Episode 24: The Perils of Empathy (with Paul Bloom)

Canada's leading Russian literature scholar Yoel Inbar joins us to try to make sense of Gogol's 1836 short story "The Nose." A nose goes missing from a Russian official's face and winds up in the barb...

11 Mai 20211h 45min

"Sometimes I think of my death," Akira Kurosawa said, "I think of ceasing to be...and it is from these thoughts that Ikiru came." David and Tamler explore what it means to truly live in Kurosawa's 195...

20 Apr 20211h 46min

Journalist, podcaster, and rapper Jesse Singal joins us to talk about his new book The Quick Fix, positive psychology (scam?), cancel culture in the media and academia (overblown?), Substack incentive...

6 Apr 20212h 1min

VBW favorite Paul Bloom joins us to talk about William James' account of instinct and its parallels to the nativism/empiricism debates in developmental psychology today. Also discussed: Richard Dawkin...

23 Mar 20211h 36min

We’ve always had nothing but praise for neuroscientists and their work, and today is no exception. We talk about a fantastically rich and ambitious essay by Erik Hoel that offers a theory of dreams ...

9 Mar 20211h 42min

David and Tamler wander through the maze of Room 237, the great documentary by Rodney Ascher about five people and their views about what Stanley Kubrick's "The Shining" is really about. When do inter...

23 Feb 20211h 28min

David and Tamler return to the TCU (Ted Chiang Universe) to talk about his short story "Hell is the Absence of God." How would we behave if we had unequivocal proof of God, heaven, hell, and angels? W...

9 Feb 20211h 37min

Ever wonder why you're still listening to VBW all of these years? Or why you check your phone 50 times a day? Or why you put on your pants the same way every morning? (If you still wear pants these da...

26 Jan 20211h 32min