degrees South for what may lie to the Southward of that latitude. I know not. So in other words,
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
And I also don't think it's illegitimate to talk about his treatment of native people and where he succeeded and where he failed, in part because Cook himself was deeply concerned about it. He was very self-reflective. He often wrote and talked about his relationship with the natives, what went well, what went wrong, what he could have done better.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
Hey, I can prove there's no vast continent north of 40 degrees south. Down in the ice, like who knows, but it doesn't really matter, right? There's not anything we'd be able to do with it anyways. So he feels like he's proven to satisfaction that there's not a vast continent in this area. So they explore, they prove New Zealand is just islands.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
Then they set off west again where they run into Australia again. the time was called new holland it was already known to exist europeans had explored the western side and the northern side of australia but the eastern side which is the most populous side now where you have all the major australian cities was not explored and so they go up the coast of australia and
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
explore it and chart it out and find the harbors. They make contact with the locals. To them, the most unique, interesting thing is in both Tahiti and New Zealand, when locals saw their ship, they were very curious about it. You know, some of them were scared, some were aggressive, but all of them had a reaction. In Australia, the natives just ignore it.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
Like they can see these people not very far away on the shore and they're hunting and they're doing various things and they just take no notice. They don't care about the ship. When they do actually land, the people are extremely frightened. They think that they are dead ancestors.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
They've never seen people with skin this white or dressed in the way they are with with the technology and tools they have. They just find them very odd and strange, and yeah, they assume that they are dead ancestors. They're ghosts. And so they threaten them with spears and flee inland whenever the crew of the Endeavor approach them. They go so far as to abandon villages.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
This is how badly they don't want to encounter these ghosts. But they observe. They stay just on the edge observing these Europeans, kind of looking from the bushes with their spears. They don't engage them. They don't attack them. Anytime the Europeans come close to them, they retreat. They run away. So the Endeavor lands at what is now called Botany Bay for a week.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
And in this entire time, they're never able to establish steady contact with the Aboriginals. They maybe exchange a few words, talk to a couple of kids, but they can't get regular contact like they do in Polynesia. But they do explore the area. They take some local samples of plants and animals. They make observations. They collect water, wood, and other supplies.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
So that was something that he himself talked a lot about. So it's obviously not like a weird point of inquiry to ask, you know, what could have gone better. So, for example, this is someone he never had sexual relations with any of the native islanders anywhere that he went. As far as I know, he never had sexual relations with anyone except for his wife. I was very faithful in that way.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
And this is in the area, Botany Bay, where they are, is in Sydney, Australia now. So one of the richest, most fertile, most ideal places in Australia. So they stay there for a week and then they continue on. They continue exploring the Australian coast. And then eventually they are sailing in what they think is deep water when they encounter every sailor's worst nightmare.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
cook did not know it but he was well inside the great barrier reef in effect in a potentially fatal maze as it approached 11 pm on the evening of monday june 11th the ship was moving slowly through water that seemed to be nearly two fathoms deep and the man responsible for sounding was about to cast his lead in line again when the endeavor struck and stuck fast the
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
Banks was just getting warm in his bed when he heard the news, implying that he had not felt it, that the initial impact cannot have been palpable, though moments later he was convinced, he says, by the ship beating very violently against the rocks.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
The situation was terrifying because, as Banks correctly presumed, we were upon sunken coral rocks, the most dreadful of all others on account of their sharp points and grinding quality, which cut through a ship's bottom almost immediately." What made matters worse was they had been sailing away from the shore for some hours.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
Were the ship lost, reaching the land in small boats would take many long hours. It was dark, though not so dark, that boards broken away from the hull could not be seen, floating thick around the ship, which was repeatedly lifted and dropped and smashed against the reef.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
Banks found it hard to keep his footing on the quarterdeck and was in a state of great alarm, thinking not just of the ship breaking up, of water in his lungs and death by drowning, but of the bloody loss, the loss of his specimens and curiosities, of a greater haul of new plants, birds, fish, and Indian things than any other mortal had had chance to acquire.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
He might have thought too of the loss to Europe of Tahiti as a place and culture known a of the loss of the measurements of the transit of Venus, of the loss of lists of Maori words and drawings of Maori canoes. If men work now to save their lives a great deal more than men would have gone down with the endeavor. A set of findings would have been unfound.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
A set of histories that for better or worse were just beginning would have come to a premature conclusion. Okay, luckily they are able to save the ship. They have to bail water and use an innovative new technique to temporarily plug the leak. And then they limp to the Australian coast where they're delayed for seven weeks while they repair the ship.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
During the seven week stay, they finally are able to make enough contact to actually get to know the Aboriginal Australians and learn a few words, including kangaroo. There is this rumor that you might've heard that kangaroo means, uh, what did you say? Like the, so the, the legend is that, you know, captain cook lands and they're trying to talk with the aboriginals and they say, um,
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
what is this thing? And Aboriginals don't hear them clearly and say, kangaroo, what did you say? And so the word for what did you say becomes kangaroo. Okay, that's the legend anyways. It's not true. Actually, they got the word quite correctly. Kangaroo is quite close to the Aboriginal word for kangaroo. And to me, that demonstrates like,
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
But, and he strongly discouraged his men from doing the same, from having relationships and contact with these women on these islands. However, he wasn't always successful. And when he visited these islands, inevitably through sexual contact with these sailors, venereal diseases were introduced to these islands for the first time.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
People want to cast doubt on these early explorers and make them seem so primitive compared to our own day. But you know what? Their science was pretty good. And they were men of rigor. They were intelligent men who were doing a pretty good job. And in fact, They get a list of about 60 or 70 Aboriginal words before they move on.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
And now as the passing of time, of course, we have a much better understanding of Aboriginal language. And those words are all quite accurate. So they did a good job of understanding their language in a very short amount of time. Anyway. Okay. All right, let's take a quick break to talk about Vesto, which gives you all of your company's financial accounts in one view.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
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How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
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How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
So they journey northward, making more important observations and measurements. For example, they demonstrate that New Guinea, this big island, is not connected to Australia. It's important geographic discovery for Europe. And almost everywhere they go, Cook makes important geographic discoveries and measurements, almost as like a matter of habit. He can't help himself.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
He's just constantly observing, putting things together, making maps, taking measurements everywhere he goes. It reminds me of a Paul Graham essay. Paul Graham is this great venture capitalist, early figure in Silicon Valley. He wrote an essay called Start. And he's writing about rules for starting a startup. And he talks about who you should hire.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
And he writes, one of the best tricks I learned during our startup was a rule for deciding who to hire. Could you describe the person as an animal? It might be hard to translate that into another language, but I think everyone in the US knows what it means. It means someone who takes their work a little too seriously.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
Someone who does what they do so well that they pass right through professional and cross over into obsessive. If you think about people you know, you'll find the animal test is easy to apply. Call the person's image to your mind and imagine the sentence, so-and-so is an animal. If you laugh, they're not.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
you don't need or perhaps even want this quality in big companies but you need it in a startup okay so i like that right could you describe this person as an animal and i would just add one corollary okay one slight modification which is um i wouldn't say that you would apply the word animal to james cook but what i would say you could call him is he's a machine
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
I think that's another good question. Can you describe this person as a machine without laughing? And absolutely, you can describe James Cook as a machine, right? The force of habit, the consistency, the single-mindedness. When it came to making discoveries at sea, Captain Cook was absolutely a machine. I mean, just imagine.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
You have done this year-long grueling journey exploring all these foreign lands. A half dozen people have died. Your ship was recently carved up by a coral reef. You're just limping along. Provisions are low. And now for the first time, you are entering more or less what is the known world to Europeans, okay? There are especially Dutch trading posts in New Guinea, okay?
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
And so I get how you might have complicated feelings if you're a Polynesian of like, well, yeah, James Cook himself, not a bad guy, open, tolerant, very understanding, brilliant, you know, great man. But what he represented, what he brought with him was destructive in some ways. And so you might not want to celebrate that.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
And so for the first time, like maybe if you want to, you could let your hair down a little bit. You could relax. The hard stuff is over. But no, James Cook is charting the southern coast of New Guinea. He is just reflexively. measuring, charting, making more discoveries, making more observations. So he's a machine. And that's a good piece of advice. Be a machine.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
Find something that you can do so habitually, so reflexively that no one else can compete. It reminds me, I think I've told this story before, but it reminds me of Brandon Flowers of The Killers. Killers, one of the greatest rock bands of the 21st century. And there's this book called Meet Me in the Bathroom, Rebirth and Rock and Roll in New York City, 2001 to 2011.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
And they talk about all these bands that came through New York City and revived the rock scene in the early 2000s. And the Killers were kind of the greatest, at least the biggest of those bands. And so in this book, they're talking about the killers and how the killers didn't really party like other bands did.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
And this artist, Harmar Superstar, says, that's why they're bigger than all of us who enthusiastically enjoyed the spoils of war. OK, they said we enjoyed the spoils of war and they didn't. They just they worked. That's why they're bigger than all of us. And then producer Sarah Lewatin goes on, quote, Brandon's that's Brandon Flowers, lead singer of the Killers. Brandon's drug is music.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
Pure obsession. Brandon wanted it. I don't think he ever knew the difference between being in a tiny little band playing to five people and being David Bowie. All right. I love that. Like his drug was music. Everyone else is doing drugs, but Brandon's drug is music. Pure obsession.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
And I know it's an awkward comparison between rock and roll and coastal surveys, but the point is that no one can keep up with Brandon Flowers or Captain James Cook because both of them are machines. They love what they do. They do it reflexively. They can't be stopped from doing it. And so, yeah, if you're not a machine... You're just never gonna keep up with someone who is.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
Okay, so where are we at? They left for this journey in February of 1768. It is now late 1770. And remarkably, no one has died from scurvy. In fact, few have even suffered any ill effects from it. And that was very rare for the time, okay? Scurvy is a disease that used to regularly affect sailors. It's pretty horrible. You're very tired. You feel joint pain. Your hair starts falling out.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
And then the most well-known symptom is your gums start bleeding and your teeth start falling out. And sailors had been suffering from scurvy since forever. But it really started taking off in the age of exploration, when you have these long voyages away from land, and then it just becomes more and more common. And in the 1700s, scurvy killed more British sailors than enemy arms did.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
But, you know, setting all that aside, just looking at James Cook, the man, he's an extraordinary man. Brilliant, daring, the things that he accomplished, the life that he lived was extremely exciting. So I'm excited to take a look at his life and what we can learn from it. So let's jump into it. This is the life of James Cook. First, a brief word about James. Van Man. I love this company.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
That is how big of a problem it was. And what scurvy is caused by is a radical deficiency in vitamin C. So as you're away from land for longer periods of time, you don't get as many fresh fruits and vegetables. You don't have enough vitamin C. You start suffering from scurvy. But the cause was not known. Like people hadn't discovered vitamin C yet. It's the mid 1700s.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
And so it seemed like this kind of mysterious disease, right? That's just like seasickness. If you're at sea for too long, you're going to start feeling it. Okay. And this is one of the very first journeys of this duration and type to not lose anyone to scurvy. And that is because James Cook experiments with the number of interventions.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
So, you know, he doesn't know that it's vitamin C, so he's doing a few things. He emphasizes cleanliness and daily exercise. And then he tries a bunch of different foods. One is called wort, and that's kind of like proto-beer. It's something you use to make beer. And then malt. And then sauerkraut is one that he really emphasizes.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
He doesn't know this, but sauerkraut is extremely high in vitamin C. And initially his men won't touch the stuff. They think they're unfamiliar with sauerkraut. They're not interested in it at all. And he says, that's fine. It's actually only for officers. You guys can't have it anyway. And so the officers all start eating sauerkraut at every meal. And what do you know?
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
Once the commissar can't have it, now all of a sudden they want it. In fact, they want it so bad that they actually have to ration it out. So James Cook is actually not sure why people aren't catching scurvy. He doesn't know if it's the exercise or the cleanliness or the diet. It turns out it is the sauerkraut, but he knows that at least one of these interventions is working. It's very remarkable.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
I wouldn't say that James Cook is sort of the, he didn't discover a cure for scurvy. In fact, he wasn't the one to come up with sauerkraut. He adopted this, I think, from German sailors, right? But what I would say is that he's a key early adopter and innovator in the space. Again, he is the first person to conduct a voyage this long and not have anyone die from scurvy.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
So he's got this amazing run without any scurvy deaths and with very few deaths kind of to other diseases as well because of the general cleanliness of the ship. But then they stop in the Dutch East Indies in the city that is now called Jakarta. And there they encounter European civilization for the first time in two years. It's very exciting.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
They're meeting all these Dutchmen and talking with them. The Dutch are very helpful and actually insist on doing the cleaning and repairs of the Endeavour themselves. But... The caveat is in this crowded urban city, in this tropical climate, the crew is absolutely decimated by disease, mostly malaria, a little bit of dysentery as well. And basically everyone catches something.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
Tupea, that great Tahitian leader who was helping them translate, navigate, he dies, as do six others. And they lose more people to disease in this short stay there. They're only refitting, um, for a few weeks with the Dutch, but they lose more people to disease in those few weeks than they do on the whole rest of, of the voyage. So this is tragic.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
Um, they stay for a few weeks and, uh, they actually were supposed to stay longer, but captain cook is like, we gotta get outta here. We can't have more people catching malaria. So, uh, now they're in the known world. they just have to get home. No more navigating, no more charting. This is all known. People know Asia, right? And Africa.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
And so they sail straight for the Cape of Good Hope, southern tip of Africa, where they stop and resupply in Cape Town, and then briefly stop at St. Helena in the Mid-Atlantic before finally sailing home to England. So again, they left in August of 1768 and they return in July of 1771. So they've been gone for almost exactly three years.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
I love this brand. They make all natural products. They make lotion, deodorant, lip balm. I use a bunch of it. Like the thing I love about it is I've got right here. I'm not gonna show you the brand, but I've got a lotion and it says it's natural. It's all natural. So, you know, you gotta love that. All natural, right? This is the kind of stuff I used to use.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
The journey had taken so long that the newspapers had all taken to reporting that the endeavor was lost at sea. Everyone thinks they're dead. So their return was a pleasant surprise and a very exciting one. Naturally, the tales told begin to grow in the telling. And look, even if you weren't trying to exaggerate, imagine telling people just the truth, right?
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
So for example, we didn't talk about this, but the Maori, they practice cannibalism, not as like a general dietary staple, but as a ceremony over defeated enemies. They ate their enemies. So, you know, imagine telling people about these people with face tattoos who eat their fallen enemies. Or imagine telling people about kangaroos, right? These giant animals that hop around on two feet.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
So even when not exaggerating, the tales are extravagant, but of course people do exaggerate what happened. And the tales of Tahiti and other Pacific islands take on this very idealized Arcadian tone and begin to be very romanticized. Rightly, I mean, again, I've been to Hawaii and even now, even now in the 21st century, you show up in Hawaii and
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
And within an hour, at first you're like, okay, what is this place? Oh, this is pretty cool. Then you feel the weather and you see how beautiful it is. Within an hour, there's a little voice in the back of your head that just says, you should never leave here. You should stay here forever.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
I can only imagine how much longer that voice must have been in the 1760s and 70s when these people are coming from England. Okay. So. Uh, they, they start spreading these tales of, of Polynesia and New Zealand and Australia and all these amazing discoveries. And it's very romantic, but captain cook is not the celebrity of, of the voyage. That is Joseph banks.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
Uh, Joseph banks becomes wildly famous. Cook himself does not, which on the one hand, he's not worried about. James Cook is not the type of person who would want to be a celebrity. On the other hand, he does, going forward, keep more detailed observations. He becomes more literary. And that would be to be able to give his own narrative of his voyages.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
So he does take some note of what is happening to Joseph Banks. And it should be said that Cook certainly does gain esteem in certain circles. Within the Navy, he's a very respected figure, and that esteem actually gets him an audience with the king, where he gives a firsthand account of his journeys. Not bad for a peasant boy, essentially, who grew up in Northern England. Okay, so...
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
it's not long before James Cook is commissioned to do a second expedition. This time, the goal is to shore up British colonial claims in the Pacific and make further explorations for Terra Australis. Basically, um, they had mostly ruled it out. Um,
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
So let's look at the ingredients of this all natural lotion. First, water. Great. Great. We're starting so strong. Second, caprylic triglyceride. It's all natural. They must have pulled that one straight off the caprylic triglyceride tree. After that, glycerin, then soterol alcohol, pentolene glycol. Again, you know, that must be just really fresh squeezed pentolene glycol.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
In the first journey, at least of it being a giant productive continent somewhere, but people are intrigued by, well, could it be a big snowy continent somewhere further south? So they want to explore that. So, um, this time they get two ships, the resolution and the adventure. Cook is home for less than 10 weeks before this new plan is decided upon.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
You know, he is home for about a year before he leaves again. This time, Joseph Banks doesn't come. They have a falling out. Just Banks wants to. add all this construction so they can have nicer quarters and ends up making the ship too top heavy. And he's like, I don't have to put up with this. He storms off. They get a new chief scientist. His name is Johan Reinhold Forster. Totally brilliant.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
Probably a little autistic, really hard to get along with. He's right about everything because he's super smart, but he insists on being right about everything and he's not well liked. Okay. So he's home for basically exactly a year, a year and a day. And on July 13th, 1772, he departs on his next expedition. Um,
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
They go back, this time they go east, so they go south around Africa, go back to Australia, stop in New Zealand, where this time the people are a little more used to them, so they get a slightly warmer welcome. one thing that does change about Cook is his relationship with the natives. The arrival of the endeavor had changed things. They struck up real relationships, real friendships.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
And that was true of the sailors. That was true of Cook in particular. You know, these kings, these chieftains, They were often as curious as Cook was. They're intelligent, they're outward looking, they're excited to meet new people. And so here comes this guy, Captain Cook, who can teach them things about the larger world, who brings them new technology, new learning, new ways of doing things.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
And yes, he brings them things that often enrich them and give them a leg up over their neighbors. but also of course you're gonna feel like a natural affection for someone who can teach you all this stuff right i think those two things are kind of wrapped up in each other
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
you're more likely to strike up a genuine friendship with someone who can do things for you, who has something to offer, right? So these leaders are happy to see Cook on a professional level, but also on a personal one. And so these genuine friendships and this admiration they have for Captain Cook, it changes something in him.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
Nicholas Thomas writes, what is striking over these few days, however, is not this collision of personalities, but a certain waywardness in Cook.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
the navigator appears emotionally transported by encounters with prominent men whom he has met before men who are on their part affected at any rate pleased to see him again he writes as lyrically as he ever does about their civility and generosity he scarcely wants to know of the proliferation of petty thefts that are perpetrated against his men which he for the most part neglects to record and refrains from punishing
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
He's widely considered the greatest sea explorer of all time. He mapped the Pacific Ocean from Australia, New Zealand, up through the Polynesian Islands, all the way up to the west coast of the United States, Canada, and Alaska. Many of these islands were already known to Europeans, although many of them were not mapped. But even so, many others... were completely unknown to Europeans.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
Whatever this friendship meant for the chiefs had come to mean something to cook something more important than the trifling misdeeds of their subjects or the annoying grievances of his gentlemen. He was no longer just cook, but a compound self. Okay. So I think what's happening here is. You know, something's changing. He's starting to take the side of the natives much more often.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
And I think that's actually very understandable. If you think about it in England, James Cook has the respect of the admiralty. Yes, he's met with the king. Yes. However, he is still the son of a peasant. Yes, he's the captain of a ship now. He's an officer. He's done well for himself, but he's still socially capped. He's an interloper in this aristocratic society.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
But in Polynesia, he is a nobleman. Kings treat him as an equal. They bring him into their ceremonies. They're friends with him. There's one account from New Zealand where they arrive and there's this elaborate ceremony. They send out five boats, all containing different things to represent different emblems of peace and friendship with Cook.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
That's all I can figure for this all natural lotion. the other hand let's look at van man okay ingredients number one grass-fed beef tallow number two honey number three beeswax number four olive oil number five essential oil blend look all this stuff ends up in your body even if you're just putting it on your skin it ends up in your bloodstream
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
And then Cook writes in one version of his journal, quote, I wanted to go to the king, but was told that he would come to me, which he accordingly did. This being done, Ori, that's the name of the king, rose up and came and fell upon my neck and embraced me. This was by no means ceremonious. The tears which trickled down plentifully down his cheeks sufficiently spoke the feelings of his heart.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
OK, so like, yeah, I mean, this this king is emotionally affected. Does he cook and greets him as a friend and cries and embraces him? OK, so you can see how that kind of affection and respect would attract a man and maybe make him feel more at home in this place where he is a peer of kings than in his his home where he's not. You know, I don't want to exaggerate here.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
Obviously he's kind of a man caught between two worlds. He's not fully going native or anything like that. And he does still punish natives when they steal at times. Um, he can be incredibly harsh sometimes, but his perspective is definitely changing. So, okay. They leave England, they go under Africa. come to New Zealand and make their stops there.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
He has these experiences with these kings and then they go south once again. And they're continually going south, kind of traveling around to see if there's anywhere where they can make it past the ice in order to get at what they hope is a southern icy continent. But they can't do it. And so finally, Cook decides, all right, I've gone as far as anyone can go.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
He writes, I can be bold to say that no man will ever venture farther than I have done and that the lands which may lie to the south will never be explored. And he was sort of right, which is in his own time. No one could go further, given the limitations of naval technology.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
It would be more than 50 years until men would set foot on Antarctica, in which time there's a large amount of of technological development that allowed that. Right. So so he contends himself. Look, I can't if there is a southern continent, I can't get to it. Mission accomplished. And so, OK, well, we're here and they go on and they explore more of Polynesia and the South Pacific.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
And so, you know, as I said before, as with the first journey, it's very romantic, very exciting discovering these new peoples. But at the same time, it's very methodical. There's a great quote about this from the biography by Thomas. It says, Cook's navigation was indeed characterized by methodical rigor.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
He saw that there were blank spaces on a chart and he worked out a track that crisscrossed them. Once he had laid down that course, he followed it single-mindedly with no more variation or compromises than he could avoid. Okay, again, Captain James Cook, the machine, right? Very methodical.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
He goes on, he made his predecessors look like naive amateurs so far as the business of maritime investigation was concerned. And then this passage I absolutely loved. Here's why you listen to how to take over the world, right?
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
And maybe you want glycerol stearate in your bloodstream, but I don't. I feel much better putting in things like Van Man that are food grade that like, yeah, beef tallow, you can cook with. That's something that people eat, right? Honey, olive oil, like all this stuff. that you know is not bad for you.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
Okay, if you listened to my episode a few episodes back, about 10 lessons from 100 episodes, you heard me say that I thought the two most important aspects of leadership were vision and
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
and holding people to a high standard okay that was my theory that's what I concluded from a hundred episodes I think of the world okay we'll listen to what are the two most important aspects of Cook's leadership okay again this is from Nicholas Thomas biography quote he had not only what 20th century management speak called Vision Dali Rample called it more appealingly sublimity of conception
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
but also the ability to make a plan work, which was the ability to push his crew hard without pushing them over the brink. I am sure that Cook thought about all of this. He knew that his voyage had established more in two years than a score of predecessors had over the past two centuries. His maps were the measure of his accomplishment. Okay. So there you go.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
Um, that's perhaps a bit more poetic sublimity of conception is a good phrase for vision, but then for holding people to a standard, he says, making a plan work, the ability to push his crew hard without pushing them over the brink. I like that, but that's exactly what leadership is.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
They call out those same two things, his vision and his ability to make a plan work, to push people hard, to, to hold them to a standard. And captain cook had that in spades. So anyway, In exploring the South Pacific, they meet the inhabitants of more than 20 islands in just seven months. It's incredibly exciting.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
Again, the only dampener on the success of the second journey is that, as I said, there were two ships, right? And the second ship, the adventure, gets separated in a fog and they go to the rendezvous spot in New Zealand and they have some run-ins with the locals, with the Maori, who end up killing a few of them and cannibalizing them, eating them.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
And that's obviously going to be a scandal back home. So, um, cook ship actually runs into a Dutch merchant ship. They say, have you heard the news? He goes, no. What news? And your other ship, some guys got cannibalized back in New Zealand. They break the news to him. And, uh, okay. So that's, that's the one dampener on this second journey.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
When he gets home, he's committed to seeing through how the public receives the message of this journey. And so, uh, He turns to more literary accomplishments and he starts publishing his memoirs, which, you know, he didn't want to be a celebrity.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
He's not trying to be a hero, but he did want to control how the public heard and understood what he had done because he's seeing from what gets published from his first journey that a lot of it is exaggerated. A lot of it is not true.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
um a lot of it is distorted and so he wants the truth to get out and he wants to be able to tell his own story and so he does much more of that he writes his memoirs which he's been keeping in journals the entire time through his second journey so that raises his public profile quite a bit so he's home again for a year and another voyage is planned um and this time they say all right we can't ask you to lead a third voyage but
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
And so you're not going to have, you know, people are just becoming aware of things like microplastics and what that does to your health. By the way, most lotion brands, yeah, they're in plastic. And what's Van Man in? Glass, right? So you're not getting microplastics from it either. So if you really care about your health, you need to get this kind of stuff right.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
Will you help us plan it? Right. And so they bring him in to help plan this voyage and they just keep shaking their heads. They're saying, man, James, you know, of course, I know you've been away from home for five of the last six years. There's no way we could ask you to do this again. But who could we find that would be just as good of a captain as you? You know, even better.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
Let's find someone who's even better than captain than you, that can do this journey that you just did, do it even better than you did. Where can we find someone like that? Of course, like, it's better if juices get going. He's like, no one, there's no one who's better than me. I'm the man. No one can do this like I did it. And so he talks himself into going on a third journey, a third voyage.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
This one, the main point is not to look for the southern continent, but to look for a northwest passage. The northwest passage is they're looking for a route over North America. And it turns out such a route does exist, but it's completely covered in ice. So for their intents and purposes, it doesn't exist. There was no way to find this Northwest Passage.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
The elusive Northwest Passage was really desirable to find because if you could find it, then that might be a quicker route to Asia, a great trade route. So they're very invested. The English were very invested in finding a Northwest Passage.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
and that is what captain cook is going to look for this time they're going to look for the northwest passage from the west okay so they're gonna explore the northern pacific all those islands up there and then come where we know canada and alaska where where that is and see if they can find a route a northwest passage from that side
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
OK, so they essentially do for the North Pacific what Captain Cook had already done for the South Pacific. They go to all these islands, including Tonga and Hawaii, and they explore them, chart them. And yeah, just just generally. figure out what's going on there, where the islands are, and then they go to the Pacific Northwest, kind of Washington, Canada, Alaska and chart that.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
And then they go up Alaska. They turn the corner and can see, OK, this is as far north as it goes and they get stopped by the ice. They poke around for a while. They do everything they can to try and find this Northwest Passage before Captain Cook concludes, okay, it just doesn't exist. And they turn around. They go back to Hawaii where they had been well-received.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
And they leave Hawaii to continue on their journey when they encounter a big storm and it breaks a mast and they have to go back to Hawaii. Okay. So when they go back to Hawaii the second time, the native Hawaiians steal a boat, okay? And again, Captain Cook was always trying to figure out like, how do I deal with these thefts? But a boat is a big thing to steal.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
Van Man is the best that there is. Try them out. Use code TAKEOVER10 for 10% off. Again, I can't recommend them highly enough, Do yourself a favor, try Van Man. Okay, so let's start at the beginning. James Cook is born in a small hamlet. It's called Martin. It's in Yorkshire in northeastern England. His father is Scottish, so he's kind of half Scottish, half English.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
And so he goes back to a tactic he had used before. Remember when he kidnapped all those people? And so once again, he tries to kidnap some prominent people, some chieftains. And, uh, this time it goes horribly wrong when he tries to kidnap them. The Hawaiians realize what he is doing and they grab some spears and they attack to stop him from doing so. There's a moment of mutual suspicion and, uh,
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
You know, some Marines want to, that are with Captain Cook, want to shoot at them. And he says, no, no, no, no, don't shoot. Don't shoot. Just shoot a warning shot. Remember that was his thing. He liked to do warning shots. They shoot a warning shot and he starts scolding the Hawaiians on what they're doing and that provokes them.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
And so they do end up attacking and they end up killing Captain Cook as well as the Marines that are with him.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
it's a complicated death for a man with a complicated legacy it's really got everything there right you got his his restraint and his love for the islanders but also his imperiousness and his assumed superiority that he can just take these people hostage to get his stuff back you have the cultural misunderstanding the theft but also the cross-cultural love and affection.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
You know, the Islanders start mourning for cook as soon as they realize that they have killed him and they give him funerary rights as if he had been a high ranking Hawaiian chieftain. So yeah. That's it. They basically don't continue the journey. They don't really any more exploration. Once he's dead, the ship just goes home back to England after the death of Captain Cook.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
And posthumously, he becomes a great hero in England and especially in England's colonies. He's kind of known as a father of New Zealand and Australia, especially. So that's it. So ends the life of one of the greatest explorers of all time. So what do we learn? What can we take away from this remarkable life? I want to go through some takeaways.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
I don't have a ton of end notes, no paid section this time. I basically said most of what I want to say. So let me just recap. Here are my takeaways from the life of Captain James Cook. First, be a machine, okay? Cook's navigation was characterized by methodical rigor. That's an understatement, okay? Exploration was his drug, right? Kind of paraphrasing that quote about Brandon Flowers.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
Music was his drug. Exploration was Captain Cook's drug. All his men got so excited by the trading and getting rich and the sex. But Cook didn't need any of that because. Exploration was his drug. That was the thing that got him high. That was the thing that excited him. And so you have to find that for yourself.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
And when you do, you'll be able to say, like Captain Cook, he made his predecessors look like naive amateurs. And I guess that's the corollary to this is, yes, he was a machine, but he was a machine because he was filled with passion for what he did. He genuinely loved it. There's one passage he has that I like.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
He says, were it not for the pleasure which naturally results to a man from being the first discoverer, even were it nothing more than sands and shoals, this service would be unsupportable. Okay, this is a time when they've been through shipwrecks and just a lot of difficulties and storms and stuff. He's like, this would be impossible.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
There's no way I would do it if it weren't for, quote, the pleasure which naturally results from a man being the first discoverer. Okay, he loved that. He was filled with passion for it. Okay. Next, great leadership comes down to vision and holding people to a standard. We've seen that from countless entrepreneurs, conquerors, explorers, artists.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
That really captures the essential elements of leadership, vision, and holding people to a standard. James Cook did that extraordinarily well. Next takeaway, it was not his style to do things by halves. Okay. Remember that quote from Machiavelli, you don't want to take the middle course. You want to take extreme measures. Can your decisions be described as extreme?
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
He's born to a peasant family. He does not come from means, not aristocratic at all. His dad is pretty smart, and they live on the estate of a man who's a Quaker. Okay, so Quakers are a religious minority in England, and They're very interesting. The main thing to know about Quakers is they're very egalitarian and very liberal.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
If not, you might want to rethink them. And that was Captain Cook as well. My next takeaway, be a professional, do your job, master the details. Like, yes, Captain Cook was a great explorer, but what enabled this great exploration was that he was a master surveyor. He had the nuts and bolts down of surveying. It's the same way that Napoleon was a great artillery officer. He really knew artillery.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
John D. Rockefeller was a great accountant. He could read through an account book like no one else and spot errors like no one else, even the most minute of errors. He was a professional. He knew how to do his job. And so if you want... The big, sexy, grand, you know, you want to be the explorer. You want to be the founder. You want to be, you know, the leader. You want to be the man.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
You got to master the details first. Captain Cook did that. Okay.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
those are my main takeaways and then i want to answer that question that i asked at the beginning which is what does it mean to live a life of adventure now if you listen to the life of captain cook and you think okay man what a life you know he's exploring all these new places meeting these new people seeing these new areas how do i live a life like What does that look like? Okay.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
So I tried to break it down into, okay, well, what makes it so appealing? And the first is discovery. The first thing is discovery, finding something new. Okay. There's just something very exciting about finding something new or realizing something new. And that's, this is true of sea exploration or space exploration as it is of science or technology, right?
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
Finding out something new is inherently exciting. So that's the first thing. Then the second thing is experiencing something new. Okay. How do I differentiate that? So like discovery is exciting even if you're discovering Antarctica. There's not a lot waiting for you in Antarctica, but just being the first one there is exciting.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
But then experiencing something new is, yeah, but then there's something about discovering Hawaii and Tahiti and Tonga that makes it more exciting than Antarctica. It's these experiences, these new cultures, these new ceremonies, these new rituals, these... new religions and languages, okay? So discovering something new, experiencing something new. And then the third thing is just winning, right?
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
Being able to say that you were the best, you were the first. And he combines all these three things. I think that's what makes the life of an explorer so exciting. It is discovery, it's experience, and it is being the first and the glory that comes with that. All right. So where can you find all three of these things? And it's not an easy question cuz there's, there's no frontier anymore.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
There's no ocean or country or land that you can go to, to see something that no one has ever seen before. I mean, it's just the world is mapped. So let's start off by talking about things that come close, okay? So one is scientific discovery, okay? Scientific discovery, yes, you get the discovery aspect of it. And if you're the best, then you're the best. So you can get that aspect of it as well.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
What you don't get is the experience, right? You don't get that... That rich experience of new cultures and cool things. Okay. Space exploration, I think, is the same as well. Space exploration, yes, you get to discover. And if you're an astronaut, like obviously you're the man, it's really difficult to be an astronaut.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
And so this particular Quaker, his name is Thomas Scotto, and he's always looking for ways to kind of raise up and educate the laborers, farm workers on his land.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
But you also don't get that experience, right, that someone like Captain Cook was able to get. What about entrepreneurship? Entrepreneurship is another one that comes close. I actually think the people who have been able to get the closest to something like Captain Cook are specifically technology entrepreneurs or technological innovators. Even here, I feel like the window is closing on that.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
But I mean, think about it. If you're Thomas Edison, you get that feeling of discovery. You do get the feeling of experience because you get to be the first person to experience the light bulb. You get to be the first person to experience recorded sound, all these inventions. Okay. You do have that.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
And you're winning because you're an entrepreneur, you're an innovator, you're an inventor, and that gives you glory and prestige. Okay. So, you know, yeah, I do think the life specifically of a technology innovator does give you those three things.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
Yeah, obviously I don't think you're getting all the same things if your startup is in B2B SaaS or e-comm and like no shots at anyone who is doing that. I'm not saying that any of these things are not worthwhile. They all are. I'm talking about space exploration, talking about scientific discovery, talking about entrepreneurship, like all these things are great.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
I'm just talking about can we get that full adventurous experience that someone like James Cook was able to have? And in that regard, they do fall short of that. The one thing I think that matches is technological entrepreneurship a la Thomas Edison or someone like Henry Ford. I mean, think about, right?
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
Being someone who is making money discovering building automobiles for the first time, going fast, right? So, you know, thinking about things that you could do nowadays that might accomplish that. I'm very impressed with what the guys at Boom Supersonic are doing, which are doing supersonic airplanes. Like, yeah, that feeling of a flight.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
So you get that experience as well as discovery because you're inventing something new and the money and prestige and glory that you get from being a successful entrepreneur. Maybe virtual reality, doing something there that might give you that element of experience as well. So that's one way that you could try and capture something like the life of a naval explorer like James Cook.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
and so he identifies james cook's father as a talented man who can use more opportunities and then pretty early on he recognized that james cook is a bright young boy and so he gives him some basic schooling and then when he is 16 he uh you know mr scott ow
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
You know, there are other things that you can do, of course, that would get at other elements of that. Right.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
Um, art, um, and of course there's traveling and partying as like a way to experience some of that, but like none of it captures the full picture, you know, the real way that I think the only way to capture that sort of adventure and excitement is not to discover a new world because there's, there's, there are no islands left to be discovered, no new peoples, but what we have to do is create a new world, create new peoples.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
create new ways of life. And how do we do that? It's going to be through a religious movement is what I think. I think of the quote about the life of Rasputin when one of his contemporaries said, we have all cooled down and then suddenly a burning torch appears.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
What sort of spirit he had, what sort of quality we did not want to know, nor could we have discovered for we lacked the necessary knowledge. But the magnificence of this new comet quite naturally attracted attention.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
And I think that someone who had that burning fire and passion and showed a new way of life and really started a movement, something akin to, I mean, I think you have to go back to like the early Muslim conquests and what Muhammad did or to the crusades to find the sort of passion that you would need to create something
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
a new way of life a new world uh just a movement that could take over the world that's the kind of thing you know again there is no new world to be discovered we have to create a new world and uh it's it's religion that that moves men with enough passion to create something like that um you know what does it take to create a religion like that I don't know. There's no one that knows.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
It hasn't been done in hundreds of years. But I do know this, that I don't think it can be contrived. I don't think you can set out to say, I want to create a new religion. You have to be struck. With real passion and then create a religion around it after that strikes you. So, you know, I think this is what is necessary. I'm not going to cynically go, therefore, I'm going to create a religion.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
Here's how I'm going to try and mastermind it. No, no, no. It's going to take a real prophet who is genuinely moved by God or. or some spirit or something. It's going to take some supernatural, extraordinary inspiration in order to make something like this happen. If you want a vision of what that could look like.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
You know, people like Buddha and Jesus and Muhammad are so far from us, I think it's difficult to capture. But there are three pieces of fiction that I think are good reference points that might give you some ideas. One is Fight Club. The other is Dune and what Paul Atreides does with his jihad.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
And then the third, if you want an example of how you might kind of resurrect and inject new life into an existing religion, watch a TV series called The Young Pope. It's extraordinary. Favorite TV show of all time.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
Anyway, I know that's kind of an odd answer, but I really think that a movement of that level of passion is the only way to rediscover the level of adventure and excitement that someone like Joseph Banks and James Cook was able to feel in their lifetime. It has no relevance for 99% of us. Again, I don't think you can will your way into being a prophet. You have to be sincere.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
goes out of his way to get him an apprenticeship a few miles away in a seaside village where he works for a grocer and learn some basic accounting and is able to kind of learn business a little bit. And so it's a nice advancement for for James Cook. He's like learning a trade. but he finds it lonely and dull. It's just him. He's the one tending the shop most of the time, no one his age.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
It has to come to you. But I guess for the rest of us who maybe don't hear the voice of God calling us to be a prophet, the relevance is watch and wait. And if something like that comes along, then seize on it. When you see that burning torch, as that woman said about Rasputin, go to it. So that's it. That's all I got. Hopefully that's not too esoteric, but I think that's the answer.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
I hope you guys enjoyed this episode. I hope you enjoyed learning about James Cook as much as I did. Until next time, thank you for listening to How to Take Over the World. Oh, and before we go, don't forget about Speechify. I love Speechify. I use them all the time. I use them for the research for this episode. They turn anything into a podcast.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
All the time, I use it to listen to articles that I know that I never would read. So go to Speechify.com slash Ben to get 15% off Speechify premium. And you can even listen to anything in my voice using AI on Speechify. So if you like listening to me, if you like this podcast, you might want to try that out. So again, that is Speechify.com slash Ben.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
And so at nights he starts wandering out from the shop and exploring the town a little bit. And again, it's a seaside town. It's got a little port and some ships. And so he starts striking up some friendships with the local sailors. And this is the first time that James Cook hears the call of the sea.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
Eventually, you know, he makes friends with these sailors and they start liking him and he makes some acquaintances and friendships and he's able to get another apprenticeship, this time as a seaman. And so he enrolls in a local merchant Navy school where he once again excels in things like algebra, trigonometry, geometry and navigation.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
So when he's on land, he's studying at his little naval school. And then most of the time he is going out to sea as a little teenage sailor. He's taking these coal ships from this little town because northern England is kind of coal country. And so he takes coal ships from this little town down to London. And his trips to London must have been his first glimpse at the wider world.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
Like this is the closest you're going to get to exploring an alien planet. For example, the Hawaiian Islands just had never been visited by Europeans before. And so, yeah, it's just like a completely new place, new culture, new language, new customs that he gets to see and experience and explore for the first time. Same with the Aboriginal Australians.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
Coming from these really small towns, you go to London and you see goods and people from all over the world, and you meet all these sailors, right? You're just coming from Northern England, but lots of sailors are coming from
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
india and the americas and the west indies and the east indies and africa and all over and they're telling him all these stories and so he's getting this this curiosity and this thirst to see the world and explore One of the things that distinguishes him both when he's a teenager and throughout his life are his curiosity. He's always pestering his master. He's an apprentice, right?
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
So he's got this master. And most apprentices and most kind of teenage sailors
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
they're just trying to do their job right but not james cook he's always pestering his master asking him questions you know oh what are you doing over here why are you doing it this way so that he can learn more and uh and really become a master of his craft at sailing so that's that's probably the first defining attribute of james cook is his curiosity he's a very curious person
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
Over the coming years, he completes his journey to be an able seaman. So that just means he's not an apprentice anymore. He's a fully capable sailor who can work independently, and he starts making journeys on trade ships to mainland Europe. And so at age 27, you know, he's got this curious mind. He's learning so fast that he advances really quickly into 27.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
He's offered command of his own trade ship. which is a very young age to be commanding your own ship, 27. But like I said, he has this thirst to see the world and explore. And so he takes a major demotion in order to serve in the Royal Navy. Now, remember, Cook does not have an aristocratic background. Far from it. So he's not an officer.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
He's just a seaman, a sailor, and he doesn't have the ability to become an officer. However, sailors are a raucous, rowdy crowd. They're not really known for their intellectual capabilities. And so he is able to quickly distinguish himself as someone who is quick, is smart, is industrious, is hardworking. Like you don't get a lot of those types, frankly, amongst a crowd of sailors.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
And so he's quickly able to rise through the ranks in the Royal Navy. The British are at war with the French at this time, and so James Cook sees some combat against a few French ships, engagements which his ship wins, and in which Cook distinguishes himself for his calm and efficient command. Again, he's not an officer, but he's sort of a NCO, a non-commissioned officer.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
The Europeans had never had contact with them before. I raised the comparison of exploring an alien planet. And this is because these areas would have been totally alien to him. It was terra incognita, just completely different world. And I'm not the first person to make this comparison. Actually, if you think about Star Trek, okay, the subject of this episode is James Cook.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
He does have command over other sailors, but he does not have any command over any other officers. And so with this kind of command over other sailors, he distinguishes himself as someone who is... cool under pressure and carries things out very efficiently, competently, like does the job right. So the, you know, he's patrolling in the Atlantic, going down to France, fighting French ships.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
He eventually gets sent to Canada where the British are invading the French province of Quebec. And he serves a capable but secondary role in the invasion, helping to plan some landings against the French fort there. The British take the fort and then they winter there. And so there's not much to do during the winter. No one really wants to fight.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
So all these sailors are just living on their ships, coming, coming ashore sometimes. Most of the sailors, frankly, are drinking to pass the winter and visiting prostitutes on land. But James Cook is finding more beneficial uses for his time.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
So he finds a young junior officer named Holland who is preparing for further action in the spring by systematically charting the coasts and shoals and reefs of this area of Quebec. And he's doing this using new state-of-the-art equipment, surveying technology. And this sort of surveying technology had long been used on land, but no one had tried to use it from ships yet.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
And so you have very accurate maps on the land, but not so much on sea. So he's trying to remedy that. get very accurate measurements of what these coasts actually look like. And that's going to be very useful for knowing, you know, where ships can go, how deep is the ocean, these various places, you know, which ships can get where. This kind of stuff is going to be very helpful in an invasion.
How to Take Over the World
Captain Cook
And James Cook recognizes this immediately and is very attracted to this. And so he starts working with this guy Holland to survey and map out these coasts. So he's doing very valuable work, maybe not the most glamorous work. However, he does get one moment of glamour and in heroism, which is he's on this surveying boat.
How to Take Over the World
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How to Take Over the World
“You Couldn’t Pay Me to Stop” — David Senra on Obsession and Great Founders
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How to Take Over the World
“You Couldn’t Pay Me to Stop” — David Senra on Obsession and Great Founders
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How to Take Over the World
“You Couldn’t Pay Me to Stop” — David Senra on Obsession and Great Founders
Again, that is Austin as in the city Austin, Texas, austinlab.ai and let them know that I sent you. So like we've been talking about ideas that are very simple, that are like often you just need to take ideas more seriously, do more, be more serious about it.
How to Take Over the World
“You Couldn’t Pay Me to Stop” — David Senra on Obsession and Great Founders
what is the last idea that you stumbled on that you're like, oh, this is new, this is interesting, and really changed the way you thought about the world?
How to Take Over the World
“You Couldn’t Pay Me to Stop” — David Senra on Obsession and Great Founders
Yeah, we talk a lot. You've been super generous to me with your time and with your money, and you've advertised on how to take over the world, which I really appreciate. And we do kind of similar things. So I thought we'd talk a little bit today about just the stuff that we always talk about, right? Which is we've got podcasts about people who achieve great things and how they do it.
How to Take Over the World
“You Couldn’t Pay Me to Stop” — David Senra on Obsession and Great Founders
I use it somewhat in my day-to-day life.
How to Take Over the World
“You Couldn’t Pay Me to Stop” — David Senra on Obsession and Great Founders
And, um, this is a lot of what we already talk about. Um, I guess I want to start off talking about like, you've been doing this for how long now? You started in 2015, almost eight years, almost eight years, almost eight years. By the end of this year, I'll be over 400 biographies or autobiographies read for. And like so many of the lessons are the same, right?
How to Take Over the World
“You Couldn’t Pay Me to Stop” — David Senra on Obsession and Great Founders
So, this is good, because I always like... I produced half of all the episodes I produced last year, which was a big jump up for me.
How to Take Over the World
“You Couldn’t Pay Me to Stop” — David Senra on Obsession and Great Founders
I had about 100 episodes at the end of 2024 and produced 44 of them in 2024. And the way I was able to get my production up so much is I just copied your process. I was like, all right, clearly I'm not doing this well. And this is the whole hypothesis of my...
How to Take Over the World
“You Couldn’t Pay Me to Stop” — David Senra on Obsession and Great Founders
Podcasts you can just copy people like you take their playbook and it's a great way to do it It's like I'm just I'm just gonna steal and you were obviously very open and very willing to share which helped a lot And so I just started I was like I'm using read wise I'm taking notes exactly how David takes notes, but like I don't have it all so Like one of the things I want to talk to you about a little bit more is your process So I know how you take notes, which is you read you highlight you like to physically highlight red pen ruler, okay, and
How to Take Over the World
“You Couldn’t Pay Me to Stop” — David Senra on Obsession and Great Founders
That's what makes it so powerful is you find these like common things amongst, um, a bunch of people and then you're like, oh wow, this is a really powerful lesson because if all these people are doing the same thing, that means it's really powerful.
How to Take Over the World
“You Couldn’t Pay Me to Stop” — David Senra on Obsession and Great Founders
And then you go afterwards and you kind of read back through it. You take pictures of it and index it and read wise. I'm a little less clear on what happens then. So then you've got all your notes. How do you go about structuring it? Like, do you just leave it chronologically and then you just kind of read through and talk it through as you're on the podcast? Or what does that look like?
How to Take Over the World
“You Couldn’t Pay Me to Stop” — David Senra on Obsession and Great Founders
But I guess the opposite side of that is, do you still find things that surprise you, like new lessons, or do you feel like it's reinforcing a lot of the same stuff at this point?
How to Take Over the World
“You Couldn’t Pay Me to Stop” — David Senra on Obsession and Great Founders
It's so interesting to me that because I've heard you say on podcasts or interviews or maybe the panel we did or something, but I've heard you say, I don't know anything about storytelling. Like I'm not a storyteller. I don't think about storytelling as a craft.
How to Take Over the World
“You Couldn’t Pay Me to Stop” — David Senra on Obsession and Great Founders
But to me, you're a very good storyteller for exactly that reason is I feel like most people feel the need to just, well, I need to flesh out. the details here. I need to tell, I need to get across the information. And you just have no compulsion about that. You're like, no, I'm here to say the interesting things. I'm going to move directly from interesting point to interesting point.
How to Take Over the World
“You Couldn’t Pay Me to Stop” — David Senra on Obsession and Great Founders
And that's it. I'm cutting out everything else.
How to Take Over the World
“You Couldn’t Pay Me to Stop” — David Senra on Obsession and Great Founders
So this is brilliant because I've been reading Thus Spake Zarathustra by Nietzsche because I'm working on a Nietzsche episode. And he has a quote that's basically exactly what you just said. Because you just go, like you say, stories and aphorisms are what people remember. Yeah, what people remember. And so that's just, you just go straight from... story to story from aphorism to aphorism.
How to Take Over the World
“You Couldn’t Pay Me to Stop” — David Senra on Obsession and Great Founders
And in Thus Spakes Zarathustra, he says, in the mountains, the shortest way is from peak to peak. But for that, one must have long legs. Aphorisms should be peaks and those who are addressed tall and lofty.
How to Take Over the World
“You Couldn’t Pay Me to Stop” — David Senra on Obsession and Great Founders
So that is exactly what you just said, that like he just he believes in writing, going from aphorism to aphorism, from intelligent thought to intelligent thought, skipping over everything else in between and only addressing yourself to people who are
How to Take Over the World
“You Couldn’t Pay Me to Stop” — David Senra on Obsession and Great Founders
I'm interested in this, though, because I agree completely. And you're so open and generous. And you talked about podcasting is like filmmaking. It's not zero-sum. It's collaborative. But one of the things you've been talking a lot about recently is secrets and the power of secrets. So how do you kind of square those two ideas, right?
How to Take Over the World
“You Couldn’t Pay Me to Stop” — David Senra on Obsession and Great Founders
Because it's kind of the idea of secrets and having powerful secrets is kind of the opposite of what you're talking about.
How to Take Over the World
“You Couldn’t Pay Me to Stop” — David Senra on Obsession and Great Founders
It's the most relationship driven medium by far.
How to Take Over the World
“You Couldn’t Pay Me to Stop” — David Senra on Obsession and Great Founders
I think there's, like, a big... Like one of the problems with this is, so for example, I play tennis, okay? And I was playing tennis at the local college on some of their courts. And the college players were playing next to me. And so they play at BYU. It's a Division I program, really good tennis players. And when you watch those guys, they are moving so fast. They're hitting the ball so hard.
How to Take Over the World
“You Couldn’t Pay Me to Stop” — David Senra on Obsession and Great Founders
They're running so hard. You can really tell, right? And you're like, whoa, I could never do this. I could never compete on that level. Then I go watch. I went to the U.S. Open and I'm watching Djokovic and Nadal, the best tennis players in the world. And they are so good. They're so good. They're so much better than the guys I was playing next to at the BYU courts that it changes all of a sudden.
How to Take Over the World
“You Couldn’t Pay Me to Stop” — David Senra on Obsession and Great Founders
I look at Nadal and I'm like, I bet you I could play with him. But I obviously know I can't. But in my head, because he makes it look so effortless that you're like, oh, I could do that. And it's the same thing. When people are at the very top, when they're looking at someone like Rogan, they're like, I think I could do that because he makes it look effortless.
How to Take Over the World
“You Couldn’t Pay Me to Stop” — David Senra on Obsession and Great Founders
But the truth is he's a top 0.00001% conversationalist. And the same is true of Jordi and Coogan that like they're really talented and they're actually so talented that it can sometimes hide just how talented they are. And so people think they can do things that they can't do.
How to Take Over the World
“You Couldn’t Pay Me to Stop” — David Senra on Obsession and Great Founders
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How to Take Over the World
“You Couldn’t Pay Me to Stop” — David Senra on Obsession and Great Founders
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How to Take Over the World
“You Couldn’t Pay Me to Stop” — David Senra on Obsession and Great Founders
Again, that is gainsinbulk.com and use code Ben. So speaking of talent, do you think everyone has what it takes to be a founder? No, hell no.
How to Take Over the World
“You Couldn’t Pay Me to Stop” — David Senra on Obsession and Great Founders
human nature to want to conform and to want to be part of consensus and a group and to want to be led and if you're like that you should not be a founder I think that's true what do you but there now there's a lot of status with being a founder which there didn't used to be but now there is so how like I find it's a tricky thing a lot with people who are like I want to be a founder and
How to Take Over the World
“You Couldn’t Pay Me to Stop” — David Senra on Obsession and Great Founders
But you can just tell in their disposition, it's like, no, you don't.
How to Take Over the World
“You Couldn’t Pay Me to Stop” — David Senra on Obsession and Great Founders
You mentioned rule number two. What's rule number one of the center family?
How to Take Over the World
“You Couldn’t Pay Me to Stop” — David Senra on Obsession and Great Founders
So you mentioned Djokovic and you've done a few founders episodes on people who are not strictly founders of businesses, right? So you've done Winston Churchill. You've done Napoleon. Who else have you done that's not strictly a business?
How to Take Over the World
“You Couldn’t Pay Me to Stop” — David Senra on Obsession and Great Founders
I did Michael Jordan. I've done Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Tiger Woods. Yeah. Yeah. Have you done Da Vinci? Yeah. Episode 15, but it's not good. Well, the reason, because you talked about like these people, these are the same personality types, conquerors and founders. And I have found, you know, as I've done a bunch of these episodes, a lot of them have very similar personality types.
How to Take Over the World
“You Couldn’t Pay Me to Stop” — David Senra on Obsession and Great Founders
Da Vinci was the first one I read where I was like, Now, this is different. One of these things is not like the others. This is a brain that I don't even know what to do with. Your brain functions differently than anyone I've read about. What did you think made it... Give me an example. Or elaborate on that. So, for example... Like what we were just talking about.
How to Take Over the World
“You Couldn’t Pay Me to Stop” — David Senra on Obsession and Great Founders
He was so relentlessly curious that there's no way he could have done the same thing for 30 years straight. Right. Yeah. I actually couldn't see him really being... You could see him being a successful founder just because he's so damn smart. He's so smart. But he could never be a great founder like a Steve Jobs because he had too much curiosity and not enough focus.
How to Take Over the World
“You Couldn’t Pay Me to Stop” — David Senra on Obsession and Great Founders
One of my favorite parts of the life of Edison is really early on, he's a telegraph operator. He's actually still working, but he's
How to Take Over the World
“You Couldn’t Pay Me to Stop” — David Senra on Obsession and Great Founders
inventing at the same time and he's totally obsessed with inventing and his family like is worried about him because he's like not bathing regularly and he's just like not sleeping and he's totally haggard and he's like selling his possessions in order to get more materials to invent with and it just dawned on me like wow this person is an addict he's an actual addict like if you substituted inventing with just
How to Take Over the World
“You Couldn’t Pay Me to Stop” — David Senra on Obsession and Great Founders
meth or heroin or anything else, I can be very clear what he is. It just happens to be that he's addicted to something that's very productive. But it's probably not, like, actually a well-adjusted person from that regard. Like, do you think it's possible to be a great, great founder and be just normal and well-adjusted?
How to Take Over the World
“You Couldn’t Pay Me to Stop” — David Senra on Obsession and Great Founders
I think you're a nice person. I don't think you're a normal person. Okay.
How to Take Over the World
“You Couldn’t Pay Me to Stop” — David Senra on Obsession and Great Founders
Do you, do you like being, well, first of all, I guess, how famous are you? How famous are you? How often do you get recognized if you're out in public?
How to Take Over the World
“You Couldn’t Pay Me to Stop” — David Senra on Obsession and Great Founders
The Acquired guys had a big New York Times article about them last year, I think. Have you had anything like that yet? No. Interesting. No, no.
How to Take Over the World
“You Couldn’t Pay Me to Stop” — David Senra on Obsession and Great Founders
Just never would be into this stuff. It's interesting. I like, I guess I started asking about fame a little bit just because it's, I forget sometimes because in my world, like you're pretty famous of like the people I interact with every day on Twitter, like of the people that I associate with every, every day that I mostly talk to, I read their stuff. I'm talking like,
How to Take Over the World
“You Couldn’t Pay Me to Stop” — David Senra on Obsession and Great Founders
90 something percent of them know who you are. You're famous in that, in that group.
How to Take Over the World
“You Couldn’t Pay Me to Stop” — David Senra on Obsession and Great Founders
What about like, I mean, so like basketball, you like basketball. You used to like to watch basketball. You don't really watch basketball anymore.
How to Take Over the World
“You Couldn’t Pay Me to Stop” — David Senra on Obsession and Great Founders
Do you miss it? No.
How to Take Over the World
“You Couldn’t Pay Me to Stop” — David Senra on Obsession and Great Founders
And it just reminded me of so many other founders. It's just like this really odd personality trait that you just notice between them. They just are reflexively not introspective. The funniest is when people ask Steve Jobs about him being adopted and whether that had any impact on his psyche. And you'd expect him to either be like, yeah, that really changed who I am.
How to Take Over the World
“You Couldn’t Pay Me to Stop” — David Senra on Obsession and Great Founders
Or at least be like, no, that had nothing to do with it. But instead he's just like very flippant. It's just like completely not introspective, right? He's just like, yeah, no, I don't know. I don't know.
How to Take Over the World
“You Couldn’t Pay Me to Stop” — David Senra on Obsession and Great Founders
Yeah. I've always, the analogy in my head is, uh, it's like a shark that smells blood, right? When you find a great founder and you're like trying to stick a microphone in the shark's face and you're like, Hey, why are you chasing this thing that you smell bleeding?
How to Take Over the World
“You Couldn’t Pay Me to Stop” — David Senra on Obsession and Great Founders
It was like the shark, what I do, even if it tried to introspect, it doesn't know, you know, like all it knows is it smells blood and like, please stop sticking a microphone in my face. Cause I need to eat, you know? And I think that's true of like, When people find the thing that they were born to do, it's really hard to get them to think about why that is.
How to Take Over the World
“You Couldn’t Pay Me to Stop” — David Senra on Obsession and Great Founders
I don't even know that they have insight on it.
How to Take Over the World
“You Couldn’t Pay Me to Stop” — David Senra on Obsession and Great Founders
Yeah, that's, it's interesting. Do you have like one or two people that you really think of that these stories have really stuck with you and you feel like you resonate with them and this is someone that you feel like their soul is like yours in some way and you really want to be like them?
How to Take Over the World
“You Couldn’t Pay Me to Stop” — David Senra on Obsession and Great Founders
What you were just saying is, Reminds me a little bit of that quote that you quote a lot. I think it's from Charlie Munger, which is take an idea and take it very seriously. Find a simple idea and take it very seriously. There it is. Find a simple idea and take it very seriously. And I think that's true more often than not. Before we hopped on, we were talking, I was talking about
How to Take Over the World
“You Couldn’t Pay Me to Stop” — David Senra on Obsession and Great Founders
uh john d rockefeller and how he wanted to work for one of these big firms in cleveland he goes interviews with every single one of them every one of them says no and he's like all right well i'll just interview again because i know exactly what i want so he just goes two or three times and i think so often people think they need to find a novel approach and they don't at all uh there's another good quote
How to Take Over the World
“You Couldn’t Pay Me to Stop” — David Senra on Obsession and Great Founders
Are you trying to get private jet money? You believe that this is the next?
How to Take Over the World
“You Couldn’t Pay Me to Stop” — David Senra on Obsession and Great Founders
I like, and I guess this is part of the wonder of entrepreneurship is that like, and just life in general is people will get interested in stuff that I would just never be interested in and that's okay. And, uh, if, if Todd, uh, what's his name? Todd Grace. Yeah. Like, he has a chicken finger dream. And in my head, I think, why? Who cares?
How to Take Over the World
“You Couldn’t Pay Me to Stop” — David Senra on Obsession and Great Founders
And it almost boggles my mind that you're not in it for the money. Why are you not in it for the money? At the end of your life, you're going to die. And Raising Cane's apparently makes good chicken strips. But you're going to leave behind a bunch of fast food restaurants that more or less resemble... The Chick-fil-A across the street. And that was your dream?
How to Take Over the World
“You Couldn’t Pay Me to Stop” — David Senra on Obsession and Great Founders
from one of the British generals in World War II. And they asked him about the difference between American and British problem solving approaches. He says, Americans don't solve their problems. They overwhelm them. It's like so often you actually don't need to solve your problems. You actually just need to overwhelm them.
How to Take Over the World
“You Couldn’t Pay Me to Stop” — David Senra on Obsession and Great Founders
To me though, I almost feel like it's a symptom of a sick world that I read these stories of people, Horatio Nelson and Napoleon, Alexander Hamilton. And I'm like, yeah, that's what a noble life is supposed to look like. Founding something that really lasts and endures and is beautiful and is a part of your identity.
How to Take Over the World
“You Couldn’t Pay Me to Stop” — David Senra on Obsession and Great Founders
And people like Todd Graves are probably have that quality of spirit, but live in a sort of sick world where instead of building something like a city or a country or something truly beautiful and enduring, they have to have a chicken finger dream.
How to Take Over the World
“You Couldn’t Pay Me to Stop” — David Senra on Obsession and Great Founders
It's interesting to me. Like I, so I'm doing an episode on Coco Chanel and I've been researching her story. And to me, she is emblematic of, She's an entrepreneur who's very successful, becomes very wealthy, and she's having all of these dalliances and affairs.
How to Take Over the World
“You Couldn’t Pay Me to Stop” — David Senra on Obsession and Great Founders
It's like gold. But to me, it's interesting because she's also obviously attracted to... the power and the allure of old world aristocracy, right? She's always having these affairs with these barons and counts and British royalty and Russian royalty.
How to Take Over the World
“You Couldn’t Pay Me to Stop” — David Senra on Obsession and Great Founders
To me, there's this interesting tension of like, she comes along at the time, which is sort of turn of the 20th century and into World War I, where the old... You know, the aristocratic classes... really were driven by conquest. These were often descendants of the Norman invaders who'd come to England, taken it with the sword, and then said, we own the land now, and we get the money from it.
How to Take Over the World
“You Couldn’t Pay Me to Stop” — David Senra on Obsession and Great Founders
And that's where they got all their money. And there's still this attraction to it. She's still attracted to that world, even as she herself is supplanting it with this new commercial world. And... And so anyway, I just think that even as that world has been supplanted, we cannot really get over the allure and the attraction because the whole world is a series of games.
How to Take Over the World
“You Couldn’t Pay Me to Stop” — David Senra on Obsession and Great Founders
We all choose the games we play. And I think there's a certain attraction to yeah, but there's one game that's bigger than all the others. And Those people who really feel like they are world beaters, that they're the greatest, they always have an attraction to that game. They want to play that game. They want to play the Game of Kings. Yeah, they want to play the Game of Kings.
How to Take Over the World
“You Couldn’t Pay Me to Stop” — David Senra on Obsession and Great Founders
It's like that game isn't even being played anymore.
How to Take Over the World
“You Couldn’t Pay Me to Stop” — David Senra on Obsession and Great Founders
By what? By social strictures. Like, you know, his wife divorces him and takes half his money, and there's nothing he can do about it, right? Yeah, but he's already made all the money back. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's got plenty of money, but it just shows that there is a very strong limit to the actual amount of control.
How to Take Over the World
“You Couldn’t Pay Me to Stop” — David Senra on Obsession and Great Founders
he has in the world you know he buys washington post and what does it do for like you say he has all this political influence what has he done with it then maybe maybe he just has no vision for the wider world and he doesn't really care about that but you know i do think like one petty king in 1350 had more power no actually has no no way yeah wait 100 100 zero percent zero percent
How to Take Over the World
“You Couldn’t Pay Me to Stop” — David Senra on Obsession and Great Founders
It reminds me of Caesar who, you know, he's going through some little Alpine village and his friends are making fun of this like little village in a Swiss mountainside. You know, they're scratching potatoes out of the country. They didn't have potatoes, but you get it. Scratching wheat out of the hillside. And they're like, this place is pathetic.
How to Take Over the World
“You Couldn’t Pay Me to Stop” — David Senra on Obsession and Great Founders
And Caesar goes, I'd rather be the first man in this village than the second man in Rome. And I think there's like something to that, that like, um, Bezos has all this money, but he, Bezos has built his own world. Like, no, no. If the, then why is he like, I'm telling you, they've built their own world. But just cause the point is, you know, you, you, we talked about ratio Nelson.
How to Take Over the World
“You Couldn’t Pay Me to Stop” — David Senra on Obsession and Great Founders
And he like, he basically know, you know, he says to his, one of his captains who, who tells him, you know, I expect to see you after the battle. with a great victory and in command of 20 prizes. And he says, goodbye, Blackwood. I'll never speak to you again. And, uh, and goes and gets shot at his moment of glory.
How to Take Over the World
“You Couldn’t Pay Me to Stop” — David Senra on Obsession and Great Founders
Um, and I just think that a life worth like that is I view the world essentially artistically. Okay. And a life like that is so much more worth living than a chicken finger dream.
How to Take Over the World
“You Couldn’t Pay Me to Stop” — David Senra on Obsession and Great Founders
I have to say. I guess that's my point. It doesn't matter what he does with the money because... Living a beautiful life is the whole sum of all of it.
How to Take Over the World
“You Couldn’t Pay Me to Stop” — David Senra on Obsession and Great Founders
hoist the black flag, take a knife between your teeth, start slitting throats. Your life could be so much more than this. Why aren't you doing that? Why aren't you doing that then? Um, because I'm not that guy.
How to Take Over the World
“You Couldn’t Pay Me to Stop” — David Senra on Obsession and Great Founders
And the, but I, what I am trying to do, that's why at the end of the day, and I know I talked to you about maybe changing the name of the podcast, but at the end of the day, that's why I've never changed it is because that's what I really believe in is, uh, is taking over the world. And I'm not that guy. Like I can read about Caesar and just look at him and say, his character is not like mine.
How to Take Over the World
“You Couldn’t Pay Me to Stop” — David Senra on Obsession and Great Founders
I could never be Caesar. If you threw me in that position, it'd be very bad for everyone involved, including myself. Um, but I, but I, I think, um, I want to, I'm very attracted to that type of personality and that type of person and that type of vision. And I want to inspire others to take that on. What do you mean by you look at the world artistically?
How to Take Over the World
“You Couldn’t Pay Me to Stop” — David Senra on Obsession and Great Founders
I think good and bad is ultimately an aesthetic judgment. Like, people try and quantify it. You know, you've heard of effective altruists who are like, ooh, if I can chart the number of lives saved, then the best life is that which saves the most number of lives. Like, no, there's no value by which you can judge what is good and bad. It is a judgment of taste, ultimately. And so...
How to Take Over the World
“You Couldn’t Pay Me to Stop” — David Senra on Obsession and Great Founders
I think everything is artistic. Like it can only be said to be good or bad off of, off of taste. I find it beautiful is the ultimate judgment. I think on anything.
How to Take Over the World
“You Couldn’t Pay Me to Stop” — David Senra on Obsession and Great Founders
Yeah. Which is to say, if I didn't think that what I was building was beautiful, you know, I talk about how all these people are essentially addicted, right? And they happen to be at least beneficial addictions, right? But if at the end of the day, it doesn't create something beautiful, then it really is just an addiction. Even if it makes you money. That's the way I see it, right?
How to Take Over the World
“You Couldn’t Pay Me to Stop” — David Senra on Obsession and Great Founders
Which, you know, that's why I'm attracted to most of all founders like Phil Knight, Steve Jobs, because for them, it's not just about making money for sure. And it's not even just about building business. They have to create something beautiful.
How to Take Over the World
“You Couldn’t Pay Me to Stop” — David Senra on Obsession and Great Founders
I find that you have created a very beautiful product in Founders, even though it's so Spartan, right? No intro music. The cover art is literally black background, white text, Founders. Did you create that background, by the way, that cover art?
How to Take Over the World
“You Couldn’t Pay Me to Stop” — David Senra on Obsession and Great Founders
That's amazing. That's amazing. You just looked at some fonts and you're like, that looks good. Right, founders?
How to Take Over the World
“You Couldn’t Pay Me to Stop” — David Senra on Obsession and Great Founders
Yeah.
How to Take Over the World
“You Couldn’t Pay Me to Stop” — David Senra on Obsession and Great Founders
Well, I just think that like I do think that what you do is like extremely worthwhile because I find I'm just interested in how much you put thought into that versus what it comes naturally to you. And it just from what you said, it sounds like it comes very naturally to you.
How to Take Over the World
“You Couldn’t Pay Me to Stop” — David Senra on Obsession and Great Founders
Yeah.
How to Take Over the World
“You Couldn’t Pay Me to Stop” — David Senra on Obsession and Great Founders
sort of early modernism they talked about a spiritus mundi the spirit world and they felt like there was a spirit world of ideas images music whatever that they were accessing and um and they felt inspired by it do you ever feel inspired do you do you think do you even think about the world in that way are you do you are you a spiritual person at all spiritual i don't know um
How to Take Over the World
“You Couldn’t Pay Me to Stop” — David Senra on Obsession and Great Founders
So your, like, moments of inspiration when they come, they come from just those moments of – And you feel like it comes from your subconscious.
How to Take Over the World
“You Couldn’t Pay Me to Stop” — David Senra on Obsession and Great Founders
One of the, I just, I was just relistening to an episode that I did about Napoleon and I was really struck that, you know, he's a French revolutionary, kind of very atheistic, uh, very irreligious, uh,
How to Take Over the World
“You Couldn’t Pay Me to Stop” — David Senra on Obsession and Great Founders
or unreligious I don't know if there's a difference there but he really believed so strongly in destiny and destiny was kind of his god and he just really believed that his life had a purpose that destiny was carrying him towards and really his belief in a higher power and it struck me that Steve Jobs was very similar that he was kind of atheistic kind of buddhist but did not have a strong belief in god
How to Take Over the World
“You Couldn’t Pay Me to Stop” — David Senra on Obsession and Great Founders
but really believed that a higher power was kind of carrying him towards something. And I think that's true of a lot of these people. Even if they don't believe in God, they have to believe in some higher power that's carrying them towards some end. Do you admire that? I really, I, not only do I admire it, I think I find it necessary for truly great action. So Todd Gray's belief is, God.
How to Take Over the World
“You Couldn’t Pay Me to Stop” — David Senra on Obsession and Great Founders
You segued perfectly into the last thing I want to ask you. You talked about this guy, radio show, huge public influence, starts his own show, becomes governor. When is David Sender running for governor of Florida?
How to Take Over the World
“You Couldn’t Pay Me to Stop” — David Senra on Obsession and Great Founders
Yeah.
How to Take Over the World
“You Couldn’t Pay Me to Stop” — David Senra on Obsession and Great Founders
Well, I support you, Dave, whether you choose to run for governor or not. If you run for governor, I will support you, but I think you're making the right choice.
How to Take Over the World
“You Couldn’t Pay Me to Stop” — David Senra on Obsession and Great Founders
No, I actually feel the exact same way that you do. I could not echo what you said anymore of like, what would be the point at this point? I really admire men like Alexander Hamilton, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, George Washington. Yeah. And you do have to say, I do admire people like Trump and Obama a little bit. At least start a movement.
How to Take Over the World
“You Couldn’t Pay Me to Stop” — David Senra on Obsession and Great Founders
It feels like a new thing that they have created, right? Yep. But to just come into office and wield the office, that doesn't feel that exciting to me.
How to Take Over the World
“You Couldn’t Pay Me to Stop” — David Senra on Obsession and Great Founders
It's not artistic enough for you. No, not at all. David, oh, actually, I did want to ask you one more question, which is I had a tweet the other day. I said if... if I was put in charge, I'd have every young man in the United States read these four books. And I had the right brothers by David McCullough. I had the education of a bodybuilder by Arnold Schwarzenegger.
How to Take Over the World
“You Couldn’t Pay Me to Stop” — David Senra on Obsession and Great Founders
Yeah. So you're like this crazed evangelist, which I love about you. And you're a complete obsessive about founders and about podcasting. Was there anything before podcasting like this for you?
How to Take Over the World
“You Couldn’t Pay Me to Stop” — David Senra on Obsession and Great Founders
I had, um, endurance by Lansing, Alfred Lansing and, the right stuff by Tom Wolf. Uh, what, You've got kids, so you probably think about this. If you had to put together a book list of three to five books for every young man in America to read, what would be on your list? That's a great question.
How to Take Over the World
“You Couldn’t Pay Me to Stop” — David Senra on Obsession and Great Founders
Perfect.
How to Take Over the World
“You Couldn’t Pay Me to Stop” — David Senra on Obsession and Great Founders
I actually, I took a month off to just get my back 100% right. So I'm going to the sauna every single day. And I'm only doing like stretches and work on my back for this month. And then in April, I'm going to start working out again.
How to Take Over the World
“You Couldn’t Pay Me to Stop” — David Senra on Obsession and Great Founders
By the way, you talk about that quote, someone, uh, who was it? Anyways, one of my friends brought up his favorite quote of Napoleon, which was really good. It was kind of similar idea, but it's just something simple. And it's just a, in a letter and he's writing to one of his generals and, um, he just says, um, energy, energy, always more activity. Everything relies on you.
How to Take Over the World
“You Couldn’t Pay Me to Stop” — David Senra on Obsession and Great Founders
Hello, and welcome to How to Take Over the World. This is Ben Wilson, and this episode is a conversation between myself and David Senra, host of the Founders Podcast. We talk about the most important lessons we have learned from studying history's greatest leaders and founders, what the greatest and most important biographies are that we would recommend to anyone,
How to Take Over the World
“You Couldn’t Pay Me to Stop” — David Senra on Obsession and Great Founders
And he said, he just tells himself that like, there's almost nothing that can't be solved with more energy and activity.
How to Take Over the World
“You Couldn’t Pay Me to Stop” — David Senra on Obsession and Great Founders
Yeah, I did too. This was great.
How to Take Over the World
“You Couldn’t Pay Me to Stop” — David Senra on Obsession and Great Founders
Thanks, dude. I appreciate it. And everyone who's listening, go listen to Founders. It'll change your life. It's great. Thank you, brother. And of course, one last shout out to Speechify. I find that listening while I read really helps me comprehend and retain more for my reading. Speechify is the best in the business at text-to-speech AI. And if you want, you can even listen in my voice.
How to Take Over the World
“You Couldn’t Pay Me to Stop” — David Senra on Obsession and Great Founders
So go to speechify.com slash Ben to get 15% off Speechify Premium. You won't regret it.
How to Take Over the World
“You Couldn’t Pay Me to Stop” — David Senra on Obsession and Great Founders
I mean, and one of my big takeaways from both what you do and from that episode in particular, which I really liked, was it's chicken strips, right? It's chicken strips. Chicken fingers. Chicken fingers. Excuse me. Wow. Is there a difference between chicken fingers and chicken strips?
How to Take Over the World
“You Couldn’t Pay Me to Stop” — David Senra on Obsession and Great Founders
He's like, I'm on a chicken finger dream. He's very adamant about that. But he takes it very seriously. He does it very well. And when people are looking for startup ideas, it's often just like, again, what we talked about at the beginning, take a simple idea, take it very seriously. Just look around your room. Is there nothing that you can think of that could be better?
How to Take Over the World
“You Couldn’t Pay Me to Stop” — David Senra on Obsession and Great Founders
Honestly, people overthink things a lot, I think, which is you can just take something very simple, just make it as good as it can possibly be, and that's an idea right there.
