My guest this week is Chris Kavanagh (@C_Kavanagh), junior co-host of the Decoding the Gurus podcast and second author on a range of topics related to human behavior. We discuss his recent publications and what they tell us about the risks of stochastic terrorism from different communities. Decoding the Gurus: https://decoding-the-gurus.captivate.fm/ Convocation: Fjords Vol. 1 by Zachary Schomburg Music by GW Rodriguez Sibling Pods: Philosophers in Space: https://0gphilosophy.libsyn.com/ Filmed ...
Jun 09, 2023•1 hr 17 min•Transcript available on Metacast My guest this week is Daniel Schauer, a lifelong computer nerd who currently works at Takeda Pharmaceuticals in their writing department to submit materials to the FDA but is here representing himself as a computer nerd with a bunch of fiddling experience with GPT-4. We discuss what GPt-4 can do especially with regard to ethical reasoning. Democratizing Music: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/democratizing-music/id1546799293 Convocation: Warhammer 40k Music by GW Rodriguez Sibling Pods: Phi...
May 26, 2023•1 hr 16 min•Ep 286•Transcript available on Metacast My guest this week is Matt Browne (@ArthurCDent), professor of psychology at central Queensland, Australia, and senior co-host of the Decoding the Gurus podcast. We discuss how GPT-4 is a whole new thing compared to its predecessors, and the narratives aren't keeping up, including mine! I started playing with GPT-4 after this episode and honestly feel we downplayed it. More on that soon! Decoding the Gurus: https://decoding-the-gurus.captivate.fm/ Convocation: GPT-4 Music by GW Rodriguez Sibling...
Apr 28, 2023•1 hr 7 min•Ep 267•Transcript available on Metacast My guest this week is Fredrik Trusohamn (@DUAncientAliens) host of the Digging Up Ancient Aliens podcast, where he recently did a series on Graham Hancock’s Ancient Apocalypse materials on netflix. We discuss the overlaps in our research on Hancock and broader questions about the culture of racism and harmful conspiracism in the Ancient Aliens world. Fredrik's website: https://diggingupancientaliens.com/ Convocation: Kurt Vonnegut Jr., Slaughterhouse-Five My UK Skeptic Mag article on Hancock: ht...
Apr 14, 2023•1 hr 2 min•Ep 266•Transcript available on Metacast My guest this week is Leah Prime (@leahprime) host of The Invisible Night School, author at sub stack, and working on a project called We Own the Night: The Legacy of Art Bell and Coast to Coast AM. Leah does work in exotic states of conscious and Spiritual emergence and AI ethics in tech. We discuss High Weirdness/Strangeness, spiritual emergence, conspiracism, and the tightrope of skepticism. Leah's site: https://bio.site/leahprime Convocation: Webb ( https://link.springer.com/referenceworkent...
Mar 31, 2023•1 hr 5 min•Ep 265•Transcript available on Metacast My guest this week is Erik Davis (@erik_davis), author of High Weirdness and many other worthwhile reads on counterculture topics. We discuss the history of High Weirdness and how it has shaped our modern world for better and for worse. Erik Davis: https://techgnosis.com/ https://www.burningshore.com/ Convocation: Erik Davis Music by GW Rodriguez Sibling Pods: Philosophers in Space: https://0gphilosophy.libsyn.com/ Filmed Live Musicals Pod: https://www.filmedlivemusicals.com/thepodcast.html Supp...
Mar 19, 2023•1 hr 6 min•Ep 264•Transcript available on Metacast My guest this week is Ben Dow (@benjaminjdow), a professor of practice at Southern Methodist University with a focus in management studies. He recently sent me several papers he worked on with other folks about conspiracism and leadership, and we discuss what those papers suggest about the role of conspiracism in modern politics and other organizations. Ben's website: https://www.smu.edu/cox/Our-People-and-Community/Faculty/Benjamin-Dow Convocation: H.L. Mencken, A Mencken Chrestomathy Music by ...
