Episode 227: A Terrible Master (David Foster Wallace's "This Is Water").
Very Bad Wizards21 Joulu 2021

Episode 227: A Terrible Master (David Foster Wallace's "This Is Water").

David and Tamler dive into David Foster Wallace's celebrated and surprisingly earnest Kenyon College commencement speech "This is Water". How can we escape the prison and prism of our (literally) self-centered perspective? Can we choose to adjust our natural default settings, take a break from our running inner monologue, and pay attention to what's in front of us right now? Is DFW appealing to Buddhist ideas or something more general that you can be found across all spiritual traditions?

Plus we ask the AI ethics program "Ask Delphi" some tough moral questions (spoiler alert: "just the tip" is "rude"), and almost get into a big fight about the potential of AI ethical robots (but we're saving that argument for a future episode).

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Episode 71: The Murky Morals and Mysterious Metaphysics of "Mr. Robot"

Episode 71: The Murky Morals and Mysterious Metaphysics of "Mr. Robot"

David and Tamler go deep into the best TV show of the summer, "Mr. Robot. They talk about the moral ambiguity of its central character, the distorted vision of reality it portrays, and play a round of...

14 Heinä 20151h 6min

Episode 70: Some Favorite Things

Episode 70: Some Favorite Things

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens, papers by Williams and movies from Sweden. Long graphic novels that celebrate being. These are a few of our favorite things. Dave and Tamler offer some mora...

29 Kesä 20151h 34min

Episode 69: CHiPs on Our Shoulders (Lessons in Objectivity)

Episode 69: CHiPs on Our Shoulders (Lessons in Objectivity)

Dave and Tamler try to figure out what we talk about when we talk about objectivity. In past episodes we've claimed that logic and science (when it isn't fraudulent) are objective. Tamler has claimed ...

17 Kesä 20151h 33min

Episode 68: Risky, Reckless, and Regretful

Episode 68: Risky, Reckless, and Regretful

Dave drags Tamler into the nerd abyss by making him watch an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation ("Tapestry," from the 6th season. It's available on Netflix instant in the US, and likely worldwi...

1 Kesä 20151h 14min

Episode 67: Funny How?

Episode 67: Funny How?

Dave and Tamler break the cardinal rule of comedy by trying to analyze it. What are the origins and functions of humor? Can a theory explain what makes us laugh? Is humor entirely subjective? Why woul...

18 Touko 20151h 17min

Episode 66: Übermensch at Work

Episode 66: Übermensch at Work

Special guest Yoel Inbar (author of Hitchcock's Women: From Margaret Sullivan to Tippi Hedren) joins us to talk about Hitchcock's long take masterpiece/gimmick Rope. Based loosely on the case of Leopo...

20 Huhti 20151h 24min

Episode 65: Philocalypse Now

Episode 65: Philocalypse Now

Holy crap, it's the apocalypse!!!!   ...for philosophy. Maybe. Has this 2500 year old discipline become too technical, too disconnected from the real world? Is it just a handmaiden to the sciences? (W...

6 Huhti 20151h 19min

Episode 64: Believing in a Just World

Episode 64: Believing in a Just World

Dave and Tamler talk about the human tendency to believe in a just world. Why do we have the belief? Does it make us less motivated to fight injustice? How does it connect to our beliefs about free wi...

19 Maalis 20151h 13min

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