How to Take Over the World
“You Couldn’t Pay Me to Stop” — David Senra on Obsession and Great Founders
the power of podcasting, whether anyone has it within themselves to become a founder, whether it's better to be Jeff Bezos or Napoleon, and more. I just re-listened to it, and I think this is a really fun conversation. David is just so engaging, and I think he has really valuable insights. So I think you guys will love this episode.
How to Take Over the World
“You Couldn’t Pay Me to Stop” — David Senra on Obsession and Great Founders
Right. That's definitely true. By the way, Raisin Cane's, you love it. You think it's that good. I love fried chicken. Yes. I went for the first time. They opened one in Utah, and I went, and I was like, it's good. What better fried chicken place?
How to Take Over the World
“You Couldn’t Pay Me to Stop” — David Senra on Obsession and Great Founders
Special thanks to Sierra for helping make this conversation happen. So without further ado, please enjoy this episode with David Senra. All right, what's up? It's David Senra from Founders Podcast. David, how you doing?
How to Take Over the World
“You Couldn’t Pay Me to Stop” — David Senra on Obsession and Great Founders
So if you've been listening to How to Take Over the World for a while, you know how important it is to have the best team around you. Great, great performers can give 100 or 1,000x returns on your investment. And that's why I'm incredibly proud that this episode is sponsored by the Austin Lab by Shockworks.
How to Take Over the World
The Rise of Hannibal (Part 1)
I'm gonna show you how great I am. I just want to say from the bottom of my heart, I'd like to take this chance to apologize to absolutely nobody.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
And that was one lesson that Lee Kuan Yew would learn early on. Always look to the future. Sentimentality gains you nothing. The Cold War begins shortly after World War II ends, and it is completely insane that the British are lavishing compliments and funds on communist rebels who are actively fighting against them in their next war.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
These people would be their avowed enemies within months, but that is what they are doing. And Lee Kuan Yew sees the unfortunate results of these policy decisions and the anarchy that results from that. So again, his takeaway is, look, people might help you in one circumstance, but that doesn't mean that you need to continue to trust and help them in the future if they're not helping you.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
Okay, so Singapore is kind of getting resettled after the war. It's still kind of in a state of chaos and raffles has shut down during World War II. There's no higher education in Singapore. And so it's going to take a while getting restarted. So he decides that he's going to go to England to finish his university education. And that had been his plan all along the way.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
And so on a broader level, I think his example and his wisdom can be of benefit to anyone who is a leader in any capacity, whether that's in business or sports or art or anything. So let's get into it. For this episode, I have a few sources. One, The Singapore Story by Lee Kuan Yew, which is autobiographical and recounts the first few years of independence for Singapore.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
So he goes, first he goes to London and studies at the London School of Economics. He doesn't really like London. He doesn't like city life. It's too noisy and crowded. And he's very unaccustomed to having to do his own housework. He complains about the lack of servants, having to do his own laundry and his own cooking.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
So he leaves London School of Economics after less than a year, and he matriculates at Cambridge. He studies law. Of course, if you don't know, Cambridge is one of the top universities in the world, and Lee Kuan Yew does very well there. Even among these very bright students, he's one of the most intelligent and capable. He gets a little bit politically active.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
He becomes a member of the peaceful anti-colonialist movement, and he and five other students form the Malayan Forum. And the Malayan Forum is just an organization to talk about. So Malaya is sort of the region that the British ruled together. Mostly what is now called Malaysia, though it also included Brunei and Singapore and a few more kind of other little territories.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
Malaysia did not exist yet as a country or even as a concept. And so they formed the Malayan Forum to talk about independence for Malaya. Are we going to do it all united? Are we going to do it separately? This forum would later be captured by Marxists and basically turned into a communist organization. But at the time, it was solely focused on independence for this region of Malaya.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
In terms of his political persuasion, he's something of a moderate socialist, I think is what you would call it. In the wake of World War II, this is like the apogee of leftist politics in Western academia. This is the heyday. Even in the midst of the Cold War, everyone at all these universities is a Marxist, is a socialist, is at the very least like a hard left liberal.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
And so actually British intelligence is keeping an eye on him. And they assume that Lee Kuan Yew is a crypto Marxist at first. He's going to be a communist. And look, I think there is probably something to that in the environment of a university. Everyone's getting carried away with this. I think he was quite leftist at the time. He was also a partier and very social.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
I find this very interesting about Lee Kuan Yew. He's so disciplined and so single-minded that you would think he'd be very strict in his personal habits, like this robot, this automaton. But no, he liked to drink and smoke and play golf. He was very social and he very much adopted the social habits of the upper class British, right? Smoking, drinking, playing golf. That's kind of what they did.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
That's what he did. So after his years at Cambridge, he moves back to Singapore where again, he studied law. So he becomes a lawyer and also gets involved in politics. This is the time when he changes his name. Again, like he thinks the big cause of his life is going to be Malayan independence, anti-colonialism essentially. So he doesn't want to be Harry Lee anymore. He wants to be Lee Kuan Yew.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
He wants to sound like a native, not like a foreign British guy. And so he drops the Harry and just goes by Lee Kuan Yew. At this point, Singapore is just a city within British Malaya. It was different enough that it had some separate institutions and things like that.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
They had their own legislature, but the British government still maintains ultimate sovereignty over not only Singapore, but all of Malaya. One of his first cases as a lawyer is a labor dispute, and he argues on behalf of the union, of the postal union. And he's able to secure a deal that is satisfactory to all parties involved. It's very impressive.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
And then his second autobiographical book called From Third World to First. Also, Lee Kuan Yew, The Grandmaster's Insights on China, the United States, and the World by Graham Allison and Michael McConaughey. And then Singapore, A Modern History by Michael D. Barr and No Man is an Island, A Study of Singapore's Lee Kuan Yew by James Minchin.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
The postal workers are happy with the increase in pay and all these different benefits. And the government is just happy to get this work stoppage over with. So everyone's happy with this job that Lee Kuan Yew does. labor unions are often known for being intransigent and difficult to work with.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
And especially at this time, even still a little bit, but especially at this time, labor unions were a hotbed of communist agitation, especially when it comes to international labor unions. They would often have no interest at all in actually striking a deal or improving conditions for their workers. They just wanted to foment unrest and hopefully start a communist revolution.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
But luckily, in this first case, Lee Kuan Yew is working with one of the better unions that actually has an interest in the well-being of their workers, and he's able to strike this deal. He becomes known as someone who is definitely left-leaning, pro-labor, sticks up for the little guy, but he's moderate. He's not just trying to foment revolution.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
He is actually trying to strike deals and get things working. He also takes on criminal cases. And since he's a very good lawyer, he's able to get favorable verdicts for some of his clients, including ones that he knows are actually guilty. And so even though he wins these cases, he's becoming disillusioned with the democratic judicial systems. He's not impressed.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
with a system, with a jury system, where a capable lawyer like himself is able to get obviously guilty criminals off with no punishment. And so that would come into effect later in terms of how he governed Singapore. He also quickly gets involved in politics where he starts the People's Action Party, the PAP. In the short term, this is a pro-labor party focused on independence from Britain.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
It is somewhere between center-left and not like far-left, but yeah, like left. I don't know if that makes sense, but somewhere between center-left and just left-left. It's closely allied with labor unions. And at first, it included many communist elements, like overtly, openly communist party members and unions.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
And again, Lee Kuan Yew, he's definitely more left leaning than he would be later in life. Even so, he's not a communist, but he is aligned with labor unions, which typically have strong communist elements within them. And at this time, the communists are also helpful to his new party, People's Action Party, because they're very well organized. They can get people on the streets.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
And so this is a marriage of convenience that gets Lee Kuan Yew some muscle right at the beginning when he needs it. Before we get into the rest of Lee Kuan Yew's career, if you are a founder or a CEO or a CFO or treasurer, you need Vesto.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
It gives you a single view of all your company's bank accounts, providing unparalleled visibility so that you can find opportunities for savings, automate global payments, spot undeployed capital, and more. I'm always on the lookout for commonalities between these great leaders, and I have seen over and over that these great leaders are quantitative, they're data hungry, and they're frugal.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
That was true of Lee Kuan Yew. He was very, very frugal. And with Vesto at your fingertips, you can be both. You can get that data that you need to see what's happening at your company, and you can manage your cash better and save money. Many of the best companies in the world are already using Vesto.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
Founders that I talk to love having it at their fingertips so they can get that bird's eye view of all their company's financials. Try them out at Vesto.com. That is V-E-S-T-O.com. And make sure to mention that I sent you. So in its first ever election in Singapore in 1954, the People's Action Party contests four seats in the Singapore legislature and wins three of them.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
The first two, like I said, are by Lee Kuan Yew and give his perspective. They're quite good, but they were written for a Singaporean audience and were a little more dense than I anticipated, but still very good. Lee Kuan Yew, The Grandmaster's Insights is a very good book for his thinking on leadership.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
So it's a promising start for this new fledgling party. So this is when Lee Kuan Yew is 31 years old. He's finished his university education. He's been practicing for a couple of years, and now he's formed this political party. Starting now and throughout his life, Lee Kuan Yew is a very successful politician.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
One of the keys of his success are these tours that he does throughout all these neighborhoods in Singapore. He gives speeches and listens to the constituents at the same time. And here's what he writes about these tours. Quote, the tours were an enormous success. As I argued against the unreasonable demands of others, the people swung behind me.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
The crowds kept growing bigger and warmer with each visit, the leaders eager to participate in welcoming me and to be seen supporting the PAP. The officials with me followed up, listening to the people's requests for surfaced roads, drains, power, streetlights, standpipes, clinics, schools, community centers. The easier needs they dealt with quickly.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
The more difficult ones I promised to study and meet, if practical. Okay. Well, one thing to notice there at the end is that he doesn't promise necessarily to meet these needs at some point in the future. All he says is that I'll study what you guys are saying and I'll do what I can. And that's something that he would always do. He states his reputation on his dependability.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
And so he would never promise anything that he couldn't carry through. He would do that with everyone, even with his enemies. There's this time where this secret Chinese communist agent comes to him and is meeting with him under a pseudonym. And he's saying, look, we can help you if you can just do X, Y, Z. And he's like, look, I would appreciate the help, but I can't make those promises.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
And so he never promises anything that he can't follow through on. And that reliability is one of the things that made him formidable. So he's going through, he's doing these tours.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
One of the difficult things about doing these tours are that Singapore, so Singapore is about 75% at the time and today, 75% Chinese, about 15% Malay and about 10% Indian with a smattering of others, including Europeans left over from English rule, Eurasians, other immigrants. Okay. But at this time, there is no common language to everyone.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
I would frankly skip his thoughts on geopolitics and go straight to his thoughts on leadership and management and life, which are the last few chapters. Singapore, A Modern History by Michael D. Barr is essentially the view of a communist who regrets very much that Lee Kuan Yew eliminated communism in Singapore, but its first few chapters are okay for their narrative of the origins of Singapore.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
English was the language of doing business at the highest levels, but most people in Singapore at the time did not speak English, his first language. So he knows English and he knows Malay. Okay, that's a good starting point. But at this time, his Hokkien is very shoddy. It's not up to snuff. And his Mandarin is also quite poor.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
And so he learns both of these languages in order to be able to speak to his constituents more clearly. And that's one of the really impressive things about Lee Kuan Yew. Not just that he is a great, great public speaker, great politician in that way, but that he's a great, great public speaker in four languages. I mean, that's pretty remarkable.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
So yes, with this first crop of elected PAP members, Lee Kuan Yew becomes a member of the Singaporean parliament in the opposition, right? They only have three members. The government of Singapore was still led by a party called the Labor Front with their leader, David Marshall, as prime minister. And you could probably tell by his name, David Marshall, that he is English.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
And this is kind of the leftover vestiges of English rule. as reflected through the prism of labor, which was in charge in the United Kingdom back in England. The major issue of the time was independence, and Lee Kuan Yew goes to London with David Marshall to try and hash out an agreement with the British government for peaceful separation from the empire. Marshall pushes for too much.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
He wants all of Singapore's demands met. You know, perhaps as an Englishman, he was sort of sensitive to accusations that he was selling out the Singaporeans. And so he pushes too hard and instead no deal is reached and the talks fail. Independence is not reached. In 1958, Singaporean leaders, including Lee Kuan Yew, go back to London again.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
And this time an agreement is reached and the constitution of Singapore is revised to allow for full independence, functionally speaking. Technically, British rule would last for a few more years, at least in sort of foreign policy, external matters. But for all practical purposes, now Singapore was independent.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
And you might wonder why the British are basically granting unconditional independence to nations like Singapore. And the answer is, it's immediately after World War II, the country is still reeling, its economy is in tatters, and it wanted to save money on administering this massive empire.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
The British Empire had long since ceased to extract resources and value from its colonies, and administering the empire at this point was actually an expense. There's also the fact that intellectually, the British public was just not in favor of ruling over all these far-flung colonies anymore. People supported independence on ideological grounds.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
And so that's why the Singaporeans are going and negotiating for independence. I mean, it's a pretty easy negotiation.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
The British, all they're really concerned about is doing it slowly and in a way that's going to make sure that their naval presence in Singapore, which was quite large, they had a big naval base there, was going to be maintained for as long as they needed it, especially in light of what was happening with the Cold War.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
I like that. And then No Man is an Island is a somewhat hostile biography, but it's even handed in many ways. It's pretty good. A little dated. I think it was finished somewhere in the late 1980s or early 1990s. But if you want a more objective biography, that's a good one. So with that said, let's get into it. This is Lee Kuan Yew.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
okay so uh functionally singapore kind of gets its independence in 1958 and all throughout the 1950s lee kuan yew was battling with the left wing of his party in part because he's got all these communists in his party and again like i said they didn't want to do things through proper channels they wanted to just agitate and create inconveniences create strikes
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
create problems to try to foment a revolution. And he doesn't want that. He wants to do things through the preexisting channels. And so it's difficult that he's trying to gain power for the People's Action Party, the PAP,
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
while at the same time battling within that same party to make sure that it stays out of communist hands at a time when the communists served as sort of the muscle for his party. So he kind of needs them, but he kind of wants to get away from them as soon as he can.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
In the 1959 election, the first election since the deal with the British, the PAP take the majority of seats in Singaporean parliament and Lee Kuan Yew is named prime minister. Okay, so now as prime minister, even as he's battling with the left wing of his party, he's got to govern at the same time.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
And to make matters worse, as he comes into the government, they have a massive budget shortfall and Lee Kuan Yew has to implement some difficult cost cutting measures, which he decides to do right away. He writes about this time, the steps necessary to balance the budget would prove unpopular, not only with the public, but also with ministers.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
But it was imperative that we did not end up in the red in our first year of government. I told them that we had better take the unpopular measures early in our term. Okay. And we talked about this in the Augustus episode. Augustus does the same thing he does. Well, as Machiavelli puts it, quote, do all of your injustice up front and all at once.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
Okay, so Lee Kuan Yew very much buys into this idea that when you come into power, if you have some unpleasant things to do, you need to do them right at the beginning and all at once. However, you don't just want your popularity to tank, right? So on the flip side, he also undertakes very visible and very public initiatives that will boost his popularity. So listen to what he does.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
I don't understand... Why every governor in the United States does not do this immediately upon being elected. This is a crown just lying in the gutter. Okay, listen to what he does. Lee Kuan Yew writes, We were determined to strike while the iron was hot and exploit our post-election popularity.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
We mounted a series of well-publicized campaigns to clean the streets of the city, clear the beaches of debris, and cut the weeds of unkempt vacant land. It was a copycat exercise borrowed from the communists. ostentatious mobilization of everyone, including ministers, to toil with their hands and soil their clothes in order to serve the people.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
We saw no reason why the MCP, that's the Communist Party, should have the monopoly of such techniques and organized drives to enthuse the people and involve them in setting higher standards in civic consciousness, general cleanliness, and the preservation of public property.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
So he takes this even further and organizes work brigades of the unemployed to do basic construction and cleanup work around the city. The other thing he does is to ensure that he has control and a working government operation, he dissolves entire departments and just replaces them with new ones.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
So for example, he's got this highly corrupt and inept Singapore Improvement Trust, which is in charge of public housing essentially, and he just dissolves it and replaces it with something called the Housing and Development Board. And again, I think this is something that Western politicians should consider.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
I think when a department has just become corrupt, as they tend to do over time in government, just dissolve it. Just let everyone go and start from the ground up and bring in a completely new organization. Okay, so the communists within the PAP become more and more of a problem. And now, you know, he's actually in charge. And so this chaos that they're causing isn't just a headache for everyone.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
But first, a reminder that we have a retreat coming up in Austin on January 23rd through the 26th with Alex Petkus of The Cost of Glory. We're going to be talking about leadership principles and rhetoric and how to be a better leader and speaker in the style of great leaders of the past. I'm going to be there as are many fans of How to Take Over the World.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
It's a headache for him personally, because he's the prime minister. And so in 1961, there is a divorce within the party and the communists are kicked out of the PAP.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
It is really only through the force of charisma of Lee Kuan Yew and other senior party members that the PAP is able to hold on to its majority in parliament, and it just barely does so and continues leading the Singaporean government. I told you that Lee Kuan Yew had learned a lesson from the British after the war, and that is to only look forward and not be sentimental.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
And that is a lesson that served him well. I think someone with less of an iron will might not have been willing to kick out the communists because they, you know, not only did they still bring something to the table, at this point, they were more of a headache than they were an asset. But I think someone else might have said, well, hey, these people brought me to power.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
You know, I owe these people something. And loyalty is obviously a crucial attribute of a great leader. But loyalty should not be confused with naivete or begging or relationships of convenience. The communists had repeatedly taken actions that had damaged his government. They had no loyalty toward him. And so it shouldn't have been reciprocated.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
Yes, loyalty is important, but only to your true friends who continue to favor you. And you can't have that sentimentality towards people who have done good things for you in the past, but in the moment are working against you. You can't be sentimental like the British and hand resources to people who hate you.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
And this lack of sentimentality culminates two years later when Lee Kuan Yew has hundreds of communists rounded up and arrested or forced into exile in a famous operation called Operation Cold Store. And for those who are anti-Li Kuan Yew, especially those who are on the political left, this has become something like his original sin. These people were held without trial.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
Many were provably communists, but others were not, either because they were careful to avoid incriminating evidence or because they were simply fellow travelers who intentionally kept enough distance to be useful as people who were not officially tied to communist activity.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
It has even been suggested that some may have had no affiliation with the communist movement whatsoever and were simply political opponents of Li Kuan Yew. I tried to look into it a little bit and get to the bottom of those accusations, and I can't tell if that's true or not.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
Judging by how vehement the communists are that these people were innocent, I tend to believe that they were actually supporting the communist cause in some way. But who knows?
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
Certainly it was an operation that did help Lee Kuan Yew gain a firmer grip on Singapore, but it did also more or less put a total end to the anarchic strikes and riots that had been a frequent feature of life in Singapore up to that point.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
And by the way, he has to do this over the objections of the British, who, along with the Americans, were often useful idiots in keeping communists around and were opposed to such a sweeping mop-up operation of all these communists. So one of the big reasons for Operation Cold Store was that Singapore and the rest of British Malay were getting ready to unite into one independent nation.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
And Lee Kuan Yew was the most prominent voice in Singapore in trying to make sure that they would join an independent and united Malaysia as a new country. The Malaysians were extremely anti-communist. And partly that was because it's a majority Muslim country. Communism was seen as an inherently atheistic and anti-Islam ideology. But there was also an ethnic dimension.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
As discussed, China was communist and Singapore was majority Chinese. But the rest of Malaysia also had large Chinese populations. They were a distinct minority, but a large minority. In the capital of Kuala Lumpur, for example, Chinese still make up 40% of the population. And not only are they a large minority, but they are a particularly wealthy one.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
So it's going to be a really great event. I can't say enough about Alex and his ability to teach rhetoric to make you a better speaker and a better leader. I've done one of these with Alex before and it was just phenomenal. So January 23rd to 26th in Austin. Would love to see you there. Okay, Lee Kuan Yew is born in 1923 to a wealthy family in Singapore.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
In much of Asia, Chinese populations served the role that Jews had served in Europe. They were the bankers and the merchants. They were particularly entrepreneurial and as a consequence, particularly wealthy. And just as in Europe, this stirred up jealousy, resentment, and frequent repression and pogroms.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
OK, so you have this large minority population who people resent anyway, and they are ethnically tied to a large communist country. So in some ways, communism was seen as a Chinese influence in Malaysia, in the same way that some people said that communism was a Jewish plot in Europe and the United States.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
And so for some ethnic Malays, their opposition to communism was also a way to express some ethnic resentments against ethnic Chinese living in Malaysia. So this roundup of Operation Cold Store is a gesture of good faith from Lee Kuan Yew to say, look, we're not communists, even though we're majority Chinese.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
And if you let us into Malaysia, we will be good citizens and we will help you keep communism in check and we'll behave ourselves. So look, admittedly, I'm not a big fan of communism, but I don't see Operation Cold Front as this fascist crackdown on opposition and civil society. I see it as a necessary step to getting Singapore orderly and secure.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
But if you read leftist accounts of the history of Singapore, you will sometimes see this highlighted as an egregious violation of human rights. In any case, it assuages the fears of the Malays enough to let Singapore into a united Malaysia, which forms in 1963. And Lee Kuan Yew is sort of the mastermind of getting Singapore into this united Malaysia.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
Now, there is a fissure in the government right from the beginning. People like Lee Kuan Yew want a Malaysia that is for Malaysians, that is people of any race, as long as they are citizens of Malaysia. And he thinks that all these people should have more or less equal rights and a stake in this new nation.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
But the dominant Malay parties want to see a Malaysia that is principally run by and run for ethnic Malays who are the majority. They think, you know, we're the native inhabitants of this land and we should have special privileges. So Lee Kuan Yew is willing to go along with this actually to a certain degree. He concedes that the top levels of government will always be staffed by Malays.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
He agrees to fewer seats in parliament than Singapore would have had based solely on their population so that Malays will be overrepresented and ethnic Chinese underrepresented in the legislature for Malaysia. But ultimately, he and the other leaders from Singapore expect the nation to slowly move toward a secular democracy that treats its citizens more or less equal regardless of race.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
But that doesn't happen at all. And for the next two years, ethnic tensions actually increase. And the Malaysian government seeks to marginalize its Chinese citizens more and more. And finally, this breaks down in 1965. Both sides come to understand that there is no way forward. One side wants a Malaysia for all Malaysian citizens.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
The other side wants a nation that is fundamentally designed to serve ethnic interests of Malays. And this included things like ethnic quotas in government and special privileges for Malays. And so there are negotiations between Lee Kuan Yew and the chief minister of Malaysia, a guy named Tunku or the Tunku.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
And finally, on August 9th, 1965, Malaysian parliament voted 126 to zero to expel Singapore from the country. At 10 a.m., Lee Kuan Yew reads out on the radio in Singapore, quote, whereas it is the inalienable right of a people to be free and independent. I, Lee Kuan Yew, prime minister of Singapore, do hereby proclaim and declare on behalf of the people and the government of Singapore that
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
that as from today, the ninth day of August in the year 1965, Singapore shall be forever a sovereign, democratic, and independent nation founded upon the principles of liberty and justice and ever seeking the welfare and happiness of her people in a more just and equal society.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
At the same time, the Tunku explains to Parliament in Malaysia, quote, in the end, we find that there are only two courses open to us, to take repressive measures against the Singapore government or their leaders for the behavior of some of their leaders,
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
They were ethnically Chinese, as were most Singaporeans. And Singapore is a small island off the southern tip of Malaysia. It had been, in old times, majority Malay. Okay, Malay is an ethnicity. And that's what most people in Malaysia are, obviously. But the British had acquired it and made it into a free port and thereby turned it into a bustling port city.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
and the course of action we are taking now to sever with the state government of Singapore that has ceased to give a measure of loyalty to the central government. So they announced at the same time they're separating in his public address, Lee Kuan Yew actually breaks down crying and has to stop for 20 minutes to gather his composure. And this was not posturing.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
This is actually not seen as like a impressive thing for Lee Kuan Yew, especially Chinese culture at the time kind of valued machismo manliness. Um, it was not, yeah, it was kind of looked down on to, to cry publicly. But he was crying simply because unification had been what he thought would be his signature issue for his life. And he was the man who got Singapore into Malaysia.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
And now that was gone. He felt like his life work was going down the drain. And so he's completely devastated. And in the time, the short time of negotiations, he has tried to take some actions to prepare Singapore for independence. But still, the country is completely unprepared. He writes, some countries are born independent. Some achieve independence. Singapore had independence thrust upon it.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
So in 1965, Lee Kuan Yew finds himself the prime minister of an independent nation, one with no military, no hinterland, no way of feeding itself, no independent access to fresh water. And to make matters worse, they were now surrounded by larger neighbors who were upset at them and wanted to punish them for their insolence.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
So he and his colleagues were going to have to figure out everything, the nuts and bolts of the government from the bottom to the top, just going to have to solve everything for themselves. Before we see how Lee Kuan Yew would manage this newfound independence, let's take a minute to hear about Vanman, one of my favorite brands in the world.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
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How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
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How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
That is vanman.shop and use code TAKEOVER for 15% off. Okay, so they're in this situation. Lee Kuan Yew refers to independent Singapore as a heart without a body. It's an incredibly difficult spot for an independent nation. The Malaysians would like to have them back on their own terms. The Chinese would like to see them become communist. The Americans like to see them become anti-communist.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
Achieving true independence was going to be a tall task. And the first thing that Lee Kuan Yew had to figure out as prime minister was internal and external security. So he made sure to reach an agreement with the United Kingdom regarding the continuance of their naval base in Singapore for a few more years. This provided security as well as much-needed economic activity and employment.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
In the meantime, he starts beefing up Singapore's security services. And he's doing this in order to make Singapore dangerous enough. Their population is so small, they're never going to be able to stand up to... China, Malaysia, Indonesia. So that's not what he's trying to do. He's not trying to be a near peer to China or Indonesia, obviously.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
What he's looking to do is be dangerous enough that it's not worth anyone's time to mess with them. So he looks to the example of Israel. Israel has mass conscription. Everyone has to join the army and do service when they reach a certain age, and they have to be prepared to volunteer in a national emergency.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
This attracted thousands of Chinese merchants who took advantage of the favorable trade conditions to start factories and import-export affairs and other associated businesses. And so it quickly becomes a majority Chinese city. The Li family lose much of their wealth when Lee Kuan Yew is five due to the Great Depression, but they are still upper middle class.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
So from this, they're able to put together a respectable defensive force from a small population. And so he doesn't just use them as an example. He has the Israelis come and help train up their army from the ground up. And by the way, the Israelis are, of course, deeply unpopular with Singapore's Muslim neighbors of Malaysia and Indonesia because, you know, Muslim, Jew, whatever. Okay.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
And so he says that they're Mexican. And he actually says in the book, they were swarthy enough to pull it off. So he says that these are Mexican consultants come to train their military, which was a good fig leaf to use for a little bit. But by doing this, he's able to maintain Singapore's independence. They're Western-aligned, non-communist. They do eventually align with the United States.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
Lee Kuan Yew supports the Vietnam War, especially because, I mean, think about it from his perspective, right? If communism just keeps growing and growing in Asia, it's only going to be a matter of time before it overtakes Singapore. So he's glad to see a check on communism in Vietnam so it doesn't keep spreading.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
essentially, yes, the British leave, they pick up stakes and get rid of their naval base. The United States does eventually establish a naval base in the same place. Technically, the US doesn't have a naval base there. They just rent land and park an aircraft carrier there. But I mean, for all intents and purposes, there is a United States naval base in Singapore. But despite this,
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
Singapore does have a large measure of independence. And you see this when the CIA actually tries to bribe Lee Kuan Yew. And he thinks it's for a laughably small amount of money and he rejects it. But again, he's able to do this. He's able to maintain its independence. Like, yes, Western aligned, but not Western controlled. They really can't control their foreign policy.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
He's able to do this because he makes them what he calls the poisonous shrimp of Asia. He has a speech where he says, the way of the world is that big fish eat little fish and little fish eat shrimp. And his job is to make Singapore a poisonous shrimp.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
In other words, no one's not big enough to eat anyone else or even to stand up to one of the bigger fish, but it can make itself dangerous enough that it's not worth eating. And he did that. Singapore is strong enough that no one wants to bother them. Internally, even after Operation Cold Store, the biggest problem was still communists.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
There were threats of assassination against him and he had to beef up his security and totally get his house remodeled and put bulletproof glass in his personal home. It was really touch and go for a couple of years there. But he does manage to suppress communism within Singapore and get it internally secure as well.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
And one of the reasons this is so difficult is because he has to be delicate about it, because for many of the ethnic Chinese, China is a source of pride. And the fact that they were this communist country was a source of pride, especially because they weren't in China. And so they couldn't see what was happening. They couldn't see the devastation of China.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
the cultural revolution and the horrible economic policies and the repression, all this, all they see is the propaganda coming out of it, which is, this is the way of the future. We're doing great. You know, our five-year outputs are better than ever. And so, um, yeah, they're, they're proud of this. And so he has to, on the one hand, totally repress communism.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
And on the other hand, seem sympathetic to the people who view this as a source of ethnic pride. And by the way, if Lee Kuan Yew is not a communist, what is he? You know, he starts as kind of a center-left, labor-style socialist, I think. But he doesn't even really hold to that. Here's what he says about his ideology. Quote, I was never a prisoner of any theory.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
And in British Singapore, upper middle class means that you have some servants to help you manage what is a quite large estate in the case of the Li family. His father was a very strict disciplinarian and he very much admired British discipline and manners and culture. And this is unsurprising for someone who makes his fortune on the back of the British trading empire in Asia.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
What guided me were reason and reality. The acid test I applied to every theory or scheme was, would it work? This was the golden thread that ran through my years in office. If it did not work or the results were poor, I did not waste more time and resources on it. I almost never made the same mistake twice, and I tried to learn from the mistakes others had made.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
I discovered early in office that there were few problems confronting me in government which other governments had not met and solved. So I made a practice of finding out who else had met the problem we faced, how they had tackled it, and how successful they had been.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
Whether it was to build a new airport or to change our teaching methods, I would send a team of officers to visit and study those countries that had done it well. I preferred to climb on the shoulders of others who had gone before us." He also later said about his ideology, I would describe myself in perhaps European terms as between socialist and conservative.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
I would put myself as a liberal, as someone who believes in equal opportunities so that everybody gets an equal chance to do his best and with a certain compassion to ensure that the failures do not fall through the floor.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
I want to run the system as efficiently as possible, but make allowances for those who will not be doing well because nature did not give them enough or they cannot make that extra effort. I am a liberal in the classical sense of the word in that I am not fixated on a particular theory of the world or of society. I am pragmatic.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
I am prepared to look at the problem and say, all right, what is the best way to solve it that will produce the maximum happiness and well-being for the maximum number of people? My life is not guided by philosophy or theories. I get things done and leave others to extract the principles for my successful solutions. I do not work on theory. Instead, I ask what will make this work.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
If after a series of solutions, I find that a certain approach worked, then I try to find what the principle was behind the solution. Yeah, so he calls himself sort of, I don't know, maybe like a radical centrist, a classical liberal is how he describes it. I would say some of his policies are kind of eclectic. Most of his policies maybe were right-wing, I would say.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
That includes lower taxes, a mostly free market, a strong emphasis on law and order with strong penalties for antisocial crimes, including the death penalty for major drug dealing and fines for even minor infractions like public urination, chewing gum in public, failing to keep your home well-kept and stuff like that.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
For the argument that he governed more from the left are the fact that he gave a fair shake to unions. He definitely favored controls on the free market and wanted to make sure it served the nation. And though he opposed socialized medicine, he did allow for a strong social safety net. There are kind of policies from all over. I will say as time went on, he tilted right.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
For example, initially he bought into racial equality somewhat, but that started to change almost immediately. It's one of his biggest critiques of the West is that he doesn't believe in equality of the races and believes that such thinking is fanciful. And as he would describe it, obviously false.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
In the Singapore story, he writes, it was only after I had been in office for some years that I recognized that performance varied substantially between the different races in Singapore. and among different categories within the same race.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
After trying out a number of ways to reduce inequalities and failing, I was gradually forced to conclude that the decisive factors were the people, their natural abilities, education, and training. And then later he says, one of the facts of living is that no two things are ever equal, either in smallness or in bigness. Living things are never equal.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
So he actually gives his son the name Harry Lee Kuan Yew. Okay, so that's his real name when he is born, Harry Lee Kuan Yew. And so he was largely known as Harry Lee for most of his early life. However, we know him as Lee Kuan Yew because he later dropped the name Harry in order to seem less westernized. We'll get to that. As a boy, Lee Kuan Yew loved reading.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
Even in the case of identical twins, one comes out before the other and takes precedence over the other. So it is with human beings. So it is with tribes. And so it is with nations. Human beings are not born equal. They are highly competitive. Systems like Soviet and Chinese communism have failed because they tried to equalize benefits.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
Then nobody works hard enough, but everyone wants to get as much as, if not more than, the other person. I started off believing all men and women are equal. I now know that is the most unlikely thing ever to have been because millions of years have passed over evolution.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
People have scattered across the face of this earth, been isolated from each other, developed independently, had different intermixtures between races, peoples, climate, soils. This is something which I have read and I tested against my observations. We read many things. The fact that it is in print and repeated by three, four authors does not make it true. They may all be wrong.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
But through my own experience, I concluded, yes, there is a difference. And so, yeah, like if you look at the highest levels of Singaporean government under Lee Kuan Yew, there are some Indians, there are some Malays, but it is overwhelmingly people of Chinese descent who fill those top positions.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
People of Chinese descent make more money, have better social outcomes, and that just never bothered him. He did do some things, especially for Malays. I think he felt like since they were like the most native, had the longest history in Singapore. They deserved some like special attention.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
But like he just didn't let himself get bothered and fall into social justice stuff, try and remedy all of these racial inequities. He just said, Yeah, Basically, he just squared that circle by saying, I think the Chinese are brighter and therefore we do better. And he just left it at that. And people have kind of gone with it.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
There's not a whole lot of ethnic unrest in Singapore, even though social outcomes are different. So that's just one visible way in which he has swung rightward. Another way is also in like family planning, family relations. You know, he starts off, Singapore had a very high fertility rate and they actually have some like family planning initiatives to try and bring down the fertility rate.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
And then like the rest of the developed world, it just completely crashes. And so then, you know, he becomes old grandpa Lee and he's trying to encourage women to to not put off childbearing for the sake of a career education. And so that's another way in which he's very I mean, you heard what he said about the equality of the sexes, right?
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
And he actually starts off early in his career, encouraging women to go and work and get education. But then later in his career, he encourages them to stay home, have children, support their families in that way. So he does shift rightward over the course of his career.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
I guess, let me just sum up the rest of his career, and then I'll go over some more of the finer points of how he governed Singapore. So he's prime minister of independent Singapore for 25 years, from 1965 until 1990. He made a new office for himself in 1990, what he called senior minister, which he served in from 1990 until 2004.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
And while he was senior minister, he didn't maintain day-to-day control of the government, but he could use his popularity and reputation and influence to come in and fix or change anything he thought needed fixing. And then from 2004 to 2011, he served as what was called minister mentor, which was an even more removed version of senior minister.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
He was married to the same woman for his entire life. He had three children and his oldest son, Lee Shen Loon, I think I'm pronouncing that right, succeeded him as prime minister of Singapore. He's actually the, someone else came in between and then he was the third prime minister. And that actually happened during Lee Kuan Yew's lifetime. Lee Kuan Yew actually died in 2015.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
Early on, he has a love for westerns in particular. You can see that initially he had this great attraction to western culture, just like his dad did. Lee Kuan Yew's father was a gambler and his mother is really the leader of the family for that reason. Lee Kuan Yew becomes the de facto head of the family while he's still in his teens. And that's a fairly Chinese thing to do.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
OK, so that's that's the broad overview of his career. But, you know, what actually happened? How did he take Singapore from third world to first? As he put it, I would put his accomplishments in the following buckets. Number one, let's talk about is economic growth. That's probably the number one thing people point at. And it is really remarkable.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
Singapore went through three more or less successful transitions since independence. So it starts off when he takes over Singapore. It is the entrepot is the word they always use for the Malaysian peninsula. Entrepot just means it's where things come in and out. It's a major hub, major port. This is basically the way to think of it.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
But that's no longer the case once they're no longer a part of Malaysia, which is really difficult. So they have to switch suddenly to being a manufacturing hub. Okay. This is, you know, 1960s, 70s, 80s. This is when, I mean, still everything is manufactured in Asia. But at the time, this was really just starting up and China was still communist. People weren't manufacturing stuff in China.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
So Taiwan, Korea, Japan, and Singapore all become major manufacturing hubs. I might've missed one or two. And so he does a very good job of turning Singapore into a big manufacturing hub first. From there, he can see that, okay, this is good, but we can't really make ourselves rich off of this. It's highly competitive on price. And so he moves Singapore to becoming a financial center next.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
And so it becomes a major finance and banking center. It's essentially London or New York for when London and New York are closed. It's like the first, along with Tokyo, but maybe even for a while more so than Tokyo, the major financial center of Asia is the second transition that's made.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
And then the third transition, which is still ongoing, is the transition from a financial center to a knowledge economy powerhouse. Okay. And I would say this last transition has been the most tenuous and the most difficult for a number of reasons. So how does he do this? Well, when he first starts out, he really needs investment. He needs employment.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
He needs people to bring their manufacturing to Singapore. And the first thing he does is when he's asking for that investment, he shows strength and he doesn't go begging.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
So he writes, quote, on my first official visit to America in October 1967, I recounted to 50 businessmen at a luncheon in Chicago how Singapore had grown from a village of 120 fishermen in 1819 to become a metropolis of 2 million. This was because its philosophy was to provide goods and services cheaper and better than anyone else or perish.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
They responded well because I was not putting my hand out for aid, which they had come to expect of leaders from newly independent countries. I noted their favorable reaction to my no begging bowl approach. OK, so I think that's a smart approach, even though he really does need the help. He's not begging. And that shows confidence and makes more people want to invest. Okay.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
The next point to highlight is that extreme consistency breeds trust. When Singapore becomes a major financial center, a major British investor is found to have committed fraud. And so the question is to prosecute or not to prosecute, because this guy is a, you know, a major trader for a big London bank. He's a British national. And And on the one hand, you want there to be law and order.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
The oldest son is given responsibility and expected to lead from a very young age. So he grows up with his whims constantly accommodated and with his siblings and even his mother obeying his commands. And so he really learns to lead and command from a very young age. He speaks English to his parents. Baba Malay, which is a sort of pigeon Malay with a bunch of Chinese words thrown in.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
But on the other hand, you know, there's a guy with a big bank and you want to be in good with the big banks and be in good with Wall Street and with the city of London. And so he kind of agonizes over, do we prosecute this guy? But, you know, he decides, no, we really need consistency. And if we're going to be a big financial hub, then people have to trust that we enforce the rules fairly.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
And so he prosecutes this guy to the full extent of the law. He later writes in Third World, the first, if I have to choose one word to explain why Singapore succeeded, it is confidence. Okay. And he instilled that confidence by being very, very consistent. You know, another way in which he was consistent was with corruption, just absolute zero toleration for corruption.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
And that included prosecuting close friends for relatively minor infractions. And I think a lesser leader might not have been willing to prosecute that, but he knew he needed to instill that confidence and he could only do it through like extreme consistency in enforcement of the rules. This is a long way away. This is a tiny Asian country asking for investment from big Western economies.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
And so if they couldn't trust him, then it was all gonna fall apart. And I would say another feature of their economic progress has been flexibility. So yes, consistency, but add to that flexibility because he didn't have this all worked out in advance. He didn't know all these various transitions the economy was going to make.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
He says, quote, looking back, I cannot claim that our economic development and industrialization worked out as we had planned. The early plans before separation were made on the assumption of a common market with Malaysia. He doesn't see all this stuff from the beginning. They just kind of have to accept opportunities as they come and pivot when they have to.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
As Steve Jobs says, you can only connect the dots looking backwards. You don't want to make complicated multi-step plans. You just want to accept opportunities as they come. And then the other thing I will say about all these transitions and succeeding economically is that, um, it wasn't like it was just all smooth from 1965 until the present.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
There have been a number of economic crises, difficulties. However, if you communicate and get buy-in, then crises benefit you rather than destroying you. Okay, here's what Lee Kuan Yew writes. The deep sense of crisis that prevailed made it possible for me to turn around union attitudes in a few years.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
The dangers of an economic collapse because British forces were about to leave altered people's mood and attitudes. They realized that unless we made a U-turn from strikes and violence towards stability and economic growth, we would perish. Okay.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
And so it's because he has this vision for economic growth, stability, you know, a different kind of economy that this crisis strengthens him rather than weakens him, you know, for most reasons. politicians, a crisis weakens you. A crisis makes it more difficult to lead and you're more likely to get voted out.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
But when you have a plan, when you have vision, crises are actually an opportunity to consolidate, to build power. As Napoleon says, imagination rules the world. As Steve Jobs says, the most powerful person in the world is the storyteller. The storyteller sets the vision values and agenda. Okay, so that's all one big bucket is there's a ton of economic progress under Lee Kuan Yew.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
It goes from, you know, I do think it's maybe talking himself up a little bit to say from third world to first. Certainly that's GDP per capita. If you look at that, it tells that story. Having said that. you know, it was a relatively prosperous British colony before that. They had left it in a pretty good place for him.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
He speaks that to his grandparents and Malay with a smattering of Hokian to his friends and Hokian. I don't know if I'm pronouncing that right, is a Chinese dialect. And most Chinese immigrants to Singapore had come from this region of China where they spoke Hokian. So that was kind of the de facto Chinese language in Singapore. Mandarin was totally alien to him.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
Anyway, yes, economically, Singapore develops and does extremely well over the decades under Lee Kuan Yew. Okay, number two, social progress, okay? The administration of Lee Kuan Yew and his successors sees the virtual elimination of severe poverty from Singapore, which had been very common. You know, think of it as like a little fishing village.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
Yes, it was a port, but port cities are often chaotic. It was chaotic. There were a lot of drugs, a lot of gambling, a lot of prostitution, just a lot of the social ills that you see from chaotic growing port cities.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
but now again, there's been the virtual elimination of severe poverty, very good health outcomes and a very efficient healthcare system, extremely low crime rates, which have been accomplished through a series of fines and a very harsh, frankly, criminal justice system that, um, doesn't use jury trials.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
Actually, we talked about that earlier that he had been a lawyer argued in front of juries and one trials that he thought he shouldn't have. And so now, uh, Singapore uses judicial rulings instead, uh, corporal punishment is used. People are sometimes caned in addition to jail time or sometimes instead of jail time. So yeah, it's maybe harsh from a certain perspective.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
However, crime rates are extremely low in Singapore. Also on the note of social progress, comfortable modern housing is provided for all Singaporeans at a at least somewhat affordable price, even though obviously real estate is expensive in the there's been an easing of ethnic tensions, which previous to Lee Kuan Yew, he had these three distinct communities.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
You know, the cost of this is that he has virtually destroyed some of these smaller ethnic communities and a lot of the cohesion they had. So that's the price. But there aren't the same ethnic tensions that there had been and that there are in other similar parts of Asia. So we've had economic development, social progress. Number three, beautifying the city.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
If you go to Singapore, there's virtually no litter, no chewed gum on the sidewalks. Chewing gum is illegal. There's no graffiti. There's no urine. There are virtually no homeless people. It's clean. The buildings are well kept. There's very little public decay or dirtiness. He created a green city with tons of beautiful trees and flowers and landscaping.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
His first motto for the transition he wanted to make was a clean and green Singapore. That's what everyone rallied around. He actually later said greening is the most cost effective project I have launched. And Singapore is a very green city now. And because of that, you know, I would say the architecture, it looks modern, it looks nice, but it's uninspiring if you ask me. However,
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
The greenery is really beautiful and they've done a remarkable job for that. And I do think that's one of the most impressive things that he has done visually to the city. So beautifying the city is number three. Number four, this could go with that. I'll put it in its own. And that is the airport. Changi Airport, the name of the airport, is the most beautiful airport in the world.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
I don't even know what would come in second. You can go look up pictures of it. It's got this huge water feature in the middle. It's got these gardens and this beautiful greenery, and it's got all these amenities. And his Changi Airport has been voted the best airport in the world 12 times in a row.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
And he put all this investment into it to make it beautiful, to make it functional, because it's a huge welcome mat. for Singapore. You know, you show up in this beautiful airport and you think, okay, what is this place? And so it helps to attract foreign talent to Singapore. And it's just a remarkable jewel of a place. I guess related to that, number five, public transportation.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
Singapore is a very dense, crowded city. It's very small. And at one point this led to huge traffic jams, just complete stoppage. You couldn't even get around the city. but through clever construction of roads, bus lanes, rail, and through public planning, traffic is now quite manageable.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
He had to learn it a little bit in school, but he doesn't finish his Mandarin education. So he didn't speak very good Mandarin. He gets a very good Anglo English language education. They had these institutions to educate the locals and help build up a local cadre of white collar workers and officials who could help serve in British administration and lead the local economy.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
There are still traffic jams like there is in any major city, but compared to other nearby cities like Manila or Jakarta, it's very manageable. And so his management of public transportation infrastructure has been remarkable. And then for number six, I would just say other public infrastructure. So as I said, Singapore used to be a very dirty place. Tons of litter was a huge problem.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
Very dirty ocean and river. People just threw trash everywhere. But garbage services have been improved significantly. As I said at the beginning, they didn't have their own fresh water. That has been a huge public infrastructure accomplishment that Singapore now does have access to their own fresh water. So they're not dependent on Malaysia. It can't be cut off at another nation's whim.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
They have used land reclamation to create more space. The city is so crowded, they need more land. So they have, it's actually not land reclamation. It's more like land creation. They have created new islands, um, and new land to build on. And so that is, uh, I guess in some what he has accomplished, it's really remarkable that
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
know i think some people they're they're the let me make the opposite case okay the opposite case is this singapore was um yes it was poor and dirty and yes it had crime and yes it was politically unstable in 1965 when he took over but that also describes places like korea and taiwan and hong kong which have all been successful in ways similar to singapore
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
And it had a great location on a major shipping lane with a big port and a great history of free trade and, uh, and low taxes created by the British. Okay. So Lee Kuan Yew was handed pocket aces and yeah, he did well, but it's not that hard. Look, I mean, Hong Kong did it. Taiwan did it. Korea did it. It's not that impressive. Okay. And I hear that case.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
And I think sometimes he is a little flippant when he says third world to first. But that's just the title. Actually, I think he does give a lot of credit to the British who left a wonderful legacy for Singapore. But here's why Singapore is different from Hong Kong and Taiwan and Korea. First of all, Taiwan and Korea are, I mean, I know Taiwan's an island.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
It is a much, much larger island than Singapore, much, much larger. It's just completely different. Korea and Taiwan, yeah, can have a hinterland, are self-sufficient lands. Like they're not tiny, tiny, tiny city states that are surrounded by these huge, larger neighbors.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
So they're both much larger, and the two of them are much more propped up by the United States, especially the American military keeps significant forces in Korea to help patrol the DMZ between North and South Korea. And similarly, Taiwan has all these connections to the United States because the US wants to keep it out of communist China's hands.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
And so he goes to a high school called Raffles named after the founder of the Singapore colony, a man who... has the most British sounding name I've ever heard, Sir Thomas Stamford Bingley Raffles. Okay. So he goes to the school that's named after Sir Thomas Raffles.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
When it comes to Hong Kong, yes, that is a very apt comparison. But there's one big, big difference, which is Singapore in 1965 finds itself suddenly out of a job. You know, it had been the entrepot, the place of embarkation, disembarkation for the Malaysian Peninsula. And that's what Hong Kong was for China.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
The main difference is that Hong Kong could continue to be that for China and Singapore could not. Hong Kong didn't have that issue of being cut off from its historical role. And so in that way, yes, I mean, you could look at Hong Kong and say, yeah, it's had similar outcomes to Singapore, but it wasn't in a similarly difficult position.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
And then the other thing I would say is that a big part of what Lee Kuan Yew did was make sure that Singapore had an independent future, which is not something that Hong Kong has anymore now that it is being absorbed into China. And so that is a remarkable accomplishment.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
and so yes i i do think it is an amazing incredible transformation someone who has in many ways created if not a nation then at least this city-state from scratch i mean i just can't think of anyone quite like him in the in the 20th century There have been other great leaders, of course.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
I'm not saying that he's the greatest leader of the 20th century necessarily, but just that there's no one who has done something quite like what he has done. He is unique. He's a one of one. And that's difficult to figure that out from scratch, but he has. I'll end with this quote that I think just kind of sums up what mattered to him and what he accomplished. He said, I have no regrets.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
I've spent my life so much of it building up this country. There's nothing more that I need to do. At the end of the day, what have I got? A successful Singapore. What have I given up? My life. So I'll leave it there for free listeners. I actually have a ton more quotes. He's very quotable. He's very fun to listen to.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
So if you want to hear his thoughts on leadership and organization, how to run an organization and a country, I'll have even more takeaways and more quotes after this. That is for premium subscribers. So if you would like to subscribe, go to takeoverpod.supercast.com. Or if you're listening on Apple podcasts, you can go ahead and subscribe in app. Okay. I'll wrap it up there.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
Hello and welcome to how to take over the world. This is Ben Wilson. Today we are talking about Lee Kuan Yew, the founder of modern Singapore. Singapore is a very small island off the southern coast of Malaysia. When Lee Kuan Yew took over as prime minister, it was a small, dirty backwater port town.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
Thanks for tuning in until next time. Thanks for listening to how to take over the world. Before we wrap up, one plug for Speechify. All the greats are obsessed with learning as much as possible. They have this incredible thirst for knowledge. And Speechify is a tool that can help you learn more and learn faster.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
And his goal in going there is the top students from Raffles could matriculate at top universities in England, like Oxford and Cambridge, with a scholarship. And this is what Lee Kuan Yew wanted to do. However, in 1940, World War II is going on, and it's going very poorly for England. They're being bombed by Germany. This is the Blitz.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
It turns any written content into a podcast, articles, books, textbooks, and even emails. I use it all the time, both for research for this show and for things that I just want to learn more about. If you're a fan of the show, I'm sure you'll love it. So go to speechify.com slash Ben and get 15% off Speechify Premium. Again, that is speechify.com slash Ben.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
And so instead of when he finishes raffles, the high school portion, instead of going to England, he goes to raffles college. Okay. So raffles established a secondary school, essentially a high school, if you're an American and also a college. So he goes from raffles high school to raffles college. Although he still has an eye towards doing well there and then going on to study more in England.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
At Raffles College, he does extremely well. He kind of goofs off and doesn't pay much attention. He's a prankster. And I'll just highlight this, that if you want to find really great talent, look for the pranksters. Thomas Edison was a prankster. Steve Jobs was a prankster. John Wooden was a great prankster. Alexander Hamilton was something of a prankster. The list goes on.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
It's a great way, for whatever reason, to spot talent. Very intelligent, very capable people. You know, I think what it is is they like to test the limits of the world around them, and therefore, they enjoy pranks. He's actually punished at least once for coming late and for being a prankster. And at raffles, that meant caning. Like, you know, they take out a stick and whack you on the bottom.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
And here's what he wrote about that in the Singapore story. He says, I bent over a chair and was given three of the best with my trousers on. I do not think he lightened his strokes. I have never understood why Western educationists are so much against corporal punishment. It did my fellow students and me no harm. Okay. So he does get some physical punishment while it raffles.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
I actually think this is when he's in high school. But again, he thinks like I suffered no psychological damage from this and he would continue to be a vocal proponent of corporal punishment. Actually, not only in educational situations, but in the criminal justice system as well. So Lee Kuan Yew doesn't take school too seriously. He often shows up late. He likes to carry out pranks and hijinks.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
But despite this, he is the leading student in mathematics and the second student in English and economics. And that's just because he's brilliant. He's very, very intelligent.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
He actually panics when he finds out that someone else has beat his scores in English and economics, and he's only in second place because only the very top student from Raffles was guaranteed a scholarship to go study in England. So he has to up his focus in order to make sure that he is still considered the top student.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
Now it is a gleaming modern metropolis, one of the great cities of the world up there with London, New York and Tokyo. He's one of the great statesmen of the 20th century, respected around the world by presidents, prime ministers, reformers, academics. And I'd like to start off this episode with a quote from his book, From Third World to First.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
And by the way, that one student who outcompetes him in a couple of classes is named Kwa Gak Chu. Okay. Probably mispronouncing that, but that is the woman who he would eventually go on to marry. His education comes to an abrupt halt in 1942 when the Japanese invade British Malaya.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
Lee Kuan Yew volunteers as a medic, as did all of the other university students, but he doesn't serve for very long because the British resistance in Malaya just completely collapses very quickly. And this is really unexpected. The British had a reputation as, I mean, they had an empire that covered the entire globe, right?
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
And so they had this reputation for dependability, for being warriors, for holding out to the last man. And so to see them completely melt away with hardly any opposition to the Japanese is dismaying for Lee Kuan Yew. You can tell that he loses a lot of respect for the British at this time. And it's difficult to wrap your mind around why this happened.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
Many years later, Winston Churchill would write that the fall of Singapore was, quote, the worst disaster and largest capitulation in British history. And this just catastrophe really changes his mindset. You know, this is someone who grows up in an Anglophile family. English is basically his first language.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
He should have been a natural ally of continued British rule in Singapore and more broadly in Malaya. But seeing this collapse changes something in him. And it's at this time that he makes a commitment that his people need to be independent and control their own destiny.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
Lee Kuan Yew writes, quote, It is difficult for those born after 1945 to appreciate the full implications of the British defeat, as they have no memory of the colonial system that the Japanese brought crashing down on February 15th, 1942. Since 1819, when Raffles founded Singapore as a trading post for the East India Company, the white man's supremacy had been unquestioned.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
But in 70 days of surprises, upsets, and stupidities, British colonial society was shattered. And with it, all the assumptions of the Englishman's superiority. Okay, so he and everyone else in Singapore grow up with this sort of unquestioned assumption that the English are superior, they're in charge, they run things.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
But once he sees them completely unable to resist the Japanese, something changes in his brain a little bit. He thinks, okay, maybe these people aren't so much better than me, as I had thought. The Japanese are much harsher rulers than the British have been. Lee Kuan Yew has a couple of close calls with death, actually, under Japanese rule.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
At one point, he's put on board a boat to head off to an undisclosed location, and he's got this ominous feeling. He's looking around, and he asks the Japanese captain in charge. He says, I'll be right back, but can I go get a couple things for my house first? And to his surprise, the captain says yes. So he hops off the boat and, of course, never returns.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
He says, There are books to teach you how to build a house, how to repair engines, how to write a book. But I have not seen a book on how to build a nation out of a disparate collection of immigrants from China, British India, and the Dutch East Indies, or how to make a living for its people when its former economic role is becoming defunct.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
And all those aboard the boat were never heard from again, presumably taken to some labor camp where they were worked to death. So he barely survives, but he unsurprisingly somehow excels under Japanese rule. He works as a clerk. He also becomes a merchant in sort of the gray market, not quite the black market, but not quite legal either.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
He starts a minor manufacturing business, making stationary gum with improvised ingredients. He's very good at manufacturing. just the basic business, right? Buy low, sell high. He's always buying little things and finding arbitrage opportunities and reselling them. He has to stop selling this gum for lack of demand when the war starts going poorly, right?
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
The Americans are kicking the Japanese butt in the Pacific. They're running out of a lot of raw supplies. And this only accelerates as time goes on. As America is continually beating back the Japanese in the Pacific, the economy in Singapore completely collapses. And just as the end of British rule was chaotic, so the end of Japanese rule was also chaotic in its final days in Singapore.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
Japanese rule, however, was crucial for Lee Kuan Yew's understanding of the world and how to govern. You get the impression that he definitely, I don't know if I would say he hates the Japanese. He certainly hates the way that they govern and their cruelty, but he respects their methods. So listen to what he says about it. Quote,
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
I learned more from the three and a half years of Japanese occupation than any university could have taught me.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
I had not yet read Mao's dictum that power grows out of the barrel of a gun, but I knew that Japanese brutality, Japanese guns, Japanese bayonets and swords and Japanese terror and torture settled the argument as to who was in charge and could make people change their behavior, even their loyalties. Okay, so on the one hand, he hates Japanese rule, but on the other hand, he's like,
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
Well, look at this. He also points to how little crime there was under Japanese rule, how orderly everyone was, how much people respected and obeyed their laws because they were so afraid of them. And so, you know, I think this is wise. Anyone can learn from their heroes, from their friends, from their allies. It takes a truly wise man to learn from his enemies.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
But that is what Lee Kuan Yew is doing here. He's learning from his enemies. He doesn't drink too deeply, right? He's not... some fanatical crazed torturer the way the Japanese sometimes could be with the way they ruled in the Pacific. But he is learning, hey, the way they institute public order really works at the very least.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
So once the Japanese are kicked out, World War II ends, technically the British are back in charge. Everyone can kind of feel that the British Empire is now going to end. But for the time being, that's not the case. The British are back in charge, although there is this sort of feeling in the air, this agitation of, okay, it's time for the Singaporeans to take over.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
So I think this episode should be of interest to reformers, statesmen, politicians, people who have visions of reform and nation building. But the other interesting thing about Lee Kuan Yew is that he ran his country like a startup, like a company.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
The MPAJA was a Malay guerrilla organization that had fought the Japanese, and they're communists. As was often the case in World War II, some of the most ardent partisans that continued to fight behind enemy lines against fascists were communists. And in the wake of the war, they don't say, okay, the Japanese are defeated, time to put down our guns and, you know, be model citizens.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
No, they continue to be gangsters and rebels and they make headaches for the British. And they even go so far as taking over a few kind of rural outlying towns. And the British make the mistake of recognizing and paying tribute to and even paying funds to this communist organization, the MPAJA.
How to Take Over the World
Lee Kuan Yew
They were doing this out of gratitude, basically, like, yeah, you guys did a bang up job fighting the Japanese. So, you know, we owe you some gratitude. So because of good feelings, you know, here's here's some recognition. Here's some funds. And then these people turn around and use those funds to create havoc for the British, the very people who are paying them.
How to Take Over the World
Top 10 Lessons from 100 Episodes of How to Take Over the World
Those were just, I just kind of scrolled episodes. Those were some of the ones I picked up. There are more, of course. Now, I do think this is partially about food. You think better when you're not too full. As Naval Ravikant puts it, the optimal zone for performance is slightly hungry. And that's good to remember. You think better if you don't stuff yourself.
How to Take Over the World
Top 10 Lessons from 100 Episodes of How to Take Over the World
I call it Wright's law. Okay. AKA the power of negative thinking. So I call it Wright's law because it's based on something I learned from the Wright brothers. So how did the Wright brothers, they're the first to fly, right? They kind of invented the airplane. Kind of. They did. They invented the airplane. So how did the Wright brothers beat everyone to the punch?
How to Take Over the World
Top 10 Lessons from 100 Episodes of How to Take Over the World
But I think it's more about obsession. A good test for whether you are obsessed enough with something to be great at it is do you find yourself skipping meals in order to keep doing this thing? If so, congratulations, you are obsessed. You're on the right track. And if not, I mean, that's okay. You know, maybe it's a job. Maybe you got to work. Maybe it's something you've got to do.
How to Take Over the World
Top 10 Lessons from 100 Episodes of How to Take Over the World
But in order to be truly great in life, you need to find those things that you are obsessed with. Those things that you're willing to skip meals. You can't sleep. You just want to keep doing every fiber of your being. Okay. And to me, that's the real message with light eating. That's why all these people are light eaters because they're super obsessed. Number six, pain is where the progress is.
How to Take Over the World
Top 10 Lessons from 100 Episodes of How to Take Over the World
Great quote from Arnold Schwarzenegger. Quote, pain isn't just an indicator of sacrifice. It's also a measure of growth potential. In the gym, if an exercise doesn't start to hurt, then I know I haven't done enough to unleash the growth potential of the muscles I'm targeting. Reps build strength, but pain builds size. That's why I wanted the pain.
How to Take Over the World
Top 10 Lessons from 100 Episodes of How to Take Over the World
That's why in pictures and video footage from the gym back in the 1970s, I was smiling all the time. I wasn't a masochist. It wasn't fun to squat 600 pounds until I couldn't breathe and I wanted to puke. I was smiling because I was feeling the pain of the work, which told me that growth was on the horizon.
How to Take Over the World
Top 10 Lessons from 100 Episodes of How to Take Over the World
The great Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami once wrote, I can bear any pain as long as it has meaning. I've learned over the years that this is true. Pain only needs to have meaning to you for it to be bearable. So as he said, pain is where the growth is. You also see this with John Wooden, who I already mentioned, the greatest college basketball coach of all time.
How to Take Over the World
Top 10 Lessons from 100 Episodes of How to Take Over the World
He would make his practices extremely intense, even if that meant making them shorter because work is not where the progress is. Pain is where the progress is. And until you cross that threshold, you're not really improving. So I've used two athletic examples for this one, but I think it applies in business and politics, in art and everything.
How to Take Over the World
Top 10 Lessons from 100 Episodes of How to Take Over the World
So number six, pain is where the progress is. Number seven, charisma is in the eyes. I just went through and I searched through my notes. I searched the word gaze. And here's some of the ones that came up. Picasso, he had, in fact, a most luminous and striking eye, a singular penetrating gaze, always the first thing that people noticed. Caesar Augustus.
How to Take Over the World
Top 10 Lessons from 100 Episodes of How to Take Over the World
Julius Caesar was a tall man with piercing eyes. And if he, meaning Augustus, could not match his height, his great nephew liked to feel that his own gaze was equally powerful. Okay, so that's two for one. Both Caesars. Powerful gaze. Alexander Hamilton. Hamilton had a taste for courtroom theatrics. He had a melodious voice coupled with a hypnotic gaze. A hypnotic gaze.
How to Take Over the World
Top 10 Lessons from 100 Episodes of How to Take Over the World
And he could work himself into a towering passion that held listeners enthralled. Steve Prefontaine, Pre would fix you with a steady gaze and give the impression that you were the most important person in his life at that instant, and that the things he was telling you were known by few others.
How to Take Over the World
Top 10 Lessons from 100 Episodes of How to Take Over the World
How were they the first to fly when a lot of other people were trying to develop airplanes at the same time? And the answer is basically this. Wilbur and Orville Wright are staring at some birds one day, they're working on the airplane, and they notice that birds are constantly adjusting their wings, constantly, right? Little micro adjustments every second.
How to Take Over the World
Top 10 Lessons from 100 Episodes of How to Take Over the World
It was an enormously flattering and appealing trait, and contributed greatly to what came to be called his charisma. Phil Knight talking about Bill Bowerman. Everyone talked about Bowerman's dashing good looks, his retro crew cut, his ramrod posture and planed jawline. But what always got me was the gaze of pure violet blue. Okay.
How to Take Over the World
Top 10 Lessons from 100 Episodes of How to Take Over the World
There are actually many more examples I could give, but I think you get the idea. This great gaze is extremely captivating and it creates this charismatic effect. Crucially, I think this can be learned. The famous actor Michael Caine talks about learning this. Blinking shows weakness, but staring without blinking shows strength.
How to Take Over the World
Top 10 Lessons from 100 Episodes of How to Take Over the World
So if you want to show strength, if you want charisma in a bottle, basically, this is the closest thing I've found to a hack that you'll get from how to take over the world. Just stare people in the eyes and don't blink. It has this shocking effect and people find you very charismatic. Trust me, experiment with it. It works. So number seven is charisma is in the eyes. Number eight.
How to Take Over the World
Top 10 Lessons from 100 Episodes of How to Take Over the World
Hawley's Law, or Haley's Law, depending on how you pronounce this guy's name. But this is, you don't have to be the guy. Supporting a genius is a worthwhile life pursuit. So this is from the life of Edmund Hawley. He's a friend of Isaac Newton. He's brilliant in his own right. If Isaac Newton is a 10 out of 10 brilliant, I mean, he might be the most intelligent man to have ever lived.
How to Take Over the World
Top 10 Lessons from 100 Episodes of How to Take Over the World
Edmund Hawley is a 9 out of 10 brilliant. But whereas Newton has, you know, the the social charms like three out of 10, Holly is like a seven out of 10. He's not like a great diplomat, but he is socially capable. And again, he is a genius, Holly. There are only a handful of people in the world who are more intelligent than him.
How to Take Over the World
Top 10 Lessons from 100 Episodes of How to Take Over the World
But when he comes across Newton, he realizes, whoa, like this is just a generational, unbelievable genius. And so he helps Newton. He helps him publish Principia. He's the one who inspires him to write Principia, his great kind of masterwork magnum opus. And he funds it. He self-funds the publication of Principia. And so he leaves this great legacy to humanity.
How to Take Over the World
Top 10 Lessons from 100 Episodes of How to Take Over the World
The other thing that he's known for is his own research. He's the one who is able to chart the comet, Halley's Comet. His name was actually Holly, but they pronounce it Halley's Comet, whatever.
How to Take Over the World
Top 10 Lessons from 100 Episodes of How to Take Over the World
And so I like, you know, there aren't that many true geniuses in the world, but I think this is another path to greatness is if you're brilliant, but maybe not a genius, find those geniuses and support them. And there are a lot of examples of this, right? Luis Forza, interesting guy, colorful life, mercenary who founds his own short-lived kingdom in Milan.
How to Take Over the World
Top 10 Lessons from 100 Episodes of How to Take Over the World
And they realize that the most difficult thing about flying is controlling yourself while you're in the air. So you see there are two big problems, as they put it. One is equilibrium and the other is propulsion. And everyone is focused on propulsion. How do you get a big enough engine that is also light enough? How do you generate enough thrust to get into the air? All that.
How to Take Over the World
Top 10 Lessons from 100 Episodes of How to Take Over the World
But what he's mainly known for is he's the first guy to give Leonardo da Vinci a blank check and fund him. You can also look at the Medicis from the same time period. Whatever their political accomplishments, and they were many, they are now mostly remembered for the art and architecture that they sponsored.
How to Take Over the World
Top 10 Lessons from 100 Episodes of How to Take Over the World
And in the best case scenario, you can think of George Washington, a world historical figure, but not a world-class intellect. but he recognized that Alexander Hamilton was a world-class intellect. And so basically gives him free reign over his government when George Washington is the first president of the United States, enables him at every turn.
How to Take Over the World
Top 10 Lessons from 100 Episodes of How to Take Over the World
And now Washington is the more famous of the two, but the two together were much greater than the sum of their parts. So genius is a rare and precious thing in the world. We should all do whatever we can to facilitate and encourage it. That is Hawley's law. Number nine, set simple, intuitive goals. I got this one from from Steve Jobs again. But, you know, he set some goals for Pixar in 1998.
How to Take Over the World
Top 10 Lessons from 100 Episodes of How to Take Over the World
And you can read this email and it's extraordinary. And here's what the goals are that he sets. Number one, a bug's life opens in November to very strong, critical and box office success. PR efforts yield Pixar branding and creative credit for a bug's life. And number three, Toy Story 2 becomes a great feature film. OK, so these are really simple goals.
How to Take Over the World
Top 10 Lessons from 100 Episodes of How to Take Over the World
very direct accountability, although maybe not the easiest to measure. But he is the leader is in a place to, you know, ascertain their success or failure. And I think the point here is that there's no substitute for great leadership. If you've heard of Goodhart's law, it is when a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure. And that's always a problem, always in every domain.
How to Take Over the World
Top 10 Lessons from 100 Episodes of How to Take Over the World
It actually explains to me so much of what is wrong with our world right now, people optimizing for measures rather than actual outcomes. Because I think there was this feeling, especially in the mid 20th century, that everything could be turned into data and optimized. Right. But it doesn't work that way. It's not that easy because Goodhart's law comes into effect.
How to Take Over the World
Top 10 Lessons from 100 Episodes of How to Take Over the World
As soon as you start optimizing for a measure, it ceases to be good measure. So, yeah, you need to keep track of the numbers. Of course, these great leaders are overwhelmingly quantitatively minded. They like to know and have the data, but they keep their goals simple, easy to understand and not subject to manipulation or distortion by optimizing specifically for one particular measure.
How to Take Over the World
Top 10 Lessons from 100 Episodes of How to Take Over the World
Number 10, my last lesson, something I've been thinking a lot about recently. I call this lesson, two weeks can change your life. All right. I want you to think about a chart showing how hard someone works over time. So someone who is not successful, they're lazy, they never make it. It's a five the entire time, five out of 10.
How to Take Over the World
Top 10 Lessons from 100 Episodes of How to Take Over the World
Someone who is successful, it's a seven or eight all the time over time. someone who's very successful, quite successful, it's an eight or nine all the time. These are your top performers, really high level achievers. Now think about someone who is truly great. Does it just keep going up? Is it a 10 all the time?
How to Take Over the World
Top 10 Lessons from 100 Episodes of How to Take Over the World
And I think, no, I think what it actually looks like if you chart the effort of someone who is great is it looks basically the same as someone who is highly, highly, highly successful, but not great. They work about the same amount most of the time. The difference is in these short sprints of superhuman activity.
How to Take Over the World
Top 10 Lessons from 100 Episodes of How to Take Over the World
But Wilbur realizes that that actually doesn't matter so much. Here's what he writes. Quote, I have my machine nearly finished. It does not have a motor and is not expected to fly in any true sense of the word. My idea is merely to experiment and practice with a view of solving the problem of equilibrium.
How to Take Over the World
Top 10 Lessons from 100 Episodes of How to Take Over the World
There's a bunch of examples of this from Lee Kuan Yew when he's, you know, first gaining independence for Malaysia and then for Singapore. This is a good quote. The sheer magnitude of Lee's self-appointed task within Malaysia and the haste with which he pursued it can only be characterized as extraordinary.
How to Take Over the World
Top 10 Lessons from 100 Episodes of How to Take Over the World
The events that led to separation arose either from his superhuman energy or from his opponent's reaction. There's certainty that he was bent on demonic purposes. Okay, so superhuman energy. Hamilton, when he was forming the US government, similarly has a few of these isolated sprints where he's just working night and day for weeks at a time. Isaac Newton, another famous example.
How to Take Over the World
Top 10 Lessons from 100 Episodes of How to Take Over the World
You know, he's working hard for his whole life. He really accomplishes all of his most famous work in two sprints. One is the two years where he's completely isolated because of a plague pandemic. And during that time period, he's just sprinting for those two years, working his brains out and he invents calculus.
How to Take Over the World
Top 10 Lessons from 100 Episodes of How to Take Over the World
And then decades later, another sprint almost year long where he wrote the Principia, like the great work on physics, one of the greatest books of all time. But these are vital for breakthroughs. There's something special that happens when you are able to totally commit like this. I heard this story the other day of someone who started a new job.
How to Take Over the World
Top 10 Lessons from 100 Episodes of How to Take Over the World
And at first he wanted to show that he was a great employee. He wanted to excel. He wanted to rise through the ranks. And so he was working harder than everyone else, showing up before them, leaving after them. But ultimately, after a few months of this, he felt like his work wasn't rewarded. People weren't recognizing how hard he was working.
How to Take Over the World
Top 10 Lessons from 100 Episodes of How to Take Over the World
So he just settled back into being a normal employee like everyone else. And he was eventually let go. But I think he had it all wrong. It's really hard to discern which of your employees is working 10% or 20% harder than everyone else. It's just, it's tough to tell. However, someone who works roughly as hard as everyone else, but...
How to Take Over the World
Top 10 Lessons from 100 Episodes of How to Take Over the World
For two weeks, they sprint their guts out and accomplish the special project and they give it to you. Look what I did. Wow, that really stands out. That sets them apart. And that is how all the greats have done it. The Apple II wasn't developed over years as a side project. It was built in one great sprint.
How to Take Over the World
Top 10 Lessons from 100 Episodes of How to Take Over the World
Thomas Edison, you know, the phonograph was invented and discovered after midnight in one of these great sprints. Napoleon didn't slowly chip away at Italy. He devoured it in one of these great sprints through Italy.
How to Take Over the World
Top 10 Lessons from 100 Episodes of How to Take Over the World
So the business that you've been meaning to launch, that project you've been meaning to start, that thing that is going to break you through to the next level, it's going to happen all at once. When you go insane, you lose your mind for two weeks and dedicate every waking moment for one brief sprint to see it through to the end. I really believe that. Okay, that's it.
How to Take Over the World
Top 10 Lessons from 100 Episodes of How to Take Over the World
Obviously, there are many other lessons I have learned a lot, and I'll be going over more lessons in some more of these episodes. You won't hear them here on the main feed if you're not a paid subscriber. For those of you who do subscribe, takeoverpod.supercast.com. I'll be doing more of these theme-based episodes. Thank you very much for being with me on this journey. Thanks for listening.
How to Take Over the World
Top 10 Lessons from 100 Episodes of How to Take Over the World
I have plans which I hope to find much in advance with the methods tried by previous experimenters. Once a machine is under proper control under all conditions, the motor problem will quickly be solved. A failure of a motor will then mean simply a slow descent and safe landing instead of a disastrous fall. And then he has another quote along the same lines. Okay. So what's the insight here?
How to Take Over the World
Top 10 Lessons from 100 Episodes of How to Take Over the World
Until next time, thanks for listening to How to Take Over the World. Before we wrap up, one plug for Speechify. All the greats are obsessed with learning as much as possible. They have this incredible thirst for knowledge. And Speechify is a tool that can help you learn more and learn faster. It turns any written content into a podcast, articles, books, textbooks, and even emails.
How to Take Over the World
Top 10 Lessons from 100 Episodes of How to Take Over the World
I use it all the time, both for research for this show and for things that I just want to learn more about. If you're a fan of the show, I'm sure you'll love it. So go to speechify.com slash Ben and get 15% off Speechify Premium. Again, that is speechify.com slash Ben.
How to Take Over the World
Top 10 Lessons from 100 Episodes of How to Take Over the World
The insight is that their breakthrough actually came not from what they focused on, but from what they didn't focus on, from what they ignored. OK, so Wright's law, this is my formulation, is breakthroughs are achieved more often by recognizing what to ignore than by knowing what to prioritize.
How to Take Over the World
Top 10 Lessons from 100 Episodes of How to Take Over the World
Hello and welcome to how to take over the world. This is Ben Wilson. It's been 100 episodes of how to take over the world. 102 actually, but who's counting? This was going to be episode 100, but things didn't pan out that way. So I wanted to do a recap of ten of the most important lessons that I have learned from studying over 100 biographies of the world's greatest leaders and achievers.
How to Take Over the World
Top 10 Lessons from 100 Episodes of How to Take Over the World
okay so basically wilbur wright and he's really kind of more of the thinker of the brothers says we're just going to ignore propulsion we're not going to study it at all for the first uh three years i think that they're working on it all they do they go to north carolina and at first uh the things don't fly they're just gliders and kites actually first it's kites then it's gliders and all they're working on is how do we control it and at the very end boom slap an engine on it and what do you know it flies
How to Take Over the World
Top 10 Lessons from 100 Episodes of How to Take Over the World
A second example of this is Steve Jobs at Next. It's kind of a negative example. So there's a great video online of him conducting a retreat with his leadership team at Next, which is, you know, he gets kicked out of Apple and he starts a new company called Next. Next ultimately fails.
