Very Bad Wizards

From Very Bad Wizards to Megyn Kelly Today back to Very Bad Wizards, Laurie Santos has traveled the typical trajectory of the celebrity academic. Laurie joins us to talk about her cult status after creating the most popular course in Yale University history: Psychology and the Good Life. Why are we so bad at predicting what will make us happy? What makes it so hard to do the things we know are good for us? Why are young people more stressed, anxious, and overworked than they used to be? And how can we nudge ourselves into living better lives? Plus we take a test for determining the virtues that come easiest to us and the ones that come.. harder.

This episode is sponsored by Audible and Casper.

Special Guest: Laurie Santos.

Support Very Bad Wizards

Links:

• Laurie Santos | Comparative Cognition Laboratory
• Yale's Most Popular Class Ever: Happiness - The New York Times
• Psychology and The Good Life 2018 Course Syllabus
• Matt Killingsworth: Want to be happier? Stay in the moment | TED Talk
• Character Strength Survey
• Audible
• Casper

David and Tamler take a break from complaining about psychological studies that measure utilitarianism to complain about the moral theory itself. We talk about one of the most famous critiques of utilitarian theories from Bernard Williams. Does utilitarianism annihilate our integrity--our unity--as people? Would trying to maximize well-being fracture our identities, and swallow up our projects, motivations, and moral convictions--the same convictions that make utilitarianism seem appealing in the first place? Is it ultimately self-defeating as a moral theory?

Plus, we talk about the adventures of Tamler's based step-mom Christina Hoff Sommers' at Lewis and Clark law school. Will David stay woke?

Support Very Bad Wizards

Links:

• Protesters try to shut down Christina Hoff Sommers at Lewis & Clark Law School - YouTube
• Statement on the Christina Hoff Sommers Event at the Law School - Newsroom - Lewis & Clark
• We're All Fascists Now - The New York Times
• "The Usual Suspects" final scene *spoilers*
• Bernard Williams - Wikipedia
• Williams, B. "Consequentialism and Integrity" [published originally in "Utilitarianism: For and Against", ed. Smart and Williams (Cambridge University Press, 1973), pp. 82-118.]
• Smart, J. J. C., & Williams, B. (1973). Utilitarianism: For and against. Cambridge University Press. [Amazon.com affiliate link] — Worth reading the whole book!

It's been 5 years since Molly Crockett has been guest on VBW. During that time she's completed a post-doc at University College, London and become a professor at Yale University. And we're...well, we're still doing the podcast. Today Molly joins us to talk about moral outrage in the age of social media. Has the outrage changed now that we express so much of it online? Does it contribute to polarization and social division, or give a voice to the less powerful? How can we harness the benefits of online outrage while minimizing the costs? Plus, Dave and Tamler perform an exorcism on the unholy offspring of evolutionary psychology and trolleyology.

Special Guest: Molly Crockett.

Support Very Bad Wizards

Links:

• Brown, M., & Sacco, D. F. (2017). Is pulling the lever sexy? Deontology as a downstream cue to long-term mate quality. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 0265407517749331.
• Crockett, M. J. (2017). Moral outrage in the digital age. Nature Human Behaviour, 1(11), 769.

David and Tamler talk about the nature of death. Is being dead a bad thing? If so, what makes it bad? How can anything be bad for a subject that no longer exists? We didn't have a problem with oblivion for the thirteen billion years before we were born, why fear it now?

Plus, a discussion about the "it was all a dream" trope in TV and film. Why is it so infuriating in some works but not others?

Support Very Bad Wizards

Links:

• Tommy Westphall - Wikipedia
• 20 Years Ago: 'Newhart' ends with a shock | EW.com
• Dallas (1978 TV series) (season 9) - Wikipedia
• It's Just a Cartoon, How can SpongeBob and friends go to the beach if...
• Nagel, T. (1970). Death. Noûs, 73-80.

What's the best way to build self-control, patience, productivity, and delayed marshmallow eating? For decades psychologists and economists have told us to develop traits like willpower and grit. But psychologist David DeSteno describes a better, easier, and more effective path--the emotions. We talk to David about his new (not-self-help) book "Emotional Success," which argues that the emotions of gratitude, pride, and compassion can help us fulfill long-term goals and (as a special bonus) make us happier and better people.

Plus, David and Tamler take a quiz that measures how utilitarian they are, and you won't believe the results!!! (Actually, you will.)

This episode is sponsored by Casper. Visit www.casper.com and enter offer code BADWIZARDS to get $50 toward select purchases.

Special Guest: Dave DeSteno.

Sponsored By:

• Casper Promo Code: BADWIZARDS

Support Very Bad Wizards

Links:

• How Utilitarian Are You? The Oxford Utilitarianism Scale | Practical Ethics
• Everett, J. A., Pizarro, D. A., Crockett, M. J. (2016). Inference of trustworthiness from intuitive moral judgments. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 145, 772–787
• David DeSteno's website
• Emotional Success: The Power of Gratitude, Compassion, and Pride

David and Tamler break down two episodes (with full spoilers) from the new season of Charlie Brooker's bleaker-than-bleak Netflix series Black Mirror. First up, "The USS Callister," a Star Trek parody that becomes a meditation on fandom, humiliation, and cowardly revenge. Next we talk about "Black Museum" - could it be the final episode of Black Mirror? Should it be? After four seasons of indicting humanity, has Charlie Brooker turned his critical lens on himself?

Plus, you thought it was bad for children to tell lies, but it turns out that it's good!

This episode is brought to you by RXBAR. Visit www.rxbar.com/wizards, and enter promo code "BADWIZARDS" at checkout for 25% off your first purchase.

Sponsored By:

• RXBAR Promo Code: badwizards

Support Very Bad Wizards

Links:

• Is Your Child Lying to You? That's Good - The New York Times
• "Black Mirror" USS Callister (TV Episode 2017) - IMDb
• "I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream" by Harlan Ellison
• "Black Mirror" Black Museum (TV Episode 2017) - IMDb
• ▶ Bruised by peez

In this Very Special Boxing Day edition of the podcast, Tamler and David welcome back honorary Third Wizard Paul Bloom to discuss his latest article in the New Yorker about dehumanization and cruelty. Is it really the case that we dehumanize in order to harm others? Or does most violence actually require us to view others as fundamentally human, agentic, and capable of true suffering? But first, we discuss the stages of Star Trek transporter cognition, whether Paul and David are closet-dualists, and whether the process of choosing a Dalai Lama suffers from p-hacking concerns. (And between segments we give our brief, spoiler-free thoughts on Season 3 of Mr. Robot). Happy Chanukah, Kwanzaa, New Year, and Merry Christmas to all!

Special Guest: Paul Bloom.

Support Very Bad Wizards

Links:

• Join the Very Bad Wizards discussion on Reddit
• Paul Bloom | Department of Psychology
• The Root of All Cruelty? | The New Yorker
• Klaus J. Jacobs Awards - Jacobs Foundation
• War Child
• Our enemies are human: that's why we want to kill them | Aeon Ideas
• On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society - Kindle edition by Dave Grossman. Professional & Technical Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com.
• Virtuous Violence: Hurting and Killing to Create, Sustain, End, and Honor Social Relationships by Alan Fiske and Tage Rai
• Down Girl: The Logic of Misogyny by Kate Manne

David and Tamler assert their autonomy as individuals by discussing their favorite dystopian works of art. Rebelling against a repressive regime, they refuse to sacrifice their privacy, uniqueness, and reproductive freedom. Through sheer force of will - the human spirit - they triumph over the pressures to ... wait what? You want me to take that pill? Okay, can't hurt. Aaahhhhh. So happy... So content... Must keep order. When the individual feels, the community reels. I am you, and you are I. I am you, and you are I.

Plus, a real-life trolley problem! (Or is it?)

Support Very Bad Wizards

Links:

• Very Bad Wizards subreddit — Contribute to our Reddit discussions!
• Letters of Note: 1984 v. Brave New World
• Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut [wordfight.org]
• The Lobster (2015) - IMDb
• Gattaca (1997) - IMDb
• Never Let Me Go (novel) - Wikipedia
• Children of Men (2006) - IMDb
• The Trial (1962) - IMDb
• The Trial - Wikipedia
• It's a Good Life (The Twilight Zone) - Wikipedia
• Snowpiercer (2013) - IMDb
• Idiocracy (2006) - IMDb
• A Clockwork Orange (1971) - IMDb

David and Tamler keep their Nagel streak alive, discussing the essay "The Fragmention of Value" from his collection "Mortal Questions." How should we address our fragmented moral landscape, with multiple sources of value that can't be reduced or systematically ordered? Does this make all of our moral decisions arbitrary? Plus, we talk about Louis CK and in a Thanksgiving tradition special guest Christina Hoff Sommers rejoins the podcast in a moderately drunken debate with Tamler about a possible sex panic.

Special Guest: Christina Hoff Sommers.

Support Very Bad Wizards

Links:

• Christina Hoff Sommers - Wikipedia
• We're at risk of turning #metoo into rush to blame all men - NY Daily News
• Nagel, T. (2012). Mortal questions. Cambridge University Press. [amazon.com affiliate link]
• Documentary Film Finding Vivian Maier | Vivian Maier Photographer

David and Tamler dip back into the Thomas Nagel well, and discuss the problem of "moral luck." Why do we blame drunk drivers who hit someone more than drunk drivers who make it home OK? Why do we judge people for things that are beyond their control (when we have strong intuitions that uncontrollable acts don't deserve blame)? Does moral luck ultimately swallow all of our behavior? Can we truly embrace the view that "actions are events and people are things" or are we stuck with another unsolvable clash of competing perspectives (just like the problem of absurdity)?

Plus, Dave exposes himself on the Partially Examined Life, Tamler self-censors, and somehow we discuss Hollywood harassment and stand-up comedy without mentioning Louis CK. (But only because we recorded this episode about five hours before the NY Times story broke.)

Support Very Bad Wizards

Links:

• Nagel, T. (2012). Mortal questions. Cambridge University Press. [amazon.com affiliate link]
• Nagel, T. Moral Luck.
• Moral Luck (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
• Intentional stance [wikipedia.org]
• The Partially Examined Life Episode 176 Situationism in Psych: Milgram & Stanford Prison Experiments (Part One) — Part one of the PEL episode with David
• The Partially Examined Life Episode 176 Situationism in Psych: Milgram & Stanford Prison Experiments (Part Two)
• The Partially Examined Life Episode 93: Freedom and Responsibility (Strawson vs Strawson) — Tamler's appearance on PEL

Is life meaningless? Are humans just glorified dung beetles, pushing around our piles of poop with no greater purpose? What would it take for life to actually be meaningful? In this episode, Tamler and David discuss Thomas Nagel's essay on the sense of meaninglessness and absurdity that can so easily creep into human existence (with a special emphasis on the work of Camus and the philosophy of Rick and Morty). But first we tackle even more important questions about the human condition such as, why is it easier to detect the size of a hole with your tongue than with your little finger? And which moral "dilemmas" are actually moral no-brainers? (In the process, we even solve the problem of free speech on campus. You're welcome.)

Support Very Bad Wizards

Links:

• The Extent of Skin Bending Rather Than Action Possibilities Explains Why Holes Feel Larger With the Tongue Than With the Finger. - PubMed - NCBI
• Pure joy: a colorblind man sees color for the first time
• Dan Harmon Reveals the Meaning of Life in RICK AND MORTY | Nerdist
• Microcosmos - Dung beetle rolls ball and gets stuck. - YouTube
• Nagel, T. (1971). The absurd. The Journal of Philosophy, 68(20), 716-727.
• Camus, A. (1955). The myth of Sisyphus, and other essays. Vintage.

What do we mean when we say someone is angry? Can we identify anger (or any other emotion) via facial expressions, physiological changes, or neural markers? Is anger simply a feeling, something that happens to us, or does it involve a judgment? How much control do we have over our emotions, and can we be responsible for them? We talk about the work of Lisa Feldman Barrett and Bob Solomon. Plus, Tamler engages in conceptual analysis on Star Trek transporter beliefs (yes you read that right) and David is too stunned to argue.

Support Very Bad Wizards

Links:

• Yale's Paul Bloom to receive $1 million Klaus Jacobs Prize | YaleNews
• Solomon, R. C. (1973). Emotions and choice. The Review of Metaphysics, 20-41.
• What Emotions Are (and Aren't) - The New York Times
• Are Emotions Natural Kinds? Perspectives on Psychological Science - Lisa Feldman Barrett, 2006

Do you think of your life as a story? Does your life have a narrative structure or form? Do you identify with your past selves and your future selves? If not, can you live a good life, a moral life, an authentic life? Can you feel guilt, regret, and resentment? Plus, speaking of stories, we talk about a new study suggesting that books with anthropomorphic animals can't teach moral lessons to kids.

Support Very Bad Wizards

Links:

• Larsen, N. E., Lee, K., & Ganea, P. A. (2017). Do storybooks with anthropomorphized animal characters promote prosocial behaviors in young children?. Developmental Science.
• Children's books with humans have greater moral impact than animals, study finds | Books | The Guardian
• Strawson, G. (2004). Against narrativity. Ratio, 17(4), 428-452.
• Strawson, G. (2007). Episodic ethics. Royal Institute of Philosophy Supplements, 60, 85-115.
• Parfit, D. (1995). The unimportance of identity.
• I am Not a Story

It's Part 2 of the Patreon listener selected episode! David and Tamler continue their discussion on intelligence from our last episode by tackling the radioactive topic of group differences and IQ. Are there reliable differences in IQ across races? Given that IQ is strongly heritable, and that racial categories are based (in part) on biological differences, does it follow that group differences in IQ are due to biological differences across racial groups? (Could only a politically motivated science-denier conclude otherwise?) David argues that biological explanations for racial differences in IQ are based on a fundamental misunderstanding of genetics and race. It's a complex argument, so if you start listening, please finish! (Oh and @VBW_No_Context on Twitter, take a vacation, you've earned it!). Plus, more on neuroscientific explanations, and Tamler relates his experience of Hurricane Harvey.

