In this episode, Taj investigates the philosophical foundations laid by the “Father of Liberalism,” John Locke, in helping establish the materialistic ethos of modernity. Taj posits that Locke’s advocacy of relentlessly pursuing wealth is ill-suited to finite economic pies and leads toward the commodification of human existence. Taj explores John Rawls’ remedial, utopian philosophies which address the arbitrary social, physical and cultural attributes with which one is born. John Rawls’ views on utilitarianism and meritocracy are parsed through the lens of his hypothetical “veil of ignorance” construct. Taj illustrates these ideas by wondering how Albert Einstein would have fared in Greek’s Sparta or how Steve Jobs would have fared in a desert island. Talents that would allow an individual to succeed in a particular arena at a particular time in history would perhaps not serve this individual well in other circumstances. Taj suggests that no individual is truly “self-made” and should cater his/her talents to the edification of a shared humanity. He links Rawls’ empathetic outlook with timeless truisms of old. Taj turns to Karna’s story from The Mahabharata to the Torah to the Bible and to the Qur’an to explore scriptural considerations of the poor and otherwise neglected.