How to Take Over the World
Top 10 Lessons from 100 Episodes of How to Take Over the World
And they're getting ready to launch their first computer under really tight constraints, tight deadline, dwindling cash, tough competitive landscape. And so Steve writes on the whiteboard four different priorities and asks the team to sort out which is most important. The four priorities are the machine is under $3,000. That's what the market has told them. It has to be under $3,000.
How to Take Over the World
Top 10 Lessons from 100 Episodes of How to Take Over the World
The second point is launch by spring of 87. He basically says we have to launch racing of 87. People catch up if we don't launch by then. Okay. Third is technology best. That's what he writes. So the best technology in the machine. And then fourth is budget seven dash XM, which basically has reference to they had they had $7 million in the business, so they need to produce it for under $7 million.
How to Take Over the World
Top 10 Lessons from 100 Episodes of How to Take Over the World
OK, so he's trying to, you know, he's talking to them, which of these is the most important. So everyone's making their case, which is the most important. And in the end, guess what he decides? He decides that they all matter. They're all the most important. So we have to do all four. All four are essential. And of course, the computer is a massive failure. It doesn't go anywhere.
How to Take Over the World
Top 10 Lessons from 100 Episodes of How to Take Over the World
No one buys it because he forgets rights law. Breakthroughs are more often achieved by recognizing what to ignore. And he's not willing to ignore any of his priorities. Everything matters to him. And as a result, it has no differentiation. It doesn't succeed. Flash forward 15 years. and he's back with Apple, and he's launching the iPod. A thousand songs in your pocket.
How to Take Over the World
Top 10 Lessons from 100 Episodes of How to Take Over the World
Small, portable, easy to use, syncs easily with iTunes. And here, Steve Jobs is clearly comfortable making the kind of trade-offs that he wasn't capable of making at Next, because the iPod, at the time it's launched, nowhere close to being the most technically powerful MP3 player on the market. Doesn't have the most hard drive space or the best tech specs.
How to Take Over the World
Top 10 Lessons from 100 Episodes of How to Take Over the World
It couldn't play video until well after other MP3 players already had video capabilities. And so here he clearly is willing to ignore things that other people think are really important, right? The MP3 market at the time, everyone's competing on how much storage do we have? What are the tech specs? Um, you know, where can you hold the most storage and most songs? He doesn't care.
How to Take Over the World
Top 10 Lessons from 100 Episodes of How to Take Over the World
And so kind of in this example, storage capacity is to MP3 players what propulsion was to flight. It was the showy and easily quantifiable thing that everyone was focused on, but that wasn't actually important. The Wright brothers ignored propulsion to focus on equilibrium, as they put it, and Steve Jobs ignored storage capacity to focus on an easy and intuitive user experience.
How to Take Over the World
Top 10 Lessons from 100 Episodes of How to Take Over the World
And this applies to all sorts of domains. It applies to Napoleon living off the land, ignoring supply trains. It goes to podcasting. Think about Joe Rogan, right? His big differentiation at the beginning was not something that he did differently is what he didn't do, right? No editing, just these full multi hour long conversations with no filter and no editing whatsoever.
How to Take Over the World
Top 10 Lessons from 100 Episodes of How to Take Over the World
And so that's just one lesson I've been thinking about recently is instead of focusing on what is important. Can I identify in what I'm trying to crack, what I'm trying to solve, what is not important? Because if I can realize that, then that's really where breakthroughs come from. Okay, number two, leadership is the most important thing. All right.
How to Take Over the World
Top 10 Lessons from 100 Episodes of How to Take Over the World
Thank you for all of you who have helped get me here. This has been an unbelievable journey. I wake up every day. I can't believe that I get to study and catalog the lessons that we can learn from the greatest leaders of all time. And by being listeners, you make that happen. This was going to be a subscriber only episode, but I'm actually just going to release this one for free.
How to Take Over the World
Top 10 Lessons from 100 Episodes of How to Take Over the World
When it comes to winning, if you've got great leadership versus great technology, leadership usually wins. Great leadership versus great technical capabilities, leadership usually wins.
How to Take Over the World
Top 10 Lessons from 100 Episodes of How to Take Over the World
uh great leadership versus lots of financing and financial backing great leadership wins great leadership is the most valuable commodity in the world you know for example some people will say sometimes uh you know steve jobs wasn't really the genius of apple that actually was steve wozniak and then later johnny i they're the ones who actually built the products
How to Take Over the World
Top 10 Lessons from 100 Episodes of How to Take Over the World
But look, you know, people who say, you know, Steve Jobs return was all about Johnny Ive. He's the one who designed all these great products. I mean, that's true. Johnny Ive, amazing genius. However, Johnny Ive worked at Apple before Steve Jobs came back in 1997. Okay. So we saw Apple with Johnny Ive and without Steve Jobs and it was near bankruptcy.
How to Take Over the World
Top 10 Lessons from 100 Episodes of How to Take Over the World
So again, you have great design talent without great leadership and it just doesn't amount to much. Okay. So leadership, what is leadership then? Lee Kuan Yew put it this way. He said, leadership is more than just ability. It is a combination of courage, determination, commitment, character, and ability that makes people willing to follow you. OK, Napoleon says leaders are dealers in hope.
How to Take Over the World
Top 10 Lessons from 100 Episodes of How to Take Over the World
I actually I was looking at different definitions of of leadership. I liked the definition from McKinsey and Company, the consulting firm. They say leadership is aligning people in a collective direction. And so that's the most important thing you can have in an organization is effective leadership. It should be priority number one.
How to Take Over the World
Top 10 Lessons from 100 Episodes of How to Take Over the World
technical talent, genius, intelligence, financial backing, like all these things matter, but leadership is the most important. Okay, so that brings me to number three, which is what is the most important aspect of leadership? And it's vision. Okay. Arnold Schwarzenegger defines it this way. He says, everything good, all great change starts with a clear vision. Vision is the most important thing.
How to Take Over the World
Top 10 Lessons from 100 Episodes of How to Take Over the World
Vision is purpose and meaning to have a clear vision is to have a picture. And this is the important part to have a clear vision is to have a picture of what you want your life to look like and a plan for how to get there. And I'll just add that that could be a picture of what you want your organization to look like, not just your life. And that is why so many great leaders are also artists.
How to Take Over the World
Top 10 Lessons from 100 Episodes of How to Take Over the World
Churchill, Ulysses S. Grant, they were both painters. Napoleon wrote novellas. Stalin was a poet. Hitler was a painter. I know both those last two guys, you know, maybe not morally who you want to be like. But the point is having vision is artistic and so is leadership. It's creative. But that is the essence of leadership, having a vision of what you want your organization to look like.
How to Take Over the World
Top 10 Lessons from 100 Episodes of How to Take Over the World
Phil Knight talks about being able to see his vision of it seeming so real that he felt like he could almost touch it. OK, that's how coherent you want your vision to be. And that sounds simple, right? Have a picture in your mind of what you want an organization or a product or a change or whatever to look like. Can't anyone do that?
How to Take Over the World
Top 10 Lessons from 100 Episodes of How to Take Over the World
And it's my goal this year to start releasing weekly or nearly weekly. I don't But nearly weekly subscriber-only episodes that are like this, that are on themes rather than just biographies. So if you want to get these going forward, if you want to get these sort of more lessons and theme-based episodes, go to takeoverpod.supercast.com.
How to Take Over the World
Top 10 Lessons from 100 Episodes of How to Take Over the World
You know, can't anyone just come up with a picture in their mind? And yeah, I mean, like sort of. But that brings me to a good quote again from Steve Jobs. I know we've talked a lot about him this episode, but here's the quote. He says, there needs to be someone who is the keeper and reiterator of the vision because there's just a ton of work to do.
How to Take Over the World
Top 10 Lessons from 100 Episodes of How to Take Over the World
A lot of times when you have to walk a thousand miles and you're taking the first step, it looks like a long way. It really helps if there's someone there saying, well, we're one step closer. You know, the goal definitely exists. It's not just a mirage out there. So in a thousand and one little and sometimes larger ways, the vision needs to be reiterated.
How to Take Over the World
Top 10 Lessons from 100 Episodes of How to Take Over the World
Okay, so one obstacle is the distance from the goal. And so all these things come up. It's difficult to maintain that vision day after day unless there's someone to reiterate it day after day. The other thing is, as the great Mike Tyson puts it, everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth. Okay, same thing could go for a vision.
How to Take Over the World
Top 10 Lessons from 100 Episodes of How to Take Over the World
Everyone has a vision until they get punched in the mouth. And so many times, that vision...
How to Take Over the World
Top 10 Lessons from 100 Episodes of How to Take Over the World
just goes out the window as soon as you get punched in the mouth like you're expecting obstacles but then like whoa we got this big lawsuit and all of a sudden that's all you can think about and you go on tilt you go into survival mode and you forget about the vision okay think about Lee Kuan Yew the idea of a clean and green Singapore that was his vision and that makes sense a prosperous thriving clean green Singapore great who couldn't get on board with that vision
How to Take Over the World
Top 10 Lessons from 100 Episodes of How to Take Over the World
But now the communists are trying to take over. They're throwing major strikes all over the city and the Malaysians are trying to cut off access to your port for all of their goods. And for someone who isn't a great leader, the temptation is to forget about that sort of lofty vision and only focus on the problem at hand, especially when it's existential.
How to Take Over the World
Top 10 Lessons from 100 Episodes of How to Take Over the World
But it takes a great leader to deal with the problem, but frame it in the context of the greater vision and thereby keep that larger goal intact. OK, so that is the difficulty in being that leader.
How to Take Over the World
Top 10 Lessons from 100 Episodes of How to Take Over the World
It's when all the other stuff comes up, you still need to maintain the vision and still need to reiterate it and make sure that everyone is focused on it, even though there's a lot of junk coming up in the meantime. OK, that brings me to point number four. Insist on quality. I've got one more Steve Jobs quote for you. Quote, Be a yardstick of quality.
How to Take Over the World
Top 10 Lessons from 100 Episodes of How to Take Over the World
Some people aren't used to an environment where excellence is expected. All right. So you've got this vision. And as a leader, it's your job to insist on it, to demand that people measure up. Walt Disney was famous for this. He was never happy with his cartoons and was always asking, and this was his famous line, can I see it just one other way?
How to Take Over the World
Top 10 Lessons from 100 Episodes of How to Take Over the World
One word that is always thrown around about Walt Disney in all these biographies is perfectionist. He's a total perfectionist. People call him a perfectionist over and over. And that's usually a pejorative. And even sometimes it's a pejorative when people are saying about Walt Disney. But I think great leaders need to be perfectionists in the right way.
How to Take Over the World
Top 10 Lessons from 100 Episodes of How to Take Over the World
Here is what the legendary basketball coach John Wooden says about it. He says, perfection is what you are striving for, but perfection is an impossibility. However, striving for perfection is not an impossibility. Do the best you can under the conditions that exist. That is what counts. Benjamin Franklin also recommends pursuing perfection.
How to Take Over the World
Top 10 Lessons from 100 Episodes of How to Take Over the World
He says, but on the whole, though I never arrived at the perfection I had been so ambitious of obtaining, but fell far short of it. Yet I was by the endeavor, a better and happier man than I otherwise should have been if I had not attempted it. Okay. So yeah, like John Wooden says, perfection is an impossibility, but striving for perfection is not.
How to Take Over the World
Top 10 Lessons from 100 Episodes of How to Take Over the World
Of course, there are ways in which perfectionism can be harmful. People can be crazy about it. You know, obviously, John Wooden says to recognize the constraints that exist.
How to Take Over the World
Top 10 Lessons from 100 Episodes of How to Take Over the World
So that is the balance of great leaders, recognizing when you are constrained and recognizing when those constraints need to be challenged, because great leaders almost never accept constraints without first really testing them. As a consequence, many things that people tell them are constraints are actually are not.
How to Take Over the World
Top 10 Lessons from 100 Episodes of How to Take Over the World
Or if you're listening on Apple Podcasts, you can subscribe right there in the app. So without further ado, let's get into it. Here are, I won't say these are the top 10, right? There are a lot of lessons to learn, but these are 10 top lessons I have learned from 100 episodes of how to take over the world. Number one, this is just something I've been thinking a lot about recently.
How to Take Over the World
Top 10 Lessons from 100 Episodes of How to Take Over the World
And the vision can be obtained more fully by pushing and finding, hey, what you said was a constraint was actually just a suggestion. Elon Musk always says, physics is the law. Everything else is a recommendation. Actually, there's a great story about Elon Musk that I just saw on X the other day that I think demonstrates this. I'm reading now. This is from one of his biographies. It says,
How to Take Over the World
Top 10 Lessons from 100 Episodes of How to Take Over the World
it's talking about the production process for SpaceX and they produce their rockets in Texas. It says, once the rocket is down, they need to move it to Florida. NASA and other rocket makers generally move their rockets by sea, but that's slow and expensive. SpaceX doesn't like to do things that are slow and expensive. So they decided to drive it there.
How to Take Over the World
Top 10 Lessons from 100 Episodes of How to Take Over the World
Unfortunately, when lying down on its cradle, the rocket can't fit under a standard freeway overpass. This is the point at which a normal person would rent a barge and allow the rocket to arrive a few months late. But SpaceX always acts as if any delay at all will kill the company. So they instead set off on the road trip from hell, finding an absurd and torturous route down back roads from Texas.
How to Take Over the World
Top 10 Lessons from 100 Episodes of How to Take Over the World
Their route has no overpasses, but it does have power lines and traffic lights. So some of the world's best rocket scientists drive in front of the trailer with a flexible 17-foot pole taped to the bumper of their car.
How to Take Over the World
Top 10 Lessons from 100 Episodes of How to Take Over the World
Whenever it hits something, they jump out, use large sticks to lift the power line enough that the rocket can pass under, then jump back in their car and drive off the road and around the rocket, it's too wide to pass, so they can intercept the next obstacle. The average speed of the trip is 10 miles per hour, and they drive continuously through the night, sleeping in shifts when they're able to.
How to Take Over the World
Top 10 Lessons from 100 Episodes of How to Take Over the World
OK, so to me, this is a great example. Someone who's a perfectionist who insists on living up to a standard, being a yardstick of quality and insisting on perfection. And when people say this is a constraint. Saying, well, you know, let's find out and finding that it's actually not a constraint. There is a way around.
How to Take Over the World
Top 10 Lessons from 100 Episodes of How to Take Over the World
OK, so great leaders insist on perfection within the constraints of what is possible, but they always push like crazy to make sure that those constraints actually exist and aren't just recommendations, as Elon Musk would put it. Okay, so we've had rights law, we've had leadership matters, vision, insist on quality. Number five, eat light. You know I was gonna bring this up.
How to Take Over the World
Top 10 Lessons from 100 Episodes of How to Take Over the World
So many of the great ones in every field are notably light eaters. A brief list of some of the people I have come across, Julius Caesar, Augustus, Napoleon, Steve Jobs, Michael Jordan, Isaac Newton, Joan of Arc, Vladimir Putin, Alexander Hamilton, Benjamin Franklin, Jesus, Bill Bowerman, Picasso, John D. Rockefeller, Robert Oppenheimer, Horatio Nelson, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Edison, okay?
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
He especially wants to get to first principles, to the bottom of things, to understand motion, matter, space, time, you know, basic concepts. He begins to use the word gravity. Now remember, Isaac Newton invented the word gravity in its current contemporary definition of the force of attraction between matter.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
Previously, gravity only meant gravity as in gravitas, you know, something having importance or seriousness. But he began to write about objects having either gravity or levity. In other words, a tendency to descend and stay close to the earth or ascend and float. So something that descended, something that was heavy had gravity. You can see the connection there.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
So even in his early years at Cambridge, we begin to see him contemplating and formulating ideas around the subjects that would be his most famous discoveries. But he's mostly doing this in private. He's not publishing any of his ideas. There are theories that are taking shape only in his mind and in his notebook.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
So at this point, Newton is not considered an outstanding student, although his mentor Isaac Barrow does realize that this is someone with uncommon talent, but most of the people at Cambridge don't see that. He's also charting the course of a new comet that appears in the sky that year. People often ascribe great meaning to comets.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
You know, their portents of triumph or disaster, something big is going to happen. And in this case, those who did that were correct. Hot on the heels of the comet came the greatest epidemic of plague that England had ever seen. I mentioned it in the introduction, of course, but the plague of London lasted from 1665 to 1666, and it killed a quarter of London's population, about 100,000 people.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
In the idyllic setting of his family estate, Newton had the time and space he needed to tackle the questions that had been pressing on his mind for years now. Mostly, he worked on expanding the field of mathematics. He quickly worked out calculations that could describe curves and shapes, expressions that could find areas that were previously incalculable.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
And you have to imagine, like, when the plague strikes, a lot of people, especially wealthier people, flee to the countryside. And so, you know, to say that it killed a quarter of the population, like, it probably killed more out in the countryside, people who had lived in London. It's just, the devastation was absolute, right? Houses with known instances of plague were locked from the outside.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
No one was allowed to enter or leave for 40 days. The door was marked with the Red Cross and the words, Lord, have mercy upon us. The bodies overwhelmed the community's ability to deal with them. And so many were not given proper burials. They were piled up in carts for days at a time and then thrown into vast communal graves. These big pits, especially in poor neighborhoods of London.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
Anyway, the result of this just horrible. pandemic is that people flee to the countryside. The more remote they can get, the better. People just want to get away from this disease. I mean, the mortality rate is over 50%. It's sky high. Cambridge was not a city, but it was a larger town with a few thousand residents.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
And most problematically, it was geographically close and socially connected to London. So people are wary of all these people coming from London. So people from London are going to Cambridge. People from Cambridge are like, well, can I get out of here? And anyone who has a country house is going there. So Isaac Newton retreats to Woolstorpe, to the family manor.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
So the timeline here, Isaac Newton starts university in 1661. He gets his bachelor's degree in 1665. And then just a few weeks later in August of 1665, the university shuts down and he returns to his family estate in Wolfthorpe Manor. You know, Isaac Newton had this impulse to understand everything in minute detail.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
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How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
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How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
If you've got a company that operates in multiple countries or has multiple bank accounts, you need Vesto to understand the true financial situation of your companies. Go to Vesto.com, check them out, and let them know that I sent you. He is 23 years old, 22 years old. I didn't do the math, but he's very early 20s, 22 or 23, I think. There is a term, Annus Mirabilis.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
He was inventing the discipline that would later be known as calculus. I like to imagine what he must have felt in those days. Calculus was not a project that he had to work on. There was no professional imperative. No one was looking over his shoulder. He was just doing it for the thrill of learning and discovery.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
It means literally miraculous year, year of miracles, sometimes translated as wonderful year. But it refers to this phenomenon of a year for someone where everything happens at once. It all comes together. The successes come so thick and fast that it seems miraculous. And the most famous Annus Mirabilis would be 1665, 1666 for Isaac Newton. It's a year of unbelievable discovery.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
When he first returns home, he builds for himself some bookshelves and a small study, and then he starts thinking, researching, and writing notes. And listen to this passage from the Gleek biography. I find this so interesting. Listen to the way that he works. Quote, Okay, his waste book. He began filling it with reading notes. These mutated seamlessly into original research.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
He set himself problems, considered them obsessively, calculated answers, and asked new questions. He pushed past the frontier of knowledge, though he did not know this. The plague year was his transfiguration. Solitary and almost incommunicado, he became the world's paramount mathematician. Okay, a couple takeaways there. The first is idea of a waste book.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
OK, Newton was just always writing, writing, writing, always writing, always getting his thoughts down on paper with no filter to the point that he called his notebook, the one where he made some of the most important scientific discoveries in human history, his waste book, his dumping ground. And this applies to almost every domain. You don't want to publish everything.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
Obviously, you don't want everyone to see your waste book necessarily, but you should have no filter on your first drafts. You should be putting everything to paper right all the time. And this is something all the greats do, whether in music like John Williams and Beethoven or literature like Steinbeck and Dickens or business or war or whatever.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
The great ones are just constantly getting their reps in. And in most domains, that means that they are constantly writing. Okay, so that is my first lesson for how to be like Newton. Are you writing all the time? Do you just dump your thoughts into a notebook or notion or a Google Doc or whatever? But you have that dumping ground for all of your thoughts.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
The other thing from that passage that I take away is that he was solitary and as it says, almost incommunicado. He has another great quote in the biography where he says, quote, solitude was the essential part of his genius. Okay. Let me repeat that. I love that. Solitude was the essential part of his genius. I think that is brilliant. And it's true as you read the story.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
It's very true of Newton. He did so much great and original research on his own. in that kind of solitary context where you can be truly creative with your own thoughts. And I don't want to exaggerate this because Newton could also be collaborative at times, and he would not have had as much success he did if he wasn't collaborative. So you do need to do both.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
The fact that he could describe the world around him with mathematical expressions must have felt like peeking behind the curtain of reality. Well, as the legend goes, he was sitting in his yard contemplating all this, contemplating physics and mathematics, perhaps also soaking in the beautiful nature around him to rest and recharge when he noticed an apple fall from his tree.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
But solitude was the essential part of his genius. He made his great discoveries in solitude. And if you want to achieve genius level accomplishments, long periods of solitude are absolutely necessary. Necessary. That shouldn't be your whole life.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
Because there are other times we need to collaborate, but you do need to have those long stretches of isolation like Newton had, like Picasso, like Einstein had, especially in artistic and scientific pursuits. Isolation is an essential part of genius. Okay, so in this period, in the beautiful solitude of his study and on his estate, he develops polynomial theory and calculus.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
He formulates the law of gravity, sort of. He begins forming the basic concepts of it, as well as the basic concepts of Newtonian physics. And he also makes technological advancements in optics and lenses. So it's just... an extraordinary explosion of original research. And it's difficult to overemphasize the importance of this moment. You hear about the Renaissance. What does Renaissance mean?
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
It literally means rebirth. And what the Renaissance was, this rebirth, was the rediscovery of the classical world in Europe, especially in Northern Europe, but obviously in Italy as well, And so people were taking inspiration from the Greeks and Romans. They're doing all this reading in Greek and Latin. So for example, think of Da Vinci, right?
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
The ultimate kind of Renaissance man, literally in the Renaissance and think of his Vitruvian man. All right. That's the naked man standing with his arms out to the side. And it's because Da Vinci had gone back and read Vitruvius who was a old Roman scholar and Vitruvius had written down all of these proportions for the ideal human body.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
So during the Renaissance, that's the type of thing that people did. They went back to the classical world and were trying to rediscover this knowledge and now apply it in their current time.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
But in this moment, so this is after the Renaissance, people call it the Enlightenment, and this is the first time right now, what we're talking about, with Isaac Newton in his study at home in a Wolfsdorf manner of all places, this is the first time that the world is moving past the classical world.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
In other words, the human race had essentially achieved its height of human knowledge, especially in a Mediterranean and European context during the classical period with the Greeks and the Romans. And then during the dark ages, the middle ages, medieval period, a lot of that was lost. And there was a regression in terms of technological and scientific discovery.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
And so during the Renaissance, that was the period when people were getting back up to speed with what the Greeks and Romans knew. And that was just sort of the worldview was of rediscovery, not that people could learn and discover something completely new, but that we could just figure out what the Greeks and Romans already have discovered.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
So this is the moment in Newton's private research, as he's formulating calculus and Newtonian physics, when the human race finally pushes past that barrier of just rediscovery of what the Greeks and Romans already knew and into something completely new. And again, the context is so bizarre to me. It's not this big conference. It's not celebrated. It is literally one man alone
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
With like maybe his mother kind of in the house and some younger siblings. But for the most part, just like completely alone researching on his own. It's this amazing solitary accomplishment. I guess we could get a couple more quotes on how he did this. Two quotes from Newton himself. He says, quote, truth is the offspring of silence and meditation. Okay. I like that.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
So a lot of it is just silence and thinking. And then another one quote, I keep the subject constantly before me and wait until the first dawnings open slowly by little and little into a full and clear light. Okay. I really like that quote. I think often we can't predict inspiration. It's not something that we can force or put on our own timeline, but you have to be there.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
You have to, as he says, have the subject constantly before you. And then the light slowly comes on. It reminds me of a quote that I've heard. It's attributed to Picasso. I don't think he actually said it, but the quote is inspiration exists, but it has to find you working. And I think that's often the case.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
The moon was visible by daylight that day, and a thought occurred to him. What if the same force that drew the apple to the ground kept the moon orbiting the Earth? Newton retired back to his study, where he began to write, to speculate, and to solve. That thought and a thousand others swirled and combined in one of the most brilliant minds ever to be born on this earth.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
Many artists and scientists describe inspiration as something that comes from outside of them. Like it comes to them out of thin air from another world. But you have to be there to catch it. It has to find you working. It's not just going to strike you in any moment.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
If you kind of have it always in the background of your mind, as Newton says, then you open up the surface area for inspiration to strike. Okay. One other quote from the book that I like from this part of his life, quote, he computed obsessively. All right. So he was always trying to quantify everything to get the measure of it. And I think that's important.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
When we think of Newton, we often think of sweeping generalities, right? These big laws for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. But he arrived at these great laws and theorems, not by thinking in generalities, but by looking at specifics and particulars.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
It was not theoretically that he arrived at this conclusion, but through experimentation and quantitatively and measuring that he realized, no, this is an actual law. This is the truth. For every action, there's an equal and opposite reaction. So his style of thinking was not general and sweeping. It was minute and it was detailed. And his greatest discoveries from this period was mainly calculus.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
It wasn't for show. It wasn't to give to other people. They were actually private tools. He developed calculus and Newtonian physics to help him track and describe the size and motion and relationship of things, especially celestial bodies, planets, comets, the sun, the earth. And these tools did a remarkable job of describing and predicting reality.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
Okay, so from his Annus Mirabilis, as far as the apple goes, he did tell people in later years that an apple was the inspiration for how he understood gravity. The story of it falling from the tree and hitting him on the head, I think that's an invention. We actually don't know anything else about the story of the apple. It could have been an apple on his desk.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
But the fact that there was an apple tree in his front yard, essentially, stood very prominently there. That leads many people to suspect that it was an apple that fell from that tree, which seems like a reasonable hypothesis to me. But yes, there was a moment with an apple at Woolsthorpe Manor during this time. Here's all that Newton wrote about his thoughts on gravity during this time.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
Quote, quote, I began to think of gravity extending to the orb of the moon and computed the force requisite to keep the moon in her orb with the force of gravity at the surface of the earth and found the answer pretty nearly. All this was in the two plague years of 1665 to 1666.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
For in those days, I was in the prime of my age for invention and minded mathematics and philosophy more than any time since. Okay. So again, his kind of his thoughts about gravity come in the context of the moon. And so as we think about the story of the apple, people get this wrong.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
I mean, I think people have this sort of silly idea that people before Isaac Newton didn't know that things fell to the ground. They didn't know gravity. Like, of course people knew that there was a force that made things fall to the ground. Like obviously people lived and they knew that, you know, if you jumped off a cliff, you would fall to the bottom. Okay.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
And I think the other misconception is that the laws of gravity came to him in a flash. They didn't. The breakthrough for Newton was in realizing that, hey, maybe the same force that makes this apple fall to the ground is the same force that keeps the moon close to the earth. This is not like a easy logical leap, right? Because the apple falls and the moon does not fall, right?
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
You can't help but wonder if he knew then the full importance of the theory that was just beginning to crystallize in his mind. But whether he knew it or not, he was formulating ideas that would change the course of human history forever. There are some who suggest that Newton destroyed the romanticism and enchantment of the ancient world and replaced it with cold, calculating rationality.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
That's like the thing about the moon that we're trying to understand. Why does it not fall? Why does it just keep rotating around the earth? And so what he's working out is, well, if the force of gravity decreases rapidly, then with distance, then that could explain why the moon stays up there, but the apple falls essentially.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
And so it's really, it's the laws of gravity, understanding how it works. That is the breakthrough that makes him sort of the father of gravity. One of the difficulties of doing this was that at the time people really did not like invisible forces. Okay. An invisible force seems like magic, right? It seems like magic. Oh, there's an invisible force that makes objects move towards each other. Okay.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
That totally sounds magical. And, um, I think it was Descartes that was very opposed to invisible forces affecting things over distance, right? It just seemed like too magical thinking and, um, And so Newton was often contradicted and mocked over his proposition that gravity was essentially an invisible force. In fact, he said, maybe it's not an invisible force.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
I just can't find the substance that is causing this. And that was his way to kind of get out of it because people really didn't like this phenomenon. The specific law that Newton is coming to is that, you know, at something like an inverse square of the distance, gravity decreases.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
In other words, if you've got two objects 10 miles apart and gravity is one, if you double the distance to 20 miles, the gravity doesn't fall to one half because you doubled the distance. It falls to one quarter. Okay. So it decreases exponentially, I guess. And so he works out this basic number at this time, and he worked out that it was a universal force, which is not easy to do, right?
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
Because it affects things so differently. When it's close, things are immediately drawn in. They fall to the earth, they get right next to it. But at distance, they often orbit. But it was kind of a genius realization that this was actually all the same force, but the force just decreases very rapidly with distance. That kind of explains the whole solar system, the whole universe.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
And again, he kept most of these discoveries secret for the time being. All right. So this is a huge realization. This is a big breakthrough. How do you make such a fantastic leap of logic? It's very creative, right? And Newton has something to say about that. He wrote in his waste book, quote, fantasy. There's kind of like imagination.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
Fantasy is helped by good air, fasting, moderate wine, spoiled by drunkenness, gluttony, too much study. All right. Let's just chalk up another win for the light eaters out there. It leads to creativity, according to Isaac Newton. I mean, it can't be stopped. Light eating. I tell you guys, this is why you listen to How to Take Over the World. I'll tell you guys, light eating matters.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
But I can't imagine Newton felt that way in the moment. He skipped meals and barely slept because he was so obsessed with his scientific pursuits. He said he kept the subject of his inquiry, quote, constantly before me. Does that sound to you like someone who is coldly rational? Or does it sound like someone who is positively radiating with the excitement of discovery?
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
Fasting, eating very little, moderate wine, and walking, good air, those all increase creativity, fantasy. He added that too much study and extreme passion lead to madness. And that's an interesting comment to me too, because it's a good reminder about the value of moderation, right? Too much study, extreme passion, that leads to madness. He says, you don't want to go that direction.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
But at the same time, I think it shows us what kind of person Newton was that he had to guard against too much study and extreme passion. Again, this was not someone who was a brain in a vat. He was not all rationality, no passion. The Far from it. The fact that he had to guard against too much study and extreme passion to me shows that he was in fact a very passionate person.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
He loved study and discovery. As the quote goes, if you want to shine like the sun, you have to burn like it. And I think that's true of Newton. He succeeded because he burned like the sun. He was full of fiery passion as well as intelligence and rationality. Okay. So Newton returns to Cambridge after this honest mirabilis, which was actually more like two years long.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
It's like two honest mirabilis. He returns to Cambridge. He doesn't tell anyone of his discoveries, including his mentor, Isaac Barrow. But he must show some sort of improvement or new capacity because for the first time, he's elected a fellow of Trinity College in October of 1667. He was 24 years old.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
The next year, he does start to open the kimono a little bit to Barrow, who sends along some of his research to a gifted mathematician named Collins, who starts asking all sorts of questions of Newton. And Newton shares some research with him, but he withholds a lot, and the explicit reason being that he does not want to be famous.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
He writes, quote, For I see not what there is desirable in public esteem, were I able to acquire and maintain it. I would perhaps increase my acquaintance, the thing which I chiefly study to decline. Okay. In other words, if I get famous, people are going to want to meet me. And that is the number one thing I don't want to do. I don't want to meet more people.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
And so, yeah, that's one of the reasons he's not sharing his research more widely. A couple of years later, Barrow receives an appointment from the King and moves to London. He leaves his professorship to Newton. So at age 27, Newton becomes Cambridge's second professor of mathematics. As such, he's expected to lecture weekly, but he rarely does. And when he does, no one ever shows up.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
The applications for mathematics were not yet widely understood. It was seen as an arcane and somewhat obscure field of study. So instead of lecturing, he spends most of his time researching, tinkering and inventing. He was grinding glass and polishing lenses in order to make better telescopes and microscopes. He was using tin, pitch, and copper to make his own mirrors.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
He actually uses mirrors to make a very small telescope. It's about seven inches long and it's about as powerful as any in the world at that time. Okay. It's called the reflecting telescope and it's, it's, yeah, it's the first telescope that instead of just more and more lenses, it uses mirrors to, to make the image larger. I mentioned before that he wasn't always working on his own.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
And with the telescope, he utilizes the help of his Cambridge friend, John Wickens, who was able to build a better mirror than Isaac Newton was able to. And so greatly improves the quality of the telescope. So again, you do need times of intense seclusion, but collaboration is also really important. I think that's especially true for when you are actually building, right?
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
And so Newton continued day after day in the lab, at his desk, in the garden. Every day, peering deeper into the secrets of the universe. I'm going to show you how great I am. This was our tiny tower. I just want to say from the bottom of my heart, I'd like to take this chance to apologize to absolutely nobody. Hello, and welcome to How to Take Over the World. This is Ben Wilson.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
You can invent and dream in isolation, but for the building, I mean, it's just incredibly difficult to build anything on your own. And you're generally going to do that better with help, with collaboration. So this telescope is shown off at the Royal Society in London. The Royal Society is a non-governmental body of gentlemen interested in scientific progress and discovery.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
It is one of the preeminent scientific organizations in all of the world. Back then, it was like the only scientific organization, definitely the preeminent. And even today, it's one of the great scientific organizations in the world. At the time, it was revolutionary in its commitment to funding, but more than anything, to publishing and disseminating scientific information.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
It's still an important scientific establishment today, but now there are lots of journals and conferences and various ways to share your findings. But at that time in the 1600s, there were no ways of coordinating discoveries and disseminating research. And so the Royal Society was vital for that. So the reflecting telescope is very well received by the Royal Society.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
And even the king himself takes time to inspect the telescope, have its use demonstrated to him. And he declares himself very impressed with Newton's invention. However, it's not all good with the Royal Society. Newton shares some of his observations on light and optics and prisms, and with these, he clashes with the head of the Royal Society, Robert Hooke.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
Hooke is a fellow gentleman scientist, very intelligent, and he argues with Newton about Who discovered these things first and whether Newton was actually correct? Basically, there was an argument about whether light was a wave or a ray. And Newton favored the idea that it was a ray or what we would now call a photon.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
But basically, with regards to light, this is the one area where Newton was basically not correct, given the knowledge at the time. But Isaac Newton hated to be contradicted, hated to get into these kinds of arguments, did not like conflict. And so he withdraws from the Royal Society after only 15 months. That is how prickly he could be.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
In the Royal Society, I mean, they immediately, as soon as he's like, hey, I don't like this guy, Hook, contradicting me and talking bad about me. Immediately, they're very solicitous. They apologize. They invite him back. They waived his fees. They bent over backwards to make him feel welcome, but to no avail, right? He just...
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
And of course, in urban areas, the devastation was even more severe, and in some cities, more than half the inhabitants succumbed to the disease. Over time, the disease became endemic, and for the next 400 years, outbreaks would recur sporadically. The last great outbreak of plague in London, England, occurred in 1666.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
He says, no, I won't have it, and storms off and stops writing letters, won't communicate with them at all. It's actually in his correspondence with Hook, with his chief antagonist, that he makes his most famous contribution to the English language. The two are sparring with this sort of, you know, they're gentlemen, so they're obsequious and... use false modesty.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
And Newton is downplaying his own discoveries in a letter to Hooke. And he writes, quote, what Descartes did was a good step. You have added much several ways, and especially in taking the colors of thin plates into philosophical consideration. If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants. Okay, so there it is. The very famous line by Isaac Newton.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants. A very noble sentiment. So after engaging with the larger scientific world for just a little bit through the Royal Society, he once again retreats to his studies at Cambridge. And listen to Glick's description of what he was like at Cambridge.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
He says, quote, he stayed in his chamber for days at a time, careless of meals, working by candlelight. He was scarcely less isolated when he dined in the hall. The fellows at Trinity College learned to leave him undisturbed at table and to step around diagrams he scratched with his stick in the gravel of the walkways.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
They saw him silent and alienated, with shoes down at heel and stockings untied. He feared disease, especially plague and pox, and treated himself preemptively by drinking a self-made elixir of turpentine, rosewater, olive oil, beeswax, and sack. In fact, he was poisoning himself slowly by handling mercury.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
Okay, so I mean, to be honest, he's a recluse and a crank, but still a genius who's plugging away at important research. He's also working on theology and alchemy. Alchemy is sort of magical chemistry, mostly designed at creating an elixir of life or being able to transform various metals into gold.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
And so often in contemporary times, Isaac Newton is viewed as a brilliant crank because he's working on, yes, scientific pursuits, but also alchemy. I mean, alchemy, that's like astrology, right? But what's important to realize is that the distinction between legitimate science and alchemy had not yet been created. It wasn't yet known that it's impossible to transform base metals into gold.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
And yes, even at the time, there was a whiff maybe of crankery. But not totally. All of it seemed like legitimate inquiry, at least to Newton, and I think to most people. Maybe they would have viewed it as a little, exotic, but not nearly as odd as it seems today. The line between science and magic was emerging, but was not yet bright.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
And in previous decades and centuries, the line hadn't existed at all, right? Nietzsche makes this point eloquently. He says, quote, do you believe then that the sciences would ever have arisen and become great if there had not beforehand been magicians, alchemists, astrologers, and wizards who thirsted and hungered after abscondite and forbidden powers? Okay.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
And I think that line of continuity is very obvious. In terms of his theology in those studies, he was trying especially to discern the end times, when they would come according to the Bible. Though in the end, he thought he was not able to predict with certainty when the end of the world would occur according to the Bible. but he was, I don't know, trying to figure it out.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
And he was not particularly observant in terms of church attendance, but he studied scripture very thoroughly. He had some non-traditional beliefs. He was a non Trinitarian, right? The Trinity is the belief that God, the father and the son and the Holy ghost. So Jesus, God, and the Holy ghost are both three people and one person at the same time. And, um,
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
Newton takes a look at this and says, okay, this is not only wrong, but obviously so. And so he believed in one God and believed that Jesus and the Holy Ghost were not God. And luckily he kept these opinions to himself since they were heretical and could have gotten him in real hot water if they were widely known, but they were not known at all at the time.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
So he's doing a lot of that kind of in his mid-career. The next great burst of work that comes in Newton's career came from his correspondence with a friend, Edmund Halley or Holly. It appears at the time that it was pronounced Holly, but nowadays he's best known for the comet, Halley's Comet, and everyone pronounces it Halley's Comet. Even at the time, it was probably either Halley or Holly.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
Anyway, I guess I'll call him Holly. I don't know what I'll call him. Should I call him Haley or Holly? Holly. We'll call him Edmund Holly. Okay. So Newton is corresponding with his friend, Sir Edmund Holly. And Holly was a polymath and a genius. Not as much of a genius as Newton, but I mean, who was? And luckily for Newton, Holly was as patient and temperate as Newton was prickly and volatile.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
And they had this very warm and fruitful friendship. And Hawley engages Newton to help him explain the shape of the orbit of planets around the sun. And not just to explain the general laws, but to actually mathematically chart out the orbits. Okay, Johannes Kepler, what was a great scientist who had lived previous in the century, and he had basically charted out the orbits of the planets.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
So that was known. But what they were trying to do is to explain mathematically why this was so. And so Newton, you know, spurred on by Hawley, enters into this frenzy of research and discovery because it's like as soon as you sort of explain one thing, like once you look at the speed of the planets, you have to say, OK, why do they go that speed? And why are they this distance from the sun?
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
And, you know, why do they move the way they like? Explaining one thing requires you to explain everything like you like you have to sort of get all the basic laws and principles and formulas in order to explain any of it right and here's what Gleek writes about this kind of frenzy of activity to figure this out. Quote, the alchemical furnaces went cold. The theological manuscripts were shelved.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
A fever possessed him like none since the plague years. He ate mainly in his room, a few bites standing up. He wrote standing at his desk. When he did venture outside, he would seem lost, walk erratically, turn and stop for no apparent reason and disappear inside once again.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
Thousands of sheets of manuscript lay all around, here and at Woolsthorpe, ink fading on parchment, the jots and scribbles of four decades undated and disorganized. He had never written like this, with a great purpose in meaning his words to be read. As he wrote, computed, and wrote more, he saw the pins of a cosmic lock tumbling into place, one by one.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
Today, we are talking about one of the truly great minds in all of history, Sir Isaac Newton. He was a scholar and a scientist best known for establishing the basic laws of Newtonian physics, his work on describing gravity, the creation of calculus, refining the scientific method, his work on lenses and optics, and more.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
And what Newton ended up writing was book one of his Principia. This is probably the greatest scientific work ever written. It is. Frankly, it is. Newton's Principia. It is one of the great achievements in human history. Hawley is the one who engages Newton, gets him interested in the problem. He also ends up self-funding the publication of the Principia.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
And by the way, the full name of the work is Philosophia Naturalis Principia Mathematica. But basically everyone just shortens it to Principia. And so Hawley, he engages him, he gets him focused on this problem, then he funds the publication of the actual book.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
And again, I think this is, I know this episode isn't about Edmund Hawley, but I think this is an example of one valuable way to take over the world. And that is by recognizing greatness in others. Hawley himself was a great scientist and thinker, a remarkable person.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
But he had the humility to recognize one of the great intellects of all time, one of the few people in the world who could outclass Holly himself in terms of intellect. And what did Holly do? He didn't try and tear him down. He didn't, you know, try and compete with him. He helped him. He befriended him. He offered what he could, which is more money and a more even temperament.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
And the result is that he coaxed out one of the great works of scientific theory in human history, a true turning point in the history of the human race. And I am very convinced after having read the story that it never would have happened without Edmund Hawley. Newton, you know, he would have just been spinning his wheels, doing alchemy and theology.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
And hopefully someone would have discovered his notes one day and made something of it. But with Holly, instead, it was published and the information was disseminated and it led to a revolution in the understanding of physics and mathematics. So there is nothing wrong with recognizing your place when you aren't meant to be the guy.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
And in that circumstance, the best thing you can do is not only step aside for the guy, but assist him. And that's what Holly did. So in Principia is laid out Newton's laws of motion and his laws of universal gravitation, Newtonian physics, basically. Not just the theory, but the mathematical foundations that allowed for the calculation of the movement of the planets.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
You have heard these laws, of course, they're very famous. Although I didn't realize before, you know, researching this, that the way we learn them is actually not how they are written in the book. For example, you know, we learn an object in motion remains in motion, object at rest remains at rest.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
But it was actually written by Newton, quote, everybody perseveres in its state of being at rest or of moving uniformly straightforward, except insofar as it is compelled to change its state by forces impressed. Okay, so... Anyway, it's just 1600s language, right? But same idea. So it's a very large work, around 600 pages. And that is because Newton is very thorough. He's got proofs.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
When the question is asked, who is the most intelligent person to have ever lived? Newton is on the short list of people worth mentioning. And I think he lived an exciting, exceptional life, this despite the fact that he never traveled more than 120 miles in his life.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
He's got mathematical formulas. One of the disputes between Hooke and Newton was over which one of them had discovered the law that gravity decreases with the square of the distance from the object. And Hooke had indeed postulated that something like this might be the case. Around the same time that Newton was doing so in his notes, but he hadn't done so with precision or rigor.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
I like how one scientist put it. He said, quote, the example of hook shows what a distance there is between a truth that is glimpsed in a truth that is demonstrated. Okay. And so that's what Newton does in Principia. He not only sort of shows people the truth, but demonstrates it, proves it empirically, shows everything about it, shows it from all angles, you know, is very thorough.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
And so even if he had the Annus Mirabilis when he was only 23, the crowning achievement of his career came when he was 44 years old. So it's not totally over for you yet, my dear listener, even if you're older than 23, even if you're older than 44, there's still time. It was published, the Principia, but hardly read. It had a reputation for being dense, difficult to understand.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
In one famous anecdote, a Cambridge student was said to have remarked as he passed by Newton, there goes the man that read a book that neither he nor anybody else understands. But it wasn't supposed to be that. It wasn't a book for the masses. It was a book for those chosen few who were cut out to understand it and to push forward the limits of science and human understanding.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
Okay, so Isaac Newton is 44 when he publishes Principia. We're only halfway through his life. He dies when he's 84. What does he do for the rest of the time? You know, even though he lived to a fairly old age, his prime really didn't last past his forties in part, probably because he was poisoning himself with mercury.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
At the time, people didn't know mercury was poisonous and he handled it quite consistently and posthumous examinations of his body revealed like almost unimaginable levels of mercury poisoning. He was seriously sick because of the amount of mercury he was handling. What else does he do? He becomes good friends with the great philosopher John Locke, with whom he regularly exchanges letters.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
After childhood, he basically spent all of his time split between three or four different offices or studies conducting research and experiments. But it was still an interesting, vibrant life because he was discovering the secret inner workings of nature.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
He continued to engage in disputes with other scientists. Most notably, he had bitter correspondence with the German mathematician Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz. The two accused each other of plagiarizing their research on calculus. As it turns out, after they died and we have all the access to the papers, it turns out that the two had developed calculus independently at the same time.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
And in fact, each had illuminated different and complementary elements of the field. But I mean, it's it's truly an extraordinary coincidence that they were basically getting the almost exactly the same time. And so this leads to many accusations being thrown back and forth, which is too bad because previous to that, you know, Leibniz had followed Newton's work, really respected him.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
in his 50s newton's health deteriorated significantly he slept very poorly he ate almost nothing at all his thoughts deteriorated and his output plummeted he had a close inner circle with john lock and a few other geniuses who were able to grasp his thoughts but he had long since embraced a life of celibacy he had no romantic or family life to be spoken of in fact the one falling out he had with john lock was over this issue we read in one of his letters to lock quote
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
Sir, being of opinion that you endeavored to embroil me with women, and by other means I was so much affected with it, that as when one told me you were sickly and would not live, I answered, "'T'were better you were dead.'" Oh, man. OK. Newton is so locked in. And look, some people have hypothesized that he was autistic. And, you know, maybe that's all you can really say. Maybe.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
But like he was so mad at Locke for trying to introduce him to a woman, apparently, that he says, I wish you were dead. So anyways, that is, it's a different level of locked in, right? It's a different level of locked in. But this is kind of how his 50s are going. He did, it's not all bad, right? Like, of course, his performance plummets, but he's still Isaac Newton, right?
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
So even when he's not trying, he's doing very impressive stuff. He makes some minor contributions to calculate the movements of the moon, for example. And he's a celebrity during this time. So when Tsar Peter of Russia visits England, one of the major items on his bucket list was to see Isaac Newton.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
The English poet William Wordsworth wrote something that I think explains how Isaac Newton's life was adventurous, despite, you know, seeming mundane in terms of where he was and what he did every day. He wrote of seeing Isaac Newton's statue in Cambridge. This is a couple hundred years after his death, and they built a statue to commemorate him.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
He leverages this fame to get a position in the British government as the Warden of the Royal Mint. There were huge issues at the time with counterfeiting. It's a little complicated. They had just reissued all their coins. But anyways, Newton is the one put in charge of getting a handle on this actually very difficult and intractable problem.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
And Newton was absolutely ruthless in going after counterfeiters. It was technically a capital offense, offense worthy of the death penalty to counterfeit money. And people did get executed, actually, all the time for counterfeiting. But the king often commuted sentences, especially for minor counterfeiters. But Newton always pushed hard for the death penalty when counterfeiters were caught.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
He wanted no mercy. He was very exacting in his research, and he was very exacting in the way that he ran the mint. Under his careful stewardship, the purity of British coinage was brought to new levels of exactness, as you might expect from someone like him. And yes, he actually was extremely successful in this position.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
He did a lot to restore trust in British coinage and balance the British monetary system, get things on even footing. Another thing that he does is his longtime foil, Robert Hooke, had become the head of the Royal Society. And when he dies in 1703, Newton moved aggressively to take over as president of the Royal Society. And again, by this time, he's a celebrity.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
And so he's easily elected president. And he ruled over the Royal Society with an iron fist, making it his personal fiefdom and at times using its resources to defend his reputation and kind of go after people that he thought were plagiarizing from his research.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
The fact that he used his personal position in this way, and he also, you know, kind of at the same time, he used the royal mint to enrich himself completely legally. He wasn't stealing from the mint at all, but he came up with a deal with the government that greatly enriched him. This strikes many people as venal, right?
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
Why was the man who had discovered the laws of gravity and motion and developed calculus, why was he so concerned with his personal wealth and reputation? I think the answer is that Newton was human, right? He was motivated not by a heavenly realm of pure logic, but by human impulses. And that includes his reputation as well and everything that goes attendant with that.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
So that's his, his later life. He's working for the government. He's in charge of the mint. He's in charge of the Royal society. He dies in 1727 from complications related to a stone in his bladder. I think the way he dies actually says something about him, which is that it was very painful and he was seen to be sweating.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
And Wordsworth writes, "...Newton with his prism and silent face, the marble index of a mind forever voyaging through strange seas of thought, alone." I love that. Forever voyaging through strange seas of thought alone. I think that describes Newton. He wasn't a physical explorer or voyager, but he voyaged through seas of thought and he was an explorer in that way.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
He was obviously in immense pain, but he never cried out or screamed or whimpered. He just suffered until he passed away. So what are we to make of the legacy of Sir Isaac Newton?
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
first is that he is the archetype of a genius that single-minded pursuit of excellence to the exclusion of everything else right that's that the way he locked in right that single-mindedness that is what the genius is right someone who is really focused on one pursuit and has an unbelievable aptitude for it and is able to make extraordinary strides in that domain that's Isaac Newton.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
He was the original genius of modernity and the genius that all other geniuses kind of patterned themselves after since then. Einstein, for example, had great things to say about Newton and in fact built on his research and yeah, he established the modern formula for genius. Okay. progress. He stands for progress.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
The idea that human knowledge can advance beyond what it has in the past and do so in leaps and bounds. And of course, there is more work to be done, but he is a symbol of progress. And for those of us who want to accelerate human progress, technological, scientific progress, he is a hero in that domain. But more than anything, I think it is the desire to understand the world around him.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
That is what Isaac Newton's life was about. There's this temptation for us to separate his alchemy and his theology from his quote unquote legitimate scientific inquiry. But it's all one thing. All of it was his love of creation of the world around him and understanding it in more minute detail. That was the motivation that led to his greatest breakthroughs. When you really love something,
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
You want to understand just its details. You want to soak in every little bit of it, every detail. And I think that explains Newton on some level. He was in love with the world in a childlike way of discovering it and every little detail that he could categorize and explain. In fact, he compared his work to that of a child.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
And I will end with this quote by Newton describing his research and how he approached it. He said, I don't know what I may seem to the world, but as to myself, I seem to have only been like a boy playing on the seashore and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me. All right.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
That does it for this episode. If you're a free listener, if you are a paid subscriber, I'm going to go through all of my takeaways as well as a few end notes here. I think I got about five, 10 minutes of material left.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
And if you would like to hear that as well as everything that How to Take Over the World has to offer, all the end notes, all the bonus episodes, everything, then go to takeoverpod.supercast.com. You can find that link in the show notes. If you're tuning out now, thank you for listening to How to Take Over the World. Before we go, a special shout out to Speechify.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
They are my go-to for learning more with limited time. If you feel like Isaac Newton, like a boy playing on the seashore, while the great ocean of truth lays all undiscovered before you, then you can't waste any time. There's so much to learn. And Speechify helps you do that. It can help turn anything into a podcast.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
I use it to read and listen to things at the same time so that I can move through them faster while still maintaining a high level of understanding and retention. You're going to love it.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
You know, there's so much stuff that I just would never read if I didn't have Speechify, but I'm able to turn it into a podcast and listen to it while I'm at the gym, while I'm doing the dishes, while I'm in the car. So you're going to love it. Again, go to Speechify.com slash Ben to get 15% off Speechify Premium.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
So I think this is a good episode, obviously, for anyone who seeks to be a great scientist, scholar, or inventor. But I also think it's just a great episode for anyone who wants to be a great leader in any field of thought, any intellectual or artistic pursuit. So without further ado, let's get into it. This is The Life of Isaac Newton. But first, I'm going to give you a little spoiler.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
Did you know that Isaac Newton's career actually probably started declining prematurely because he got mercury poisoning? So yeah, he handled mercury all the time in his experiments because he didn't know that it was toxic. And it makes you wonder what else are we using, handling, consuming that is toxic? You don't want to end up like Isaac Newton.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
In 18 months, it killed around 100,000 people, over a quarter of the city's population. Quickly, London depopulated as people fled for the less crowded countryside. So did other cities and large towns. And about 50 miles away, the University of Cambridge shut its doors and told its students to go home for their own safety.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
You want to keep toxic chemicals out of your body. And so one of the things I do for that is get products from Van Man. They make health and wellness products that use all natural ingredients, never anything artificial or toxic. So for example, I've got their tallow and honey bomb, and it's just beef tallow, honey, olive oil, beeswax, and essential oils. That's it.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
Food grade ingredients, which is good because it turns out that stuff you put on your skin ends up in your body and specifically in your bloodstream. Similarly, I just got their deodorant, which I love. I think it's great. It's got coconut oil, rosemary oil, magnesium salt, and baking soda, and you can feel really good about it.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
I use a ton of their products and I haven't run into a single one that I wouldn't recommend. So again, don't end up like Isaac Newton. Keep toxic chemicals out of your body and out of your bloodstream. Go to vanman.shop and use code TAKEOVER for 10% off. The only reason I reach out to these guys to sponsor the show is because I believe in their products so much.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
I've been using them for years, so it's really great stuff. Again, go to vanman.shop and use code TAKEOVER for 10% off. You won't regret it. Okay, so Isaac Newton was born on January 4th, 1643, middle of the 1600s in Lincolnshire, which is toward the eastern coast of England. Newtons were technically nobility, like minor nobility. They weren't very wealthy.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
All Isaac Newton inherited from his father was a few sheep, some barley fields, and a few tenants who paid rather meager rent to tend the Newton's fields. He wasn't able to trace his ancestry beyond his grandfather on the paternal side. So not very illustrious ancestry through his father's line. But his mother, that family was gentle folk.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
And it seems like actually this is where Isaac got his intelligence. He had a number of notable and successful relatives on his mother's side. And Isaac Newton never knew his father. His father actually died shortly before Newton was born. And his mother is not going to be able to support herself and her newborn son on this land by herself. And so she remarries.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
And as part of that marriage agreement, she agrees to leave her small sickly son behind and start a new family with a new husband. And so as a young boy, Isaac Newton was largely raised by his grandmother while his mother went off and started a new family. And I don't really like psychologizing and searching for trauma in people's early life. I think often that kind of stuff is overblown.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
But it's not difficult to see how this might affect a person's psyche. Feelings of abandonment, trust issues, difficulty forming close bonds, things like that. And indeed, as you kind of go through Isaac Newton's life, that's exactly what you see. A lot of trust issues, a lot of sensitivity around feeling not wanted or being criticized or anything like that.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
And difficulty forming close relationships. And it's not like everything is stable outside of his family either. Newton grows up during the English Civil War. And so there's violence all around as well. There's people marauding, raiding different farms. It's very chaotic. When he's 12, he goes off to a school a few miles away. It's a little too far to walk every day. So he boards at the school.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
In 1331 AD, the first instances of the second plague pandemic began somewhere in Central Asia. Within a few years, the disease appeared in the region around the Black Sea, and from there it spread throughout Asia and Europe. It created a level of devastation previously unknown in human history, killing something like 20% of the world's population globally.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
And obviously he's very intelligent. And so he excels as a student. He doesn't necessarily get along with the other students. So socially, he's not necessarily excelling. He gets into quite a few fights, but he does well as a student. Eventually, his stepfather dies. So his mother moves back to their home. It's called Woolsthorpe Manor. That's the Newton family estate.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
So Newton kind of gets his mom back. And then when he is 17 years old, Newton is also recalled from school to come back and serve as the Lord of the estate. Be a farmer, look after the family estate. So the question is, how do we expect Isaac Newton to perform as a farmer?
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
This must have been particularly troubling for the 23-year-old Isaac Newton, a known hypochondriac. He had just finished his undergraduate studies when the news reached Cambridge that the plague was spreading and he would need to travel the 60 miles to his home in Woolsthorpe, Lincolnshire.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
Is he going to use his brilliance to quadruple the wool output from the sheep and establish new crops and double profitability and clean and beautify the farm at the same time? Maybe, right? That's an interesting hypothesis, maybe. But the answer is no. It's a complete disaster.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
He gets fined actually by the town for letting his fences fall into disrepair and letting the pigs wander into neighbor's yards and trample their crops. In fact, it's so bad that he ends up suicidal. He writes about himself in his journal in the third person. And this is sort of, it's kind of like a running dialogue. It's a little disjointed, but here's what he writes.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
Quote, a little fellow, my poor help. He is pale. There is no room for me to sit. In the top of the house, in the bottom of hell, what employment is he fit for? What is he good for? Then he goes on and says, I will make an end. I cannot but weep. I know not what to do. Okay, so yeah, like clearly a little suicidal, very bad mental state.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
And to me, this demonstrates the result of brilliance without passion. Geniuses are not oxen. They're not beasts of burden. They can't be chained to whatever problem seems most convenient and, you know, wound up and let go and have them solve it. No. Intelligence is only half of the equation of genius. It is the excitement that generates most of the action.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
And what excites Isaac Newton is discovery and invention. He's constantly building little sundials that people use and that are very astronomically accurate and small scale models like kind of mini functioning windmills and water mills. And so he loves that kind of stuff, but farming, I mean, he just can't be bothered for whatever reason.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
And it once again demonstrates that genius is often a fragile thing. It needs to be facilitated and protected. It's not always robust, frankly. So after a couple of years of this, it's decided, okay, Isaac, very smart kid, not cut out for farming. Let's send him back to school. Now, again, his father's family is not well to do, but his mother's side is well connected.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
And so his mother's brother had studied at Cambridge and had some connections there. And so he's able to get Isaac Newton a place at Cambridge University, at King's College in Cambridge University. So in June of 1661, Isaac Newton travels the three days and two nights to Cambridge.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
Now, in 2025, I think we are uniquely positioned to understand at least somewhat what was going through his head, having recently lived through a pandemic ourselves. Of course, COVID was not nearly as deadly as the plague, but many of us recently had this experience of being forced to retreat from our normal daily lives and live out a life of isolation at home.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
At first, Newton actually has to perform menial labor in order to make ends meet, janitorial type stuff, cleaning, preparing, that kind of stuff. He doesn't immediately stand out either. However, he eventually finds a professor of mathematics who he hits it off with. His name is Isaac Barrow, and he's actually the first ever professor of mathematics at Cambridge.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
Remember, universities at the time were essentially an institution for training clergy. And if not clergy, then you could also go into law or medicine, but they weren't colleges in sort of the modern sense of the word. Okay, so the entire university is not oriented around things like science and mathematics, but...
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
isaac newton finds this little niche of mathematics and he finds this professor isaac barrow who kind of understands him and who he can understand he forms a connection with and this really motivates him and encourages his progress at cambridge the biographer james gleek writes he felt learning as a form of obsession a worthy pursuit in god's service but potentially prideful as well okay
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
So I love that. Learning as a form of obsession. Obsession is crucial to greatness. And I like how Glick puts it there. It was a form of obsession, a worthy pursuit, but potentially prideful as well. That's the thing. Obsession, you can't always control it. Sometimes it controls you. And when you're truly obsessed with something, it's always on the verge of kind of tipping you over the edge.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
And that is what Newton thought as well. This form of obsession, he worried about it. He was a religious person. He wanted to serve God and do the right thing. But constantly this obsession with mathematics and science of learning more was kind of pushing him to do more in that domain, in that field. Okay. As I said, he is religious. He's somewhat neurotic about it.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
He writes long lists of all his sins, including breaking the Sabbath, unclean thoughts, loving money too much, falling short in piety and devotion, failing to pray enough, things like that. And I don't know, it tells you a little bit about what kind of person he is to just one, two, three, four, list out all of his sins and beat himself up over it. But this is kind of what he does for everything.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
He has a notebook that he writes everything in. He jots notes, writes formulas, asks questions, does little sketches and drawings, very similar to Leonardo da Vinci, who, as far as I know, he knew nothing of. Well, he probably knew something of him, right? He was a famous enough figure and he'd lived a couple hundred years before.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
But nothing I ever saw indicated that Isaac Newton took major inspiration from Da Vinci. They just independently came to the same process of scribbling everything down in a notebook. James Gleick writes, Okay. So that's a good quote because it shows that's exactly what DaVinci did. DaVinci didn't always do questions. Sometimes he would write them down as learn blank.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
It was a course of time of fear and confusion, but for many, It might have also been exciting. It was a chance to block out distractions and focus on whatever you wanted to do, just like it was for us. This is certainly how Isaac Newton approached it.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
Learn how a bird's wings work. Learn why water eddies in a stream. Learn X, Y, Z. But it's the same idea. You're writing what you want to learn. You're writing a question. I think this is a really good way to encourage your curiosity.
How to Take Over the World
Isaac Newton
Have a notebook like DaVinci or Newton and write down the questions that you would like to answer or the things that you would like to learn and then just everything that you learn on those topics. Okay, so while studying under Isaac Barrow, he begins to make inquiries into what we would now call physics.
How to Take Over the World
How To Be More High Agency & A Political Plan for Taking Over the World (Free Preview)
As a reminder, high agency is the ability and belief that individuals can take control of their lives, define their goals, and take action to achieve them rather than feeling powerless and blaming others, external factors. It's about actively shaping your own destiny and outcomes. Again, you happen to the world, the world doesn't happen to you.
How to Take Over the World
How To Be More High Agency & A Political Plan for Taking Over the World (Free Preview)
And I do think that like anything, certain people have a predisposition towards this to be high agency, but there's a lot you can do to learn it. I would compare it to being fit, right? Certain people are just born athletic. They're fast, they're strong naturally, but just about anyone can train their way into the top 2% of strength or speed. And becoming high agency is similar.
How to Take Over the World
How To Be More High Agency & A Political Plan for Taking Over the World (Free Preview)
Like certain people are just born high agency, but there are definitely things that you can do to be more high agency. And once you do these things, it unlocks a lot in your life. I've seen this. I'll share a couple of personal examples as we go. So you look at someone like Edwin Land, five years old, his father comes home, finds him taking a part of the family phonograph, gets really mad.
How to Take Over the World
How To Be More High Agency & A Political Plan for Taking Over the World (Free Preview)
And he decides in that moment that he's never going to let anyone block him from doing an experiment ever again in his entire life. And sure enough, in his twenties, he ends up sneaking into the University of Columbia Laboratory at midnight. He props open a couple of windows during the day to conduct experiments because he's not a student there, so he can't use it. But he's high agency.
How to Take Over the World
How To Be More High Agency & A Political Plan for Taking Over the World (Free Preview)
No one's going to stop him from doing what he wants to do. And that starts at age five. But it doesn't have to start that young. Steve Jobs has a great quote. He says, life can be so much broader once you discover one simple fact. And that is that everything around you that you call life was made up by people who are no smarter than you. And you can change it. You can influence it.
How to Take Over the World
How To Be More High Agency & A Political Plan for Taking Over the World (Free Preview)
You can build your own things that other people can use. Once you learn that, you'll never be the same again. And I think that realization could come at any point in life and it can come in degrees over time. So let's break this down into three categories. of how to be more high-agency. The first is how to frame problems. The second is how to design solutions. And then third is how to execute.
How to Take Over the World
How To Be More High Agency & A Political Plan for Taking Over the World (Free Preview)
Hello, and welcome to How to Take Over the World. This is Ben Wilson. High agency. This is one of the major through lines of all the great leaders that we talk about on this show. They all have incredible agency. They take action. They're proactive. They happen to the world. The world does not happen to them, I think is the best way to think of what high agency is.
How to Take Over the World
How To Be More High Agency & A Political Plan for Taking Over the World (Free Preview)
All right, so let's start with how you frame the problem. The first thing to do, and this has been really helpful to me, is to define every problem starting with the sentence, I don't know how to X. Okay, I picked this up from a recent episode of Alex Hormozy's podcast, and it's been a really great tool for me. So how does this shake out?
How to Take Over the World
How To Be More High Agency & A Political Plan for Taking Over the World (Free Preview)
Let me give you an example from my own life to make it maybe a little more concrete. So my wife gave birth to our fourth child a week ago. And so it's been really difficult to find time to work out, especially in the morning, which is when I like to work out because it gets my day going, gets me active.
How to Take Over the World
How To Be More High Agency & A Political Plan for Taking Over the World (Free Preview)
So the low agency way to think about it, which is what I was doing at first, is to just leave it as this undefined nagging problem. It's a complaint. I would like to work out in the morning, but I can't because my wife is up with the baby all night. So I have to be with the other three kids until about 8.30 AM. Okay. It's a complaint. It's an undefined problem.
How to Take Over the World
How To Be More High Agency & A Political Plan for Taking Over the World (Free Preview)
And it uses the word that we hate, can't. But then redefine it. Once I redefine it, I say, I don't know how to both work out in the morning and spend time with my kids from 630 to 830 AM. Even just reframing it basically solves the problem, right? I don't know how to do. Of course, you know how to do those two things. Okay. You could start working out at five or 530, pull a Jocko.
How to Take Over the World
How To Be More High Agency & A Political Plan for Taking Over the World (Free Preview)
Or the solution I ended up on is I'll just work out with my kids either in the backyard or I throw them in a stroller and I push it up a hill and then do some pushups with them on my back. Okay.
How to Take Over the World
How To Be More High Agency & A Political Plan for Taking Over the World (Free Preview)
So just reframing a problem is I don't know how to X. It puts you in a high agency mindset because, oh, then I could learn to do X. So any problem that you have in your life that hasn't been defined in this way, try doing that. And all of a sudden it becomes a lot easier to find a solution because by reframing it that way, put the onus on yourself to learn and figure out the solution.
How to Take Over the World
How To Be More High Agency & A Political Plan for Taking Over the World (Free Preview)
Now, of course, sometimes reframing isn't quite as simple. The question itself doesn't recommend an answer. This is true when you have these real big, hairy compounding problems, right? So, for example, think George Washington at the worst moment of the Revolutionary War. He hasn't had a victory in a while. The Americans are out of money. The troops are unhappy because they haven't been paid.
How to Take Over the World
How To Be More High Agency & A Political Plan for Taking Over the World (Free Preview)
And it's this circular problem. The troops don't want to fight because they haven't been paid, but you're not winning victories, so you can't raise more money from other European powers. So if you reframe the problem with this one, it's I don't know how to pay my troops to fight for me so we can win battles so we can win this war.
How to Take Over the World
How To Be More High Agency & A Political Plan for Taking Over the World (Free Preview)
Maybe that reframe would help for George Washington, but even when you reframe it, the solution isn't immediately obvious. So these are the sorts of situations that are really difficult, right? You know, when I talked about reframing the problem, that's high agency 101. Okay, now we're onto 201. So the first thing you do is get really clear about the problem. Define it in excruciating detail.
How to Take Over the World
How To Be More High Agency & A Political Plan for Taking Over the World (Free Preview)
Steve Jobs comes back to Apple and he's got a similar thing. The workforce is demoralized. The market doesn't trust Apple anymore. They're hemorrhaging money so fast that in 1997, A Wired magazine has a magazine cover with the Apple logo on the front and it has one word, it says, pray. So again, you have tons of problems and they all compound on each other.
How to Take Over the World
How To Be More High Agency & A Political Plan for Taking Over the World (Free Preview)
And even when you frame it that way, it's not necessarily going to give you a solution. This is a highly stressful situation. But Steve talks at length with his CFO and he wants to know exactly how much money do we have left? How much runway do we have and how fast are we losing money? Because when it's just we're hemorrhaging money, ah, what is the solution to that? It's vague.
How to Take Over the World
How To Be More High Agency & A Political Plan for Taking Over the World (Free Preview)
So today's episode is a principles-based episode where I'm going to share some of the ideas that I've been thinking about based on my recent reading. And high agency is one of those things that people are talking a lot about.
How to Take Over the World
How To Be More High Agency & A Political Plan for Taking Over the World (Free Preview)
And so you can't have action oriented solutions to vague problems in the same way that if I tell you I'm depressed.
How to Take Over the World
How To Be More High Agency & A Political Plan for Taking Over the World (Free Preview)
what's the solution there there is no if i start to define it of i am depressed because i'm not sleeping well and i'm not sleeping well because of x maybe a overly simplistic reason to be depressed but okay it's just an example right once you start to define it the solutions even if the solutions aren't clear then parts of the solution become clear right at least small action items that you can take to make the situation better start to become clear
How to Take Over the World
How To Be More High Agency & A Political Plan for Taking Over the World (Free Preview)
So you want to define the problem very exactly. And then at least action items start to appear and you become high agency. You start figuring out things to do, to be active instead of ruminating, worrying, stressing the things that you can do when you get in one of these kinds of death spiral situations.
How to Take Over the World
How To Be More High Agency & A Political Plan for Taking Over the World (Free Preview)
And then the third thing to do when framing is almost never accept that anything is impossible. Napoleon famously hated the word impossible. Elon Musk has a great quote about this. He says, physics is the law and everything else is a recommendation.
How to Take Over the World
How To Be More High Agency & A Political Plan for Taking Over the World (Free Preview)
And this is a good way to think about it because once you accept that something is possible, you just have to ask whether you are willing to pay the price. If something is possible, there's a price for everything. There's a famous Sherlock Holmes quote. He says, when you have eliminated all which is impossible, then whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.
How to Take Over the World
How To Be More High Agency & A Political Plan for Taking Over the World (Free Preview)
And I would just change that last word to the solution. When you have eliminated all which is impossible, then whatever remains, however improbable, must be the solution. So... When you assume that a problem is possible, if it doesn't defy the laws of physics, then you get some pretty improbable solutions when you think about stuff.
How to Take Over the World
How To Be More High Agency & A Political Plan for Taking Over the World (Free Preview)
And also I've at the same time been thinking about because of some of the recent episodes I've been doing, especially Edwin Land, someone who was very high agency from a very young age. And so that came to the forefront. So on this episode, I'm going to be talking about how to be more high agency, what are the various components of it, how to think about problems in a more high agency way.
How to Take Over the World
How To Be More High Agency & A Political Plan for Taking Over the World (Free Preview)
Good example of this, again, going back to Elon Musk, there's a great story from, what's the biography? It's his SpaceX biography, where he needs to get his rockets from Texas, where they are built, to Florida, where they are launched. And he wants them there in three weeks, which is impossible. All rockets are moved via barge on the Gulf of Mexico, and there just aren't that many barges.
How to Take Over the World
How To Be More High Agency & A Political Plan for Taking Over the World (Free Preview)
They take a long time to get from Texas to Florida. It's just not possible on a barge with the existing system. So he says, what if we drive them? And they say, well, that doesn't really seem possible either. And he says, it's not impossible. It doesn't defy the laws of physics to drive a rocket ship from Texas to Florida.
How to Take Over the World
How To Be More High Agency & A Political Plan for Taking Over the World (Free Preview)
So the response is from his team, yeah, it might not defy the laws of physics, but that would require finding an incredibly circuitous route that avoids underpasses the entire way from Texas to Florida. And we would need to bring like a support crew to move power lines. And we would need to drive all throughout the night for two weeks straight in order to make this possible. Okay.
How to Take Over the World
How To Be More High Agency & A Political Plan for Taking Over the World (Free Preview)
That right there seems improbable. That's very complicated. There's a lot of stuff, but that is a solution to get them there in under three weeks. And that's exactly what they do. They have a truck drive in front of the rocket ship and they have a pole to raise power lines so that it can drive under power lines.
How to Take Over the World
How To Be More High Agency & A Political Plan for Taking Over the World (Free Preview)
And they map out the world's most torturous driving route where they go through all these back roads in order to avoid underpasses. And they do it. They're able to drive it from Texas to Florida in under three weeks. All right, so that is part one, defining problems in a way that allows you to be high agency.
How to Take Over the World
How To Be More High Agency & A Political Plan for Taking Over the World (Free Preview)
First, reframe every problem as, I don't know how to X. Then define the problem in excruciating detail. And then assume that anything that does not violate the laws of physics is in fact possible. That's how you want to frame a problem you have in your life in order to become more high agency, take more control. By doing those three things, framing the problem I think is half the battle.
How to Take Over the World
How To Be More High Agency & A Political Plan for Taking Over the World (Free Preview)
Once you've framed it the right way, I think finding solutions, executing in some ways comes natural, although we'll talk about better ways to do that. Okay. So that does it for free listeners. If you want to hear the rest of the podcast, you can go subscribe at takeoverpod.supercast.com. Or if you're listening on Apple Podcasts, you can go ahead and subscribe right in the app.
How to Take Over the World
How To Be More High Agency & A Political Plan for Taking Over the World (Free Preview)
If not, until next time, thank you for listening to How to Take Over the World.
How to Take Over the World
How To Be More High Agency & A Political Plan for Taking Over the World (Free Preview)
I think this is a major key for taking control of your life and accomplishing more. So hopefully it's of use to you. I'll also be previewing future episodes. And at the end, I share one idea for how to actually take over the world in current day, 2025, a major opportunity that I think is out there that people are not taking advantage of.
