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).

Sponsored By:

Support Very Bad Wizards

Links:

Jaksot(335)

Episode 15: The Burning Bridges Episode (Pt. 1)

Episode 15: The Burning Bridges Episode (Pt. 1)

You don't need to be a psychologist or a philosopher to enjoy a good, old-fashioned bitch-fest. In the first of a two-part episode (no single compact disc, 8-track, or LP could hold all our complaints...

16 Helmi 201353min

Episode 14: Bonus Episode on Snitches, Tattletales, and Whistleblowers

Episode 14: Bonus Episode on Snitches, Tattletales, and Whistleblowers

In a break from tradition, we recorded a 25-minute episode on the morality of tattletaling, snitching, ratting, and whistleblowing. We discuss why these people seem especially despicable (except for m...

8 Helmi 201327min

Episode 13: Beanballs, Blood Feuds, and Collective Moral Responsibility (With Fiery Cushman)

Episode 13: Beanballs, Blood Feuds, and Collective Moral Responsibility (With Fiery Cushman)

Our classiest episode yet (OK, that's not saying much, but still...)--Psychologist Fiery Cushman joins us for a discussion about collective punishment and collective responsibility. We use Fiery's rec...

22 Tammi 20131h

Episode 12: Justice for #!$@ ?

Episode 12: Justice for #!$@ ?

Dave and Tamler square off the role of the victim in criminal punishment and find little to agree about. Tamler defends the restorative justice approach, while Dave expresses skepticism about its valu...

14 Tammi 20131h 13min

Episode 11: It is Morally Wrong to Kill Morgan Freeman (with Yoel Inbar)

Episode 11: It is Morally Wrong to Kill Morgan Freeman (with Yoel Inbar)

Social psychologist Yoel Inbar joins Tamler and David to discuss Clint Eastwood's masterpiece of the Western genre, "Unforgiven." The discussion includes the nature of revenge, the requirements of jus...

28 Joulu 20121h 15min

Episode 10: Religion, Meaning, and Morality

Episode 10: Religion, Meaning, and Morality

Does life have meaning if there is no God? Why should I be a good person if there's no reward or punishment waiting for me in the afterlife? Why does religion seem to make people happier and healthier...

11 Joulu 201258min

Episode 9: Social Psychology, Situationism, and Moral Character

Episode 9: Social Psychology, Situationism, and Moral Character

After discussing some listener feedback about the movie Swingers, Tamler and David talk about two classic experiments in social psychology: the Milgram Experiments and the Zimbardo Prison experiment. ...

3 Joulu 20121h 8min

Episode 8: Dishonesty, Character, and Dan Ariely

Episode 8: Dishonesty, Character, and Dan Ariely

In a Very Special Episode of Very Bad Wizards, Dan Ariely joins David to chat about cheating, character, teling your significant other about kissing someone at a conference, and the importance of mora...

12 Marras 20121h 11min

Suosittua kategoriassa Yhteiskunta

olipa-kerran-otsikko
sita
siita-on-vaikea-puhua
kaksi-aitia
i-dont-like-mondays
gogin-ja-janin-maailmanhistoria
uutiscast
poks
antin-palautepalvelu
kolme-kaannekohtaa
mamma-mia
rss-murhan-anatomia
rss-nikotellen
yopuolen-tarinoita-2
aikalisa
meidan-pitais-puhua
rss-haudattu
naakkavalta
loukussa
rss-palmujen-varjoissa