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 55: Rooting for Evil (With Paul Bloom)

Episode 55: Rooting for Evil (With Paul Bloom)

Paul Bloom joins us to talk all things villainous -why we sometimes root for the bad guys, why we admire them even when we don't, why they are much more compelling than some of our heroes.  Then more ...

21 Loka 20141h 18min

Episode 54: Pooping on Ecstasy (Pain, Pleasure, and the Ethics of Breeding)

Episode 54: Pooping on Ecstasy (Pain, Pleasure, and the Ethics of Breeding)

Tamler and David get bullied into talking about "anti-natalism," (the view that it is unethical to bring a being into existence), and to defend our ethical position as "breeders." Well, one of us defe...

24 Syys 20141h 17min

Episode 53: The Psychology People Love to Hate (Evolutionary Psychology Pt.1)

Episode 53: The Psychology People Love to Hate (Evolutionary Psychology Pt.1)

Dave and Tamler take a shot at answering the question: what is an evolutionary psychologist? Is it just a psychologist who believes in evolution? (No.) Is it a psychologist who embraces a computationa...

8 Syys 20141h 15min

Episode 52: Thought Experiments (Huh!) What Are They Good For? (Part 2)

Episode 52: Thought Experiments (Huh!) What Are They Good For? (Part 2)

Experience Machines, Chinese Rooms, Original Positions, and Ice Buckets.  ("I don't know what you have in mind for this evening Homer, but count me out!")  Dave and Tamler continue their discussion on...

25 Elo 20141h 16min

Episode 51: Zombies, Trolleys, and Galileo's Balls

Episode 51: Zombies, Trolleys, and Galileo's Balls

Episode Audio Dave and Tamler talk about the value and purposes of thought experiments in philosophy and science. Does the trolley problem tell us more about moral psychology than how people make judg...

12 Elo 20141h 18min

Episode 50: Keeping it Unreal

Episode 50: Keeping it Unreal

Dude, do you ever think about how, like, we could be all be in the Matrix? Seriously, no no, dude, I'm being serious. It's like, none of this might be real, you know? Actually we don't know. We hones...

15 Heinä 20141h 27min

Episode 49: Psychopaths and Contrastivizzzzzzzz (With Walter Sinnott-Armstrong)

Episode 49: Psychopaths and Contrastivizzzzzzzz (With Walter Sinnott-Armstrong)

Special guest Walter Sinnott-Armstrong joins the podcast to explain how his theory which desperately needs a new name ("contrastivism") can dissolve most of the fundamental problems and paradoxes in p...

23 Kesä 20141h 43min

Episode 48: Restorative Circle Jerk

Episode 48: Restorative Circle Jerk

Dave and Tamler take a mulligan and try to resolve their conflict about restorative justice.  Do restorative processes lead to more just outcomes than other approaches? Is it more vulnerable to instan...

9 Kesä 20141h 8min

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