How to Take Over the World
How To Be More High Agency & A Political Plan for Taking Over the World (Free Preview)
This is a subscriber only episode, so I'll be doing five minutes free preview, but then maybe it'll be ten. I don't know. We'll see where I cut it off. But then the rest of this 30 to 40 minute episode is going to be for subscribers only. OK, so let's start off with how to be high agency.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
And by the way, this is the cousin of Amerigo Vespucci, the Florentine sailor who mapped the new world and the man after whom America is named Amerigo Vespucci America. Okay. So Machiavelli's friend Agostino Vespucci writes it to him in a letter. He says. Congratulations on having been present on such a glorious occasion and having had no small part in the affair.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
A prince and especially a new prince cannot observe all those things for which men are considered good, because in order to maintain the state, he must often act against his faith, against charity, against humanity and against religion. And so it is necessary that he should have a mind ready to turn itself according to the way of the winds of fortune and the changing circumstances command him.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
I would make bold to say that you, with your battalions, have produced so fine an institution that not slowly but rapidly you have restored the dominion of Florence. I do not know what to say. I swear to God, we are so happy that I could write a Ciceronian oration for you. Okay.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
Another friend, this guy's name is Filippo de Casavecchia writes quote, a thousand congratulations on the great acquisition of this noble city for it may be truly said to have been your work or at any rate, the greater part of it. I do not think that your philosophy can ever be understood by stupid people. And there are not enough of the clever ones. You understand me every day.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
I see more clearly that you are the greatest prophet, the Jews or any other people ever had. Niccolo, Niccolo, truly I tell you that I cannot express all that I would like to. And yet, within just two years, he would find himself out of power, robbed of his reputation and his fortune, imprisoned, and even publicly tortured. Before we get to that, I wanna take a minute to tell you about Vanman.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
This is a brand I'm personally obsessed with. They make lotion, tooth powder, mouthwash, chapstick, stuff like that, and they use all natural everything, totally all natural. For example, their lotion, which I use all the time, is made with beef tallow, honey, and olive oil. I use their lotion, their chapstick, and their coconut magnesium deodorant. It's great stuff.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
It works better than the alternatives, which are, by the way, toxic. So your skin will feel like magic, and it's nice to know that you aren't being poisoned by endocrine disruptors or microplastics or anything like that. I love it. You'll love it. Go to vanman.shop and use code TAKEOVER for 10% off. Everything you put on your skin ends up in your bloodstream. Countless studies have shown that.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
So don't poison yourself with garbage from these big brands. Try Van Man. You'll thank me later. Okay. So what happens to Machiavelli? Well, Pope Alexander VI, he's the Borgia. He's Cesare Borgia's dad. And he's the one who is supporting and bankrolling his son. And so he dies. Okay. Borgia fails because of this. He can't get one of his guys elected Pope.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
He tries to make a deal with a man who has been his enemy. And this Pope, his name is Julius the second immediately reneges on the deal and everything falls apart for Borgia. He seized, imprisoned his lands, confiscated. He escapes. He actually starts seizing new territory. Just what a guy he lived his very adventurous life, but he is ultimately killed. So anyway, this new Pope, uh,
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
who's not aligned with Borgia, he's also not aligned with the Republican regime in Florence. And so he brings back the Medicis. And the Medicis, they still maintain this outward appearance of a republic. And at first, Machiavelli is even hopeful that he might retain some kind of appointment. But that doesn't come through.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
And then even worse, there's a conspiracy to kill some of the Medici, overthrow them, restore the Republican government. But it's this very half-baked plan that never gets very far. But stupidly, the conspirators write down a list of people who they think oppose the Medici and who might support them in this conspiracy. They only approach two of the eight people on that list.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
And those two people reject the idea. They're like, it was a bad idea. Don't don't do it. However, they're still caught and the list is turned over to the authorities. And the seventh of the eight names on the list is Niccolo Machiavelli. So he's thrown in prison. He's interrogated and he's tortured. The popular form of torture in Florence at the time was to set up this really large structure.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
And here's the truth about Machiavelli. He doesn't care about right or wrong, at least not in the context of what he's talking about in The Prince and his other writings. It's like asking a biologist to constantly make references to whether a lion is right or wrong when it takes down a gazelle. They're just studying how a lion hunts, what it eats.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
So you can think that's kind of like a gallows. Think like you've got these big wooden triangles. on two sides with a big wooden beam suspended 30 feet in the air. And they throw a rope over it, and then they tie a man's hands behind his back and hoist him up. So he's hanging 30 feet in the air, suspended by his hands behind his back.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
And then to make the torture worse, sometimes they'll drop them. So they'll suddenly drop it and then you drop like 10, 15 feet and then boom yanks. So this kind of thing, it usually dislocates your shoulders. Um, and then in really bad cases, it can actually, uh, like give you paralysis in your arms because of all the nerve damage. You can't use your arms after that.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
I know it doesn't sound that bad maybe like compared to having like bamboo shoved underneath your fingernails having your arms tied behind your back but if you actually like do it you know just like put your arms behind your back you realize it's a really uncomfortable position and especially to get dropped like that and it's just going to be yeah torturous it's a form of torture it's horrible
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
Uh, so this happens to Machiavelli. Uh, he says that he has dropped six times. Here's what he writes about it. Quote, and as for meeting fortune courageously, this is in a letter, uh, as for meeting fortune courageously, I want you to have this pleasure for my sufferings to know that I bore them so well that I am pleased with myself and feel that I am better man than I thought.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
OK, so I don't know. It sucks, but it tells you something about Machiavelli that he says he bears them better than he thought he would. Presumably he means he doesn't rat out anyone else or give any other names like he just takes the torture and keeps his mouth shut. After this torture, he doesn't give any names. He doesn't confess to anything.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
And so they say, OK, this is like kind of wild, right? They say, OK, it appears that you're genuinely not guilty of anything other than vaguely being opposed to us and having people think that you would rebel against us. So he gets put under loose house arrest. He's basically free to come and go as he pleases, but he can't leave the territory of Florence. And he's also fined a pretty hefty fine.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
which leaves him pretty impoverished. So he has to retreat to a poorly maintained small estate in the countryside and bide his time while he waits to see if he can come up with some sort of appointment. I mean, really crazy times. These people, they torture him, you know, they, they hang him by his hands and drop him six times.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
And yet immediately after he's like, Hmm, you know, maybe at some point I can get back in the government. And so he thinks, you know, these people clearly don't like me. They torture me. So I need to do something big, something extravagant, give them something to make them respect me and see that I actually, you know, even though I'm a Republican, I have good ideas. I'm smart.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
And I have something that I can, I have a lot of knowledge that I can use in their government. And so he comes up with the idea of writing a book, a summary of all the wisdom that he had attained both by experience and through his studies in history. And he calls it The Prince in Latin. It's called De Principatibus. And. I think his writing process is really interesting.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
They're just not thinking about whether it's right or wrong. And similarly, Machiavelli is considered by many the first modern political scientist. And so he's just studying politics as a science. He's not making references to what you should do, at least not in the prints. He's just telling you what people do do, how things actually operate in the real world.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
It shows the boredom of his day-to-day life and the thrill that he has of engaging with some of the greatest men in world history. So here's what he writes. This is like one of the greatest letters ever written, frankly. So he's writing to his friend.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
He says, I rise in the morning with the sun and I go off to a wood of mine, which I'm having cut down where I stopped for two hours to see what was done the day before and talk to the woodcutters who always have some trouble on hand, either among themselves or with the neighbors. Leaving the wood, I go to a spring and then to some bird traps of mine.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
I have a book with me, Dante or Petrarch or one of the minor poets, Tibulus, Ovid or the like. I read about their amorous passions and their loves. I remember my own and dwell enjoyably on these thoughts for a while. Then I go onto the road and into the tavern. I talked to the passerby. I asked what news of their villages. I hear all sorts of things and observe the various tastes and ideas of men.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
In the meanwhile, it is time for dinner. And with my folk, I eat what food, this poor farm and miserable patrimony of mine provides. When I have eaten, I go back to the tavern here. I find the host and usually a butcher, a Miller and a couple of kiln men with them. I degrade myself playing all day at cricket and trick track. Those are card games. Okay. So he's yeah, he's playing cards.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
And this gives rise to a thousand arguments and endless vexations with insulting words. And most times there's a fight over a penny and we can be heard shouting from as far away as San Castellano. And so surrounded by these lice, I blow the cobwebs out of my brain and relieve the unkindness of my fate. Content that she trample on me in this way to see if she is not ashamed to treat me thus.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
When evening comes, I return home and go into my study. And at the door, I take off daytime dress covered in mud and dirt and put on royal and curial robes. And then, decently attired, I enter the courts of the ancients.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
where affectionately greeted by them, I partake of that food which is mine alone, and for which I was born, where I am not ashamed to talk with them and inquire the reasons of their actions. And they, out of their human kindness, answer me. And for four hours at a stretch, I feel no worry of any kind. I forget all my troubles. I am not afraid of poverty or of death.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
I give myself up entirely to them." Okay. I mean, that's just amazing. So he's making fun of himself a little bit, right? Like, look, I got all these petty trifles. I go talk with the woodsmen who are cutting my trees. They have complaints. I go play some cards where, you know, with these lice, these basically these ne'er-do-well men were squabbling over pennies.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
You know, I've just got this totally degraded rundown life. But... When I go home and I read the words of Plutarch and of Julius Caesar and of Cicero, I feel like I am entering the courts of some of the greatest men who have ever lived. And I get to enter their presence and out of their kindness, I'm learning their wisdom. And it's just this amazing description to me.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
I hope that is what you feel listening to How to Take Over the World. That's what I try to create at least. In fact, How to Take Over the World is in many ways just like a podcast version of The Prince. That's what The Prince is. He's giving all these lessons, but mostly he's giving them in the context of the lives of these great men who have lived and conquered and died.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
So we'll get to what is actually contained in the prints in just a minute. We'll go through his playbook for taking over the world. But first, I just want to go through the rest of his life kind of very quickly because there's not as much drama in the rest of his life. So he writes the prince in these evening hours while he's sort of in domestic exile.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
And he takes it to Lorenzo de Medici, who is the Medici who's in power at the time. Lorenzo was kind of pigheaded. He didn't have a great appreciation of literature or of art. He was far from the most capable Medici. This is not Lorenzo the Magnificent, who you might have heard of. That's the most famous Medici. Also Lorenzo de Medici, but this is his grandson.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
And it turns out, like the law of the jungle, the world of politics is dirty, it's violent, it's cruel. And in his book, Discourses on Livy, that's his second most famous book probably, he actually does talk quite a bit about what kind of state he would like to see exist in the world. And what he wants to see are more representative republics that take the Roman system as a model.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
And yeah, he's not the greatest guy, but in all likelihood, Lorenzo de Medici never even reads the prince. If he does, he doesn't highly regard it. And Machiavelli never gets any sort of appointment from him. So he just continues to scratch out a meager living on his small estate, and he stays active in Florentine literary circles.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
He writes his next two most famous works, which are Discourses on Livy and The Art of War. He also writes a little poetry. He writes a play, which is actually very well received. It's one of the great Italian plays of all time. It's a big hit. But neither Discourses on Livy nor The Prince were actually published during his lifetime because of their controversial nature.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
The prince explains how to take and maintain power as a monarch, as a prince. And it's extremely clear eyed about what is necessary to do this. Of course, as we said, it recommends deception, dissimulation, violence, including against innocence. It's very critical of the Catholic church. It definitely would have been regarded as morally objectionable by many people.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
And in fact, was regarded as such after his death. So that's why he didn't publish it in his lifetime. He writes it. He tries to give it to Lorenzo de Medici. It's not accepted. And so he just shelves it and he doesn't publish it. Discourses on Livy, same thing. He writes it this time, not for the Medici's, but for his literary circle, for his friends.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
And as a study, just as something that he was very interested in. It's a commentary on the writings of Titus Livius, commonly known as Livy, who's a Roman historian writing during the time of Caesar Augustus. And Machiavelli was absolutely obsessed with Rome. He was obsessed, especially with the Roman Republic. He thought it was the ideal form of government, the ideal state.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
And Discourses on Livy discusses what it was about the Roman Republic that made it so successful and how a return to that Roman golden age could be achieved. And so this kind of book is dangerous for a few reasons. One, he clearly criticizes in both The Prince and Discourses on Livy the morality of his own time. He viewed the Catholic Church as a corrupting force, especially on Italy.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
He thought the Church kept Italy weak and divided, and he wanted to see a return to the manly virtue of the Romans. So this is basically Nietzsche 300 years before Nietzsche. Here's just one passage Machiavelli writes in Discourses on Livy about this. Quote,
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
In considering, therefore, why all the people of ancient times were greater lovers of liberty than those of our own day, I believe this arises from the same cause that today makes men less strong, which I believe lies in the difference between our education and that of antiquity, based upon the difference between our religion and that of antiquity.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
For while our religion has shown us truth and the true path, It also makes us place a lower value on worldly honor, whereas the pagans, who greatly valued honor and considered it the highest good, were more ferocious in their actions.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
This can be seen in many of their customs, beginning with the magnificence of their sacrifices as compared to the modesty of our own, in which there is some pomp that is more delicate than magnificent, but no bold or ferocious action." Besides this, ancient religion praised only men fully possessed of worldly glory, such as the leaders of armies and the rulers of republics.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
And so that doesn't sound that bad, right? So it's not like he's an all evil guy. It's just he's studying this science completely objectively. Anyway, Machiavelli himself is a remarkable person. I loved studying him. He's a great writer. He's incredibly insightful. He's funny. He's perceptive. And at times he's breathtakingly honest. It's very refreshing to read his writing.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
Our religion has more often glorified humble and contemplative men rather than active ones. Okay, so, I mean, very clearly, this would have been outrageous at the time. He is praising pagan morality, old... you know, warrior morality, and he's criticizing Catholic Christian morality. So yes, this would have been not only controversial, but dangerous to him if he had published it during his life.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
It's also dangerous to the Medicis and to many other princes and Kings who might feel threatened by his critiques of monarchical forms of government and his support, full-throated support for republics. The only book that is published during his lifetime is The Art of War. Kind of like The Prince, but more narrowly focused on exactly what it sounds like on how to win a war.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
And as such, it's not so controversial. So those three works are published in the seven years after he's in government. Okay. So during his time of internal exile. So here's the timeline from 1498 to 1512. So that is what, 14 years. He is in power. So that's from age 29 to age 43, it would be. And then from 1512 to 1519, he is in internal exile on his estate and he writes all of his major works.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
He writes The Prince, he writes Discourses on Livy, he writes The Art of War. So that is from age 43 to 50. And then in 1519, Lorenzo de' Medici dies. So it's seven years totally out in the cold. But then Lorenzo Medici dies. And that was really Machiavelli's chief antagonist. So the Medici stay in power, just not that Medici. And so when that happens, the government thaws a little bit.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
It warms to the idea of Machiavelli. So he doesn't get put in power like he was before. Again, you know, in that first time period from 1498 to 1512, he's in very important government positions. He's one of the top ministers in the government. But after 1519, he does get some minor appointments from the Medicis. you know, and with that, a little bit of money, a little bit of income.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
He also, during this latter period, he writes a history of Florence, which is very well received at the time, very appreciated. And then in 1527, the Medici are expelled once again. And so this is a great opportunity for Machiavelli. However, in the same year, he dies from a stomach ailment at the age of 58. Okay. So that is the life of Niccolo Machiavelli. Okay. So having said all that,
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
What can we learn from the Prince, from Discourses on Livy? What is the Machiavelli blueprint for taking over the world? One, the first thing to say is Machiavelli is often viewed as a man who was all about the pure pursuit of power. He had no higher ideals. He recommended none. The ends always justify the means, will the power, all of that. And that's not correct.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
He really believed in republics. He really believed in the idea of resurrecting Rome. You know, for 2,000 years, up to the current day, to now, 2025, Whenever European states have achieved great things, it has been because they looked back to the example of eternal Rome. So that's, you know, the Holy Roman Empire under Charlemagne. That is the Renaissance with...
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
And there's a reason that his works have stood the test of time and been used as handbooks by great rulers across centuries. So let's see what his playbook was for taking over the world. This is The Life of Niccolo Machiavelli. If you want to take over the world, it helps to look the part. And so you, my dear listener, need to be in the gym. You need to be working out.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
Da Vinci and Copernicus and all these great scientists and artists, they all looked back to Roman engineers, scientists, artists. That goes for the Napoleonic Empire was totally inspired by Rome, the British Empire, and of course, the United States of America was basically just trying to get back to the Roman ideal of government. They were all directly inspired by the example of Rome.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
And that is what Machiavelli believed in, the resurrection of the Roman ideal. In the introduction to the Oxford World Classics edition of Discourses on Livy, the author writes, quote, They were revived abroad in England and America during subsequent periods of Republican sentiment.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
They also quote Petrarch, who's a medieval historian, and Petrarch says, I love this quote, what else then is all history if not the praise of Rome? Okay, I believe that. That is what all history boils down to, the praise of Rome. And in writing The Prince, he had this in mind as well as a certain immediate political project, which was he was sort of a proto-Italian nationalist.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
He wanted to unify Italy into a powerful state that could stand up to the Spanish, the Germans, the French, and the papacy. They could repel all these foreign invaders and establish an independent, strong Italy established on the Roman model, a republic.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
And the Medici, who he dedicated the prince to, were ideally positioned to do this because they controlled Florence as well as the papacy at the same time. So they had money, they had influence, they had arms, at least in some measure. So they have all this stuff that they could combine to carry out this project.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
Hello, and welcome to How to Take Over the World. This is Ben Wilson. Today, we are talking about Niccolo Machiavelli, the Italian statesman, philosopher, and writer best known for his book, The Prince. Machiavelli is not known as someone who took over the world himself.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
And so, yes, he was a Republican, but he thought, well, but if I can convince the Medici's to do this, then that's worth having a monarchy for a little while to cleanse Italy and set up this new political project. Actually, at the end of The Prince, he exhorts Lorenzo de' Medici, What gates would be shut against him? What peoples would refuse him obedience? What jealousy would oppose him?
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
What Italian would deny him respect? This barbarian rule stinks in everyone's nostrils. All right, I think that's a great call to arms. And so this is what he wants the Medici's to do. He also writes at the end of The Art of War, for this province seems born to revive dead things, as we have seen in poetry, painting, and sculpture. Okay, so... The Medici's, you can throw out these invaders.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
This barbarian rule stinks in everyone's nostrils. Revive dead beings, bring back Rome. You can do it. And so that's his project. Of course, it's not carried out because A, the Medici's don't listen to him. And then this powerful moment for the Medici's does not last. When the Pope dies, the next Pope is not a Medici. And so the moment is gone.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
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How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
OK, so that's the first thing about Machiavelli is he has a project in mind. OK, he's not just this naked. You know, this is a handbook for anyone to pursue power. Like, no, he he hopes that this will enable certain people to do certain things. But what should you do? What's his more general advice? What is the first step on the Machiavellian path to taking over the world? First, we need a goal.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
And what should that goal be? He writes, among all men who are praised, the most highly praised are those who have been leaders and founders of religions. Okay, so we'll set that aside for now because he doesn't discuss this or have interesting things to say about it, but he thinks those are the people who are most praised.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
Close afterwards, he says, come those who have founded either republics or kingdoms. After them, the most celebrated men are those who placed at the head of armies have enlarged either their own realm or that of their native country. To these may be added men of letters who being of many types are each celebrated according to his level of accomplishment.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
To other men, infinite in number, some portion of praise may be attributed on the basis of their profession or its practice. Okay, so that is what Machiavelli is after. That is what he urges us toward. First and foremost, if you want glory in this life, the greatest thing you can do is founding a republic or a kingdom, or in other words, establishing a new political order, a new political entity.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
Although he also mentions, of course, great writers, thinkers, great artists, scientists, inventors get included in that. And then after that, you know, anyone who is a great professional in their business. Okay, so how do we do that? And then it gets a little tough to answer because Machiavelli has branching chains of advice depending on, you know, are you a new prince?
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
Are you a hereditary prince? Are you in a republic or are you in a monarchy? All this stuff. And there's just a lot of different categories. So I'm just going to take my top 10 takeaways from Machiavelli. He gives great advice, much of it timeless. And so I'm going to have a really long end note section where I go through a lot of that.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
But these are just 10 of my top takeaways from Machiavelli of what you should do to get power. Okay, so number one, be bad. Okay, from the prince, he writes, for there is such a distance between how one lives and how one ought to live that anyone who abandons what is done for what ought to be done achieves his downfall rather than his preservation.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
A man who wishes to profess goodness at all times will come to ruin among so many who are not good. Therefore, it is necessary for a prince who wishes to maintain himself to learn how not to be good and to use this knowledge or not to use it according to necessity. Okay. So yeah, like he's telling you straight up.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
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How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
If you want to have power, there are going to be times when you have to do things that are bad. Okay. Okay. It just is what it is.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
And you know, if you're going to be bad, be bad, you know, in the Prince again, he writes with very few exceptions of cruelty, he will prove more compassionate than those who out of an excessive mercy permit disorders to continue from which arise murders and plundering for these usually injure the entire community while the executions ordered by the Prince injure specific individuals.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
So in other words, if you want to be a prince, if you want to take control, it's better to go out and just lop off a few heads and all the dissent and all the rebellions and have a peaceful kingdom. Then allow all this stuff to continue. And, you know, lots of people get murdered and plundered by these fractious civil wars and rebellions and things like that. Okay.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
So lesson number one, you have to learn to be bad in some ways. Okay, lesson number two is the necessary corollary, which is, yes, but don't appear to be bad. Okay, so he says, it would be a very praiseworthy thing to find in a prince those qualities mentioned above that are held to be good. Okay, so it'd be good to find a prince who's all good.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
But since it is neither possible to have them nor to observe them all completely. So in other words, since I just told you, you're going to have to be bad sometimes.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
Because the human condition does not permit it, a prince must be prudent enough to know how to escape the infamy of those vices that would take the state away from him and be on guard against those vices that will not take it from him whenever possible. But if he cannot, he need not concern himself unduly if he ignores these less serious vices.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
Moreover, he need not worry about incurring the infamy of those vices without which it would be difficult to save the state. because carefully taking everything into account, he will discover that something which appears to be a virtue, if pursued, will result in his ruin, while some other things, which seem to be a vice, if pursued, will secure his safety and his well-being.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
So in other words, sometimes you just have to be bad, and everyone knows you're bad. And you know what? Them's the brakes, as they say. That's how it goes. But other times... You have to act bad, but appear to be virtuous. People cannot know or perceive the things that you do that are bad. A great example of this that he gives is Borgia.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
So when he needs to just totally be bad, repress Romagna, this region in Rome, in Italy, I should say. Uh, he has someone else do it and he swoops in at the end and goes, I can't believe the things you've been doing. It hasn't executed. Okay. That's a perfect example of doing bad, but not appearing bad. Um, so there you go. Step one, be bad. Step two, don't appear to be bad. Okay.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
And then step three, and this is the last one kind of on this theme is be totally bad all at once. Okay. He has a chapter in discourses on Livy with an all-time great chapter title. It's titled men. Very rarely know how to be entirely good or entirely bad. And he basically says, you got to choose. You have to do one or the other. If you're going to be bad, be bad and be bad all at once.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
He gives an example of a man named Jovan Pogolo. Okay. who was a known sinner, had a reputation for all sorts of licentiousness and exploitation. And during one of his invasions, he captures the Pope who opposed him.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
Okay, so to understand Machiavelli, we have to understand a little bit about his life and where he's coming from. So Machiavelli is born in Renaissance Italy in Florence to a family of pretty humble origins. They're not like poor, poor. They're not literally peasantry. But considering their class, which is, you know, the noble classes, the Machiavellis don't come from super wealthy circumstances.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
Huge prize. And this guy has been his intractable enemy. And rather than executing the Pope or throwing him into prison or exiling him, he caves at the last minute and allows the Pope to remain and loses everything. He says this was the wrong thing to do. You should have just killed the Pope. If you're going to be bad, be totally bad all at once.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
This is why Discourses on Lady was not published during his lifetime, okay? You can imagine how people would have received this advice. So be bad all at once. He also writes in the prints,
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
Those cruelties are well used if it is permitted to speak well of evil that are carried out in a single stroke done out of necessity to protect oneself and then are not continued, but are instead converted into the greatest possible benefits for the subjects. Those cruelties are badly used that, although few at the outset, increase with the passing of time instead of disappearing.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
Those who follow the first method can remedy their standing both with God and with men of the others cannot possibly maintain their positions. Okay. So in other words, do all your evil up front, execute everyone you have to do, be really harsh because then he says you can remedy your situation with God. Even you can repent later if you need to, and you can remedy your standing with the community.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
Um, but if you have to, if you're weak at front and then you have to keep doing these small little injustices, you know, people aren't going to like you. That's very bad. Okay. So So advice from Machiavelli, do your atrocities the right way, folks. You can quote me on that.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
But I think in a business context, that means, look, if you need to come in and you need to cut some spending and you need to fire some people and you do some things that aren't nice, do it all up front. Do it all at once. Cut deep. Don't, you know, fire some people. And then six months later, oh, we need more cutbacks. You know, fire some more people. Don't draw it out.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
If there's tough stuff to be done, do it all at once and do it at the beginning. Okay. Number four, be self-reliant. He constantly talks about the need for your own arms and not mercenaries. Something derived, of course, from experience in his own life. And there's probably a lesson there about contractors and outsourcing, right? In a business context.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
Princes can't outsource military and you can't outsource your key function because military, you know, war is the key responsibility of a prince during this time.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
So he writes in the prince, therefore, a prince must not have any other object nor any other thought, nor must he adopt anything as his art, but war, its institutions and its discipline, because that is the only art befitting one who commands. This discipline is of such efficacy and Okay. Um, I have like a thousand quotes here about mercenaries. I'll just share this one.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
You can see this in his education. He learns Italian and Latin, but he never learns ancient Greek, which is surprising for someone who ends up having such a scholarly influence on the world. Renaissance Florence was a chaotic place.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
In peacetime, you are plundered by them. In war, by your enemies. The reason for this is that they have no other love nor other motive to keep them in the field than a meager salary, which is not enough to make them want to die for you. They love being your soldiers when you are not waging war, but when more comes, they either flee or desert.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
This would require little effort to demonstrate since the present ruin of Italy is caused by nothing other than it's having relied on mercenary troops for a period of many years. Those kinds of soldiers therefore come only slow tardy and weak conquests, but sudden and astonishing losses. Okay. So. you need your key function to be your employees. You need actual oversight over them.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
Can't outsource it. Can't get contractors. And then you need them to not be mercenaries. Even when they're your employees, they have to actually believe in the cause. Otherwise, with people who don't really believe in what you're doing, you know, slow, tardy, and weak conquests, as he says, and sudden and astonishing losses. Okay. Number five, reward, merit, and initiative. Okay.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
This is a great one from Discourses on Livy. The Romans, as we explained above, were not only less grateful than other republics, but also more compassionate and respectful in the punishments of their army commanders than any other republic. Even if a commander's errors were committed out of malice, they punished him humanely.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
And if it was committed out of ignorance, they not only avoided punishing him, but they rewarded and honored him. Okay. So in other words, what he's saying is if a Roman commander just messed up, the Romans didn't care. They didn't punish him. They certainly didn't punish him severely.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
Um, and he goes on to say that, uh, unhindered by irrelevant matters and making decisions, uh, they did not wish to add to something already difficult and dangerous in itself, new difficulties and dangers, believing that if they did so no commander would ever be able to take skillful action.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
In other words, if I have to worry, not only about fighting a war, but I have to worry about how I'm perceived, am I going to be punished when I go home, then you're not gonna be able to fight effectively. And so the Roman commanders didn't have to worry about that. The British Navy actually took it even further. So the one admiral that the British executed, his name was Admiral John Bing.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
Internally, it bounced back and forth between, on the one hand, Republican governments, where all the noble families shared power and elected the magistrates, and then, on the other hand, ruled by the powerful Medici family and sort of a monarchical arrangement under the Medicis.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
And this is the height of the British Empire, right? This is the Navy that took over the world. And in that British Navy, the one thing you could be executed for, and this is the thing that Admiral Bing was executed for, was failing to engage the enemy. Failure in a daring enterprise, a raid, an attack that goes wrong, that was tolerated.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
And like the Romans, even at times celebrated, you know, oh, you didn't pull it off, but what a heroic attempt. But a failure of initiative, a failure to try, that could get you executed. Okay. And on this note, like, of course you want people in your organization, as I just said, who believe in it, who believe in your company, in your country, whatever.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
But Machiavelli tells us that it's not a bad thing to have men who are in it for their own benefit. He has a chapter titled, those who fight for their own glory are good and faithful soldiers. Okay. So you really want to reward merit and reward daring so that you have people who want to do it for their own sake. They know they're going to be rewarded. They're going to be recognized.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
They're going to get glory for doing something big and audacious. Okay. Takeaway number six is all out effort all at once. Machiavelli is always encouraging going all the way, whether that is in committing evil as we already established or in carrying out a war or throwing a revolution. He always wants to do it all the way or not at all.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
He says the middle path is the one that always ends in disaster. And so if you remember in the Isaac Newton episode, I talked about how one great sprint can change your life, working your guts out for just one condensed period of time. It gives you lift and helps you break through barriers that you otherwise can't get through when you're just working kind of slow and steady.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
And the same is true on an organizational level as well. Machiavelli talks about this in the context of Romans and how they conducted war. Okay. So we read in the discourses on Livy, anyone who desires to do all these things must follow the Roman style and method. This was first of all, to make wars short and massive.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
I love that description short and massive as the French say, because by fielding enormous armies, the Romans brought to a very swift conclusion, all the wars that they waged against the Latins, the Sam Knights and the Etruscans.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
If we take note of all those wars they fought from the beginning of Rome until the siege of they, we shall see that all of them were expedited, some in six days, others in 10 and still others in 20 days. Thus was their custom. As soon as war was declared, they marched forth against the enemy with their armies and immediately waged a decisive battle.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
So, you know, even if you're not a general, when you spot an opportunity or a threat, you want to devote all your resources that you can across your entire organization in every function and solve that problem as quickly as possible. Elon Musk is a great example of this. If you go read about, he does this both at SpaceX and at Tesla, but the first one that
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
They would still keep up the pretense of a Republican government under the Medici's, but this is essentially just a fig leaf to barely conceal the true nature of their rule over the city. Florence was a financial center in Italy. It was quite wealthy. And as such, it dominated many of the smaller city states in its region of Tuscany in Italy.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
couldn't, they just weren't manufacturing enough cars. The manufacturing process was broken. That was the big bottleneck. And so he puts the entire team on figuring out this manufacturing process and it became an imperative across the entire organization. Everyone was helping.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
And so I think this is a good metaphor for many organizations and many problems, short, massive wars that consume all of your attention and quickly solve the problem. I'll sum it up with this quote from Machiavelli about the opposite course of action. He says the Romans always avoided a middle course of action and turned to extreme measures.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
Weak states are always ambiguous in their decisions and slow decisions are always harmful. Okay. I like that. That is a good decision framework. Can your decision be described as extreme? Okay. The Romans always avoided a middle course of action and turned to extreme measures. Can your decision be described as extreme? If not, you might want to go back and rethink it.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
All right, number seven, have a bias toward moving quickly. The fastest course of action is usually the best one. Writing again of the Roman style of warfare, Machiavelli says, since all Romans were dedicated to war, they always waged it with every advantage, both with respect to expenses and with respect to every other thing.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
This gave rise to the fact that they avoided taking towns by siege because they thought that this method involved far more expense and inconvenience than the benefit they could derive from the acquisition. For this reason, they believed that it was better and more useful to subjugate cities by any other means than by laying siege to them. He goes on to describe the ways they do it.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
They could do it by usually all out assaults or great feats of engineering. They would build these ramparts. And it's true. You're always hearing these stories about the Romans that They never just besiege anyone. They always build these like crazy Rube Goldberg machines in order to take towns.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
You hear about Julius Caesar in Gaul and he's building these giant ramps and these walls and other walls. And so the main reason is they just didn't want anything to slow them down. And so you want to have a bias towards everything. ridiculous actions rather than slowing down. Again, this is something that makes me think of Elon Musk, the way he transports his rockets from Texas to Florida.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
I just mentioned this on another episode, but moving rockets was going to take a long time. The way that everyone else moves their rockets, which is by barge on sea, he just said it's going to take too long. And so they decided to drive them from Texas to Florida. The rockets are far too big to fit under overpasses. So they found out the world's most circuitous route
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
that goes on all back roads so they don't have to go under any underpasses because the rockets are so big. And they're driving 10 miles an hour the entire time. They drive through the whole night, but it's a little bit faster than shipping them by barge. And so that's what SpaceX does. So anyways, this is an example of kind of the Roman style.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
Florence had a Republican government when Machiavelli was born, but it was Medici dominated for most of his childhood and young adulthood. Zooming out to the global picture, the picture was also chaotic there.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
Rather than wait, we will go to wild lengths to make sure that we can just move quickly. So always have that bias there. towards doing the fastest thing, even if it requires massive effort and massive action. Number eight, never let your enemies linger.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
Okay, so he writes in the Prince, accordingly, with respect to the first example, every Prince should be warned that he will never live in security in his principality, as long as those whom he deprived of it are alive. With respect to the second example, every powerful man should be reminded that old injuries are never canceled by new benefits.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
And this is even less likely when the new benefit is less important than the old injury. Okay. This is a mistake. A lot of people make is they think, all right, I hurt this person. You know, maybe I'm coming in as CEO and this person thought he was going to get the promotion to CEO. And, uh, this is embarrassing for him, but I'll keep him around and we'll patch it up and make it work.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
And Machiavelli's viewpoint is no, that never works. he actually uses the phrase wipe out at least this is the way it's translated in my edition of the prince and so he says you either need to wipe out your enemies or leave them alone again no middle course he actually there's a caveat to this which is people who oppose you
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
you don't necessarily inflict any harm on them, but they oppose you because they think they have something to lose from you coming to power. So this could be the VP. You didn't do anything to him. He never thought he was going to be the CEO, but he was opposed to you being CEO because he thought that was going to hurt him somehow.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
Those kinds of people can become valuable allies because they work really hard to stay in your good graces because they thought they had something to lose. So he differentiates between people who opposed you and and people to whom you have done actual harm. People to whom you've actually done harm, you can't hurt someone and let them linger around.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
You got to totally wipe them out, fire them, get them out of your organization, get as far away from them as possible. People who merely opposed you, they can often turn and become allies. Okay. Number nine, you can be feared or loved, but never hated.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
There was no cohesive Italy and it was constantly the plaything of larger powers, especially the French, the Spanish, the Germans through the Holy Roman Empire and the papacy, the Pope, the Catholic Church. And so these different powers are constantly invading, seizing territory, extracting payments, setting up puppet governments, and otherwise just wreaking havoc on Italy.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
So he writes in Discourse on Livy, besides this, men are driven by two principal impulses, either by love or by fear, so that anyone who makes himself loved can command them just as easily as anyone who makes himself feared. On the contrary, anyone who makes himself feared is in most cases more readily followed and obeyed than anyone who makes himself loved.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
It matters very little, therefore, which of these two paths a commander takes as long as he is an extremely able man and this exceptional ability makes him esteemed among men. Then he writes in the prints, kind of going on the same theme from this arises an argument, whether it's better to be loved than to be feared.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
On the contrary, the answer is that one would like to be both than one or the other. But since it is difficult to be both together, it is much safer to be feared than to be loved. When one of the two must be lacking for one can generally say this about men. They are ungrateful, fickle simulators and deceivers, avoiders of danger and greedy for gain. Okay. Okay.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
So if you can be loved and feared difficult, not impossible. Um, but he kind of says, you know, as long as you're talented, either one is fine, but feared is safer, uh, than loved. However, he goes on a Prince must nevertheless make himself feared in such a way that he will avoid hatred. Even if he does not acquire love, since one can very easily be feared and yet not hated.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
And above all things, a Prince must guard himself against being despised and hated.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
And he actually, this is a good point too. He goes on to point out, quote, here one must note that hatred is acquired just as much through good actions as by sorry ones. So in other words, well-meaning but weak actions can also make you hate it. So you've got to watch out for that as well. Just having good intentions doesn't mean that you won't be hated.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
So I really like that, that you should try to be both loved and feared, but default towards making sure that people fear you. And that's true, not just in warfare and politics, but in business. I mean, you look at some of these great business leaders, Edison, Steve Jobs, like these people were feared in a certain way, but never be hated.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
You know, if you're capricious, if you are arbitrary, if you're vindictive, you're doing these things that really make people hate you. You want them to fear you because they know they have to be on their game when they're around you because you know yours and you're about performance and you're pushing people forward.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
He did hold office in the Republican government of his native city of Florence, but the real reason to study him is not for what he did, but for what he wrote. His book, The Prince, is one of the most famous books of all time. For hundreds of years, it has given rulers a playbook for seizing and maintaining power. So of course, I would want to study him on this podcast.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
That's the kind of fear you want to instill, not the kind of fear that is arbitrary and just makes people dislike you for the sake of it and hate you. So it's a good lesson. Loved, okay. Feared, necessary, but never hated. Okay. And my 10th lesson, and perhaps the most important one, Continue listening to How to Take Over the World. Okay.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
Because these are the kind of stories that Machiavelli loved. He writes in The Prince, As for study, the prince must read histories and in them consider the deeds of excellent men. He must see how they conducted themselves in wars. He must examine the reasons for their victories and for their defeats in order to avoid the latter and to imitate the former.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
Above all else, he must do as some eminent men before him have done. who elected to imitate someone else who had been praised and honored before them. And always keep in mind his deeds and actions, just as it is reported that Alexander the Great imitated Achilles, Caesar imitated Alexander, and Scipio imitated Cyrus. Okay?
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
It's like the whole thesis of this podcast is that you can just look at the lives of the great people who came before you and copy them 100%. Not enough people do this. They think they have to be some original in some way. Originality will come to you, but you can just... copy a playbook of a great person.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
Florence was an important power in Italy, but not strong enough to be truly independent, certainly not strong enough to stand up to any of the powers that we've just discussed. And so they mostly aligned themselves with the French to provide them with stability and military backing. That was especially true when they had Republican governments.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
If you're a founder, an entrepreneur, just copy the playbook of a great founder, entrepreneur. If you want to be a politician, just copy, just do exactly what someone else before you did. And that's exactly what he's saying. Study these lives. It's the most important thing that you can study. That's why I do this podcast. I just, I don't think anything is more important.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
That's why things like Plutarch's lives have been the Bible. of some of the greatest leaders of all of history for thousands of years now. Again, he writes in The Prince. And I like this because It can feel a little ridiculous sometimes studying these people who are so great. Like, okay, am I going to copy the playbook of Julius Caesar, of Genghis Khan, of Alexander the Great?
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
But here's what Machiavelli has to say about it and why he thinks we should study those stories. He says, no one should wonder if, in speaking of principalities that are completely new as to their ruler and form of government, I cite the greatest examples. It says,
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
He should do as those prudent archers do, who, aware of the strength of their bow when the target at which they are aiming seems too distant, set their sights much higher than the designated target, not in order to reach such a height with their arrow, but instead to be able, by aiming so high, to strike their target.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
Okay, so in other words, yeah, like, okay, you're probably not going to end up Julius Caesar, but if you aim for Julius Caesar... then you'll, you know, do as well as you can do, right? It's okay to set your expectations unrealistic. You know, shoot for the moon, you might catch a star, whatever they say.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
And then the last one on this point is a quote from the introduction to the prince when he is writing directly to Lorenzo de' Medici. He says... In most instances, it is customary for those who desire to win the favor of a prince to present themselves to him along with those things which they value most or which they feel will most please him.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
Thus, we often see princes given horses, arms, investments of gold cloth, precious stones, and similar ornaments suited to their greatness.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
Wishing therefore to offer myself to your magnificence with some evidence of my devotion to you, I have not found among my belongings anything that I might value more or prize so much as the knowledge of the deeds of great men that I have learned from a long experience in modern affairs and a continuous study of antiquity.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
And so that, that's why not only should you listen to how to take over the world, you should listen to founders. You should listen to cost of glory. You should read Plutarch. You should lead, read these biographies of the people that are most interesting to you because this is the most valuable thing that I can offer you. And one of the most valuable things in the world are these stories.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
Now, we know basically nothing about Machiavelli's early life. It wouldn't be Machiavelli if we didn't have some intrigue and some mystery, right? We do know what he looked like. We have some portraits, and this is a good description from a biography I read by Rodolfi, is the author's name. He says, "...in his person he was well-proportioned, of middle height, thin, erect, and bold in his bearing.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
They really Machiavelli was right. They do have the power to transform your life and catapult you forward. I, he really believed that. I really believe that. Okay, so there you go. Those were my top takeaways from Discourse on Livy, from The Prince. Now let's talk about Machiavelli. as a movement leader, how he actually took over the world.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
And there is a case to be made that he did because he was essentially a proto-nationalist. He advocated for a supreme state to which the church was subservient and not the other way around. He advocated for a return to Roman militaristic virtue. He advocated for nations that could rely on their own armed men rather than on mercenaries. In a nutshell, he advocated for the modern political world.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
And wouldn't you know, I mean, that's obviously what we got. Of course, now when I say modern, I don't actually mean contemporary. I don't mean current because we do live in a post-national moment. So if you're going to say that Machiavelli was the initial inspiration for modernity, you're really talking about the late 1700s up until 1945. That's kind of the world that Machiavelli created.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
And his apotheosis was arguably achieved through the person of Napoleon Bonaparte. who also loved Rome, was obsessed with it in much the same way that Machiavelli was. In fact, he was obsessed in particular with Julius Caesar. The first political entity that was set up by Napoleon was when he conquered Italy, and he sets up something called the Cisalpine Republic.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
which he called that because Caesar's first pro-consular province was Cisalpine Gaul. Cisalpine Gaul, Cisalpine Republic. Okay, so he's trying to copy Julius Caesar.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
He then invades Egypt, just as Caesar did, takes a mistress and sails down the Nile with her, as Caesar did, goes back and declares himself consul, like Caesar, adopts the imperial eagle, becomes emperor, dismisses his first wife, just like Caesar did. I mean, he's just, he's copying Caesar every step of the way. In fact, Most people don't know this.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
The last thing Napoleon was doing on the island of St. Helena when he died was he was writing a commentary on Caesar's campaigns. Okay. So like Machiavelli, Napoleon is obsessed with Rome. He embodies the old manly Roman virtues. Like Machiavelli, he's also Italian. He's conquest oriented. He makes the Catholic church subservient to the state in France, just as Machiavelli recommends.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
He uses many of Machiavelli's tactics in his conquests. So yeah, like Napoleon represents the world that Machiavelli imagined. Now I should mention that while Napoleon definitely read Machiavelli and admitted as much, he never publicly claimed Machiavelli as an influence. because that would have been political suicide, right?
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
Uh, people already suspected him of being rapacious of, you know, uh, being too focused on conquest of lying and, and, uh, causing unnecessary bloodshed, a warmonger, right? So, um, Napoleon never admits that he's influenced by Machiavelli. There are some who are close to him, though, that said that Napoleon admitted to them that he was his favorite writer.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
His hair was black, his skin pale, but slightly sallow. His head was small, with bony features, and a high forehead." Okay, so that's what he looks like. Again, we know nothing really about his childhood.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
that may or may not be true because it's unclear. These, these are people, um, who were close to Napoleon and then eventually turned on him. And it's unclear to me, maybe they were just trying to slander Napoleon, um, by, by saying that he was obsessed with Machiavelli, read him obsessively and tried to follow all of his tactics. Um,
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
But, you know, whether it is directly, you know, the influence from Machiavelli to Napoleon or whether it kind of came through his intellectual tradition, the influence is definitely there. So how does Machiavelli establish this school of thought that comes to be so influential that it kind of establishes the modern world?
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
Well, let's say that you wanted to start a political or philosophical movement that outlives you, that inspires the future, that brings something around. What would you do? What can we learn from this? Number one, be exciting, be edgy. There are actually times when Machiavelli calls out princes for being too evil, too bad, doing things that are beyond the pale, too much.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
And so, you know, he doesn't have to include these sentences that say, you know, be bad. It's okay to lie and dissimulate. It's okay to deceive. It's okay to wipe out the bloodline of opponents. There could have been softer and more acceptable ways to say many of the things that he said. He is obviously, to me, courting controversy.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
He wants the writing to be edgy and to make you feel uncomfortable because that's what makes it exciting. That's what makes it feel taboo. And all of a sudden you're like, whoa, you're looking around like, I can't believe I'm reading this and it's exciting and therefore you want to share it and it makes it go viral. It reminds me of Curtis Yarvin, America's leading monarchist, okay?
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
And he calls himself America's leading monarchist. And he kind of has. And so he's been very, very influential. And he has kind of two ways of talking about his philosophy. So Curtis Yarvin, someone alive right now, has been writing for the last 20 years. And he thinks that America needs more monarchy.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
That it was a big mistake for America to become a democratic republic and monarchy actually is what works. It's what works for every Fortune 500 company and it would work for America, for any country. Monarchy is the best system of government. I'm not saying I agree with this. This is Curtis Yarvin's philosophy. And you hear him talk about it in two ways. In one, you know, or three ways.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
Monarchy is kind of the standard moniker. Sometimes he will come out and say, America needs a dictatorship. That's what we're talking about here, a radical dictatorship. Then other times, you know, like he's getting interviewed by the New York Times and he says, look, all I mean by this is America needs a national CEO. OK, someone who's fully in charge of the government that can be a president.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
And then when he is 29 years old, so we know basically nothing until he's 29, but when he's 29, the Medici's are overthrown and a new Republican government is installed and he is elected to one of the top positions.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
It doesn't have to be a hereditary monarch. You know, we need a president right now who's president in the same way that Abraham Lincoln was and George Washington and FDR. OK, these were people who were fully in charge of the American government. That's what we need today. OK, that that sounds way less scary. Right. So, and look, you can see how it's not like he has to be lying either way.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
He can be talking about the same thing. This is just two different ways of portraying it. One public facing, one private facing. But my contention is if Curtis Yarvin only spoke about. national CEO in this more family-friendly PR speak, oh, we just need a national CEO. Isn't this nice? This is non-threatening. Then his movement never would have got off the ground.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
And by the way, it is ascendant right now. It's called neo-reaction is what he calls his movement. And JD Vance is obviously a fan of Curtis Yarvin, as well as I'd be shocked if Elon Musk hasn't read Curtis Yarvin. Everyone in Silicon Valley has read him, Mark Andreessen, Peter Thiel. His philosophy has, in a very short amount of time, gained an incredible amount of influence.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
And it's because of this, because you read it and you're looking around like, oh, is anyone else reading this over my shoulder? I can't believe I'm reading this. And that makes it exciting. It makes it viral, makes it shareable. And that's what Machiavelli is doing. He is intentionally you know, making his work as controversial as possible. That's what Jesus did as well, by the way.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
His ideas were often expressed in the most in-your-face controversial way possible. The first shall be last, the last shall be first. If any man come to me and hate not his father and mother and wife and children and brethren and sister, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. That's a quote from Jesus. Is there a better way to say that if you want to be unthreatening?
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
One biographer jokes that, quote, at the age of 29, so totally unknown that up to then there is not the slightest trace or mention of him either in chronicles or in private or public documents. Machiavelli issued forth like a figure in a myth, fully grown and armed from the bosom of his people. OK, so 29 years, nothing. And then all of a sudden, he's a very important figure in Florence.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
Yes, of course. Jesus could have said, look, you need to leave everything behind and follow me. All right. Saying the same thing, but doesn't sound nearly as scary, but he's saying, no, you have to leave your mother and your father. You have to hate them. You have to hate yourself and come follow me. Clearly he's trying to be provocative.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
And the message that's provocative is, is the reason that Christianity took over the world. Okay. Okay. So there you go. Number one, be exciting, be taboo, be Jesus, be Machiavelli, be Marx, be Curtis Yarvin, be controversial. Number two, be succinct. Discourses on Livy is really good. In some ways, it's better than The Prince, in some ways.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
But The Prince is the more famous of Machiavelli's works, in part because it is so short and easy to read. It's really easy to grasp. It's very memorable. And it's okay to have larger explanations in the background for people who want to learn more, but you need to give people something short, punchy, and memorable that they can latch onto and share.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
You can think of this like Karl Marx, another great movement leader, whatever you think of what's come of his movement or even how it started. But he has Das Kapital, which is dense and difficult to read and no one reads it. But he's got the Communist Manifesto and that went super viral because it's very short and succinct and it's easy to spread and digest. And so that worked for Karl Marx.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
It worked for Machiavelli, too. A part of what makes the prince so famous, so viral is how short and digestible it is. And then number three, don't worry about the masses Machiavelli. Didn't publish the Prince or the discourses on Libby during his lifetime at this point. Yes. The Prince is a mainstream hit. It has sold tens of millions of copies, but Only nerds like me have ever actually read it.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
And most of those who do read it don't understand it. And that's fine. Who cares? It took over the world without people realizing that it was doing so. Machiavelli in his lifetime only circulated it in the literary circles of Florence.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
And in some ways I think it's inaccessibility might have made it more scintillating because you knew that this is something that appealed to people like you, people of high status, intellectuals, people who get it, right? And so you need to focus on a message, not that has the broadest appeal,
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
but that has a strong attraction, a really strong appeal to the right people, to the influence makers, to the people who can spread it and get it into more hands. And so it's not how many people are influenced by it directly. It's how many people are influenced by it indirectly via that vanguard who gets it and keeps the message alive. Okay. Okay. So there you go. That is the framework.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
If you have an idea, a philosophy, a movement that you want to outlive you and go big, number one, make it controversial. Number two, give the people something that is short and punchy and digestible. And number three, get it in the hands of not the most people, but the right people and create that subculture.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
You know, talking about this right now actually reminds me of the book of Revelation in the Why? Because the book of Revelation, the word in Greek is apocalypse. Apocalypse? What's the original? Apocalypsis. Apocalypse. And apocalypse, we think the apocalypse means the end of the world, right? But apocalypse actually means, it means an unveiling. An unveiling.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
We assume that, you know, sometime in the previous 29 years, he must have been active in Republican intellectual circles and must have had some powerful patron. But again, this being Machiavelli, we can only guess who that patron might have been. The great project of the Florentine state at that time was to conquer the nearby city state of Pisa.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
Because, yeah, in the book of Revelation, in the apocalypse, The end of the world and all these hidden things are revealed to you. And I think that feeling of unveiling, that is such a powerful feeling. That is the feeling that Machiavelli gives you. You read this and you're like, whoa, the scales have fallen off my eyes.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
I finally understand what's going on and how these people operate and the tricks that they're playing on the world, right?
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
uh and you know you get that same feeling that you get from like uh steve jobs uh product announcement when he does he literally right he pulls back the curtain he shows you the thing and then the whole world changes i think that feeling that unveiling wow now i see now i understand there's so much power in that and i think that anyone who teaches
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
should do that even teaching simple things even teaching like middle school geometry i mean think about it a couple thousand years ago a few hundred years ago this is a blink of an eye you know cosmically speaking To know and understand things that a middle schooler learns in geometry class would have been world changing knowledge. Right.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
And so like even as a middle school history, geometry, English teacher, you can create that feeling of. I am going to unveil this new, exciting truth to you. This thing that is going to set your soul on fire and excite you. And yeah, that's how you teach. And ultimately, you can't lead if you can't teach. So every teaching moment should be an apocalypse.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
It should excite your audience and feel that you're unveiling something very important and valuable and exciting. I think that is how you take over the world Machiavelli style. All right. That does it for the free version. If you're joining us for the first time on these episodes, I go through their whole life. I do my main lessons and this is all free in the podcast on the YouTube.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
However, there is a premium version where I have even more takeaways. I have some end notes, some other commentaries on the rest of their life. So for example, in this one, I'm going to talk more about what kind of person Machiavelli was, get more into his personality, because I found him absolutely captivating, fun, interesting.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
And then I'll go through some takeaways, some more of the lessons that he gives in The Prince and Discourses on Livy of how to be a better leader.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
And then I'll also go through some end notes and then I'll end talking more about my own dreams of continuing that project of Machiavelli's of resurrecting Rome and the Roman spirit and what that could look like today, how we could possibly revive Rome, literally rebuild it and kind of how it could conquer the world once again.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
And so they've been trying to do this for a number of years. Florence mostly doesn't have an army, so that's making it difficult. So they use a combination of assistance from the French, who, as you'll remember, they're aligned with, and then mostly mercenaries. And so just after Machiavelli comes to power, they are once again attacking Pisa and trying to take it over.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
So if you're interested in hearing all that, go subscribe at takeoverpod.supercast.com. Or if you're listening right now on Apple Podcasts, you can subscribe there. For the rest of you who are tuning out now, until next time, thank you for listening to How to Take Over the World. Oh, and before you go, before you go, this episode is brought to you by Speechify.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
Speechify turns anything into a podcast. I use it a ton. I used it for the research for this book. So yeah, I had an old copy of The Prince and I put it into Speechify. And so I would just listen and read at the same time on my phone through Speechify. And then every time that there was a quote I wanted to remember, I just took a screenshot and dropped that into my notes app.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
So it's a great way you can get through more material. You can read faster when you read and listen at the same time while still maintaining a super high level of comprehension. Great leaders, great conquerors, great scientists, great artists, great founders. They all are obsessed with with taking in more information, learning more as quickly as they can.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
And Speechify is just a fantastic tool for learning more, learning faster. So go to speechify.com slash Ben to get a 15% discount on Speechify Premium. You won't regret it.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
And he actually goes and he is one of the people who oversees this operation. And so he's overseeing all of these mercenaries and they've got these big cannons and they blow apart the walls of Pisa. And so it should be really easy to go in. The problem is once the walls are down, the first men through the walls are
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
are probably gonna die right uh the defenders are gonna be right there behind the walls and yeah at that point it's easy to take over pisa but some people are gonna have to die in actually going through the walls and and now taking it over but these guys are mercenaries and they don't really care like they're not gonna die for florence they don't care about florence they're not florentine these are guys just getting a paycheck
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
The show is called How to Take Over the World. He basically wrote a handbook on exactly that, on taking over the world. Of course, there is a dark side to Machiavelli's reputation. He is known as someone who was ruthless, dishonest, violent, bent on the pursuit of power at any cost. And that reputation is not completely unearned.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
And so they say no. When it comes time to actually take over Pisa, they say no. And they actually say, actually, now that we think about it, you haven't paid us everything that we think we're owed. And so we're not going to do it. In fact, we're going to take some of these people like Machiavelli hostage who are overseeing us from Florence.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
Machiavelli himself doesn't get taken hostage, but a couple of guys that he's associated with do. And the Florentines have to buy them off, pay a ransom to get these guys back. And then the mercenaries leave and Pisa is never taken. It's like they hired Walmart to take over the city. And at first they're very professional. They're like, yeah, job to do. We'll do it.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
But then when it comes time to die for this cause, they're like... No, we're just Walmart. We're just some employees. Do you think we're going to die for this? No way. And so the invasion of Pisa just totally falls apart. This is a traumatizing event for Machiavelli. He hated, probably before then, but especially since then, he hated mercenaries. He hated to deal with them.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
He hated that Florence had to rely on them. And so in his writings, he would always advocate for strength of arms for any prince that they would actually have their own army that they could control.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
So as a high ranking official for Florence, he's then sent to the French to complain about this and say, hey, you know, your guys were here with these mercenaries and they didn't do anything to help us take over Pisa when you said they would. And the French basically blow him off. They're like, yeah, it sounds like a you problem. So you figure it out.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
And that is basically Machiavelli's life for the next 14 years. He's in high stakes negotiations with often the French, sometimes with the papacy, sometimes with other city states in Italy, and often with mercenaries. Because it wasn't just as simple as hiring them. Like if there was a war between Florence and let's say Bologna or Siena,
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
Then you would go out and try and hire these mercenaries, but the other guys are trying to hire the mercenaries too. Right. And the mercenaries money's part of it, the highest bidder, but it's also part, you know, who do we think is going to win? Do we think you're actually gonna be able to come through on the payments, all this stuff.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
And so he's in these negotiations with all these other powers and all these mercenaries for the next 14 years of his life. Most famously, he's an ambassador to a warlord named Cesare Borgia. And Borja is this really interesting, colorful figure. He is extremely Machiavellian, both in the way he acts and, you know, we think of Machiavellian as meaning deceitful, power hungry, all this stuff.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
But also, I mean, Machiavelli advised him. Machiavelli often writes about him in the prints. So he's strongly associated with Machiavelli. So this guy, Cesare Borgia, his father was the Pope. And so, you know, it's a different time. And so the Pope is giving him the backing of the church to carve out his own little kingdom in central Italy.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
Borgia doesn't actually conquer the Florentines, but he intimidates them, forces them to back him and supply him with money, with tribute. And so Machiavelli is sent to be an ambassador to Cesare Borgia, and they quickly strike up a friendship, and Machiavelli acts as an informal advisor and a sounding board for Borgia.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
So for example, we read in The Prince, to possess them, he's talking about your territories, securely, it is sufficient only to have wiped out the family line of the prince who ruled them. Because so far as other things are concerned, men live peacefully as long as their old way of life is maintained and there is no change in customs.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
And by the way, the other notable person that the Florentines send to Borgia is Leonardo da Vinci, who acts as an advisor in military engineering projects. And so da Vinci and Machiavelli strike up a friendship. It's impossible to say how close they actually become. But we have some letters between the two of them after this time in which Machiavelli helps Da Vinci transact some business.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
So they did at least maintain some sort of relationship going forward. And so I have to believe that at least on some level, they recognized the genius in one another. I just this is one of these times in history. I just would love to be a fly on the wall to hear Borgia and Machiavelli and Da Vinci talking. What did they talk about?
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
You know, three of the greatest minds of their generation altogether. It's very intriguing to me. So Borgia is used as an example quite often in The Prince and mostly in a positive way.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
For example, Machiavelli writes, quote, he did everything and used every method that a prudent and virtuous man ought to employ in order to root himself securely in those states that the arms and fortune of others had granted him. If therefore we consider all the Duke's achievements, we shall see that he laid sturdy foundations for his future power.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
Okay, so he has good things to say about Cesare Borgia. So what was this guy like that Machiavelli respected him so much? You wouldn't call him the best guy, right? In one famous incident, there are some mercenary leaders who plot against him. The plot is uncovered and Borgia says, look, I get it. You know, you thought you could get one over on me, but you didn't. I forgive you. Let's reconcile.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
So he says he wants to reconcile with them. He invites them to dinner. And then once they come to dinner with him, he has them all seized and strangled to death. He also famously has a lieutenant named Ramiro d'Orco. And he has d'Orco pacify the region of Romania. And so under Borgia's direction, d'Orco mercilessly, he tortures people. He extracts a ton of wealth. He heavily taxes them.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
He massacres people. He just totally represses the local inhabitants who might object to Borgia's rule. It's completely ruthless, but it's very effective. Completely pacifies Romania. However, now they've got a problem, which is, yeah, the people are pacified, but they hate these guys.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
And so once the orco is done doing only the things that Borgia has told him to do, Borgia comes around and says, well, this guy's been acting like a tyrant. I can't believe that he would treat you people like this. I can't believe the stuff he's been doing. And so he has the orco seized and executed his head displayed on a pike. Okay. So like this is completely deceitful, right?
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
OK, so he speaks very casually about wiping out an entire family line. Presumably that includes children as well. Right. Or another quote from the prince. One must understand this.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
And you would call it wrong. You'd probably call it wrong. And this is exactly the kind of ruler that we think of when we say Machiavellian. And clearly what we think of as Machiavellian, you know, I said at the beginning, maybe we have a wrong impression of Machiavelli, but at least somewhat it's rooted in fact, right?
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
Because Machiavelli personally liked Borgia, advised him and praised him in writing. And this is the kind of stuff that he's doing. So that's two years he's with Cesare Borgia, but that's not his primary aim is not to promote Borgia. His primary aim is to promote Florence. So after he leaves Borgia's court, he goes back to Florence where he continues to serve in the government.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
His biggest, splashiest, most notable accomplishment is to establish a local Florentine army, a militia, like I said. He hated mercenaries. And so with this homegrown army, he does what mercenaries were not able to do. He conquers Pisa. They kind of go through the same thing once again. They go back. They bring some cannons. They knock down the walls of Pisa.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
But this time, with the soldiers of Florence doing it for the glory of their city, they charge in and they take Pisa. And this is the zenith of Machiavelli's public career. He's on top of the world. His quest to have a native Florentine army, when he proposes it, it seems odd. It seems quixotic. It was unexpected. Hiring mercenaries is just what you did in Renaissance Italy.
How to Take Over the World
Niccolo Machiavelli
Many people were very skeptical of this initiative. But then by accomplishing what mercenaries could not with this conquest, it was a complete vindication for Machiavelli. Like when he proposed it, everyone's like, you're crazy. He somehow gets it through anyways, and it totally pays off. When it pays off, when they take Pisa, listen to what his friends wrote to him. Agostino Vespucci.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
And together they start a corporation at first called Land Wheelwright, but this is the corporation that goes on to become Polaroid. Before we get into the history of Polaroid, I want to take a second to tell you about Van Man. They make all natural products that I use every day, like lotion and deodorant, and it is the best stuff. I love it. Completely all natural food grade ingredients.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
After one demonstration of a new technology, one questioner repeatedly questioned the marketability of his new invention. Land snapped back at him. He said that this obsession with money needed to end. Quote, put an end to this phony nonsense of industrial structure. It turns off young people. The only thing that matters is the bottom line. What a presumptuous thing to say.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
So let's take, for example, their beef tallow and honey bomb. I live in the desert, so I use it every day to moisturize my face and my hands. And the ingredients for it are all stuff that you know and trust. Beef tallow, honey, olive oil, essential oils, like stuff you can get behind.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
Whereas if you go and you look at some of these synthetic lotions, even the ones that say they're all natural, they have all of these chemicals that you can't even pronounce. And that's not the kind of stuff that I want ending up in my body. And look, everything that you put on your skin ends up in your bloodstream. Multiple studies are now showing that.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
And so I use Van Man for their moisturizer, for their deodorant, for their lip balm. I use basically all their products. So you'll love it. Go to vanman.shop and use code TAKEOVER10 for 10% off. You won't regret it. So Land and Wheelwright set out to produce polarized materials with their new corporation. Land has the vision and the technical expertise and Wheelwright has some technical knowledge.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
I mean, he was studying physics and was a graduate student at Harvard. So yeah, like he knows physics, but he's not as deep into optics as Land is. He doesn't know as much, but what he does have is a little more business experience and some money. He had come from a wealthy family. His family had actually lost all of their money, but Wheelwright was a savvy businessman.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
He had started a little side hustle himself, and he had a nice little nest egg from it. So they go into business together. The big thing they think they can use it for is on automobile windshields to reduce the glare from other people's headlights. And they also have things in mind like 3D movies and color television. So that's what they have their mind towards.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
But those are going to take some time. They have to convince these big car companies and film companies, in the case of 3D movies, to actually use and implement the technology. They can't just go out and do it themselves. And in the meantime, they find a fast, immediate use in creating polarized lenses for sunglasses and creating filters for cameras.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
So they're selling their technology to American Optical, which is the big manufacturer of sunglasses, and to Kodak for the camera filters. Kodak agrees to a contract for $10,000. They say, okay, this technology looks great. You've demonstrated it. Can you produce it? And they say, yeah, we can produce it. So they get a contract for $10,000. The only problem is they think they can produce it.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
They have no idea. They've never produced this stuff at scale. And so they've sold the contract and now they have to actually go out and fulfill. The book Insisting on Obsession has a really good account of what happens next. Quote, It goes on, a marathon effort to produce continuous sheeting began one Christmas Eve and did not end until January 11th.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
The bottom line's in heaven. The real business of business is building things. So today we are talking about Edwin Land, the founder of Polaroid and a great man, a man who saw the beauty and adventure of building new things. Welcome to How to Take Over the World.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
Their machine was working, making continuous sheeting, not wide, but making it. Meanwhile, according to Wheelwright, Din was on the floor sort of crying and working with something, not doing very well. Land asked Wheelwright, George, what is the matter? My wife has gone home and your wife has gone home. All the help has gone home and we're not getting anywhere. They agreed to go home.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
okay so they're working so hard edwin land is kind of curled up on the floor like crying because not everything is working perfectly land himself also has a great description of this time he says we had air mattresses on the floor in the lab and had food sent in and after working for 20 or 40 hours a man would fall down and we would slip a mattress under him as he fell
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
Okay, so they're working so hard. They're having mental breakdowns, crying on the floor of their workshop. They're passing out and just slipping mattresses under people so they don't hit the floor. Like that is the level of obsessive effort they're putting into this to get it off the ground. But of course they figure it out and they deliver the product on time to Kodak.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
At this time, they are staffing up and hiring. Lan learns that he doesn't like working with experts at all. He prefers to work with young, scrappy, smart people, a lot of recent graduates. Quoting again, it says, even then his rule was that if you're doing something new, you shouldn't work near experts.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
The onlookers might have had something to contribute, but they also could have come up with a lot of bad ideas and obstructed things. One of the great themes I picked up from the life of Edwin Land is the power of just naive optimism, unrelenting belief that something will happen, will work. He was full of this cultivated naivete and brimming with the complete assurance that they can do it.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
They can realize their dreams. They can invent what needs to be invented. A future Polaroid executive named William McCune said of him, one thing about land, when he is doing something wild and risky, he is careful to insulate himself from anyone who's critical. It's very easy in the early stages to have a dream exploded. He's very persistent and he's protective of his persistence.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
If somebody wants to come around, wants to tell him why it won't work, if he perceives that simply as discouragement of himself, he will throw him out. So he is using this unrelenting, naive optimism and all-out focus to drive the company forward. Another technique he uses is show-don't-tell marketing. So for example, he uses the old fishing trick to sell the president of American Optical.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
He brings him into a room with a bowl of water next to a window. Imagine this conference room, there's a window, and there's this massive salad bowl next to the window. And he asks the president of American Optical to look at the bull and tells him what he sees. And the answer is nothing. Just glare off the surface. Then he brings out a sheet of polarized film for the president to look through.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
And then he looks through this polarized sheet and he sees that there are actually fish swimming around in this bull. And this little trick convinces American Optical to partner with Polaroid on developing polarized lenses for some sunglasses. So after they land these two contracts with Kodak and American Optical, this is when they change from Land Wheelwright to Polaroid Corporation.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
They bring in some outside capital and really professionalize. One of the early investors they bring in is Louis Strauss, the great Jewish American entrepreneur, who is, I think, unfairly made out to be the bad guy in the movie Oppenheimer. But I just think it's interesting the link between those two. They begin doing public demonstrations to popularize the benefits of polarizers.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
And the company really starts taking off, mostly through their contract with Kodak. Unfortunately, at this time, Wheelwright leaves the company. The bankers who they had received investment from want them to have professional management, you know, adults in the room. So they bring in a Rockefeller man to run things. And so this leaves Wheelwright in an awkward position.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
He had been the business guy, right? Edwin Land was really the inventor and Wheelwright was someone who was technical enough to understand what they were doing, but he was more the businessman. And, um, so he voluntarily decides to leave the company. He doesn't want to be a burden on what they're doing on land. And he's starting to feel just like an anger, the company.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
And so he talks to land about this and, uh, in land tearfully begs him to stay. They were very good friends as well as close associates, but wheelwright doesn't want to be a burden. And so he voluntarily sells his shares, leaves and moves to the West coast where he And they would continue to be close.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
And Wheelwright was always happy for the success that Edwin Land had, even though it didn't include him. The only lesson there, I think, is that there are a few things in this world more valuable than genuine friends who have your best interests at heart. And that is what George Wheelwright was. He really believed in Land and believed that what they were working on together
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
was bigger than him and his personal financial success. And kudos to George Wheelwright. What an amazing guy. Okay. Now with a successful business and real revenue, Polaroid makes a big push to move beyond just these camera filters and these lenses for sunglasses. They want to move into what they think is a much bigger market, which is automobiles.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
Headlight glare was a big problem and could cause accidents at night. And the idea was that you could put big headlights on cars that fully illuminate the road for hundreds of yards ahead, and every car will have a polarizing filter on the windshield so that they aren't blinded by these headlights, these massive headlights from other companies.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
However, if you think about it, there's a chicken and egg problem. What about, you can start rolling this out, what about the old cars that don't have polarized windshields? They're just going to be getting blasted by these massive lights. And so despite some very earnest initial interest, nothing ever comes of the proposed partnership with car manufacturers.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
Instead, what the car manufacturers decide to do is what we have now, which is a system of low beams and high beams, really bright lights, but also dimmer lights that you can turn on and off if you're passing a car. Land really thinks this is a subpar solution and is very disappointed with the car companies. He says to a group of employees, intelligent men in groups are, as a rule, stupid.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
Hello, and welcome to How to Take Over the World. This is Ben Wilson. Today, we are talking about Edwin Land, the great scientist, inventor, and entrepreneur. I came to learn about Edwin Land because he was one of the major heroes of Steve Jobs. Steve actually said that he is the ideal that most people should pursue. He said, speaking of Land, quote, "'The man is a national treasure.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
And the very intelligent men in the automobile industry were fantastically and simply stupid.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
individually you will find no brighter people i've sat with them they are delightful bright alert responsive share the same ideals that we do helpless to do anything decent in the group okay the same thing basically happens with 3d movies they actually do shoot some movies in 3d and they use polarized glasses to create 3d effects similar to a 3d movie today that that's what you have you know you throw on those goofy glasses
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
Those are little polarized screens. If you went and saw Avatar or something like that, it's basically the same 3D technology they had all the way back in the 1940s and 50s. But there were just too many difficulties in getting the projectionists to show the films the right way. And so the idea is basically scrapped by the film companies.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
At that point, Land vows that he's never going to allow himself to be middleman like this again. He wants to create a product that he can sell directly to consumers so he doesn't have to rely on these big corporations where he says, you know, you get these intelligent men that are stupid as a group. So the next evolution for Polaroid is something totally unexpected. And that is World War II.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
Even before Pearl Harbor, Land sees what's coming and moves the company to wartime footing and starts manufacturing war equipment. He immediately starts experimenting with products that could be of use to the American military. An employee from this time says of Land, the man is a whirlwind. He has about three ideas a minute and about two of them managed to get tried and tested.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
Okay, so he's just brimming with all these ideas of stuff that might be helpful to the war effort. And many of them turn out to not be very helpful at all. They're kind of impractical. But many others do turn out to be very helpful. The biggest innovation are these goggles for anti-aircraft gunners.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
So imagine you're on an anti-aircraft gun and you're trying to shoot down German planes flying over London. And you're blasting away when all of a sudden they fly right next to the sun. And now you're looking up and you're blinded and you have to stop shooting. And this actually was a major tactic for World War II pilots to attack with the sun behind you to blind your opponent.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
Well, land comes up with these goggles that have adjustable polarization so that if you're shooting at a plane that is next to the sun, you can turn a knob, get polarization, and continue tracking the enemy aircraft right next to the sun. And so this is super helpful to the British during the Blitz and especially their anti-aircraft gunners.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
And this is the kind of thing that is, you know, you'd expect that from land, right? He's working on polarization, polarized goggles, makes a lot of sense. But he's also working on stuff that you would not expect at all. He helps oversee the development of synthetic quinine, an important anti-malarial drug for troops fighting in tropical areas, and the development of heat homing bombs.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
"'I don't understand why people like that "'can't be held up as models. "'That is the most incredible thing to be. "'Not an astronaut, not a football player, but this.'" So I thought, if Steve thinks he is so great, then he's worth learning about. And sure enough, I loved this story. And I learned so much from it.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
Okay, these are bombs that use heat to find their target and blow them up. So he's developing all this stuff. It's not just polarized goggles. They have lots of other polarized stuff and small inventions that they're producing manufacturing. World War II is a huge boon for Polaroid. They revenue more than 10Xs, but they don't make any more profit than they were before.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
Land kept profit capped during World War II because he was a patriot. He wanted to help the allies win the war, and he recoiled at the idea of being a war profiteer. And for that same reason, he lets all their wartime contracts expire at the end of the war. Polaroid, if they had wanted to, could have become a major government contractor.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
They could have kept the revenue going, you know, because the Cold War starts basically right after World War II. But he was personally opposed to making money off war during peacetime. And he didn't see that as part of his long-term vision for himself or for Polaroid.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
And look, Polaroid, I mean, they could have done this and stayed a very profitable company and been a very successful government contractor. It manufactured all sorts of things for the American military during the Cold War. But look, Polaroid would have missed its destiny as the instant photography giant that it eventually became if land had become a government contractor.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
I think this speaks to the importance of consistency of vision. and not being distracted by other opportunities, even if they're good opportunities. It reminds me of Julius Caesar when he returns from Spain and has an opportunity to celebrate a triumph, which is a huge honor for any Roman.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
It's such a big deal that as you're celebrating this triumph, they have a slave who stands behind you in the chariot and just whispers in your ear, remember, you are mortal because Because it's such an amazing celebration that you could be tempted to forget that you're immortal and think that you're a god. Okay? This is the honor that anyone would aspire to as the pinnacle of their career.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
However, Julius Caesar wanted to be the greatest man in Rome. And part of that meant that he needed to be consul. It was the highest position you could hold in Roman government. And he had not been consul yet. And so he comes back from his military service in Spain. They have approved a triumph for him, but he also wants to run for consul.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
And there's a conflict there, which is if he wants to celebrate a triumph, he can't enter the city walls, can't come inside the city gates until the triumph is ready to be celebrated. As soon as you enter the city gates, you forfeit the ability to celebrate a triumph. At the same time, if he wants to run for consul, he has to actually physically stand for office inside the city. Okay.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
So if he goes in to run for consul, he's going to forfeit his triumph. If he waits to celebrate his triumph, he's not gonna be able to run for consul. And. He knows his vision, which is to be the greatest man in Rome. And if he's going to be the greatest man in Rome, his story does not end here with a celebration of this triumph. So he petitions the Roman Senate, can I do both?
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
For this episode, I used the very thorough biography, Insisting on the Impossible, The Life of Edwin Land by Victor McElhenney, which I highly recommend. Great book. A little hard to find, but if you can get it, a really, really inspiring biography. So let's get into it. This is The Life of Edwin Land. But first, a word from our sponsor, Gaines in Bulk.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
Can I run in absentia while I wait outside the city gates? And they vote on it and they say no. The second he hears that he can't do that, he marches through the city gates, forfeits his triumph, runs for consul, wins, and the rest is history. He becomes Julius Caesar.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
The point is he gives up an exciting opportunity celebrating this triumph in order to continue going down the road of his ultimate vision. It also reminds me of a story about Arnold Schwarzenegger. He moves to America and his goal is to become a major A-list actor. And he keeps swinging and striking out on all these opportunities to act because he's got this Austrian accent, right?
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
And he's working out. He's actually laying bricks just to make ends meet. And he's given the opportunity to be the CEO of a major gym chain. Jack LaLanne has this chain of gyms and he wants Arnold to come be his CEO. And that's going to come with a lot of money, a huge salary. And, you know, he's barely scraping by and he says no. Why does he say no?
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
Because that's not a part of his long-term vision. And so of course he waits and eventually he is able to get the roles that he wants and becomes a great actor. And so if you settle for these lesser opportunities, then you miss out on your ultimate destiny.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
So you have to stick to that vision, even when it means saying no to great opportunities that don't necessarily align with what you're trying to do.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
Okay, well, it is shortly after he has made this decision to wind down their war contracting business that Land is on vacation in Santa Fe, and he's trying to think of a killer consumer product they can develop that will keep all these people employed that they hired during World War II. This is the story I told at the beginning.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
He takes a photo of his daughter, and she asks him why she can't see it now. And by the time he's done with his walk, he has the basic outline in his mind for an instant camera. It takes three years to develop, and in 1947, he reveals to the public the Land Instinct camera. Now, this isn't a Polaroid camera like we think of today. It isn't portable. It's mostly used for portraits.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
It's sepia tone, and you have to let it sit for a minute and then peel off like a little sheet of paper and to reveal the photograph underneath. Even so, it's a total revolution. You no longer have to take your negatives to a film store and let them develop it and wait days to get a photograph. You can see the picture you have taken right there at your home.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
When he makes the first public demonstration, people are ecstatic. They're thrilled. One professional photographer who sees the first demonstration says, well, that finishes us. Me, I'm going back to the farm. What's interesting about the land camera is that it needs dozens of new innovations in order to work. And any one of these innovations could have been profitable on their own.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
They could have just sold the film or the solution or the casing or any one of these little innovations they have to do and been pretty successful with it, right? They could have just licensed the technology to Kodak or whatever. But according to Land, combining them all together into a single product was the source of the magic. He said, quote, Okay. First of all, I love that.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
I had to do what had never been done. And I find it really interesting. That it's easier, you know, combining all these innovations into a single product actually makes innovation easier. They rely on one another and they strengthen one another. The other point that Land makes about this innovation is that it starts with a need and not with a product, okay?
