Biases and Perspectives

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Our interpretation of experiences is influenced by our pre-existing beliefs and worldviews, leading to biases and perspectives that shape how we perceive situations. These biases are so ingrained that we often do not realize the impact they have on our understanding. Religious disagreements and life in general are affected by these biases, which can result in blind certainty and close-mindedness. The story of the man in a flood highlights the concept that our perspectives can hinder us from recognizing opportunities and solutions presented to us. The challenge lies in being aware of and overcoming these automatic ways of viewing the world to cultivate a more open and balanced perspective.

David and Tamler dive into David Foster Wallace’s celebrated and surprisingly earnest Kenyon College commencement speech “This is Water”. How can we escape the prison and prism of our (literally) self-centered perspective? Can we choose to adjust our natural default settings, take a break from our running inner monologue, and pay attention to what’s in front of us right now? Is DFW appealing to Buddhist ideas or something more general that you can be found across all spiritual traditions?

Plus we ask the AI ethics program “Ask Delphi” some tough moral questions (spoiler alert: "just the tip" is "rude"), and almost get into a big fight about the potential of AI ethical robots (but we’re saving that argument for a future episode).