#258 Mark Silcox: The Experience Machine, Simulation, And Videogames

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Dr. Mark Silcox is a Professor and Chair of de Department of Humanities and Philosophy at the University of Central Oklahoma. He is the co-author (with Jon Cogburn) of Philosophy Through Video Games (Taylor & Francis, 2008) and their co-edited Open Court Volume Dungeons & Dragons and Philosophy: Raiding the Temple of Wisdom came out in late 2012. He is mainly interested in metaethics, aesthetics, the philosophy of language, and the philosophy of games.

In this episode, we go through a number of topics in the philosophy of videogames and simulated reality. We first discuss the Robert Nozick’s experience machine thought experiment, and several of its philosophical implications, including the nature of reality, our experience of reality, hedonism, and reducing suffering in the world. We also talk about fearmongering surrounding advanced forms of AI, and fearing “black boxes”, and also how we constantly delegate decisions to other people whose decision-making processes we do not understand. We talk about social media, and what it means to have “fake relationships”. We then get into the philosophy of videogames, and we go through the ethics of worldbuilding; how people explore their personal identities through avatars and archetypes; and role-playing in videogames and real life.

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Philosophy Through Video Games: https://amzn.to/2khnuEW

Experience Machines: The Philosophy of Virtual Worlds: https://amzn.to/2lZT4HH

A Defense of Simulated Experience: New Noble Lies: https://amzn.to/2mgjrJD

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