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
He said, quote, if you sense a deep human need, then you go back to all the basic science. If there is some missing, then you try to do more basic science and applied science until you get it. So you make the system to fulfill that need rather than starting the other way around, where you have something and wonder what to do with it.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
Gaines has really great products across the board. There is only one supplement I take every day, and that is their Instantized Creatine. It is the only creatine that you can find that is fully water-soluble. So what does that mean for you? Because it is fully water-soluble, your body can digest it more easily, and you get more benefit with less bloating and water retention.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
Because you don't go about trying to create cool new technologies and then find a use for them. You find a human need that needs to be fulfilled, and then you innovate as much as necessary to fulfill that need. When the land camera finally comes to the market in the early 1950s, they fly off the shelves. They can't produce enough. This more than makes up for the lost wartime revenue.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
And by 1960, Polaroid is doing $100 million in revenue with 2,873 employees. By 1970, they are doing $500 million of revenue with over 10,000 employees. Going back to the theme of marketing that shows and doesn't tell, one of their most successful marketing strategies is to advertise on variety shows on TV. Okay, so think the 1950s version of Jimmy Kimmel or Jimmy Fallon.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
And what they do is have the host take an instant picture on air so that people can see what this amazing new product is like and how it works. It's a brilliant piece of marketing to go with a brilliant new device. But this wasn't even the pinnacle for Land because at the same time, he was working on his masterpiece. The Land camera was still too limited for him.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
It was stationary, it took photos in sepia tones, and it was complicated. What he wanted to create was the perfect instant camera. Portable, capable of taking color photos, and producing one simple photograph with no peeling involved. Before we get to that, I want to shout out the Founders podcast. Founders is a great podcast.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
It's a lot like How to Take Over the World, but it's specifically for and about great founders. The host, David Senra, does a great job. It's one of my favorite podcasts. He's actually got a couple of really good Edwin Land episodes. I say really good. To be honest, I haven't listened to them because I didn't want to bias myself and start repeating David in this episode.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
but I'm sure they're great because every episode David produces is great. It's one of the few podcasts that I regularly listen to and I absolutely love it. It's required listening for every How to Take Over the World fan. So go give founders a listen wherever you get your podcasts. So this new camera that Land has in mind is such a technical hurdle that it takes decades to develop.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
He actually has a funny quote about this. He says, strangely, by the end of that walk in Santa Fe in 1943, the solution to the problem had been pretty well formulated. I would say that everything had been, except those few details that took from 1943 to 1973. Okay, that's 30 years. So that really sums it up. He had the vision, but it took him 30 years of brutal work to bring it to life.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
At the same time, he gets involved in consulting with the government once again. He helps to develop cameras for spy planes and spy satellites to take pictures of Russia and get clearer pictures of their nuclear capabilities.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
It's really important and groundbreaking work, and it just shows his amazing capacity for work that he's able to do it at the same time that he's developing this revolutionary new camera that would be called the XR-70. It also shows his amazing vitality that he's able to do this now in his 50s and 60s. He's still able to maintain a flexible and innovative mind.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
He has a great quote about this that he told his Polaroid employees shortly before the launch of this new camera, the XR70. He says, young people are so full of natural faith in life And then their bodies grow old around them. The world, the literature, the church all teach us, all teach that you have to grow old, that you have to give up your dreams and ideals.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
Creatine is one of the most studied and proven supplements in the world, and it's not just for bodybuilders. Yes, it does lead to increased muscle strength and power, but also it leads to enhanced recovery and endurance and can even help improve mental clarity and performance. I can't recommend it highly enough. And Gaines has other great products as well.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
And somehow all that teaching reaches you. And then you project back on yourself and on your friends and the idea. Oh yes, we must give up. We must grow older. We must become less than we are. I've had the good fortune sustained by all of you to be able to see that that simply need not be true.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
You learn that far from growing older in the way the world would like you to grow old, you find yourself under better control. You find that you are sustained by the various friends. You find friends and colleagues who themselves grow younger with the passing years.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
What is extraordinary about Polaroid, unique I think, is that it is the only company that seems to have this capacity for self-regeneration. Okay? I love that. Growing old is optional. That's what Edwin Land believed. And he did somehow seem to grow younger. His ideas got even more innovative as time went on. He also has a great ability to see the big picture and how his inventions fit into it.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
He never gets too narrow-minded about what he's doing. Listen to what he says during his launch of the SX-70. And by the way, the quote from this product announcement is remarkable for how much it sounds exactly like like Steve Jobs. I think Steve really must have taken a cue from Edwin Land on how to do these product announcements because they sound like exactly the same. Here it is.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
Quote, so now we have achieved our 1943 dream. We've looked at the image in the reflex viewer. We've touched the button five times and we have five dry pictures. The scientists and engineers applauded. He wanted them to respect the results. While those are snapshots, they're handheld, not taken on a tripod. They're just things as you go along.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
I think you will sense in them a new meaning for casual photography that makes it not casual, that gives each user a feeling of personal identification with the world around them in the way that photography has always hoped to do, and which it may have done perhaps for many of the people in this room, but which it has not done for the great mass of people who just move on snapping.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
But Edwin Land wasn't most people, and he fell silent as he repeated the question in his head over and over. Why can't she see it now? It was one of those eureka moments. Immediately, Land knew there was something there. Go with your mother, he told her. I need to think. It was a brisk but beautiful winter day with an inch of snow on the ground. He started walking around.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
Now, the announcement of the SX70 might have been premature because initially Polaroid really struggles to fulfill demand. And the stock price of Polaroid actually falls through the basement after this amazing product launch. And for the first couple of models, you know, there's demand issues. They can't produce enough. There are also some technical issues.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
some problems with focus, color bleeding, issues with price as well. It was a very expensive camera, but eventually they come out with a cheaper model called the One Step, and that is the breakthrough product. This is really the first camera that is what you think of when I say Polaroid camera. It works really well. You hit a button and you get a picture with few to no issues.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
With the SX-70 so successful and the price of Polaroid stock now rapidly rebounding, Land moves on to his next big idea, which is instant video. If we can have instant cameras, why not instant videos? He ends up creating a product called Polavision. And it is a massive, like genuinely massive flop. And not only is it a flop, it is crazy.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
They have great pre-workout, great protein powder. So check them out at gainsinbulk.com slash Ben and use code Ben, that's my name, Ben, for 25% off. Edwin Land was born in 1909 to a upper middle class Jewish family in Connecticut. He was a precocious and high agency young child. So when he's only five years old, he takes apart his family's phonograph.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
financially disastrous, catastrophic is probably the best way to describe it. They have all of these suppliers. of course. Like they build the camera, but they still need suppliers to manufacture a lot of the components, right?
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
And Polaroid ends up having to take over production entirely in-house because all their suppliers are not confident in the product and can't make things exactly to specification. It's completely new. And so they take over production. They build this entire new factory. It's incredibly expensive and it's all for a product that doesn't sell well.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
It was a camcorder as well as a projector, but it doesn't record sound. You can't record for very long. And in order for the projector to work, you have to plug it in, right? So it doesn't even really fulfill its purpose of shoot video, see video, because you have to go plug it in, find something to project it on, like a clean surface. It's a mess.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
They end up producing 200,000 Polar Visions, and they only sell 60,000 of them. This is really the product that tanks Polaroid's future. It's a fiasco. It's such a fiasco that land is forced out of the CEO spot by investors and moves into a role as chairman of the board. The successor is able to improve the bottom line quite a bit, but Polaroid loses its ability to innovate.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
It turns from a science and research organization to a marketing organization. And so while profitability increases under Land's successor, Polaroid stops creating new great products. It comes to rely more and more on the Polaroid instant camera in the 1990s at the very time that the market is getting ready to transition to digital cameras.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
And in 2001, Polaroid declares bankruptcy and eventually it actually sells and it's now just a subsidiary of a larger organization. Okay, but most of that happens without land. His story is he steps down as CEO in 1982 and sells most of his shares. Then he sells all of his shares and completely washes his hands of Polaroid in 1985.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
He uses his money from the sale of his shares to found an independent research institute, which in 2002 was acquired by Harvard and operates within the auspices of Harvard to this day. He died in 1991 at the age of 81 following months of rapidly declining health. So that might seem like a downer to end on because it's a failure of a product, right?
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
However, I do think in some ways it's symbolic because for Edwin Land, it was about the adventure and the excitement of invention and creating something new. And the fact that the product was a failure from a commercial standpoint is I just I don't think it bothered him as much as people might have expected or even thought that it should have bothered him.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
Again, to him, it was about creating something beautiful that the world deserved, whether it was commercially successful or not. So. let's cut off the story there and let's take stock of Edwin Land and what we can learn from him. Let's go through our takeaways. I have 10 takeaways for the life of Edwin Land.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
10 things that I learned that I think are really improving my life and can hopefully improve yours as well. So number one, you are always two weeks away from completely changing your life. Okay, remember this quote. You want to be almost alone with just a few friends. You want to be undisturbed.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
You want to be free to think not for an hour at a time or three hours at a time, but for two days or two weeks if possible without interruption. You don't want to drive the family car or go to parties. You wish people would just go away and leave you alone while you get something straight. Then you get it straight and you embody it.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
And during that period of embodiment, you have a feeling of almost divine guidance. Then it is done and suddenly you are alone and you have to go back to your friends and the world around you and to all history to be refreshed, to feel alive and human once again. As Land said, you can accomplish in 60 hours what you otherwise cannot do in a year. And it's unsustainable.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
That's the Thomas Edison invention that plays recorded sound. And he just wanted to see how it works. And before he can put it back together, his father gets home and his father is furious. He yells at young Edwin and gives him a spanking. Now, most people would learn their lesson that, you know, you can't take things apart and experiment on them without permission.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
You can't do this all the time. You can't live your life this way permanently. However, at any given time, when you just think, I am stuck and I need help, to get to a different place. You're just two weeks away from an entirely new life. That's happened for me. I really believe that. You are always just two weeks away from another breakthrough.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
Okay, number two, a stable home life leads to a creative work life. You know, his relationship with his wife was incredible and it was very solid and constant and that allowed him to be extremely innovative in his work life. I think you can compare him to people like Johann Sebastian Bach. Bach was like the most boring guy imaginable, right?
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
He went to church every week, very committed Lutheran, very boring home life, had all these children, could not have been more conventional in his daily life. and yet he completely innovated the world of classical music forever, right? So you see this time and time again.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
You see with Michelangelo, this is someone who had like the most Spartan, boring home life you can imagine, basically had no life outside of work, but that is what enabled him to be innovative in his career, in his art. Okay, so stable home life leads to creative work life. Number three, be high agency.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
And from the time he was five years old, from then on, I was totally stubborn about being blocked. Nothing or nobody could stop me from carrying through the execution of an experiment. When everyone tells you that something is impossible, when obstacles come in your path, you find a way. You know, when Columbia University tells you
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
Not only are you not a student here, you have never been a student here. We don't even know who you are. No, you can't use our lab. You prop open a couple windows and you use the lab at midnight, right? You are responsible for the results. You're high agency. Your life is the product of your own views, attitudes, and efforts. Be high agency. Find a way. Don't create excuses.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
You are the master of your own fate. Number four, naive optimism. When you want to create something new, you need to surround yourself with people who believe, especially when ideas are new and especially young people. Avoid so-called experts who just want to tell you why something is impossible. Go in with total belief. All right, that quote again.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
If somebody wants to come around, wants to tell him why it won't work, if he perceives that simply as discouragement of himself, he will throw him out. Okay. This allowed him to accomplish the impossible, not just accomplish the impossible, but like the book says, insist on the impossible. He didn't care that other people thought it couldn't be done. Another great quote about this from land.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
He said, you can't necessarily separate the important from the impossible. Okay. Like if it's important, then it's possible. You can't separate the important from the impossible. Great leaders are invigorated by the idea that something is impossible. It makes them want to do it more, not less. Okay, number five, start with the need in mind.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
But Edwin Land actually learns the opposite lesson. He gets angry at his father and he says of this incident, remember, he's only five years old. This is what he says. From then on, I was totally stubborn about being blocked. Nothing or nobody could stop me from carrying through the execution of an experiment. Okay, this is ultra high agency behavior.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
All right, if you sense a deep human need, then you go back to all the basic science. If there's something missing, then you do more basic science and applied science until you get it. So you make the system to fulfill the need rather than starting the other way around where you have something and wonder what to do with it.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
Now, ironically, the one time that he had a real disastrous failure, the Polivision, was because he didn't abide by this principle. He started with a technology that he found interesting, instant video, and tried to convince people that they needed it, even though this wasn't really something that they felt.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
But his greatest product came from what was already a need from his daughter saying, why can't I see it now? Number six, have a big vision and people will try to help you. Remember how he got free time at the Harvard lab because people bought into his new and exciting vision. Employees join him when he's very young. He has no corporation. He's got no business.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
He's paying them next to nothing and they join him because they are attracted to this big vision. So have a big vision and people will conspire to help you. Number seven, when marketing, show, don't tell. The land camera on talk shows and TV, he's showing people how it's used.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
When he's selling to American Optical, he has the bowl with the fish in it that he can't see at first, but then he uses the polarizer and now you can see the fish. When marketing, showing is so much more powerful than telling people the benefits. Number eight, this is something we haven't talked about yet, but I found very, very interesting. And that is the power of memory.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
This is a great quote from the book Insisting on the Impossible. It says, memory, strong memory without a great deal of embellishment or rewriting became an important ingredient of his charisma. It was a charm of total comprehension laced with humor.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
Those who talked with him had a sense of immense, untapped reserves, things he had remembered and brought into unexpected associations and observations. Among his memories were the thousands of steps taken to work out the details of systems with the properties he wanted. Though the difficulties might have challenged his optimism, he was fond of referring to them.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
He brought the remembered facts and processes together again and again in intense marathons of experimentation. This was his way of cracking the nut. Okay. So in other words, a lot of times he's able to crack the nut to make the breakthrough because he's able to remember things from previous experiments and combine them with different problems in interesting ways.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
And so memory is a really important facet of innovation and discovery. You know, for my part, I don't have a good memory. Any of my family or close friends will tell you that. But I constantly listen to old episodes of How to Take Over the World. I revisit my notes all the time because I don't naturally have a good memory. So I'm trying to cultivate a good memory.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
So, you know, there are a lot of ways to do this if you don't naturally have a good memory. You can keep a journal. You can keep notes and review notes. So many people keep notes and don't review them. If you don't have a great memory, you need to create a system for remembering because memory creates connection and connections create innovation. And look, memory was so important to him.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
I think that's one of the reasons that he was so intrigued by photography. He has a great quote about this. He says, "...the world around the child is shifting and fleeting and unreliable and hazardous. It cannot be retained. It is constantly slipping away. To a child, a photograph gives a permanent thing that is both outside himself and part of himself.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
He gets a new kind of security from every picture he takes." I remember the first picture that I developed as a child. It was a picture of our French poodle. The dog really was unavailable to me. He was always running away. There were things he had to do at night as he roamed through the countryside. Then there was a picture I took of him. There I had him. He couldn't get away.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
And if you haven't heard that term, high agency is the capacity to exert control over your life and take ownership over outcomes in your life. So in other words, it is the ability to break through barriers and act independently when others tell you no or resist your vision. You know, someone who's low agency just kind of accepts the world as it is.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
Okay, so I just think that's beautiful. Something that was so important to him, he was able to make real in the world through photography. But I do think memory is a key component of success. And if you don't naturally have that great memory, create systems to facilitate remembering important things. Okay, number nine, growing old is a choice.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
He has this great quote, young people are so full of natural faith in life and then their bodies grow old around them. You know, he says, everything tries to convince you that, quote, oh yes, we must give up. We must grow older. We must become less than we are. I've had the good fortune sustained by all of you to be able to see that simply need not be true.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
okay so i love that idea of growing younger as you age there is no reason that we have to give up on innovation on learning on self-belief and naive belief that you can bring new things into the world he was doing that into his 50s 60s he was even doing original research into his 70s until the day he died when he was 81 years old so um I really like that.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
I'm getting older every year biologically, but I hope that every year I'm getting younger in terms of my belief in the possibility of creating something new. And then number 10, my last takeaway, create something beautiful. You know, again, the pole vision is seen as a disaster because financially it was. But you know, more than anything, he just wanted to create beautiful things.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
He's got this great quote. I do not understand the divine source, but I know in a way I cannot understand that out of chaos, I can make order. Out of loneliness, I can make friendship. Out of ugliness, I can make beauty. And I think that's what his life was all about, was creating new connections, new products, new discoveries, but creating beauty in one way or another. One more thing.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
I want to close with this quote. I think it's a great way to sum up what he was all about. All of our confidence has to come from making things. Let us not make more of something there is too much of. Let us find out what is desperately needed, although people may not know it. Let us find out what will beautify the world, although people may not know it.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
Then let's learn and learn and teach ourselves and support each other in doing that until we lose ourselves in those tasks. Okay. Edwin Land, great man, great example, and just, he lived a beautiful life. And I'm so grateful to have been able to study him. Okay. I actually have a ton more takeaways and truly great quotes. He's a very quotable man.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
There's some great stuff about his approach to innovation and experimentation. whether everyone is capable of genius or not, why passion leads to better science than cold rationality and more. I really love these takeaways. So I hope you will go to takeoverpod.supercast.com and sign up for the premium subscription. But if not, until next time, thank you for listening to How to Take Over the World.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
Oh, and by the way, before we go, make sure you check out Speechify. I used it to listen to Insisting on the Impossible. It's how I'm able to get through multiple books per week. I read much faster when I read and listen at the same time. I also use it to listen to articles that I otherwise wouldn't have time for. I love Speechify. You will too.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
So Edwin Land is ultra high agency, even as a five-year-old. By the way, if you want to learn more about how to be high agency, George Mack just wrote a very good essay on the concept. You can find it at highagency.com. And I really highly recommend that essay. I learned a ton from it. It also reminds me of a scene from one of my favorite movies from when I was a kid, Sergeant Bilko.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
And you can even listen to books in my voice if you are so inclined. They have an AI clone of my voice and it actually sounds quite like me. So go to Speechify.com slash Ben and use code Ben for 15% off Speechify Premium.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
and sergeant bilko is about this sergeant bilko uh and he's an ultra corrupt army sergeant in charge of the motor pool at a military base but he's actually running a gambling ring out of the motor pool and they get a very straight edge new private in the motor pool so bilko asks him to do something very corrupt and this is what happens next you want me to turn the odometer back so
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
Okay, this is basically what always happens to great leaders when someone tells them something is impossible. A full freak out, can't, he said can't. And that is how Edwin Land reacts against his father when he's only five, okay? So he's five years old, he's already high agency.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
When he gets to school, he immediately excels at school to the point where in high school, his physics teacher tells him, there is nothing more I can do for you. You know, you just know more about this stuff than even I do. And he becomes obsessed with optics at a very young age, the study of light and how it's transmitted and how it's perceived. He loves learning about this.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
He has an optics book that he says he reads every day like it's the Bible. He learns about polarization of light at a summer camp. This summer camp, I can't tell if maybe it's a scout camp, maybe it's a Jewish camp. I know that's a thing that Jewish kids do on the East Coast. Anyway, whether it's a scout camp or a Jewish camp, he has a camp counselor who introduces him to the idea of polarization.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
His family might have been a million miles away for all he cared. He was turning the question and the solution over in his mind. Land was already a successful businessman and inventor, and he had recently been working on a couple of inventions for the military that involved film and photography. So he had the technical knowledge to sketch out a plan in his mind.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
And a polarizer is a filter that only allows through certain wavelengths of light. So, for example, on ski goggles. Basically, all ski goggles these days are polarized because a polarizer can block certain wavelengths, and that includes bright white lights, which then eliminates all the glare that you would otherwise get from sunlight bouncing off of bright white snow.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
But none of this exists yet. There are no ski goggles, no polarized goggles of any kind in the early 1900s. Polarizers at this point are still just a brand new concept, basically. So Land hears about polarizers from this counselor when he's still in high school. And at the time, the only polarizers were natural ones. So the most famous of which is in Iceland.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
Icelandic fishermen would use a naturally occurring mineral, calcite, as a polarizer. So when the sun was out, it would create glare on the surface of the ocean, which would then make it difficult for them to see down beneath the surface. So they would look through the calcite to eliminate glare and see fish beneath the surface of the ocean so they would know where to fish.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
So Land hears about polarizers and how cool they are and becomes obsessed with the idea of bringing the world a synthetic polarizer so you don't have to carry around like a big mineral calcite to use polarization. And at this point, he feels like he has his mission in his life already, the creation of synthetic polarizers. He's totally obsessed with the idea, consumed by it.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
He's thinking of all these different ways that you could use it to eliminate headlight glare. If you use it in the windshields of automobiles, you could use it in sunglasses to eliminate glare. He's just thinking of all these ways that polarization and a synthetic polarizer that you could manufacture and distribute everywhere could change people's lives. So he's got this mission in life.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
He graduates from high school, goes to Harvard for one year where he studies physics and especially optics. And then he leaves after a year because he's really frustrated by the rigidity of the curriculum and the way that people studied. He wants to discover the secrets of light and polarization. He wants to experiment and learn new things. Meanwhile, you know, he's in college.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
He just wanted to shut up and study and go to class and get his grades. So he drops out of Harvard after only a year. At first, he moves to Chicago and he flirts with the idea of writing a novel, the next great American novel. And I do find it interesting that both he and Steve Jobs considered becoming novelists before firmly deciding against it and going into technology.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
It's like one small but interesting connection between the two. So he briefly does this. This only lasts like weeks, maybe a month or two. Then he moves to New York City where he borrows some money from his dad so he can live in a dingy basement apartment and embark on independent research. He collaborates with some students studying ophthalmology at Columbia University and
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
And by the end of the walk, he had the broad outline. The Polaroid camera was already being born in his brain. I love that story because I think it illustrates something important about Edwin Land and about invention. I think it shows that a life of science and research is not incompatible with an adventurous and exciting life.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
And he even breaks into a laboratory after hours to use their equipment to conduct experiments. This is another example of high agency behavior, right? When people tell you, no, you can't use this lab. You have nowhere to study and conduct your experiments. Do you just say, well, okay, you know, I tried.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
Or do you prop open a couple windows and sneak in at midnight to go conduct your experiments when no one's looking, right? That's what he does. High agency. But most of the time, he's not in the lab. He's doing a lot of experimenting, but he's also either in his basement or at the New York Public Library. He actually gets married at this time. He marries very young. He marries very well.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
His wife is a great companion for him, very supportive. Land was actually incredibly curious. He wanted to learn a lot. And so he gets very bored once he has figured out a solution. So this is a problem when he's at Harvard. He does end up, you know, spoiler, going back to Harvard. When he's at Harvard, he doesn't want to finish his homework. He will do the homework.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
He'll study it until he knows the solution in his head, and then he just drops it. And so he's got all this half-completed homework with the solution, but none of the work done. And so she would actually come and Pick up his homework, look at the solution, and then kind of fill it all out and complete it so that he can turn it in and get a good grade.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
So they would have a very faithful, constant, in many ways, boring marriage for their entire lives. And Edwin Lamb thought that this was part of his success. He wrote, quote, no person could possibly be original in one area. Unless he were possessed of the emotional and social stability that comes from fixed attitudes in all areas other than the one in which he's being original.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
The inventor's dependency on the fixed attitudes of the society around him is very nearly total. And I doubt whether any person can be happy who rejects this structure of society, intellectual and social. Okay. So the totally unchanging, boring, fixed nature of his home life allows him to be very creative in the laboratory. That is how Land saw it. So he's in New York. He's married.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
He's got his boring home life. He hires one assistant and works on the issue of manufacturing synthetic polarizer day and night. He's totally obsessed. I've talked before, especially in the Isaac Newton episode, about how these periods of intense focus can change your life. And Land has one of the best quotes about these periods I have ever read.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
This is one of my favorite quotes ever, period, about anything. Here's what he said. He's describing the attitude. He says, you want to be almost alone with just a few friends. You want to be undisturbed. You want to be free to think, not for an hour at a time or three hours at a time, but for two days or two weeks, if possible, without interruption.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
You don't want to drive the family car or go to parties. You wish people would just go away and leave you alone while you get something straight. Then you get it straight and you embody it. And during that period of embodiment, you have a feeling of almost divine guidance.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
Edwin Land was on his regular family vacation to Santa Fe, New Mexico. He had just snapped a picture of his daughter when she asked him a question that would change history forever. Why can't I see it now? Most parents would have given a flippant answer. That isn't how cameras work. That isn't how the world works.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
In his time, Edwin Land built not just cameras and polarized materials, but spy planes, rockets, projectors, and more. He felt that scientists should embrace a sense of, quote, delight and adventure. And he decried what he called the cold formalism of modern science. He described research as a, quote, search for beauty in addiction and a necessity.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
Then it is done and suddenly you are alone and you have to go back to your friends and the world around you and to all history to be refreshed, to feel alive and human once again. Okay, I love, you know, I already said this, two weeks can change your life. I love that he highlights actually that period, two days or two weeks, if possible.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
There really is something special about how much you can get accomplished in two weeks of intense focus. All right, he has another great quote on this. He says, I find it is important to work intensively for long hours when I am beginning to see solutions to a problem. At such times, solutions seem to come welling up.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
You are handling so many variables at a barely conscious level that you can't afford to be interrupted. If you are, it may take a year to cover the same ground you could cover otherwise in 60 hours. Okay, I love that. Something special happens. Divine guidance, he calls it.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
And without that intense focus, it might take you a year, he says, to accomplish what you could in three days with that focus. I find that true in podcasting. It took me two weeks to figure out how to podcast and launch this podcast. It's true in writing and starting a new business or venture. In basically everything, something really special happens when you focus completely for a short burst.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
Okay, so in New York, he basically cracks how to create synthetic polarizers. He calls it one of the great moments of his life. When it first comes out and he's done it, he's created this synthetic polarizer. not just the material to be created, but also he has to figure out how to manufacture it and how to manufacture it at scale.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
And so he does, he kind of cracks the code and he thinks his work is done. He gets some patents on it and he thinks he can now turn the work over to a big company and let them handle it. So he goes back to Harvard and resumes his studies. But of course, it turns out it's not that simple. Turning a concept into a mass-produced product turns out to be very difficult. You know, who would have known?
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
And it requires the attention and involvement of the inventor, of land. He's the one that knows the stuff backwards and forwards. No one else can do it for him. So at first, he tries to do this work while at Harvard. One professor is very impressed with him and lets him use the lab, even though he's just a second-year undergraduate. And this is amazing, right?
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
Other professors become very interested as well. And before you know it, all these people are trying to help him figure out polarization, how to do all this. And this reminds me of Arnold Schwarzenegger. And he talks about when he first starts taking bodybuilding seriously. He talks about how everyone in his little village, his hometown, spontaneously starts helping him in all these little ways.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
They offer to do his chores for him. They give him their food at lunch. They say, you know, you're a big guy. You need this milk more than I do and start giving him stuff. When you have a big vision, people respond to that and they just start conspiring to help you. Same thing with Genghis Khan when he's young. People help him with stuff at great personal risk to themselves.
How to Take Over the World
Edwin Land (Polaroid Founder)
Big visions make people want to help you. But even with the use of these labs and all this kind of free help at Harvard, it's too much to run the company and study full-time simultaneously. So he eventually drops out of Harvard with a graduate student who had taught him some classes named George Wheelwright.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
And the Pharisees are the biggest one. They want to prepare the people, make them more holy in preparation for the coming of this Messiah. They think, okay, the reason that the Messiah hasn't come to free us yet and that we're still subjected by the Romans is because we're not righteous enough.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
That's why it's the only supplement that I take every single day. And Gains has the best creatine. Their instantized creatine fully dissolves in water. It's fully water-soluble, making it more bioavailable, so you get more benefit without the bloating and water retention that other creatine can cause.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
So they're very intense about helping people observe the minutia of every Mosaic law to assure that everyone is in constant compliance with religious rules and protocols. So this is where rabbinic Judaism actually comes from. Judaism before this time period was a little less hardcore about their rules, but the Pharisees are kind of the ones who changed that.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
So the Pharisees are not the only Jews who are waiting and looking for a Messiah, but they are the most prominent sect that takes this attitude, and they are the most relevant to our story. So this is the world that Jesus is born into.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
He comes into the Jewish world at a time when many have a burning expectation of the imminent arrival of a Messiah, a Savior, who will free Israel from their Roman oppressors. Jesus is, of course, born around 0 AD. Most historians now place his birth a little before, around 4 BC. But it's impossible to know with certainty. But he was born sometime around then.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
According to the Bible, it is a miraculous conception to a virgin mother, as previously discussed. Also, according to the Bible, he was born in Bethlehem. Everyone agrees that Jesus was from a small town called Nazareth. According to the book of Luke, however... Quote, And it came to pass in those days that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
And so there is a census of the Roman Empire that requires everyone to travel to their ancestral homeland to be counted. So since Jesus's father was a descendant of King David, the family had to travel to Bethlehem where Jesus was born in a manger because there was no room for them. And you know the story. Now, it turns out that there are no records for a Roman census at the time of Jesus' birth.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
The account of Luke is probably referring to the census of Quirinius, which was a few years after Jesus' birth, about eight years, and not during the rule of King Herod. So, I mean, who knows? The point of this episode is not to point out every evidence for and against the New Testament.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
Just for the sake of showing both sides, honestly, I'm pointing out that the popular account of Jesus' birth does appear to have some inconsistencies. I think if you're a believer, you know, these accusations are not particularly damning toward the overall veracity of the account. If you're a believer, I wouldn't let it upset you.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
I'm just saying that if you're looking at this from a purely historical perspective of what do we know about this person, you're likely to conclude that Jesus is a young man from Nazareth probably born there. So according to the Bible, Jesus' family makes a quick detour to Egypt, which we won't get into, but Nazareth is definitely where Jesus grows up.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
I really think this is the rare case of a supplement truly being differentiated and better than the competition. I can't recommend it highly enough. So check it out at gainsinbulk.com and use code Ben for 20% off. Hello, and welcome to How to Take Over the World. This is Ben Wilson. Today we are talking about Jesus. Jesus of Nazareth is the most influential person of all time.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
Nazareth is a small town in the region of the Sea of Galilee. It's a few days walk from Jerusalem. It had a population of a few hundred. It was a small town. It was not well regarded. In fact, there's a story in the book of John that a man, Philip, finds Jesus and follows him and goes to tell his brother, Nathanael. that we found the Messiah.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
And he says, quote, we have found him of whom Moses in the law and the prophets did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. And the brother responds, can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? Okay, so like Nazareth is such a...
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
backwater place that someone who hears about jesus of nazareth is like really he's from nazareth um so a comparison i don't want to offend anyone but if you're from the united states it's like maybe mississippi in the american context okay maybe north dakota apologies to any of my listeners in mississippi or north dakota i'm sure it's actually great just like nazareth okay but if i told you like i found a great prophet a great messiah you say where is he from and i say he's from north dakota
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
you would go, really? North Dakota? That's what Nazareth was like. But I don't want you to think of Jesus entirely as a country bumpkin. He came from a middle-class family. His dad was a carpenter. That meant he was a craftsman and not a peasant. Okay. So not the lowest rung of society. And he did learn to read and write as a child.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
The only story we know from Jesus's childhood comes from when he is 12 years old. His family travels to Jerusalem to worship at the temple and And then they go back and on the return journey, his parents look around and discover to their horror that Jesus is not with the group.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
So in a frenzy, they turn around and go back to the temple where they find him in the temple, deep in discussion with the elders who are, of course, amazed by the boy's precocious wisdom. And he responds, how is it that you sought me? Wist ye not that I must be about my father's business? Okay. In other words, didn't you know, you know, so he's already referring to God as his father.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
And he's essentially saying to his parents, didn't you know I would be in the temple? You know, and this shows the connectedness of the Jewish world and the education that someone from a class like Jesus would be able to speak with elders and read scripture and understand it. Paul Johnson writes, we can be sure he was well instructed.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
Virtually all clever Jewish children were, if circumstances permitted, and Jesus came from a comfortable home. We know he could read, for his deep and still more skeptical knowledge of the scriptures is evidence of constant study of the texts from an early age. By age 12, he was perfectly capable of taking part in a learned discussion of their meaning. Okay, so he can read and write.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
He's clearly a clever young man. Then we basically miss Jesus's entire young adulthood. We know nothing about his life from the time he is 12, and that story happens, until he is 30 years old. We can make some guesses at what he was doing at that time. You know, probably he was employed. I think it likely that he took up his father's trade and was a carpenter.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
Paul Johnson suggests that he worked in agriculture because he uses so many metaphors in his teachings about crops and farming. I mean, who knows? In either case, judging by the types of stories he would eventually tell, we do know that he was a keen observer of nature and the world around him. But that's kind of it.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
Again, those 12 years from when he's a boy to when he starts teaching 18 years later are just a complete black box. So from the gospel's perspective, the narrative now moves to John the Baptist. John the Baptist is a teacher. He is part of a popular wave of people saying that Israel needs to get ready for the return of the Messiah. Many people think that John, in fact, is the Messiah.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
He's very popular. And his big thing, as his name would suggest, is baptism. Okay, so John did not invent baptism. In the Jewish context of the early first century, baptism would have been seen as a ritual washing. But John's innovation seems to have been to tie it to the idea of repentance, of changing, of being more righteous.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
I feel pretty safe saying that. There are 2.2 billion Christians in the world currently, representing about a third of the world's population. Okay, so you have a third of the world who are making their lives about following this man.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
So not just purifying yourself from contamination from the outside world, but from your own sinfulness. So this guy, John the Baptist, is the cousin of Jesus. So they have this pre-existing family connection. The most famous story about John is when he baptizes Jesus. And according to all the biblical accounts, this is accompanied by a miraculous display of God's approval of Jesus.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
And that is really where Jesus' story begins, after his baptism by John. After he's baptized, he goes off into the wilderness for 40 days where he is tempted by the devil, but he overcomes it. He's tempted with worldly power.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
The implication is that he could have become the Messiah that everyone expected, the one that would throw off the shackles of Roman rule and bring forth an independent Israel. But instead, he chooses the higher mission given to him by God, which will become clear as the story goes on. Interestingly, in this inauguration period, there is no moment of him finding out about his calling.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
He alludes to it during the incident at the temple. I think the implication is that he somehow always knew his mission or else was taught it by his mother at a very young age.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
according to matthew the first thing that jesus does after this temptation is the same thing as john the baptist matthew says quote from that time jesus began to preach and to say repent for the kingdom of god is at hand and i think it's interesting that you know jesus really follows in the footsteps of john the baptist and at this point is doing much the same thing as him
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
You know, there's always someone who comes before for great achievers in whatever domain. You know, Thomas Edison looked to the inventors that came before him. Steve Jobs looked to the other great entrepreneurs. Napoleon looked to the other great conquerors. And for Jesus, you know, obviously the main person he's patterning himself off of is God.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
But John the Baptist is someone who kind of gave him the pattern for how to conduct his ministry. Now, according to Matthew, it is once John the Baptist is thrown into prison that Jesus returns to Galilee and begins to preach. And according to Matthew, the first thing he does is call disciples, Peter, Andrew, James, and John.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
And if you count Muslims as well, because Muslims think of Jesus as a prophet, they don't regard him as the son of God as Christians do, but they do think of him as a prophet, then that's over 50% of the world, nearly 60% of the world that follows Jesus and his teachings in some way, shape, or form.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
The timelines of the four gospels don't actually match up exactly, which again is the sort of thing that you would expect from firsthand accounts of people who were not writing down things as they happened, but writing down remembrances later. But the general timeline is the same that he starts preaching and performing miracles and calling disciples at this inauguration period of his ministry.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
When Jesus says the kingdom of heaven is at hand, he means a specific thing by that. I think most people would have interpreted it as a return of independent Israel under divine guidance. Of course, what Christians think he meant was a spiritual kingdom.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
But in either case, like the Pharisees, Jesus is calling people to live a more obedient life in preparation for the coming of the kingdom of heaven. But unlike them, his emphasis will be on adherence to the deeper meaning of the commandments rather than strict obedience to the specific Mosaic rituals. But most of that is yet to come.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
Jesus hasn't really set out his moral framework to the world yet. Early on, Jesus' message is simply, repent, do better. According to the synoptic gospels, I should explain that really quick. Matthew, Mark, and Luke are called the synoptic gospels because they basically agree with each other. They're kind of narrative histories of Jesus's life and they match each other very closely.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
John is the non-synoptic gospel and it's quite different. It has a little less biography and kind of more of his sermons, more of his teachings. So according to the synoptic gospels, Jesus's first miracles are healings. Matthew says he went around, quote, healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people and also exorcisms, casting out demons.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
According to John, the first miracle was turning water into wine. And this is widely regarded by most Christians as his first miracle. So I'll read the book of John. It describes the miracle, quote, and both Jesus was called and his disciples to a marriage. And when they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus saith unto him, They have no wine. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee?
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
Mine hour is not yet come. His mother saith unto the servants, Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it. And there were set there six waterpots of stone. Jesus saith unto them, Fill the waterpots with water. And they filled them up to the brim. And he saith unto them, Draw out now and bear unto the governor of the feast. And they bear it.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
Now, one of the most interesting things about Jesus is he likes to party. I can't think to say it any other way. He likes to have dinner with his friends. He likes to eat and drink with his disciples and followers and everyone really. The Pharisees especially looked askance at the company he kept.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
There is virtually no one on earth outside of a few random uncontacted tribes who does not know who Jesus is. And that seems normal to us, right? Christianity has been around for 2000 years.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
Paul Johnson says about him, quote, he was a convivial and collegiate spirit, always seeking companions and new friends. He actually uses that word a lot, convivial. And I think it's a good one. Jesus was very convivial. In fact, Matthew takes time to make an apology for Jesus' habits in this regard.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
He says, Then came to him the disciples of John, saying, Why do we and the Pharisees fast oft, but thy disciples fast not? And fasting is something that a lot of religious people do where you abstain from food. You intentionally make yourself hungry in order to sacrifice something and hopefully draw closer to God. And so these people are saying, hey, like the Pharisees, they fast all the time.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
So did the disciples of John the Baptist. But you guys are always eating and drinking. Why is that? And Jesus' answer is basically, hey, I'm here. You know, the Messiah is here. It's time to celebrate. One of my favorite facts about the miracle of the water to wine is that the wine is really good. So as I was saying earlier, the governor of the feast tries the wine and this is his response.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
Quote, when the ruler of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine and knew not whence it was, but the servants which drew the water knew, the governor of the feast called the groom and saith unto him, every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine. And when men have well drunk, then that which is worse, but thou has kept the good wine until now.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
So in other words, like, wow, usually people put out the good wine first and then bring out the worst wine later. You know, I guess they're hoping that you won't notice that it's not as good of wine because you're a little tipsy at that point. But the governor says, you saved the best wine for last. This is great wine. So Jesus doesn't just turn water into wine. He turns it into really good wine.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
And I obviously, yeah, I find that funny, but I also think it's trying to say something about Jesus, how much conviviality mattered to him. Like it was important to him that not just that he turned water into wine, which itself says that like, it's important enough to him that people have a good time at this wedding, that he's willing to do a miracle for it.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
But if you just forget what you know, it is so remarkable that this occurred from a man who never traveled more than 150 miles from home in his adult life, someone with no formal higher education, someone who died before he was my age. You know, I want you to imagine that you time travel to the year 4,000, okay, 2,000 years from now.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
Not only that, but it matters to him that the wine be good. I also think this demonstrates part of why he was able to gain followers. Yes, the miracles are the big thing. As it says in the gospels, like first he starts performing miracles, he starts healing people, and then very quickly he gets these big crowds following him.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
Yes, his revolutionary teachings are also important, but also the lifestyle that he offered. If you wanted to be crass, you would say that Jesus and his disciples were basically unemployed guys who went around hanging out, discussing interesting philosophy and day drinking.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
I don't think they were alcoholics, but I do think that the lifestyle Jesus put forward of radical freedom and relaxed convivial environment was really attractive to a lot of people. And so if you want to start a movement like Jesus did, you look at startups and businesses which are built around helping people do what they should do and they fail all the time.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
But businesses that offer people what they want to do succeed. Weight Watchers has a market cap of like $65 million and McDonald's has a market cap of $200 billion. What's true of companies, I also think is true of movements. You don't just want to scold people and tell them, you should do this, this, this, this. You have to offer something attractive to people.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
You have to give them something that they want to do. And a lot of the political movements and social movements today are all about things that you should do. I see this in politics. On the right wing, a lot of the messaging to young men is you should step up, get a job, be responsible. instead of offering something compelling in terms of an attractive way of life.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
Same thing, like you can think about the environmentalist movement. A lot of it is, you know, you need to do this and this and this and this in order to help the environment. These are all the things that you're doing that are polluting, that are bad, you should be better. Instead of offering people an attractive way of life.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
You know, I think frankly, that like climbing bums who just kind of like live in their van and climb all day are more effective environmentalists than a lot of professional environmentalists, because they are offering an attractive way of life, you know, being in nature, enjoying it. And that naturally makes people want to protect the environment.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
And look, of course, you also need to challenge people to do things, to improve, to be better. And Jesus did both, as we shall see. But I think Jesus's lifestyle of detached, free-spirited living combined with conviviality and sociability created a very compelling social dynamic. And I think that helps to explain some of his early success.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
I also think one of the other reasons that Jesus was so focused on eating and drinking is that meals are uniquely good setting for teaching. Paul Johnson writes, Jesus loved conviviality and he never condemned generous hospitality. Many of his most telling lessons were taught around crowded tables.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
And I have seen that, that like when you have a dinner and you're trying to teach in association with that dinner, people are just much more open. Last year, I went down and visited Brian Johnson, who you may have seen in the news recently, Mr. Don't Die. And to introduce his philosophy and his vision, he invited me and about 10 other people to a dinner at his house.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
And it was a very special experience. And if you're trying to start a movement, I think dinners are a uniquely powerful way to do that. Okay. Well, back in the life of Jesus, it's not just turning water into wine. He's also healing. He's about to give his first big sermon and lay out his doctrine. But I think it's crucial that he does miracles first.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
And you are looking around at the flying cars and you manage to flag someone down and talk to them. And he explains what the world is like. And you find out that 10 billion people, a third of the world's population, follow the teachings of someone named John or Pierre. And he was born in a small coastal town near Paris and he never left France. He only had a few hundred followers when he died.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
Sometimes you hear in storytelling, the principle show, don't tell. And Jesus is going to tell people what he believes and what he's all about. But first he shows them by performing these miracles. Okay, but then yes, he does tell people what he believes. He sets out his program, his moral framework at an event that has come to be known as the Sermon on the Mount. It's the most famous sermon ever.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
You have almost certainly heard some of it because a lot of the aphorisms in it have come to be like common phrases. For example, some of the most famous teachings are, For example, some of the most famous teachings are, Okay, other passage. Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, thou shalt not commit adultery.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
But I say unto you that whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart. And then perhaps most famously, he says, ye have heard that it hath been said, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. But I say unto you that ye resist not evil, but whosoever shall smite thee on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
Ye have heard that it hath been said, thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you. And then, of course, he gives the Lord's Prayer, which is where he teaches his disciples to pray.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
He says, And when thou prayest, thou shall not be as the hypocrites are, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward. After this manner, therefore, pray ye. Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. Okay, so many of these teachings are now so widely known that they might strike us as, you know, banal. But at the time, they were utterly revolutionary.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
It was a complete inversion of the moral order. The lowly and meek who love God are the good. Power, wealth, health, beauty, and strength are seen with inherent skepticism, or at least that is how the Sermon on the Mount has been popularly understood. He teaches a way of forgiveness, non-aggression, detachment, and love. And I love how the book of Matthew ends this account.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
He says, "...and it came to pass when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine, for he taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes." And I think that is a major secret of Jesus's success. He does quote the Torah from time to time, but he doesn't rest his authority on his interpretation of scripture.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
If he had, there were always people who could oppose and second guess and contradict him. Rather, he just unveils the truth and says it like it is. It's like Steve Jobs pulling the curtain off the Macintosh. Now behold, here it is. The teachings contained their own justification. They were so beautiful and elegant that they needed no complex proofs, no multi-step historical reasoning.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
But now his religion is the largest on earth. How desperate would you be to know what it was about this person and his teachings that led to this situation? So that's what we're going to look at today. I'm not coming at this from a Christian perspective necessarily. I'm not going to try and convince you to believe in Jesus.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
Just here they are. Aren't they great? Well, after his Sermon on the Mount, his miracles kick into overdrive. He cures a leper. He stills a storm. He casts out devils. He actually gets into trouble because in one instance, a man has a number of devils that are possessing him, and he casts them out into a herd of pigs. And the newly possessed pigs go into a frenzy.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
They go running off a cliff into the sea, killing themselves. And the locals are not impressed by his power, but rather furious that he has killed their livestock and they chase him out of town. He heals paralytics, raises people from the dead, causes the blind to see. All this makes him a major celebrity. And everywhere he goes, he is like, yeah, he's a celebrity.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
Hello, and welcome to How to Take Over the World. This is Ben Wilson. Happy Easter, everyone. I'm working on a brand new episode, and it's just about ready to go. And I was going to put it out today, but I felt a little weird releasing it on Easter, on a day when Christians all over the world are celebrating Jesus.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
He's just constantly surrounded by crowds of onlookers and followers. Some of them are hoping to be healed. Many of them just want to hear the words of this new and exciting prophet. This celebrity means that he has to steal away at times to either be alone or to be with his inner circle of disciples who had become known as the 12 apostles.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
Now, I mentioned before that he offers a compelling way of life, but it's not all giveaways. He's also very demanding of his closest followers. He demands absolute devotion, an incredible sacrifice. So for example, in one instance, one man wants to follow him, but he says, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. But Jesus said unto him, follow me and let the dead bury their dead.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
And this is another lesson that you see from many of the greats. Great leaders are demanding, especially of their closest followers. So for example, when Jesus calls his inner circle, his 12 apostles, here's the commission he gives them.
How to Take Over the World
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Quote, and as you go preach saying the kingdom of heaven is at hand, heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils, freely have you received, freely give. Provide neither gold nor silver nor brass in your purses.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
nor script for your journey neither two coats neither shoes nor yet staves okay so in other words you need to go preach and you need to perform miracles i'm expecting you to perform miracles and you can't take anything with you no money no extra coat no tent nothing and he warns them behold i send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves be therefore wise as serpents and harmless as doves but beware of men for they will deliver you up to the councils and they will scourge you in their synagogues
How to Take Over the World
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and ye shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for testimony against them and Gentiles.
How to Take Over the World
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Okay, so not only do I want you to go teach and perform miracles, not only do I want you to do it totally impoverished, take nothing with you, but by the way, I am telling you right now, you're going to be persecuted, you're going to be prosecuted as criminals for doing so, and you're literally going to be tortured.
How to Take Over the World
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Okay, so yes, he is offering his disciples a very cool and interesting way of life, but he is also really pushing them. In another passage of scripture, a man comes to him and asks, good master, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life? And he said unto him, if that will enter into life, keep the commandments. He said unto him, which ones? Jesus said, thou shalt not do murder.
How to Take Over the World
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I am trying to take a look at the historical Jesus and I'll go over the basics of who he was and what he did in his life and what it was that led him to take over the world. You know, how do you lead like Jesus and how do you create a following the way that he did? Okay, so having said that, I am going to be using the four gospels, the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John to analyze his life.
How to Take Over the World
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Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not bear false witness. Honor thy father and mother. Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. Okay. So he's basically just going through the scriptures, you know, 10 commandments type stuff. And so the young man says to him, well, I've done all this. He says, quote, all these things have I kept for my youth. What lack I yet?
How to Take Over the World
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And then Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor. And thou shalt have treasure in heaven, and come and follow me. But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had many possessions. Okay, so Jesus has this demand that you must be willing to sacrifice everything to be his follower.
How to Take Over the World
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I think this is most memorably expressed in the following passage, quote, And there went great multitudes with Jesus, and he turned and said unto them, If any man come to me, and hate not his father and mother and wife and children and brethren and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. Okay, wow, what a teaching.
How to Take Over the World
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You know, obviously he doesn't literally want you to just like hate these people for no reason, but he's saying, compared to the power of my teachings and what I'm offering you, these people have to be nothing to you.
How to Take Over the World
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You have to be willing to set aside even your own wife, your mother, your father, your children, your brothers and sisters, everything to come and follow me if you want to be my disciple. Okay, so I think that is one thing that is missing from those who want to portray Jesus as a peace-loving hippie is his radicalism. In another passage, he says, I am the way and the truth and the life.
How to Take Over the World
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No one comes to the Father except through me. And again, we're kind of used to this stuff, so much so that it might strike us as unremarkable. But imagine Caesar or Napoleon saying this. I am the way and the truth and the life. You have to hate everyone else in your life and come and follow me. I think you would recognize it.
How to Take Over the World
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for like the radical message that is i am the way come follow me and um and so yes it's radical i don't necessarily mean that as a bad thing though like he believes what he's saying so much that he's willing to ask this of people demand it of them and so i think if you want to start a movement that's going to be successful You know, don't try and be Jesus if you're not Jesus.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
That's not what I'm saying. But what I am saying is that maybe you don't have to demand that much of a sacrifice that Jesus did, but you have to be willing to believe in what you're telling people so much that you are willing to demand sacrifices of them. And what you offer has to be so compelling that people are willing to make those types of sacrifices.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
Well, Jesus is getting big enough now that he begins to attract the attention and the jealousy and disapproval of the Pharisees. I think this is competitive jealousy more than anything. They are both concerned about his unorthodox teaching and threatened by his popularity. It's interesting that there are relatively few examples of him arguing with the Sadducees.
How to Take Over the World
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Again, remember the Sadducees are kind of the upper and upper middle class. These are the people who want to justify the rule of Herod and his dynasty who want to say like, actually, things are going pretty good. We're getting wealthy. There's a lot of trade. We have a temple like stuff is good. But the Pharisees are more like Jesus. They say the Messiah is coming. We need to be better.
How to Take Over the World
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We need to be strictly obedient to all these commandments that we've received through the Mosaic law. And there's actually a lot of evidence that. Jesus kind of came from the Pharisee community. Some people may have actually considered him a Pharisee.
How to Take Over the World
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These aren't objective historical documents, right? They definitely have a perspective. They are trying to convince you that Jesus was the Messiah and the son of God. They certainly are not correct in every little minute detail. They don't agree with each other in every little minute detail.
How to Take Over the World
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So when he's arguing with them, it's like arguing with cousins, like people who could be persuaded, people who believe a lot of the same things that you do. And so a lot of the Pharisees who hate Jesus hate him not so much for what he teaches. Although, yes, they are mad because he's teaching people to be obedient in a different way.
How to Take Over the World
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But also jealous because he's doing things that are similar to them, but he's much more popular than they are. So both the Pharisees and the Sadducees are upset with him because he's getting so popular. He's teaching these things. And the Jesus movement has to go somewhat underground for a bit. It says, quote, Then the Pharisees went out and held a council against him, how they might destroy him.
How to Take Over the World
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But when Jesus knew it, he withdrew himself from thence and great multitudes followed him and he healed them all and charged them that they should not make him known. And that charge, by the way, that they should not make him known is something you see time and time again in the gospels. He is always requesting people keep secret the things that they have seen and heard.
How to Take Over the World
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I think that's another lesson for those trying to start a movement. Certain things, your most radical teachings, you need to keep secret at least until the appropriate time. So from this time out, Jesus starts to teach a lot more in a style which he's very well known, which is parables. A parable is a simple story used to illustrate a moral or spiritual lesson.
How to Take Over the World
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So, for example, probably his two most famous parables are the prodigal son and the Good Samaritan.
How to Take Over the World
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the good samaritan is given in response to a line of inquiries a lawyer presumably a pharisee asks jesus what he shall do to have eternal life and jesus answers him saying thou shalt love the lord thy god with all thy heart with all thy soul with all thy strength and with all thy mind and thy neighbor as thyself and so the lawyer asks him well who's my neighbor if you know that's the requirement i have to love my neighbor as myself and in response instead of giving him a direct answer jesus tells him a story which we now know as the parable of the good samaritan
How to Take Over the World
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So, a certain man is traveling on a road when he is attacked by thieves who strip him of his goods, his clothes, and then they wound him and leave him for dead. Presumably they stab him. And a priest passes by him on the road, and then another priest, and both of them pass by on the other side of the road. But then a Samaritan passes by, and Samaritans were old ethnic enemies of the Jews.
How to Take Over the World
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Or, I mean, I guess at least ethnic rivals. They were looked down on by well-bred Jews. They were considered kind of half-breeds. There was a lot of bad blood between the Jews and the Samaritans. But this Samaritan takes compassion on the man, even though he's presumably Jewish. And here's what he does, reading now from Luke 10. But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was.
How to Take Over the World
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But for one thing, the Jesus as presented in the Gospels is the one who took over the world, if that makes sense, right? Most people who became followers of Jesus never met him. It was this person as presented in the Gospels that became so popular. So that is who we want to understand.
How to Take Over the World
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And when he saw him, he had compassion on him. And he went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and said unto him, Take care of him, and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again I will repay thee.
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And then Jesus asks, Which now of these three thinkest thou was neighbor unto him that fell among thieves? And he said, He that showed mercy unto him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise. It's a great parable because it's so much more powerful than just telling him your neighbor is everyone. Right.
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Like that would just sink into your heart the same way as hearing the story of this man who's wounded and then an old ethnic enemy comes upon him and helps him anyways. I think that's much more effective at driving home the point. All right, and then one of the other favorite parables is the prodigal son. So the Pharisees ask why he associates with the people he does.
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Specifically, he often dines with known sinners and with publicans. Publicans were Roman tax collectors. Rome actually didn't have a public tax collection apparatus for their provinces. So they would essentially bid out the service to a wealthy citizen. And at first, this is a very profitable affair, but quickly the price to administer one of these provinces skyrockets.
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And what that means is that many of these people who've taken on these contracts, if they're not going to take a loss, have to squeeze this province for everything that it has. And so these private tax collectors were called publicani, publicans.
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And they were hated because they really had this pressure to bleed you dry in places like Judea in order to make back the money that they had spent to get this contract to collect taxes. Okay. And Jesus has no qualms about associating with publicani. It should be noted that most of the rank and file publicans, these are just employees. These aren't the people making the rules.
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They didn't buy this contract at exorbitant prices. They're just contractors who are trying to make a living. But they're totally hated in the provinces. And so the Pharisees can't believe that Jesus has dinner with these people. It also strikes me that he is dining with people who are hated in sort of opposite directions. The sinners, because they are low, right?
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They're people of ill repute, usually poor, the detrius of society, and the publicans because they're high, because they oppress, because they refuse to acknowledge their privilege. At least that's kind of how it's typically seen. So in modern terms, basically he's dining with the worst stereotype of both sides, with the inner city welfare queen and the MAGA racist.
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And so reading now from Luke 15, the Pharisees and scribes murmured saying, this man receiveth sinners and eateth with them. And in response, he gives a few parables to explain why he goes out of his way to teach and associate with these segments of society. And the final parable is now known as the parable of the prodigal son.
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If non-Christians are correct, that he was just a man and that the miracles attested to in the Bible are either exaggerations or fabrications, then it's still the Jesus of the Bible who we want to understand, even if he is more literary character than historical character. It is still that character who captured the world's imagination.
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A certain wealthy man has two sons and the younger son asks for his portion of the inheritance early. And his dad's not dead, but he says, hey, I want to cash out now. Give me my inheritance. So the dad gives it to him. So he goes into a foreign country and wastes the money on riotous living, presumably sex, drugs and rock and roll. But there is a famine in this foreign land.
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And so the son runs out of money and he ends up with this horrible job feeding pigs. And he doesn't even have enough money to eat consistently. And he has to eat husks of corn. And so he says to himself, quote, how many hired servants of my father's have bread enough and to spare and I perish with hunger.
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I will arise and go to my father and will say unto him, father, I have sinned against heaven and before thee and am no more worthy to be called thy son. Make me as one of thy hired servants. And he arose and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him.
How to Take Over the World
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And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called son. But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and shoes on his feet, and bring hither the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and be merry. For this my son was dead and is alive again. He was lost and is found.
How to Take Over the World
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And they began to be merry. Now his elder son was in the field, and as he came and drew nigh to the house, he heard music and dancing. And he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. And he said unto him, Thy brother is come, and thy father hath killed the fatted calf, because he hath received him safe and sound. And he was angry and would not go in.
How to Take Over the World
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Therefore came his father out and entreated him. And he answering said to his father, Lo, these many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment. And yet thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends. But as soon as thy son was come, which hath devoured thy living with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf.
How to Take Over the World
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And he said unto him, Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine. It was meet that we should make merry and be glad, for thy brother was dead and is alive again, and was lost and is found. It's just a very powerful way to illustrate this principle that, yeah, I'm trying to go to the people who were lost and bring them back. Isn't that worth celebrating?
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Even though, yeah, like the righteous people, they have their reward. They're keeping the commandments and they're doing what they're supposed to be doing. But we should celebrate when people who were wayward come back. And he could have just said that, but the story just is really, really powerful. And so that's one of these things that great communicators are good at is making comparisons.
How to Take Over the World
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Parable is just one of the most effective teaching devices there is, period. And Jesus was a master of it. Paul Johnson has a good quote about this. He says, There are not half a dozen lines of his teaching without an image, and often an unforgettable one, which has entered into the repertoire of writers all over the world.
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Inadimate objects spring to life, animals are anthropomorphized, nature teems with purposeful moral activity, and human beings often assume a dignity, a profundity, or a pathos thanks to the brilliant glitter of Jesus' imagery. We hear of living water, the blind leading the blind. Jesus wishes to gather the children of Jerusalem.
How to Take Over the World
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And then secondly, there are a lot of reasons to believe that the Gospels are correct, at least in the broad details of Jesus's life. There is one school of thought that suggests that the gospels were written by people who were more than 15 degrees of contact removed from Jesus and have no relation to the truth whatsoever. But I just don't find that reasoning very compelling.
How to Take Over the World
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Jesus loves single trees standing in isolation, the olive, the fig, the vine, and uses them tenderly. He speaks of the late summer and the whitening harvest. He loves roots, branches, and leaves, and sees images of people in all of them. And I think he does. He often uses metaphors of nature to explain principles. And I think those are particularly powerful because they're universal.
How to Take Over the World
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Everyone understands trees and seasons and things like that. And so that's a major part of his most famous teachings. And I think the other thing that parables do is they help stimulate thought in others. Instead of just hearing and then accepting or rejecting a teaching, when you hear a story like that, you turn it over in your mind and you really think about it and its implications.
How to Take Over the World
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So like I said, he has many, many parables. Those are just two of my favorites. Um, but there are dozens of parables in the gospels.
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episode is brought to you by one of my favorite podcasts founders it's like how to take over the world but specifically for and about founders so if you're an entrepreneur and you love how to take over the world the chances are you're going to love founders as well it's a great resource for anyone on their journey to founding a company or really to founding anything new anyone who has that founder mindset i think can learn a lot from history's greatest entrepreneurs the host david senra is a good friend and he's done nearly 400 episodes so he's great at finding
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common connections and drawing those out and so it's great at inspiring new thoughts and ideas for how you can supercharge your entrepreneurial journey or just what you're trying to accomplish in life so check it out that is founders wherever you get your podcasts OK, well, next in our narrative, John the Baptist has been imprisoned for basically the entirety of Jesus's ministry.
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But now Herod, the king, executes him. He's beheaded. There's a whole story there. He's convinced to do it by a dancing girl who is also his stepdaughter. Anyway, this is a huge blow for Jesus. Remember, this is So not only a man who he followed and kind of looked to, but was also his cousin. So he's obviously very grief stricken and he goes out into a desert place to be alone.
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But this crowd of people finds him and they follow him out into the wilderness. Of course, the problem is now all these people are following, but he's in the middle of the desert. So how do you feed all these people? You're away from the towns and cities where food could be bought.
How to Take Over the World
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So after Jesus has healed the sick who have come to see him, he takes what little food they have, five loaves of bread and two fishes, and he blesses it and puts it into baskets and tells the disciples to go feed it to the people. And miraculously, the loaves and fishes keep replenishing and 5,000 people are fed from these few loaves and fishes.
How to Take Over the World
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It is after this incident that Jesus walks on water in the midst of a storm, causes Peter to walk on water for a brief period of time as well. And then he performs the same feeding miracle again, except this time he feeds 4,000 people with seven loaves and a few fishes. Okay, this marks the beginning of Jesus' preparation for the end.
How to Take Over the World
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He now begins to speak more openly to his disciples of who he is. He asks them who people say he is. And then he asks them who they, his disciples, think he is. And his foremost apostle, sort of number two, Simon Peter, answers, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus acknowledges that he's correct.
How to Take Over the World
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People have a number of biases and the gospel writers certainly had biases. They were not objective historians trying to write a non-biased account. But one bias people have is for the truth. Even when they are biased in other ways and they have other motivations, people prefer to tell the truth where possible. The truth is always cleaner, simpler, and more easy to explain than lies.
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And this is actually the first time that he has acknowledged in the Gospels that he is the Messiah. Jesus in these last days tends to spend more time teaching his disciples rather than large crowds. It's as if he's trying to prepare them to be able to carry on the work in his absence, knowing that he will soon die.
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Along with his followers, Jesus travels from Galilee to Jerusalem, and he's received in Jerusalem at first with rapturous acclaim. It is a triumphant entry into the city. People spread their garments before him so that his mule doesn't have to tread on the ground, and they put palm fronds on the path before him, which was a celebratory thing.
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Even so, most of these people don't think of him as the Messiah. When they are asked by bystanders, who is this man? His supporters in Jerusalem. So these are not his close disciples, but just kind of more casual supporters. They respond, Jesus, the prophet of Nazareth, of Galilee. So he's popular with the people. One of the first things he does once he enters Jerusalem is go to the temple.
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The temple was the center of Jewish worship. It was really the center of their world. It's hard to overemphasize how important the temple was, but it was also more than that. It was a symbol of the entire Herodian regime, meaning the regime of Herod and the Sadducees who supported him. N.T.
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Wright says, The temple became de facto the cultic shrine organized by those who had made a somewhat unsteady peace with Rome. Okay. And Jesus considers these people illegitimate. He's trying to say that he is going to bring the kingdom of heaven, right? Not them. So here's what Jesus does.
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He goes to the temple and it says, quote, he began to cast out them that sold and bought in the temple and overthrew the tables of the money changers and the seats of them that sold doves. and would not suffer that any man should carry any vessel through the temple.
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And he taught, saying unto them, Is it not written, My house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer, but ye have made it a den of thieves. And the scribes and chief priests heard it, and sought how they might destroy him, for they feared him, because all the people were astonished at his doctrine.
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Okay, so Jesus has struck a blow at the heart of Jewish worship, saying that it's illegitimate, that these people have made it a place for money changers and a den of thieves. And so from this point on, the Pharisees and Sadducees are now going into overdrive, thinking about how they can get rid of Jesus.
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Now, they can't do it themselves, both because Jesus is still popular with the people and because they don't have the legal authority to execute someone outright. They are under Roman rule. They can only turn people over to the authorities. So they start looking for pretexts upon which they can recommend charges to the Romans. And so they start trying to set traps for him.
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And at first, Jesus cleverly avoids these. In the most famous example, the chief priests ask Jesus whether it is lawful to give tribute unto Caesar or not. And this is quite the conundrum, because if he says no, he can be turned over to the Romans because he's urging people not to pay their taxes. So this is the pretext they're looking for. But if he says yes, he's undermining his radical message.
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He's exposing himself as a toady of the Roman regime. And that would make him very unpopular with the people. And so they're trying to put him in this bind. Should we pay taxes to Rome or not? So he answers very cleverly. He asks them to pull out a coin. And then he asks them, whose is the image and the superscription on the coin? And of course, it's Caesar on these Roman coins.
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And so I think even from a historical, secular perspective, there's probably a lot of truth about the life of Jesus in the Gospels. And in addition, you can see the writers of the Gospels trying to wrestle with and explain inconvenient historical facts. If the Gospel accounts of Jesus' life have no relationship to his actual historical life whatsoever, then why do they include these facts?
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And so they say Caesar's. And he says to them, render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's and unto God the things that are God's. It's a very clever answer in that it doesn't give them a pretext to turn him over to the authorities, but neither does it fully say, pay all your taxes, that's all hunky dory.
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So these type of responses are able to keep him out of prison for a little bit, but obviously not for long. The chief priests and the scribes and the elders and the high priests, basically anyone who can be described as a religious authority in any way, shape or form, People who are normally rivals and hate each other begin getting together and conspiring to remove Jesus.
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With such powerful enemies, it's only a matter of time. One of the last things Jesus does appropriately is have a feast with his closest followers. This is the Passover, the greatest celebration of the Jewish calendar. So Jesus has a Passover feast with his apostles. He predicts that one of them will betray him, and they all ask, is it I?
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And Jesus indicates that it is Judas, who is one of his apostles, who had already been conspiring with authorities to turn Jesus in. So Judas leaves the feast, and then Jesus administers a special meal, what we now call the Last Supper. He blesses the bread and wine and tells his apostles to eat it in remembrance of his body and his blood, which will soon be sacrificed.
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Christians all over the world reenact this Last Supper in a ceremony that is called the Eucharist or Holy Communion or the Blessed Sacrament of the Lord's Supper. So after this supper, this Last Supper, it's now nighttime and Jesus leaves the building where they're having this meal and goes to an orchard of olive trees to pray.
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He takes with him Peter, James, and John, three of his closest apostles, and tells them, quote, "'My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even unto death. Tarry ye here and watch with me.'" He is in agony, apparently over the sacrifice that he will soon be asked to make. He falls on his face and prays, Oh my father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me.
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Nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt. Okay. In other words, you know, God, I really don't want to go through with this, but if that's what you want, I'll do it. Peter, James, and John fall asleep as he prays, and he has to wake them multiple times. He asks them one of the most stinging questions of all time. He says, could you not watch with me one hour?
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And finally, the last time that they fall asleep, he says, sleep on now and take your rest. Behold, the hour is at hand, and I will be betrayed into the hands of sinners. At that moment, Judas comes up the hill with a crowd of chief priests, elders, and ruffians carrying swords and staves.
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His disciples try to defend him, and Peter takes out a sword that he had been carrying and cuts off a man's ear. However, these disciples soon realize that resistance is futile, and they all scatter and run away. According to the book of John, he's first taken to an elder named Annas, I think I'm pronouncing that right, who then refers him to the chief priest, Caiaphas.
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The trial is a sham and a miscarriage justice from the very beginning. The prosecutors are apparently unprepared and have trouble coming up with witnesses, though they eventually come up with two who are willing to testify that Jesus said he would destroy the temple. And Jesus had indeed prophesied the temple would be destroyed.
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In the face of this sham trial and the circus, Jesus maintains silent dignity, very infrequently answering any questions. To Caiaphas, he only answers the final question. When Caiaphas says, "'Answerest thou nothing? What is it which these witness against thee?' But Jesus held his peace.
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And the high priest answered and said unto him, "'I adjure thee by the living God that thou tell us whether thou be the Christ, the Son of God.' Jesus saith unto him, Thou hast said, Nevertheless I say unto you, Hereafter shall ye see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven. Then the high priest rent his clothes, saying, He hath spoken blasphemy.
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What further need have we of witnesses? Behold, now ye have heard his blasphemy. What think ye? They answered and said, He is guilty of death. So they rough him up, try to humiliate him by striking him from behind and then asking, prophesy unto us, thou Christ, who is it that smote thee? And as this is going on, Peter is listening in to the trial from a waiting room.
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I'll give one example, which is the virgin birth. So the New Testament scholar N.T. Wright says, The Matthew birth story describes how a Galilean virgin named Mary, though pledged to Joseph, became pregnant through the Holy Spirit.
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And people recognize his Galilean accent and say, hey, aren't you one of his followers? But famously, Peter denies knowing Christ three different times. And Jesus had prophesied that this would happen. And when Peter realizes what he has done, he goes out and weeps bitterly. The council of high priests then bind Jesus and take him to Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor of the region.
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And they have a problem, which is they asked him, are you the Christ? And he said yes, but this can be interpreted purely as a religious title. And Pilate is really reluctant to get involved in a religious squabble. So he asks him the most relevant question. Are you trying to lead a rebellion? And so he says, quote, aren't thou the king of the Jews?
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And Jesus answers, my kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight that I should not be delivered to the Jews. But now is my kingdom not from hence. Okay. Um, and so I'm condensing here, obviously, but this is the key question to pilot. Are you trying to start a rebellion? Are you really trying to overthrow Roman rule?
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
Like these chief priests are saying, and Jesus says what he wants to hear. My kingdom is not of this earth. You know, my people didn't fight back against being arrested. So like, clearly I'm not trying to start a rebellion and this is good enough for pilot who declares I find in him no fault at all. But by now there is a mob outside his palace and they are not happy with this.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
So Pilate tries to pass the buck and send him to Herod, who's the king in the area. Herod questions him, but Jesus refuses to answer his questions. So Herod sends him back to Pilate. So you've got the chief priests, the Roman governor, and the Jewish king, and they are all trying to pass off responsibility and avoid being the ones to pass a sentence on Jesus.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
So it's like a real kangaroo court situation. The court of the chief priests basically tries him for blasphemy, but that is not a charge that holds any sway with the Romans. And so they deliver him to the Romans under the charge of sedition, applauding against the government.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
Joseph was planning to set aside the marriage privately on suspicion of infidelity until an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and told him that what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. Matthew adds an editorial remark that Jesus' birth fulfills the words of Isaiah 7.14 about the virgin bearing a child who is to be called Emmanuel, which means God with us.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
And that charge is clearly spurious, but they threaten Pilate, basically tell him, you know, if you don't convict this guy, then you're no friend of Caesar's. In other words, like threatening to rat him out. back in Rome.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
So Pilate really doesn't want to convict him, but he also doesn't want to be at odds with the chief priests and doesn't want them to follow through on this threat to kind of rat him out to the Roman government. And I mean, think about the guy's position. He's a foreigner. He's just trying to keep the peace. And so he wants to be on good terms with the local religious leaders.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
So he devises what he thinks is a clever solution. There is a criminal named Barabbas, and he is widely regarded to actually have been guilty of his crimes. And there is tradition that one prisoner will be released on Passover. So there is a crowd outside of his palace awaiting the verdict of this trial. And he goes out to them and says, I find no fault in this man at all. Speaking of Jesus.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
who do you want me to release? The innocent Jesus or the obviously criminal Barabbas? And remember, the crowds had been wildly in favor of Jesus just a few days before. N.T. Wright actually suggests that the reason that this crowd is so opposed to Jesus is that this is not an organic crowd or mob.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
This is a picked crowd of supporters from the Pharisees who are brought there for the specific purpose of pressuring Pilate into executing him. And so he says, look, who do you want me to let go? Jesus, in whom I find no fault, or Barabbas? And they all cry out, Barabbas. And so Pilate ceremonially washes his hands to try and clear himself of any guilt in this execution.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
But ultimately he does free Barabbas and hand Jesus to his soldiers to be killed. So, you know, this has been a miscarriage of justice from start to finish. He's apprehended under one charge, tried under another. He's found innocent and is still sent to be executed. He is first scourged, which is to be severely whipped. And then he is humiliated.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
So instead, what I'm doing is I'm taking the premium version of the Jesus episode that I put out last year, and I'm releasing it to everyone, to free subscribers as well. Again, this is not just an episode for believers or for Christians, but hopefully has some special resonance for people who are thinking about him and about his resurrection today.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
He is given mock regal regalia, a crown of thorns, a scarlet robe, and a reed to hold as a scepter. After being humiliated and tortured in this way, he is taken to a hill called Golgotha, where he is crucified. In the New Testament in its world, N.T. Wright kind of explains crucifixion. He says, crucifixion was a brutal and barbaric form of execution.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
If you had ever seen a crucifixion, and they were common in places like Judea and Galilee, the experience would have been terrifying.
How to Take Over the World
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It would leave you with irrepressible memories of naked half-dead men dying a protracted death for days on end, covered in blood and flies, their flesh gnawed at by rats, their members ripped at by wild dogs, their faces pecked by crows, the victims mocked and jeered by sadistic torturers and other bystanders, while relatives nearby, weeping uncontrollably, would be helpless to do anything for them.
How to Take Over the World
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Crucifixion was a powerful symbol throughout the Roman world. It was not just a means of liquidating undesirables. It did so with maximum degradation and humiliation. It said loud and clear, we are in charge here. You are our property. We can do what we like with you. It insisted coldly and brutally on the absolute sovereignty of Rome and of Caesar.
How to Take Over the World
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It told an implicit story of the uselessness of rebel recalcitrants and the ruthlessness of imperial power. It said in particular, this is what happens to rebel leaders. Crucifixion was a symbolic act with a clear and frightening meaning. Okay, so you can just imagine, right? Crucifixion is really meant to rub your nose in your own powerlessness.
How to Take Over the World
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This is the more interesting in that we know of no pre-Christian readers of Isaiah who took the passage in this way. It seems far more likely that the story of Jesus' extraordinary conception generated a search for relevant texts rather than, as has often been suggested, the other way around.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
Not only are we going to execute this person, but we're going to do it publicly and slowly so that you have time to think about how much you just can't stop us from doing this. The physical process of crucifixion is that a person has their hands and feet nailed to a wooden structure, which is then raised to display the dying criminal.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
Actually, usually this is done on a cross like you think of, but sometimes this was done on a single stake. So the person would have their hands nailed together above their head and their feet down below. Actually, Jehovah's Witness insists that Christ was not crucified on an actual cross, but on a single stake like this. The sources I've seen say No one really knows.
How to Take Over the World
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It could have gone either way. The actual cause of death for those being crucified is varied. Some would die from loss of blood. More often they died from exposure, starvation, and suffocation.
How to Take Over the World
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So once the person is no longer able to support their weight on the nails in their feet, they have to hang awkwardly in a position that doesn't allow their lungs to expand and they're no longer able to breathe properly. And so they suffocate and they can't breathe anymore and they die that way. It's not a good way to go.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
Once he's put up on the cross, Jesus has seven sayings, seven things that he famously says before he dies. First, he says, Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. Speaking of his executioners. And then next, he's actually next to two criminals who were also crucified on the same day, one of whom derides Jesus. But the other comes to his defense.
How to Take Over the World
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And Jesus says to the latter criminal, today you will be with me in paradise. And then Jesus says to his mother, who was there watching him die, Woman, behold your son, as he points to John, thereby giving John the responsibility to watch over his family after he is dead. He then despairs and cries out, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
How to Take Over the World
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Subsequently, the effects of the torture and execution begin to kick in. Jesus then says, I thirst, after which he is given a disgusting mixture of vinegar and gall, which he rejects. And then his final two sayings are, It is finished, and Father, into your hands I commend my spirit. The Romans didn't want to offend Jewish sensibilities by leaving the bodies up on the Sabbath day.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
So for the two criminals next to Jesus, they break their legs to speed up their deaths. But when they come to Jesus, he's already dead, presumably because he was tortured more than the other criminals prior to his crucifixion. And so they pierce his side with a spear just to be sure that he's actually dead.
