Episode 174: More Chiang for Your Buck ("Anxiety is the Dizziness of Freedom" Pt. 2)
Very Bad Wizards
Tamler Sommers & David Pizarro
4.8 • 3K Ratings
🗓️ 15 October 2019
⏱️ 107 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Is 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 and responsibility? David and Tamler conclude their discussion of Ted Chiang’s “Anxiety is the Dizziness of Freedom” along with another very short piece by Chiang called “What’s Expected of Us” that was first published in Nature.
Plus, do you have low likability in the workplace? It could be because you’re too moral and therefore not that funny. But don’t worry, we have a solution that’ll help you increase your humor production and likability with no reduction in morality. All you have to do is listen!
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Links:
- Richard Brody Reviews "Joker" | New Yorker
- Batman: The Killing Joke - Wikipedia
- Falling Down (1993) - IMDb
- People with high moral standards 'less likely' to be funny | The Independent
- Yam, K. C., Barnes, C. M., Leavitt, K., Uhlmann, E. L., & Wei, W. (2016). Why So Serious? Experimental and Field Evidence that Morality and a Sense of Humor are Psychologically Incompatible. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.
- Aquino, K., & Reed, I. I. (2002). The self-importance of moral identity. Journal of personality and social psychology, 83(6), 1423.
- Exhalation by Ted Chiang [amazon.com affiliate link]
- What's Expected of Us by Ted Chiang | Nature
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Very bad wizards is a podcast with a philosopher, my dad, and psychologist, Dave Pizarro, |
| 0:05.9 | having an informal discussion about issues and signs and ethics. |
| 0:09.3 | Please note that the discussion contains bad words that I'm out of allow to say, |
| 0:13.6 | and knowing my dad some very inappropriate jokes. |
| 0:17.1 | Why would I continue walking on water for tips when I've got an entire generation to teach a whole new world? |
| 0:30.0 | I have spoken. |
| 0:32.0 | Way to attention to that man behind the curtain. |
| 0:42.0 | Who are you? |
| 0:44.0 | Who are you? |
| 0:46.0 | I'm a very bad man. |
| 0:48.0 | I'm a very good man. |
| 0:50.0 | Good man. |
| 0:52.0 | Blasting deep thoughts and with no one raising your hands. |
| 0:56.0 | Way to attention to that man. |
| 0:58.0 | Can I have a man? |
| 1:00.0 | Can anybody can have a brain? |
| 1:04.0 | You're a very bad man. |
| 1:08.0 | I'm a very good man. |
| 1:10.0 | Just a very bad wizard. |
| 1:14.0 | Welcome to very bad wizards. |
| 1:16.0 | I'm Tamler Summers from the University of Houston. |
| 1:18.0 | Dave, it's been a week since the movie Joker came out. |
... |
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