Podbit · TED Talks Daily
Ancient Romans called friends 'half of my soul.' Sworn brotherhoods formalized platonic bonds across China, Jordan, and England. A century ago, friends posed in tender embraces for portraits. The language of deep love for friends is ancient — romance stole it from us.
Where this was said
At 6:55 · chapter starts 5:25
Cohen moves from the personal to the reported, introducing the cast of people she met while researching her book. Natasha and Linda became Canada's first legally recognized platonic co-parents. Joe and John have been best friends for decades — when Joe struggled with addiction, John got him into recovery, then became sober himself purely to support his friend. [1] — Rhaina Cohen "Platonic co-parents in Canada. A man who got sober for his friend. A woman who flew across the country and watched her friend's chest rise …" 05:13 Joy cared for Hannah through six years of ovarian cancer, flying to New York for treatment, sleeping in hospitals and watching her friend breathe through the night. Some of these friends had their platonic bond alongside a romantic partner; others had it instead of one. What unites them is that they refused to cap what friendship could be — and in doing so, they became, as Cohen puts it, the frontier of what platonic relationships are capable of.
Natasha and Linda became the first legally recognized platonic co-parents in Canada, illustrating that some legal systems are beginning to acknowledge non-romantic partnerships.
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.