How to Take Over the World
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And when they do pierce his side, blood and water comes out, which is something that happens after someone's been dead for a little bit. The water separates from the blood. After that, two wealthy followers of Jesus by the names of Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus then take his body, take it off the cross and dress it and give him a proper burial in a well-appointed tomb.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
Okay, so in other words, the idea that the Messiah would be born of a virgin was not widely accepted in the Jewish community before the coming of Jesus. And so if you're just looking at the historical account, it looks like the gospel writers are trying to explain this strange conception.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
Now, obviously, up to this point, any single point in the life of Jesus can be challenged. Any of you who don't believe in Jesus are obviously not going to believe in any of the miracles discussed. But the preceding account still probably forms a pretty coherent narrative of what Jesus's life was like.
How to Take Over the World
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But this is the part where the believers obviously have to part with the nonbelievers, because what happens next is Mary Magdalene and the other Mary. So this is not his mother, but a third Mary come to the tomb and they find the stone that guarded the entrance rolled away. and they run into an angel who tells them, fear not, for I know that you seek Jesus, which was crucified.
How to Take Over the World
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He is not here, for he is risen. As he said, come see the place where the Lord lay. Okay, that is from Matthew. According to Luke, the angel says, why seek ye the living among the dead? According to John, it is Mary who first encounters Jesus, but many of the disciples speak with him and even eat and socialize with him. According to Matthew, Jesus ended his work on earth with these words.
How to Take Over the World
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According to Luke, Jesus actually ascends up into heaven as his final act. And it came to pass while he blessed them, he was parted from them and carried up into heaven. Okay, so there you have it. The life of Jesus, the most influential man of all time. I will finish this account with a quick summary. I have tried throughout this to demonstrate the Jesus according to the gospels.
How to Take Over the World
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For the non-believers, I think it is also helpful to give the summary of the historical Jesus. Historically speaking, we don't know much. Most of what we know about his life does come from the Gospels. But we don't know nothing. And so here is what N.T. Wright says about his life. It is quite easy to lay out a brief list of things that few will deny about Jesus' life and public activity.
How to Take Over the World
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He was most likely born in what we now call 4 BC. The calculation of the BC-AD divide took place in the 6th century based on limited information. He grew up in Galilee, in the town of Nazareth, close to the major city of Sepphoris. He spoke Aramaic, at least some Hebrew, and probably some Greek as well.
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He emerged as a public figure in around AD 28, in the context of the initially similar work of John the Baptist. He summoned people to repent, in other words, to turn back from the ways they were going, and announced the kingdom, or reign, of Israel's God, using parables in particular to do so.
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He journeyed around the villages of Galilee announcing his message and enacting it by effecting remarkable cures, including exorcisms, and by sharing in table fellowship with a socioculturally wide group. He called a group of close disciples, among whom 12 were given special status.
How to Take Over the World
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His activities, especially one dramatic action in the temple, incurred the wrath of some elements in the Jewish world, notably, at least toward the end, of the high priestly establishment. Partly as a result of this, he was handed over to the Romans and executed in the manner regularly used for insurrectionists. His followers claimed soon afterwards that he had been raised from the dead.
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rather than believing that the Messiah needed to be born of a virgin, and so inventing some story about his birth. So, you know, even if you're a non-Christian looking at this, it seems more likely that Jesus' mother did indeed become pregnant before she was married. Of course, if you're not Christian, you're going to explain that as an extramarital affair or something like that.
How to Take Over the World
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They carried on his work in a new way, and some of them were persecuted for doing so, both by Jews and by pagans. Okay. And I think that's a good summary of who Jesus was. Hopefully throughout this episode, you've been able to take away some of those lessons of how he was able to do what he did and what made him remarkable.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
So if you're a premium subscriber, I'm going to give you all my takeaways here shortly, as well as a bunch of my end notes. But I do want to end with one last takeaway, which is that Jesus's willingness to die for his message was obviously a huge key to his success and a huge key to the success of the early Christian church.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
Almost all of the apostles followed his example and were killed for their beliefs. Many of the rank and file were persecuted and killed as well. And the willingness to die for their beliefs is a big part of what created even more converts. When you read firsthand accounts of people who converted to Christianity,
How to Take Over the World
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Many of them saw these people being killed and said, wow, they really must believe in what they're saying to be willing to die for it. It's why the Pope wears red shoes. It represents that they have been dipped in the blood of the martyrs. That is why Paul, one of the most important early apostles, becomes a Christian.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
I mean, yes, he has an experience where he sees Jesus as obviously the key thing. But I think it is relevant that he only has that vision after witnessing the death of a disciple, Stephen, an early Christian who, like Jesus, blesses and forgives executioners shortly before being stoned to death. I think that is what put Paul in the emotional space to have a vision.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
So in many ways, that is the most important lesson of Jesus, especially for those who are trying to start a movement, whether that's a Christian movement or otherwise. You can't fake it. You have to create something truly world-changing that you have to be willing to die for, and you need to be willing to ask others to do the same. That's the kind of belief you have to have in what you're doing.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
So we'll cut it off there. Thanks for listening. For more takeaways and legacy and further context and my thoughts and some of my religious history, subscribe at takeoverpod.supercast.com. That link is in the show notes. This helps the show keep going. Thank you to all of you who helped me do this by being premium subscribers. Thank you to Speechify.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
Again, I used it for a ton of research for this episode. You will be shocked at how quickly you can read and how much you can retain when you read and listen at the same time. Speechify is an invaluable tool for anyone who wants to be a great learner. Go to speechify.com slash Ben for 15% off Speechify premium.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
So to those of you signing off now, thank you for listening to how to take over the world. Okay. Premium people. Here we go. Here are my takeaways and my end notes. Five lessons. I just want to draw five lessons. And again, you know, I always feel kind of funny.
How to Take Over the World
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with someone like Jesus, the message is so profound and so world-changing that you can feel funny saying like, oh, here are leadership lessons from Jesus. Like either he was the son of God or he wasn't, right? But still, I do think that, you know, Jesus wanted people to follow his example and I don't think there's anything wrong with, yeah, with taking some practical lessons away.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
But the point is that, yes, you can glean things about Jesus' life from the Gospels, right? That is not to say that everything in the Bible is historically accurate.
How to Take Over the World
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Okay, so my five lessons. First, Number one, make real demands of your disciples. Remember, you must hate your wife, you must hate your mother and your father, your siblings and your children, and follow me. The charge that he gives to his apostles to go out into the world to take neither person or script, that you will be delivered up and tried for your teachings.
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Great leaders expect a lot, especially of those who are closest to them. Okay, number two. on that same idea is offering a new way of life. You have to give your followers something attractive that they want to live out, that they want to be a part of. It's not enough to give people a long list of things that they should do.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
You want to give them something that they want to do, that they want to be a part of. Number three, teach with stories, metaphors, and parables. Again, all of these lessons, if that man had asked Jesus, and who is my neighbor? And he said, everyone or whoever you come across in daily life. That is so forgettable.
How to Take Over the World
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But he gives that story, the parable of the Good Samaritan, and it has become one of the classic stories in all of world history that millions, billions of people know, right? And it taught the lesson so much more effectively than if he had just said it straight. I think of Steve Jobs and him describing the computer as a bicycle of the mind.
How to Take Over the World
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And I think that helped people understand what a computer was much more than if he had just told you. It makes people much more productive in whatever they want to do. So use stories, metaphors, parables to get your points across, and you'll do so much more powerfully. Okay, number four, show, don't tell.
How to Take Over the World
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I'll talk about a couple of things that are questionable, but that was my long way of saying, I think the Jesus of the Bible does have some relationship to the historical figure, probably a very strong relationship, and he is worth studying. So my sources for this episode are the gospel accounts from the New Testament. That's Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. I used the King James version.
How to Take Over the World
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His healings, miracles, and his example were more important than just his straight teachings were. That's why the four gospels give an account of his life and not just of his teachings. And I think that's true. The way that you live out the things that you teach is much more important than what you teach in a sort of abstract sense.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
And then the fifth thing, and this kind of goes into every point that was before, but you is, is belief. You have to believe in something so strongly to the point that you're willing to die for it. That absolute conviction and belief. There was plenty of chances for Jesus not to die. And if he had done that, then there would not be 3 billion Christians in the world.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
And it wouldn't have started this whole movement. And so if you're someone who is looking to start a movement, Just don't try and fake it. You really have to commit to those things that you really do believe in. Otherwise, you're just not going to have the legs of something like Christianity or of the many other movements that people really do believe in sincerely and are willing to die for.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
Okay, my end notes. So I should mention my religious background, I guess. So I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. That's people typically know us as Mormons. So I'm kind of in an interesting position here because no one likes us. Atheists think we're ridiculous. Christians don't accept us as Christians.
How to Take Over the World
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If you want to know more about what this religion is, you can go listen to the Brigham Young episodes where I explain a little bit about the start of our religion. But everyone thinks I'm a heretic, which is why I just tried to stick to what is in the gospel. I don't think I said anything controversial in terms of my interpretation of the gospels.
How to Take Over the World
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I'm sure someone's going to yell at me for this episode. A lot of people will probably yell at me. Of course, you just can't talk about Jesus without incurring strong emotions.
How to Take Over the World
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But hopefully, you know, my status as an outsider kind of affords me an opportunity to look at things a little more objectively than someone who is a mainstream Christian or a mainstream atheist who's critical of the biblical account. Okay, so some other things to talk about. One thing I've been mentioning a lot in recent episodes is that charisma comes from the eyes, from the gaze.
How to Take Over the World
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So from great leaders, people always talk about the way they stare and the way they gaze. And so I found this really interesting passage from Paul Johnson, quote, on the other hand, we know certain things about his visual personality, which struck eyewitnesses. And so we're recorded in the gospels. Jesus was very observant.
How to Take Over the World
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It is notable how many times he is described as looking, looking upon, looking around, looking up. The last is mentioned three times. His habit of penetrating observation punctuates the narrative. He looked around before speaking, and he lifted up his eyes on his disciples. And the Lord turned and looked upon Peter.
How to Take Over the World
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He had looked round about on them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts. He was a man greatly interested in detail. He missed nothing. He had a penetrating gaze, which eyewitnesses noticed and remembered. His all-seeing eyes were almost certainly the first thing that struck people about him. His gaze was linked to his air of decision. It astonished people.
How to Take Over the World
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I also read Jesus, a biography from a believer by Paul Johnson and the New Testament in its world by N.T. Wright. I should mention that I was able to listen to the New Testament in my own voice, which is pretty cool. There's an old Jewish tradition that God speaks to you in your own voice.
How to Take Over the World
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He appeared and spoke not as an interpreter of the scriptures, but as a fountainhead of truth. Okay, so I just think that's really interesting. I had never put that together. You know, I've read the Gospels before, but I had never put together. That is true. It talks often about him looking around, looking up, looking upon. And so obviously his gaze was something that was notable about him.
How to Take Over the World
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I thought that was an interesting synchronicity with other people I've been studying recently. Okay, another point I liked from Johnson, who just does a good job of pulling out some interesting threads in Jesus's life, is this idea of being busy. Jesus was never busy. And I think busyness is for losers. Like, yes, obviously you want to be doing a lot and Jesus was doing a lot.
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But, well, here's what he says. Jesus was not thus overburdened by a program or specific appointments to teach. While always at work, he gives the impression of finding time to chat, albeit not about trivialities. There is never a sense of hurry. So I like that.
How to Take Over the World
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And that makes me want to focus more on not being hurried, not being busy, but making time for serendipity and happy coincidences in my life. Okay, so he used his gaze. Another thing that Johnson draws out is his use of silence.
How to Take Over the World
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He says, quote, he was habitually silent about his powers except when necessary and about his divinity as it was important to establish the nature of his character as a man. When told thou art the Christ, the son of the living God, he enjoins silence again. He was usually silent to direct questions. He preferred to answer the thought rather than the words.
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He expresses the silence of shame when presented with the woman taken in adultery. Shame not at her sin, but at the sins of those who wish to stone her to death. He prefers to write their name in the dust rather than speak it. In the whole incident, one of the most vivid and moving in the entire New Testament, he uses only two sentences. Woman, where are those thine accusers?
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Hath no man condemned thee? And neither do I condemn thee. Go and sin no more. He is silent on horrors, at the death of John the Baptist, for instance. He is silent with indignation before Caiaphas. He shows the silence of contempt before Herod Antipas. In his physical sufferings, he is silent with self-absorption and pity for his assailants and mockers.
How to Take Over the World
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His silence on the cross was as striking as his rare words, the seven last sayings. Okay. And I think that's an excellent point that when you have something very profound to say, silence can often speak as loud as your actual words. And Jesus used silence to great effect. And I think, you know, another person that makes me think of is George Washington, who used silence very effectively.
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So if you've ever, for example, watched The Prince of Egypt, which is a cartoon depiction of the Moses story, Val Kilmer voices Moses, but he also voices God because, you know, Moses is supposed to be hearing God in his own voice. Well, I was able to listen to the New Testament using my own voice via Speechify.
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And so that's something I'm mulling over my mind. How can I use silence more effectively? I'm a podcaster, so that's tough. But I think putting more meaning behind fewer words and having more silence can make your words more meaningful. Okay. Some more quotes on his openness and friendliness.
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I do think this is one of my favorite things about studying Jesus is realizing just how open and sociable he was. So here's a good quote from Paul Johnson. There was something about Jesus' appearance, the way he held himself, the steadiness of his gaze, which attracted people. They felt he was open, that he would receive them as a friend and talk to them.
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Indeed, Jesus' manifest and responsive friendliness was his most striking quality, and it was apparent from the start. He directed it to all, but made each feel selected and treasured. Yet there was nothing professional about it. It came from the heart. There could be no mistake about that." With the exception of spreading news of his miracles, Jesus was always open.
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He enjoyed food, the wine circulated, the talk flowed, but he respected the need of privacy for others, even secrecy. One of the most striking of his encounters was with Nicodemus, a Jew of high position, a Pharisee and a spiritual ruler who was prominent in the hierarchy. He came to Jesus by night so as not to jeopardize his position, and Jesus did not rebuke him for cowardice.
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On the contrary, he received him kindly and explained to him in memorable words much of his inner message. OK, another quote on his self-control. This again from Paul Johnson. But, you know, I really liked N.T. Wright's book, The New Testament and its world. It's an excellent resource for understanding the New Testament. Having said that, it is more.
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I think it is a textbook, like I think it's actually used as a textbook in some seminaries, and so it reads like it. Paul Johnson's account is much more poetic. And so I like that because it helps bring home who Jesus was as a person. So that's why I'm using more of his quotes in these end notes. But here's another one, Paul Johnson on his self-control.
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A careful reading of the gospels shows us the man who always kept his head, if not his life, when others were losing theirs. They teach us patience, forbearance, self-control, calmness, serenity, the pursuit and maintenance of quiet amid the storm of life. For more than 2,000 years, this has proved a valuable lesson to those individuals and societies intelligent enough to learn it.
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Jesus pushed virtues like mercy as far as they could go, but he was not an extremist. On the contrary, all the evidence of the Gospels shows the balance of his life, the faultless way in which he steered sensibly between egregious positions. He was a private man, but not a hermit. He could be solitary, but only for brief periods. He liked company in moderation.
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He talked, he had much to say, but he said it succinctly, and he knew when to ask questions and when to be silent. He was equable but could express indignation when required. He could weep, but he never despaired. He could laugh, though we were never explicitly told so, but he laughed with, not at. He was mocked, but he never mocked. He was struck, and he turned the other cheek.
How to Take Over the World
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I use Speechify for 80% of my research because I find I get through material way faster if I listen to it and read it at the same time. I recommend that anyone try it. You won't believe how much faster it is than just reading. It's a superpower for learning quickly. So if you want to use it, go to Speechify.com slash Ben to get 15% off Speechify premium.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
In an age of fury and loathing, when religious extremism held sway, he was a difficult man to dislike, let alone hate. And if, in the end, the unbalanced man hated him enough to kill him, it was precisely for his equanimity. And I do think that is one of the most powerful images of Jesus is at the end of his life, standing in silence to his questioning. Right.
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That that self-possession, that self-control to to never lose himself to rage or any emotion is something I'm going to take away. OK. One other note that I found interesting is you have the Sadducees, you have the Pharisees. And it's interesting because the Pharisees. believed in resurrection and the Sadducees did not.
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So it's unclear exactly what the Sadducees believed in terms of eschatology and the afterlife. But they did not believe in a resurrection the way the Pharisees did. And there's a political component to this. So here's what N.T. Wright says. The reason why Jewish aristocrats rejected resurrection might actually have less to do with theology than with sociology.
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The real problem was that resurrection was from the beginning a revolutionary doctrine. It implied a reordering of power. a radical overhaul of the existing hierarchies of authority. For Daniel 12, resurrection belief went with dogged resistance and martyrdom. For Isaiah and Ezekiel, it was about Yahweh restoring the fortunes of his people.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
It had to do with the coming new age, when the life-giving God would act once more to turn everything upside down, or perhaps, as some might have said, the right way up. It was the sort of belief that encouraged young hotheads to attack Roman symbols placed on the temple, and that, indeed, led the first-century Jews into the most disastrous war they had experienced.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
Thus, for those on top of the social pile, whether in Jerusalem or in Corinth, resurrection beliefs might be seen to threaten their established position.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
People who believe that their God is about to make a new world and that those who die in loyalty to him will rise again and share gloriously in the rule of that world are far more likely to lose respect for a wealthy aristocracy than people who think that this life, this world, and this age are the only ones that will ever be. Okay. So that's interesting, right?
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
The chief priests, the Sadducees, they're the leading aristocrats. And so they have no problem saying, yeah, like this life is all there is. And so look, we must be blessed because we have it good in this life. We're wealthy, we're respected, we have the good life.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
Whereas the Pharisees, who were not, you know, they weren't peasants, they weren't the lowest classes, but they were not in favor politically the same way that the Sadducees were. And so they and the Christians have more incentive to believe in a resurrection because it's their way of saying, yeah, well, that doesn't matter.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
If we're in God's favor, then we're going to have it better than you in the resurrection. So I thought that was very interesting that there is that dichotomy. And I also found it very interesting. I didn't know that there was this disagreement that many Jews did not believe in any sort of afterlife.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
And you can use my AI voice if you would like to listen to whatever you want, including the New Testament in my voice. With that said, let's get into it. This is the life of Jesus. Okay, so let's talk about the context a little bit. At this time, and we're talking about the turn of the millennium, so, you know, about 0 AD, of course, the Jews were waiting for a messiah.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
And certainly even up to the day, there's not the same emphasis on the afterlife that there is among Christians. Okay. One other note is how do we know that Jesus was real at all? You know, there are some people who tried to argue for a while that there was no historical Jesus, that this was all an invention of Paul.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
That theory has fallen out of favor and is not well regarded by mainstream historians at this point. But, well, how do we know then? One of the key pieces of evidence is a passage from Josephus, who was a well-regarded Jewish historian. This is what N.T. Wright says about it.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
The authenticity of the Jesus passage in Josephus, the Testimonium Flavianum, is disputed, but I'm convinced that Josephus did have a Jesus passage, even though it was subsequently dressed up a bit.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
As we have it, the passage reads, "...about this time there lived Jesus, a wise man, if indeed one ought to call him a man, for he was one who performed surprising deeds and was a teacher of such people as accept the truth gladly." He won over many Jews and many of the Greeks.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
He was the Messiah, and when, upon the accusation of the principal men among us, Pilate had condemned him to a cross, those who had first come to love him did not cease. He appeared to them spending a third day restored to life, for the prophets of God had foretold these things and a thousand other marvels about him.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
And the tribe of the Christians, so called after him, has still to this day not disappeared. And then N.T. Wright says that the highlighted passages are probably later editions by Christians to spruce it up a little bit. So here's how it reads, the same passage, without the highlighted portions.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
About this time there lived Jesus, a wise man, for he was one who performed surprising deeds and was a teacher of such people as accept the truth gladly. He won over many Jews and many of the Greeks. And when upon the accusation of the principal man among us, Pilate had condemned him to a cross, those who had first come to love him did not cease.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
And the tribe of the Christians so called after him has still to this day not disappeared. Okay, so N.T. Wright goes on. The bits I've highlighted in bold are the bits which most probably were glosses added by a scribe to give Jesus a better spin from Josephus, but in favor of the authenticity of the rest. Note one, the language here is consistent with Josephus' style elsewhere.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
Two, there is another mention of Jesus again, which presupposes what Josephus first wrote here. And three, the Arabic and Syriac versions of the text have a slightly less embellished version of the testimonium than the Greek copies and are therefore probably closer to the original wording. So while it is disputed, I think the testimonium is at its core authentic.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
Okay, so yeah, the historical Jesus is pretty well attested to as are many of the major points of his life. What about the miracles? Were the miracles Real. Or were they a later invention? Again from N.T. Wright. But why did the Judean leadership, the priestly aristocracy, request that Pilate inflict the death penalty on Jesus in the first place?
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
As all the sources agree, the Romans did not allow subject peoples the right to use the death penalty. One immediate answer comes to us from a Jewish tradition preserved in the Babylonian Talmud about Jesus' execution. Quote, Jesus was hanged on the eve of Passover.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
The herald went before him for 40 days, saying, He is going to be stoned because he practiced sorcery and enticed and led Israel astray. Let everyone knowing anything in his defense come and plead for him. But nothing was found in his defense, so he was hanged on the eve of Passover. But in what ways did they think Jesus was leading the people astray?
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
The charge goes back to the times during Jesus' public career when he was accused of being in league with Satan, a charge impossible to imagine being invented by the early church. Such a charge was an obvious way of reacting to powerful and surprising actions, Jesus' miracles, for which there was no other explanation open to people committed to rejecting Jesus' message.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
Okay, so when you have a non-Christian source saying that he was executed for sorcery, then it does indeed seem like that was a key part of his life. So I think the evidence is pretty strong that he did perform miracles, or at least, you know, if you're non-Christian, claim to have performed miracles. I do think that was a real part of his reputation during his life was as a miracle worker. Okay.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
Um, yeah, that's the end of most of my important notes. I'll note one other thing. There is one other source that I consulted or at least looked at, which was the gospel of Thomas. So this is a gospel that was found, uh, recently in the last 60 years, I think, um, it was discovered with the dead sea scrolls and, uh, it's a Gnostic account of Jesus's life. Um,
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
Why are they waiting for Messiah at this particular time? Essentially because of the Roman conquest. Under the great King David, Israel was established as an independent kingdom and a regional power. David's son Solomon had built a beautiful temple that becomes the center, the beating heart of Jewish worship.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
it's kind of exciting to read something new, like a new gospel of Jesus's life. It's actually a book of sayings. So it doesn't go through his biography. It just goes through things that he said, you know, just, and Jesus said, and Jesus said, it gives us a lot of his sayings. Again, it's kind of exciting to read something new, but ultimately it's frankly, it's not that good.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
And I think it highlights how good the four gospels of the Bible are from a literary perspective. you know, believe it or not, they're engaging, they're interesting, they're fun to read. The Gospel of Thomas is kind of tedious. And many of the teachings do line up with the four canonical gospels, although some of them do not. So I don't know. You can do it. I kind of enjoyed it.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
But just this is my warning, I guess. If you do read the Gospel of Thomas, it's not that good. Uh, and then, um, yeah, one other thing is this idea of feasting. So I think it's very interesting. Uh, the, the Eucharist communion, whatever you want to call it is practiced by Christians all over the world now. And this is basically on Sundays, once a week they go, they take some bread with Catholics.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
It's like a wafer. And brothers use bread or wafers or crackers or whatever. And then drink a little wine. We Latter-day Saints, we do water in remembrance of Christ's body and blood. For early Christians, the Eucharist was not just a ceremony, but an actual meal. We don't know exactly how often they feasted together in this way.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
I tried to look into it, but some sources say every time they met for worship, which Paul says was daily, they would partake of this meal together. Other sources say they feasted together weekly So who knows? But no matter how often, this was a key part of their worship and identity, which I think is cool because it goes back to how Jesus lived his life, which was to share meals with other people.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
That was a key part of what he did. And so I actually think that this concept of feasting is something I'm turning over in my mind and thinking a lot about. I think it's really, really important. I think you could found a very powerful political movement based on this idea of feasting. People eat alone now.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
I went on a deep dive kind of researching depression and suicide a few months, actually maybe a couple of years ago. Not for myself, thankfully. I have pretty good mental health. But I got interested in this because it just seems like such a curse of modern life. It always bothers me that so many people feel so badly about their life that they are depressed.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
but then they are conquered by the Babylonians who destroy their temple and take the people into captivity. The Babylonians are overthrown by the Persians who allow them to return to Jerusalem and rebuild their temple. So the temple is rebuilt, but then the Jews get new rulers when the Persians are overthrown by Alexander the Great.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
And suicide is just something that sticks in your head, right? It's so horrible that someone would hate life so much that they'd want to end it. And I was, you know, trying to find who are people who do not commit suicide. You know, you hear about like green zones, people who live past 100 in these certain places on Earth. I was like, where are the green zones for suicide?
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
Where do people not commit suicide? And one of the things I found was kibbutz, kibbutzim, kibbutzes, which are these compounds that people used to build in Israel. So when Israel was kind of being founded in the mid 20th century and early 20th century, a lot of these European immigrants to Israel wanted to set up radical communities. Actually, a lot of them were not religious at all.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
They were just ethnic kind of atheistic Jews. And a lot of them had socialist kind of ideas. And so kibbutzes were, yeah, like supposed to be these socialist paradises where you'd have a community owned farm and a community owned dining hall and no private property. And we'll all live together in peace and harmony. And there are very few left who actually operate in that way.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
Most kibbutzes have kind of turned into suburbs. But what's really interesting is in kibbutzes, you actually didn't have a single suicide. And this is hundreds of thousands of people. You didn't have a single suicide.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
from the time that they were founded the earliest ones i think were in the 1920s or 30s until the 1990s uh at which point they had basically become suburbs but for uh like 50 years 60 years not a single suicide in any kibbutz in israel not a single suicide
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
with all these people and you know you can attribute that to a lot of things and i think generally speaking communal living is a way of living that makes people less suicidal but i think a big part of that communal feeling was the fact that all of these people ate together at their meals
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
And so I do think this idea of feasting, of eating together communally, something that Jesus talked about a lot. And I do think that it's an idea that needs to be resurrected and that it's something that could solve a lot of the mental health issues.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
in uh in today's world maybe i'm making more out of it than is possible but i i think it'd be very interesting to see if you took people and put them in a community where they didn't have to live and do everything together but if they just ate together with a group every day what would that do for people's mental health you know i was in a fraternity in college and so i would have dinner with my fraternity brothers every single day and i gotta say that was a pretty special feeling and made you feel included and much less lonely which i think is such a big problem today
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
Efforts are made by some of Alexander's successors to Hellenize the Jews, kind of adopt them into Greek culture. And so the temple is taken and rededicated to Zeus, and pigs are sacrificed to Zeus in the temple, which was a normal sacrifice by Greek standards, but pigs were unclean to Jews, and this was highly offensive.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
So, um, yeah, I always just go off on random stuff at the end of these episodes, but I really do think as I read about the life of Jesus, he is feasting. He is dining with other people so often. It's something that was so important to him. And I think that idea has been forgotten even by Christians.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
This is something that is not practiced by most Christians today and could solve a lot of issues is at least worth experimenting with. Okay, I'm going to cut it off there. I hope you enjoyed it. I am kind of nervous about this episode. It's difficult talking about Jesus. But thank you for listening. Thank you for being premium subscribers. I love you. Until next time, thank you for listening.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
Eventually, the Jews revolt under the leadership of Mattathias Maccabee and his five sons, and they win independence from this Greek kingdom. but it's not very long-lasting independence because they are soon once again conquered, this time by the Romans. The Romans are not as repressive as the Babylonians, but neither are they hands-off as the Persians.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
And so I hope, you know, that you all have a happy and great Easter and maybe this adds a little bit to it. And even if you're not a Christian or particularly religious, I think Easter is a great time to reflect on rebirth and renewal. It's spring, the sun is shining, life is returning. It's a good time to feel alive and consider how we can change and improve going forward.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
Most offensively, the person who did this conquest was Pompey the Great. So he came to the eastern Mediterranean, he cleared out all the pirates, and he was a contemporary of Julius Caesar's. And when he conquers Judea and Jerusalem, he goes into the temple. He goes into the Holy of Holies, which was kind of the very back, the very middle.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
It's the most sacred part of the temple, the most sacred place in the world, according to Jewish worship. He leaves the temple intact, but entering the Holy of Holies was an act of defilement, according to the Jews. And so the temple is kind of no longer holy and whole. Now, the Romans often like to rule places via client kings.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
So in other words, you guys can keep your king, we don't want to deal with your little squabbles, but that king reports to us. So they had a client king named Herod, who came to be known as Herod the Great. And he had a good relationship with the Romans. Culturally, he was pretty well Hellenized.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
I don't think you would call him a sincere Jewish believer by any stretch of the imagination, but he had a lot of Jewish support because he renovated the second temple and greatly expanded it. So the Jews have their temple. They are allowed to worship in it, but they still resent Roman dominance over them. They want their independence.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
There were a thousand little ways in which Roman rule bothered them. Some were big things. For example, a Roman eagle stood at the entrance to the temple, letting the Jews know who was really in charge here. And some in small ways. N.T. Wright in the New Testament and its world highlights a story that I find hilarious about one religious riot in Jerusalem shortly after the life of Jesus.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
Listen to this. This is from an ancient historian, Josephus. Here's what Josephus says. The usual crowd had assembled at Jerusalem for the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and the Roman cohort had taken up its position on the roof of the portico of the temple, for a body of men in arms invariably mounts guard at the feasts to prevent disorders arising from such a concourse of people.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
Thereupon, one of the soldiers, raising his robe, stooped in an indecent manner so as to turn his backside to the Jews, and made a noise in keeping with his posture. Enraged at the insult, the whole multitude with loud cries called upon the governor to punish the soldier.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
Some of the more hot-headed young men and seditious persons in the crowd started to fight, and picking up stones hurled them at the troops. The governor, fearing a general attack upon himself, sent for reinforcements. These troops pouring into the porticos, the Jews were seized with irresistible panic and turned to fly from the temple and make their escape into the town.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
But such violence was used as they pressed round the exits that they were trodden underfoot and crushed to death by one another. Upwards of 30,000 perished, and the feast was turned into mourning for the whole nation and for every household into lamentation. Okay, so a riot that ends up leading to 30,000 dead starts because a Roman soldier moons the crowd and farts at them.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
So it's a little funny, but obviously it's just a little way in which the Romans are showing, yeah, like we can do what we want. We're superior to you. We're in charge here. You're subservient to us. And so that is the kind of stuff that upset the Jews and made them yearn for a time when they would be free of Roman rule. I think there's also just a feeling of complete disruption.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
You're used to a certain way of life, and then the Romans completely upset it, bringing a lot of things, bringing wealth and trade and new goods and new people, but also like a complete disruption to your historical way of life. Paul Johnson has a good summary. The world into which Jesus was born was harsh, cruel, violent, and unstable. It was also materialistic and increasingly wealthy.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
So I'll be back with all new content next week, but until then, please enjoy this re-release about Jesus of Nazareth. But first, a word from our sponsor, Gains in Bulk. Creatine is the best and most tested supplement in the world. Countless studies have showed its positive effects on muscle growth, yes, but also recovery, endurance, and cognitive performance.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
The great fact of geopolitics was Rome and its possessions in the process of transforming itself from a republic into an empire. It now occupied the shores of the entire Mediterranean, from which one of its great men, Pompey, had driven all the pirates which once infested it, using ruthless methods of brutality, torture, and large-scale public executions.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
As a result, trade was expanding fast, and many cities and individuals doubled their riches in the generation before Jesus was born. Okay, so yes, like, they're bringing tons of wealth. A lot of people doubled their wealth in the generation before Jesus was born. But in so doing, they're disrupting traditional ways of life in Judea, and they're threatening the religious authorities' hold on power.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
Listen to Paul Johnson's description of Herod the Great, the client king who was ruling Judea under the Romans. Paul Johnson says, In what we now call Palestine, a similar calm prevailed at the time of Jesus' birth, under the plutocratic tyranny of Herod the Great.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
For more than 30 years, this astute financier, who had made himself the richest individual in the entire empire, had by his subservience to the rulers of Rome, and by princely gifts, made himself master of the ancient kingdom of the Jews. He was the greatest builder of his age, creating a new port at Caesarea in Samaria,
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
rebuilding and enlarging the temple in Jerusalem, and building public baths, aqueducts, and what we would call shopping centers in half a dozen cities, as well as a ring of powerful fortresses, he was a benefactor of the Jews on a colossal scale. But he was not popular among them.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
Only half Jewish by birth and wholly Greek in his cultural tastes, he was regarded as heretical by the Jewish religious authorities for sponsoring Greek-style games, theaters, and music. He also had numerous wives and concubines, some of them Gentiles, and sired many children.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
Suspicious and cruel, he slaughtered over 40 of his wives, children, and close relatives, often in circumstances of peculiar atrocity, for conspiracies, real or imaginary, against his rule in person. As his reign drew to a close, the last year of his life was the year of Jesus' birth, his suspicions increased, and an atmosphere of paranoia prevailed at his court.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
Okay, so again, the Romans, Herod, yes, they're creating this very prosperous, culturally rich, entertaining world, but it's threatening to religious authorities. It's threatening to traditional ways of life. N.T. Wright says that the Hellenistic setting formed a perpetual cultural and religious threat to the Jews, every bit as powerful as any political danger.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
Okay, so I think you can make a pretty good comparison between then and now. I think Judaism at the turn of the millennium was in a similar place that Christianity is in right now. It's sort of obviously in decline and in need of reform. But the question is, what direction will that reform take? There are the rainbow flag denominations trying to make Christianity now more liberal.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
And then you have the rise of consciously reactionary Christian movements as well. So the question at the time of Jesus is, does Judaism adapt or resist? Herod and the Sadducees, okay, that's the religious movement that sort of validated his rule. They represented those who wanted to adapt, okay, to become more Greek.
How to Take Over the World
Jesus Revisited
For those who wanted to resist, the Pharisees was the religious group that represented them, and the Messiah is their great hope. A great man who will come and sweep away Roman rule and set up an independent Jewish religious kingdom and usher in a golden age of righteousness and freedom. Okay, so you have all these movements that are preparing for the Messiah and Israel's restoration.
How to Take Over the World
John Williams: The Greatest Film Composer of All Time
If you don't know who John Williams is, I want you to take a second and think of a tune from a movie soundtrack. Not a musical, but some background music from a movie. Something you can hum. Alright, take a second. Maybe try and hum it. Okay, so there's a good chance that what you thought of was... Or... Maybe it was Or maybe Or possibly, da-na-na-na-na-na-na.
How to Take Over the World
John Williams: The Greatest Film Composer of All Time
And I made a promise to myself that if I ever got a first feature, whoever wrote this score, a man named John Williams, who I assumed was English, was going to be my composer if he would agree. After that, I heard The Cowboys, which John also wrote. And at that point, I was even more determined. And so I asked John if he would write the score for my first movie, The Sugarland Express.
How to Take Over the World
John Williams: The Greatest Film Composer of All Time
And John liked the script enough to have lunch with me. The score that John Williams writes for Sugarland Express is very, very good. And so Spielberg says, quote, the second John finished scoring Sugarland, I simply intended to use him on every movie I ever would make. And by the way, I should note that John is 41 when this happens.
How to Take Over the World
John Williams: The Greatest Film Composer of All Time
By the way, sometime in his 30s, he'd stopped going by Johnny Williams. And he said, I need to grow up a little bit. So he becomes John Williams. So he's 41 when this happens. And I think that's kind of late in your career to become a genius. It's pretty remarkable to me that he's able to do this. I mean, it just does kind of show you that it's never too late to find that greatness within you.
How to Take Over the World
John Williams: The Greatest Film Composer of All Time
You know, 40 years. He's 41 as just a pretty ho-hum film composer. And then, boom. And this is when it happens. So Sugar Land Express is very good. But the very next year, Spielberg brings John Williams in to score his next film, Jaws. Jaws is a movie about a killer shark that begins eating people in a sleepy seaside town.
How to Take Over the World
John Williams: The Greatest Film Composer of All Time
And for this film, Spielberg spends most of his budget on a big, scary-looking mechanical shark, naturally enough. But it breaks. It doesn't work. And so he has to cleverly shoot around the fact that he doesn't have a shark. And so there are lots of shots of empty water and people just floating there waiting for disaster to strike.
How to Take Over the World
John Williams: The Greatest Film Composer of All Time
And I think that the late 20th century American film industry will go down as one of those great time periods. And few people have contributed as much as John Williams to that brilliance. Steven Spielberg called him, quote, the single most significant contributor to my success as a filmmaker. George Lucas said of Star Wars, quote, I truly believe that the soundtrack is half of the movie.
How to Take Over the World
John Williams: The Greatest Film Composer of All Time
And so for the temp track, Spielberg, and a temp track, I should explain that. A temp track is what a director will use to kind of guide a film composer. So he will pull a bunch of music from other films or from songs or stuff he can find. and temporarily insert it in the recording so that a composer can know, oh, the director was thinking something kind of like this for this part of the movie.
How to Take Over the World
John Williams: The Greatest Film Composer of All Time
And then he can use that as sort of a blueprint for his composing. And so for his temp track on Jaws, Spielberg uses an old John Williams score from a movie called Images. And it was a very modern, very suspenseful score with lots of startling, shrill violin stabs. Very unsettling score. Well, John Williams rejects this and he says, I don't think that's what Jaws is.
How to Take Over the World
John Williams: The Greatest Film Composer of All Time
I think it's actually a sea adventure movie and kind of a swashbuckling, almost kind of pirate movie with some scary moments, of course, but it needs to incorporate the adventure element as well.
How to Take Over the World
John Williams: The Greatest Film Composer of All Time
and um so he brings in the adventure element and then for the scary scenes he has an idea and so he brings in steven spielberg and tells him he has a theme for the shark and he gets on the piano and he plays two notes and at first spielberg thinks it's a joke And then he realizes it's not a joke. And he says, I don't get this at all. But Williams insists that this is a great idea.
How to Take Over the World
John Williams: The Greatest Film Composer of All Time
And so he plays it again for Spielberg. And again and again. He plays it five or six times before it starts to make sense to Steven Spielberg. But he does. Eventually, he gets the vision. He goes, oh, I see the genius in this. And the genius of the Jaws soundtrack is that the theme creates the movement of the shark that you can't see.
How to Take Over the World
John Williams: The Greatest Film Composer of All Time
You can feel it approaching by the rapidly increasing of the music. Spielberg says, quote, I had a shark that didn't work, remember? And I didn't have any idea that John was going to come along and give me the shark that didn't work in music. So his musical shark worked a lot better than my mechanical shark. Well, Jaws is a mega hit. It does great in the theaters. It sells tons of tickets.
How to Take Over the World
John Williams: The Greatest Film Composer of All Time
It's very popular. People love it. And it really launches the careers of both Williams and Spielberg and wins John Williams' first Academy Award for Best Original Score. Remember, he'd already won one for Fiddler on the Roof, but that was for an arrangement, not for an original score that he had written. So then they work together on another great film, Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
How to Take Over the World
John Williams: The Greatest Film Composer of All Time
But Williams' next big, big break comes in 1977 when Spielberg's good friend George Lucas starts directing a space movie called Star Wars. And Spielberg tells George Lucas he has to work with John Williams. And George Lucas, who was a fan of jazz music, he says, Johnny Williams, isn't he a jazz pianist? And he was surprised.
How to Take Over the World
John Williams: The Greatest Film Composer of All Time
He says, but hey, he figures, okay, Spielberg, great director, knows what he's talking about. And so he brings John Williams on board. George Lucas and John Williams have a very close collaboration. One thing I love about Williams is that he knew when to listen and when to insist. So with Spielberg on Jaws, he insists that this two-note theme is a good idea and get Spielberg to see the vision.
How to Take Over the World
John Williams: The Greatest Film Composer of All Time
On Star Wars, there's one scene in particular where Luke Skywalker is on his little rural farm on Tatooine, on an alien desert planet. And he's watching the sunset. It's actually two sunsets because it's an alien planet with a twin sun star system. And he's considering the adventure before him. And it's one of the most evocative moments of the entire movie. And it is so because of the music.
How to Take Over the World
John Williams: The Greatest Film Composer of All Time
So John Williams writes something for this scene and George Lucas asks him to change it. And so listen to what happens. Listen to what Williams originally wrote. And by the way, Spotify might take this down because I'm taking directly from the documentary. But for now, let's try this. This is from the documentary and it's George Lucas talking first over John Williams' original score.
How to Take Over the World
John Williams: The Greatest Film Composer of All Time
Star Wars basically would not be Star Wars without John Williams' music. It's great music that inspires and moves you, and there is so much of it. The director, J.J. Abrams, has a great quote about the amount of great music that John Williams has produced. He said, It's a little bit like when you're talking about the Beatles.
How to Take Over the World
John Williams: The Greatest Film Composer of All Time
And then next you hear the music from the same scene after George Lucas had given him some feedback.
How to Take Over the World
John Williams: The Greatest Film Composer of All Time
Okay, so as you heard, like it goes from kind of ho-hum to this amazing, amazing motif. And it creates this great scene. And so I think this is one of those things that great leaders figure out over time.
How to Take Over the World
John Williams: The Greatest Film Composer of All Time
You have to have a good intuition for when to insist, like John Williams did with Spielberg, and when to take feedback like he did with George Lucas, because clearly George Lucas' feedback made that scene much, much better. And John Williams was a master of that, of knowing when to insist that he had the right idea and was doing things the right way, and when to incorporate the feedback of others.
How to Take Over the World
John Williams: The Greatest Film Composer of All Time
Okay, so if Jaws takes John Williams from a good solid composer to one of the most sought after composers in Hollywood, Star Wars takes John Williams from one of the most sought after composers in Hollywood to a genuine star in his own right. And you can see why. First of all, the movie is a huge hit. I mean, obviously it's one of the most consequential movies of all time.
How to Take Over the World
John Williams: The Greatest Film Composer of All Time
And the music is just so essential to the film's success. Right from the first second. I mean, you think about how the film starts, right? It says a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. And then boom. And what do you see with that boom? What you see is a wall of text. It's this long background explanation of what's happening. And that should be really boring, right?
How to Take Over the World
John Williams: The Greatest Film Composer of All Time
Any one song from the Beatles would be any other band's greatest thing, and they would live off that forever. John is like that. Any one of his scores, arguably, would be any other composer's accomplishment of a lifetime. So let's see how one man created so much fantastic music. This is John Williams.
How to Take Over the World
John Williams: The Greatest Film Composer of All Time
This should turn the audience off. What could be a less engaging way to start a movie than with an essay set against a black screen? And yet it works. Your excitement is building the entire time because the music that accompanies it is so exciting. All right. Which brings me to another secret of John Williams. What do you notice about the start of the Star Wars music? Okay. Bah.
How to Take Over the World
John Williams: The Greatest Film Composer of All Time
The orchestra nails that first note, that C. And that is key, like the performance is key. It's not just the writing, it's the performance. And John Williams was vertically integrated. He wrote his own music by hand. It's very common in Hollywood for a head composer to set the general idea, give it an overall shape and direction, and then hand off the final details to junior composers.
How to Take Over the World
John Williams: The Greatest Film Composer of All Time
John Williams has never done that ever. He did the whole process himself from the beginning, including to the end. And he didn't think his music was finished until it was performed. And so he also conducted his orchestra. He would record every segment at least four times because he believed that each performance had a slightly unique take on the music.
How to Take Over the World
John Williams: The Greatest Film Composer of All Time
And look, there is a lot to be said for outsourcing in many domains of life, but the best of the best always try to vertically integrate. In business, in war, and in art, they take every piece of the puzzle and bring it under their control to make the end result as perfect as possible. That applies to Apple and SpaceX and DaVinci, and it also applies to John Williams.
How to Take Over the World
John Williams: The Greatest Film Composer of All Time
He was completely vertically integrated. He did all the composing himself by hand and conducted the music himself, seeing the final product through to the very finish. And I think that's key.
How to Take Over the World
John Williams: The Greatest Film Composer of All Time
Without John Williams' conducting and being able to personally pass the passion for the music to the orchestra, I don't think you get that beautiful, perfect first note that you get in Star Wars that sets the tone for the entire film. So the Star Wars soundtrack is probably the greatest phenomenon in the history of film music.
How to Take Over the World
John Williams: The Greatest Film Composer of All Time
It actually charts in the top 10 in the United States of what do you call them? Records of vinyl records. Like, can you imagine that? The soundtrack to a movie is one of the top selling records in the world. People are obsessed with it. They go wild for it. Of course, that never happens if the movie isn't great, but it's a little circular.
How to Take Over the World
John Williams: The Greatest Film Composer of All Time
As George Lucas said, he thought half of the success of Star Wars came from the music. It's an absolute artistic triumph. I don't think it's ever been surpassed since then in the history of film music. Okay, so it's Jaws, then Star Wars. And from here on out, he would be by far the most sought after conductor in Hollywood. Even today, he's 92 years old, he's still alive.
How to Take Over the World
John Williams: The Greatest Film Composer of All Time
And he still composes, mostly sequels, kind of finishing up stuff that he's already done. But he did The Fablemans, which was an original movie. So yeah, I mean, he still composes and he's still sought after. Much of his success derives from his partnership with Steven Spielberg, with whom he has a very close relationship to this day.
How to Take Over the World
John Williams: The Greatest Film Composer of All Time
Because those are, you know, you think about Saving Private Ryan, Jurassic Park, Schindler's List, Indiana Jones. These are all Spielberg movies. And that's some of his best known music. But it's not just them. He also composes for Oliver Stone. He does JFK for Oliver Stone. Chris Columbus, he does Home Alone for the director Chris Columbus.
How to Take Over the World
John Williams: The Greatest Film Composer of All Time
Roland Emmerich, he does The Patriot for Roland Emmerich. He works with Ron Howard and a number of other lesser known directors. All right, let's take a quick break to talk about Vesto, which gives you all of your company's financial accounts in one view. So if you're a founder or an executive and you want a real-time look at your company's financial performance, then you need Vesto.
How to Take Over the World
John Williams: The Greatest Film Composer of All Time
Vesto provides all of your company's financial accounts in one view. If you have multiple banks, multiple accounts, multiple accountants, then you need the high-level view that Vesto can give you. you can go from delayed and inaccurate information to one real-time dashboard.
How to Take Over the World
John Williams: The Greatest Film Composer of All Time
And that can improve your performance by helping you deploy unused cache, save time, reduce errors, spot problem areas, and more. I've heard from multiple founders that it was a complete game changer for them. It can be the same for you. So check them out at Vesto.com. That is V-E-S-T-O dot com. So there aren't a lot of ups and downs in his career from this point out, frankly.
How to Take Over the World
John Williams: The Greatest Film Composer of All Time
It's just one long extended up. As I said, he won five Academy Awards. Even that is maybe somewhat misleading. There's this phenomenon where people don't like to reward the same person over and over and over again. So you see this a lot in sports.
How to Take Over the World
John Williams: The Greatest Film Composer of All Time
Michael Jordan has four MVPs, LeBron James has five, but in reality, both of them were probably the best basketball player in the world for at least a decade, at least 10 years. But it gets boring to reward the same guy over and over. Bill Belichick, probably the greatest coach in American football history, only coach of the year three times.
How to Take Over the World
John Williams: The Greatest Film Composer of All Time
Again, even though he's probably the best coach in American football for over a decade. So no one else has won five Academy Awards for music composition, at least in recent history. But if you were actually giving the award out to the best original score of the year, John Williams probably would have won it at least 10 times. He's also written other things.
How to Take Over the World
John Williams: The Greatest Film Composer of All Time
He wrote a fanfare for the Olympics, which the Olympics doesn't have an official theme. So there are a few Olympic theme songs, but his is my favorite. He also wrote some original symphonic music, which is very modern sounding, quite dissonant, quite strange. Frankly, it goes over my head, but people who understand this stuff say that it is quite good.
How to Take Over the World
John Williams: The Greatest Film Composer of All Time
If you want a list of his best or most famous works to check out, I would rank my top 10 like this. Number one, Star Wars. It's just, it's the best. It's become almost a cliche at this point. And so I think it's difficult to appreciate just how beautiful the music is. Sometimes it's good to just listen to it alone without the movie. And that I think helps bring an appreciation of how good it is.
How to Take Over the World
John Williams: The Greatest Film Composer of All Time
Number two, Jurassic Park. I think what he does with Jurassic Park is incredible. The way he brings this childlike sense of wonder that when you see those dinosaurs for the first time and you hear that music, you really feel like dinosaurs have come back to life. It's just incredible. E.T. is my number three.
How to Take Over the World
John Williams: The Greatest Film Composer of All Time
Again, so the flying theme that he writes in E.T., which is the theme that plays... I don't want to explain the plot of E.T. to you, but it's the best... musical encapsulation of the feeling of flight that you can possibly imagine. It's so good that actually the band Coldplay used the main theme from E.T. as their walkout music for a long time for their concerts.
How to Take Over the World
John Williams: The Greatest Film Composer of All Time
Hello, and welcome to How to Take Over the World. This is Ben Wilson. I've been thinking of doing a John Williams episode for a while now. I absolutely love his music, and I thought it would be interesting to see how he did what he did. And then one day, I see that this documentary has come out on Disney Plus called Music by John Williams. So I thought, OK, let's see if this is any good.
How to Take Over the World
John Williams: The Greatest Film Composer of All Time
Schindler's List, kind of the opposite direction. Very, very moving, very emotional. It shows his range that he can compose in so many different ways. Then next, Harry Potter. He says that the Harry Potter theme is the easiest thing he ever composed. which I guess that's true, but it is so great. It's so great at capturing the mystery and the darkness, but also the magic and the excitement.
How to Take Over the World
John Williams: The Greatest Film Composer of All Time
It's so simple. Anyways, okay, next, Saving Private Ryan. In many ways, like the canonical music of veterans in the United States. Military bands are playing it all the time. People play it on Veterans Day. It just does such a good job of capturing America at war. Great score, Saving Private Ryan. Catch Me If You Can.
How to Take Over the World
John Williams: The Greatest Film Composer of All Time
Again, this is a movie that I think shows his range because it's really kind of a jazz score. And it's so different from a lot of the music that he does. But again, it shows kind of his versatility and harkens back to his roots as a jazz pianist. Next, Home Alone. It's great. That's such a good film. And if you watch it and just notice the music, it's just perfect. I don't know.
How to Take Over the World
John Williams: The Greatest Film Composer of All Time
It just brings such a nice Christmas magic. It manages to be kind of scary, but never take itself too seriously. And then Sugar Land Express is my last one. That's one not a lot of people have heard, but he got this great harmonica player to do it. And it's very, it does a good job of capturing a feeling of kind of Being out in the country on the road on your own. That's it.
How to Take Over the World
John Williams: The Greatest Film Composer of All Time
As I said, he's still alive. He's still composing. He's now 92, I think. About to turn 93. And he remarried and has stayed married to this second woman for the rest of his life. His children are all musicians and they're all quite successful. One of his sons, Joseph Williams, was the lead singer of Toto, which is a band you might have heard of, especially if you're one of my Gen X listeners.
How to Take Over the World
John Williams: The Greatest Film Composer of All Time
And it was. It's great. And so I thought, all right, this is a good time to do an episode on John Williams. This documentary, I love it. It's entertaining. It's moving. It's mostly a celebration of John Williams and his music. And so for my purposes, I wish I had focused more on how he does what he does. But that's okay. That's just not the kind of movie that it is.
How to Take Over the World
John Williams: The Greatest Film Composer of All Time
But let me get into some more of my takeaways. So number one, I'll repeat my point about how it is often the case that someone's greatest work comes right after a major tragedy or setback. I think John Williams is a great example of that. If you're going through hell, keep going. Second, learn when to insist on your vision and when to take feedback.
How to Take Over the World
John Williams: The Greatest Film Composer of All Time
That is something that comes with one, clarity of vision. So knowing what is key to your vision, what is negotiable. And then two, experience. You just learn over time when you need to insist and when you need to listen. My third takeaway is to be a craftsman. John Williams was a craftsman. What do I mean by that? He was a blue collar worker.
How to Take Over the World
John Williams: The Greatest Film Composer of All Time
He learned how to compose music in the trenches of television production. Even before that, he studied hard to learn the basic theory of music and composition. He said, quote, my nose was in harmony, counterpoint and orchestration books for decades. One word I would use to describe John Williams's music is transcendent. It taps into something primal.
How to Take Over the World
John Williams: The Greatest Film Composer of All Time
It urges you toward adventure and wonder and love. It evokes all these beautiful emotions, but Williams didn't achieve transcendence in his art by obsessing over transcendence or obsessing over adventure and wonder and love, but he obsessed over his craft. And I think that is often the case. As Picasso said, when art critics get together, they talk about form and structure and meaning.
How to Take Over the World
John Williams: The Greatest Film Composer of All Time
When artists get together, they talk about where you can buy cheap turpentine. And Williams didn't spend years thinking about form and structure and meaning. He spent years thinking about where to get cheap turpentine, metaphorically speaking. There is a great scene in the documentary where he's getting ready to conduct a symphony and he puts on his conductor's jacket, beautiful white jacket.
How to Take Over the World
John Williams: The Greatest Film Composer of All Time
And he says, these are my work clothes. This is what I do my hammering with. And I really think that is how he approaches it. It reminds me of a concert I went to, The Killers. I think The Killers are the greatest rock band of the 21st century. I think the only other band you can really make a case for is Coldplay. I think. I don't know. Anyways, regardless, they're a great rock band.
How to Take Over the World
John Williams: The Greatest Film Composer of All Time
And I went to their concert and the lead singer, Brandon Flowers, gets up there and he's in this bright jacket and he looks like a lounge singer that you would find in Las Vegas. And he actually did. He grew up in Las Vegas going to casinos and clubs and seeing these kind of workaday bands playing in lounges.
How to Take Over the World
John Williams: The Greatest Film Composer of All Time
And he gets to the last song of his set and he says, guys, I have the flu and I have done my best to get through this set and I have, but I'm sorry, it's getting me now and I just can't come out for an encore. So this is it. Good night, everyone. And everyone was very appreciative, right, that he had worked through having the flu and had played his full set.
How to Take Over the World
John Williams: The Greatest Film Composer of All Time
And I just realized, wow, this guy approaches his music like a craft, like a working man, right? You got to show up for work. You got to do the work, even if you're not feeling your best. He wasn't a diva at all. And I think that is what made him so great. And I was reminded of that when in this documentary, John Williams is asked what he wants his legacy to be.
How to Take Over the World
John Williams: The Greatest Film Composer of All Time
And he says he doesn't like talking about legacy, but at the end of the day, he wants to be remembered as quote, a good, solid musician. I think it's very ironic and counterintuitive that by focusing on being a good, solid musician, he has become so much more than that. So be a craftsman, put on your hard hat, grab your lunch pail and approach your work like work.
How to Take Over the World
John Williams: The Greatest Film Composer of All Time
So I would really recommend it if you're looking for something to watch this holiday season. Also in preparation for this episode, I just went through and read a bunch of articles and interviews that I could find. And I'll link those in the show notes as well if you want to learn more. So let's get into it. So John Williams was born in 1932 in Flushing, Queens, New York City.
How to Take Over the World
John Williams: The Greatest Film Composer of All Time
And just think about how to do a good job, perfect the details of your craft and those lofty things like transcendence and meaning and greatness will follow. My fourth takeaway is related and it is get your reps in. John Williams was the most prolific composer of his generation. He worked really hard for countless hours.
How to Take Over the World
John Williams: The Greatest Film Composer of All Time
He has a good quote where he says that sometimes he will wake up and go into his office and look at the music he composed the previous day and say, I can't believe I wrote all of that. Quantity versus quality is a false dichotomy. More often than not, quality comes from quantity.
How to Take Over the World
John Williams: The Greatest Film Composer of All Time
He talks about his score for Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and his music is actually a key part of the plot in that movie. It's a movie about aliens coming to visit Earth, and they send a message in the form of music. and it's five notes. And so they need to find the perfect five notes that would be intriguing and mysterious. And he did, he comes up with this perfect sequence. It's awesome.
How to Take Over the World
John Williams: The Greatest Film Composer of All Time
It works perfectly in the movie. And so what was his process for coming up with this perfect five note sequence? He didn't sit and meditate until inspiration from God struck him from heaven while he was sitting there. No, he wrote down dozens of five note sequences and then sat down and went through all of them with Steven Spielberg and picked the one that worked best. So get your reps in.
How to Take Over the World
John Williams: The Greatest Film Composer of All Time
Quantity leads to quality. My fifth takeaway is related, and that is love what you do. you know, the question naturally arises, how did he get so many reps in? How was he able to work so hard for so long? And here's what he says about it. Quote, people say, how do you do so much work?
How to Take Over the World
John Williams: The Greatest Film Composer of All Time
I was busy all the time, but I was filled with the love of music and the pleasure of doing it with great musicians and great orchestras. I couldn't write fast enough to bring them something to play. Okay. So doing what you love leads you to be able to work harder for longer because you're enjoying it and you're not suffering. Which leads me to my sixth takeaway, which is to be generous.
How to Take Over the World
John Williams: The Greatest Film Composer of All Time
The great musical performers in the world love playing music for John Williams. And that is because he loves the orchestra. He loves musicians. And so they love him back.
How to Take Over the World
John Williams: The Greatest Film Composer of All Time
one of his real fears was that orchestral music was dying in the united states and so he's gone and toured and done all these charity concerts which are very popular and bring in a bunch of money and he donates that money to pension funds for musicians to various symphonies and philharmonics throughout the united states
How to Take Over the World
John Williams: The Greatest Film Composer of All Time
And I think John Williams would have done this for its own sake because he just he loves the orchestra. He loves symphonies. But the fact that he was so generous to musicians and orchestras did also have the effect that great musicians wanted to play for him and furthermore, wanted to give him their very best performances. He was also very generous with movie directors.
How to Take Over the World
John Williams: The Greatest Film Composer of All Time
They used that word a lot in describing him, JJ Abrams, Steven Spielberg. He was always taking their opinions into account, always being collaborative and open to their opinions. And so the best directors in the world also wanted to work with him. And there is no way that John Williams would have been able to accomplish what he did if he was composing for junk movies.
How to Take Over the World
John Williams: The Greatest Film Composer of All Time
So being generous is a key part of his success. And then I'll share one last one, a seventh takeaway, which is be bold. That's something that really differentiates John Williams' music from other people, is that a lot of other composers compose music that just sounds nice in the background, right? It's just there and lets the movie speak for itself, the acting, the directing, the special effects.
How to Take Over the World
John Williams: The Greatest Film Composer of All Time
He was born into a very musical family. His father was a professional drummer. And he provides some pretty good material for the Polgar theory of genius. For those of you who haven't listened to the Laszlo Polgar episode, he was a researcher in Hungary, and he believed that genius was teachable.
How to Take Over the World
John Williams: The Greatest Film Composer of All Time
But John Williams, you know, he uses a lot of horns where a lot of people, you know, violins just sound nice and pretty. It's hard to be offended by violins. But John Williams uses a lot of horns, which really breakthrough, you can't help but hearing, you know, brass. And he uses a lot of brass. You can think about that on all his famous music, frankly.
How to Take Over the World
John Williams: The Greatest Film Composer of All Time
Just think about that Star Wars theme, right? Using those horns. Anyways, doing the safe thing leads to mediocrity. And John Williams never did the safe thing. He always did the bold thing. And that's why his music is so, so good. So there you go. Those are my takeaways. That is the life of John Williams. I hope you enjoyed it.
How to Take Over the World
John Williams: The Greatest Film Composer of All Time
If you'd like to know more about John Williams, I strongly suggest watching Music by John Williams on Disney+. Thanks for tuning in, guys. I know this is a more obscure figure, but I just loved learning about John Williams. So even if movies and music aren't really your thing, hopefully you enjoyed learning about one of the great artists of our time. So that does it.
How to Take Over the World
John Williams: The Greatest Film Composer of All Time
Until next time, thank you for listening to How to Take Over the World. Before we wrap up, one plug for Speechify. All the greats are obsessed with learning as much as possible. They have this incredible thirst for knowledge. And Speechify is a tool that can help you learn more and learn faster. It turns any written content into a podcast, articles, books, textbooks, and even emails.
How to Take Over the World
John Williams: The Greatest Film Composer of All Time
I use it all the time, both for research for this show and for things that I just want to learn more about. If you're a fan of the show, I'm sure you'll love it. So go to speechify.com slash Ben and get 15% off Speechify Premium. Again, that is speechify.com slash Ben.
How to Take Over the World
John Williams: The Greatest Film Composer of All Time
And he had this whole method for raising a genius, and it involved starting children in their field very young, preferably around age four, And he managed to implement this method with his own children. And he turned all three of his daughters into extraordinary chess prodigies.
How to Take Over the World
John Williams: The Greatest Film Composer of All Time
And if you look around, you can find other examples of great performers who started very young, like Venus Serena Williams, Mozart, Tiger Woods. And so like all these people, John Williams gets introduced to his field when he's a very young child. As I said, his father was a drummer and he played for various bands, including studio bands that performed music for television and movies.
How to Take Over the World
John Williams: The Greatest Film Composer of All Time
And because of his work, John's father, who's also named John, John Williams Sr., All of John Sr. 's friends were also musicians. So, you know, little Johnny Williams, they called him Johnny to distinguish him from his father. So little Johnny's just surrounded all the time by music and by musicians. He says about his childhood, quote, my parents' friends were all musicians.
How to Take Over the World
John Williams: The Greatest Film Composer of All Time
And I thought that's what you did when you were an adult. When you grew up, you played music somewhere. His father insists that he learn the piano, and many musicians will do that, even if they're not pianists. They like their children to learn piano because you can play multiple parts. And so it's a good way to sort of understand what is happening in a band.
How to Take Over the World
John Williams: The Greatest Film Composer of All Time
And so, yeah, John wanted Johnny to learn the piano, which he did. And he also messed around with other instruments growing up, but piano was the thing that he would always come back to. So Johnny grows up playing the piano and he practices very hard. He practices five or six hours per day and plays the piano all day on the weekends. He has a good quote in this documentary.
How to Take Over the World
John Williams: The Greatest Film Composer of All Time
He says, quote, you can't call it an education. It's more of a training, almost like an athletic training to be able to do what you have to accomplish at a professional job at some level. Okay, and I think more people should think of skill development as training rather than education. For the most part, people spend too much time learning new things and not enough time practicing.
How to Take Over the World
John Williams: The Greatest Film Composer of All Time
So from the great generals like Napoleon and Lord Nelson to the great coaches like John Wooden, all of them put a heavy emphasis on practice, and so does John Williams. But he is also learning. His dad brings him home film scores after he's done playing so that Johnny can look them over and see what these film scores are like that John is playing at work.
How to Take Over the World
John Williams: The Greatest Film Composer of All Time
When he was 15 years old, the family moves to Los Angeles and Johnny actually gets his start composing very young. Someone has written a play at his high school, North Hollywood High School, and so John composes the music for it. And by the way, I know this is Hollywood, so maybe people are more inclined towards theater and stuff like that, but how far has our education system fallen?
How to Take Over the World
John Williams: The Greatest Film Composer of All Time
Like, does that still happen? Are high school students writing original plays and having them scored?
How to Take Over the World
John Williams: The Greatest Film Composer of All Time
by another student at at their high school to me that's amazing it just shows what is possible with a good education system anyway so he scores his first piece to this play in high school and he's working really hard at piano performance all through high school when he graduates the korean war is going on and so johnny joins the air force as a member of the band
How to Take Over the World
John Williams: The Greatest Film Composer of All Time
He's stationed in Nova Scotia, where he actually has an opportunity to score his first film, which is a little informational film about Nova Scotia, which is a province in Canada. But after his stint in the Air Force, he moves back to New York to study at Juilliard, which is the best music school in the United States. And at first, he's just focused on becoming a pianist, a performer.
How to Take Over the World
John Williams: The Greatest Film Composer of All Time
He's playing in bands, you know, like he's playing jazz music, and he's also playing in studio bands for movies, for films. And as the pianist, he does sometimes have the opportunity to compose just a little bit. He'll write little fills for himself that will go with the music. But he's not composing entire scores yet. Entire, like a score just means the, yeah, the full background music.
How to Take Over the World
John Williams: The Greatest Film Composer of All Time
But since he has composed before for this one little movie in Nova Scotia, and because the work he does on the piano is good, he starts getting small opportunities to compose here and there, mostly for television. And this part of his work grows and grows until he has to give up playing the piano, which was good. He knew he wasn't a world-class pianist.
How to Take Over the World
John Williams: The Greatest Film Composer of All Time
He couldn't keep up with someone like Van Cliburn on the classical side or Oscar Peterson on the jazz side. And besides, composing paid more. And he had three kids at this point. He had married Barbara Ruick, an actress and singer, in 1956.
How to Take Over the World
John Williams: The Greatest Film Composer of All Time
And by the way, this is neither here nor there, but you have to give it to the guy for marrying a beautiful young actress and doing so before he becomes rich and famous. Because I wouldn't call John Williams a particularly handsome man. He's not ugly, but he's not super handsome. So clearly he must have had some charm or charisma to land this beautiful young actress. But he does.
How to Take Over the World
John Williams: The Greatest Film Composer of All Time
He marries this woman, Barbara Rueck, and they have three kids. And so he's got this growing family and he wants something that pays a little more. So he's happy to take on more composition work rather than continuing to just play the piano. So for a long time, he composes what you might call genre music. So this is not high-minded, dramatic stuff.
How to Take Over the World
John Williams: The Greatest Film Composer of All Time
It's comedies, westerns, stuff like that, stuff that clearly fits into a premolded genre. But it's a lot of different things, and he's really busy. So he's, once again, he's a master of practice, this time with composing. Because he is like in the trenches. He is a blue collar composer, if that makes sense.
How to Take Over the World
John Williams: The Greatest Film Composer of All Time
You know, when you're composing new music every week for Gilligan's Island or Lost in Space, both are shows he actually did. You don't get to really put a ton of art or high minded ideas into these scores. you really just get good practice at the nuts and bolts of writing scores that work for television and film, right? When something funny happens, you need to do something like this.
How to Take Over the World
John Williams: The Greatest Film Composer of All Time
When something scary happens, you have to do something like this. It's just the fundamentals of music composition for film and television is what he's learning at this time. So he does this capably for a few years and he's starting to get films now, movies, full length feature films. He composes for films that you haven't heard of unless you're a real movie buff.
How to Take Over the World
John Williams: The Greatest Film Composer of All Time
At least, I mean, I had never heard of any of these movies that he composes during this time period. His first major film that you might've heard of is Fiddler on the Roof. And obviously that was already a musical, so he doesn't actually compose it, but he arranges it and he does a great job arranging it. He actually gets nominated for an Academy Award for this arrangement.
How to Take Over the World
John Williams: The Greatest Film Composer of All Time
And then there are a few films that are a little more famous. So he does The Poseidon Adventure, The Towering Inferno, and Earthquake, three disaster films. And those are hits, and he composes good scores for them. And so that's moving him up the food chain a little bit. But then disaster strikes in Williams' own life.
How to Take Over the World
John Williams: The Greatest Film Composer of All Time
His wife, Barbara, is shooting a film in Reno when she suddenly has just a random brain aneurysm and dies. And they had a very close and loving relationship, so it's devastating on a personal level. It's also difficult because it leaves him with three teenage children. And reading between the lines, it seems like he was a very loving and very fun father, but he was very busy. He loved working.
How to Take Over the World
John Williams: The Greatest Film Composer of All Time
If you thought of any of these tunes or Jurassic Park or Jaws or E.T., you were thinking of a song written by John Williams. He's widely regarded as the greatest film composer of all time. He's a true genius, a one of one, just an extraordinary artist. He's one of those few people who transcended and changed their medium.
How to Take Over the World
John Williams: The Greatest Film Composer of All Time
And I don't think he knew the first thing about running his household or being a primary caregiver. And so this is a huge disruption for him, a huge difficulty. So he takes time off. He completely stops composing for a little while to kind of figure out this new life of how he's going to raise his children without his wife.
How to Take Over the World
John Williams: The Greatest Film Composer of All Time
When he does finally return to working and composing, things would be very different in a very dramatic way. But before that, just a quick break to tell you about products that I have used for a very long time from a company called Vanman. Look, everything you put on your skin and in your mouth ends up in your bloodstream. There've been multiple studies on this.
How to Take Over the World
John Williams: The Greatest Film Composer of All Time
I saw a recent study that tested people's blood for the compounds found in their sunscreen, and sure enough, there it was. What you put on your skin ends up in your blood. So Van Man specializes in making all natural products like deodorant, moisturizer, tooth powder, and lip balm that are made with food-grade ingredients. Like I said, I have been using their stuff for years.
How to Take Over the World
John Williams: The Greatest Film Composer of All Time
I actually reached out to them on Twitter, and that is how we ended up with this ad deal. So their tallow and honey balm, which I use because I live in Utah in the desert, and so I get dry and cracked hands, it's made with nothing but beef tallow, honey, beeswax, olive oil, and essential oils. That's it. I've never tried eating it, but you could, and you wouldn't get sick because it is food grade.
How to Take Over the World
John Williams: The Greatest Film Composer of All Time
And so you can feel good about the fact that, all right, I know my body's absorbing this. It might be ending up in my bloodstream, but this is food grade material. I don't have to worry about it. If you want to perform your best, you need your body to be performing at 100%. And it's just not going to be doing that if you are using products with toxic chemicals.
How to Take Over the World
John Williams: The Greatest Film Composer of All Time
I recommend everything they put out there, but I especially put in a plug for that tallow and honey balm I mentioned, as well as the coconut magnesium deodorant. So use code TAKEOVER and get 10% off your purchase. You won't regret it. It's the best all-natural products you can find. Use code TAKEOVER at vanman.shop. for 10% off. Please go make a purchase.
How to Take Over the World
John Williams: The Greatest Film Composer of All Time
I want to keep these guys around as a sponsor because I love their products so much. So do me a favor, do yourself a favor, go buy some products at vanman.shop and use code TAKEOVER. I really think you'll love it. Okay, so when John Williams returns to scoring films after his wife's death, something would be different about how he would approach it. And here's what he says about it.
How to Take Over the World
John Williams: The Greatest Film Composer of All Time
Quote, I felt like she was helping me. It was just a funny kind of feeling that I had, and I still have it. And I think in some way I grew up artistically or gained some kind of energy or penetrated what I was doing a little more deeply. The busiest, most successful period of my life in film started immediately thereafter.
How to Take Over the World
John Williams: The Greatest Film Composer of All Time
And yeah, this would kick off the most incredible artistic run that any film composer has ever had. That includes Jaws, Star Wars, Superman, Indiana Jones, E.T., Schindler's List, Jurassic Park, Harry Potter. All that is in the future. And I mean, there's other great scores that I haven't even mentioned, right?
How to Take Over the World
John Williams: The Greatest Film Composer of All Time
Saving Private Ryan, all the sequels to many of the movies we've talked about, Home Alone. I mean, it's just, it's an incredible run. And I find it really remarkable that he attributes that change in some way to the ghostly assistance of his dead wife. And I don't know. I believe him. Who am I to say that John Williams is wrong about why things changed for him?
How to Take Over the World
John Williams: The Greatest Film Composer of All Time
In music composing, he's been nominated for a record 54 Oscars and won five of them. He's won six Emmys, four Golden Globes. Ultimately, it's not the awards that make him worth studying. It is the brilliance of his music. There are certain time periods that are known for artistic brilliance. 19th century Germany for music, 15th century Florence for painting, 20th century Paris for writing.
How to Take Over the World
John Williams: The Greatest Film Composer of All Time
Or maybe the second explanation which he gives is more correct, that going through this intense grief in some way unlocks an added depth of emotion in his work. I don't know. What I do know is that many of the great leaders and achievers often accomplish some of their greatest work only after going through their greatest trials and rejections and moments of depression.
How to Take Over the World
John Williams: The Greatest Film Composer of All Time
So Walt Disney loses his business and has a complete nervous breakdown in 1931, right before he goes on this epic run of Mickey Mouse, Snow White, and everything that would follow after that. J.K. Rowling writes Harry Potter after going through a horrible divorce and escaping an abusive relationship.
How to Take Over the World
John Williams: The Greatest Film Composer of All Time
Washington suffers a massive failure in the French and Indian War before he succeeds in the Revolutionary War. Winston Churchill has a quote that has become a cliche at this point, but I still think it's a great quote. It is, if you're going through hell, keep going. And I think that's appropriate here.
How to Take Over the World
John Williams: The Greatest Film Composer of All Time
John Williams kept going, and he not only survived this incredible tragedy, but somehow, someway, it made him even better. So after this tragedy, this very young director asks to meet with him. His name is Steven Spielberg. And Spielberg, if you don't know, is, spoiler alert, he goes on to become one of the great directors of all time.
How to Take Over the World
John Williams: The Greatest Film Composer of All Time
And he's just working on his first major motion picture called the Sugarland Express. And here's what Spielberg says happens next, quote, by the time I got my first job directing my first feature, I probably had already collected 500 soundtrack albums. And I was one of those fan boys of motion picture scores. But in the 60s and early 70s, motion picture scores were becoming an anachronism.
How to Take Over the World
John Williams: The Greatest Film Composer of All Time
In other words, an orchestral score was no longer preferred. They got music of the era. It was a scary time because I really thought it was the end of that great era of orchestral scores, and I was not going to let that era end on my watch with my movies. I had fallen in love with a score from a movie called The Reavers.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
I want you to imagine yourself as a German peasant in the early 1700s bear with me for a second Your life is mostly silent. Yes, you hear the sound of the wind brushing up against your wooden shutters. You hear birds singing in the morning. You hear the crack of the axe as it bites into cold timber, the quiet patter of livestock.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
Okay, so, but anyway, my point of all that is even despite all that, even despite all the rigor and the mathematical relationships and that Bach clearly understood those and played with those, okay, setting all that aside, It is not correct to view Bach as some enlightenment expression of abstract ideas. Okay? In fact, it's closer to the opposite. Bach was a religious fanatic.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
I don't necessarily mean that negatively. It's just... It's like he was an ecstatic, right? His music was an expression, I think, yeah, of religious ecstasy. So I think... The way to understand Bach is to understand him as someone who is in the throes of religious passion, right? He's like the Appalachian, what do you call those guys? Pentecostal. He's rolling on the floor, handling snakes.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
And this is the music of this kind of frenzied mind who is in this sort of religious ecstasy. And it is the combination of that religious ecstasy with that great mathematical and scientific rigor that Bach had that fusion is what creates the greatest music of all time. Okay, so takeaway number one.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
We're also going to be taking a look at what his music meant to him and what it means for us. Welcome to How to Take Over the World. I'm going to show you how great I am. I just want to say from the bottom of my heart, I'd like to take this chance to apologize to absolutely nobody. Hello, and welcome to How to Take Over the World. This is Ben Wilson.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
My first lesson learned is that all great leaders, whether they're generals or entrepreneurs or musicians, have some version of extreme belief. For some of them, that is religious belief, like Alexander the Great or Joan of Arc. For Napoleon, it was destiny. He believed in destiny the way that Bach believed in the Bible and Martin Luther.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
For entrepreneurs, they believe in innovation or in their products. Phil Knight, the founder of Nike, has a great quote about why he was horrible at selling encyclopedias but great at selling Nike shoes. And he writes, driving back to Portland, I'd puzzle over my sudden success at selling. I'd been unable to sell encyclopedias and I despised it to boot.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
I'd been slightly better at selling mutual funds, but I'd felt dead inside. So why was selling shoes so different? Because I realized it wasn't selling. I believed in running. I believed that if people got out and ran a few miles every day, the world would be a better place. And I believed these shoes were better to run in. People sensing my belief wanted some of that belief for themselves.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
Belief, I decided. Belief is irresistible. I love that quote. Belief is irresistible. Irresistible. When you find something that gives you that fire in your bones, when you really believe you're unstoppable, people find that, yeah, again, irresistible. And Bach had that belief. He was very intensely religious, not necessarily in a very showy or pious way.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
He didn't broadcast his religiosity other than through his music. But that was the outlet for his personal devotion.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
In his biography, Gardner writes, Bach's working library, estimated to have contained at least 112 different theological and homiletic works, was less like a typical church musician's and more what one might expect to find in the church of a respectably sized town, or that many a pastor in Bach's day would have been proud to have owned.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
Okay, so that's how much he believes and is interested in religion and theology. He has a theological library to match most pastors, most people who do this professionally. He took his faith very seriously and believed very strongly. So that's my first takeaway. Bach had belief. Okay, so back to the story. I already told you he grows up very religious in a very musical family. He goes to school.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
When first as a child, he doesn't perform remarkably well. And part of that is because he misses so much school. Now, the classic interpretation of this fact is that he was apprenticing to his father and was needed back at the family business. So his parents were pulling him out of school so that he could go apprentice.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
But later scholarship dug up some interesting facts about the school at the time. Basically, the headmaster had completely lost control, and this school was like a den for brigands and bullies to beat up on each other and commit petty crimes.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
So the second interpretation is that he was being victimized or bullied, or at the very least distracted, so his parents might have pulled him out of school for long stretches to get him away from this sort of dangerous environment. So that's kind of the second interpretation. However, John Elliott Gardner has a very interesting take on the second hypothesis.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
And he basically says, well, how do we know that Bach was a victim in all this bullying? And he brings up, you know, facts. Bach was quite large, quite tall. He ended up about 5'11", which was very tall for the age. He was very spirited. He frequently quarreled in later years. He got into a fist fight at least once. He was thrown in jail once.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
He was once reprimanded for bringing an unknown single lady into the choir loft and teaching her about music. So this is someone who was...
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
uh very energetic could be mischievous he would end up fathering 20 children like if you're picturing him as this dusty nerdy guy in a powdered wig hunched over a harpsichord all day that is not who bach was he was a presence and he often managed to impose his will so the point that john elliott gardner makes is if the rebelliousness of the school was the reason that bach was pulled out of school for a time how do we know that he was the victim and not the victimizer
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
And I like this image. I like to think of Bach the schoolyard bully turning kids upside down and stealing their lunch money. And like, do I think that's actually true? Probably not exactly. Ultimately, we can never know what did or did not happen when he was just a child in school.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
But what we do know is at the very least, he was a prankster and he probably was not a shrinking violet who was just bullied all day. And so his parents had to take him out of school. In a letter to Bach's biographer, his son, Emmanuel Bach wrote, there are many adventurous stories about him. A few of them may be true and concern useful pranks. The deceased never liked to hear them mentioned.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
So pray omit these humorous things. Okay. I think that's a real shame because of that. Like those stories just never got passed down. So we know Bach was a prankster. But what those pranks were is lost the time. So, yeah, like probably Bach was on some level caught up in like participating in some of the mischief making that was going on in the school. To what extent, we don't know.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
And what his pranks actually were, we cannot tell. And by the way, this is one of the great commonalities of great achievers. They are pranksters when they're young. Steve Jobs was a great prankster. So was Thomas Edison. So was Lee Kuan Yew, Alexander Hamilton, John Wooden. The list goes on and on. Add Bach to that list, okay? So when you're looking for great people, look for the pranksters.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
For whatever reason, there's that connection there. And so maybe these were innocent pranks. Maybe he was bullying other kids. Either way, I think this image serves as a much-needed corrective image to that of Bach as, you know, what we think of as Bach. Anyways, so Bach has this childhood. It all changes when he's eight years old.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
Tragically, both his mother and father die within nine months of each other. Of course, for a family as large and close-knit as the Bachs, there was no chance that he was going to experience, like, real hardship. He was going to go to an orphanage. But still, it takes a heavy toll on him emotionally to see his parents go when he's only eight.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
Many people remember that when in 1977 the Voyager spacecraft was launched, opinions were canvassed as to what artifacts would be most appropriate to leave in outer space as a signal of man's cultural achievements on Earth. The American astronomer Carl Sagan proposed that if we are to convey something of what humans are about, then music has to be a part of it.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
He's very close with his uncle, Christoph, that is sort of the great musician of the family. And in part, probably because, you know, he connected with...
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
with that aspect of his personality and was interested in it knew he wanted to do that however christoph can't take him so he actually ends up going with his much older brother who he barely knows also named christoph ironically christoph bach his brother is also like all box a successful musician and he does quite a bit to teach young sebastian the basics of composition and theory he
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
He's a little heavy-handed and sometimes a stickler for the rules. One of the famous stories is that Kristoff has this book of difficult music from the likes of Vivaldi and Pachelbel and all these other great composers. And young Sebastian Bach really wants to try to take it on, even at this very young age. He's like nine or ten. And Kristoff won't let him. You know, he says, not your time yet.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
Stick to the basics, line by line. That's how you learn. And so Sebastian Bach is sneaking into the attic and reading this sheet music by Moonlight until he is eventually caught and reprimanded by his brother. So, you know, Bach is relentless. He's very high agency. When someone puts up obstacles to what he wants to learn, he just goes ahead anyway. He finds a way.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
So Bach is living with his brother and now he's at a very different school because he's got to move towns to be with his brother. And this school is apparently not as rambunctious. He doesn't get pulled out as much for whatever reason he was being pulled out. And so he doesn't have the same issues. And in fact, he starts to get very good grades.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
So as a teenager, he finishes number four in his class, despite being one of the youngest students. And then the next year he finishes first in his class. And as soon as he is able to leave and escape his brother's tutelage, he does and heads north to Lundberg to continue his musical studies. So this is when he is 15 years old.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
He was the first Bach to complete the upper classes at the gymnasium and qualify for university studies, although he never does actually attend college, attend a university. So at 15 years old, he travels the 200 miles to Lundberg. I believe this would be close to the longest journey he makes in his life. And it's actually interesting. Bach never left Germany during his lifetime.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
And you might think, oh, yeah, you know, 1600s. But no, like... That was not normal, even for the time. His contemporaries, you know, Handel, who's another great composer from that era, traveled extensively, including to Italy and England. Scarlatti, who was also a contemporary, you know, he's from Italy, but he travels to Spain and Portugal.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
Telemann, another contemporary, he traveled throughout Europe, including to Paris. Like, even by that era's standards, it was the 1600s. People traveled less. Yes, that's true. But even by those standards, Bach was unusually provincial. It's kind of one of the paradoxes that the least traveled man of that era created the most interesting and dynamic music.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
To Sagan's request for suggestions, the eminent biologist and author Lewis Thomas answered, I would send the complete works of Johann Sebastian Bach. After a pause, he added, but that would be boasting. That is from the excellent biography Bach, Music in the Castle of Heaven by renowned conductor and author John Eliot Gardner. I'm excited to talk to you about Johann Sebastian Bach.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
It's kind of the most universal of that era. Anyway, he graduates from Lundberg and rather than trying to study at a university, decides to pursue work. He applies for one job and is turned down. He briefly becomes a court musician in Weimar for six months. Anyway, he ends up back in Arnstadt, back in Thuringia.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
He's 18 years old and he is called upon to inspect and certify the construction of the new town organ in Arnstadt. Now remember, Thuringia, this region, is just littered with Bachs. Every stone you turn over, there's a new Bach, who's an excellent musician, by the way, and knows everything about everything.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
And so the fact that all of these box, you know, there's all these successful musicians in their twenties, thirties, forties, fifties, the fact that all these guys are passed up within the family and 18 year old Johan Sebastian Bach, he's chosen to inspect the organ. He's a recognition that his knowledge of organs surpassed anyone else in the family.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
Like he truly is, even in this remarkable family, remarkably intelligent and knowledgeable about the craft of of music and keyboard music specifically. And so he comes, he inspects this organ, kind of does his little repairs, tunes it up, and then he is chosen to play at the dedication recital for this new organ. And again, this is a signal that a new star has risen in the Bach family.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
Like he doesn't just have great technical knowledge, He is, in this family, the greatest musical family in Germany, at 18 years old, he is the star organist. So he plays at the dedication recital. He is then hired as the organist for the church in the town. He plays every week at church services.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
It's likely that he, you know, for the most part at this age, he's probably playing other compositions, existing compositions, existing music, but he's already probably doing some composing. Basically, none of the compositions have survived from this time period, so we can't really judge its quality.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
But likely at this point, the music he's writing is competent, perhaps even interesting, but far from kind of his final form. Okay, so he's playing, he's composing. Let's talk about one of my favorite incidents from his early career that happens here at Arnstadt. So Bach is given extra responsibilities. You know, initially he's just hired as the organist.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
But he is eventually kind of promoted or not even promoted because they don't give him extra money. And it's actually kind of against his will. But they ask him to also teach the students, the student musicians from the school associated with the church where he plays.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
So they, you know, they want not just to play the organ, but kind of coach the students in the choir and the other musicians and kind of help them get up to speed. Right. There are problems here. Number one, as we discussed, the students are famously unruly. That was in Eisenach, I think, but it's also true here in Arnstadt. Many of them are not well-educated in musical technique and theory.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
And to make matters worse, you know, Bach, he's completed his studies so early, he's actually younger than most of his students. So they're kind of embarrassed to be getting taught by this kid. And one day, he gets into an argument with one of his students, a bassoonist. Classic bassoonist behavior, am I right? Okay. And so apparently things escalate and Bach ends up calling him a Zippelfaggotist.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
Okay, this is German, Zippelfaggotist. I know it sounds kind of like a slur in English, but well, actually kind of does mean what you think it sounds like. Because this literally translates to a greenhorn bassoonist. Okay, and in case I need to spell it out for you, a bassoon is a woodwind that you... Place on your lips. It looks kind of like a clarinet if you don't know. Anyways, okay.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
I know some of you will probably roll your eyes. He is the boring old composer whose music is just an unrelenting succession of 16th notes, right? Late Baroque music, not the easiest to enjoy for many people. But I think even if you don't like classical music, it's just a lesson in how to produce unbelievable volumes of great art. And hopefully I can teach you to enjoy Bach if you don't already.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
So he calls him a greenhorn bassoonist. But apparently greenhorn is also a euphemism for you can imagine what. Okay, so John Elliot Gardner translates this insult as he calls this guy a prick bassoonist. I've seen others translate it as a weenie bassoonist, right? Like you're playing the bassoon. Okay, you get it? Do you get the joke he's making?
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
In only two words, Bach is both calling him an amateur. You don't know what you're doing on the bassoon. But he's also calling him gay, basically. Great insult. Incredibly efficient use of words. Gotta hand it to Bach. So this guy's incredibly offended, of course. Gets some friends together. Waits outside a street where he knows Bach will be walking. And then jumps him one night.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
He attacks him with a stick. Ends up punching Bach in the face. And then Bach draws a sword. I've seen other sources that say it's a long knife. It's generally referred to as a rapier. Either way, Bach goes after him, actually manages to slash a hole through his cloak before people step in and break up the fight. Bach almost stabs this guy because he fights him all because Bach called him.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
a weenie bassoonist. All right. I love this story because again, it shows the real red-blooded Bach as he really was. The type of music Bach made could only have been made from a man with enormous emotion and passion, which he clearly possessed. His music did not come from a robot. It came from the type of guy who was willing to sword fight people over insults. Okay. So Bach was hot-headed.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
He was also in many ways a rock star and something of a diva. He was constantly fighting with the city council about his wages, about the state of the music department of his church, about his role and responsibilities. He becomes somewhat withdrawn and surly. In his most egregious move, Bach applies for leave.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
to go to Lubeck, another city in Germany, for four weeks to hear the great organist Dietrich Buxtehude. And he's granted this by the city council. Okay, you can leave for four weeks, get yourself a replacement. He finds another Bach, of course, to come play the organ for him for four weeks. Because he thinks he can learn a lot from this great, great organist, Dietrich Buxtehude.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
So he walks 200 miles on foot to go see this guy. But once he gets there, he's like, this is great. He talks with him, has dinner with him. He's learning so much from Buxtehude. And so he doesn't stay for four weeks. He stays for four months. So he is just AWOL, just missing, no explanation for three months. And so when he gets back, the superintendent asks him very reasonably, why?
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
Where the heck have you been? You just didn't show up to work for four months. We knew you'd be gone for a month, but what's going on? And Bach replies, he says, I went, quote, to comprehend one thing or another about my art. OK, so like imagine that you take three months off work with no explanation. You don't send word. You don't write.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
You just disappear for three months and you come back and your boss says, hey, where have you been for three months? And your reply is, you know, I was learning important stuff. You know, I was learning this and that. This is clearly not someone who is worried about keeping his job. By the end, one counselor writes, he shows little inclination to work.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
He is not even willing to give an explanation of the fact. A change will be necessary. A break will have to come soon. Okay. And the real point of conflict is not just that Bach was being a diva, you know, just because he had a disagreeable personality. That is not true. Actually, most people liked Bach. He was being a diva because he viewed music as a way to come to know God.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
He views it as a religious necessity. not in some abstract sense, you know, because he read it in the Bible, although there is that as well, but because he felt like he and others personally encountered God through church music. So how could you settle? You know, if that's the case, how could you settle for second rate music? How could you not want to push to create the best music possible?
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
I think one of the great testaments to the power of Bach comes from Friedrich Nietzsche. If you don't know, Nietzsche, who was a philosopher, came to truly hate and loathe Christianity. And Bach is the most Christian of all composers. He was an extremely religious Lutheran who viewed his music as an extension of his duty to serve and worship God. It is really very deeply Christian music.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
Everything had to be the best. We are seeing and literally experiencing God here. Stop trying to tell me to just play the hits. He hated that. He was always pushing. He always wanted more musicians, better trained musicians, more commitment from the city council, more funds, more time to train, better instruments. I mean, he sounds like Napoleon at the Siege of Toulon.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
And I think he felt that same urgency that Napoleon felt. More, more, more. Better, better, better. And the city council just wants him to chill. I think they didn't see it that way, right? Like, hey, can you just stop freaking out our musicians? Can you just stop giving them and the choir such difficult music? Can you just play the tunes that everyone knows?
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
You know, obviously they didn't see music the same way that he did. So anyway, Arnstadt and Bach eventually part ways after three years, and he takes a job in Molhausen, which is a slightly bigger town. They pay him a little bit more. This was a step up in every way. More organized music department, everything.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
Also significant pay increase, which is important to Bach because in just six months, he's about to marry a woman called Maria Barbara. Every biography, by the way, calls her just Maria Barbara, which I appreciate because her name is actually Maria Barbara Bach and she is his cousin. But I like that the authors don't rub our nose in it by calling her Maria Barbara Bach all the time.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
They just leave it at Maria Barbara. Okay, we don't. We don't need to draw attention to just the whiff of incest that's going on. Anyways, I do think the main draw of Mulhausen was not the pay increase, even though that was important to him and his growing family, but it was the professional choir, the more professional music department.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
And that's my second takeaway, I guess, is that Bach wanted to make great music. He was always pushing to make better music. And I think most people in most situations settle for good enough. And good enough was never good enough for Bach. There's a good quote about this phenomenon from Kobe Bryant. And I picked up this quote from David Senra over at Founders Podcast.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
And he quotes Kobe as saying, it was easy to size other players up in the NBA. I found that a lot of guys played for financial stability. Once they got that financial stability, the passion, the work ethic, and the obsessiveness was gone. Once I saw that, I thought this is going to be like taking candy from a baby. No wonder Michael Jordan wins all these championships. All right.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
So I think, you know, Bach probably had the same phenomenon. A lot of guys are just trying to land a job as a as an organist or a court musician. And once they do that, OK, I'm settled. I'm good. They're not pushing to be great. But he did. And so that's my second takeaway. My first takeaway is belief. And I think the second takeaway flows naturally from it.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
If you sincerely believe in what you're doing, then you're going to want to make it excellent, to make it as good as it can possibly be. And so the second takeaway is to pursue greatness. Speaking of David Senra, if you like How to Take Over the World, you will probably also love Founders. It's a podcast much like How to Take Over the World, but it's specifically for and about founders.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
It's one of the few podcasts that I really look up to and admire. David does a great job, and his episodes are always packed with amazing insights. As you just saw, I used some of them in my own show. Just about all his episodes are great, but if you're looking for one to start with... You might start with episode 376 about Jensen Huang, founder of NVIDIA. I love that one.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
Or episode 370 about Ingvar Kamprad, founder of IKEA. I love that one too. But he has tons of great episodes. Honestly, you can start anywhere and you'll probably get a great episode. So check it out. That is Founders, wherever you get your podcasts.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
And Nietzsche, in his book called The Antichrist, which should tell you a little bit about what it's all about, he ends it by declaring war to the death against Christianity.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
So after Bach goes to Mulhausen, he spends a year and a half there, composes some great music, gets in trouble with the city council again for many of the same reasons, quarreling with musicians, writing music that's too difficult to perform, as well as for at least one new reason, which is, as mentioned before, he is caught with an unknown woman in the choir loft.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
He claims he is just giving her voice lessons. This is a family show, so I won't say anything more, but the jokes practically write themselves. But then a year and a half later, he transfers to Weimar. It's only 18 months that he's in Molhausen, which, if you'll recall, he starts his career in Weimar briefly. He's there for six months as a court musician.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
He leaves Molhausen for the same reason that he left Arnstadt, which is the conditions in Molhausen were better than in Arnstadt, but still not what he wants. Both of these are relatively small towns. We're talking, you know, 5,000, 10,000 people. And he's technically just an organist. at Weimar as he was in both of these other towns, but he's actually highly recruited to be there.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
And he's more highly paid than some of the management, some of the brass. And after six years of being sort of a overqualified organist, he is officially promoted to Konzertmeister, okay, music director. The benefit of being in Weimar is that it is a dukedom. So Germany at this time is not a nation state. It's not a country. There is no, entity called Germany, geographic expression.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
What there is is the Holy Roman Empire, which is a jumbled mess of all these territories and claims. Some of them are run directly by the church. They are for all intents and purposes owned by the bishop, by the church, I mean the Catholic church, right? Some are free cities belonging to no particular nobility, not to the church. They're a city controlled by its city council.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
And he proposes complete ostracization of Christians and even proposes, quote, the excreble location where Christianity brooded over its basilisk eggs should be razed to the ground and being the most depraved spot on earth, it should be the horror of all posterity. Poisonous snakes should be bred on top of it.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
They're essentially little democracies like Arnstadt and Mulhausen. And some areas are owned by various members of nobility, princes, dukes, counts, stuff like that. So Weimar is actually controlled by two dukes, an uncle and a nephew. And both happen to be very musically inclined and very willing to spend.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
So they have a core loaded with great professional musicians with no other obligations who are ready to collaborate with Bach. And furthermore, they are interested in Bach For Bach. In Arnstadt, he is sort of treated as a blue collar guy. You got a job to do. You have to get the music ready for Sunday services. So, you know, pick up your lunch pail, get things done.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
Anytime he tries to go beyond these duties and create amazing music, they're vaguely annoyed. Like this isn't what we hired you for. But these dukes see him more as like an artiste. They're interested in him as a composer and as like a great artist. They want to create great things. And they want him to explore and be creative.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
So he composes cantatas for church services while he's in Weimar, yes. But he's also composing chamber music, music that is meant to be performed for its own sake. In fact, he starts writing the preludes and fugues that would later be assembled into the famous work, the well-tempered clavier. You have almost certainly heard the opening numbers. Very, very famous. It goes like this.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
So Weimar is quite an idyllic time for Bach. He's well compensated. He has significant resources at his disposal and time to compose. His wife, Maria Barbara, gives birth to three sons in Weimar. He's promoted. Life is good. However, the same things that made Weimar idyllic also made it dangerous. Weimar was a monarchy, technically a duarchy, but a monarchy.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
Therefore, Bach was not subject to the same need to constantly justify himself as he was in Arnstadt and Molhausen. His genius could spring forth as an outgrowth of monarchical largesse. But the flip side of that is that he was subject to the whims of these dukes. And the biggest problem on that front is, you know, was not actually either one of them souring on him. He actually liked both of them.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
Both of them liked him. But they soured on each other. This uncle and nephew had very different personalities. The one, the uncle, was more conservative and religious. The nephew was more modern and liberal. And the court orchestra became the object of their rivalry and competition because both were so musical.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
In other words, he advocates nuking Jerusalem and breeding it with poisonous snakes so that no one will ever go there again just because that is where Christianity was born. That is how much Nietzsche hates, loathes Christianity. And yet... This is what Nietzsche says of Bach, quote, This week I heard the St.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
One duke orders them not to perform for the other duke, and then the other threatens to fine or even jail them if they listen to the other one. It becomes this real mess. And everyone, all these musicians are hired by both of them, so they're like... They don't know what to do. They just don't want to get involved. And so Bach doesn't want to be involved either. He wants out.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
He starts looking for other jobs. He applies and is accepted as the Kapelmeister at Coton, another city, another monarchy, this one a principality. But these dukes are not happy when they find out that Bach has sought employment elsewhere without their permission. And he's actually jailed for a month and nearly loses his job because the Prince of Coton...
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
has no idea what happened to the Kapelmeister who he just hired. So Bach is in Weimar for nine years before he is in jail for a month. And luckily, you know, even though this prince is like, hey, what just happened to my new music director? He doesn't fire him, keeps him on. And so then he's in Colton for six years. In Khotun, his wife, Maria Barbara, suddenly dies.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
She catches ill while he's away and dies very unexpectedly. At this point, he has seven young children. So he remarries quite quickly, this time to Anna Magdalena Wilkie, is her name, with whom he would end up having 13 children. And by the way...
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
uh this must have been incredibly tragic for bach everyone agrees that he had a very loving and close relationship with maria barbara and this is just one of many tragedies that bach suffered in his life only 10 of his 20 children would survive into adulthood and even for the time this is a very high child mortality rate for an upper middle class family like the box yeah like you could expect to lose a child or two in your lifetime but not half of your children i mean that
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
is a lot of tragedy for Bach. Both of his parents die when he's eight. He suffers a lot. But... We know very little about how he felt during these time periods and how he dealt with all these losses. And that is because, on the one hand, it's true, Bach is not a very communicative person. We think, but we don't really know.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
That is because virtually all of Bach's personal letters have been lost, which is a real tragedy. And it leads to some weird distortions. So, for example... We've been talking about all these run-ins he had in Arnstadt and Mühlhausen. And, you know, basically all the official correspondence of these courts from these cities are still around.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
So like in Mühlhausen and Arnstadt, you have all of these official correspondences, all these complaints between the city council and Bach. And then at the very end, they give an official proclamation when Bach is about to leave that Johann Sebastian Bach is the best and he's been a great organist and he's the best we've ever had and we love him. It's like, wait, what?
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
All you guys did was complain and fight and argue and now he's leaving and you're suddenly like, we loved this guy so much. We're so happy he was around. And it's because when you're happy with someone, you don't write an official report to the city council, right? You might write him a personal letter. Hey, great cantata on Sunday. Loved it. You're great. You might tell him in person.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
Matthew Passion three times, and each time I had the same feeling of immeasurable admiration. One who has completely forgotten Christianity truly hears it here as gospel. Okay. Wow. Like what a testament to Bach that someone who loathes Christianity so much when he hears Bach can hear the gospel and hear it as gospel.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
You might shake his hand. And all personal letters that Bach had, like virtually all of them, have been lost. We don't have them. So it's not that Bach was nonstop feuding with every government where he went.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
It's just that only the complaints, the accusations and the counter accusations have survived, which again, maybe gives us a distorted view of these relationships and how fraught and contentious they actually were. So it's distorted that way. And, you know, we have no idea how Bach felt during these very difficult times. People like to say that he poured all of his emotion into his music.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
And that certainly seems true. His music has a ton of emotional depth. But we don't really know that to be true. Maybe he also poured his emotions into heartfelt letters and long discussions with close friends. Maybe he had close confidants who he relied on. We just have no way of knowing. All we do know is that And it did have an effect on this beautiful music that he wrote.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
What I find most interesting is that he has many pieces that are clearly music about mourning, about loss, but they're not... depressive. They managed to be optimistic at the same time. And this is someone who did not languor or wallow in his sadness. This is a fundamentally energetic person.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
And I think a fundamentally happy person who picked himself up and found solace in God, I think, and found real optimism even in the midst of all this loss. Okay. So let's put a timeline here. This is so we know where we are. Bach is born in 1685. He finishes all of his schooling at age 18. He is in Arnstadt and Mulhausen until age 23.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
Then from age 23 until age 32, that's nine years, he's in Weimar. Or maybe it actually works out to eight years, but whatever, you know how ages are. And then in Coton for the next six years until he's 38. And then from 38 years old on, he would spend the rest of his life in the city of Leipzig. So he seems to have enjoyed monarchical arrangements much more than democratic ones.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
Because, you know, you could kind of count on the largesse of these princes and dukes. But, you know, it's like, oh, if you like these arrangements, then why do you go to Leipzig as your final act? Which is, in fact, another free city with a city council, no prince, no duke. And he has many of the same problems and run-ins in Leipzig that he had in Arnstadt and Mulhausen.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
It's not like the problems go away. It's a bigger city, so there is more of an appetite for some of his more ambitious works. But ultimately, he considers the city council unreliable and penny-pinching and annoying. So why does he do this? Why leave Weimar and Coton? And the answer is, it's a big city. And he gets the top music appointment where he oversees the St.
How to Take Over the World
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Thomas School and four different churches. It's one of the most prestigious music appointments in all of Germany. They actually say they hire him because he is a celebrity. He's a celebrity for what, right? For being a virtuoso, for performing, not as a composer at this point. People actually, even at any point in his lifetime, people never really know his compositions outside of Germany.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
He's not known as a composer in his own lifetime. What he is known as is in his youth, a great, great singer. Once his voice breaks, he no longer has this nice tenor. So he's no longer known as a great singer, but he's a great violinist and a great keyboard player, great organist, great harpsichordist.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
And because he wasn't appreciated primarily as a composer, there initially weren't many efforts to collect and preserve his music. And so we don't know how much Bach music has been lost. We do know the number of cantatas alone that have been lost is in the hundreds, which is a real tragedy. But yeah, he wasn't known for his compositions.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
He really didn't become famous as a composer until the early 1800s. So, for example, let's look at something like St. Matthew's Passion, which is this unbelievably great work that he writes in Leipzig and is now very, very famous as one of Bach's more famous compositions. So how does it become famous? So let's go back to the beginning.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
And it's funny, I have heard two different people, both of them Jewish, claim that Bach almost makes them want to become a Lutheran. So I think when you understand his music, it has a way to
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
Bach never wrote an opera, which was an art form that was flourishing at the time. Bach had been to Hamburg, a city that had a great opera scene. And so he had seen and experienced opera.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
But instead of actually writing an opera himself, what he did instead was to compose two passions, two retellings of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ to be played during Holy Week, the week leading up to Easter on the Christian calendar. And these had different singers playing various characters like Peter, Pilot, John.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
So they technically aren't operas, but they are very operatic in their performance and how they play out. And they're just unbelievably beautiful, especially the St. Matthew's Passion. This is really like Bach's magnum opus. It's unbelievable.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
In his biography, Wolf writes of it, quote, Leipzig audiences deprived since 1720 of their own opera house could experience in Bach's Drammi Permusica something of what was offered by the Royal Opera in Dresden. At the same time, Bach's pieces were by no means poor or makeshift substitutes for real opera.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
His compositions demonstrate at every step full mastery of the dramatic genre and the proper pacing of the dialogues. So he writes the St. Matthew's Passion. It's played in Leipzig. We don't know for sure how it was received, but it was played there in Leipzig for the better part of a century until 1800.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
of reaching through barriers and speaking to anyone and everyone it is simultaneously very grounded in a certain place in tradition it is very german very christian very lutheran and also at the same time somehow very universal and that is one of the paradoxes of bach i think his life is one of the best case studies i've seen of what happens when a person fuses talent with genuine fanatical religious devotion plus iron discipline plus a kind of playfulness and sense of fun so
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
Okay, so clearly it met with some acclaim and it was recognized, at least on some level, for the masterpiece it was. Or else, you know, usually you'd get new compositions, hear new music every Easter season. Why are they playing the St. Matthew's Passion every single year until 1800? It's because they recognize, on some level, this is something fantastic. At the same time, though... This St.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
Matthew's fashion by Bach was not performed in its entirety outside of Leipzig until 1829. That is 100 years after its first performance. One of the great works of art in human history wasn't heard outside of Leipzig for 100 years. In fact, the reason that so many of us know about it today is sheer dumb luck.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
It so easily could have gone the other way because what happens is the great German composer Felix Mendelssohn, he's kind of two generations removed from Bach. And Felix Mendelssohn's grandmother happened to own a copy of the St. Matthew's Passion. And so he gets a look at it and he says, wow. And so Felix Mendelssohn puts on this performance in Berlin in 1829.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
And that was the right music for the right moment. And it sells out. The response is ecstatic. And then they sell out a second and third showing. And then it spreads like wildfire from there. It spreads outside of Germany and into England and France and all over Europe. Anyway, the Leipzig years are very productive for Bach in terms of composing. He's composing a ton.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
All these new, beautiful, amazing compositions are coming out. And they are well-received, but that's not what he's known for at the time. At the time, he is known as an exceptional composer. And that's why he's really celebrated. He is famous in Germany as like the great keyboard performer of the age.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
And he's producing a lot of compositions, but they're not widely recognized at the time as works of genius. Probably the most famous incident in his life's years happens towards the end of his life.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
In 1747, he was invited by Frederick the Great to come meet with him and perform in the king's palace in Potsdam, just outside of Berlin, where Frederick was king of Prussia and where Bach's son, Emmanuel, Carl Emmanuel Philip, Carl Philip Emmanuel, excuse me, Bach, was his court musician.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
And Frederick the Great was a genius, one of those few men with talent, not only in war and politics, but also in art and music. He was a great flautist. He played the flute and apparently a halfway decent composer as well. And so Frederick the Great is always pestering Carl Philip Emanuel Bach to invite his famous father to come perform for him. And finally, he insists.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
He's like, hey, Bach, you got to invite your dad to come perform for me. And this younger Bach was actually more famous been his father during their lifetimes, especially as a composer. For whatever reason, even though now the father, Johann Sebastian Bach, is known as the great composer, at the time, Carl Philip Emanuel Bach was recognized more for that.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
Anyway, so together, Bach's son and Frederick invite him. Basically, Johann Sebastian Bach is coming to see his son and his newly born grandson. And he says, okay, while you're here to see your grandson, come to the court, play for Frederick the Great. It'll be great.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
but there's a trap okay uh frederick the great lays a trap for him in that they try and devise for him an impossible puzzle okay bach was known as a composer of fugues and a fugue is a type of musical composition that takes one melody and then introduces new melodies on top and these melodies have to follow a system called counterpoint which has rules for
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
what kind of themes can go together, which notes you don't want to play together, how often sequences can repeat, all this sorts of stuff. Okay. There are lots and lots of rules in counterpoint. So you can think of counterpoint as a sort of musical Sudoku puzzle. you take a melody and you have to find one of the few melodies that can go with it.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
And of course, as you add parts, you know, first you got one melody, now you got two, now you have a three-part fugue, you got three different themes, and you become more constrained in what you can do because every new melody that you add has to abide by the rules of counterpoint with all the other themes that came before it. The puzzle becomes harder.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
Let's get into it. My main sources for this episode were Bach Music in the Castle of Heaven by John Elliot Gardner and Johann Sebastian Bach by Christoph Wolff. So with all that said, this is The Life of Johann Sebastian Bach. First, I want to take a second to shout out today's sponsor, the Austin AI Lab. They create AI agents tailored to your business's needs.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
And so to have any, you know, artistic merit while you're doing this is very, very difficult. So that's kind of fugue and counterpoint. And so when Bach is invited to the court of Frederick the Great, Frederick invites Bach to improvise, improvise a three-part fugue. Okay, so just imagine how difficult that is.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
You're sitting down at a piano and coming up with a theme, a melody, and just that, like, if you sat down at a piano and tried to pick out something that sounds good, that's not easy to come up with a little melody. But then you have to come up with three melodies all at the same time, and they all have to follow these rules of counterpoint and have to go together, okay?
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
So this is going to be impossible for anyone who is not like an extremely accomplished musician. However... Bach is an extremely accomplished musician, so being asked to improvise a three-part fugue is perhaps not the craziest thing. What is crazy is that Frederick, probably with the help of Carl Philip Emanuel Bach, has devised an opening theme that is nearly impossible to work with.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
We actually don't know for sure that Carl Philip Emanuel Bach had something to do with this, but the reason that I think he was involved is that This theme is so difficult to write counterpoint to that only a really experienced musician, a musical genius, could have devised it. It's diabolical. It is a theme that is perfectly suited to resist counterpoint.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
And so Frederick the Great says, hey, welcome. So glad to have you. Glad you could play for us. We're going to have you improvise a three-part fugue. And by the way, here's the theme that you're going to be working off of. And so he gives him this theme. I think he actually plays it for him on the flute.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
And Bach must have realized that like, Oh, I've been set up and there's no way of knowing, but I do wish I could know what went through his head as he sat at the piano and and heard the theme that was played for him. And he's in front of the entire court, in front of everyone. I wonder if, you know, the blood drained from his face, if he had a moment of doubt of, oh man, I'm in front of everyone.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
I've never heard a theme like this. This is impossible. Like this is a perfect trap. What am I supposed to do? Or was it the opposite? You know, does he hear it? And even though it's difficult, does he immediately know? Nice try, Frederick, but I've got you beat. Because what happens is this perfectly laid trap wasn't enough to best the superhuman Bach, the greatest musician of all time.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
And look, I think to heighten the stakes of this moment. On a certain level, this was personal. Because in some ways, Bach and Frederick were very similar. Both were incredible geniuses with boundless energy. But in many ways, they were complete opposites. Frederick was very liberal and atheistic. Bach was quite conservative and religious. Bach had 20 children.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
They are some of the best in the business in AI. I've had a chance to get to know their founder, Alejandro, who is a big fan and supporter of how to take over the world. I think everyone right now needs to be thinking about their AI strategy. Saying you aren't an AI business is a little bit like saying that you're not an internet business in 1999, right?
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
Frederick was gay and had no children. Bach was tall. Frederick was extremely short. Bach was humble. Frederick was extremely proud and vain. So I think on a certain level, This contest was personal. I think Frederick was not only trying to humiliate Bach, but I think he was trying to humiliate religion, humiliate God and his representative in some way.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
Or even if he wasn't, I definitely think that's how Bach would have seen it. I think probably in this moment, he felt like he was wrestling with the devil. So what happens is Bach begins playing slowly at first, picking out the opening theme as slowly as he can to give him some time to think and plan.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
And so he wins. I mean, it's like something out of a novel. Two of the great minds that Europe has ever produced match wits against each other, and Bach comes out victorious. Here's how the official Potsdam press release presents what happened. So this is King Frederick's, Frederick the Great's official press arm. This is what they put out in the newspaper. Quote,
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
Like everything was about to become an internet business, whether you liked it or not. I think that's true of AI as well. And since this is so important, you want to be working with the best, right? And the Austin AI Lab has some of the best researchers and implementation specialists in the world. They have more than 200 successful implementations under their belt.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
His august self immediately gave orders that Bach be admitted and went at his entrance to the so-called forte at piano. That just means a piano condescending also to play in his most august person and without any preparation, a theme for the cable Meister Bach. Okay. So I guess he doesn't play it on the flute. He himself plays on piano. which he should execute in a fugue.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
This was done so happily by the aforementioned Kapelmeister that not only his majesty was pleased to show his satisfaction thereat, but also all those present were seized with astonishment. Mr. Bach found the theme propounded to him so exceedingly beautiful that he intends to set it down on paper as a regular fugue and have it engraved on copper.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
On Monday, the famous man let himself be heard on the organ in the Church of the Holy Spirit at Potsdam in So Bach does create this composition. and sends it to Frederick. We don't know if Frederick ever looked at what Bach sent him, but it is interesting that this composition is something of a challenge, okay, to Frederick.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
Reading now from John Eliot Gardner's biography, he says, "...in the copy he sent to King Frederick, he arranged for the inside page to be inscribed with the word Regis Iusu Cantio et Relequia Canonica Arte Resoluta." At the king's command, the song and remainder resolved with canonic art.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
Bach was making a pun on the word canonica, his way of showing that his canons had been fashioned in the best possible way for the king's amusement. Did Frederick even bother to look at them?
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
Did he realize that the initial capitals of Bach's dedication spelt riscare, meaning to search out in Italian, and that Bach had deliberately refrained from writing the canons out in full, leaving them for him to discover? So in other words, Bach leaves all these hints telling Frederick to search out the answers. And I've seen multiple interpretations of this subtle messaging.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
In some interpretations, Bach is simply flexing on King Frederick. Basically, like, I owned you when you tried to give me a puzzle. Now let's see what you can do. Here's a puzzle for you. Seek out the answer. So is he just saying, like, thanks. Now you give it a try. You seek it out. I bet you can't do what I can do.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
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How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
In other interpretations, and I find this maybe a little bit more convincing, Bach is encouraging the atheistic Frederick to seek out God. You know, and he's leaving these things unfinished. in order to point him in that direction and hoping that in the act of composition, he will find God, he will seek out God, rescare, the same way that Bach did and find him the same way that God did in music.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
And, you know, I think it's unlikely. That Frederick ever took up the puzzle and tried to solve Bach's puzzle that he gave for him. And if he did, he was a very gifted musician for a king. But this is not someone who spent all day every day thinking about music. He wasn't educated enough to probably pull this off.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
But I think Bach was sincere in his belief that if Frederick had done this, he would find God. I mentioned at the beginning Nietzsche and how he kind of heard the gospel in Bach even though he didn't believe. There's a great quote from one of the most widely known contemporary composers. His name is Georgi Kurtag who writes, Consciously, I am certainly an atheist.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
but I do not say it out loud because if I look at Bach, I cannot be an atheist. Then I have to accept the way he believed. His music never stops praying. And how can I get closer if I look at him from the outside? I do not believe in the gospels in a literal fashion, but a Bach fugue has the crucifixion in it as the nails are being driven in.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
In music, I am always looking for the hammering of the nails. That is dual vision. My brain rejects it all, but my brain isn't worth much. Okay, well, I'll basically wrap it up there. Bach dies three years later from botched surgery on his eyes. He had been suffering from blindness and from a number of ailments, probably related to diabetes. Bach drank a lot of beer throughout his life.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
He was overweight and a lot of the symptoms that he had matched early diabetes. He passed away on July 28th, 1750 and was buried in a grave that went unmarked for nearly 150 years. The chorale that he asked to be released upon his death included these lyrics. Before your throne I now appear, O God, and bid you humbly turn not your gracious face from me, a poor sinner. Confer on me a blessed end.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
On the last day, awaken me, Lord, that I may see you eternally. Amen, amen. Hear me. Okay, well, that was a pretty high-level review of the life of Bach. So here at the end, I want to go through a few of my takeaways from Bach's life and how he worked, how he was actually able to do all of this, right? This is what the whole show is about.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
So first to review the first two that we did kind of go over. One, the power of belief. Belief is irresistible. Number two, the power of trying to be great. Most people just settle in to coast and be careful. By setting your sights on greatness, you're already ahead of most people who aren't even thinking about it.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
And then the third idea that we talked a little bit about, I call this doing more with more. It's the opposite of doing more with less. Doing more with less is about focusing on doing what you can with the resources that you do have. But doing more with more is about figuring out what you need in order to win and then doing whatever it takes to get those resources.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
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How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
There's no prize for being the least intrusive failure. Bach reminded me so much of Napoleon in that both are constantly hectoring their superiors for more resources. So don't accept the constraints that you have been given. Challenge the constraints of your situations and get a winning hand before you even start playing.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
There's no way Bach could have done what he did if he had been content to just sit in Arnstadt with the choir and orchestra that were not professionals, that weren't well-paid, that didn't have the best instruments, and just accepted what he was given. So ask, hector, bully, plead, do whatever you have to do to get the resources to win. We often think of great leaders as doing more with less.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
And yes, there is some of that, including with Bach. But you also have to do more with more. Okay, number four, put on your game face. Bach had this attribute that he was a very kind and personable guy when it came to his personal life. But in regards to his music, he could flip very quickly and show a different side.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
So from the John Eliot Gardner biography, he writes, "'Peaceful, quiet, and even-tempered, though Bach was whenever he encountered unpleasantness at the hands of third persons, so long as it was concerned only in his own personality,' He was, however, quite another man when, no matter in what form, anyone slighted his art, which was sacred to him.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
In such cases, it doubtless happened at times that he donned his armor and gave expression to his wrath in the strongest ways. The organist of St.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
Thomas', who was in general a worthy artist, once so enraged Bach by a mistake on the organ during the rehearsal of a cantata that Bach tore the wig from his own head and with a thundering exclamation, you should have been a cobbler, threw it at the organist's head. Okay. Again, Bach had a way with words. Great insults, great insult.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
You should have been a cobbler, he says to the organist and takes off his wig and throws it at the organist. So Bach had this Jekyll and Hyde thing going on, right? He could be very kind. They were always receiving visitors and helping out the less fortunate in their home. He's very kind in his personal life, but his art was sacred to him. And if you messed with that,
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
He was going to demand excellence from you. You know, I'm often asked by people how to be demanding, like Steve Jobs, like Coco Chanel, without becoming a jerk. And I think that's the answer. You put on your game face. You become a different person when you are talking about your life's work. Okay, so that's number four. Number five, try everything, but try the right thing first.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
Okay, again from the John Elliott Gardner biography. Whatever went on in his mind in terms of pre-composition or was first jotted down in sketches, Bach's working scores show us how concentrated and economical he was when actually composing.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
Among 20th century composers, Shostakovich is reported to have compiled his symphonies straight into full score on the basis that he didn't have time to make errors. He simply couldn't afford the luxury of making mistakes. Bach was much the same, okay? And this reminds me of the Edwin Land quote, we try everything, but we try the right thing first.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
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How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
In other words, I'm ready to try everything to solve this problem. I will beat my head against this rock until it gives me water if I have to. And Bach does do that sometimes. Sometimes progress for Bach was slow and steady. Christoph Wolff writes, quote, one of the most remarkable chapters of Forkel's 1802 biography deals with Bach as the reviser of his own works.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
Here Forkel draws on his experience consulting many unpublished manuscripts. I have had opportunities, he writes, of comparing together many copies of his principal works written in different years, and I confess that I have often felt both surprise and delight at the means which he employed to make little by little the faulty good, the good better, and the better perfect. Okay?
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
So Bach is willing to try everything. However, as we heard from the Gardner biography, when he can, he writes straight into composition with very little in the way of workup or sketching. He just comes kind of fully formed out of his mind. So you do want to be willing to try everything, but you don't want to let that make you lazy.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
You have to try to get the right answer and be economical if you can. Okay, so I like that formulation. I think it's a really smart way to approach things. Try everything, but try the right thing first. Okay, that was Edwin Land and that was Bach as well. Number six, and I love this takeaway, the power of anti-inspiration. Okay, again from John Elliot Gardner.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
Another source of the spark of his imaginative ability to elaborate comes in an observation recorded in 1741. He, quote, does not get himself up to speed to delight others with the mingling of his tones until he has played something from the printed or written page inferior to his own ideas and has thus set his powers of imagination in motion.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
And yet his superior ideas are the consequences of those inferior ones. So in other words, he can't come up with new original ideas until he has played something inferior first. I think that's so interesting. I've talked about this before, but I like to have both inspirations and anti-inspirations. There are podcasters who I listen to.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
like Jameson Olson, like Alex Petkus, like David Senra, who I listen to because I really respect who they are as podcasters and I respect their work. And so I hear things that they do that I want to copy. But there are other podcasters who I listen to less often, but occasionally, because I really don't care for them.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
These are often chart-topping podcasts who somehow get the most downloads in their category, even though I've heard them and I think these podcasts are horrible. And so why do I listen to that? Because I listen to those, and frankly, I get as much inspiration from that as I get from Founders or Cost of Glory or Becoming the Main Character. because it causes me frustration.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
And suddenly I'm brimming with ideas of like, this is terrible. I would do this better. I would do this better. I could improve this. I would improve this. The cognitive dissonance feels unsettling in your mind. And so you like kind of can't let it go until you create something better.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
Again, I'm not sure this is something you want to do all the time, but I think it can be really very effective for generating new ideas. Again, the quote, his superior ideas are the consequences of inferior ones. So my takeaway is sometimes you have to have contact with inferior ideas in order to give yourself good ideas. Okay, number seven.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
We actually did touch on this one at the beginning, but creativity as imaginative research.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
Christoph Wolff writes, Bach, for whom the invention of ideas constituted a fundamental requirement, anyone who had none, he advised, to stay away from composition altogether, as his son later recounted, understood the elaboration of musical ideas not as an act of free creation, but rather as a process of imaginative research into the harmonic implications of the chosen subject matter.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach was born in 1685 in Eisenach, a very small town in the province of Thuringia in central Germany. And the first thing you need to understand is that Bach was born into a musical dynasty like no other. The Bach name was basically shorthand for musician across central Germany.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
Okay, so let's just focus on that last sentence. The process of imaginative research into the harmonic implications of the chosen subject matter. I love the idea of imaginative research because I think what it does is when you're trying to be creative, it takes your mindset from being focused on creation to being focused on learning. Okay, you're doing research.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
And I think when you do that, it takes the pressure off and ironically lets you be more creative. You know, this morning, I woke up at 3.30 a.m. for no reason. I just bolt awake, look at my watch, 3.30 a.m. I'm like, oh, shoot. And so I start thinking to myself, oh, man, this is so early. I really need to get back to sleep. I'm recording today. I need to be well-rested.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
And what happens when you think that way? I can't sleep. So finally, at 5 a.m., I just say to myself, all right, I'm just going to get out of bed. Like apparently I'm not falling back asleep. I'm just having an early day. So at 5 a.m. I say I'm going to get out of bed. And what do you think happens? I immediately get drowsy and fall back asleep.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
Because for sleepiness, when you're focused on it, you can't sleep. And as soon as you kind of forget about it, then you fall asleep. Creativity is like that. When you're telling yourself, man, I really need to be creative. I have to think of something new. That is when you get writer's block. That is when you can't think of new products, new art, new ads, like whatever you work on.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
That's when creativity comes to the stop. When you're trying to put that pressure on yourself to create. So I think creativity, like sleep... is a problem that is best approached indirectly. So if you just think of it as imaginative research, then the creativity comes to you naturally. All right. So for example, I think J.R.R.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
Tolkien was genius at imaginative research rather than completely new creation. Because when he imagined Middle-earth, he didn't imagine it as this new fictional world. He actually imagined it as an actual literal history of way ancient prehistoric England. And I honestly, I think he kind of semi-believed that it was a real history. This stuff really happened.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
And so if you put all this pressure on yourself that you have to develop a whole world, you got a middle earth whole cloth out of nothing. How daunting is that? You have to think of the language and the culture and the economy and all this stuff. But if you imagine that that world actually, it already exists out there. That history is there.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
You just need to do the imaginative research to discover it, then it becomes a whole lot easier. And so I think this is true of so many domains, whether you're trying to write a book in nonfiction or a book of fiction, or you're trying to paint. Now think of it as a painting metaphor. If you're trying, if you just look at a blank canvas and you say, okay, I need to create something new.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
So, for example, when there's a vacancy in the city of Arnstadt, the Count of Arnstadt asks his servant if he can urgently acquire a Bach instrument. That's literally what he says in the letter. Hey, can you find a Bach? Like it's something you could grab from the grocery store. That's how well known they were as musicians.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
like where do you even start? But if you just say, this is imaginative research, I am going to, what does a tree look like? You know, this is how Da Vinci essentially painted. He was doing research as he painted. What do these things actually look like? How do they work? You know, how can I best express them?
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
Then it becomes a lot easier and you can just get started on doing that research and creativity comes more naturally. So when you are being creative, focus on imaginative research. I know this is kind of a new idea. It makes a lot of sense in my head. I hope that that makes sense for you as well. And then number eight, this is my last lesson. It's probably the most simple.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
But whenever someone asked Johann Sebastian Bach, how is it that you were able to be so great to accomplish what you've accomplished? His answer was, quote, I was obliged to be industrious. Whoever is equally industrious will succeed equally well. And I don't think that's true. Bach was a one in a billion level genius, but. He was industrious.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
And it's only because that genius was paired with hard work that he was able to accomplish what he did. And he was able to work so hard, not out of duty, not because he had some taskmaster, not because he felt like he had to, but because he was filled with the love of music and the pleasure of doing it with great musicians, to borrow a line from John Williams. So I think that's true.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
You have to work hard in order to be great. And hard work is downstream of loving what you do, of just being filled with a genuine passion and enthusiasm for what you're doing. And if you don't feel that, then you've got to find something new. So that ends the free version of this episode. It's longer than I thought it was going to be. Thanks for sticking with me.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
I also have a lot of end notes and a lot of interesting stuff. I'm going to talk about how to enjoy Bach more. If you're someone who's always found Bach boring or wondering where to start and how to find them accessible, I'm going to go through that.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
I'm going to talk a little bit more of some takeaways of how to find perfection in an imperfect environment, how to find focus when you've got a lot of various interests and how Bach did that. We'll talk a little bit more about how he actually composed, what his desk looked like. We'll talk about what he was like as a parent and the legacy of his children.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
There's a lot more to talk about about Bach. So you can get all of that if you go to takeoverpod.supercast.com and subscribe for $7 a month. And you'll get all of the extra episodes that I release, all the end notes, all of the extra takeaways. So that helps support the show and helps me do this full time. So I hope you will go and do that and subscribe at takeoverpod.supercast.com.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
Or if you're listening in Apple Podcasts, you can subscribe right there in the app. And then I've got, I don't know, 20 more minutes of content for you. If not, if you're just listening to the free version, I appreciate it anyways. Thank you very much for tuning in to How to Take Over the World. Before we tune out, a big thank you to Speechify. Speechify helps you turn anything into a podcast.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
They were known both as artists, you know, composers, fine artists, great creatives, as well as craftsmen. They could fix your organ, acquire all the instruments that you needed. They could redo the strings on a violin if you needed. They also tended to be excellent musicians and singers, and they composed new works. They're kind of like an all-in-one bundle.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
I use it all the time for my reading. I find that when I read and listen at the same time, I'm able to retain much more of what I read, which is really important for me because I'm taking notes on all this stuff to turn into podcasts.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
So if you're a student or if you're just someone who reads in order to learn and to improve, then you're going to love Speechify as a great tool to help you learn and retain more. So go to Speechify.com and use code Ben to get 15% off Speechify Premium. And you can even listen, if you so prefer, if you're a real sicko for how to take over the world, to content in my AI voice.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
You can hear me narrate anything. So again, that is Speechify.com and use code Ben to get 15% off Speechify Premium. Thank you, Speechify.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
If you got a Bach, you can be able to take care of all your musical needs in town. Actually, the most gifted musician of the previous generation of Bach's was not Johann Sebastian Bach's father, but his uncle, Christoph. He was a very innovative composer. And by the time Sebastian comes along, he was the eighth generation musician in the family of Bach's. So music was in his blood.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
And by the way, they also tended to marry other musicians. So most of the good musicians in Thuringia, if they weren't a Bach, were probably related to the Bachs in some way. So for Bach, there is no moment of discovering music. You can't even pinpoint a moment when his instruction begins. His mother was probably singing lullabies within minutes of his birth. Like he is just steeped in music.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
from the moment of his conception, frankly, like he never knows a moment where he isn't receiving some sort of musical education. Bach is involved in one of the most heartwarming stories of child labor you'll ever hear about. When he is young, he acts as an assistant for organ repairs and installations, crawling in between the pipes to inspect and fix things.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
It's like the positive heartwarming version of Victorian era child labor in factories, right? He's kind of doing the same thing, like going in this heavy machinery and because he's small and has these delicate fingers going in and getting into stuff and fixing stuff that the adults can't do. Okay, so there you go. First lesson, child labor, not always as bad as they say.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
Okay, so from the time he's a child, Bach basically has a destiny as a musician. So look, Laszlo Polgar in his book, Raise a Genius, says the best way to raise a genius is to introduce them to the craft before the age of five, ideally around three and a half. And Bach provides evidence that, you know, he might be on to something because Bach is the greatest of all time.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
And, you know, again, we don't know when he started. Probably even he couldn't tell you when he started, but it was certainly by age three and a half. The other big influence in the Bach family was religion, which we've already said, Lutheranism.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
The music isn't just outside of you, it's within you. The organ pipes seem to shake the entire church and everything in it. You're listening to the music of your local organist, Johann Sebastian Bach. I find it just amazing to think that some of the greatest, most universal music in history was created for church services in a little town in the middle of Germany of less than 10,000 people.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
They were an intensely religious family, and it was very easy to mix those two things, music and religion, because Luther, Martin Luther, who, if you don't know, was a Christian reformer who created this movement of Protestantism, kind of got a piece of Christianity to break away from the Catholic Church. So Luther himself was very musical. He encouraged music in worship.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
He's reported to have often asked, why should the devil have all the good tunes? Which is important because there's kind of another big movement within Protestantism, which is called Calvinism, and they were very opposed to worship music and music of all kinds. So the fact that Luther...
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
really encouraged music in worship is different from this other sect of Protestantism and is what leads to this fusion that creates Bach. So Lutheran church services were very musical. Lutheran education was also very musical. You would learn all these Christian doctrines and scriptures by singing them.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
And that was a mnemonic device to help you remember all this stuff in a very religious education. And as a consequence, music played an outsized role in all these little Lutheran towns in Germany.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
Even a town of just a few thousand people would have a beautiful organ and a well-paid music director, and parishioners could expect to be treated to original compositions from time to time, even in these little small towns. And Bach really internalized this culture of music and religion. He was fervently religious his entire life.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
In later life, he would have an excellent library of religious texts. He would spend months worth of salary on a rare volume of Luther. But what's more interesting is that This isn't just for external purposes, right? He's not just outwardly pious. Bach really believed it. This wasn't just a family tradition or a cultural script.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
Bach believed that he, as a composer, was carrying on the work of the Old Testament, of offering up sacred sound in divine services. So in his Bible, you can go and you can find a note he has written. He writes, this chapter is the foundation of all church music pleasing to God. And this is next to 1 Chronicles chapter 25.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
The start of this chapter reads, David, together with the commanders of the army, set apart some of the sons of Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun for the ministry of prophesying accompanied by harps, lyres, and cymbals. Here's the list of the men who performed this service. And it goes on. Okay.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
So, like, yeah, he's got this intense belief in this fusion of these two ideas that he's looking through the Bible and finding justifications for what he does and why this is not just okay, but necessary to true religious worship. So he doesn't really just think of himself as a musician. In some ways, Bach thinks of himself as a sort of divinely appointed priest who is...
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
Like, commanded by God to bring this religious music to people. And I think you can hear that religious devotion in his music. I think that is what people miss about Bach. People sometimes call his music mathematical. And in a way, I know what they're saying. It is, right? It's very regular. Its proportions are very mathematical.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
Leibniz famously said, music is the hidden arithmetical exercise of a mind unconscious that it is calculating. And I think Leibniz is correct. Right? There is this incredible connection between math and music. I can't remember who said this, but one of the Manhattan Project physicists, speaking of Oppenheimer, said he was the only physicist he ever knew who wasn't musical.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
johann sebastian bach isn't just one of the great classical composers he's one of the great artists of all time in any medium up there with da vinci and shakespeare so today we're talking about a man whose music has reached farther than any empire lasted longer than most religions and inspired a kind of devotion typically reserved for saints or prophets we're going to see how he was able to compose not only such great and transcendent music but so much of it
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
Okay, every other physicist he knew, and he knew all of them, right? He's in the Manhattan Project. Every other physicist he knew was very musical. And by the way, Oppenheimer's weakness as a physicist is that he wasn't a terribly gifted mathematician. So that's interesting, right? There's this connection between math and music. And why is that? Well, It is a mathematical language.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
So if you think about an octave, Okay. What is an octave? I'll do a little right now in front of my computer, but I'll play on the piano a little bit later so you can hear what I'm talking about. Okay. So if you think about an octave, it's the same note, but one register higher. Okay. So if you look at like a piano, it goes A, B, C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C, D, E, F, G. Okay.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
So what does it mean that notes are repeating? What does it mean that you have C and then C? Okay. Two Cs. So I'll play an octave for you now. C, C. Okay? And you can hear they sound the same. You play them together and they blend perfectly. And we speak of them as being the same note. They're both Cs. But what do we mean by that they're the same note? Obviously they're not actually the same note.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
One is lower, one is higher. So what do we mean when we say they are the same? Why do they blend this way? Why do they sound the same even though we know that they are different tones? And the answer is that the sound waves produced by the higher note in the octave have exactly half the wavelength of the same note at a lower octave. Okay?
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
And so you can see there's like this mathematical relationship. That's why they sound pleasing together is one and one half when you hear an octave together. That's just the most obvious example of a mathematical proportion creating harmony in music. But there are, of course, many different proportions and mathematical relationships that create interesting sounds in music.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
That is basically what music is, the creation of interesting and pleasing mathematical relationships between sound waves, different sound waves together. And it is true that Bach took a rigorous and mathematical approach to these relationships.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
There's a great quote from the book Johann Sebastian Bach by Christoph Wolff that Bach, quote, understood the elaboration of musical ideas not as an act of free creation, but rather as a process of imaginative research. And I actually think that is a really powerful paradigm for understanding creativity. It is imaginative research.
How to Take Over the World
JS Bach
So it's imaginative, it's open and curious and creative, but it's also research. It's pointed in a specific direction. It's trying to solve a specific problem or elucidate a specific idea.
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
so that's the world that he was born into what was he actually like uh again we don't know anything about his childhood but einhard's description of him as an adult i think probably gives you a preview of what he was like as a boy here's what einhard says about his physical description quote his body was large and strong he was tall but not unduly so his height was seven times the length of his own foot
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
The top of his head was round. His eyes were large and lively. His nose a little larger than average. He had fine white hair and a cheerful and attractive face. So standing or sitting, his presence was greatly increased in authority and dignity. His neck was short and thick. His stomach protruded a bit, but the symmetry of the other parts hid these flaws.
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
His pace was firm and the whole bearing of his body powerful. His voice was indeed clear, but given his size, not as strong as might have been expected. His health was good until four years before he died. He exercised regularly by riding and hunting, which came naturally to him. He was so good at swimming that no one was considered better than him. Okay, just a few things to dissect there.
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
One, in the 20th century, they actually exhumed his grave and measured his body. And Einhard says that he was very tall. He really was. He was 6'3", which I'm going to claim on this episode. I usually claim 6'4", because I'm actually like 6'3 and 7'8". I'm like just shy of 6'4". But in solidarity with Charlemagne, I'd like you to know I'm same size, 6'3", perfect height. Charlemagne, me, 6'3".
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
So he's got this big physical presence. And I think that's one thing that, especially in the sort of wild Frankish world, that still is kind of half barbarian and very violent, that helped to be a big imposing person. It also mentions that he was a great swimmer.
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
And I just found that very interesting because I just did this episode on Lee Kuan Yew and later in life, he took up swimming and was an avid swimmer. Of course, I did an episode last year on Benjamin Franklin. Benjamin Franklin was like the best swimmer in England. Julius Caesar was an amazing swimmer. So, I don't know.
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
Obviously, that's not most people I have covered, but it is just an interesting trend to me that swimming feels for whatever reason like a sport that is maybe overrepresented in the great leaders of history. I don't know why that is. It is true, I think, that swimmers have great physiques. I married a swimmer. She's a college swimmer. So, you know, maybe I'm just biased.
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
But I do think that the physique of a swimmer is one of the best physiques of any sport. Sprinters also. But swimmers look good. So I don't know if that has anything to do with it. But I just found that interesting. I think it's more people than you would expect of these great leaders are exceptional swimmers. So once Charles is a young adult is when we do start to learn some things about him.
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
The Romans never did conquer Germania, but they couldn't organize themselves enough to create any long-term problems for any real civilized peoples either. So that was how he would view them. That's how everyone viewed them. I wonder what someone like Tacitus would think if you could bring him 1800 years into the future and show him the height of European colonialism.
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
He has a younger brother, Carloman, but as the oldest, he is marked out by Pepin as the one most likely to succeed him. And he's given special responsibilities. So for example, So when the Pope comes to visit King Pepin, Charles is sent to the border to kind of pick him up and escort him in. It's not very dangerous, but this is a diplomatic mission, right? And it's very prominent for him.
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
And it looks very good to be seen, you know, marching through Francia with the Pope. It is a very delicate mission. If you thought that your son might embarrass you or say something untoward, then that could be a major diplomatic issue. So the fact that he has this trust says something about the person he already is as a young adult.
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
Another way that Pepin sort of tests his son is he gives him sort of a starter territory to get practice governing. And And so what county does he give him? Does he give him something deep in Frankish territory that's away from conflict? No, he gives him the border county of Maine, which is now in northern France. But at the time, it bordered on Breton territory.
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
And it was also not far from Aquitaine, which is part of the Frankish kingdom, but was highly rebellious and was a constant source of trouble. And so this is a way of testing Charles for Pepin. And I think this is very smart. You know, the way that the Carolingian dynasty, that's what this dynasty is called. Charles Martel, Pepin, Charlemagne, all these people, the Carolingian dynasty.
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
And the way they were so successful is essentially that they had three great leaders in a row in Charles Martel, Pepin, and Charlemagne. And so how do you get lucky to have just three amazing leaders right in row? Well, part of it is that, you know, father to son, they did not coddle their children.
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
They gave them real responsibilities that kind of threw them into the thick of it and expected them to work hard and figure out how to rule and how to be a great leader. It reminds me a little bit of a story from medieval England a few hundred years later, Edward III at the Battle of Crecy.
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
He has a son also named Edward known as the Black Prince, and he gives the Black Prince command of the right of his army, which is going to be the side that sees the most action, right? Yeah. And the black prince during this battle makes a daring charge at the enemy, but he's countercharged by the French. And for a minute, the black prince is in grave danger.
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
You know, the French are right up close to him. And an advisor to King Edward III runs up to him and says, you know, your son, the prince is in danger. The French are closing in thick around him and King Edward looks out, assesses the situation and says, let the boy earn his spurs.
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
And that has become obviously a very famous saying for, you know, letting someone prove their worth and be exposed to real danger in the process. And that's exactly what the Carolingians do for their sons. So Pepin is letting Charlemagne earn his spurs, so to speak. A big part of that is when Aquitanians inevitably do rebel once again, Pepin brings his sons with him.
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
Janet Nelson, in her biography of Charlemagne, talks about the chronicle covering the time of Pepin's war against Aquitaine when his sons, Carloman and Charles, are with him. And here's what she writes. She says, not counting euphemisms like traveling through, there are over 25 instances of burning, laying waste and ravaging in the six pages that cover 760 to 767 AD.
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
When you combine all the empires of Germanic peoples, so we're talking about obviously the Germans, but also the French, the Belgians, the Dutch, and the English. When you combine all those empires, well over half of the world's population was under Germanic domination. I mean, really, the Germanic peoples had taken over the world. I mean, that is just an unbelievable change.
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
What the wars achieved through six years of Frankish attrition made more terrible by Aquitanian reprisals was the wholesale destruction of a region and way of life for at least a generation. Such were the campaigns in which Charles and Carloman learned a form of the warrior's trade.
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
Okay, so this is how Charlemagne is in part learning to rule, which is if you have rebellion, you have to be absolutely pitiless in dealing with issues like this. Okay, so Charlemagne is on campaign with his father and his brother. He's earning his spurs. And then actually in Aquitaine, his father Pepin dies, not from a wound or anything like that, but gets sick and dies.
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
And so when he does, the kingdom is split between Charles and his brother Carloman. The Franks did not have a tradition of primogeniture, of giving the entire kingdom to the oldest son. That's actually another reason that it was kind of rare to have the Charles Martel Pepin Charlemagne run is usually in Frankish history.
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
You might have one great King who does some interesting things, but he'd have a bunch of sons and divide up his kingdom. And so it would lose that power and that ability to act on the international stage. But through three successive generations, you get lucky in that you get all the power united in a single person. Okay. So how does that happen? Because, um,
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
You've got the kingdom split right away between Charles and Carloman. And almost immediately, there are suspicions and hostility between the two. No open warfare, but there is definitely a rivalry and a feeling that the situation can't go on indefinitely like this. They do march together to carry on their father's war in Aquitaine and bring it back into the fold of Francia.
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
But Carloman suddenly turns his troops around and doesn't join the war. He doesn't actually bring his troops to bear. And Charles has to fight and win the war with Aquitaine himself, which he does. So he finally completes his father's decades long conquest of Aquitaine. Here's what Einhard writes about it.
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
Quote, of all the wars he waged, he first took on the Aquitanian, which his father had begun, but not finished because he thought that it could be quickly accomplished. His brother was still alive and he asked for his help. And although his brother did not deliver the promised help, he pursued the campaign he had begun with the greatest energy.
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
He refused to abandon a war already in progress or to leave a task undone until by determination and firmness, he achieved the goal he had set himself." Okay, and I do think that is something we will see over and over.
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
that other kings especially you know predecessors to charlemagne they're happy to make progress and strike a good deal and go home not charlemagne he never leaves a war until it is completely finished and he has complete surrender he is completely in power and victorious okay and that's something we see right at the beginning with how he approaches the aquitanian affair So Charles is victorious.
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
And then to make matters even better, Carloman dies unexpectedly. And Charles is able to seize his half of the kingdom and once again, unite all of Francia into a single United Kingdom. All right, let's take a quick break to talk about Vesto, which gives you all of your company's financial accounts in one view.
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
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How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
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How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
It's like if I took you 1800 years into the future and Cambodians ruled the world. or Australians or Pakistanis, you know, just some people, the point I'm trying to get across, I'm not trying to say that Australians or Cambodians or Pakistanis are particularly savage or barbaric. I'm just trying to say that they're not someone that you would view as a candidate for world domination.
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
Now, Carloman already had children. But they were very young at the time that he died. And so Carloman's wife takes the children and flees to Lombardy, a nearby kingdom, which is in northern Italy, current day northern Italy. And the king there is actually Charles's father in law. So Charlemagne has married this guy's daughter, and in so doing, you know, made an alliance with this Lombard king.
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
And now this king is taking in his rival, these boys who, you know, could prove a threat, could be a rallying point for those who might dissent to Charlemagne's rule. And I should explain the Lombards a little bit. Lombard, long bard, long beard. It just means the long beards.
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
And these are a people, a Germanic people, much like the Franks, who were kind of these scary Viking looking guys who come out of Germania and end up conquering, get a kingdom for themselves and then become kind of Christianized. And so they are another one of these people who are half barbarian, half wild, but now Christian and sort of half civilized.
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
So the Lombards are very similar to the Franks. One of the main differences is, though, the Lombards were in northern Italy, which is one of the wealthiest parts of Europe. You know, great agricultural land close to the Mediterranean and to trade. And so it was a much wealthier territory than Francia.
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
So Charlemagne has this problem, which is that his father-in-law is now his enemy and is harboring these boys who are, you know, their mom is apparently hostile towards him. Why else would you take away these boys and flee? And they could serve as a rallying point for people who wanted to oppose his rule in his kingdom of Francia. So the first thing that Charlemagne does is he divorces his wife.
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
Her name is Desiderata. She's the daughter of Desiderius, the king of the Lombards. So he's like, okay, this is clearly not going to work out. So he divorces. And Janet Nelson writes, quote, Charles, as at previous crucial moments, moved fast. So he actually doesn't attack the Lombards first. He attacks the Saxons.
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
which were a tribe of non-Christianized Germanic people on the other side of the Rhine. Okay, so the Rhine is traditionally what separated Gaul, kind of the area of France, from Germany. And so these Saxons were a constant nuisance, always for English land. So there's always a good reason to strike back at them.
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
But the main reason that Charles is doing this is to raise funds to attack the Lombards. He's plundering the territory and using the treasury to pay the troops who will attack Lombardy. Napoleon would later institute a policy that, quote, war must pay for war. So in other words, he wanted his armies to be revenue generating by plundering conquered territories rather than a cost center.
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
And that is what Charlemagne is doing as well. He is using war to pay for war. He's using this invasion of Saxony to pay for his war in Lombardy. So he plunders the Saxons for a season. And then the next season, he invades the Lombard kingdom and on the one hand, to secure his nephews and make sure that they're not a threat to him.
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
And on the other hand, he was also invited by the Pope to invade the Lombard kingdom because the Lombards were always fighting with the Pope and taking his lands, okay? So if you think about it, the Lombards and the Franks They're pretty similar. However, the Franks were always much more religious, much more Catholic. And one of the reasons for that is these guys are still kind of half barbarian.
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
So are the Lombards. And so they always want to go out and invade people and get some booty. And so for the Franks, you've got all these Germanic tribes, you've got Spain that you got access to get a lot of options. The Lombards in northern Italy, you're right up next to the pope and the papal states.
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
And then all of a sudden you flash forward into the future. And for us, it'd be like, they not only dominate the world, but they dominate the moon and Mars or something like that. Because the Romans didn't even know about the Americas and Australia and the Far East and all of these different places.
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
And so the pope doesn't like them because they're always kind of fighting with him and trying to take his lands. And so there's this big conflict there, whereas the pope loves the Franks and especially Charlemagne because he's serving as a counterweight to the Lombards. So Charlemagne has talked about it with the Pope. He says, yes, will you come help me and deal with this issue of the Lombards?
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
He's like, yes, good, excellent. They've got my nephews. I've got an issue with them as well. So in 773, This is just over a year after Charlemagne has become the sole king over the whole Frankish kingdom. He splits his forces into and marches them through the Alps. Marching through the Alps to attack northern Italy is like the opposite of invading Russia during winter.
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
It is the thing that all the great generals do. They make this lightning advance through the Alps to attack Italy. That's what Hannibal Barca did. It's what Charlemagne did. It's what Napoleon did.
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
and he divides his forces and that would be his famous move he always divided his forces it's interesting to me there's a good quote from an american business executive named james barkstall who said there are only two ways to make money in business one is to bundle the other is to unbundle And he's kind of being facetious, but there's a lot of truth there. It's like fat tie, skinny tie.
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
There's always this pendulum and you have to know what it is in your industry. And in technology, it's often bundling and unbundling. In other words, one of the classic examples is television, right? So you start off with a few channels and then as the channels expand and you start to get it all in one bundle, cable TV or satellite TV, right? And so there's this big process of bundling
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
until there's new market dynamics you get streaming services and then it starts to unbundle right so instead of just one cable bundle that you pay for you start to get multiple streaming services amazon prime netflix hulu disney plus and so people are starting to talk about okay when is the industry going to move towards bundling once again You see the same thing in warfare, right?
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
There are only two ways to defeat your opponent. One is to divide your forces. The other is to unite them. OK, so that's interesting to me because at first when you look at it, Charlemagne uses the opposite tactic of Napoleon. Charlemagne always divided his forces. Napoleon talks about how he liked to unite, converge his forces at the pivotal moment of the battle.
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
But in another sense, I actually think that they were doing the same thing, which is they were just on the cutting edge of this kind of bundling, unbundling trend. They knew which direction warfare was moving in and they made sure to get ahead of the trend. So I think no matter what your domain is, what your industry is. You need to know the cycle for what you're doing.
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
So how do you explain just an explosion like that from a very marginal tribe contained mostly to what we now think of as Germany and Scandinavia to the literal conquest of the world? And the story of Charlemagne is an interesting point in that story because it represents essentially the total Germanic ascendancy over the former Western Roman Empire.
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
What is the bundling and the unbundling of your industry? What is the dividing and uniting of your forces? And how can you be ahead of that trend? OK, so long tangent.
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
uh he divides his forces quickly marches through the alps into northern italy remember his objective is to secure his nephews so he besieges the lombard capital of pavia but desiderius has sent the nephews away to verona with his son and the bulk of his forces so charles leaves a skeleton force in pavia and goes to verona where he captures the city and the boys
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
We have no records on how exactly he does this on the events of the siege or the battle. All we know is he does take Verona in relatively short order. We also don't know what happened to the boys. There's just no record of it whatsoever. There are basically only two options. The one is that they were forcibly tonsured and then sent away to a monastery. Okay.
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
In other words, you can just kind of remove them by turning them into monks. Okay. Once you're a monk, you take a vow not to participate in worldly life. You're a man of God. You can't be a political actor anymore. And, you know, the norms around keeping that vow were so strong that this actually was a very effective alternative to killing your opponents.
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
Like basically, if you sent them to a monastery, that was it. They were not going to bother you anymore. They were just going to become monks and live out their days that way. The other alternative is that he had his very young nephews killed, which is a very real possibility. Again, it's impossible to know which. They just disappear from the historical record.
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
And frankly, you know, reading about Charlemagne, he has two sides of him. He could be incredibly brutal, you know, the way he was in Aquitaine. And he would just be completely brutal in many of his campaigns. But he also had this huge heart and was a great lover of people and could be very generous and forgiving.
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
Hello, and welcome to How to Take Over the World. This is Ben Wilson. Today, we are talking about Charlemagne. And Charlemagne is interesting to me for a number of different reasons. But I think the primary reason I'm interested in him is that he is at the center of one of the most interesting pivot points in all of history.
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
And so I just don't know which side went out, if he had his nephews killed or if he made them monks, but it's one or the other. So he recovers his nephews, but the capital city of Lombardy, Pavia, is still holding out and they hold out for a long time.
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
Now, most other leaders at this point would say, okay, Lombards come out, let's strike a deal, we'll leave, you guys are wealthy, pay us some tribute, yada, yada, yada. But as you remember from the beginning, Charlemagne never leaves a campaign half finished, right? That's one of the great lessons to learn from Charlemagne. You always follow through to the very end.
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
You see it through to its logical conclusion, never leave anything half done. And so he keeps the siege up for a long time. He actually takes a break, goes out to Rome, kind of talks with the Pope, continues to make a relationship there and then comes back. And eventually he's helped by the fact that a pandemic strikes inside the city and they surrender.
