Episode 244: Thanks for the Memories? (Borges' "Funes the Memorious)

Episode 244: Thanks for the Memories? (Borges' "Funes the Memorious)

David and Tamler return to Borges land to get lost in the infinite, this time with his legendary and tragic character Funes the memorious. What would it be like to have perfect memory, to have full access to every perceived detail no matter how trivial? Would life be infinitely richer, with present experience and memory merging into a perfect Heraclitan flow? Or is William James correct to say that one condition of remembering is to forget, and that "if we remembered everything, we should on most occasions be as ill off as if we remembered nothing."?

Plus, we're sorry, but after 10 years (!) we thought we had the right to get a little self-indulgent and naval-gazey. We do a bit of reminiscing ("though we have no right to speak that sacred verb..") in the first segment about how the podcast has changed since 2012, and the impact it has made on our lives. Thanks for the memories!

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Episoder(335)

Episode 7: Psychopaths and Utilitarians Pt. 2 (Now with more poo poo)

Episode 7: Psychopaths and Utilitarians Pt. 2 (Now with more poo poo)

After a clip from The Third Man, Dave and Tamler continue their discussion from Episode 6 on Ted Bundy, utilitarians, and trolley problems. They also talk about Tamler's TED talk envy, inappropriate a...

4 Nov 20121h 7min

Episode 6: Trolleys, Utilitarians, and Psychopaths (Part 1)

Episode 6: Trolleys, Utilitarians, and Psychopaths (Part 1)

Tamler contemplates ending it all because he can't get 'Call Me Maybe' out of his head, and Dave doesn't try to talk him out of it. This is followed by a discussion about drones, psychopaths, Canadian...

20 Okt 20121h 1min

Episode 5: Revenge, Pt. 2: The Revenge

Episode 5: Revenge, Pt. 2: The Revenge

Dave and Tamler continue their discussion about their favorite topic. They talk about the evolutionary origins of retributive behavior, cross-cultural differences in revenge norms, and the proportion...

8 Okt 20121h 5min

Episode 4: Revenge, Pt. 1

Episode 4: Revenge, Pt. 1

Dave allows Tamler to rant about Sam Harris's strawman attacks on moral relativism before launching into discussion about revenge, justice, True Grit, and Michael Dukakis. Though they differ on many i...

20 Sep 201251min

Episode 3: "We believe in nothing!" (Cultural diversity, relativism, and moral truth)

Episode 3: "We believe in nothing!" (Cultural diversity, relativism, and moral truth)

Tamler and Dave discuss recent work in philosophy and psychology about the differences in moral values and practices across cultures. We talk about the implications of moral diversity: does it mean t...

8 Sep 20121h 1min

Episode 2: The "Dangerous Truth" about Free Will (Free Will and Morality, Pt. 2)

Episode 2: The "Dangerous Truth" about Free Will (Free Will and Morality, Pt. 2)

Tamler and David discuss whether giving up our belief in free will makes us more likely to abandon our moral standards. Links "You Can't Handle the Truth!" Jesse Bering "Scientists say free will pro...

1 Sep 20121h 13min

Episode 1: Brains, Robots, and Free Will (Free Will and Morality Pt. 1)

Episode 1: Brains, Robots, and Free Will (Free Will and Morality Pt. 1)

Dave and Tamler start out talking about the new wave of skepticism about free will and moral responsibility in the popular press from people like Sam Harris and Jerry Coyne. Neuroscience figures hea...

30 Aug 20121h 10min

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