Very Bad Wizards

Latest Episodes:

Episode 68: Risky, Reckless, and Regretful Jun 01, 2015

Show notes

Dave drags Tamler into the nerd abyss by making him watch an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation ("Tapestry," from the 6th season. It's available on Netflix instant in the US, and likely worldwide on many sites of varying legality). We talk about the themes of the episode: regret, risk aversion, the arrogance of hindsight, and the dream of living your past "knowing what you know now." What are the things that shape our character? Should we embrace our mistakes or would we change something if we could? How should we think of our lives--as one long continually unfolding story or as a series of unrelated episodes?

And speaking of regret, we reflect on our comedy episode and some listener dissatisfaction (we agree with much of it) and talk about yet another fraudulent study with sexy results. Plus, Dave finally learns what 'chuchma' means.

"Science Retracts Troubled Gay Marriage Study." [retractionwatch.com]
"Michael Lacour Responds to Critics." [latimes.com]
"The Strangest Thing about Lacour's Response" (nymag.com)
Star Trek: The Next Generation. "Tapestry" [en.memory-alpha.wikia.com]
Best Episode Ever #30: Star Trek: The Next Generation [craveonline.co.uk]
Patrick Stewart on Extras [youtube.com]

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Episode 67: Funny How? May 18, 2015

Show notes

Dave and Tamler break the cardinal rule of comedy by trying to analyze it. What are the origins and functions of humor? Can a theory explain what makes us laugh? Is humor entirely subjective? Why would anyone find Mr. Bean funny? Plus, we lose some geek cred by confessing some iconic comedians that we never liked, and ask why the American Psychologist Association loves to torture people.

Links

Report Claims American Psychological Association Secretly Supported Torture Policy [time.com]
The philosophy of humor [iep.utm.edu]
Key and Peele: Gay Wedding [youtube.com]
Key and Peele: Awesome Hitler Story [youtube.com]
Goodfellas: How the Fuck Am I Funny? [youtube.com]
Steven Wright: Birthday Present [youtube.com]
Hannibal Burress: Pickle Juice [youtube.com]
George Carlin on Fat People [youtube.com]
Jerry Seinfeld on Airport Security [youtube.com]
Louis CK: Pig Newtons [youtube.com]
Curb Your Enthusiasm: Rash [youtube.com]
Eddie Murphy: Barbecue [youtube.com]
Bill Burr on Trying to Buy a Pumpkin [youtube.com]

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Episode 66: Übermensch at Work Apr 20, 2015

Show notes

Special guest Yoel Inbar (author of Hitchcock's Women: From Margaret Sullivan to Tippi Hedren) joins us to talk about Hitchcock's long take masterpiece/gimmick Rope. Based loosely on the case of Leopold and Loeb, Rope tells the story of two young men who have read Nietzsche and decide to murder a schoolmate in order to cement their Übermensch status. Did they read Nietzsche correctly? Is conventional morality nothing but a construct to keep the inferior masses in line? Are professors accountable for what they teach? (Please God, no.) Plus, we delve deeper into Julie and Mark's motivation, and Yoel plays a round of "Does the government deem this trademark scandalous?"

Links

Yoel Inbar [yoelinbar.net]
Very Bad Wizards Episode 22 : An Enquiry Concerning Slurs and Offensiveness [verybadwizards.com]
Rope [IMDB.com]
Leopold and Loeb [wikipedia.org]
Leopold and Loeb's Criminal Minds (Smithsonian Magazine)
The Leopold and Loeb Trial Page (UMKC Law)
Paul Gauguin [wikipedia.org]
The Moon and Sixpence by W. Somerset Maugham [wikipedia.org]
Nietzsche's Moral and Political Philosophy [plato.stanford.edu]
Damasio, A. "Remembering When," Scientific American, 2002. [antonellapavese.com]
What's the matter with a little brother sister action? by Tamler Sommers [psychologytoday.com]

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Episode 65: Philocalypse Now Apr 06, 2015

Show notes

Holy crap, it's the apocalypse!!!!

...for philosophy. Maybe. Has this 2500 year old discipline become too technical, too disconnected from the real world? Is it just a handmaiden to the sciences? (Which would make Tamler Dave's handmaiden.) And what the hell is conceptual analysis? Plus, a short excerpt of Tamler's interview with Simon Blackburn, and definitive proof that worms have free will (sorry Sam). And only one more week to buy our t-shirt!

Links

Free Will? Analysis of worm neurons suggest how a single stimulus can trigger different responses [sciencedaily.com]
Strawson, P. F. (1962). Freedom and resentment. [princeton.edu]
Doomen, J. (2015). The end of philosophy. Think, 14(39), 99-109. [verybadwizards.com]
For a Non-Ideal Metaphysics by Justin Smith [jehsmith.com]
Concepts [plato.stanford.edu]
Harry Frankfurt says Philosophy is in the Doldrums [http://leiterreports.typepad.com]
Simon Blackburn's Website [phil.cam.ac.uk]

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Episode 64: Believing in a Just World Mar 19, 2015

Show notes

Dave and Tamler talk about the human tendency to believe in a just world. Why do we have the belief? Does it make us less motivated to fight injustice? How does it connect to our beliefs about free will and punishment? Plus, the SAE incident—a case where the twitter mob did some good? And Tamler changes his mind about Harmony the Hamster.