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
Desiderius and his whole family are sent to monasteries and Charlemagne takes over his kingdom and now begins styling himself king of the Franks and the Lombards. And this is a huge conquest. You know, if you look at maps, this particular conquest can be deceiving because it doesn't have that much territory, right?
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
He basically controls almost all of France plus Switzerland and some other nearby territories. And then he just adds a little bit of Northern Italy. So it doesn't look like a huge addition to the kingdom. But, you know, this is not paint on a map. These territories are more like businesses. And if you look at wealth and population, Lombardy was a huge addition.
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
And not only that, it represents the fusion of three distinctive elements, Germanic peoples, Christian religion, and Roman political systems.
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
You know, again, great fertile land, solid, hardworking people, great access to multiple markets, easy access to ports and crossroads. It has it all. And again, listen to how different this is from his father, Pepin.
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
Okay, here's from Einhard, quote, but although Charles and his father seemed to have had a similar or rather the same reason for taking up war, it is agreed that the effort of fighting and the outcome were very different.
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
For Pepin besieged them for a few days at Pavia and forced him both to surrender hostages and to restore the cities and castles seized from the Romans and to swear an oath that they would not try to regain what they had returned. But after he had begun the war, Charles did not stop until he had, by means of a long siege, worn out King Desiderius and accepted his surrender.
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
OK, so the lesson here, no half measures. OK, so Charlemagne defeats the Lombards, integrates their kingdom into his kingdom. He is now the king of the Franks and the Lombards. Next, he goes back into Saxony and he tries to subdue it to Christianize the people. And for the next dozen years, Charlemagne campaigns against the Saxons almost every year.
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
You know, this is this loose confederation of Germanic tribes. They're still pagan. They still love warfare and reaving and all this stuff. And so every year he goes in, kicks around some Saxons, gets them to promise that they'll stop raiding Frankish territory. They'll convert to Christianity and they'll settle down and farm and be good citizens.
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
And then he leaves and they break all their promises and he has to go back the next year and the next year. So this is like a constant feature as we're talking through the other things he does. Every year he is going into Saxony and raiding a little bit and campaigning and trying to keep these guys in check.
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
And, you know, you can think of looking at world history like if you're taking God's eye view of history and you're thinking of the world as a sort of a science lab and you got all these beakers and these funnels and all these things, all these chemicals sitting around and you're this mad scientist. And these look like three sort of unrelated chemicals.
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
He also, during the next few years, makes some small gains in northern Spain, including Barcelona. Again, territorially, these are small, but they're pretty rich lands, so it's a good conquest. And actually, this is famous, his invasion of Spain, for a very particular reason, which is that his one defeat comes from his invasion.
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
So essentially what happens is during the Islamic conquests, you have this great dynasty that creates this huge empire. They're called the Umayyads. And the Umayyads are in charge of all the Islamic lands. However, there's a revolution and the Abbasids is what they're called come into power. And so the Umayyads actually have to flee and they take up residence in Spain.
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
And so you've got basically all of the Islamic world under the Abbasids and only Spain under the Umayyads. And so there is a pro Abbasid governor of Barcelona and a nearby territory called Girona, and they invite Charlemagne to come in and help free them from Umayyad domination. So they go in, they besiege Zaragoza. It's kind of complicated.
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
The people who first invite them in, they actually say, never mind, and kind of try and play them off the Umayyads to see if they can get some independence. It's a qualified success. He does gain some territories. However, it is in taking his troops out of Spain that he has his defeat.
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
His baggage train is raided by Basques, by these people in northern Spain, and a large amount of booty is stolen and a number of people are killed, including one of his companions and governors, this really important person in his court. They're called the Palatini, are the name of these governors and companions. And one of the most famous Palatini is this guy Roland.
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
And Roland is killed in this battle. It's not even really a battle. It's just this raid on this baggage train. These people never could have fought and defeated Charlemagne's entire army. But there are some very notable people there with the baggage train and they are overwhelmed and killed. And so again, Roland was both very powerful and very close to Charlemagne.
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
And a poem is written about this attack and about Roland. It's called The Song of Roland. And it is one of the first ever poems written in Old French. And it's the most famous poem written in Old French. and it becomes like a part of Western canon. It's this great piece of epic poetry. And so it's ironic that we actually know basically nothing about Charlemagne's many victories.
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
He's not Julius Caesar. We don't know the kind of play-by-play of these battles, what exactly happened, how he won them. We just don't know anything about it. And so we don't have these great celebrations of these great battles. The only battle that has come down to us as a great story is his one defeat. But it is this great piece of poetry.
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
For you nerds out there, I've never seen this confirmed by J.R.R. Tolkien, but I'm 99% sure that the character of Boromir is based on Roland. from the Song of Roland. Because what happens is, so in the poem, it's obviously embellished and exaggerated, but Roland is protecting the baggage train and he's this best friend in the poem.
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
They make him the nephew of Charlemagne, which he was not in real life. And he's defending the baggage train. And this is very heroic death. His corpse is found surrounded by innumerable Saracens, right? These evil foreigners. He's just striking down one after the other.
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
But it turns out when you mix them, it creates like a nuclear explosion, right?
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
And as he's killing all these men, he's blowing on this great white horn to warn others of the danger as he is fighting off the enemies. So if you know Lord of the Rings, that obviously sounds exactly like the death of Boromir. In real life, the Song of Roland is obviously embellished and highly fictionalized. However, Charlemagne was a man with a big heart who developed very strong friendships.
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
And so he really mourned greatly anytime a friend or a family member died. So in the Frankish Annals, we read about Roland's death, quote, the pain of the wound the king received overclouded in his heart a large part of what had gone successfully in Spain. And when they say the pain of the wound, the King received, they're talking about that death of Roland.
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
His next campaigns are one is against the Bavarians. Bavaria is a region in what is now Southern Germany. And it had kind of been a part of the Frankish kingdom, but never been fully integrated. And so he goes and fights there against some rebellious Lords to fully bring them into the fold and make it a firm part of the Frankish kingdom. He also goes and fights against the Avars.
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
right and that's what happens to the world essentially is a nuclear explosion when you combine all of these things roman political systems christian religion germanic peoples and so charlemagne is the first uh sort of monkey in the lab who accidentally you know not not intentionally at all but um just that's the kind of the world that he's born into combines these three things and that's what starts this process culminates in the world that we have today essentially
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
The Avars are this steppe people who come in and invade Europe and camp out in Hungary on the plains in Hungary and just kind of go wild throughout Europe, sacking and taking all this treasure. So he goes and he fights against the Avars and there's a huge horse plague and a bunch of his horses die.
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
So it's this big problem for Charlemagne and his Frankish warriors, especially since the Franks were known for their cavalry. They had this amazing cavalry, right? However, it's an even bigger problem for the Avars because of the same horse plague that is affecting them. It's highly, highly contagious and it kills all the horses of the Avars too.
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
And they are a step people like the Mongols who would come a few hundred years later. And so like horse riding and horse archery and all this, like this is all they know. That's all they have to rely on. And so it's actually kind of lucky for Charlemagne. It seems really unfortunate in the moment, but actually ends up being very fortunate for him
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
And he's able to march in and go to the Avar headquarters and take all this treasure they've been collecting from all over Europe. And so this is actually the biggest payday that the Frankish army ever gets is in defeating the Avars. You know, again, it kind of sounds like something from Lord of the Rings, like they're sitting on top of smog's treasure or something like that.
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
But it is real enough and it greatly enhances the wealth of the Frankish kingdom. Now, there's actually an incident while he's off fighting the Avars, which is he had married once and with that wife had a son, Pepin or Pippin, and that wife had died. And then he married again and with his second wife had three sons. And his son from his first wife, this Pippin, was apparently hunchbacked, okay?
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
which is, you know, amongst the Franks who are a warlike people who really highly value personal competence, you know, the ability to wield a sword, to be large and imposing. Having a hunchbacked son is not going to go over well. And now this kid Pippin, his mother, his major advocate with Charlemagne is dead.
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
And so now he's got this whole new family and Pippin can tell that he's kind of being sidelined. And especially these three sons are growing up and they're starting to become more popular and starting to get to an age where they can start to inherit some lands. And one of his sons, he actually changes his name
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
To Pepin, the name of his oldest son, you know, this hunchback, they call him Pepin the hunchback to differentiate him from this other boy who is renamed Pepin. So the fact that he's, can you imagine how weird that is? Like my dad gets remarried, has new kids and names one of the new kids, Ben, my name.
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
clearly it's because he's being replaced and he's not really going to inherit anything and so he can see that he's being cut out and so everyone can see that he's being kind of cut out of the inheritance and cut out of the carolingian family and so all the disgruntled nobles that there are they're like okay well this is a carolingian this is the son of charles and we have a chance to rebel we have our figurehead
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
So while Charles Charlemagne is off fighting the Avars kind of out by Hungary, they start to plan this coup back in Francia. However, it's revealed they get wind of it and Charles races back and captures his son, arrests these nobles and has his son tonsured and sent away to a monastery. Now, why are there all these disgruntled nobles? What are they mad about?
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
And one of the things is that Charlemagne instituted all of these reforms. And the reforms were designed to tie the kingdom closer together, establish communication networks, standardize military contributions from the various provinces and counties and dukedoms and all of this kind of stuff. and establish justice, make sure that none of his nobles could be too despotic.
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
And so many of the nobles considered this an infringement on their traditional rights. They're looking at it and saying, hey, for generations untold, we here in Aquitaine, we here in Bavaria, we here in wherever,
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
So I think he's worth studying because of that, because he created actually, or at least was pivotal in the birth of the world that we have today. He also himself is a great, great leader who's worth studying. He was a great warrior, a great diplomat, great reformer, great patron of the arts and sciences. He's known as the father of Europe. He's sort of the George Washington figure
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
know we're basically left alone we give you a little bit of gold and when you want to fight we contribute some forces but you're not supposed to have any say in what i do in my territory day to day and instead charlemagne is setting up these parallel courts that people can come to sometimes if they feel like they are you know being cheated or done wrong by their uh their count or their duke and uh so it's all of these reforms that are making the kingdom
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Charlemagne
more rational, more prosperous, more regularized, but they are kind of infringing on some of the traditional rights of the nobility is why maybe all these people are willing to rebel against him. However, you can't say that to Charlemagne. And so they blame it on his wife. They say, Queen Faustrada, she has affected your judgment. and made you do all these cruel things.
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
And maybe that's the truth. Maybe Queen Testrada was just really terrible and cruel, but it seems more likely that what Charles is doing in reforming and making the kingdom stronger upsets some people. During these years, he also establishes a new capital at Aachen, which is now a small town in Western Germany. And you get a feel for his religiosity in how he builds his new capital, okay?
How to Take Over the World
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That's not something we have talked a lot about, But Charlemagne was incredibly religious. Religion permeated everything. These people were real, true believers in the power of Christianity. So listen to what Janet Nelson says about the establishment of this new town. You know, there had been a very small settlement there before, but basically they built it from scratch.
How to Take Over the World
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And here's what she says about that, quote, At Aachen, Charles planned an association of church and palace in that order. Because he lived to see the church's completion, but not that of the palace, it would have been easier for contemporary observers to watch Charles planting and nurturing and growing legitimacy through his new church.
How to Take Over the World
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It was no palace chapel, though it's still often mistakenly called a chapel, for the private use of ruler and palatini only. The church was a parish church, and the parish included the members of the elite who resided there along with ordinary parishioners. So in other words, he builds a church before he builds a palace. And this is not like a private church just for him and his friends.
How to Take Over the World
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This is a parish church for the community, for anyone who comes to live in Aachen. And so that tells you something about his priorities. He is enormously consumed with religious matters. And he takes his study of Christianity and of the Bible very seriously, which is so funny because on the one hand, he's doing this and he's 100% sincere about his religion.
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
On the other hand, at the same time, in one of these campaigns against the Saxons, he takes 4,500 prisoners and he says, I just had it with you people. always rebelling, always going back on your promises, always claiming to get baptized and become Christians, and then going back to your pagan ways. And he massacres all 4,500 of these prisoners. And so again, it is your German shepherd.
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
It is, uh, it's just really kind of half German shepherd, half wolf. It is your half domesticated Christian barbarian on the one hand, very Christian and very believing in those values and being a part of Christendom. And on the other hand, he can be incredibly barbaric in the way that he deals with his enemies. Now, I really believe that Christianity was sincere.
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for Europe generally, but especially for the idea of a united Europe. And all those who sought to unite Europe together into one state, from Napoleon to Hitler to the European Union, have all invoked the legacy of Charlemagne in their efforts. So hopefully you find this as interesting as I did. I think Charlemagne is a great figure.
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
However, it served a very important purpose, which was legitimating Carolingian rule as well. Because remember, this is a dynasty that is two generations old, essentially, as kings. It's Pepin becomes king, and now it's Charlemagne. And so they have no ancient heroes that they can point to who have accomplished, you know, some great deed. They do have Charles Martel and his defeat of the Saracens.
How to Take Over the World
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And a lot of their legitimacy does rest on that. But, you know, many of these dynasties will have these mythic ancestries and say we're actually descendants of Jesus if they're Christian or descendants of Odin in more Germanic lands. They have nothing like that and no long history of rule. And so Christianity can serve as that legitimating force.
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
And in particular, the relationship between the Pope and the King of Francia, Charlemagne, is a very important one. Because on the one hand, the Frankish King can serve as the sword and shield of the Pope. The Pope had been used to relying on the emperor of Rome who resided where? In Constantinople because the Western Empire had fallen. The Eastern Empire had never fallen.
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
There was an unbroken succession that started with Caesar Augustus and was still ongoing at the time of Charlemagne. And so these people, you know, said, we call them the Byzantines now, right? But they never called themselves the Byzantines. They just called themselves the Romans, the Roman Empire.
How to Take Over the World
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And so they think, we're the empire of Rome, we're supposed to protect the Pope and all of Christendom. However, because of the Islamic invasions, the power of the Eastern Roman Empire, the Byzantine Empire, had really eroded. And so when you had things like the Lombards messing with the Pope, the Byzantines just didn't have the power to stop the Lombards.
How to Take Over the World
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And Charlemagne had just demonstrated that he did. Right. So the pope says, and I love this guy. And so, in fact, when a new pope is elected in Rome because the old one dies, listen to what happens. This is again from Janet Nelson. Quote, the pope quickly sent his legates to the king with the keys to the Confessio of St.
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Peter and asked him to dispatch one of his leading men to secure the Roman people's fidelity and subjection by oaths. Eighth century popes no longer notified the emperor of Constantinople of their election. They notified the Frankish king. So in other words, Charlemagne is now seen as the defender of Christianity by the pope.
How to Take Over the World
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He is the papacy and therefore the Catholic Church's preeminent defender, warrior, and champion. So this is a big step towards legitimizing Charlemagne in the eyes of not just his Frankish kingdom, which already accepts and respects him, but in terms of all of Christendom everywhere, right?
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He was 1,200 years ago, but especially his biography from Einhard, who was a contemporary of Charlemagne's and wrote a biography of him, It's amazing. I highly recommend that you go find a copy. You can read it online for free, I'm sure. Obviously, it's in the public domain, or at least many translations are. And it just reads like someone writing it today.
How to Take Over the World
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And this is followed up a couple of years later by the great moment of Charlemagne's life, the event that would cement him as one of the most famous men ever in the history of the world. On Christmas Day of the year 800, Charlemagne entered St. Peter's Basilica in Rome and knelt at the altar to pray. The Pope anointed him and crowned him Imperator Rominarum, Emperor of the Romans.
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
After this, the Pope prostrated himself to Charlemagne in a sign of submission. And so Charlemagne was no longer just a king. He was no longer the king of the Franks and the Lombards. He was an emperor. And why does the Pope go to all this trouble? And how can he name a Roman emperor if there's already one in Constantinople?
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
One of the legal arguments made was that there actually was no emperor in Constantinople. It was ruled by an empress, Empress Irene.
How to Take Over the World
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and empresses were relatively common but what was not common is that she did not reign as an empress regent you know a placeholder who was waiting for her son to come of age but she ruled as an empress in her own right in her own name she herself thought she held the authority And many people, including the Pope, found it unacceptable for a woman to hold that kind of authority.
How to Take Over the World
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And so actually the legal argument that was made was, well, actually the role of emperor of the Romans is vacant. No one holds it because a woman cannot hold that role. So that was the legal reason given. But again, the real reason was the papacy just no longer trusted the Byzantines to be able to defend them, to be able to act on their behalf. And they did trust the Franks.
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And it was this very strong symbiotic relationship where the papacy could give legitimacy to the Frankish now emperors and the emperors could give protection to the papacy. Now, as you will notice, we now have the formula that we talked about at the beginning of this episode.
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You have Germanic peoples, you have Christian religion, and you have Roman political systems now coming into the equation as well. What this creates is essentially the Holy Roman Empire, which would last almost exactly another thousand years until it was dissolved under threat from Napoleon. And the Holy Roman Empire would be a crucial institution in terms of the development of Europe.
How to Take Over the World
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It was a very flexible and changing institution for much of its history. The role of Holy Roman Emperor was actually elective and not inherited. And it would serve as a universalizing force for Europe. It's kind of the EU before the EU.
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
It was a forum where these various statelets, city-states, counties, princedoms, bishoprics, all these different little states could find ways to work together and to find internal peace, cohesion, trade, and settle internal policy. And the Holy Roman Empire, along really with the state of France and England, were sort of the three great constants of European history for the next thousand years.
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
And there is also a cultural impact of this turn towards Rome and Roman institutions, which is that Charles had always been interested in art and science. He was a very curious person. with the Frankish kingdom becoming a new holy Roman empire, there is this renewed interest in Latin, in Rome, in resurrecting Latin texts and standardizing spelling.
How to Take Over the World
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It's very understandable, very readable, and you feel very close to this person who lived so long ago and did so many remarkable things. So my sources are the Penguin edition of The Two Lives of Charlemagne. So that recounts the original accounts from Einhard and also this other guy, Notker the Stammerer.
How to Take Over the World
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And there is a renewed interest in literature, poetry, and science. And there is something called the Carolingian Renaissance, which is this huge explosion of cultural and intellectual development under the Carolingians, especially under Charlemagne. And it's the first time that we see the influence of the classical world of the ancient Romans and Greeks coming into Christian Europe.
How to Take Over the World
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Now, admittedly, it's the first time it doesn't last long. It starts to occur under Charlemagne over the coming few hundred years. It would die down a little bit and then be resurrected in what we now know as the Renaissance.
How to Take Over the World
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But I do think that this was an important early first step that led to the Renaissance, which may not have come at the same time or in the same way if the Carolingian Renaissance had not preceded it. And again, all of this really begins on Christmas Day of the year 800.
How to Take Over the World
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From then on, in documents, Charles entitled himself, quote, Charles, most serene Augustus, crowned by God, great peacemaking emperor, governing the Roman Empire, and similarly, by the grace of God, king of the Franks and the Lombards. You'll notice in that title that he never actually says Roman emperor. He says Augustus, great peacemaking emperor, governing the Roman Empire.
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
That's a slight distinction, but an important one. And it actually represented an olive branch to the Byzantines, to the Eastern Roman Empire. And that's actually one of the great diplomatic successes of his rule as Roman emperor is that there is no open conflict with the Byzantines. Actually, while he's king, there is a little bit.
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
They squabble a little bit in Italy and fight some minor skirmishes and battles. But as emperor, he's able to maintain peace with the Byzantines. Okay. What does he actually do as emperor? He doesn't have any more of these big conquests like he has against the Bavarians, Spain, the Avars. The one conquest that he finishes is in Saxony.
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
I also read the books King and Emperor by Janet Nelson, which I use quite a bit as a source for this episode. And I read one more, which I don't use so much, but it's called Charlemagne from the Hammer to the Cross by Richard Winston. But again, if you want to learn more about Charlemagne, I would just say go read Einhardt. It's short.
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So what is the thing that he finally does in Saxony to settle this issue of them rebelling all the time? What does he do to finally settle the Saxon issue? Well, the thing he does is actually exactly what Alexander the Great and Philip of Macedon very famously did to deal with similarly rebellious populations.
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Here's what Einhard writes, quote, After defeating all those who offered resistance and subjecting them to his power, he transported 10,000 men who lived on both sides of the river Elba with wives and children and distributed them in many groups here and there throughout Gaul and Germany. The war which had lasted so many years ended on this condition imposed by the king and accepted by them, i.e.
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the Saxons, that they would reject the worship of demons and abandon their ancestral rights, receive the Christian faith and the sacraments of religion, and, united with the Franks, be made one people with them. Okay, so they're promising to be Christians, which they've done many times before and never actually followed through. But the important thing is that he is mixing up populations.
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So rather than just burning and raiding and making, you know, getting them to make a promise and then having them break it, he's actually mixing up the populations, which is something that Philip of Macedon, there's this quote that Philip of Macedon moved peoples like shepherds move their sheep from one pasture to another.
How to Take Over the World
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And if you think about it, you know, if you're an emperor, you got all these different peoples, you have all of these different tribes and nations and cities, and they have these preexisting relationships and power structures. And those all serve as rallying points for people who want to rebel, do different things, make life difficult for you.
How to Take Over the World
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But if you can just kind of mix everything up, then people no longer have that ability to organize in the same way. And so that's what he does. He just says, all right, Saxons, I'm going to mix you up with the Franks. And now you're not going to be able to have the social cohesion to rebel against me anymore. It works like a charm. Also as emperor, he does a bunch of building.
How to Take Over the World
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So Janet Nelson writes, quote, Charles was the heir of Rome, drawing on Roman traditions of public works, including fort building, watch service, and bridge work. And then of course, Charles was always interested in religion. As time goes on, he writes more and more.
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
He issues these edicts about how to properly conduct religious ceremonies, you know, how to sing in churches, how to conduct mass, like all these things. And these get more and more detailed as time goes on. So Charles, as time goes on, is getting more and more involved in the very minute details of worship.
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According to one biographer, this is actually the cause of his death, that he's becoming religiously obsessive. And eventually he just stops eating because he's fasting all the time in a religious mania. And this leads to his death. The biographer Thegan writes, quote, the Lord Emperor began to do nothing else but devote himself to prayers and almsgiving and to correcting books.
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
It's not difficult, but it's quite easy to pick up and very inspiring, frankly. So with that said, let's jump into it. This is The Life of Charlemagne. Hey, before we get started, a quick plug for myself, actually. The premium version of this podcast has all of the takeaways episodes, all of the end notes.
How to Take Over the World
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Einhard writes about it differently. He says simply that he got sick and died. All of his biographers agreed on his last words, which, of course, echoed those of Jesus on his deathbed. He said, into your hands, Lord, I commend my spirit. He had already divided the empire between his three sons, Charles, Louis, and Pepin.
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Charles actually was supposed to get the lion's share and continue on as Holy Roman Emperor. However, Charles and Pepin both pre-deceased him. And Charles had no heir. So his kingdom got split up. So Pepin and Louis each get half of Charles's kingdom. Pepin did have a son. And so Pepin's part of the kingdom is Italy. So Pepin's son gets Italy and Louis is able to inherit the empire as emperor.
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
However, The empire does not stay together for very long. Their divisions, even the subsequent Carolingian generations, none of them had the genius of Charlemagne or frankly of his father, grandfather, Charles the Hammer and Pepin the Short. However, you know, rule does last for a while. The Carolingians would maintain control of the Holy Roman Empire until 888. So that's 88 years.
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They ruled East Francia until 911 and mostly ruled West Francia until 987. That's almost 200 years. Charles actually had a lot of children. He had 19 children by multiple wives and concubines. That was just kind of tradition in the Frankish court, that these kings were super pious and super religious, but they were the king. They were the king, baby.
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Charlemagne
So they got a little sexual license that maybe your average person didn't get. And so he had 19 children, including a bunch of daughters. And so while the Carolingian dynasty itself did not continue to rule in Europe for much longer, every dynasty in Europe in a very short order of time could trace its roots back to Charlemagne. And his legacy is huge.
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Charlemagne
And that is the transition from the Germanic peoples being this sort of scary, barbarian, unknown backwater people to taking over the world. And that is the transition If you go back 2,000 years and you look at what Romans were saying about the Germans, so you can read Tacitus, the great Roman historian, and he writes about the Germanic peoples. He says, quote,
How to Take Over the World
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You know, when Napoleon became emperor and had to find a source of legitimacy for his reign, he said, quote, I am the successor not of Louis XVI, but of Charlemagne. He directly tied his legitimacy with Charlemagne's empire.
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Charlemagne
know another odd data point i found is one of these amazing facts about genghis khan is that supposedly 16 million people are descended from genghis khan he has this huge genetic contribution to the world especially to asia okay So I was trying to look up a similar stat of how many people are descended from Charlemagne because it seems similar.
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And I've seen multiple places make the case that everyone of European descent is descended from Charlemagne now. And, you know, they have some stats for how, you know, basically if you go back that far, which is 1200 years, like basically every white person has descended from everyone who is alive in 800 AD. There's just been this great genetic shuffling.
How to Take Over the World
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It has some bonus mini episodes and more that hopefully you'll find valuable if you find this podcast valuable at all. I really think that, unfortunately, I put some of my best thinking and podcasting behind a paywall. And so if you love the podcast and you want to support it, There's some great content on the other side.
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
I actually like, I can't make the numbers work in my head. Genghis Khan was only 400 years later and he only has 16 million descendants, but Charlemagne has 850 million. I don't know. Maybe that math checks out. Maybe it doesn't. Either way, he's obviously had a huge genetic impact on Europe, which I find very interesting.
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
I was looking through my family history and I'm descended from Charlemagne, which again is definitely not rare. It could be literally every white person, even if it's not. It's a lot of us. So, yes, in terms of his legacy, he's got the Carolingian dynasty that goes on for a while. He's got the Holy Roman Empire, which continues for much longer than that. And he's got his genetic legacy.
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
But ultimately, I think the greatest part of his legacy is this deadly mixture that he created, as discussed at the beginning of this episode. Germanic aggression, Roman rationality, and Christian belief all came together both in the person of Charlemagne and in the empire that he represented. And it was that mixture that proved so explosive. And I use that word explosive because
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because it was powerful. But that's not to say that it was necessarily good or necessarily bad. It brought a lot of good and bad. That combination is what created Bach and Mozart and Beethoven and Shakespeare, Nietzsche, the Eiffel Tower, the Golden Gate Bridge.
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It's what created the United States of America, which was founded by Germanic men, obviously of English extraction with Christian convictions. And it was patterned very intentionally after the Roman Republic. It is the combination that brought us Newton and Leibniz and Copernicus, the Wright brothers, Edison, Louis Pasteur.
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
But having said all that, it's also the combination that brought us the 30 years war, the Napoleonic Wars, World War I and II. It brought us colonialism and the slave trade of the 17th to 19th centuries. The history of the 20th century is essentially first the total ascendancy of nations founded on these three pillars, complete world domination.
How to Take Over the World
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And then after the horrors of the world wars, essentially there was a global consensus that this combination was too dangerous, too combustible. And it needed to be dismantled, diffused. So hence, mass migration, secularism, integration, decolonization, all these movements became ascendant in the second half of the 20th century. And that wasn't an accident.
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It was a reaction to the world wars, especially it was a reaction to the rise of Nazism.
How to Take Over the World
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so again it was a consensus there was no decision there is no shadowy cabal it wasn't the freemasons or the jews or the bilderbergs or the new world order it was a consensus that formed after the second world war that was so horrible that you know people just said never again and we're going to do whatever it takes and if we have to dismantle
How to Take Over the World
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America and England and Germany and France and the Netherlands and Belgium and suppress their identities and replace their populations, then these are all actions that we're willing to take. And what we're not willing to allow is for identities to form around this combination of people and ideas and religion that created this combustible environment in the
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
You can go to takeoverpod.supercast.com in order to sign up, or you can sign up in app on Apple Podcasts. And to all those of you who do subscribe to the premium version, thank you so much for helping to support this podcast. It means the world to me. It helps me to be able to create more episodes with my time. So again, takeoverpod.supercast.com. Go subscribe to the premium. Okay, look at this.
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
Maybe some people are not honest about the decision to be made both from the left and from the right. From the left, they tell us that the artistic, scientific and cultural outputs of Western civilization can be maintained even as that civilization is dismantled. And they're definitely wrong about that. The artistic and cultural outputs are already gone. That energy has dissipated.
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
And the rate of scientific progress is slowing down considerably. You cannot have the end result without the preconditions. The political right, on the other hand, venerates Western civilization and the culture and science that it produced, but suggests that it can be maintained without the violence that accompanied it in the first place.
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
The spirit of competition and distinction that animated the West from the time of Charlemagne all the way until 1914, 1944, whenever you want to put it, that that can be contained to certain domains without being throttled entirely. And I also think that is untrue. War is the engine that drives the entire apparatus forward. It is the ultimate competition, the great game.
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
And when you create that mix, right, a Christian nation of European people, especially Germanic people with Roman ideals and institutions, war is the inevitable outcome. If you suppress that instinct, that drive, you strike at the heart of the very project, I think. And so the question we really have to ask ourselves is, is it worth it?
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
Do we want a world that is safe and peaceful, but inert, or a world that is dangerous and cruel, but also beautiful and progressive and bursting with life? Okay. And everyone has to answer that question for themselves. You know, I started a podcast called how to take over the world.
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
So you can probably surmise where I come down on the question, but the question that is facing us now is sort of the question of the life of this man as well. You know, was Charlemagne a worthwhile figure? Is he someone that we should emulate? Is he someone that we should admire? You know, a man, uh, uh,
How to Take Over the World
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An extremely curious, competitive, warm hearted, but also simultaneously cruel man, a man of religion, a man of war, a man of diplomacy, a man who could be genteel and charming, intellectual, but a man who ultimately was a thug. So I guess now you know the story. You can decide for yourself. Okay. Well, I have a full rundown of takeaways from the life of Charlemagne. What made him great?
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
All the various attributes that distinguished him from others of his time period. How you can be more like him. That will all come right now after this. I've also got end notes and a few random interesting tidbits. So if you are a paying subscriber, you will be getting all of that. If you are listening for free, go to takeoverpod.supercast.com to subscribe and get the full episode.
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
Or if you are listening in Apple Podcasts, you can subscribe in-app. If you're tuning out now, thank you for listening to How to Take Over the World. Before we wrap up, one plug for Speechify. All the greats are obsessed with learning as much as possible. They have this incredible thirst for knowledge. And Speechify is a tool that can help you learn more and learn faster.
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Charlemagne
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How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
I'm just kidding. My children won't go hungry. But they might if you don't subscribe. Say thank you.
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
So Charlemagne is born on April 2nd, probably 748 AD. We don't know for sure, but that's the date that most historians now agree on. And we don't know where he was born. So he is born into Francia. Some people pronounce it Francia. Francia or Francia. It becomes France. You can hear the word kind of France in there. But the Germanic tribe is the Franks.
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
So I think Francia, if you're sort of getting back into the times, is actually the correct pronunciation. And the Franks had been ruled for a long time by this dynasty called the Merovingians. And they start with Clovis. They're great warriors at first. But over the hundreds of years that they rule, they kind of degenerate and they become more figureheads. They're known for their long hair.
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
OK, so they still have this very courtly, kingly kind of old Germanic appearance, this long hair. But again, over the years, their power erodes and they become more of figureheads. And who really rules for them are these people called mayors of the palace. So you can think of essentially a situation like in the United States where the president just becomes a figurehead.
How to Take Over the World
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All he does is he goes to ribbon-cutting ceremonies and he shakes hands and kisses babies, but he doesn't actually set any policy. It's like the King of England, frankly, right now. And so the mayors of the palace, that's actually a much better comparison.
How to Take Over the World
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The king of Francia is essentially the king of England, and the mayors of the palace are the prime minister, the guy who actually does everything, controls everything. And so you have one particular mayor of the palace named Charles Martel. Martel means the hammer. Okay. What a great nickname, Charles the Hammer.
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
And how he gets that nickname is this is the time, it's the 700s, and this is the time of the Islamic conquests. So they're spreading all throughout the Middle East, all through North Africa. They come from North Africa and they invade Spain and the Muslims take over all of Iberia, so Spain and Portugal, and they begin to invade France.
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where Charles Martel comes and smashes the Saracens, that's why he's the hammer, at the Battle of Tours. And he becomes this great hero who has saved Christendom from the barbaric foreigners and heathens who don't believe in Christ. So Charles Martel is a mayor of the palace, so he already has some power, but this really increases his prestige.
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
Someone who's more than just a prime minister, but a national hero. And so then his son is Pepin the Short is his name. And that's the father of Charlemagne. And Pepin the Short is the first one. He's gotten enough prestige from his father. And then he himself is a very good mayor of the palace, goes about conquering, expands the kingdom a little bit.
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
And he actually gains enough power that he's able to throw off this kind of sham and has himself anointed by the pope. as an actual king. So they don't have to pretend like the Merovingians are in charge anymore. He is now both kind of the king and the prime minister. He's the king in name and in reality. And so this is the situation that Charlemagne grows up in.
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
I say Charlemagne, his name was actually Charles, like his grandfather, Charles Martel. That's who he was named after. We call him Charlemagne. Charlemagne actually comes from kind of early French Latin, and it means Charles the Great. So when we say the name Charlemagne, we are actually saying Charles the Great, but he was just named Charles.
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
So Charles is born to the king, Pepin the Short, and to Pepin's wife, Bertrada. Apparently his birth is somewhat miraculous. His mother had trouble conceiving. Janet Nelson writes, quote, for both parents, he was a much wanted baby. And that, as any child psychologist knows, gives an infant the best possible start in life.
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
and that they appear as a distinct, unmixed race, like none but themselves. Hence, too, the same physical peculiarities throughout so vast a population. All have fierce blue eyes, red hair, huge frames, fit only for sudden exertion. They are less able to bear laborious work, heat and thirst they cannot in the least endure, to cold and hunger their climate and their soil inure them.
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
Okay, so yeah, it takes her three years to get pregnant, which I guess, yeah, I mean, that's a long time for anyone, right? But especially back then. And this is something that we have discussed in the show that great men especially are often doted on by their mothers, just completely loved, spoiled. Their mothers almost can't restrain themselves. It never explicitly says that.
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
In fact, Einhard explicitly says that he knows nothing about Charlemagne's upbringing. But the fact that he was, you know, as Janet Nelson says, much wanted by both of his parents and Bertrada tried so hard and viewed it as a miracle that he was conceived leads me to believe that he probably was doted on quite a bit as a child. Again, we don't really know anything about his early childhood.
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
We do know that he was basically bilingual from the start, or I guess maybe you could say trilingual because from the time he's a boy, he speaks a form of old high German. as well as Latin. And at the time, Latin was starting to kind of diverge from itself.
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
So he spoke kind of more formal Latin, like you would hear in church, as well as the rustic dialect that would shortly evolve to become French. Okay. So why does he speak all these languages? I guess that's where we can explain the Germanic peoples and kind of where the Franks come from, because France is an interesting place in the history of Europe, especially around now.
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
From the Italian perspective, like from the Roman perspective, France is this place where like Germany is the place of the true barbarians. Okay. And then you always get these groups that come through and come into France and in what, you know, what we call France, what they would have called Gaul.
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
And in Gaul, they kind of come into contact with the Mediterranean world, the civilized world, and then they become barbarians. kind of hybrid barbarians. You can think of it almost like if the Germans are wolves, then France is the land, ironically, of the German shepherd or the husky, right? The almost domesticated dog, but still kind of wolfish, right?
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
Where maybe the Romans are are more actually they're your poodles right there. They're your poodles and your your doodles and your golden retrievers. They're your true civilization, civilized dogs. But France ends up being that sort of stepping stone. And so sort of the first wave of that are these people, the Celts in Gaul.
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
And, you know, to the Romans, they are these big, tall, scary, blonde, fierce barbarians. But over time, as they come into contact with the Romans, they become more and more civilized and they get along and they...
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
connect and trade and intermarry and all this stuff and so they stop becoming these big scary dudes and again they become your rottweilers your german shepherds you're sort of um still wolfish but but kind of domesticated dogs and after they're kind of used to the celts um then what happens well then you start getting some germanic tribes that come in and one of the first ones is the franks and so the franks come in and they are this big scary germanic tribe with these
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
you know, big beards and blonde hair and they're freaky. And then over the years, people in the Mediterranean, the Romans get used to the Franks and they stop becoming so scary. And then what would come after the Franks? Oh, the Vikings and the Normans, right? This process just keeps repeating itself. But the point is that at this moment in time,
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
And so you can hear in the tone of Tacitus this admiration for the Germanic peoples, but also this sort of derision, this condescension views them as barbarians, right? That's how everyone viewed them from the civilized world as uncontrollable barbarians. And for the most part, they could be safely forgotten about. They were nearly impossible to invade and occupy.
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
yes, the Franks are this sort of in-between people. They still speak a German dialect. They still are a Germanic people with still some cultural associations with their Germanic cousins across the Rhine, but they've also had a lot of contact with the Roman world. And so they're Christian now. That's a big sign of that contact.
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
And that puts them in closer communication and closer bonds with Rome because of that shared religion. And they now begin to speak Latin. And it's interesting. French is sort of the most distinctive, I think, of the Romance languages. And it's because it's kind of hybrid German. It really does sound like a German trying to speak Latin. Latin is kind of how it originates.
How to Take Over the World
Charlemagne
There are a lot of similarities there. And this is not a thought that I came up with. Many people have said this. So Charlemagne is born into this odd sort of liminal world where the Franks are at once Germanic barbarians and yet also in communion with civilized Christendom and Italy and Rome.
How to Take Over the World
The Gangster Philosopher: Francois de la Rochefoucauld
And look, the actual policy issues at hand in the Fronde were extremely trivial for that reason. It was a war fought over small points of etiquette and little courtly favors. And that is because ultimately those are symbols of a changing order. Here's what biographer Edmund Goss writes about it.
How to Take Over the World
The Gangster Philosopher: Francois de la Rochefoucauld
In the course of a sort of romping fray, he caught Retz's head between the flaps of a folding door and shouted to his friend calling me to come and stab him from behind, but he himself was shoved away and the Cardinal released. La Rochefoucauld admits the escapade without any sign of embarrassment, merely observing that Retz would have done as much by him if he had only had the chance.
How to Take Over the World
The Gangster Philosopher: Francois de la Rochefoucauld
He says, "...the aims of La Rochefoucauld, in support of which he was ready to sacrifice his country, were of a class that must seem to us now petty in the extreme." He wanted the tabaret, the footstool for his duchess. In other words, the right to be seated in the presence of the members of the royal family.
How to Take Over the World
The Gangster Philosopher: Francois de la Rochefoucauld
He wanted the privilege of driving into the courtyard of the Louvre without having to descend from his coach outside the walk-in. He demanded these honors because they were already possessed by the families of Rohan and the Bouillon. It is extraordinary to consider what powerful effects such trumpery causes could have.
How to Take Over the World
The Gangster Philosopher: Francois de la Rochefoucauld
But it is a fact that the desolating and cruel wars of the Fronde largely depended upon jealousies of the Keres and Tabaret, while Rochefoucauld's support of the rebellion, frankly and openly, was based upon it. So look, I think two things can be true at once. On the one hand, these changes were symbolic of power dynamics at court and a changing world order. And at the same time...
How to Take Over the World
The Gangster Philosopher: Francois de la Rochefoucauld
Francois de la Rochefoucauld was extremely proud and vain and was willing to fight and kill and die and burn the world down for the privilege of being able to enter the palace without having to leave his coach and for the right of his girl to be able to sit with the members of the royal family. he is essentially a gangster.
How to Take Over the World
The Gangster Philosopher: Francois de la Rochefoucauld
Like, he's a gangster, albeit a very well-cultured and extremely well-mannered gangster, which is part of what makes his next act so interesting. So the frond has bankrupted him. He's poured a lot of money into this rebellion, which ultimately fails.
How to Take Over the World
The Gangster Philosopher: Francois de la Rochefoucauld
And his first move is to get his fortune back by networking his way into some good business contracts and through clever business schemes, many of them hatched by his chief servant, the head of his household. And then he spends most of his time away from his estate in Paris in literary groups. He himself becomes the star writer of France at the time.
How to Take Over the World
The Gangster Philosopher: Francois de la Rochefoucauld
He produces two great literary works, his memoirs and his maxims. And of the two, the maxims are by far the most famous and enduring – One of the reasons for doing this episode is that I noticed his name in all of the Coco Chanel biographies I read. His name pops up because she was a huge fan of his maxims.
How to Take Over the World
The Gangster Philosopher: Francois de la Rochefoucauld
And, you know, as I mentioned in the introduction, they were also a huge inspiration on Nietzsche. And many great people, especially Frenchmen, have been fans of Rochefoucauld, including Napoleon, Voltaire, Talleyrand, and Joubert. So, you know, what is this great work? What are his maxims? Why has this captured the imagination of so many great figures throughout history?
How to Take Over the World
The Gangster Philosopher: Francois de la Rochefoucauld
The primary theme is what Rochefoucauld calls self-love. We would probably call it self-interest. But the general idea is that everything is done out of self-interest, okay? It's quite a cynical philosophy. So the first maxim is, what we term virtue is often but a mass of various actions and diverse interests, which fortune or our own industry managed to arrange.
How to Take Over the World
The Gangster Philosopher: Francois de la Rochefoucauld
And it is not always from valor or from chastity that men are brave and women chaste, okay? In other words, his opening aphorism is that good behavior isn't always what it seems. People have ulterior motives. And this is something repeated very often. Another common theme is the general fickleness and untrustworthiness of human nature.
How to Take Over the World
The Gangster Philosopher: Francois de la Rochefoucauld
Okay, so this philosopher is at least in his early years a sort of brawling gangster who tries to carry out mob hits on his enemies. This is a man who in his lifetime tried multiple times to overthrow the government of France and nearly succeeded. He carried on multiple affairs with extremely high-ranking women. He was an experienced cavalryman.
How to Take Over the World
The Gangster Philosopher: Francois de la Rochefoucauld
For example, he writes, men are not only prone to forget benefits and injuries, they even hate those who have obliged them and cease to hate those who have injured them. The necessity of revenging an injury or recompensing a benefit seems a slavery to which they are unwilling to submit.
How to Take Over the World
The Gangster Philosopher: Francois de la Rochefoucauld
And this obviously comes at least partially from his experience in the Fronde and the betrayal he experienced from Anne of Austria. Amy Martine, another biographer, writes of this maxim, La Rochefoucauld is content to paint the age in which he lived. Here, the clemency spoken of is nothing more than an expression of the policy of Anne of Austria.
How to Take Over the World
The Gangster Philosopher: Francois de la Rochefoucauld
Rochefoucauld had sacrificed all to her, even the favor of Cardinal Richelieu. But when she became regent, she bestowed her favors upon those she hated. Her friends were forgotten. And look, you can understand why he would feel that way. And there is a lot of that cynicism that you can just tell he has a bad taste in his mouth from these experiences.
How to Take Over the World
The Gangster Philosopher: Francois de la Rochefoucauld
It does honestly get tiresome, like maxim after maxim. You can't trust people. They're actually just serving their self-interest. They don't care about the virtues that they claim to espouse. They don't care about you. They only care about themselves. However, the maxims are worth working through because I think out of it emerges some really interesting thoughts.
How to Take Over the World
The Gangster Philosopher: Francois de la Rochefoucauld
So much of like what we consider high-minded virtue and idealism is dragged through the mud, but interesting things come out on the other side. So what people call friendship is mostly just the expectation of some future benefit, right? What people call love is mostly just a match of convenience to advance their station. What people call virtue is mostly just self-flattery driven by weakness.
How to Take Over the World
The Gangster Philosopher: Francois de la Rochefoucauld
However, like by removing the veneer of fake friendship, fake love, fake virtue, what you get at is the real, true, beautiful, pure thing. So for example, he writes of friends, of friendship, most friends sicken us of friendship, most devotees of devotion. Okay. That's incredibly harsh. Most friends sicken us of friendship.
How to Take Over the World
The Gangster Philosopher: Francois de la Rochefoucauld
In other words, like most friends make us sour on the entire idea of friendship. It's an incredibly cynical thing to say about friendship. And yet he also says a true friend is the greatest of all goods and that of which we think least of acquiring. So by kind of dissing on friendship, he's not saying that friendship is actually bad. The entire concept is fake and not worth it. No, no, no.
How to Take Over the World
The Gangster Philosopher: Francois de la Rochefoucauld
What he's saying is, yes, most friendship is fake. And it's incredibly rare to find real friendship. But when you do, it's the most valuable thing of all. And so it's worth fighting through all that falsity and fakeness and pretense in order to get to the real thing. Because the real thing is so valuable and so beautiful and so worth acquiring. He also writes very similarly of the idea of love.
How to Take Over the World
The Gangster Philosopher: Francois de la Rochefoucauld
He's constantly smuggling people in and out of France in these intricate plots that resemble a heist movie. He just lived this wild, interesting, colorful life and used that rich life as the basis for his later career as a philosopher and man of letters.
How to Take Over the World
The Gangster Philosopher: Francois de la Rochefoucauld
So he writes of love. There are some who never would have loved if they had not heard it spoken of. I love that. In other words, many people are just memed into love. It's something you do because you're supposed to do it. But all these people, they never feel that natural, true, burning passion, that overwhelming desire that intoxicates you.
How to Take Over the World
The Gangster Philosopher: Francois de la Rochefoucauld
But he's trying to dig through that self-deception and self-interest and that pretense in order to find real true love. Okay, so he writes of love, if there is a pure love exempt from the mixture of our other passions, it is that which is concealed at the bottom of the heart and of which even ourselves, we are ignorant. So again, it's similar to friendship. Both are mostly fake.
How to Take Over the World
The Gangster Philosopher: Francois de la Rochefoucauld
But when you find the real thing, it's worth trying to get to at the bottom of all these other passions because it's incredibly beautiful and worthwhile. So I think Rochefoucault is uniquely situated to see through these pretenses because of his background. This is a guy who was... Like an alpha Chad, for lack of a better term. An apex predator.
How to Take Over the World
The Gangster Philosopher: Francois de la Rochefoucauld
He was fighting, playing, scheming, seducing, competing. And frankly, so many so-called philosophers and scholars are really just building elaborate justifications for their own existence. Justifications for why they are actually better and more virtuous than those who are richer, stronger, better looking, and more fortunate than they themselves are.
How to Take Over the World
The Gangster Philosopher: Francois de la Rochefoucauld
This motivation occurs mostly on a subconscious level. So I think philosophers themselves are maybe not aware of the reason for what they do, but Rochefoucault is able to see straight through this because he is the rich playboy aristocrat and therefore doesn't need to justify himself.
How to Take Over the World
The Gangster Philosopher: Francois de la Rochefoucauld
He writes, quote, the contempt of riches in philosophers was only a hidden desire to avenge their merit upon the injustice of fortune by despising the very goods of which fortune had deprived them. It was a secret to guard themselves against the degradation of poverty. It was a back way by which to arrive at that distinction, which they could not gain by riches. Okay?
How to Take Over the World
The Gangster Philosopher: Francois de la Rochefoucauld
He was a great soldier, schemer, and courtier, but also a truly great writer, and it is his writing that forms the greatest part of his legacy today. His book Maxims is a series of 504 short aphorisms about people, the way we are, what we do, and why we do it all.
How to Take Over the World
The Gangster Philosopher: Francois de la Rochefoucauld
And, you know, I've known a lot of academics in my life, and I think there's a lot of truth. That's all I'll say. I think there's a lot of truth in what he said. Similarly, he writes of the weak and impotent who praise their own virtue. Quote, "...no one should be praised for his goodness if he has not strength enough to be wicked."
How to Take Over the World
The Gangster Philosopher: Francois de la Rochefoucauld
All other goodness is but too often an idleness or powerlessness of will. All right? And how many of us do this? Men who boast of their faithfulness when in truth, no woman would ever pursue them. Men who tut that power corrupts when they have never had any opportunity to have power anyway. So that is one of my top takeaways from the philosophy of Rochefoucauld. Be honest with yourself.
How to Take Over the World
The Gangster Philosopher: Francois de la Rochefoucauld
Be painfully, brutally honest with yourself. Rudely honest. Make it hurt. You know, to a point verging on cynicism, which is what he often did. You drag everything through the mud and view it in its worst light, not because cynicism itself is good, but because removing the veneer exposes the true beauty underneath.
How to Take Over the World
The Gangster Philosopher: Francois de la Rochefoucauld
There's a pretty good example of this, I think, in the latest season of the HBO show White Lotus. There are these three women who go on vacation together, three blonde women, all in their 40s, who grew up together.
How to Take Over the World
The Gangster Philosopher: Francois de la Rochefoucauld
And they're all smiling and pretending like everything is fine, when in reality, they're gossiping behind each other's backs, betraying each other, and there are all these fractures and differences between them that are exposed. Some of them are going after the same guy, and one of them hooks up with him. Okay.
How to Take Over the World
The Gangster Philosopher: Francois de la Rochefoucauld
And so it gets so bad, there finally is a breaking point, huge blow up in the friend group. And for a while, it looks like the rest of the vacation is going to just be ruined. And then one of the friends gives the speech at breakfast. She says, quote, I've just been so sad all week.
How to Take Over the World
The Gangster Philosopher: Francois de la Rochefoucauld
I just feel like my expectations were too high or I just feel like as you get older, you have to justify your life and your choices. And when I'm with you guys, it's just so transparent what my choices were and my mistakes. I have no belief system. Well, I mean, I've had a lot of them. Work was my religion for forever, but I definitely lost my belief there.
How to Take Over the World
The Gangster Philosopher: Francois de la Rochefoucauld
And then I tried love, and that was just a painful religion, just made everything worse. And then even for me, just being a mother, that didn't save me either. But I had this epiphany today. I don't need religion or God to give my life meaning because time gives it meaning. We started this life together. I mean, we're going through it apart, but we're still together.
How to Take Over the World
The Gangster Philosopher: Francois de la Rochefoucauld
It's one of the great works in the French language and served as a major inspiration to many other philosophers, most notably Friedrich Nietzsche, who used it as a source extensively. So today we are talking about the life of Francois de La Rochefoucauld, both what we can learn from his wild and interesting life, and what we can learn from the philosophy that was born from it.
How to Take Over the World
The Gangster Philosopher: Francois de la Rochefoucauld
And I look at you guys and it feels meaningful and I can't explain it. But even when we're just sitting around the pool talking about whatever, it still feels very deep. I'm just happy to be at the table. Okay, so stripping away all those layers of fake friendship and fake connection, you know, that we're such happy friends and we have so much in common, everything is great.
How to Take Over the World
The Gangster Philosopher: Francois de la Rochefoucauld
By doing that, she's able to get to the bottom of what really makes their friendship. And that allows them to connect more deeply. I also think that that sort of deep self-aware honesty allows you to discover the truth about yourself, right? One of the first maxims that Rochefoucauld gives that influences everything else he writes about is our virtues are most frequently but vices disguised.
How to Take Over the World
The Gangster Philosopher: Francois de la Rochefoucauld
And on the one hand, again, this could be interpreted very cynically. Oh, you know, you're acting like you have this great virtue, but it's just a disguised vice. You're not really so virtuous after all. But I would also submit that this is just true. I mean, let's look at this in a different context, okay?
How to Take Over the World
The Gangster Philosopher: Francois de la Rochefoucauld
The book Make Something Wonderful has a great quote from Steve Jobs about something very similar. An interviewer asks him, what do you think your weaknesses are when it comes to management? And Steve responds, Okay. So first of all, let's just take a moment to recognize how great this is. An interviewer asks Steve Jobs what his greatest weaknesses are. And he says, you know, I don't know.
How to Take Over the World
The Gangster Philosopher: Francois de la Rochefoucauld
Strengths and weaknesses are two sides of the same coin, but here are my strengths. So I think you should try this in your next interview. When someone asks you your biggest weakness says, well, you know, actually strengths and weaknesses are two sides of the same coin. So here's why I'm great even more. But I think he's making the exact same point as Rochefoucault.
How to Take Over the World
The Gangster Philosopher: Francois de la Rochefoucauld
Your strengths and your weaknesses are two sides of the same coin. Your virtues are really just your vices in disguise. And I think this has two major implications. One, you need to be careful about addressing your weaknesses because you just might be risking the same thing that makes you great. If you eliminate this vice where the flip side is your great virtue...
How to Take Over the World
The Gangster Philosopher: Francois de la Rochefoucauld
then that might not be a worthwhile trade-off to eliminate that vice. Now, of course, that doesn't mean you never address your weaknesses, but you do need to be very careful when you're doing so. You know, Napoleon had this swashbuckling cavalryman, Murat, but he had a great line about him. Napoleon says, every army needs one Murat, but if it has two, one of them will need to be shot.
How to Take Over the World
The Gangster Philosopher: Francois de la Rochefoucauld
Welcome to How to Take Over the World.
How to Take Over the World
The Gangster Philosopher: Francois de la Rochefoucauld
Okay, so in other words, every army needs one crazy guy who will just charge into the enemy and attack no matter what. And this will inspire other men, but he's also somewhat chaotic. And if you have two of those guys, then that's too much chaos and you have to execute one of them. So obviously you can see that there, for this guy Murat, his strength and his weakness are the same thing.
How to Take Over the World
The Gangster Philosopher: Francois de la Rochefoucauld
And so if you try to tell him, hey, rein it in, calm down, try being a little more obedient and level-headed, then what would be the point of having a Murat in your army? His virtue is his vice disguised. The other big implication is that finding your weaknesses can help you find your strengths. Let your shadow guide you.
How to Take Over the World
The Gangster Philosopher: Francois de la Rochefoucauld
So many people are afraid of their vices, their foibles, the bad elements of their nature. But maybe, just maybe, you can let that guide you to success. For example, if you're ever with me at a dinner party,
How to Take Over the World
The Gangster Philosopher: Francois de la Rochefoucauld
and uh and we get on the wrong topic like i might corner you and go on for 20 30 minutes okay that's a vice of mine but of course it's also what i do professionally and so like if i eliminated that from my nature would i be as good of a podcaster probably not
How to Take Over the World
The Gangster Philosopher: Francois de la Rochefoucauld
So it's a counterintuitive thought, but what if you could find your greatest strength in your life, your biggest differentiator, by seeking out your biggest flaw and asking yourself, okay, what is the other side of the coin from this weakness? On that same note, he says, we do not despise all who have vices, but we do despise all who have not virtues. Okay, and I think that's very true.
How to Take Over the World
The Gangster Philosopher: Francois de la Rochefoucauld
Ultimately, whether you have some vices is irrelevant. Everyone does. You will never become great by minimizing your vices down to nothing, right? Finding all your weaknesses and your foibles and just focusing on that until you're a completely polished stone and you have no weaknesses. That's not how it works.
How to Take Over the World
The Gangster Philosopher: Francois de la Rochefoucauld
Rochefoucauld tells us you become great by having virtues, by having talents, skills, things you are great at. Okay. So I think that's an important point that it's not the lack of vices that that makes a person interesting and worthwhile. It is having great virtues. Just one more quote from Rochefoucauld that illustrates the same point.
How to Take Over the World
The Gangster Philosopher: Francois de la Rochefoucauld
He says, moderation cannot claim the merit of opposing and overcoming ambition. They are never found together. Moderation is the languor and sloth of the soul, ambition, its activity and heat. Okay. So, um, Yeah, like just being moderate and never kind of getting out of hand is not a path to a great soul.
How to Take Over the World
The Gangster Philosopher: Francois de la Rochefoucauld
Ambition is finding that element of your nature that is maybe prone to vice and a little wild, but has greatness within it. All right, some other great maxims from Rochefoucauld. He says, we have more strength than will, and it is often merely for an excuse we say things are impossible. All right, I love that. As Napoleon says, impossible is a word found only in the dictionary of fools.
How to Take Over the World
The Gangster Philosopher: Francois de la Rochefoucauld
You must reject the entire idea of impossible. Speaking of Napoleon, Rochefoucauld also writes, fortune turns all things to the advantage of those on whom she smiles, which reminds me, of course, of another Napoleon quote. He said, all great events hang by a single thread. The clever man takes advantage of everything, neglects nothing that may give him some added opportunity.
How to Take Over the World
The Gangster Philosopher: Francois de la Rochefoucauld
The less clever man, by neglecting one thing, sometimes misses everything. So, again, the idea here, fortune or luck always smiles on you if you prepare for everything. Fortune favors the bull. You make yourself lucky through action, through vigilance, and as Napoleon says, by neglecting nothing. And then I'll wrap up with two more quotes.
How to Take Over the World
The Gangster Philosopher: Francois de la Rochefoucauld
One is similar to an idea we've already talked about, but he says, it is only people who possess firmness who can possess true gentleness. In those who appear gentle, it is generally only weakness, which is readily converted into harshness. And that is... Very true.
How to Take Over the World
The Gangster Philosopher: Francois de la Rochefoucauld
You will find no more harsh and cruel people than those who are truly weak and have just been waiting for their opportunity to flip it on others. This is a similar idea to what we touched upon earlier, but so many people condemn the Napoleons and Caesars of the world, thinking that they are so much more virtuous because they would never commit such evil acts of violence, when in reality...
How to Take Over the World
The Gangster Philosopher: Francois de la Rochefoucauld
They don't lack the harshness of a Napoleon or a Caesar, but only the power that they actually possessed. And in fact, you know, if these people possessed even an ounce of the power of a Caesar, they would be much more cruel and less clement than someone, you know, like Julius Caesar, for example. And then one last quote, this is one of my favorites. This is maybe my favorite Rochefoucauld quote.
How to Take Over the World
The Gangster Philosopher: Francois de la Rochefoucauld
He says, "...we should gain more by letting the world see what we are than by trying to seem what we are not." And I think that is the ultimate insight of Francois de La Rochefoucauld. Be true to yourself. See yourself for who you really are with no pretenses, no illusions. Like be harsh in your self-examination. And you will gain more by that exercise than by deceiving yourself. All right.
How to Take Over the World
The Gangster Philosopher: Francois de la Rochefoucauld
Hello, and welcome to How to Take Over the World. This is Ben Wilson. I don't have a long introduction for you today. I'll just say that this episode is based on the excellent work, the Delphi Complete Works of Francois de la Rochefoucauld, which includes translations of all Rochefoucauld's works, including his memoirs, as well as a few 19th century biographies of the man.
How to Take Over the World
The Gangster Philosopher: Francois de la Rochefoucauld
And one last thing I guess about Rochefoucauld is he was able to have all these deep insights into human nature because he lived that full life. He was fighting, seducing, building, truly living. And that is what made him a great thinker and a great philosopher.
How to Take Over the World
The Gangster Philosopher: Francois de la Rochefoucauld
And all these so-called philosophers who spend their lives locked in a room, reading books and doing nothing else, they can't hold a candle to him. Like he got to be the man, you know, the, the, the swashbuckling pirate living a fun and happy life, and also the great philosopher. And ultimately, some of his critics never got to be either one.
How to Take Over the World
The Gangster Philosopher: Francois de la Rochefoucauld
So if that is what you aspire to, to have great insights into the human condition, you can't forget to really live. It reminds me of a great poem called The Scholars by William Butler Yeats. Shout out to Eric Hewitt, who shared this with me. It's very short. It goes like this. Remember, this is called The Scholars. He's describing scholars. He says, "'Bulbheads, forgetful of their sins.'"
How to Take Over the World
The Gangster Philosopher: Francois de la Rochefoucauld
Old, learned, respectable bald heads edit and annotate the lines that young men tossing on their beds rhymed out in love's despair. To flatter beauty's ignorant ear, they'll cough in the ink to the world's end, wear out the carpet with their shoes, earning respect, have no strange friend. If they have sinned, nobody knows. Lord, what would they say? Did their catalyst walk that way?
How to Take Over the World
The Gangster Philosopher: Francois de la Rochefoucauld
I hope you've enjoyed this episode. I know this is a lesser known figure. Again, those of you who are here at the end of this episode, you're the real ones. You're the real fans. Thank you so much for the support and for bearing with me. I hope you learned something. I know I certainly did. Rochefoucault was an extremely interesting person with an interesting philosophy and a beautiful life.
How to Take Over the World
The Gangster Philosopher: Francois de la Rochefoucauld
And I think his philosophy is a much needed corrective to the positive thinking philosophy that pervades much of the world today and the self-deception that can come with that. So thanks for coming on this journey with me. And until next time, thank you for listening to How to Take Over the World. And of course, one last shout out to Speechify. I used Speechify to do my reading for this episode.
How to Take Over the World
The Gangster Philosopher: Francois de la Rochefoucauld
19th century translations of 17th century works of French literature are not the easiest to read and digest. And I find that listening while I read really helps me comprehend and retain more for my reading. Speechify is the best in the business at text to speech AI. And if you want, you can even listen in my voice. So go to speechify.com slash Ben to get 15% off Speechify premium.
How to Take Over the World
The Gangster Philosopher: Francois de la Rochefoucauld
You won't regret it.
How to Take Over the World
The Gangster Philosopher: Francois de la Rochefoucauld
And look, if you're listening to this, you're a real fan. I appreciate you. You saw an episode about a guy you've never heard of with a long, complicated name, and you still press play because you trust me. And so I just want to say thank you. I see you. I appreciate you. You're the real fans. And I think you'll be well rewarded for your trust. So, you know, hang in there.
How to Take Over the World
The Gangster Philosopher: Francois de la Rochefoucauld
This is going to be an unfamiliar story for the vast majority of people listening, but I think that you're going to get some really great takeaways. I got some really great takeaways and I learned a ton from this. So with that said, let's get into it. This is the life of Francois de la Rochefoucauld. But first, a word from our sponsor, Gains in Bulk.
How to Take Over the World
The Gangster Philosopher: Francois de la Rochefoucauld
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How to Take Over the World
The Gangster Philosopher: Francois de la Rochefoucauld
Either reading or writing. Perhaps if you imagined a Greek philosopher, maybe he's sitting on a rock speaking with a crowd of other philosophers. But when we think of philosophy and wisdom and learning, this is what we think of, bald heads and quiet contemplation.
How to Take Over the World
The Gangster Philosopher: Francois de la Rochefoucauld
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How to Take Over the World
The Gangster Philosopher: Francois de la Rochefoucauld
Again, that is gainsinbulk.com and use code BEN. Okay, so Francois is born in the early 1600s, 1613 to be exact, into one of the most aristocratic families in all of France. They have like a perfect aristocratic record. They have dukes going way back, extensive land holdings, great reputation. Yeah, they're really well known and very aristocratic.
How to Take Over the World
The Gangster Philosopher: Francois de la Rochefoucauld
Their dukedom, their territory is in Aquitaine in southwestern France. So he's born with a silver spoon in his mouth, but also metaphorically with a dagger in his left hand. He gets a typical aristocratic education, which at the time means more manners and military training than literature and mathematics. But as soon as he comes of age, he begins intriguing against the French government.
How to Take Over the World
The Gangster Philosopher: Francois de la Rochefoucauld
And the cause of this is that the government of France was rapidly changing. So this is the 1600s, and Europe is rapidly coming out of feudalism and really into modernity, into the age of centralized nation-states. The reason for this is gunpowder. Firearms were rapidly replacing knights on horseback as the dominant technology on the battlefield. And as a result, France is changing as well.
How to Take Over the World
The Gangster Philosopher: Francois de la Rochefoucauld
France had always been a monarchy, at least going back nearly a thousand years, but it had always been a relatively weak monarchy where the nobility was really in charge. And that's because the nobility were the ones who could field these knights and heavily armed men-at-arms to fight in wars.
How to Take Over the World
The Gangster Philosopher: Francois de la Rochefoucauld
So you had all these dukes and marquises and counts who were quite independent and not only influenced the king, but dominated the king oftentimes. In her biography of Rochefoucauld, Mary Shelley writes, in those days, nobles did not plot to become favorites of the king, but rather to rule over him. And that's often the case in kind of this time period in France.
How to Take Over the World
The Gangster Philosopher: Francois de la Rochefoucauld
I want you to think of a philosopher, a generic philosopher, okay? Picture what a philosopher looks like in your mind. What does he look like? How does he act? He's probably old, balding, or at least a little gray, maybe a bit stooped. Perhaps he's a bit more professorial, bearded with glasses and a long nose. And in your mind, what's he doing, this philosopher? He's sitting at a desk, right?
How to Take Over the World
The Gangster Philosopher: Francois de la Rochefoucauld
Which is why I want to talk about someone you've never heard of, Francois de la Rochefoucauld, a famous French writer and philosopher who lived in the 1600s. And that's because Rochefoucauld was not only a man of letters, but a man of action as well.
How to Take Over the World
The Gangster Philosopher: Francois de la Rochefoucauld
But everything is moving in a completely different direction towards centralized states with large standing armies directly controlled by that state and away from feudal arrangements. Because, you know, if you can field a really large army with a lot of men with muskets, then that's going to be able to beat these armies with knights and men at arms that were kind of the old model.
How to Take Over the World
The Gangster Philosopher: Francois de la Rochefoucauld
So the man who is dragging France into modernity, kicking and screaming, is a man known as Cardinal Richelieu. You might have heard of him. He is the bad guy in The Three Musketeers. And so the nobility really hate Richelieu, who was in fact a very intelligent and discerning man who did a lot to modernize France. So the nobility are constantly trying to block and challenge and overthrow him.
How to Take Over the World
The Gangster Philosopher: Francois de la Rochefoucauld
And Rochefoucault joins in these intrigues the second he is able to. As soon as he comes of age, he starts. And especially early on, these intrigues are sort of flailing and hopeless. Rochefoucault is thrown into prison at the Bastille for eight days. But the thing you have to know about this guy is that he is a classic swashbuckler, right?
How to Take Over the World
The Gangster Philosopher: Francois de la Rochefoucauld
He's daring, he's brave, he's extremely capable, he's handsome, he's intelligent, he's charming. And so even his greatest enemy in later life, in writing a description of him, starts out by saying, quote, there has always been a certain je ne sais quoi in Monsieur de la Rochefoucauld.
How to Take Over the World
The Gangster Philosopher: Francois de la Rochefoucauld
And he ends by saying, he might well have passed for the most polished courtier and the finest gentleman in private life, which this age has produced. And the guy who writes this of Rochefoucauld, his name is de Retz. And this is the guy who I mentioned at the beginning that Rochefoucauld kind of shuts him in a door and tries to have someone stab him from behind.
How to Take Over the World
The Gangster Philosopher: Francois de la Rochefoucauld
Okay, so Rochefoucauld is so charming and talented that even his enemies, who he has tried to like personally hand-to-hand assassinate, cannot fully resist his charms. So Richelieu, who Rochefoucauld plots against, lets him out of the Bastille after only eight days, and he tries to convert him to the royalist side.
How to Take Over the World
The Gangster Philosopher: Francois de la Rochefoucauld
He recognizes this is a talented and potent young man, and he wants to involve him in the future administration of France. And he's basically telling him, hey, don't throw your life away. Stop plotting against me. Come on our side. This is the direction France is going, and you should be involved in it. We'd love to have you involved in it. One of the main people who he plots with
How to Take Over the World
The Gangster Philosopher: Francois de la Rochefoucauld
This is someone who wrote one of the great works of the Western canon, but also literally kidnapped the Queen of France and smuggled her out of the country. His writing and his wit made him the star of the literary salons of Paris, but he also killed people as a cavalryman and was himself both shot and stabbed in battle.
How to Take Over the World
The Gangster Philosopher: Francois de la Rochefoucauld
is Anne of Austria, the king's own wife. In fact, Rochefoucauld steals her away from the court because she is in opposition to her husband on a number of different matters and is very much friendly with the old nobility like Rochefoucauld is. He writes of this kind of adventure.
How to Take Over the World
The Gangster Philosopher: Francois de la Rochefoucauld
He says, however difficult and perilous this adventure might seem to me, I may say that never in all my life have I enjoyed anything so much.
How to Take Over the World
The Gangster Philosopher: Francois de la Rochefoucauld
I was at an age, 24, at which one loves to do extravagant and startling things, and I felt that nothing could be more startling and more extravagant than to snatch at the same time the queen from the king, her husband, and from the cardinal de Richelieu, who was so jealous. OK, like what? What an amazing adventure. You know, he literally he kind of she so she's on his side.
How to Take Over the World
The Gangster Philosopher: Francois de la Rochefoucauld
She's going along willingly with this kidnapping, kidnapping. She wants to go to kind of friendly territory. And, you know, he's sneaking around through France. They're dressed up like commoners so they don't get noticed. You know, he's going from safe house to safe house like crazy. It's an amazing adventure, the kind of thing that you would make a movie of.
How to Take Over the World
The Gangster Philosopher: Francois de la Rochefoucauld
And frankly, I think an action like this justifies an entire lifetime. People will go their entire lives without living as much as Rochefoucauld did in a few short weeks when he is roughing it across France, dodging guards, and trying to whisk away the Queen of France. Okay, well, this plot fails as do all his other plots.
How to Take Over the World
The Gangster Philosopher: Francois de la Rochefoucauld
There is, however, one brief moment when it looks like he might be successful. Richelieu dies and the nobles begin to fancy that, hey, maybe this is our opportunity to restore our power and return things to the way they were before. But an important rule for those of you who are trying to take over the world, things never go back to the way they were, right?
How to Take Over the World
The Gangster Philosopher: Francois de la Rochefoucauld
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How to Take Over the World
The Gangster Philosopher: Francois de la Rochefoucauld
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How to Take Over the World
The Gangster Philosopher: Francois de la Rochefoucauld
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How to Take Over the World
The Gangster Philosopher: Francois de la Rochefoucauld
And I think his dual nature is demonstrated quite well by comparing a history that he wrote with what actually happened. He wrote a history of a civil war in which he was involved. And the history is, you know, what you would expect. Serious, solemn, dry, stately.
How to Take Over the World
The Gangster Philosopher: Francois de la Rochefoucauld
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How to Take Over the World
The Gangster Philosopher: Francois de la Rochefoucauld
Again, that is Austin, as in the city Austin, Texas, austinlab.ai, and let them know that I sent you. And the problem with trying to make things the way they were before is that the way Cardinal Richelieu did things really works. And so his systems outlive him. Rochefoucauld writes about it this way. This is what he finds in Paris when he arrives after Richelieu's death.
How to Take Over the World
The Gangster Philosopher: Francois de la Rochefoucauld
Quote, I arrived at court and found it as submissive to his will after his death as during his life. His relations and his creatures continued to enjoy all the advantages they had gained through him.
How to Take Over the World
The Gangster Philosopher: Francois de la Rochefoucauld
and by a turn of fortune of which there are few examples the king who hated him and desired his fall was obliged not only to conceal his sentiments but even to authorize the disposition made by the cardinal in his will of the principal employments and most important places in his kingdom
How to Take Over the World
The Gangster Philosopher: Francois de la Rochefoucauld
Most painfully for Rochefoucauld, it's not only the king, but Queen Anne herself, who is now, by and large, in charge. You know, this is his old partner in crime who he's tried to, you know, whisk out of the country. She also goes along with this new regime kind of inspired by Richelieu and the way he was doing things. So her two sons are still too young to rule.
How to Take Over the World
The Gangster Philosopher: Francois de la Rochefoucauld
And shortly after Richelieu, the king himself dies. So Queen Anne of Austria is now queen regent. And so she's totally in control. So this is Rochefoucauld's chance to make everything happen, to finally accomplish all the projects that they had been plotting. And yet now that she's in charge, she sees the wisdom of these reforms.
How to Take Over the World
The Gangster Philosopher: Francois de la Rochefoucauld
And of course, now that she's the queen regent, the monarch in charge, centralization doesn't seem so bad, right? She's the one in charge of all these levers of power. So she turns on Rochefoucauld and adopts the policies of centralization advocated by Richelieu and now overseen by his successor, Cardinal Mazarin. Rochefoucauld considers this a betrayal and is one that he never gets over. Okay.
How to Take Over the World
The Gangster Philosopher: Francois de la Rochefoucauld
One biographer of Rochefoucauld writes that, "...no one would suspect that the historian who affects the gravity of Tacitus was acting all through the events he describes with the levity of a full-blooded and unscrupulous schoolboy." The most amazing instance of this is his grotesque attempt to have his enemy, Cardinal de Retz, murdered at the Palais de Justice.
How to Take Over the World
The Gangster Philosopher: Francois de la Rochefoucauld
By the way, really quick clarification because I've thrown out so many names. So you have Francois de la Rochefoucauld. That's the guy we're talking about. Then you have Richelieu, that's the cardinal who really centralizes everything in France. And then his successors are Mazarin, Cardinal Mazarin, and de Retz. And de Retz is like the big enemy of Rochefoucauld.
How to Take Over the World
The Gangster Philosopher: Francois de la Rochefoucauld
I know it's like a lot of French names, but hopefully that helps you like get it straight a little bit. Okay. So Queen Anne of Austria turns on her old buddy Rochefoucauld. This doesn't stop him from plotting, of course. Nothing ever does. There's another small revolution called the Fronde. And Rochefoucauld is one of the preeminent supporters of it. And they're trying to prop up.
How to Take Over the World
The Gangster Philosopher: Francois de la Rochefoucauld
The king has two sons. So they're trying to prop up one of the princes as the new king. They're still young, but they're teenagers, and so they're old enough to kind of be aware of what's happening and support one side or the other. So one of these princes supports the Fronde, and once again, Rochefoucauld has an adventure smuggling someone across France. This time, it's this little prince.
How to Take Over the World
The Gangster Philosopher: Francois de la Rochefoucauld
And it is while he is fighting with this prince that he is fighting just outside of Paris, and he is shot by an arquebus, which is a form of early musket. He's shot in the face. And I'm not quite able to get, like, the... biology of what happens. I've tried looking this up and no one's totally clear on it, but he gets shot in the face and this immediately blinds him. He can't see.
How to Take Over the World
The Gangster Philosopher: Francois de la Rochefoucauld
And he's forced to retire to his estate where he rests and recovers over the course of a year. And over the course of that year, he does recover his sight. So I wonder if there were like some shards that got in his eyes and cut him up. But anyways, he's blind, but over the course of a year, he gains his sight again.
How to Take Over the World
The Gangster Philosopher: Francois de la Rochefoucauld
Ultimately, you know, with him sidelined and recovering without Rochefoucauld's involvement, the frond fails and peace is restored under a powerful monarchy, the thing that they had been opposing. And look, all these efforts were ultimately doomed to fail. The 17th century was a time of transition from a feudal order to a powerful centralized nation state based system.
How to Take Over the World
The Gangster Philosopher: Francois de la Rochefoucauld
And this was enabled by the firearm, and nothing was going to change that. Even if they had succeeded with the frond, it would have been short-lived, and they probably would have lost to nearby nations who had adopted a centralized nation-state with large, massed armies of firearms. So... You know, there's nothing that he really could have done in the long term to be successful.
How to Take Over the World
The Gangster Philosopher: Francois de la Rochefoucauld
But it is this sort of, like, beautiful, doomed, last-ditch effort. I guess he just, like, he doesn't want to accept the future. He wants to go down fighting for this thing that he loved. So, yeah, you can think of Rochefoucauld's scheming and fighting as basically, like, the Western European chivalric version of The Last Samurai, okay?