The Brutal History Of Freedom - Sebastian Junger - #396

**Chris Williamson** (0:00)
What's happening, people? Welcome back to the show. My guest today is Sebastian Junger. He's a journalist, author and filmmaker. Throughout history, humans have been driven by the quest for two cherished ideals, community and freedom. The two don't coexist easily. We value individuality and self-reliance, yet we are utterly dependent on community for our most basic needs. Today, I expect to learn how having kids in your 50s can give you more freedom than you might think, what happens when you lose 10 pints of blood and have a near-death experience, why fighting to the death was most common in free societies, how countries with freedom always get tempted toward tyranny, and much more. It is interesting thinking about freedom as a British person, because we don't really talk about freedom all that much. Not that we don't care about it, but just that compared with America especially, it's not a value that we hold up as an ideal, and looking at the history of it and how people have fought for it, and what happens when you lose it, and the dangers of having too much of it are quite insightful. In very exciting news, I am going to Austin tomorrow, this Friday. I am flying out to Austin, Texas for a few weeks. I will be recording out there and taking the show on the road, as it were. Video Guy Dean is staying in the UK sadly, but I will be getting some awesome episodes done out there. I'll be catching up with David Perel and Aubrey Marcus, and David Buss and Michael Mallis. So yeah, it's going to be fun. And we'll see if I pick up a low-key Texan accent in the space of a few weeks. In other news, this podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. There might be something which is interfering with your happiness or preventing you from achieving your goals. BetterHelp will assess your needs and match you with your own licensed professional therapist who you can start communicating with in under 48 hours. It's not a crisis line or self-help. It is professional counselling done securely over the internet. Their therapists have a broad range of expertise which may not be available in your area. The service is available for clients worldwide. You can log in to your account at any time and send a message to your counsellor. You get timely and thoughtful responses. Plus, you can schedule weekly video or phone sessions so you don't even have to leave the house. BetterHelp is committed to facilitating great therapeutic matches, so they make it easy and free to change counsellors if needed. It's more affordable than traditional offline counselling and financial aid is available. If you've been struggling with something in a relationship or something at work or something from your past, whatever you've got going on, BetterHelp can help you out. And there is a free quiz that you can take right now that explains how it all works and lets you know what options are available to you. You can go and take that quiz and get 10% off your first month by going to betterhelp.com/modernwisdom. That's better, help.com/modernwisdom to join over one million people who have taken charge of their mental health with the help of an experienced professional. In other other news, this episode is brought to you by Element. You do not need a morning coffee. Adenosine, which is the system that caffeine acts on, isn't active for the first 90 minutes of the day. Your adrenal system is and salt acts on your adrenal system. Element contains a science-backed electrolyte ratio of sodium, potassium and magnesium with none of the junk, no sugar, no coloring, no artificial ingredients, no gluten, no fillers and no BS. They are the official hydration partner to Team USA weightlifting and relied on by tons of Olympic athletes, high performers in the NFL, NBA, NHL, special forces, Navy SEAL teams, FBI sniper teams and Marines plus tech leaders and everyday athletes around the world. It sounds strange to say that I look forward to drinking a chili mango salt first thing when I wake up, but it is one of the best parts of my day, always wakes me up and the taste is fantastic. Also, you can get a free sample pack of all eight flavors from Element by going to drinklmnt.com/modernwisdom.
The pack is completely free. All that you do is cover the cost of the shipping and pay nothing for the pack. It's $5 shipping in the US or £3.84 to the UK, and they even have a no-questions-asked refund policy if you're upset with that. So, head to drinklmnt.com/modernwisdom, and you can try it out for a full week and a day. Take a little bit of a break from caffeine on a morning and see how you feel. drinklmnt.com/modernwisdom. And this episode is also brought to you by Active Life RX. Get out of pain and reclaim your fitness with the company that I trust to look after my training and rehabilitation plan. If you have got a niggle or an injury or a struggle with the way that you move, you do not need to put up with it as a fact of life for the rest of time. You need to work with a coach who can't just deal with the pain, who can't just deal with fitness, but can actually take you on an entire journey and get you moving again the way that you want to. Active Life have a team of doctors, athletic trainers and coaches who have the empathy, education and experience to help you get your body and fitness to the place where you want it. Active Life's team combines its expertise to take the best of what all methodologies have to offer. They've worked with tens of thousands of people living on six different continents, including five CrossFit Games champions, professional baseball players, rugby players and Olympic medalists. You can schedule a call for free right now by going to bit.ly slash rxwisdom. That's B-I-T dot L-Y slash rxwisdom. Speak to them, see what they can do for you, discuss your issues, whatever it is that you're having and your goals and see where they can go from that. bit.ly slash rxwisdom. But now it's time for the wise and wonderful Sebastian Junger.