Mar 03, 2023•1 hr 8 min•Ep 264•Transcript available on Metacast My guest this week is Matthew Cull (@MaattCuull), a philosopher postdoc at the University of Edinburgh, with an interest in social philosophy, particularly debates around the concept of conceptual engineering. We discuss the debate between classic approaches to defining terms and conceptual engineering. We also discuss whether my pedagogy of luck counts as conceptual engineering or not. NOTE ON VIP CONTENT FOR THIS WEEK: Sadly, we had some issues with the bonus content and Matt and I decided to ...
Feb 19, 2023•1 hr 10 min•Ep 262•Transcript available on Metacast My guest this week is Joshua Stein (@thephilosotroll), a postdoc in philosophy at Georgetown. His interests include social ontology, political philosophy, collective responsibility, and today’s topic, antisemitic conspiracism. We discuss Ye's recent public spiral and what it says about the future of right wing politics. Joshua's Website: Convocation: Sartre Music by GW Rodriguez Sibling Pods: Philosophers in Space: https://0gphilosophy.libsyn.com/ Filmed Live Musicals Pod: https://www.filmedlive...
Feb 03, 2023•1 hr 10 min•Ep 261•Transcript available on Metacast My guest this week is Yassine Meskhout (@ymeskhout), a Public defender and infrequent host of The Bailey podcast. Yassine argues for anarchy perspectives also writes on substack and for Jesse Singal’s newsletter on topics related to the criminal justice system as well as some culture war issues. His articles include “Eleven Magic Words” and “I am here because of dumb luck”. Yassine's website: https://ymeskhout.substack.com/ Convocation: Ayn Rand Music by GW Rodriguez Sibling Pods: Philosophers i...
Jan 20, 2023•1 hr 13 min•Ep 260•Transcript available on Metacast My guest this week is Jonathan Church (@jondavidchurch), a chartered financial analyst, government economist, and author. His recent books include Reinventing Racism: Why White Fragility is the wrong way to think about racial inequality, and Virtue in an age of identity politics: A stoic approach to social justice. From my perspective his works aim to provide substantive critiques of current approaches to marxism and social justice, or “Wokeness” my term not his, while also criticizing the way t...
Jan 06, 2023•1 hr 16 min•Ep 259•Transcript available on Metacast My guest this week is Helen Lewis (@helenlewis), a staff writer at the Atlantic and author of the book Difficult Women: A History of Feminism in 11 Fights. Helen has a project with the BBC coming out December 19th about internet gurus. We discuss her book, her article on wokeness as a religion, and debates around trans rights and gender self-ID. Helen's Substack: https://helenlewis.substack.com/ Convocation: Difficult Women Music by GW Rodriguez Sibling Pods: Philosophers in Space: https://0gphi...
Dec 23, 2022•2 hr 31 min•Ep 258•Transcript available on Metacast My guest this week is Matt Dillahunty (@Matt_Dillahunty), longtime activist for skepticism and atheism and former host of The Atheist Experience. Matt has engaged in public debates on contentious issues like religion and reproductive rights with contentious individuals like Ray Comfort and Jordan Peterson. We discuss his 16 year stint on the Atheist Experience and how the culture wars have impacted our community during that time. Matt's Patreon Feed: https://www.patreon.com/AtheistDebates Convoc...
Dec 09, 2022•1 hr 9 min•Ep 257•Transcript available on Metacast My returning guest this week is Stephanie Lepp (@stephlepp), a conceptual artist and the incoming executive director at the Institute for Cultural Evolution. We discuss her recent project, Deep Reckonings, a series of videos using deep fake technology to imagine what it would look like if famous individuals apologized for harms they've caused. Note: We recorded this episode twice in an attempt to have a productive conversation worth listening to. While I believe this final version is worth liste...
Nov 26, 2022•1 hr 15 min•Ep 256•Transcript available on Metacast My guest this week is Alfred Mele, the William H. and Lucyle T. Werkmesiter Professor of Philosophy at Florida State University, and author several books on free will, most recently Free Will: An Opinionated Guide. Mele argues for a soft compatibilism, claiming he's not convinced by either the compatibilist or incompatibilist positions, but feels the first is more likely to be true. We discuss the arguments for this position and whether it's livable. Free Will: An Opinionated Guide: https://www....
