Everytime Ted Chiang was mentioned in Very Bad Wizards
Everytime Ted Chiang was mentioned in Very Bad Wizards
Episode 257: Aural Fixation
Very Bad WizardsDavid and Tamler deliver a PODCAST episode, one of many that comes from the INTERNET, that you’ll probably listen to through Air Pods or some other kind of WIRELESS HEADPHONES as you go about your da
Mar 28, 2023·1h 39m·5.0(1)Episode 229: Skin Deep?
Very Bad WizardsWe think racism is wrong but what about “lookism” – a bias that favors attractive people over unattractive ones? If it’s wrong to judge people by the color of their skin, what about judging peo
Jan 25, 2022·1h 39m·0(-)Episode 173: Talking to Your (Alternate) Self [Ted Chiang's "Anxiety is the Dizziness of Freedom"]
Very Bad WizardsDavid and Tamler dive back into the Ted Chiang well and explore the fascinating world described in "Anxiety is the Dizziness of Freedom." What if you could interact with alternate versions of yourself
Oct 1, 2019·1h 40m·0(-)Episode 166: Total Recall (Ted Chiang's "The Truth of Fact, the Truth of Feeling")
Very Bad WizardsMemory is highly selective and often inaccurate. But what if we had an easily searchable video record of all our experiences and interactions? How would that affect our relationships? What would it rev
Jun 18, 2019·1h 49m·0(-)Episode 174: More Chiang for Your Buck ("Anxiety is the Dizziness of Freedom" Pt. 2)
Very Bad WizardsIs character destiny, or can fluky decisions or tiny shifts in weather patterns fundamentally change who we are? Does the existence or non-existence of alternate universes have any bearing on freedom a
Oct 15, 2019·1h 46m·0(-)Episode 206: Angel Chasing (Ted Chiang's "Hell is the Absence of God")
Very Bad WizardsDavid and Tamler return to the TCU (Ted Chiang Universe) to talk about his short story “Hell is the Absence of God." How would we behave if we had unequivocal proof of God, heaven, hell, and angels?
Feb 9, 2021·1h 37m·0(-)Episode 213: What Is It Like To Be a Robot Fish Man? (with Ted Chiang)
Very Bad WizardsWe’ve done deep dives on three of his stories, and now THE MAN HIMSELF, multi-award winning science fiction author Ted Chiang, joins us to explore the post-apocalyptic world of the video-game SOMA. Y
May 25, 2021·1h 57m·0(-)Episode 212: Follow Your Nose (with Yoel Inbar)
Very Bad WizardsCanada’s leading Russian literature scholar Yoel Inbar joins us to try to make sense of Gogol’s 1836 short story “The Nose.” A nose goes missing from a Russian official’s face and winds up in
May 11, 2021·1h 45m·0(-)Episode 236: Your Outie Is Skilled at Lovemaking (With Paul Bloom)
Very Bad WizardsWe welcome Paul Bloom to talk about the first season of "Severance," the new mind-bending and mind-splitting TV series on Apple TV+. What happens when you separate your home life from your work life? D
May 3, 2022·2h 10m·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 196: The Loneliest Paper in Philosophy
Very Bad WizardsShe’s beautiful, smart, funny, and head over heels in love with you. There’s only one problem – she’s from a possible world, not the actual one. What we thought would be a funny opening segment
Sep 8, 2020·1h 49m·0(-)Episode 214: You Shouldn't Feel Bad (Except You Should)
Very Bad WizardsTamler welcomes social psychologist David Pizarro of Cornell University to the podcast to talk about his recent article (along with Raj Anderson, Shaun Nichols, and Rachana Kamtekar) on “false-positi
Jun 8, 2021·1h 20m·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 254: Nobody's Parfit
Very Bad WizardsTamler’s earlier self committed to doing an episode on Parfit, and David holds his current self to that promise, which shows how unconvinced David was by Parfit’s skepticism about personal identity
Feb 14, 2023·1h 19m·5.0(1)Episode 186: The One with Peter Singer
Very Bad WizardsThe legendary Peter Singer joins us to talk about effective altruism, AI, animal welfare, esoteric morality, future Tuesday indifference, and more. I mean, it’s Peter freakin’ Singer - what more do
Apr 7, 2020·1h 29m·0(-)Episode 224: Hurts So Good (With Paul Bloom)
Very Bad WizardsVBW favorite Paul Bloom joins us to talk about the pleasures of suffering, flow states, Sisyphus, meaning, and dating questions. Check out his new book The Sweet Spot which comes out today! Plus what a
Nov 2, 2021·1h 42m·0(-)