Power, Systems & Modern Life | Why Incentives Matter More Than Intentions

Why do well-intentioned policies so often lead to disastrous outcomes?

In this episode of Philosophy for Better Humans, Joey Caster takes you on a deep, non-partisan philosophical journey through power, systems, and unintended consequences—and why incentives shape behavior more than intentions ever could.

Drawing on history’s greatest thinkers—Friedrich Hayek, Edmund Burke, G.K. Chesterton, Karl Marx, Hannah Arendt, Thomas Sowell, and more—this episode explores how compassionate ideas, centralized planning, and market forces can quietly produce outcomes no one intended.

We examine real historical case studies like:

• Prohibition in the United States
• The Great Lea ...