The Morality of Everyday Things: An Everyday Philosophy Podcast

It's felt great to hold a streak and post for you guys each week for a couple months - even if a bunch of bank holidays changed posting days, and we missed the last one by a week! Unfortunately, we're busy busy boys so we'll now be taking a hiatus to build up a bank of episodes again and focus on our business over a rather key month for us.If there's a question you'd like to hear about in the upcoming season, an anecdote you'd like to share, or something you're an expert on (open to guest sessions in that case) then just let us know. You can reach us on our socials, or by emailing anthony@stasher.com.Support the show:Please leave us a review! Spotify even now let's you do it - see that little star icon, go on, give it a click. Reviews are a great way to help others find the show, and it makes us feel all warm and fuzzy inside.If you're a fan of the show, we'd love to chat to you! Book a call with us here and it'll feel like being on one of our episodes: https://calendly.com/jacob-stasher/user-researchAnd if you want to give us feedback via our survey, please fill that in here: https://forms.gle/xMjvDbsipam1RAwg6 If you’re a fan of the show, please consider signing up to our Patreon. A small subscription of just $1 goes a long way towards supporting the show - and it makes us feel pretty great too. https://www.patreon.com/moedt.Know anyone who likes to think about or debate the kind of topics we cover? Spread the word - and you’ll have our gratitude. Keep up to date with future episodes on our website here: https://moedt.substack.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Firstly, apologies for the slow release - technical issue with an AI product to smooth the sound ruined our initial release. This will also be the last episode in our recent season, so expect 3-4 weeks of replays of our old hits while we build out a bank for our new season!Today's Episode:Today, we do a hot take on the deputy PM's recent firing (Dominic Raab) based on allegations of bullying. We dig in to the specifics of the report, and touch on concepts of management and culture (generally and specific to government) and discuss concepts such as "radical candour", the story of Bartleby and other relevant topics.Support the show:Please leave us a review! Spotify even now let's you do it - see that little star icon, go on, give it a click. Reviews are a great way to help others find the show, and it makes us feel all warm and fuzzy inside.If you're a fan of the show, we'd love to chat to you! Book a call with us here and it'll feel like being on one of our episodes: https://calendly.com/jacob-stasher/user-researchAnd if you want to give us feedback via our survey, please fill that in here: https://forms.gle/xMjvDbsipam1RAwg6 If you’re a fan of the show, please consider signing up to our Patreon. A small subscription of just $1 goes a long way towards supporting the show - and it makes us feel pretty great too. https://www.patreon.com/moedt.Know anyone who likes to think about or debate the kind of topics we cover? Spread the word - and you’ll have our gratitude. Keep up to date with future episodes on our website here: https://moedt.substack.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today's Episode:We've previously touched on AI and understanding. In today's episode, we explore what sorts of jobs are at risk of loss, and how and why AI poses a risk to human existence. This explores both it becoming out of control, but also intentional misuse.Check it out and let us know your thoughts!Support the show:Please leave us a review! Spotify even now let's you do it - see that little star icon, go on, give it a click. Reviews are a great way to help others find the show, and it makes us feel all warm and fuzzy inside.If you're a fan of the show, we'd love to chat to you! Book a call with us here and it'll feel like being on one of our episodes: https://calendly.com/jacob-stasher/user-researchAnd if you want to give us feedback via our survey, please fill that in here: https://forms.gle/xMjvDbsipam1RAwg6 If you’re a fan of the show, please consider signing up to our Patreon. A small subscription of just $1 goes a long way towards supporting the show - and it makes us feel pretty great too. https://www.patreon.com/moedt.Know anyone who likes to think about or debate the kind of topics we cover? Spread the word - and you’ll have our gratitude. Keep up to date with future episodes on our website here: https://moedt.substack.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today's Episode:The concept of living out your golden years somewhere warm, wallowing away the hours in the garden or on a beach has gone from the idea of luxury (100-200 years ago) to the expectation for all. In a world with declining fertility rates (i.e. people aren't having babies) and some larger generations approaching their twilight years, some countries are seeing pension spending rising to over 10% of GDP. Put simply, generational demographics (gens getting smaller in many developed countries) and people living longer mean that, when the old outnumber the young, it's going to be very hard to support our pensioners. We're seeing attempts to reform ahead of this pension timebomb, but people do not want to give up money they've come to expect and to continue to work. Nowhere are we seeing this clash happen than in France, where the clash is really quite literal.This also forms a nice follow-on to our episodes