Episode 313: The Spontaneous Eruption of Now
Very Bad Wizards29 Juli 2025

Episode 313: The Spontaneous Eruption of Now

David and Tamler try to wrap their heads around the metaphysics of past and future via the Borges essay(s) "A New Refutation of Time." What does it mean to be a time skeptic or a time realist for that matter? If you're a Berkeleyan idealist and Humean skeptic about the self, do you have to deny succession and simultaneity? The world, unfortunately, is real; and we, unfortunately, are Very Bad Wizards.

Plus for centuries philosophers insisted that you couldn't measure qualia, but then scientists just went ahead and… measured it!

Scientists Measure Qualia for First Time-It Was Thought To Be Impossible [youtube.com]

Kawakita, G., Zeleznikow-Johnston, A., Takeda, K., Tsuchiya, N., & Oizumi, M. (2025). Is my "red" your "red"?: Evaluating structural correspondences between color similarity judgments using unsupervised alignment. iScience, 28(3).

A New Refutation of Time [wikipedia.org]

A New Refutation of Time by Jorge Luis Borges [pdf from gwern.net]

Avsnitt(335)

Episode 314: The In-Betweeny Place

Episode 314: The In-Betweeny Place

David and Tamler go long on McDonagh's 2008 masterpiece "In Bruges." We talk about the terrific performances and all the weighty themes - sin, guilt, redemption, honor, language, and very inappropriat...

12 Aug 20251h 58min

Episode 312: MechaSkeptic

Episode 312: MechaSkeptic

David and Tamler return to David Hume's somewhat slippery brand of skepticism, this time focusing Chapter 12 of his Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding. Plus speaking of things to be skeptical abou...

15 Juli 20251h 16min

Episode 311: The Way to Dusty Death (Shakespeare's "Macbeth")

Episode 311: The Way to Dusty Death (Shakespeare's "Macbeth")

David and Tamler screw their courage to the sticking place and talk about their first Shakespeare play – The Tragedy of Macbeth. Plus we select 16 topics for our first VBW topic tournament suggested a...

1 Juli 20251h 26min

Episode 310: Bayes, Brains, and Buddhists

Episode 310: Bayes, Brains, and Buddhists

David and Tamler try to wrap their heads around the predictive processing theory of the mind and brain function and talk about a paper that applies the framework to meditation practices. But first a n...

10 Juni 20251h 14min

Episode 309: Dissolving Into the One

Episode 309: Dissolving Into the One

David and Tamler heed the call to journey into the realm of Joseph Campbell. What are the unifying elements shared by myths and religions across time and culture? Does myth give us a portal into the h...

27 Maj 20251h 23min

Bonus Episode: Va Va Boom (Robert Aldrich's "Kiss Me Deadly")

Bonus Episode: Va Va Boom (Robert Aldrich's "Kiss Me Deadly")

We kick off our Bonus "Noir Summer" series with Robert Aldrich's "Kiss Me Deadly" (1956). While the rest of the bonus series will be for Patreon subscribers only, the first is free to all.

20 Maj 20251h 14min

Episode 308: The Gray Man who Dreamed (Borges' "Shakespeare's Memory")

Episode 308: The Gray Man who Dreamed (Borges' "Shakespeare's Memory")

David and Tamler return to their happy place and talk about two pieces by JL Borges – the story "Shakespeare's Memory" and the [essay/story/poem/literary sketch??] "Everything and Nothing." What woul...

6 Maj 20251h 14min

Populärt inom Samhälle & Kultur

en-mork-historia
podme-dokumentar
gynning-berg
p3-dokumentar
svenska-fall
aftonbladet-krim
skaringer-nessvold
mardromsgasten
hor-har
creepypodden-med-jack-werner
killradet
kod-katastrof
flashback-forever
blenda-2
p3-historia
rss-nemo-moter-en-van
vad-blir-det-for-mord
historiska-brott
rss-brottsutredarna
rss-mer-an-bara-morsa