Embrace The Void

My guest this week is Aristotle (from the @AristotlesStgra account on twitter). He preferred to answer questions in the voice of Aristotle himself, which gives us a fun opportunity to get to know more about this hugely important philosopher in a classic dialogue sort of fashion. Hope you enjoy! Invocation: Aaron's void Editing by Brian Ziegenhagen, check out his pod: http://youarehere.libsyn.com/s...

My guest this week is Dr. Mansa Keita (@rasmansa), a computer science PHD who spends a substantial amount of time engaging on academic twitter on issues like race that we've covered on the show before. We discuss his experiences with these conversations and why race is such a pervasive topic right now. Invocation: Michael Novak, Experience of Nothingness Editing by Brian Ziegenhagen, check out his...

My guest this week is my longtime friend Brian Henriksen, who joins me to discuss our shared love of Discordianism, the most important of all parody religions. The convo is a bit chaotic as befits the material. Principia Discordia: https://www.principiadiscordia.com/book/1.php Invocation: Apocrypha Discordia pg.9 Editing by Brian Ziegenhagen, check out his pod: http://youarehere.libsyn.com/s02e02-...

My guest this week is Kel Glaister, an instructor with Melbourne in Motion. We discuss her use of parkour and other exercise activities as a way to build inclusive communities and manage challenges like depression. Melbourne in Motion: https://www.melbinmotion.com/ Invocation: Justin K. McFarlane Beau Editing by Brian Ziegenhagen, check out his pod: http://youarehere.libsyn.com/s02e02-rex-manning-...

My guest this week is Clyde Rathbone (@ClydeRathbone), co-founder of the social discourse site letter.wiki , where people can engage each other in constructive dialogue through a long form letter writing format. We discuss the origin of the project and its impact on people's style of engagement. Clyde's Website: Letter. Wiki Invocation: Thomas Merton Editing by Brian Ziegenhagen, check out his pod...

My guest this week is Aaron Novick (@AmneMachin), assistant professor of philosophy at Purdue University. We combine together two often requested topics that might not seem related at first glance. We look first at the work of Zhuangzi, a 4th century Chinese philosopher, and then consider how it informs our modern discussion of the nature of science. Aaron's Website: https://www.aaronnovick.com/ I...

My guest this week isJohn Danaher, author of Automation and Utopia: Human Flourishing in a World Without Work. We go long to do a deep dive into every word in that title, and a few other topics as well. I really enjoyed John's book and highly recommend it to folks interested in the map of possible futures. Automation and Utopia: https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674984240 Invocation...

My guest this week is Bryce Huebner (@distributedcog), a Provost's Distinguished Associate Professor in Philosophy at Georgetown University. We discuss the distributed nature of cognition from both an analytic and Yogacara buddhist perspective, plus we talk meditation and metal! Bryce's personal page: https://brycehuebner.weebly.com/ Yogacara: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yogachara Invocation: Ra...

My guest this week is Florence Bacus (@morallawwithin), a grad student in the Tufts terminal masters program and an impressive consumer of great philosophical works. We discuss some of her recent work on epistemology as well as a deep dive into Kantian ethics and expressivist metaethics, with the tantalizing idea that maybe they're compatible in some way. Florence's Curious Cat page: https://curio...

My guest this week is Sam Yang (@StuffFromSam), cohost of the Southpaw podcast and a strong advocate for more leftist philosophy in the world of marital arts. We grapple with the challenges in that Joe Rogan dominated community. Sam does a great job pinning down some tricky points. Southpaw Podcast: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/must-triumph/southpaw-2 Invocation: Jean-Luc Godard (suggested by...

My guest this week is Fabien-Denis Cayer (@OldAristocles), a PHD student at the University of Ottawa and a writer at buriedincontemplation.com. He joins me to dive deeper into our discussions on Plato, Aristotle, and Nagel. All favorites! Fabien's work: https://buriedincontemplation.com/ Invocation: The Changing Room Editing by Brian Ziegenhagen, check out his pod: http://youarehere.libsyn.com/s02...

My guest this week is Stephanie Zvan, cohost of the Minnesota Atheists’ radio show and podcast, a regular contributor at The Orbit, and a board member of Secular Woman and Minnesota Atheists. She graciously cheers me up about the direction of the atheist movement. The Orbit: https://the-orbit.net/ Invocation: The Book of Genesis Editing by Brian Ziegenhagen, check out his pod: http://youarehere.li...

