Everytime Barack Obama was mentioned in Very Bad Wizards
Everytime Barack Obama was mentioned in Very Bad Wizards
Episode 8: Dishonesty, Character, and Dan Ariely
Very Bad WizardsIn a Very Special Episode of Very Bad Wizards, Dan Ariely joins David to chat about cheating, character, teling your significant other about kissing someone at a conference, and the importance of moral
Nov 12, 2012·1h 11m·0(-)Episode 16: Race, Reparations, and American (In)Justice (with Damani McDole)
Very Bad WizardsFor those who thought our most uncomfortable topics were behind us, on this episode we are joined by David's childhood friend Damani McDole [facebook.com] to discuss several potentially offensive topic
Mar 2, 2013·1h 0m·0(-)Episode 102: Red, Black, and Blue
Very Bad WizardsDavid 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 ju
Nov 15, 2016·1h 37m·0(-)Episode 108: The Gimp Exception
Very Bad WizardsInspired 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
Feb 7, 2017·1h 14m·0(-)Episode 6: Trolleys, Utilitarians, and Psychopaths (Part 1)
Very Bad WizardsTamler contemplates ending it all because he can't get 'Call Me Maybe' out of his head, and Dave doesn't try to talk him out of it. This is followed by a discussion about drones, psychopaths, Canadians
Oct 20, 2012·1h 1m·5.0(1)Episode 244: Thanks for the Memories? (Borges' "Funes the Memorious)
Very Bad WizardsDavid and Tamler return to Borges land to get lost in the infinite, this time with his legendary and tragic character Funes the memorious. What would it be like to have perfect memory, to have full acc
Sep 6, 2022·1h 51m·5.0(1)Episode 118: We Don't Love Them Hoax
Very Bad WizardsDavid and Tamler try to put the topic of campus politics to bed once and for all – with limited success. First, we get into a big fight about the prevalence and danger of political correctness in Ame
Jun 28, 2017·1h 12m·0(-)Episode 161: Reach-Around Knowledge and Bottom Performers (The Dunning-Kruger Effect)
Very Bad WizardsThe less we know, the more we know it. David and Tamler talk about the notorious Dunning-Kruger effect, which makes us overconfident in beliefs on topics we're ignorant about and under-confident when w
Apr 2, 2019·1h 25m·0(-)Episode 190: We Pod. We Pod-Cast. We Podcast. (Frankfurt’s “On Bullshit”)
Very Bad WizardsDavid and Tamler talk about police violence, the protests, and Harry Frankfurt's journal article turned bestseller ”On Bullshit." Plus we dive into a comic masterpiece of late capitalism: the Univers
Jun 9, 2020·2h 1m·0(-)Episode 162: Parents Just Don't Understand (with Paul Bloom)
Very Bad WizardsAs parents we like to think we have an impact on our children - their future, their happiness, the kinds of people they turn out to be. But are we deluded? Dave and Tamler are joined by empathy's krypo
Apr 16, 2019·1h 26m·0(-)Episode 141: Implicit Bias
Very Bad WizardsDavid and Tamler tackle the topic of implicit bias and the controversy surrounding the implicit association test (IAT). What is implicit bias anyway? Does it have to be linked to behavior in order to t
Jun 5, 2018·1h 21m·0(-)Episode 87: Lucky You (with Robert Frank)
Very Bad WizardsWe hit the jackpot with this one! Economist Robert Frank (you may remember him from such episodes as The Greatest Books Ever Written ) joins David and Tamler to talk about his new book Success and Luck
Apr 12, 2016·1h 19m·0(-)Episode 24: The Perils of Empathy (with Paul Bloom)
Very Bad WizardsPaul Bloom joins us in the second segment for a lively discussion about the value of empathy as a guide our moral decisions. And in our first scoop, we talk about Paul's new book (coming in November) J
Jun 10, 2013·1h 23m·5.0(1)Episode 4: Revenge, Pt. 1
Very Bad WizardsDave allows Tamler to rant about Sam Harris’s strawman attacks on moral relativism before launching into discussion about revenge, justice, True Grit, and Michael Dukakis. Though they differ on many
Sep 20, 2012·0h 51m·0(-)Episode 201: Very Bad Lizard People
Very Bad WizardsDavid and Tamler dive deep into the psychology and epistemology of conspiracy theories. What makes people so prone to believe in complex malevolent plots that require meticulous organization and utter
Nov 24, 2020·1h 56m·0(-)Episode 80: The Coddling of the Wizard Mind (with Vlad Chituc and Christina Hoff Sommers)
Very Bad WizardsIt's our last episode on campus protests and political correctness for a while, we promise! But it's a fun one. David and Tamler welcome two guests on the opposite side of the debate spectrum. Recent Y
Dec 21, 2015·1h 40m·0(-)Episode 98: Mind the Gap
Very Bad WizardsDavid and Tamler break down the biggest question in moral philosophy -- can we derive value judgments from a set of purely factual claims? Like the Scottish Philosopher David Hume they're surprised whe
Sep 13, 2016·1h 22m·0(-)Episode 188: Conceptual Mummies (Nietzsche's "Twilight of the Idols")
Very Bad WizardsSocrates was ugly and tired of life, so he made a tyrant of reason. Philosophers are mummies who hate the body and the senses. Reason is a tricky old woman. Morality is a misunderstanding. Kant is a sn
May 12, 2020·1h 42m·0(-)Episode 11: It is Morally Wrong to Kill Morgan Freeman (with Yoel Inbar)
Very Bad WizardsSocial psychologist Yoel Inbar joins Tamler and David to discuss Clint Eastwood's masterpiece of the Western genre, "Unforgiven." The discussion includes the nature of revenge, the requirements of just
Dec 28, 2012·1h 15m·0(-)Episode 205: Making Your Nervous System Your Ally (William James on "Habit")
Very Bad WizardsEver wonder why you’re still listening to VBW all of these years? Or why you check your phone 50 times a day? Or why you put on your pants the same way every morning? (If you still wear pants these d
Jan 26, 2021·1h 32m·0(-)Episode 176: Split-Brains and the (Dis)Unity of Consciousness
Very Bad WizardsDavid and Tamler discuss famous 'split brain' experiments pioneered by Roger Sperry and Michael Gazzaniga. What happens when you cut off the main line of communication between the left and right hemisp
Nov 12, 2019·1h 48m·0(-)Episode 14: Bonus Episode on Snitches, Tattletales, and Whistleblowers
Very Bad WizardsIn a break from tradition, we recorded a 25-minute episode on the morality of tattletaling, snitching, ratting, and whistleblowing. We discuss why these people seem especially despicable (except for ma
Feb 8, 2013·0h 27m·0(-)Episode 195: Jesus on Trial (Dostoevsky's "The Brothers Karamazov")
Very Bad WizardsDavid and Tamler dive into the most celebrated and philosophically rich scenes in Dostoevsky’s masterpiece "The Brothers Karamazov." Alyosha gets in the middle of a rock-fight, Ivan Karamazov makes a
Aug 25, 2020·1h 55m·0(-)Episode 83: Ego Trip
Very Bad WizardsDavid and Tamler continue their series of breaking down a classic essay/article in their fields. For this installment, David assigns Tamler Anthony Greenwald's fascinating 1980 review article "The Tota
Feb 9, 2016·1h 1m·0(-)