Support Very Bad Wizards

Links:

• Race & IQ: Debate Serves No Purpose | National Review
• Returning to the race and IQ debate | Glenn Loury & John McWhorter [The Glenn Show] - YouTube
• Race & IQ: Don't Obsess Over It, but Do Discuss It | National Review
• Templeton, A. R. (1998). Human races: a genetic and evolutionary perspective. American Anthropologist, 100(3), 632-650. Chicago
• Study Finds Africans More Genetically Diverse Than Other Populations
• Human penis size - Wikipedia

David and Tamler do their best to talk frankly about intelligence and IQ research. (It's our Patreon listener-selected topic! We probably would never have chosen this one on our own...). Is intelligence a meaningful, definable concept? Can we reliably test for it? How much of the variability in IQ across individuals is due to heritable factors? Are people with higher IQ happier, wealthier, or healthier than people with lower IQ? And why is this topic so controversial anyhow? Plus in the intro segment Tamler and David discuss why you probably don't need fMRI to know what your dog wants, and why cognitive neuroscience seems to confuse otherwise intelligent folks. (Note: This is Part 1 of our discussion on intelligence. In Part 2 will delve into the slightly more controversial topics of IQ, race, and gender).

Support Very Bad Wizards

Links:

• What Does Your Dog Really Want? - Scientific American Blog Network
• A Very Bad Wizard: Morality behind the curtain by Tamler Sommers [amazon.com affiliate link] — David does the links, so it's him telling you to support Tamler and buy his book!
• The Simpsons - Crayon in Homer's brain - YouTube
• Ritchie, S. (2015). Intelligence: All that matters. Hodder & Stoughton. [amazon.com affiliate link] — Stuart Ritchie's very well-written primer on intelligence. Accessible to a wide audience, but with all the nuance you'd expect from a clear-thinking academic. It's also a very quick read.
• Stuart Ritchie (@StuartJRitchie) | Twitter
• Stuart Ritchie | The University of Edinburgh

Guest Yoel Inbar joins David and Tamler to break down David Lynch's dreamy masterpiece Mulholland Drive. (FULL SPOILERS – watch before you listen!) What's real and what's illusion? What happens when our illusions unravel? How do expectations affect our experience? How can artists use our expectations to manipulate our emotions? Come for the questions, stay for the answers – or at least for more questions.

Special Guest: Yoel Inbar.

Support Very Bad Wizards

Links:

• Mulholland Drive (2001) - IMDb
• Everything you were afraid to ask about "Mulholland Drive" - Salon.com
• Film Crit Hulk Smash: HULK VS. THE GENIUS OF MULHOLLAND DRIVE | Birth.Movies.Death.
• David Lynch Signature Cup Organic Coffee | Organic Coffee | JavaDistribution.com
• Urban Dictionary: fuck tab

Special guest Robert Wright joins the podcast to discuss his latest book "Why Buddhism is True." What is the Buddhist conception of not-self? When we become aware that the boundaries between us and the world are fluid, what is the "we" that arrives at this insight? Can daily meditation make you less of a dick? How does evolutionary psychology bear on these questions? Plus, Dave horrifies Tamler with his new hipster habit.

Special Guest: Robert Wright.

Support Very Bad Wizards

Links:

• One-Hand Clapping Kōan [wikipedia.org]
• Robert Wright (journalist) - Wikipedia
• Robert Wright's Website
• Pre-order "Why Buddhism Is True" by Robert Wright [amazon.com affiliate link]
• Break music: Try Harder by peez | Free Listening on SoundCloud

What happens when we discover why we believe the things we believe? What if we discover that our values are the product of our cultural tradition, or personal experience, or natural selection? Should we be more skeptical of our values once we learn their history? Plus, data on Google porn searches reveal that you're all a bunch of sick fucks.

Support Very Bad Wizards

Links:

• Proof that Americans are lying about their sexual desires - Vox
• Doris, J. M. (2009). Genealogy and Evidence: Prinz on the History of Morals.
• Kahane, G. (2011). Evolutionary debunking arguments. Noûs, 45(1), 103-125.
• The Splintered Mind: Tamler Sommers
• Break Music: Everything Is Wrong by peez

David and Tamler try to put the topic of campus politics to bed once and for all – with limited success. First, we get into a big fight about the prevalence and danger of political correctness in American universities. We junked that recording, and tried to distill our best points into a new one. (Trust us – it was for the best.) We also narrow down all the topic recommendations from our beloved Patreon supporters to five finalists. In the second segment, James Lindsay (co-author of the "Conceptual Penis" hoax) joins us to talk about why he thinks the hoax was more successful in exposing gender studies than some of their critics (including us) have suggested.

Support Very Bad Wizards

Links:

• James Lindsay (@GodDoesnt) | Twitter
• James Lindsay's Website (God Doesn't; We Do)
• Skeptic » Reading Room » The Conceptual Penis as a Social Construct: A Sokal-Style Hoax on Gender Studies
• Alan Sokal: Some Thoughts on "The Conceptual Penis as a Social Construct" Hoax
• Break Music: Dusted by peez [soundcloud.com]

David and Tamler break down a recent classic in the philosophy of mind: "The Extended Mind" by Andy Clark and David Chalmers. What is boundary of your mind? Is it contained with your body, or does it extend to the external environment--to your laptop, notebook, smartphone and more? Is this a purely terminological question, or one with practical and moral significance? And what is the role of intuition in providing an answer? Plus, Dave shares an email alerting him to the psychological trauma of male circumcision along with an exciting all-natural method for restoring the foreskin (that was stolen from us as infants).

Support Very Bad Wizards

Links:

• Gay man, who suffered from depression over his circumcision, kills himself
• Circumcision's Psychological Damage | Psychology Today
• Foreskin restoration for circumcised males — "Non-surgical foreskin restoration was reinvented in the late 1970s by a movement of circumcised men, mostly from the United States, who were upset at having been mutilated against their will."
• Break Music- In Effect by peez
• "The Extended Mind" by Andy Clark and David Chalmers
• Distributed cognition - Wikipedia

David and Tamler break down the latest small-stakes academic controversy--yes the one about conceptual penises. Does the recent "Sokal-like" hoax expose the ideological extremism of gender studies? Or does it show that certain portions of the "skeptic" community are susceptible to the same biases as their opponents? In the main segment they discuss the problems with measuring pain, pleasure, and happiness. When your doctor asks you to rate your pain between 1 and 10 and you say a 7, does your '7' reflect the same subjective experience as another person's '7'? (That depends--have you experienced childbirth?) How can we get more accurate readings of pain and pleasure across different people with different experiences? Most importantly, which number gets you the Vicodin?