My guest this week is Kevin Bird (@itsbirdemic), a PhD student in evolutionary systems biology. Kevin helps guide me through the level of hell that is learning about the Human Biodiversity "Movement". Careful what you say about this one on twitter. They're listening. Kevin's Website: https://kevinabird.github.io/ Invocation: Lovecraft's "Facts Concerning the Late Arthur Jermyn and His Family" Edit...

My guest this week is Dr. Liam Bright, Assistant Professor in the Department of Philosophy at the London School of Economics and a thought leader on philosophy twitter (@Lastpositivist). Liam joins me for an informal installment in our "better know a philosopher series" where he puts in a heroic effort to rehabilitate my dim view of the Logical Positivists. Liam's Page: https://www.liamkofibright....

This week I'm joined by Dr. Rachel McKinney, Program Director for Politics, Philosophy & Economics at Suffolk University and Assistant Professor in Philosophy at Suffolk University. Dr. Mckinney studies the relationship between language, knowledge, and power. She also deals with the realities of communication every day debating the issue of trans rights and the science of gender on twitter. We...

Hey friends, here's the audio from my talk in Sydney at Skeptics in the Pub. We've got video but it needs a bit of editing together so in the meantime hope you enjoy. Thanks again to Sydney skeptics in the pub for having me, and if anyone else is interested in a skeptics themed ethics talk send me a message through a social media! Editing by Brian Ziegenhagen, check out his pod: http://youarehere....

This week I'm joined by Brant MacDuff, taxidermist and conservation activist. I had a great time chatting with Brant at NECSS and was happy to have him on the show to discuss how an art about death can inspire concern for life. Brant's website: https://www.immortalanimals.com/about Invocation: Will Price (feel better!) Editing by Brian Ziegenhagen, check out his pod: http://youarehere.libsyn.com/s...

This week I'm joined by Greg Sadler (@philosopher70). Greg is a public philosopher and cofounder of ReasonIO. We discuss the shifting trends in public philosophy and how philosophy can help us address important parts of our lived experiences, especially involving anger. ReasonIO: https://reasonio.wordpress.com/ Editing by Brian Ziegenhagen, check out his pod: http://youarehere.libsyn.com/s02e02-re...

I'm joined this week by a friend of a friend of the show. Michael Cogswell is currently studying Deep Learning at Georgia Tech, and he helps me work through some of the important basics of deep learning and what it can mean for life in the void. Deep Learning: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_learning Editing by Brian Ziegenhagen, check out his pod: http://youarehere.libsyn.com/s02e02-rex-mannin...

I'm joined this week by Hunter Ash, longtime friend of the show and my go to source for a variety of sciency philosophy questions. He came to me with a really interesting argument to follow up on the brief discussion of panpsychism back in our Frankish episodes. I definitely recommend giving those a re-listen alongside this episode. Invocation: In the Metaphysicians office by Daniel Cappell Panpsy...

Part two of my debate with Bo Winegard, Assistant Professor at Marietta College, cohost of the psyphilopod podcast, and frequent contributor to Quillette. We've engaged in several disagreements on twitter and thought it could be valuable to debate some of these issues on the show. We focused our debate on the question "should society attempt to promote social progress by changing human nature". In...

My guest this week is Bo Winegard, Assistant Professor at Marietta College, cohost of the psyphilopod podcast, and frequent contributor to Quillette. We've engaged in several disagreements on twitter and thought it could be valuable to debate some of these issues on the show. We focused our debate on the question "should society attempt to promote social progress by changing human nature". The arg...

We made it! We achieved a major arbitrary numeric goal! So glad to be celebrating with my guest this week, fellow philosophy twitter fiend Nathan Oseroff- Spicer, who joins me to discuss the darker sides of philosophy twitter before succumbing to our realism lightening round. Definitely follow him if you're not already: @nathanoseroff Invocation: The Power by Naomi Alderman If you enjoy the show a...

Death is a reoccurring topic on this show, but this week still feels a little different. I'm joined by Dave Warnock, who is currently engaged in a project called Dying Out Loud. Dave is living with a terminal diagnosis, and he's spending some of his remaining time generously communicating with others about the process of dying. Usually the title of this show is content warning enough, but in this...

We love talking emptiness of the self here in the void, and so I got the perfect not self to join me and discuss lots of fun topics in the world of Indian Philosophy. @SomeStingray is a must follow on philosophy twitter and we have a great time here, especially during the real/not real lightening round. Philosophy twitter will want to take careful notes in that section so you can troll the fish la...