on striking - is this the real life example of trade unions taking it to far? All this and more in today's hot-take episode. Excuse the cursory research into the details of the pension reform in France - further reading has revealed that a large part of the anger towards this policy is that it will hurt poorer people harder than bureaucrats and public sector workers.Support the show:Please leave us a review! Spotify even now let's you do it - see that little star icon, go on, give it a click. Reviews are a great way to help others find the show, and it makes us feel all warm and fuzzy inside.If you're a fan of the show, we'd love to chat to you! Book a call with us here and it'll feel like being on one of our episodes: https://calendly.com/jacob-stasher/user-researchAnd if you want to give us feedback via our survey, please fill that in here: https://forms.gle/xMjvDbsipam1RAwg6 If you’re a fan of the show, please consider signing up to our Patreon. A small subscription of just $1 goes a long way towards supporting the show - and it makes us feel pretty great too. https://www.patreon.com/moedt.Know anyone who likes to think about or debate the kind of topics we cover? Spread the word - and you’ll have our gratitude. Keep up to date with future episodes on our website here: https://moedt.substack.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today's Episode:Many will recall the remote/wfh fervour during covid, what felt like the coming of a new revolution. So many CEOs were saying how much more productive they were, employees were happy and commutes were a distant memory.Things are different now that covid's gone. CEOs and demanding people back into the office (if they're not just laying people off), cities are rather sad ghost towns and commutes are coming back. In this ongoing struggle between WFH, remote or office based work, where do you stand? More important than the practical, we talk about the subtle psychological factors at play, and discuss the place of work relative to meaning within our lives.This episode is less of a philosophical exploration, and really just musings between 2 young founders on the nature of work and happiness, particularly when it comes to being a physical part of your working community vs the comfort of WFH or the novelty of travelling!Support the show:Please leave us a review! Spotify even now let's you do it - see that little star icon, go on, give it a click. Reviews are a great way to help others find the show, and it makes us feel all warm and fuzzy inside.If you're a fan of the show, we'd love to chat to you! Book a call with us here and it'll feel like being on one of our episodes: https://calendly.com/jacob-stasher/user-researchAnd if you want to give us feedback via our survey, please fill that in here: https://forms.gle/xMjvDbsipam1RAwg6 If you’re a fan of the show, please consider signing up to our Patreon. A small subscription of just $1 goes a long way towards supporting the show - and it makes us feel pretty great too. https://www.patreon.com/moedt.Know anyone who likes to think about or debate the kind of topics we cover? Spread the word - and you’ll have our gratitude. Keep up to date with future episodes on our website here: https://moedt.substack.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today's Episode:ChatGPT is the hot topic of the day and, much like when google first came out, it still feels magic to use. However, it raises several bigger questions to match. Some are practical, but many are a bit deeper. On the practical side: what happens when AI is doing all the work, will enough be left for us? How should we renumerate people to survive, if not for work? On the philosophical side: does AI ACTUALLY understand me? What does it even mean to understand? If AI reaches the point where for all intents and purposes it perfectly mimics (or even improves on) understanding...does it matter that there's no thinking, feeling thing behind the code? I mean, how do I know that anyone else is more than an input -> output machine with a conscious experience inbetween? My own is the only one I can verify afterall.We discuss this and more in our first episode exploring AI, focusing on understanding. We explain the distinction between functional and phenomenal understanding and use thought experiments like The Chinese Room to highlight the point.Support the show:Please leave us a review! Spotify even now let's you do it - see that little star icon, go on, give it a click. Reviews are a great way to help others find the show, and it makes us feel all warm and fuzzy inside.If you're a fan of the show, we'd love to chat to you! Book a call with us here and it'll feel like being on one of our episodes: https://calendly.com/jacob-stasher/user-researchAnd if you want to give us feedback via our survey, please fill that in here: https://forms.gle/xMjvDbsipam1RAwg6 If you’re a fan of the show, please consider signing up to our Patreon. A small subscription of just $1 goes a long way towards supporting the show - and it makes us feel pretty great too. https://www.patreon.com/moedt.Know anyone who likes to think about or debate the kind of topics we cover? Spread the word - and you’ll have our gratitude. Keep up to date with future episodes on our website here: https://moedt.substack.