Support Very Bad Wizards

Links:

• Skeptic » Reading Room » The Conceptual Penis as a Social Construct: A Sokal-Style Hoax on Gender Studies
• Sokal affair - Wikipedia
• Why the "Conceptual Penis" Hoax is Just a Big Cock Up. - Bleeding Heart Libertarians
• The engine of irrationality inside the rationalists – Ketan Joshi
• An embarrassing moment for the skeptical movement – Footnotes to Plato
• Bartoshuk, L. (2014). The measurement of pleasure and pain. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 9, 91-93.
• Krueger, A. B., & Stone, A. A. (2014). Progress in measuring subjective well-being. Science, 346(6205), 42-43.

David and Tamler go ambulance chasing for scandals in their own fields. Inspired by a tweet from Jay Van Bavel, they argue about which of their disciplines--philosophy or psychology--is more completely and irredeemably fucked. Is the recent controversy at the feminist philosophy journal Hypatia diagnostic of larger problems in philosophy? Can the replication crisis ever be solved? Can philosophy return to studying the big questions? What can psychologists actually discover about the human mind?

Warning: this episode features a more respectful and mature dialogue than some VBW listeners may be comfortable with.

Support Very Bad Wizards

Links:

• Jay Van Bavel on Twitter: "Psychologists: "our field is a hot mess" Philosophers: "hold my beer" https://t.co/mX344fBBfV"
• EP. 86 SAM HARRIS Part #1 by #WeThePeople LIVE | Free Listening on SoundCloud
• Leiter Reports: A Philosophy Blog: Issues in the Profession
• This Is What a Modern-Day Witch Hunt Looks Like
• The real damage done by the flare-up over a philosopher's journal article (essay)
• The Nastic Gospels | Peez
• Brian Nosek's Reproducibility Project Finds Many Psychology Studies Unreliable - The Atlantic
• Inside Psychology's 'Methodological Terrorism' Debate -- Science of Us
• Replication studies: Bad copy : Nature News & Comment
• Repeat After Me - by Maki Naro
• sometimes i'm wrong [Simine Vazire's blog]
• The Hardest Science [Sanjay Srivastava's Blog]
• The 20% Statistician [Daniël Lakens' Blog]
• The Black Goat – A podcast about doing science
• You Are Not So Smart

Somehow, after 113 episodes David and Tamler have never done a top 5 movie episode about revenge (so unbelievable that we had to double-check). That changes today. Among the things we learned: good revenge movies are harder to find than we thought, revenge (at least, movie revenge) is messy, and David knows at least one movie that Tamler has never heard of. Plus, should Jews be celebrating the killing of Egyptian first borns? Or atoning for it? (Or perhaps just pouring out a little more wine at Passover?)

Support Very Bad Wizards

Links:

• The price of freedom | OUPblog
• Progressive Family Unable to Finish Game of 'Guess Who?'
• David's #5: Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982) - IMDb
• Tamler's #5: High Plains Drifter (1973) [IMDb.com]
• David's #4: Tombstone (1993) [IMDb.com]
• Gunfight at the O.K. Corral - Wikipedia
• Earp Vendetta Ride - Wikipedia
• Tamler's #4: The Limey (1999) [IMDb.com]
• David's #3: Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (1999) [IMDb.com]
• David's #2: Carlito's Way (1993) [IMDb.com]
• Tamler's #2: Blue Ruin (2013) [IMDb.com]
• Tamler's #1: Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (2002) [IMDb.com]

David and Tamler break down what may be the best argument that it's rational to believe in God: Pascal's Wager. (No, we're not just trolling our Sam Harris listeners.) Does the expected value of believing in God outweigh the probability that you're wrong? How does belief work--can you just turn it on and off? What if you believe in the wrong God? This leads to a wide-ranging discussion on decision theory, instrumental rationality, artificial intelligence, transformative experiences, and whether David should drop acid. Your brain AND your future self will love this episode!

Support Very Bad Wizards

Links:

• 2017 BP MS 150: Mr. Tamler Sommers - National MS Society
• Prose&Cons - YouTube
• Why people are so bad at thinking about the future.
• On Intertemporal Selfishness: How the Perceived Instability of Identity Underlies Impatient Consumption | Journal of Consumer Research | Oxford Academic
• "Homer's Soul" by Paul Bloom and David Pizarro
• Pascal's Wager - Wikipedia
• Pascal's mugging - Wikipedia
• Transformative Experience by L.A. Paul, in conversation with Paul Bloom.
• "Transformative Experience: by L. A. Paul [amazon.com affiliate link]

For four years Tamler has been bitching about Gettier cases without even explaining what they are or why he hates them. That ends today. David and Tamler talk about the famous paper that challenged the (widespread? non-existent?) notion that knowledge is, and only is, justified true belief. We talk about the so-called skeptics about knowledge that Gettier inspired, then discuss the real skepticism that Descartes examined with his evil demon thought experiment. Plus, you know how you're in a monogamous relationship because of science? Well, turns out that science may be flawed....

Support Very Bad Wizards

Links:

• The idea of monogamy as a relationship ideal is based on flawed science — Quartz
• A Former Student Says UC Berkeley's Star Philosophy Professor Groped Her And Watched Porn At Work - BuzzFeed News
• About - The Casual Sex Project
• The Woman With an Alternative Theory of Hookups -- The Cut
• Clark, R. D., & Hatfield, E. (1989). Gender differences in receptivity to sexual offers. Journal of Psychology & Human Sexuality, 2(1), 39-55.
• Research - The Gottman Institute
• Break music: Shadow Play by peez
• Brock Jarrett on Twitter: "I was shocked to meet a podcast hero at a coffee shop in Denver. @tamler @verybadwizards https://t.co/4WBdqhUw8t"
• #BONUS – "Dr. David Pizarro from Very Bad Wizards." - I Doubt It with Dollemore
• A Good Cause: Sponsor Tamler in the 2017 BP MS 150
• Gettier, E. L. (1963). Is justified true belief knowledge?. analysis, 23(6), 121-123.
• Frankfurt cases - Wikipedia
• Evil demon - Wikipedia
• The Long Road to Skepticism on JSTOR

In Part 2 of our episode with film scholar Yoel Inbar (AOS: Quebecois New Wave Cinema), we break down the philosophy and psychology of the movie Arrival. [Note: Massive spoilers, see the movie first!] Does our language shape our perception of reality? Would you have a child that you knew had a short time to live? What color is 'fuschia'? Why does right-wing radio make you want to dynamite alien spacecrafts?

For Part 1 of this episode, see https://verybadwizards.fireside.fm/110

Special Guest: Yoel Inbar.

