THUNK

We normally think of our beliefs as being held up by a structure of supporting evidence & justification, ultimately based in some fundamental, irrefutable, “given” facts, but Wilfred Sellars thinks “givens” are a myth. Video: http://youtu.be/3uUYeZu1DIQ Show Notes: https://thunkshow.com/2021/09/21/214.-The-Myth-of-the-Given.html

Many think the specific nature of a technology depends on the humans wielding it, but that tech ultimately serves humanitys interests. Philosopher John McDermott challenges this view with a simple question: whose interests does tech serve? Video: http://youtu.be/riVrcxRs0YM Show Notes: https://thunkshow.com/2021/08/23/213.-Techno-Optimism.html

We judge our laws by a yardstick of formal equality - so long as theres no discrimination in how laws are applied, we pat ourselves on the back for a job well done. Legal philosopher Martha Fineman thinks we should apply a different yardstick: the immutable nature of human fragility. Video: http://youtu.be/IopKrghhcPs Show Notes: https://thunkshow.com/2021/07/26/212.-Vulnerability-Theory.html

In order to understand this text (as you are doing) you must understand the individual words that make it up…but the overall meaning isn’t contained in the words themselves. It’s almost like you have to consider the whole & its parts simultaneously. Curious. Video: http://youtu.be/8VhZ76TdMvU Show Notes: https://thunkshow.com/2021/07/06/211.-The-Hermeneutic-Circle.html

Programming in the sense of developing algorithmic instructions isnt just for computers - all rigorously-defined human systems are programmed after a fashion. But what is it that programmers (instruction-writers, legislators, chefs) are doing, exactly? Video: http://youtu.be/TmXsNV3r6DI Show Notes: https://thunkshow.com/2021/06/20/210.-Programming-and-Theory-Building.html

It’s hard to imagine two subreddits more different than IAmVerySmart & Change My View, & the difference is clear: intellectual arrogance/humility. But what is that, exactly? Video: http://youtu.be/WohsIy61-4k Show Notes: https://thunkshow.com/2021/05/28/209.-Intellectual-Humility.html

Engineering disasters often highlight how bad decisions can wreak havoc, but Dr. Richard Cook’s model of complex systems & how they fail paints a different picture. Video: http://youtu.be/dPFw2ckWZyY Show Notes: https://thunkshow.com/2021/04/30/208.-How-Complex-Systems-Fail.html

A lot of sci-fi skirts around substantive questions of politics - is this a coincidence, or is there something about the genre that encourages it? Video: http://youtu.be/zgzoZckSXEQ Show Notes: https://thunkshow.com/2021/04/16/207.-The-Anti-Politics-of-Sci-Fi.html

Individual humans are demonstrably irrational, & no amount of training or debiasing has been shown to make a dent in that irrationality, which leads us to ask: if I can’t think rationally on my own, why do I think at all? Video: http://youtu.be/ncylgXtWaRE Show Notes: https://thunkshow.com/2021/03/29/206.-Social-Rationality.html

Sometimes, getting an expert to tell you what they really think is like pulling teeth - if it’s their job to give advice about their field, why are they often cagey about it? In a word: rhetoric. Video: http://youtu.be/EcQvVI2Gk-A Show Notes: https://thunkshow.com/2021/03/18/205.-Expert-Advice-and-Rhetoric.html