Nov 12, 2022•1 hr 15 min•Ep 255•Transcript available on Metacast My guest this week is David Berstein (@DavidLBernstein), author of Woke Antisemitism. In the book he argues that wokeness poses a threat to Jews because it promotes an illiberal society and the view that Jews are white oppressors. We discuss the merits and potential pitfalls of his argument. Woke Antisemitism: https://jilv.org/book/ Convocation: Fanon Music by GW Rodriguez Sibling Pods: Philosophers in Space: https://0gphilosophy.libsyn.com/ Filmed Live Musicals Pod: https://www.filmedlivemusica...
Oct 28, 2022•1 hr 18 min•Ep 254•Transcript available on Metacast My guest this week is Reverend Todd Eklof, author of The Gadfly Papers: Three Three inconvenient essays by one pesky minister. Rev Eklof was removed from fellowship with the Unitarian Universalist church as a result of complaints made by members of the church in response to his dissemination of The Gadfly Papers at a Unitarian Universalist Alliance in Spokane in 2019. We discuss his claims the UUA has succumb to safteyism and PC culture in a way that undermines the core UU principles of question...
Oct 14, 2022•2 hr 32 min•Ep 253•Transcript available on Metacast My guest this week is Dell Onnerth (@moarcowbelle), a longtime friend of the show who I finally got to meet in person at the American Atheists con. They own their own dairy farm, as well as working other jobs to afford that farm. We discuss the concept of animal welfare, comment attempts to define it and how modern agriculture is measuring up. Convocation: https://crohnsmonster.com/2013/06/03/what-you-risk-by-telling-your-story/ Music by GW Rodriguez Sibling Pods: Philosophers in Space: https://...
Sep 30, 2022•1 hr 16 min•Ep 252•Transcript available on Metacast My guest this week is Jesse Rabinowitz, a clinical psychologist and creator of Mindfulness for Mensches. We discuss his decades of experience using gestalt mindfulness in clinical psychology and how that's culminated in Mindfulness for Mensches. Mindfulness for Mensches: https://www.menschitude.com/ Convocation: Fritz Perls Music by GW Rodriguez Sibling Pods: Philosophers in Space: https://0gphilosophy.libsyn.com/ Filmed Live Musicals Pod: https://www.filmedlivemusicals.com/thepodcast.html Suppo...
Sep 15, 2022•1 hr 18 min•Ep 251•Transcript available on Metacast My guest this week is Brittany Page (@brittanyepage), a psychotherapist and co-host of the I Doubt it Podcast. We discuss her experience growing up in a neo-nazi family and how that impacts her work in psychology and politics. Convocation: Aryan Nation poem Music by GW Rodriguez I Doubt it Podcast: https://dollemore.com/ Sibling Pods: Philosophers in Space: https://0gphilosophy.libsyn.com/ Filmed Live Musicals Pod: https://www.filmedlivemusicals.com/thepodcast.html Support us at Patreon.com/Embr...
Sep 02, 2022•1 hr 3 min•Ep 250•Transcript available on Metacast My guest this week is Will MacAskill, an associate professor in philosophy and research fellow at the global priorities institute at the University of Oxford. Will is one of the founders of the effective altruism and 80,000 hours, as well as a proponent of longtermism. His new book is “What we owe the future”. We discuss developments in longtermism and challenges like being co-opted or leading to undervaluing of present persons. Convocation: MacAskill What We Owe the Future: https://www.amazon.c...
Aug 19, 2022•1 hr 5 min•Ep 249•Transcript available on Metacast My guest this week is Ian Czora, a technical trainer who works as for a company that develops and deploys satellite technology primarily for the military. We discuss his experience as an atheist both in and working with the military system. We also talk about Wine. Convocation: Aaron's twisted psyche Music by GW Rodriguez Sibling Pods: Philosophers in Space: https://0gphilosophy.libsyn.com/ Filmed Live Musicals Pod: https://www.filmedlivemusicals.com/thepodcast.html Support us at Patreon.com/Emb...
Aug 05, 2022•1 hr•Ep 248•Transcript available on Metacast My guest this week is M R. X. Dentith (@conspiracism), a philosophy professor at BNUZH’s Center for international philosophy, with a focus on conspiracy theories, secrecy, and fake news. They’re also cohost of the podcaster’s guid to the conspiracy and have a recent paper out in Synthese open access called Suspicious conspiracy theories. We discuss debates around the definition of "conspiracy theory" and the challenges we face trying to quantify and address the growth of conspiracism in the mode...
