Descartes Before the Horse

S02E04 - Choose Your Belief: Basilisk, Pascal, or Dogs from Moloch


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In this episode, Dr Miller and Dr Zaphir dive into a surreal philosophical roleplay set in a fantasy inn with no vacancies and a knife storm brewing outside. The only way to avoid sleeping on a barstool (or being stabbed by airborne cutlery) is to convince one of three eccentric conference attendees to share their room — but each comes with a belief system you must accept.

You meet:

  • Roko, a tech bro prophet of the coming machine god, who warns that the Basilisk is watching your tweets and will punish non-believers retroactively.
  • Susan, a whiskey-sipping Pascalian who offers a cozy wager: believe in God and maybe get cocktails in heaven, or don’t and risk overpriced beer in hell.
  • Beard Wizard, a twitchy cultist who demands your money and dental fillings to prepare for the arrival of immortal small dogs from Planet Moloch, who definitely does not correspond to any existing real world cults. Super swearsies.


Come join us and see if threats of the afterlife is sufficient to warrant belief.

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Descartes Before the HorseBy UQ Critical Thinking Project