Dehumanization and its Effects on Violence

24min Snip

00:00

Play full episode

Summary

Transcript

Episode notes

In this chapter, the speakers discuss the concept of dehumanization and how it relates to violence. They explore the idea that when perceiving others as part of a certain group or category, individuals often fail to see them as unique individuals and instead view them as a collective. The speakers also touch on the difficulty of killing or harming others, citing historical cases where violence seemed to occur more easily.

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: