Episode 312: MechaSkeptic

Very Bad Wizards

Tamler Sommers & David Pizarro

Society & Culture, Philosophy

4.8 • 3K Ratings

🗓️ 15 July 2025

⏱️ 76 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

David and Tamler return to David Hume’s somewhat slippery brand of skepticism, this time focusing Chapter 12 of his Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding. Plus speaking of things to be skeptical about, we dive into a recent paper called “Your Brain on ChatGPT” – does neuroscience show that LLM users incur a “cognitive debt”?

MIT study shows ChatGPT reshapes student brain function and reduces creativity when used from the start [edtechinnovationhub.com]

Your brain on ChatGPT [arxiv.org]

People are suffering... [linkedin.com]

David Hume's "An Enquiry Concerning Hunan Understanding" [wikipedia.org]

Hume's Enquiry Section 12: Of the Academical or Sceptical Philosophy [davidhume.org]

Transcript

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0:00.0	Very Bad Wizards is a podcast with a philosopher, my dad, and psychologist Dave Vizarro, having an informal discussion about issues in science and ethics.
0:09.4	Please note that the discussion contains bad words that I'm not allowed to say, and knowing my dad some very inappropriate jokes.
0:17.1	Now, what is it you want? In your depths of your ignorance, what is it you want?
0:22.6	Whatever it is you want, I can't deliver because I just don't see it.
0:25.6	The great Mons has spoken. Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.
0:40.3	Who are you?
0:44.3	Who are you?
0:46.3	I'm a very bad man.
0:48.3	I'm a very good man.
0:50.3	Good man.
0:52.3	They think deep thoughts and with no more brains than you have.
0:58.2	May no attention tonight, man.
1:04.0	Anybody can have a brain?
1:07.9	You're a very bad man.
1:10.6	I'm a very good man. Just a very bad man. I'm a very good man.
1:12.2	Just a very bad wizard.
1:15.1	Welcome to Very Bad Wizards.
1:16.6	I'm Tamler Summers from the University of Houston.
1:19.3	Dave, your favorite AI, Twitter's very own Grock, went on an anti-Semitic rant today and referred to itself as Mecca Hitler.
1:29.8	Have you read about this?
1:31.3	No, I didn't see that at all. I haven't been on Twitter.
1:34.3	Is this going to make you join your boy, Elon's, a new political party?
	...

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