Support Very Bad Wizards

Links:

• yoel inbar :: home
• Arrival (2016) - IMDb
• Casasanto, D. (2008). Who's afraid of the big bad Whorf? Crosslinguistic differences in temporal language and thought. Language learning, 58(s1), 63-79. Chicago
• Break Music (soundcloud.com/peezismyname)
• Linguistic relativity - Wikipedia
• Inscrutability of reference - Wikipedia
• Sex-related differences in the color lexicon

Any time the topic is campus politics there's a good chance we'll have to record more than once. True to form, David and Tamler yelled at each other for most of the first attempt to discuss the Middlebury College incident while special guest Yoel Inbar wept quietly in the corner. We did a little better the second time but the whole recording session took so long that we have to release it in two parts. In part one we talk about the most popular porn search terms by U.S. State and then wade into the Charles Murray protest at Middlebury. In part two (coming next week) we do a deep dive on the movie Arrival (so if you haven't seen it yet you have one more week!)

Special Guest: Yoel Inbar.

Support Very Bad Wizards

Links:

• yoel inbar :: home
• A Violent Attack on Free Speech at Middlebury - The Atlantic
• Understanding the Angry Mob at Middlebury That Gave Me a Concussion - The New York Times
• The Bell Curve - Wikipedia
• Coming Apart (book) - Wikipedia

David and Tamler return to their repugnant roots to talk about Cornell's refusal to hire conservative faculty, Milo getting disinvited from CPAC, and a case in Canada involving child sex dolls and a bottle of lube. Then they launch into a discussion of moral pluralism. Do competing values ultimately reduce to a single set of moral principles? What defines and justifies the boundaries of pluralism? What should you do when your Amish friend is getting bullied? Plus, more lube.

Support Very Bad Wizards

Links:

• Cornell University Students Vote Against Intellectual Diversity, on Grounds It Would Harm Diversity - Hit & Run : Reason.com
• Child sex doll trial opens Pandora's box of questions about child porn - Newfoundland & Labrador - CBC News
• The 96 hours that brought down Milo Yiannopoulos - The Washington Post
• Age of Consent - by Jesse Bering - The Stranger
• Very Bad Wizards (@verybadwizards) • Instagram photos and videos
• Overcast (Podcast client for iOS) — In addition to being my favorite podcast client, Overcast allows you to send time-stamped links to audio via the website as well.
• Wolf, S. (1992). Two levels of pluralism. Ethics, 102(4), 785-798.
• Value Pluralism (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
• Yo, Judío by Jorge Luis Borges

Inspired by a recent article, David and Tamler try to figure out what's behind our aversion to moral hypocrisy. Why do we have such low opinions of people who don't practice what they preach? Shouldn't we be happy that they promote the views we agree with? Plus we respond to an email about how to come up with ideas for research. (Hint: ask Paul Bloom). Note: this episode was recorded before the greatest comeback and sporting event in human history.

(Editor's Note: I'm sure Donald Trump is as happy as Tamler is about the Superbowl. Just sayin'.)

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Links:

• The Real Problem With Hypocrisy - The New York Times — new research
• Why Do We Hate Hypocrites? Evidence for a Theory of False Signaling by Jillian J. Jordan, Roseanna Sommers, Paul Bloom, David G. Rand :: SSRN
• Thrill of the chaste: The truth about Gandhi's sex life | The Independent — 'Gandhi would have women in his bed, engaging in his "experiments" which seem to have been, from a reading of his letters, an exercise in strip-tease or other non-contact sexual activity.'
• Very Bad Wizards | Teespring

The philosopher and pride of Bakersfield, CA Manuel Vargas joins us to talk about culpability under conditions of oppression. How should we treat wrongdoers when their actions and character are shaped in part by their oppressive circumstances? Is it disrespectful not to blame oppressed people for their bad behavior? Can being oppressed make you more culpable in some circumstances? And what's the point of holding people culpable anyway? Plus, the differences between "Hispanic" and "Latino/Latina/Latinx" and an exciting announcement: VBW merch!

Special Guest: Manuel Vargas.

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Links:

• Our new VBW shirts are here! Very Bad Wizards | Teespring — Shirts, hoodies, mugs, and stickers! This time there are two slightly different designs, and a few colors to choose from!
• Nelson Walkom (listener/musician/artist who suggested the VBW "repugnant" t-shirt design)
• Manuel Vargas, that's who!
• Latino - Wikipedia
• Bakersfield, California - Wikipedia
• Situationism (psychology) - Wikipedia
• Action theory (philosophy) - Wikipedia
• Gary Watson - USC Gould School of Law
• Break Beat
• "The Social Constitution of Responsible Agency: Oppression, Politics, and Moral Ecology" in The Social Dimensions of Responsibility. Edited by Marina Oshana, Katrina Hutchinson, and Catriona Mackenzie. New York: Oxford University Press, Forthcoming.

David and Tamler take a break from moral grandstanding to talk about moral grandstanding. How often do we moralize to make us look respectable? Does grandstanding make us more cynical about ethical debates? Does it contribute to outrage exhaustion and increased polarization? Most importantly, who does it more, David or Tamler? Plus: some of our favorite answers to this year's Edge.org question. (You can read the paper by Justin Tosi and Brandon Warmke on the links page.)

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Links:

• What Scientific Term or Concept Ought to Be More Widely Known? | Edge.org
• Edge.org - Brian Eno "The Confirmation Bias"
• Edge.org - Daniel Rockmore "The Trolley Problem"
• Edge.org - Michael Gazzaniga "The Schnitt"
• Edge.org - Sean Carroll "Bayes' Theorem"
• Edge.org - Lisa Randall "Effective Theory"
• Tosi, J., & Warmke, B. (2016). Moral Grandstanding. [full text preprint]
• Gross Anatomy: In This Political Climate, When Are We Right to Feel Disgusted? | News & City Life | Houstonia
• Minson, J. A., & Monin, B. (2012). Do-gooder derogation disparaging morally motivated minorities to defuse anticipated reproach. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 3(2), 200-207.
• Acknowledgement of Traditional Aboriginal Territory in British Columbia | Safe Harbour - Respect for All
• Leave Britney Alone (Complete)
• Newman, G. E., & Cain, D. M. (2014). Tainted Altruism When Doing Some Good Is Evaluated as Worse Than Doing No Good at All. Psychological science, 25(3), 648-655.

David and Tamler go back to basics--discussing a paper (Victoria McGeer on responsibilty and Strawson) and arguing about restorative justice. What is the function of attitudes like resentment and anger? Do they presume anything metaphysics of agency? Why is Josh Greene trying to erode the moral scaffolding of society? Plus we talk about the latest Aeon troll piece on why sexual desire is wrong.

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Links:

• Why sexual desire is objectifying – and hence morally wrong | Aeon Ideas
• Satoshi Kanazawa - Wikipedia
• Victoria McGeer
• Co-reactive attitudes and the making of moral community Final MS, forthcoming in In Emotions, Imagination and Moral Reasoning, eds., C. MacKenzie & R. Langdon. Macquarie monographs in Cognitive Science. Psychology Press, 2010.
• Roskies, A. (2006). Neuroscientific challenges to free will and responsibility. Trends in cognitive sciences, 10(9), 419-423.
• Greene, J., & Cohen, J. (2004). For the law, neuroscience changes nothing and everything. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci, 359(1451), 1775-85.
• 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.

