The HBS hosts talk about the good, the bad, and the ugly of social media.

Social media dominate much of our current lives. Sometimes this is for the better, sometimes this is for the worse. Social media platforms allow much that is beneficial to individuals, communities, and society. Yet they also allow much that is detrimental or even damaging. What is good about social media? What is bad? And what is downright ugly? We talk about who is helped by social media and who is hurt by it. We talk about its effects on our society. And we talk about why we use or don't use social media.

Full episode notes available at this link:
http://hotelbarpodcast.com/podcast/episode-38-social-media

The HBS hosts talk about transcendence, the good kind and the bad kind.

Philosophers traditionally have thought of entities like God or Ideas as outside of or other than this world. At the same time, that transcendent reality is thought to be the cause or meaning of our reality. Is this the only kind of transcendence? Do we need transcendence? Perhaps politics and/or justice requires some notion of transcendence. Can we have a good transcendence without the bad?

Full episode notes available at this link. 
http://hotelbarpodcast.com/podcast/episode-37-transcendence

The HBS hosts discuss philosophy and theory in relation to the global south with Prof. Surti Singh.

We does it mean to theorize from the Global South? What tools can theory bring to the global south? And is there such a thing as The Global South? We talk with Prof. Surti Singh, the co-principal investigator of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation’s project “Extimacies: Critical Theory from the Global South” about these issues and what theorists in the global south challenge the “north” to encounter in its theorizing.

Full episode notes available at this link.

The HBS host discuss the criminal justice system’s failure to produce morally right outcomes.

The "not guilty" verdicts in the Kyle Rittenhouse trial made plain the often dramatic difference between what is legally permissible and what is morally permissible. In this episode, we talk about where that difference should be maintained and where it should be diminished or abolished.

Full episode notes at this link. 

The HBS hosts discuss so-called “cancel culture” and the panic surrounding it.

For some, “canceling” is an essential tool of social justice. For others, it is a threat to free speech. In this episode, we try to identify what cancelation involves (de-platforming, boycotting, public criticism, shaming), what it doesn’t involve (actual silencing), and just how common it is (not common enough to constitute a “culture,” we think). Is cancel culture itself evidence of a moral panic, or is there a cancel panic being manufactured by the canceled?

In 2014, the #MeToo movement gave a name to the (long-practiced) practice of “calling-out” on social media. By 2015, “calling-out” had already evolved to “canceling.” Who are the cancelers? Who are the canceled? And how many different kinds of “mobs” are there on Twitter, anyway?

Full episode notes at this link. 

The HBS hosts discuss the pedagogical pros and cons of thoughts experiments.

Philosophy has its own laboratory! While it doesn’t have graduated cylinders or Bunsen burners, it is a “clean room” in which philosophers can distill the essential elements of a theory. We talk about the pros and cons of thought experiments, their uses, and their abuses. We give some examples of famous thought experiments and, yes, we talk about the trolley problem.

Full episode notes at this link. 

 The HBS hosts wonder whether there is a uniquely "American" form of Christianity. 

There are more than 2.3 billion Christians in the world, and 205 million of them live in the United States of America. Is there an identifiable strain of Christianity that is unique to the U.S.? If so, what are its dominant characteristics? How closely does it adhere to-- or how far does it stray from-- the basic tenets of Christianity? 

In this episode, the HBS hosts take a hard look at some of the more curious features that seem to characterize Christianity in America-- the church-as-corporation model, the prominence of "prosperity gospel," the conflation of God and Country, and the widespread antagonism toward immigrants, LGBTQ persons, the poor, and others.

Full episode notes at this link. 

The HBS hosts sit down with Dr. Charles McKinney, Jr. to talk about whose history is (and isn't) being taught.

Following on the heels of a recent and very contentious political debate over the teaching of Critical Race Theory in schools, we invited Dr. Charles McKinney, Jr. (Neville Frierson Bryan Chair of Africana Studies and Associate Professor of History at Rhodes College) to sit for a few rounds at the hotel bar as we explore the dynamics of power, liberation, and Truth as they play out in the teaching of history.

Full episode notes available at this link. 

The HBS hosts discuss how robots and intelligent machines are upending our social, moral, legal, and philosophical categories.

For this last episode of Season 2, the HBS hosts interview Dr. David Gunkel (author of Robot Rights and How To Survive A Robot Invasion) about his work on emergent technologies, intelligent machines, and robots. Following the recent announcement by Elson Musk that Tesla is developing a humanoid robot for home use, we ask: what is the real difference between a robot and a toaster?

Do robots and intelligent machines rise to the level of “persons”? Should we accord them moral consideration or legal rights? Or are those questions just the consequence of our over-anthropomorphizing robots and intelligent machines?

Full episode notes available at this link.

The HBS hosts present their best defense of humanities-based education and, in doing so, try to justify their existences.

As higher education has become more corporatized and STEM-focused, areas of study are often "pitched" to students on the basis of their future income-earning potential. However, college students now are entering a workforce where more than 30% of available jobs will be automated before those students reach middle age. Today's college students need more than vocational training to prepare them for the future they are entering. 

Most academics can (and do) make the argument for the intrinsic value of the humanities-- that it helps shape us into good citizens and moral agents-- but are there other defenses available? Does a humanities-based education also have instrumental value? How do you get a job with a History or Philosophy or Anthropology degree? Is humanities-based education for everyone, or is it elitist?

Full episode notes at this link.