Very Bad Wizards
a philosopher and a psychologist ponder human morality
We found 3 episodes of Very Bad Wizards with the tag “ted chiang”.
-
Episode 229: Skin Deep?
January 25th, 2022 | 1 hr 39 mins
beauty, listener-selected episodes, lookism, ted chiang
We think racism is wrong but what about “lookism” – a bias that favors attractive people over unattractive ones? If it’s wrong to judge people by the color of their skin, what about judging people for something that is only skin deep? We talk about two pieces today, a forthcoming philosophy article by William D’Allesandro “Is it Bad to Prefer Attractive Partners” and the Ted Chiang story “Liking What You See: A Documentary.”
Plus we select the topic finalists for our beloved Patreon listener-selected episode. Interesting list this time around!
-
Episode 213: What Is It Like To Be a Robot Fish Man? (with Ted Chiang)
May 25th, 2021 | 1 hr 57 mins
bullshit, evolutionary psychology, soma, ted chiang, video game
We’ve done deep dives on three of his stories, and now THE MAN HIMSELF, multi-award winning science fiction author Ted Chiang, joins us to explore the post-apocalyptic world of the video-game SOMA. You play Simon Jarrett, a man who goes for a brain scan in Toronto and wakes up a 100 years later in an underwater research facility, the last remaining hope to preserve human consciousness from extinction. Pizarro confronts his worst nightmare, a first-person experience of
stepping into a transporter-style scenario. We talk about how video games can make philosophical problems come alive, what “fission-cases” tell us about personal identity (Tamler’s note: this really should count as our Parfit episode), what it’s like to be conscious without a body, the problem with thought experiments, and lots more.Plus, a new evo-psych study on why bullshitting is adaptive – convince people you’re smart and save energy while you do it!
-
Episode 206: Angel Chasing (Ted Chiang's "Hell is the Absence of God")
February 9th, 2021 | 1 hr 37 mins
consciousness, hell is the absence of god, religion, short story, ted chiang, the hard problem
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? Would that answer our questions about meaning and purpose and justice? Or would those same questions reappear in a different guise? Plus, the hard problem of breakfast, Jewish Space Lasers, and more…