Paul Bloom takes some time away from his "Waking Up" appearances to join us for a very special movie episode: our top three films about empathy. Can movies help us understand the experiences of people who live completely different lives? Do serial killers need empathy to effectively torture their victims? Does empathy make you want to blow up the world, or lead naked men into black liquid-y voids? Plus Paul and David try to bully Tamler into watching "Westworld." Also, buy Paul's new book (link below) "Against Empathy"! [Note: this episode is heavy on the spoilers. If you're worried, check the links below--they contain the titles for each movie in the order discussed on the podcast].

Special Guest: Paul Bloom.

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Links:

• Against Empathy by Paul Bloom [amazon.com affiliate link]
• Paul Bloom on Sam Harris' "Waking Up" podcast
• Review: 'Against Empathy,' or the Right Way to Feel Someone's Pain - The New York Times
• Ex Machina (2015) - IMDb (Paul's Pick)
• The Revenant (2015) - IMDb (David's Pick)
• Nightcrawler (2014) - IMDb (Tamler's Pick)
• Never Let Me Go (2010) - IMDb (Tamler's Pick)
• The Cabin in the Woods (2012) - IMDb (Paul's Pick)
• Tangerine (2015) - IMDb (David's Pick)
• Sullivan's Travels (1941) - IMDb (Tamler's Pick)
• Break Music: Built-In Frown by peez [soundcloud.com]
• The Silence of the Lambs (1991) - IMDb (Paul's Pick)
• Being John Malkovich (1999) - IMDb (David's Pick)
• Under the Skin (2013) - IMDb (Tamler's Pick)

It’s the Thanksgiving episode! David and Tamler give thanks to their listeners and Patreon supporters with an episode chosen by our top Patreon subscribers (it was the most enjoyable election we've had all month). It was close, we had a bunch of great suggestions (that we'll refer to for upcoming episodes), but the winner was this topic from Bryan Farrow:

"In the vein of the Republic and Rationalia, I want to hear Peez and Tamler draft a constitution for "Oz", a sovereign state that maximizes whatever they cherish most. (Honor and porn, presumably.)"

Bryan’s wish is our command. Welcome to “Honoraria†and “Puerto Ricoâ€, currently at war over the five paragraph essay. Plus, Dave relates how it feels to get the bulk of the critical feedback for once. And we talk about a few other things we’re grateful for â€" including students who don’t try to bullshit us, “honeybunsâ€, academic PEDs -- and Tamler says a few words about his Mom.

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Links:

• Gross Anatomy | News & City Life | Houstonia
• "Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging" by Sebastian Junger [amazon.com affiliate link]
• Very Bad Wizards is creating a Biweekly Podcast | Patreon

David and Tamler stumble their way through talking about the election results, how Trump got elected, the role of racism, sexism, the liberal bubble, complacency, economic anxiety - and find they're just as confused as everyone else. In the second segment, we lighten things up a little (really!) and discuss the Black Mirror episode "San Junipero" (available on Netflix). Spoiler talk so try to see the episode before listening.

Support Very Bad Wizards

Links:

• Wes Alwan's Facebook post about the election [facebook.com] — Telling the millions of uneducated white rust belt voters who put Obama in office in 2008 and 2012 that they are evil bigots is not a strategy for winning an election.
• Glenn Greenwald on Who's to Blame for Trump's Election
• What So Many People Don't Get About the US Working Class by Joan Williams [hbr.org]
• I Will Never Underestimate White People's Need to Preserve Whiteness Again [verysmartbrothas.com]
• Episode Break Music [soundcloud.com]
• Black Mirror - San Junipero [imdb.com]
• Heaven is a Place on Earth by Belinda Carlisle [youtube.com]
• Charlie Brooker Shares 'San Junipero' Playlist from Black Mirror [ew.com]
• Mr. Robot Virtual Reality Experience [youtube.com] — Step inside the world of Mr. Robot like never before and experience a pivotal moment from Elliot's past. Written and directed by Sam Esmail.

Why do we call Mozart a creative genius? He created his music, but do we also think that he created himself? How do we determine who deserves praise as an artist? What about athletes? What standards do we use - do they involve a strong notion of free will that's incompatible with determinism? If not, why should we think that moral praise and blame require agents to act with that sort of free will? David and Tamler argue over how much we can learn about moral responsibility from our responsibility practices in the domains of arts and sports. Plus, it's Halloween – time to rev up the campus culture wars. Do concerns about "cultural appropriation" amount to a "war on Halloween"?

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Links:

• Oregon Student Government: Dressing Up as Any Character Is Cultural Appropriation, Not Okay - Hit & Run : Reason.com
• Russell, P. (2008). Free will, art and morality. The Journal of ethics, 12(3-4), 307-325. [academia.edu]
• Infernal Affairs - Wikipedia
• Paul Gauguin - Wikipedia

David and Tamler have their 100th episode hijacked briefly before taking it back like Wesley Snipes in Passenger 57. To celebrate the milestone Tamler pops some champagne, Dave sips his high priced Ivy League bourbon, and we both take a quiz designed by MIT that assesses our moral worldview and determines how driverless cars should be programmed. In the second segment we answer a bunch of questions our listeners submitted on Facebook and Twitter for an AMA. (We didn't get to all of them, and some were cut not because they were bad questions but because our answers were incoherent. But we did our best.) Plus, has David changed his mind about Straw Dogs? How would we argue if we switched positions in our big fights? And we expose the vast Partially Examined Life conspiracy that keeps us down in the iTunes (and Linux) ratings.

Special Guests: Eliza Sommers and Isabella Pizarro.

Support Very Bad Wizards

Links:

• Moral Machine — MIT Media Lab's Self-Driving Car Moral Test
• Garfield Minus Garfield
• Bem, D. J. (2011). Feeling the future: experimental evidence for anomalous retroactive influences on cognition and affect. Journal of personality and social psychology, 100(3), 407.
• Simmons, Joseph P., Leif D. Nelson, and Uri Simonsohn. "False-positive psychology undisclosed flexibility in data collection and analysis allows presenting anything as significant." Psychological science (2011): 0956797611417632. [haas.berkeley.edu]

David and Tamler tackle three topics on their last double digit episode. First, should a middle school perform "To Kill a Mockingbird" even if they have to use bad language the "n-word," and talk about sexual assault? Tamler relates a story involving his daughter (who was supposed to play Scout) and a playwright who refused to allow his play to be censored. But when it comes to drama, middle school's got nothing on social psychology. Next, David and Tamler break down the latest controversy surrounding Princeton psychologist Susan Fiske's leaked column about the bullying destructo-critics and methodological terrorists that are challenging the establishment in the field. Finally, they give a spoiler-filled analysis of season 2 of Mr. Robot, a polarizing season for many fans. Tamler's suffering from a little theory fatigue, but David blows his mind with his explanation of what's really going on with the Dark Army and F-Society. Have you ever cried during sex?

