Very Bad Wizards

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'.) Support Very Bad Wizards 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. Support Very Bad Wizards 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.