Very Bad Wizards

Episode 333: P-hacking the Mind

David and Tamler do another tier ranking--this time on philosophical thought experiments, so as not to further alienate our chemistry-adjacent listeners. We hit most of the big ones: Pascal's wager, Pascal's mugging, Mary the color scientist, the Ring of Gyges, Jarvis Thomson's violinist, the experience machine, the utility monster, and a lot more. Can you guess our grade for the trolley dilemma? * The Chinese Room (Searle) [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_room] [wikipedia.org] * Descartes' Evil Demon (Descartes) [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evil_demon] [wikipedia.org] * The Experience Machine (Nozick) [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Experience_machine] [wikipedia.org] * Mary the Color Scientist (F. Jackson) [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knowledge_argument] [wikipedia.org] * Pascal's Mugging (Yudkowsky/Bostrom) [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pascal%27s_mugging] [wikipedia.org] * Pascal's Wager (Pascal) [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pascal%27s_wager] [wikipedia.org] * The Ring of Gyges (Plato) [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ring_of_Gyges] [wikipedia.org] * The Shallow Pond (Singer) [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Famine,_Affluence,_and_Morality] [wikipedia.org] * The Ship of Theseus (Hobbes) [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ship_of_Theseus] [wikipedia.org] * The Trolley Problem (Philippa Foot/J.J. Thomson) [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trolley_problem] [wikipedia.org] * The Utility Monster (Nozick) [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utility_monster] [wikipedia.org] * The Veil of Ignorance (Rawls) [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Original_position] [wikipedia.org] * The Violinist (J.J. Thomson) [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Defense_of_Abortion] [wikipedia.org]

Episode 332: Talking to Myself ("The Other" by Jorge Luis Borges)

David and Tamler talk about Jorge Luis Borges' disorienting short story "The Other." A 70-year-old Borges sits on a bench by the Charles River and who should he encounter but himself as a 19-year-old, by the Rhône River in 1918 Geneva. Is this a dream? Who is dreaming it? What does the Heraclitean river metaphor reveal about this impossible meeting? (Stick around after the closing music, David reads the story in English and in Spanish.) Plus Richard Dawkins has a memorable encounter of his own, but with his AI Claudia (née Claude). If you think AI isn't conscious then how do you explain Claudia's rapturous and penetrating insight into Dawkins' unpublished novel? When Dawkins met Claude: Could this AI be conscious? [https://unherd.com/2026/05/is-ai-the-next-phase-of-evolution/?edition=us] (paywalled) [unherd.com] * Unpaywalled at archive.org [https://archive.is/6RdK9] The Other by Jorge Luis Borges [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Other_(short_story)] [wikipedia.org] The Collected Fictions of Jorge Luis Borges trans. by Andrew Hurley [https://amzn.to/4fgbblh] [amazon.com affiliate link]

Episode 331: Who's Your Law Daddy? (Plato's "Crito")

In another Back 2 Basics episode, David and Tamler talk about Plato's "Crito," a dialogue that takes place two days before Socrates' death by hemlock. His friend Crito wants him to escape, but Socrates will only agree if they judge that it's the right thing to do. One imagined debate between him and the Laws of Athens later, Socrates decides to accept his punishment. Plus we open with "Contrarian Corner" (Cinema Edition), in which we list our top 3 movies where we just don't understand all the love. Crito (Plato's Dialogue) [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crito] [wikipedia.org [https://wikipedia.org/]]

Episode 330: A Fact-Based Podcast (Gogol's "The Overcoat")

David and Tamler return to the strange world of Nikolai Gogol and discuss his absurdist masterpiece "The Overcoat," a story that both calls for and steadfastly resists interpretation. But first we discuss a forthcoming Phil Studies article "Philosophy as Fact-Based Discipline: 200 Philosophical Facts." Wait until you hear what they are. Frances, B. (2026). Philosophy as fact-based discipline: 200 philosophical facts. [https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11098-025-02457-y] Philosophical Studies, 183(2), 551-581. [springer.com] The Overcoat by Nikolai Gogol [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Overcoat] [wikipedia.org]

Episode 329: Why We Suffer

David and Tamler return to the work of Richard Shweder and colleagues, focusing this time on his foundational paper "The "Big Three" of Morality (Autonomy, Community, Divinity) and the "Big Three" Explanations of Suffering. What are the various ways that people explain suffering and illness across cultures? What do we lose when we only emphasize biomedical explanations? Why can't social psychology be more like this? Plus a new Chalmers (not that one) paper argues that monogamy is impermissible. Hello ladies! Join at the right Patreon tier and vote on an episode topic! [https://www.patreon.com/c/verybadwizards/membership] [patreon.com] Chalmers, H. (2019). Is monogamy morally permissible?. [https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/harry-chalmers-is-monogamy-morally-permissiblee] The Journal of Value Inquiry, 53(2), 225-241. Harry Chalmers' Substack post on Monogamy [https://noeticpathways.substack.com/p/monogamy-moorean-shifting-and-commonsense] Shweder, R. A., Much, N. C., Mahapatra, M., & Park, L. (1997). The "big three" of morality (autonomy, community, and divinity) and the "big three" explanations of suffering. [s/Shweder-Much-Mahapatra-Park-1997.pdf] In A. Brandt & P. Rozin (Eds.), Morality and health (pp. 119–169). Routledge.