• To Kill a Mockingbird stage play [stageagent.com]
• Mob Rule or the Wisdom of Crowds? Susan Fiske's forthcoming column in the APS Observer [verybadwizards.com]
• Andrew Gelman's blog post about Susan Fiske's column [andrewgelman.com]
• Ioannidis, J. P. (2005). Why most published research findings are false. PLoS Med, 2(8), e124. [plos.org]
• The Hardest Science blog by Sanjay Srivastava (@hardsci)
• sometimes i'm wrong blog by Simine Vazire (@siminevazire)
• The 20% Statistician blog by Daniel Lakens (@lakens)
• Too Many Cooks [youtube.com]
• Bitcoin explained and made simple [youtube.com]
• Key generation [wikipedia.org]

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David and Tamler break down the biggest question in moral philosophy -- can we derive value judgments from a set of purely factual claims? Like the Scottish Philosopher David Hume they're surprised when the usual copulation of propositions 'is' and 'is not' suddenly turn into conclusions in the form of 'ought' and 'ought not.' And what's the deal with all these copulating propositions anyway? Aren't they a little young for that? Do propositions practice safe copulation? Is proposition porn about to be the new fad? They also talk about Moore's Open Question Argument, which introduced the term "naturalist fallacy," and respond to angry criticism over last episode's Rationalia segment.

• Listener C. Derek Varn's blog post: "The Dogmatic Slumber of Neil deGrasse Tyson" [symptomaticcommentary.wordpress.com]
• Hume's Moral Philosophy [Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy]
• Is-ought problem [wikipedia.org]
• GE Moore's Moral Philosophy [Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy]
• Open-question argument [wikipedia.org]
• The Naturalistic Fallacy [wikipedia.org]

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Do you have strong views on climate change, taxes, health care, or gun control? Do you think the evidence and reason support your side of the debate? How do you know you're right? David and Tamler discuss a recent paper by Dan Kahan and colleagues showing how prone people are to make errors in processing information to favor positions they are predisposed to believe. And even more shocking: the higher your numeracy skills, the more prone you are to fall prey to this bias. So how do we correct for this? Can we know anything at all with any confidence? Could it be that 'Are You There God? It's Me Margaret' in not in fact a completely accurate depiction of how young girls think about puberty? Plus, we decide whether to join Neil deGrasse Tyson as a citizen of Rationalia. To paraphrase Mr. T, I pity the newscasters!

• Reflections on Rationalia by Neal deGrasse Tyson [facebook.com]
• Vulcan learning pods from Star Trek (2009). [youtube.org]
• Kahan, D. M., Peters, E., Dawson, E. C., & Slovic, P. (2013). Motivated numeracy and enlightened self-government. Yale Law School, Public Law Working Paper, (307). [uoregon.edu]
• Ditto, P. H., & Lopez, D. F. (1992). Motivated skepticism: Use of differential decision criteria for preferred and nonpreferred conclusions. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 63(4), 568. [phi.org]

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So where are you? You're in some house. What am I listening to? Sounds like the radio. Is it the radio? No, you're not allowed to use that language on the radio. What are they talking about? A movie, it's called "Memento." Have I seen that? I think so, yeah. Who are these people? Hey I recognize that voice, that's Paul Bloom! I took his Coursera course before the accident, it was awesome! What's he doing talking to these guys? One of them sounds like he has a tampon down his throat. Hey wait, this is starting to get interesting. Personal identity, the search for purpose. All right, let's settle in... So where are you? You're in some house. What am I listening to? Sounds like the radio...

• Paul Bloom [campuspress.yale.edu]
• Memento [imdb.com]
• Christopher Nolan [imdb.com]
• Everything you wanted to know about "Memento" by Andy Klein [salon.com]
• Kania, A. (Ed.). (2009). Memento (Philosophers on Film Series). Routledge. [amazon.com affiliate link]
• Clive Wearing: Man without a memory [youtube.com]
• Patient H.M. (Henry Molaison) [wikipedia.org]
• Christina Starmans [christinastarmans.com]

Special Guest: Paul Bloom.

Support Very Bad Wizards

Hello friend, did you come from the Berenstein with an 'E' universe? Or have you lived in the Berenstain with an 'A' universe? David and Tamler try to make sense of what's going on in Season 2 of Mr. Robot (Ep.1-5). You're gonna want to dig through your vomit for adderall for this one.

• The Berenstain Bears [wikipedia.org]
• The Berenstein Bears: We Are Living in Our Own Parallel Universe [woodbetween.world]
• On the Berenstein Bears Switcheroo [woodbetween.world]

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We all remember the famous iTunes review calling David and Tamler "repugnant." (And the T-shirt/mugs are coming soon, we promise!) But what did the reviewer mean by that? Was he calling us "immoral"? Did he actually feel disgust when he listened to the podcast? And if so, was there wisdom in his repugnance--did the feeling offer any moral insight about the podcast's value? How did an emotion that originally evolved for pathogen avoidance get into moralizing business anyway? And why do white people kiss their dogs? Plus, an illuminating two week old discussion about the election, and Tamler finally comes around to defending a Kantian position—"the cart-egorical imperative"

• Kass, L. R. (1997). The Wisdom of Repugnance: Why we should ban the cloning of humans, the. Val. UL Rev., 32, 679. [stanford.edu]
• Very Bad Wizards Episode 7: Psychopaths and Utilitarians Pt. 2 [verybadwizards.com]
• "Freedom" internet blocking app [freedom.to]
• Dolly the cloned sheep [wikipedia.org]
• Kelly, D. (2011). Yuck!: the nature and moral significance of disgust. MIT Press. [amazon.com affiliate link]
• Sommers, T. (2013). Review of "Yuck: The Nature and Moral Significance of Disgust." The Philosophical Quarterly, 63(250), 172-174. [verybadwizards.com]
• Pizarro, D., Inbar, Y., & Helion, C. (2011). On disgust and moral judgment. Emotion Review, 3(3), 267-268. [peezer.net]
• Exaptation [wikipedia.org]
• Pinker on Kass--"The Stupidity of Dignity" in New Republic May 28 2008. [newrepublic.com]
• Do I Need an Umbrella? [doineedanumbrella.com]
• Cthulhu For President [cthulhuforamerica.com]

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Dave and Tamler don't agree about much, but one thing they do share is an affinity for character-based approaches to ethics. Using Tamler's interview with Georgetown Philosopher Nancy Sherman as their guide (link to chapter included), they discuss two ancient perspectives on how to develop good character and live happy, virtuous lives: Aristotle's and that of the Stoics. Why did Aristotle focus so much on friendship and what happens when those friendships get too "watery"? Are emotions crucial for developing virtues or are they "so much mist on the windshield?" Are the stoics right that we shouldn't get attached to things that are beyond our control? Plus, a new Twitter account has David and Tamler polishing their CVs, and a request for listener suggestions for our 100th episode.

Note: We recorded this episode after the police shootings in Baton Rouge and Minneapolis but before the shootings of the police officers in Dallas and Baton Rouge. We talk a bit about the violence, but not about what happened after Minneapolis.

