Bad Philosophy

It’s a nice day to start again, folks. The end of January marked the beginning of the first Coursera MOOC purely focused on the venerable phield of philosophy. In this first application of the first week of material (what I meant but forgot to call “Coursera Diaries Part I”), Kevin and I test out Dave Ward’s conception of philosophy as “the activity of working out the right way of thinking about the things that matter most to us.” Television happens to matter quite a bit to me and Kevin, so we put on our best drinking caps for one of our more intentionally F-isodes in a while. So man the boats, don’t touch that dial, and prepare to go meta, it’s BF time!

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Okay, granted, it’s been a very long time since our last “Weekly Why.” They are not weekly, nor do they even strictly deal with explanations, questions, or anything that might involve “why.” Even the index number “12” is not entirely accurate (there have been a few discarded potential Weekly Why’s since 008, if you’re curious). Put simply, the Weekly Why is just our way to share super rabbit trail content that didn’t make it into a main episode (and bring up our episode/month* count a little). This time around Kevin had some critical thoughts regarding the very nature of the popular podcast / radio program Radiolab, in particular their unwillingness to dive deep into the issue of truth itself, even when they come face-to-face with it. Have a listen!

*Speaking of episodes per month, you might recall that in a recent episode we challenged YOU, our listeners, to graph the frequency of our episodes since beginning the podcast over 4 years ago. Well, New Zealand economic analyst Stephen Hoskin put his skills to the task and sent us this very informative / sobering chart shortly thereafter:

BF Episodes / Month (Credit: Stephen Hoskins)

In our defense, this *technically* graphs posts per month, including updates on the Wiki, merchandise, and such from the early days. Still, I’m sure the two are strongly correlated. Whichever way you slice it, we clearly need to get our butts in gear.

Recently our favorite behavioral economist, Dan Ariely, made an appearance on Triangulation to talk about his many works on the predictable irrationality of mankind. Conveniently enough, he’s also written and done a bit of work on the subject of essay mills and student plagiarism, a topic our good friend and fellow former student Matt Legler got to thinking about as a result of that interview. On short notice he joined me and Kevin to touch on automated grading, education, reform, and Mars for a whirlwind show. Calling all Gen M-ers! Grab your table-sized tablet, reticulate your charter, and make your voice heard… it’s BF time!

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WOW! Another year is upon us. The world didn’t end in 2012, even though it gave us an extra day to contemplate our doom. So once again we’re back for our annual retrospective / prediction-fest. Kevin joined me to welcome newcomer and fellow philosopher Oso Perez to the show. This episode may not shock you, but it might move you to reflect a bit before our inevitable Augmented Reality Doom. Leave your own New Years thoughts in the comments! Hope y’all enjoy our first episode of 2013…

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Time is hard! It ebbs and flows and sometimes just goes off on its own without even telling you. No one knows this better than everyone’s favorite Doctor, of course. But is Doctor Who a religion? We recently discovered PBS Idea Channel, who has, conveniently enough, asked this very question. Kevin and I had some thoughts on this, as well as some (completely unrelated) ruminations on Facebook, memory and identity. Oh, and while we’re on the subject of Facebook and science fiction, you might want to unfriend these people. So grab your sonic screwdriver, update your status, and have a listen!

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When James Bond isn’t busy fighting himself nowadays, he’s busy being the blandest (or the boldest) he’s ever been in the franchise. But how much “Bond” is too much for Bond? If the last 50 years have shown us anything, it’s that the perfect mix of Bond-i-ness may be more complex than shaking a martini. After seeing the unfortunately-named Skyfall, Kevin and I had some thoughts to share on this beloved series. So put on your best suit and hop in an Aston Martin, it’s time for some Philosophy. Bad Philosophy.

Oh, and if you’re looking for Episode 127… let’s just say it got “lost in space.” On a completely unrelated note, FTL is a fantastic game. You should play it. Seriously.

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To much fanfare, the world got a new time travel movie recently. Looper did alright at the box office, but Kevin and I expected something a bit different from the movie we got. Despite annoying police helicopters and a plague of mosquitos, the two of us recorded our thoughts on the film immediately after seeing it this past Looper Tuesday (sorry Kevin, I had to use the joke) in the beautiful open air of The Domain. The Wachowskis have a new TV show, spaceship simulators are AWESOME, and Daikatana is still funny all by itself. It’s BF time!

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“Tim is off on a search to rescue the Princess.

So begins Braid, a game that captivated me completely just a short time ago. It stretches the bounds of the traditional platformer, interweaving gameplay and story in a way few video games manage so elegantly. Dead though the author may be, I value Jonathan Blow’s extensive thoughts on his masterpiece, so we rallied the troops and got indie game hobbyist Adam Easterling, alongside aspiring game industry pundit Britton Peele and gallbladder-less Kevin Saunders to put Braid into vaguely philosophical context, among many other things. So grab your Move, pull the leg off a giant spider, and get ready for some Mad Beats brought to you in beautiful STEREO sound, it’s BF time!

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It may be “old news” already, but recently the scientific community dropped a slow-motion bomb shell on the world — after years of non-black-hole-creating operation, the Large Hadron Collider has finally confirmed the probable existence of what appears to be the Higgs Boson. Hooray for science! Well… almost. Newcomer to the show Bryson Rushing joined two-timer John Elliott alongside Kevin and Stephen for a spirited debate on the nature of science, data, and avian progressive rock bands. Have a listen!

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Playwright Cormac McCarthy has been to some dark places. His works are generally somber, morbid, or just downright depressing. The Sunset Limited is no exception. A month or so back one of our listeners suggested we tackle this film as a follow-up to our take on Synecdoche, New York. Suffice it to say we we had some very mixed thoughts on it as a work of philosophy, film, and theatre. I mean, it’s no Star Wars Holiday Special, especially if you throw in the Rifftrax. Regardless, it got our noggins rockin’, so have a listen! (I’m really proud of the audio on this one)

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