From ?E! #33 with Noah McMillan.

What is your work actually for? Philosopher Noah McMillan reads from his essay "Production as the Divine," on how the work ethic outlived the faith that created it, and why production can't answer the question of what makes a life good.

Underlined is a short companion to our full conversations. At the end of a conversation we ask the guest one more question: what have you underlined? Then they read us the passage.

Read the full essay:

Production as the Divine, The Re-Examined Life (https://noahtmcmillan.substack.com/p/production-as-the-divine)

Hear the full conversation:

?E! #33 - Progress Without a Destination: Where Is All This Going? (YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAHYjcW0lBQ / Spotify: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/questioneverythingetp/episodes/E--33---Progress-Without-a-Destination-Where-Is-All-This-Going---with-Noah-McMillan-e3qkonj)

Mentioned:

The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism by Max Weber (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Protestant_Ethic_and_the_Spirit_of_Capitalism), the 1905 argument Noah's essay starts from

Tell us what you've underlined: https://questioneverythingetp.com

Listen & subscribe:

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/question-everything-except-this-podcast/id1736759012

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1FCFskt7FBDZuyGtzLsQ5R

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2aiyplnabkJ7YzfWK1yISw

We treat progress as both good and inevitable. When did that become something nobody questions?

Noah McMillan played Division I football until an injury ended it, then went looking for the beliefs we mistake for laws of nature. Now he writes about them from Siracusa, the Sicilian city where Plato once lived. Chirag and Noah follow one of those beliefs, that progress is good and can't be stopped, from Plato and Aristotle through the ruins of medieval Europe to the Enlightenment. Then they ask what it means for AI, and what a builder should do differently on Monday morning.

Key Takeaways:

- The idea that progress is both good and inevitable is only a few hundred years old. Romans saw themselves as morally worse than their ancestors, even as Rome grew richer.

- Stoicism caught on because it's the most accessible way into philosophy, and a philosophy of self-command appeals in chaotic times. It did in Rome, too.

- "AI will make everything better" quietly attaches moral weight to what is a mechanical gain in efficiency.

- Noah's advice to AI builders: keep "we can make this more efficient" separate from "so we should."

- A monthly self-check worth stealing: if AI disappeared tomorrow, would you still have the skills to run your life?

Chapters:

0:00 Why Question Progress?

1:04 Why a Philosopher Moved to Plato's City

2:36 How a Football Injury Exposed Hidden Assumptions

5:24 Doxa: The Beliefs We Never Examine

6:52 Why Is Stoicism Everywhere Right Now?

11:05 Plato vs. Aristotle: Two Ways to Live Well

16:09 Why AI Already Feels Inevitable

18:03 Is "Progress Is Good" an Ancient Idea?

22:55 The New World Debates That Rattled Europe

26:06 When Two Worldviews Can't Find Common Ground

27:46 What Are We Assuming When We Say AI Will Fix Everything?

31:12 Can AI Be Reined In? Lessons From Nuclear Weapons

33:26 Soviet Electrification and Moralized Progress

35:51 Do Good Intentions Blind the Builders?

37:36 What Should an AI Builder Do Differently on Monday?

39:04 How a Philosopher Actually Uses AI

44:32 Writing Is How We Think

45:36 The Question Noah Is Still Sitting With

46:46 What Makes Someone American?

48:49 A Closing Line From Chesterton

Resources & Links:

- The Re-Examined Life by Noah McMillan (https://thereexaminedlife.com) — Noah's Substack on the beliefs we never think to examine

- The Dawn of Everything by David Graeber and David Wengrow (https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374157357/thedawnofeverything/) — the book Noah cites on Kandiaronk and Europe's encounter with the New World

- The School of Athens by Raphael (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_School_of_Athens) — the fresco with Plato pointing up and Aristotle pointing down

- Heretics by G.K. Chesterton (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/470) — source of the closing line on progress

- Daily Stoic (https://dailystoic.com) — Ryan Holiday's project, where Chirag's own path into philosophy started

- Mountainhead (https://www.hbo.com/movies/mountainhead) — the tech-billionaire satire where Marcus Aurelius gets quoted at the worst possible moment

Listen & subscribe:

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/question-everything-except-this-podcast/id1736759012

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1FCFskt7FBDZuyGtzLsQ5R

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2aiyplnabkJ7YzfWK1yISw

Fourteen episodes in 2024, eleven in 2025, six so far in 2026, and only one since March. This is a short solo state-of-the-pod episode about where Question Everything is, what it's for, and what changes. The long conversations stay. Between them come more guests, short solo episodes, and a mailbag. The show will publish at least once a month, and probably more.

It also introduces the Examined Life Audit: twelve multiple-choice scenarios that give you a philosophical archetype and a matched philosopher. Take it here: https://questioneverythingetp.com/examined-life/

Send feedback, guest ideas, and topic ideas through the contact page at https://questioneverythingetp.com.

Chapters:
0:00 The numbers
1:01 What the show is for
2:09 What's changing
2:50 The Examined Life Audit
4:10 What's next

Listen & subscribe:
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/question-everything-except-this-podcast/id1736759012
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1FCFskt7FBDZuyGtzLsQ5R
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2aiyplnabkJ7YzfWK1yISw
Substack: https://questioneverythingexcept.substack.com