Bad Philosophy

Bad Philosophy Episode 149 "Downstream Monochrome” Recorded 01-23-14 Bad Philosophers: Stephen Torrence, Kevin Saunders, Brian Morgan Nary a hipster conversation on the world of 21st century cinema goes by without mention of Shane Carruth's chart-inducing indie film Primer. Carruth's second film, Upstream Color, weaves a more subtly mind-bending narrative. Kevin and Brian having recently watched it prompted us to dive into the movie's multi-layered thematic storytelling and explore some related (and not-so-related) tangents. Have a listen! Show Notes Upstream Color (Wikipedia) Primer (Wikipedia) Director's Cut, by Penn Jillette (Fund Anything) Tiny Courage (by Brian Morgan) This Week's Post-Show Song "Nobody Likes Me" by The Rockin' Worms (Spotify)

What is Buddhism? More precisely, what does it mean to be "Buddhist?" Perhaps surprisingly, potential answers to this vary greatly whether one approaches Buddhism from a theoretical or a practical framework. Roughly representing these approaches respectively, Dr. Mark Webb and newcomer Sebastian Bentkowski joined me to explore, compare, and contrast. Does a dog have Buddha-nature? The answer might surprise you.

Bad Philosophy Episode 147 “Diving Into Little Black Mirrors” Recorded 01-01-14 Bad Philosophers: Stephen Torrence, Kevin Saunders, Matt Legler Another year has come and gone, y'all. Babies were born, folks passed away, and cats walked on two legs. The world kept spinning (at least we're pretty sure it did). As always, this episode we bring you our annual round-up of last year's predictions followed by our predictions for 2014. We're happy to welcome back Matt Legler, who plans to scuba dive in the Caribbean several times in the upcoming year. Yep. Your life sounds pretty boring now, doesn't it? Well anyways... enjoy the show, and Happy New Year! Post-Show Song "New Years End" by God is An Astronaut

Bad Philosophy Episode 146 “Ternalism Part 2: Academic'd” Recorded 11-30-13 Bad Philosophers: Stephen Torrence, Kevin Saunders, Shawn Brackett Just in time for the conclusion of Finals Week, we bring you Part Deux of our "critically acclaimed" series on paternalism / maternalism in contemporary academia. BIG apologies for the delay on this one. I dropped the ball. Screwed the pooch. Zigged when I should've zagged. BUT the episode is here! We even got the venerable Shawn Brackett back on to reprise his role as our resident Expert on All Things Higher Education (eat your heart out, Rick Harrison). He even ran a whole marathon recently, so please send him some huge props for that. Enjoy the show...

Bad Philosophy Episode 145 “Ternalism (Part 1)” Recorded 11-10-13 Bad Philosophers: Stephen Torrence, Kevin Saunders, Shawn Brackett

Bad Philosophy Episode 144 "Ahhhhhhhhhh!" Recorded 10-07-13 Bad Philosophers: Stephen Torrence, Kevin Saunders Space. It's big. REALLY big. Also empty. And cold. And silent. Except for George Clooney. George Clooney could fill all of space with his voice. That wonderful, baritone voice... wow....... um, what was I... OH! Right! Gravity. Kevin and I recently checked out this spectacle of a cinematic achievement to see what all the fuss was about. We laughed, we cried, we screamed. We enjoyed it? Well, just have a listen.

Bad Philosophy Episode 143 "Are We Recording?" Recorded 09-25-13 Bad Philosophers: Stephen Torrence, Kevin Saunders This might surprise you (heavy sarcasm), but a good 50% of the time we record these episodes, we haven't a clue what to discuss until very shortly before the episode. Through the magic of editing we make it look like we had everything well planned and ready to execute beforehand. Not so this time. Kevin and I decided to free-form it, have an F-isode, go down rabbit trails -- whatever you want to call it. Good sound, good flow, and the second time we've played a tabletop game live on the show... have a listen!