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today's Episode:You may have recently heard that Penguin Random House released new, editted versions of Roald Dahl's old classic childrens books, to keep them up to date with current norms around discussions of: weight, gender, race and mental health. Those are some weighty (no pun intended) topics of identity politics of recent years, but have they got this right? Come with us and examine some of these edits to determine where you sit on this decision, that has found critics from across the ideological spectrum.Particularly, we start by examining the severity of these changes, and ultimately 3 key strands we touch on are: the distinction between the removal of something versus the insertion or promotion of new ideas that weren't previously present, the special case of children's books versus general censorship and finally dicussing censorship, free-speech and the 'marketplace for ideas' more generally.Support the show:Please leave us a review! Spotify even now let's you do it - see that little star icon, go on, give it a click. Reviews are a great way to help others find the show, and it makes us feel all warm and fuzzy inside.If you're a fan of the show, we'd love to chat to you! Book a call with us here and it'll feel like being on one of our episodes: https://calendly.com/jacob-stasher/user-researchAnd if you want to give us feedback via our survey, please fill that in here: https://forms.gle/xMjvDbsipam1RAwg6 If you’re a fan of the show, please consider signing up to our Patreon. A small subscription of just $1 goes a long way towards supporting the show - and it makes us feel pretty great too. https://www.patreon.com/moedt.Know anyone who likes to think about or debate the kind of topics we cover? Spread the word - and you’ll have our gratitude. Keep up to date with future episodes on our website here: https://moedt.substack.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

One more replay before we start our new season - p.s. let us know how you like our current affairs hot-takes, early feedback has been positive! Following the covid theme to mark the 3 year anniversary (do you say that for bad occasions?) of the first lockdowns in 2020, here we discuss the ethics of making vaccines mandatory - original description follows:----In this episode, Jake and Ant look at the ethics of mandatory vaccination, particularly in the context of covid and the year of mandatory lockdowns we've just been through. Arguably, vaccines have clearer benefits and fewer trade-offs than lockdowns, but precedent over the last few decades has been to enshrine people's freedom of choice on the matter (even if their opinions are based on debunked conspiracy theories).Does the covid crisis make for a different circumstance, particularly given all the recent, mandatory lockdowns? They do after all represent another example of restricting personal freedoms in the interest of public health. We consider the similarities and differences between these interventions which either support or detract from this analogy, exploring concepts of bodily autonomy and human dignity, as well as a brief 'ground-up' view from consequentialist and deontological perspectives.Sign up to our newsletter here to receive a breakdown of the arguments presented, some memes and updates on future episodes: https://moedt.substack.com/If you'd like to support the show, checkout our patreon at: https://www.patreon.com/moedt Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The first of our hot-take episodes, where we assess current affairs, what our feelings are on it and try to apply a philosophical lens where appropriate - and talk through recent listener questions! This week, we discuss the BBC's temporary suspension of Gary Lineker after comparing descriptions of plans to deal with refugees as akin to the talk of 1930's germany.Please do send in your suggested questions, thoughts etc via instagram.Support the show:Please leave us a review! Spotify even now let's you do it - see that little star icon, go on, give it a click. Reviews are a great way to help others find the show, and it makes us feel all warm and fuzzy inside.If you’re a fan of the show, please consider signing up to our Patreon. A small subscription of just $1 goes a long way towards supporting the show - and it makes us feel pretty great too. https://www.patreon.com/moedt.Know anyone who likes to think about or debate the kind of topics we cover? Spread the word - and you’ll have our gratitude. Keep up to date with future episodes on our website here: https://moedt.substack.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

An ominous anniversary hit us yesterday...3 years since the first UK lockdown. It seemed only fitting to replay this episode. The original description follows. Next up is a hot-take episode for you to let us know what you think of the format, and we then plan to replay our 2nd covid episode as a follow-on to this one, before getting started on the next season!In this episode, Jake and Ant consider the circumstances where restricting personal freedoms in the interest of public health may be morally justified. This includes an exploration of whether this is a truly unique circumstances, versus issues like national security, what moral frameworks are most appropriate and the classic balancing of the moral calculus. We'll address questions such as: what's the value of a human life? How should we spread benefits and harms across society and, of course, what might Kant have to say about all this?If you'd like to support the show, check out our Patreon at: https://www.patreon.com/moedt Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices