Reading from Seneca’s Moral Letters, this episode explores the "straightjacketed soul": how long-standing vices like greed and ambition distort judgment and become entrenched. Using the late-2000s financial crisis as an example, it shows how even highly rational people can make catastrophic mistakes when driven by desire.

The episode then asks listeners to reflect on their own lapses in judgment and offers a reminder that the rational mind can intervene to recognize and regulate harmful impulses.