• Very Bad Wizards No Context (@vbw_no_context)
• Effective altruism [wikipedia.org]
• Nancy Sherman Homepage [nanycsherman.com]
• Nancy Sherman "Navigating our Moral World." In Sommers, T. (2016). A Very Bad Wizard: Morality behind the curtain. Routledge. [verybadwizards.com]

Support Very Bad Wizards

Scandinavian film scholar Yoel Inbar joins the podcast for a deep dive on the Swedish film Force Majeure, a darkly funny meditation on what our instinctive behavior in a moment of panic can reveal about our characters and relationships. The story: while having lunch on a ski slope in the French Alps, a family believes that an avalanche is bearing down on them. Just as it seems the avalanche is going to hit them, the father (Tomas) grabs his phone and gloves and runs indoors, abandoning his wife Ebba and two children. How does the family reckon with this incident? Is the act itself unforgivable, or is it Tomas's behavior afterwards that makes him despicable? How blameworthy is Tomas for his display of cowardice? Is it even cowardice since he didn't have time to think about it? What's the deal with that creepy janitor and all the tooth brushing scenes? Why can't Yoel and Tamler agree about the answers to any of these questions? Plus, more on the Redskins and Tamler tells an embarrassing story from his past.

• Yoel Inbar [yoelinbar.net]
• On that one awkward sex scene from The Americans [vulture.com]
• Scandinavia [wikipedia.org]
• Force Majeure [imdb.com]
• Louie Season 1 Episode 9 "Bully" [imdb.com]

Special Guest: Yoel Inbar.

Support Very Bad Wizards

David and Tamler continue their intermittent "classic paper series" with an episode on Jonathan Bennett's "The Conscience of Huckleberry Finn" (published in 1974—before the reason vs. emotion debate was all cool again). Using fictional and historical examples, Bennett raises a number of questions that are central to our understanding of human morality, such as what ought to guide our behavior--human sympathy or moral beliefs? Do emotions like empathy/sympathy have judgments built into them? Are these emotions dumb? Is morality dumber? Why was Jonathan Edwards such an asshole? Plus, we talk about the implications of a poll that suggests that most Native Americans aren't offended by the name "Redskins" for the Washington D.C. NFL team.

• New poll finds 9 in 10 Native Americans aren't offended by Redskins name by By John Woodrow Cox, Scott Clement and Theresa Vargas [washingtonpost.com]
• Bennett, J. (1974). The conscience of Huckleberry Finn. Philosophy, 49, 123-134. [earlymoderntexts.com]
• The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn [wikipedia.org]
• Heinrich Himmler [wikipedia.org]
• Jonathan Edwards [wikipedia.org]
• Pizarro, D. (2000). Nothing more than feelings?: The role of emotions in moral judgment. Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour, 30, 355-375. [peezer.net]

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Inspired by a recent ProPublica report on racial bias in an algorithm used to predict future criminal behavior, David and Tamler talk about the use of analytic methods in criminal sentencing, sports, and love. Should we use algorithms to influence decisions about criminal sentencing or parole decisions? Should couples about to get married take a test that predicts their likelihood of getting divorced? Is there something inherently racist about analytic methods in sports? Plus, David asks Tamler some questions about the newly released second edition of his book A Very Bad Wizard: Morality Behind the Curtain.

• Machine Bias by Julia Angwin, Jeff Larson, Surya Mattu and Lauren Kirchner [propublica.org]
• Mission Impossible: African-Americans & Analytics by Michael Wilbon [theundefeated.com]
• A Very Bad Wizard: Morality Behind the Curtain [amazon.com affiliate link to the Kindle version of 2nd edition. Eight new interviews. And an all-new foreword by Peez.]
  • Paperback version of the 2nd edition (currently only available on the publisher's website) [routledge.com]

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David and Tamler have their first real fight in a while over an article defending "social mixing"--distributing babies randomly across families such that no infant is genetically related to the parents who raise them.. Then they discuss a study published in Science in 2013 in which participants could earn money if they agreed to let mice be killed in a gas chamber. Do free markets threaten our moral characters and cause us to abandon our principles? What are mechanisms behind this phenomenon when it happens? And why does David hate mice so much?

• Maus by Art Spiegelman [wikipedia.org]
• If babies were randomly allocated to families, would racism end? by Howard Rachlin and Melvin Frankel [aeon.co]
• Falk, A., & Szech, N. (2013). Morals and markets. Science, 340, 707-711. [sciencemag.org]
  • .pdf available here [gtcenter.org]

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David and Tamler welcome author and environmental science professor Jennifer Jacquet to the podcast to discuss the pros and cons of shame. What's the difference between shame and guilt? Is shaming effective for generating social progress or getting tax cheats to pay up? Is twitter shaming on the rise or on its way out? And what does David do when he's alone in the dark?

But before all of that, David and Tamler introduce a new way to support the podcast--through our Patreon account (patreon.com/verybadwizards). Plus, we discuss the retraction of a press release announcing that a professor agreed to referee a journal article (!) And can one passage get Tamler, the eternal optimist, to hate philosophy?

• Very Bad Wizards are on Patreon [patreon.com]
• Sociology faculty member publishes book chapter [psu.edu]
• Penn State retracts press release about sociologist reviewing an article. [retractionwatch.org]
• A very confusing paragraph [verybadwizards.com]
• Bradley, B. (2009). Well-being and death. OUP Oxford.
• Jennifer Jacquet [jenniferjacquet.com]
• Is Shame Necessary? by Jennifer Jacquet [amazon.com affiliate link]
• Congratulations, you have an all male panel! [allmalepanels.tumblr.com]
• Racists getting fired [racistsgettingfired.tumblr.com]
• Shame (movie) [imdb.com]
• Babies (movie) [imdb.com]

Special Guest: Jennifer Jacquet.

Support Very Bad Wizards

David and Tamler celebrate Passover with a high-spirited episode on guns, revenge, liberals, being offended, the fear of death, and whether kids have a right to be loved. Thanks to all you listeners for emailing your questions, comments, and complaints--this was a fun, energetic discussion. Plus, a blast from the past from an unusually alert Pizarro: Michael Shannon reading a sorority letter. But won't somebody please think of the children???!!

• Mr. Robot Season 2 premiere date [usanetwork.com]
• Michael Shannon reads sorority letter [youtube.com]
• George Rainbolt's review of "The Right to be Loved" by Matthew Liao [npdr.nd.edu]
• The Right to be Loved by S. Matthew Liao [amazon]
• The Denial of Death by Ernest Becker [wikipedia.org]
• A History of Western Philosophy by Bertrand Russell [wikipedia.org]
• The Story of Philosophy by Wil Durant
• Rick and Morty [imdb.com]
• Marijuana is Kosher [npr.org]
• Louis CK on the Bill Simmons podcast [youtube.com]
• Is Shame Necessary? by Jennifer Jacquet [amazon.com affiliate link]
• Jennifer Jacquet [jenniferjacquet.com]

Support Very Bad Wizards