Episode 44: Killer Robots
Very Bad Wizards
Tamler Sommers & David Pizarro
4.8 • 3K Ratings
🗓️ 5 April 2014
⏱️ 69 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
David and Tamler argue about the use of autonomous robots and drones in warfare. Could it lead to less suffering during wars and afterwards? Would nations be motivated to design robots that behave ethically on the battlefield? Can David get through an episode without mentioning Star Trek? Plus, Tamler distances himself from the villainous philosophy professor in the new movie God is Not Dead and David complains about the growing number of porn journals.
Links
- Knowledge is Power Program (KIPP) [kipp.org]
- God's Not Dead [imdb.org]
- Arkin, R. C. (2010). The case for ethical autonomy in unmanned systems. Journal of Military Ethics, 9(4), 332-341.
- Kahn, P. W. (2002). The Paradox of Riskless Warfare. Philosophy & Public Policy Quarterly, 22(3), 2-7. [yale.edu]
- Singer, P. W. (2009). Wired for war: The robotics revolution and conflict in the twenty-first century. Penguin. [amazon.com affiliate link]
- "A Taste of Armageddon" Episode 23, Star Trek (The Original Series) [wikipedia.org]
Moral Machines in the Military Sphere by Dr. Paul Bello. http://robotsandyou.eucognition.org
Bio: Paul Bello joined the Office of Naval Research as a Program Officer in the Warfighter Performance and Protections Department in May of 2007.
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 a psychologist, Dave Pizarro, |
| 0:06.5 | having an informal discussion about issues in science and ethics. |
| 0:10.0 | Please note that the discussion contains bad words that I'm not allowed to say, |
| 0:14.0 | and knowing my dad some very inappropriate jokes. |
| 0:19.0 | You must have thought it was a white boy day. |
| 0:23.0 | Any white boy days it? |
| 0:25.0 | Oh man, I didn't white boy day. |
| 0:31.0 | I'm waiting, I have spoken. |
| 0:35.0 | Wait no attention till I stand behind the curtain. |
| 0:44.0 | Who are you? |
| 0:46.0 | Who are you? |
| 0:48.0 | I'm a very bad man. |
| 0:49.0 | I'm a very good man. |
| 0:53.0 | Welcome to very bad wizards. |
| 0:55.0 | I'm Tamler Summers from the University of Houston. |
| 0:57.0 | Dave, Rowlett's just launched a new academic journal called Porn Studies. |
| 1:03.0 | When are you submitting your first article? |
| 1:07.0 | I'm David Pizarro from Cornell University, and before I answer I have to apologize for my voice. |
| 1:12.0 | I'm sick. |
| 1:13.0 | It's a miracle that I can do this, and it'll be a miracle if you can actually listen to the whole episode with my voice. |
| 1:20.0 | Or you can just mock me. |
| 1:22.0 | For those of you who don't know, usually these questions are unplanned, so I didn't know that that question was coming. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Tamler Sommers & David Pizarro, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Tamler Sommers & David Pizarro and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.