Links

As Two Oklahoma Students Are Expelled for Racist Chant, Sigma Alpha Epsilon Vows Wider Inquiry [nytimes.com]
Just World Hypothesis [wikipedia.org]
System Justification [wikipedia.org]
The Future of The Culture Wars is Here, and it's Gamergate [deadspin.com]
Lerner, M. J., & Simmons, C. H. (1966). Observer's reaction to the "innocent victim": Compassion or rejection? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 4(2), 203–210. [MIT.edu]
Clark, C. J., Luguri, J. B., Ditto, P. H., Knobe, J., Shariff, A. F., & Baumeister, R. F. (2014). Free to punish: A motivated account of free will belief. Journal of personality and social psychology, 106(4), 501. [sharifflab.com]
Sommers, T. (2007). 4 The Illusion of Freedom Evolves. Distributed Cognition and the Will: Individual Volition and Social Context, 61.
Pizarro, D.A. & Helzer, E. (2010). Freedom of the will and stubborn moralism. In Baumeister, R.F., A.R. Mele, and K. D. Vohs (Eds.) Free will and consciousness: How might they work? (pp. 101-120) Oxford University Press. [peezer.net]
Sartre is Smartre [vimeo.com]

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Episode 63: Stalemates and Closets (with Sam Harris) Feb 28, 2015

Show notes

Sam Harris gets back in the VBW ring for another round on moral responsibility, ethical theories, and the grounds for our obligations to other people. Are we at a genuine stalemate when it comes to blame and desert? Is Tamler a closet consequentialist? Is Sam a closet pluralist? Why is Dave such a big Wagner fan? Plus, Twitter shaming: what is it good for? Settle in, get comfortable, pour yourself a drink, you're in for the long haul on this one.

Links

How One Stupid Tweet Blew Up Justine Sacco's Life [nytimes.co]
The Moral Landscape by Sam Harris [samharris.org]
Value Pluralism [plato.stanford.edu]
Bill Burr vs. Philly [youtube.com]

Special Guest: Sam Harris.

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Episode 62: Brain Jizz and "Black Mirror" Feb 09, 2015

Show notes

Dave and Tamler discuss a new study that, according to Tamler, offers decisive support for restorative approaches to criminal punishment (the only problem is he didn't read past the introduction). And speaking of justice, we talk about "White Bear"--the most disturbing episode of the UK series Black Mirror that doesn't involve sex with a non-kosher animal. (Note: Massive spoilers for this episode of BM--watch before listening. Available on netflix, amazon prime.)

Links

Black Mirror, "White Bear" episode [imdb.com]
Ultimatum Game [wikipedia.org]
Justice Porn [reddit.com]
Fehr, E., & Gächter, S. (2002). Altruistic punishment in humans. Nature, 415(6868), 137-140.
FeldmanHall, O., Sokol-Hessner, P., Van Bavel, J. J., & Phelps, E. A. (2014). Fairness violations elicit greater punishment on behalf of another than for oneself. Nature Communications, 5.

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Episode 61: Putting a Little Meaning in Your Life Jan 19, 2015

Show notes

Dave and Tamler take a break from blame and responsibility to tackle a much easier subject: meaning in life. We discuss Susan Wolf's new book "Meaning in Life and Why it Matters," and play some excerpts from Tamler's recent discussion with her. Plus, we list some of our favorite listener-suggested drinking game ideas so far. (The contest for the free T-shirt is still open--send in your ideas before the next episode!)

Links

Meaning in Life and Why it Matters by Susan Wolf [amazon.com affiliate link]

Billie Pritchett on the Sam Harris and Free Will discussion. [bpritchett.blogspot.com] (Highly recommended!)

The Heaven's Gate Cult [wikipedia.org]

Special Guest: Susan Wolf.

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Episode 60: Drunk on Intuitions Jan 02, 2015

Show notes

Dave and Tamler argue some more about the role of emotion and intuition in blame judgments, and then offer some moral psychology-related recommendations for your New Year's viewing and reading pleasure. Plus, can you turn listening to VBW into a good drinking game? Offer some suggestions and win a free Very Bad Wizards T-shirt!

Links

Tamler's early defense of free will skepticism:
- "Darrow and Determinism" [naturalism.org]
- "No Soul? I Can Live with That. No Free Will? AHHHHH!!!" [psychologytoday.org]
- "Free Will Skepticism in Action" [naturalism.org]
- Tamler's interview with Galen Strawson [believermag.org]
- The Objective Attitude [philpapers.org]
Daniel Miessler on Sam Harris vs. Very Bad Wizards [danielmiessler.com]
The Sceptic by David Hume [econlib.org]
Paul Russell's Free Will, Art, Morality [verybadwizards.com]
Locke [imdb.com]
The Subjective Effects of Nitrous Oxide by William James [erowid.org]
Kahan, D. M., Peters, E., Dawson, E. C., & Slovic, P. (2013). Motivated numeracy and enlightened self-government. Social Science Research Network. Available: http://ssrn. com/abstract, 2319992.
Black Mirror [imdb.com]
Snowpiercer [imdb.com]
Snowpiercer-Left or Right [everyframeapainting.tumbler.com]
Logicomix: An Epic Search for Truth [amazon.com affiliate link]
Meaning in Life and Why It Matters by Susan Wolf. Princeton University. Press, 2010. [amazon.com affiliate link]

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Episode 59: Tumors All the Way Down (With Sam Harris) Dec 16, 2014

Show notes

Bestselling author and friend of the podcast Sam Harris joins Tamler and Dave for a marathon podcast. (Seriously, pack two pairs of astronaut diapers for this one). We talk about the costs and benefits of religion, dropping acid in India, and the illusory nature of (a certain kind of) free will. Then we go at it on blame, moral responsibility, hatred, guilt, retribution, and vengeance. Sam thinks these are antiquated responses based on a belief in spooky metaphysics, Tamler thinks they are important components of human morality, and Dave just wants everyone to get along and be reasonable (like that nice Kant fellow).

Time markers (roughly)

0:00-47:00 Intro and costs and benefits of religion

47:00-77:30 Drugs, the self, free will

77:30-- Blame, guilt, vengeance, moral responsibility, desert.

Links