Dan Carlin: Hardcore History | Lex Fridman Podcast #136

The following is a conversation with Dan Carlin, host of Hardcore History and Common Sense podcasts. To me, Hardcore History is one of, if not the greatest podcast ever made. Dan and Joe Rogan are probably the two main people who got me to fall in love with the medium of podcasting, as a fan and eventually as a podcaster myself. Meeting Dan was surreal. To me, he was not just a mere human like the rest of us, since his voice has been a guide through some of the darkest moments of human history for me. Meeting him was like meeting Genghis Khan, Stalin, Hitler, Alexander the Great and all of the most powerful leaders in history all at once in a crappy hotel room in the middle of Oregon. It turns out that he is, in fact, just a human and truly one of the good ones. This was a pleasure and an honor for me. Quick mention of a sponsor, followed by some thoughts related to the episode. First is Athletic Greens, the all-in-one drink that I start every day with to cover all my nutritional bases. Second is SimpliSafe, a home security company I use to monitor and protect my apartment. Third is Magic Spoon, low carb, keto-friendly cereal that I think is delicious. And finally, Cash App, the app I use to send money to friends for food and drinks. Please check out these sponsors in the description to get a discount and to support this podcast. As a side note, let me say that I think we're living through one of the most challenging moments in American history. To me, the way out is through reason and love. Both require a deep understanding of human nature and of human history. This conversation is about both. I am perhaps hopelessly optimistic about our future, but if indeed we stand at the precipice of the great filter watching our world consumed by fire, think of this little podcast conversation as the appetizer to the final meal before the apocalypse. If you enjoy this thing, subscribe on YouTube, review it with five stars on Apple Podcast, follow on Spotify, support on Patreon, or connect with me on Twitter @lexfriedman. And now, finally, here's my conversation with the great Dan Carlin. Let's start with the highest philosophical question. Do you think human beings are fundamentally good or are all of us capable of both good and evil and it's the environment that molds how we, uh, the trajectory that we take through life?

How do we define evil? Evil seems to be a situational eye of the beholder kind of question. So if we define evil, maybe I can get a better idea of, of... An- and that could be a whole show, couldn't it?

Yeah. (laughs)

Defining evil. But, but, but when we say evil, what do we mean?

That's a slippery one, but I think there's some way in which your existence, your presence in the world leads to pain and suffering and destruction for many others in the rest of the world. So you, you steal the resources and you use them to create more suffering than there was before in the world. So I suppose it's somehow deeply connected to this other slippery word which is suffering, is you create suffering in the world, you bring suffering to the world.