Bad Philosophy Episode 142 "One-Two-Three-Fourlosophy" Recorded 09-02-13 Bad Philosophers: Stephen Torrence, Kevin Saunders Let's face it, if you're reading this (and listening to our show), you're likely in pretty good shape as human beings go. You've got access to the Internet, some free time, a computer or smartphone -- all the benefits of Progress. But what about those Others who aren't in such good shape? You'd like them to get where you are, right? And if you do, what's the best way to go about that? Peter Buffett recently expressed some dissatisfaction with the systems and organizations who dedicate themselves to philanthropic work. Is he right? Kevin and I had some thoughts on his thoughts. Have a listen! And please share your thoughts in the comments.

Bad Philosophy Episode 141 "Sloppy Sci-Fi" Recorded 08-20-13 Bad Philosophers: Stephen Torrence, Kevin Saunders, Britton Peele, Tim Poon In the last couple of decades we've seen "gaming" go from a marginal entertainment medium to a multi-billion-dollar industry. Remarkably though, gaming as a cultural force, a storytelling canvas, and even a means of social cohesion is still evolving and changing right before our eyes. This episode we welcome back gaming journalists Britton Peele and Tim Poon to join me and Kevin on a quest for perspective on where gaming is and where its going (or definitely not going). Enjoy! This Week's Post-show Song Pimpage Some Special by Bratmobile

Bad Philosophy Episode 140 "Let's Make Mayonnaise" Recorded 07-27-13 Bad Philosophers: Stephen Torrence, Kevin Saunders In our late-stage consumer capitalist society, weird stuff is starting happen. Haul videos, artisanal coffee mugs, that guy down the street from you who bought a sewing machine and aspires to be the next Levi Strauss. What's up with all of this? Are we entering a new age of craftsmanship? An artisanal renaissance? Or is this just the latest consequence of soulless capitalism? In this episode, Kevin and I discuss a poignant article on the subject, and get quite the hankering for some artisanal mayonnaise. Have a listen! Show Notes You Are Not an Artisan - Venkat Grant Morrison - Wikipedia Kevin's "Haul" video - YouTube This Week's Post-show Song Pimpage "Marty Beller Mask" by They Might Be Giants

Bad Philosophy Episode 138 "No Longer a Thing" Recorded 06-08-13 Bad Philosophers: Stephen Torrence, Kevin Saunders, Dr. Mark Webb Let's be honest, it feels really good to be right, to be correct, to stand on an epistemic foundation and know that no matter what, no one can come along and challenge the rock-solidity of that foundation. But... what if we could be wrong about that? What if we could be wrong about a lot of things? What if we could even be wrong even about these foundations, these necessary truths, these infallible wells of knowledge? Joining me to discuss this philosophical realm, known as fallibilism, is Dr. Mark Webb, all the way from Seville, Spain! Oh, and Kevin, because Kevin. We could be wrong, but we think you'll really love this episode.

What do trees, brains, and pants have in common? Kevin, Stephen, John Elliott, and Matt Epperson explore our complex world through the works of Manuel Lima.

Bitcoins are back! Or are they? Simon Ponder joins Kevin and Stephen to find out whether they're worth Beliebing in.

A spectre is looming over the Internet. It is the spectre of… another discussion of Marxism! That’s right, my dear proletariat, this episode we are pleased to tickle your ears with our thoughts on the core concepts of good ol’ Karl himself, courtesy of the wonderful compendium Action Philosophers and this here paper on how those hipster Soviets got the idea for workplace gamification way before it was cool. Our old friend Greg Briley even joined me and Kevin via the magic of Skype. Why, we even stuffed a puppy full of candy for you. Enjoy! This Week’s Post-Show Song Pimpage: “A Communist’s Manifesto” by Sabastian Villainy

Bad Philosophy Episode 134 "Hats Off" Recorded 03-18-13 Bad Philosophers: Kevin Saunders, Stephen Torrence