Jul 15, 2022•1 hr 12 min•Ep 247•Transcript available on Metacast My guest this week is Captain DadPool (@Captain_DadPool), an Iraq war vet and TikTok atheist. We discuss his de-conversion, how he got into the world of TikTok, and why it seems like a valuable platform for atheist outreach. This episode unintentionally ended up being the second in an informal three part series of chats with former conservative christians who went into the military and also are now liberal atheists. I found the overlaps and differences between the stories really interesting. Con...
Jul 01, 2022•1 hr 6 min•Ep 246•Transcript available on Metacast My guest this week is Jesse Dollemore (@Dollemore), host of the Dollemore Daily on youtube and cohost of the I Doubt it Podcast with Brittany Page. We discuss his experiences growing up in a conservative anti-governmental household, joining the military, and his transition from conservative to liberal activist. Convocation: Hunter S. Thompson YouTube feed: https://www.youtube.com/user/dollemore I doubt it podcast: https://t.co/vztGfOamBN Music by GW Rodriguez Sibling Pods: Philosophers in Space:...
Jun 17, 2022•1 hr 8 min•Ep 245•Transcript available on Metacast My guest this week is Jacy Reese Anthis (@Jacyanthis), a PhD student in machine learning at the University of Chicago, and the co-founder of the Sentience Institute. We discuss his recent paper arguing for a semantic solution to the hard problem of consciousness. Convocation: Tom Robbins Consciousness Semantics paper: https://twitter.com/jacyanthis/status/1507400426869694476?s=20&t=7ZHx-cYZvz9QUhMJPig_sQ Music by GW Rodriguez Sibling Pods: Philosophers in Space: https://0gphilosophy.libsyn.c...
Jun 09, 2022•1 hr 21 min•Ep 244•Transcript available on Metacast My guest this week is Sarah Miller, Executive Director of Camp Quest. We discuss the camp's goals of providing outdoor summer experiences free of religious indoctrination, and how that project looks in a post pandemic world. Convocation: Aaron's personal experience Camp Quest: https://campquest.org/ Music by GW Rodriguez Sibling Pods: Philosophers in Space: https://0gphilosophy.libsyn.com/ Filmed Live Musicals Pod: https://www.filmedlivemusicals.com/thepodcast.html Support us at Patreon.com/Embr...
Jun 02, 2022•58 min•Ep 243•Transcript available on Metacast My guest this week is David Fuller (@fullydavid), a journalist who’s made documentaries for Channel 4 and the BBC and co-founded the Rebel Wisdom content platform. We discuss sensemaking and rebel wisdom, both the positives in terms of personal growth and the negatives in terms of potentially higher risk of conspiracism. Rebel Wisdom: https://rebelwisdom.co.uk/ Discussion with Aaron and Jim Rutt on Rebel Wisdom: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4nNk7fvxiGM An Easter Miracle article: https://rebel...
May 26, 2022•1 hr 10 min•Ep 242•Transcript available on Metacast My guest this week is Mandisa Thomas (@mandy0904), founder and president of Black Nonbelievers. We discuss her recent American Atheist convention talk and the backlash it received. Black Nonbelievers: https://blacknonbelievers.org/ Convocation: Audre Lorde Music by GW Rodriguez Sibling Pods: Philosophers in Space: https://0gphilosophy.libsyn.com/ Filmed Live Musicals Pod: https://www.filmedlivemusicals.com/thepodcast.html Support us at Patreon.com/EmbraceTheVoid If you enjoy the show, please Lik...
May 19, 2022•1 hr 7 min•Ep 241•Transcript available on Metacast My guest this week is Jonathan Jarry (@crackedscience), a science communicator with McGill University’s Office of Science and Society, and cohost of the independent podcast The Body of Evidence. We discuss his article about common problems with meta-analyses and how to approach trying to understand controversial science claims. We also discuss anti-COVID Jade amulets and in the VIP room we talk the ethics of unfollowing me on twitter. Jonathan's website: https://t.co/e2xUQ4ClQw Meta-analyses pap...
May 12, 2022•1 hr 5 min•Ep 240•Transcript available on Metacast 
