Podbit · Lex Fridman Podcast
After the July 1944 bomb assassination attempt, Hitler began receiving cocaine from Dr. Giesing for his blown eardrums — not knowing that Dr. Morell was simultaneously injecting him with oxycodone. The combined effect was a classic speedball: cocaine plus opioids, a combination Ohler describes as 'the end of your drug career.'
Where this was said
At 2:09:55 · chapter starts 2:07:54
The turning point was August 1941: Hitler sick with the Russian flu, a critical strategic decision about Moscow pending, and Dr. Morell injecting Dolantin — a synthetic opioid — intravenously for the first time. Hitler dominated the room, ordered the catastrophic split toward Leningrad and the oil fields instead of Moscow, and fell in love with what opioids felt like. Over the next two years he became experimental: bull's testicle extracts, pig liver hormones, the full range of Morell's pharmaceutical company output. Then in July 1943, before meeting Mussolini who wanted to quit the war, he received his first Eukodal — oxycodone — intravenously. He monopolized that meeting for two hours while Mussolini couldn't get a word in. By September 1944 he was taking Eukodal every other day. After Stauffenberg's bomb attempt blew out his eardrums, a new doctor (Giesing) began treating him with liquid cocaine — unaware that Morell was simultaneously injecting opioids. The resulting speedball became the signature of Hitler's terminal drug phase. [1] — Norman Ohler "When Hitler fell ill with a severe flu in August 1941 — just as the critical decision to split forces toward Leningrad instead of Moscow wa…" 2:01:03
Hermann Göring was addicted to morphine from 1923 — when he was shot during the Beer Hall Putsch — until his capture by American forces in 1945, a span of 22 years.
Kierkegaard lost five of six siblings and his mother before adulthood, grew up under a shame-ridden father, fell in love, proposed, then mailed back the ring and fled to Berlin. His inability to live up to his own most important commitment became the engine of his entire philosophical project.
Casanova escaped from Venice's inquisition prison, met Voltaire, Catherine the Great, Benjamin Franklin, and Mozart — then died completely alone in a Slovak castle, broke, telling stories to children who thought he was a crazy old man. His 2,000-page memoir sat unread for decades. A life full of fireworks that meant nothing.
Factories that replaced coal engines with electric ones in the early 1900s got only 6% efficiency gains. Those that redesigned their entire factory around electricity got a 3x productivity improvement. Swapping AI tools into your existing structure will give you 6%. Rebuilding around AI will give you 10x.
Lebanese terrorists backed by Iran were holding American hostages throughout the Reagan presidency. Reagan had loudly campaigned against negotiating with terrorists — putting him in an impossible position that his team quietly decided to ignore.
During the Iran-Iraq War, the US openly supplied Iraq with weapons, training, and intelligence. At the same time, Oliver North was secretly funneling missiles to Iran. The US was playing both sides of a shooting war.
Oliver North traveled to Iran under the alias 'William P. Goode' with a fake passport. CIA Director William Casey allegedly gave him cyanide pills so he could kill himself rather than be tortured if captured. He returned safely and the deal moved forward.
The Pentagon sold missiles to the CIA for $3,700 each. The CIA sold them to Richard Secord at cost. Secord sold them to Iranian middleman Ghorbanifar for $10,000 each. Ghorbanifar charged Iran even more. The profit — including $3 million in interest in one Swiss account — was diverted directly to fund the Nicaraguan Contras.
America secretly transferred 2,000 missiles and missile parts to Iran in 8 shipments over more than a year. Only 3 of 7 hostages were released. Three more were taken. The net result was zero freed hostages and a full-blown constitutional scandal.
On October 5, 1986, a CIA Contra supply plane flew a weapons drop at 2,500 feet in broad daylight. A Sandinista soldier shot it down. The only survivor, Eugene Hasenfuss, had borrowed a parachute from his skydiving brother. He was captured, paraded in front of cameras, and told the Sandinistas everything he knew.
We use essential and analytics cookies to run Vuci. To understand how the site is used: Privacy Policy.
Install Vuci on your phone
Add it to your home screen for a faster, app-like experience.
Install Vuci on your phone
Tap the Share button, then “Add to Home Screen”.
A new version is available
Reload to get the latest Vuci.