A little while back we talked about the bold stroke—inspired by the Stoics—which struck down Julius Caesar and his reign on the Ides of March. This moment has always been judged ambiguously by historians. Yes, Caesar was a tyrant… but did the ends justify the means? And what were the ends? Were they successful? Were things better or worse?

Because in destroying a dictator… the conspirators created the Emperor Augustus. 

Funny how that works—blowback. Unintended consequences. 

It’s not that a Stoic is risk-averse, it’s that a Stoic, due to our understanding of history, has to have some humility. We have to think about blowback. We have to think about the worst case scenario.

This is one of the lessons’s in Ryan’s book Conspiracy: A True Story of Power, Sex, and a Billionaire’s Secret Plot to Destroy a Media Empire, which draws not only on Peter Thiel’s conspiracy, but all the timeless plotting and plans of history… where things ended up going sideways. Thiel was successful in destroying Gawker, but ended up creating a playbook that has been and will be used by others for ends he likely doesn’t agree with. And who would say the media has gotten better in the years since?

“Just that you do the right thing,” Marcus said. In a less complicated world, that would be all you need to consider. Good intentions would always lead to good outcomes. But the world is complicated. If action A then action B then result C, we think, but it never plays out that way. Along with good intentions, in this world, we need intellectual humility. We need to look before we leap. We need to keep in mind what Seneca said about Fortune’s habit of dashing all our plans and intentions to pieces. 

This is not to talk you out of taking action. Of course not. It is just a nudge to consider the blowback, to ask questions like, “What could be the unintended consequences? Is it possible that I might make things worse?”

Ryan’s self-described “favorite” of his books, Conspiracy is an adventurous ride through corporate boardrooms and shadowy back rooms in pursuit of a real-life modern conspiracy and the people who made it happen. Get your copy today.

P.S. This was originally sent on March 15, 2021. Sign up today for the Daily Stoic’s email and get our popular free 7-day course on Stoicism.