Very Bad Wizards

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.

David and Tamler take a break from moral grandstanding to talk about moral grandstanding. How often do we moralize to make us look respectable? Does grandstanding make us more cynical about ethical debates? Does it contribute to outrage exhaustion and increased polarization? Most importantly, who does it more, David or Tamler? Plus: some of our favorite answers to this year's Edge.org question. (You can read the paper by Justin Tosi and Brandon Warmke on the links page.) Support Very Bad Wizards Links: What Scientific Term or Concept Ought to Be More Widely Known? | Edge.org Edge.org - Brian Eno "The Confirmation Bias" Edge.org - Daniel Rockmore "The Trolley Problem" Edge.org - Michael Gazzaniga "The Schnitt" Edge.org - Sean Carroll "Bayes' Theorem" Edge.org - Lisa Randall "Effective Theory" Tosi, J., & Warmke, B. (2016). Moral Grandstanding. [full text preprint] Gross Anatomy: In This Political Climate, When Are We Right to Feel Disgusted? | News & City Life | Houstonia Minson, J. A., & Monin, B. (2012). Do-gooder derogation disparaging morally motivated minorities to defuse anticipated reproach. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 3(2), 200-207. Acknowledgement of Traditional Aboriginal Territory in British Columbia | Safe Harbour - Respect for All Leave Britney Alone (Complete) Newman, G. E., & Cain, D. M. (2014). Tainted Altruism When Doing Some Good Is Evaluated as Worse Than Doing No Good at All. Psychological science, 25(3), 648-655.

David and Tamler go back to basics--discussing a paper (Victoria McGeer on responsibilty and Strawson) and arguing about restorative justice. What is the function of attitudes like resentment and anger? Do they presume anything metaphysics of agency? Why is Josh Greene trying to erode the moral scaffolding of society? Plus we talk about the latest Aeon troll piece on why sexual desire is wrong. Support Very Bad Wizards Links: Why sexual desire is objectifying – and hence morally wrong | Aeon Ideas Satoshi Kanazawa - Wikipedia Victoria McGeer Co-reactive attitudes and the making of moral community Final MS, forthcoming in In Emotions, Imagination and Moral Reasoning, eds., C. MacKenzie & R. Langdon. Macquarie monographs in Cognitive Science. Psychology Press, 2010. Roskies, A. (2006). Neuroscientific challenges to free will and responsibility. Trends in cognitive sciences, 10(9), 419-423. Greene, J., & Cohen, J. (2004). For the law, neuroscience changes nothing and everything. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci, 359(1451), 1775-85. Pizarro, D.A. & Helzer, E. (2010). Freedom of the will and stubborn moralism. In Baumeister, R.F., A.R. Mele, and K. D. Vohs (Eds.) Free will and consciousness: How might they work? (pp. 101-120) Oxford University Press.

Paul Bloom takes some time away from his "Waking Up" appearances to join us for a very special movie episode: our top three films about empathy. Can movies help us understand the experiences of people who live completely different lives? Do serial killers need empathy to effectively torture their victims? Does empathy make you want to blow up the world, or lead naked men into black liquid-y voids? Plus Paul and David try to bully Tamler into watching "Westworld." Also, buy Paul's new book (link below) "Against Empathy"! [Note: this episode is heavy on the spoilers. If you're worried, check the links below--they contain the titles for each movie in the order discussed on the podcast]. Special Guest: Paul Bloom. Support Very Bad Wizards Links: Against Empathy by Paul Bloom [amazon.com affiliate link] Paul Bloom on Sam Harris' "Waking Up" podcast Review: ‘Against Empathy,’ or the Right Way to Feel Someone’s Pain - The New York Times Ex Machina (2015) - IMDb (Paul's Pick) The Revenant (2015) - IMDb (David's Pick) Nightcrawler (2014) - IMDb (Tamler's Pick) Never Let Me Go (2010) - IMDb (Tamler's Pick) The Cabin in the Woods (2012) - IMDb (Paul's Pick) Tangerine (2015) - IMDb (David's Pick) Sullivan's Travels (1941) - IMDb (Tamler's Pick) Break Music: Built-In Frown by peez [soundcloud.com] The Silence of the Lambs (1991) - IMDb (Paul's Pick) Being John Malkovich (1999) - IMDb (David's Pick) Under the Skin (2013) - IMDb (Tamler's Pick)

It’s the Thanksgiving episode! David and Tamler give thanks to their listeners and Patreon supporters with an episode chosen by our top Patreon subscribers (it was the most enjoyable election we've had all month). It was close, we had a bunch of great suggestions (that we'll refer to for upcoming episodes), but the winner was this topic from Bryan Farrow: "In the vein of the Republic and Rationalia, I want to hear Peez and Tamler draft a constitution for "Oz", a sovereign state that maximizes whatever they cherish most. (Honor and porn, presumably.)" Bryan’s wish is our command. Welcome to “Honoraria†and “Puerto Ricoâ€, currently at war over the five paragraph essay. Plus, Dave relates how it feels to get the bulk of the critical feedback for once. And we talk about a few other things we’re grateful for – including students who don’t try to bullshit us, “honeybunsâ€, academic PEDs -- and Tamler says a few words about his Mom. Support Very Bad Wizards Links: Gross Anatomy | News & City Life | Houstonia "Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging" by Sebastian Junger [amazon.com affiliate link] Very Bad Wizards is creating a Biweekly Podcast | Patreon

David and Tamler stumble their way through talking about the election results, how Trump got elected, the role of racism, sexism, the liberal bubble, complacency, economic anxiety - and find they're just as confused as everyone else. In the second segment, we lighten things up a little (really!) and discuss the Black Mirror episode "San Junipero" (available on Netflix). Spoiler talk so try to see the episode before listening. Support Very Bad Wizards Links: Wes Alwan's Facebook post about the election [facebook.com] — Telling the millions of uneducated white rust belt voters who put Obama in office in 2008 and 2012 that they are evil bigots is not a strategy for winning an election. Glenn Greenwald on Who’s to Blame for Trump’s Election What So Many People Don't Get About the US Working Class by Joan Williams [hbr.org] I Will Never Underestimate White People's Need to Preserve Whiteness Again [verysmartbrothas.com] Episode Break Music [soundcloud.com] Black Mirror - San Junipero [imdb.com] Heaven is a Place on Earth by Belinda Carlisle [youtube.com] Charlie Brooker Shares 'San Junipero' Playlist from Black Mirror [ew.com] Mr. Robot Virtual Reality Experience [youtube.com] — Step inside the world of Mr. Robot like never before and experience a pivotal moment from Elliot's past. Written and directed by Sam Esmail.

Why do we call Mozart a creative genius? He created his music, but do we also think that he created himself? How do we determine who deserves praise as an artist? What about athletes? What standards do we use - do they involve a strong notion of free will that’s incompatible with determinism? If not, why should we think that moral praise and blame require agents to act with that sort of free will? David and Tamler argue over how much we can learn about moral responsibility from our responsibility practices in the domains of arts and sports. Plus, it’s Halloween – time to rev up the campus culture wars. Do concerns about “cultural appropriation” amount to a “war on Halloween”? Support Very Bad Wizards Links: Oregon Student Government: Dressing Up as Any Character Is Cultural Appropriation, Not Okay - Hit & Run : Reason.com Russell, P. (2008). Free will, art and morality. The Journal of ethics, 12(3-4), 307-325. [academia.edu] Infernal Affairs - Wikipedia Paul Gauguin - Wikipedia