E49. "Take-em!" - When is a request from a loved one emotional manipulation?

in ,

Named “Top 20 Philosophy Podcast” for 2021!

STORY SUMMARY: The narrator is invited by his father to go duck hunting as part of their bonding time. The narrator wants to spend time with his father, but expresses ethical concerns about hunting ducks. The father asserts hunting is a natural part of human evolution. The debate continues as the narrator decides to go on the hunt, but is undecided if he will pull the trigger. The story ends with father and son in the blind just at the moment before the narrator must decide if he is going to pull the trigger.

DISCUSSION: This isn’t really a story about sport killing or not, at least to us. The really interesting part of the story is about how family, and those emotional ties, and those we need to be loved by and respect, might cause us to do things that we find personally morally objectionable. Here, the father gives the son several chances to not participate in the duck hunt, but it’s clear he will be disappointed, and that it might limit their future ability to have father/son time. This sort of unintentional (or intentional) manipulation happens not just with family members, but those in authority, or those who we respect and want approval from.

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E48. "Reach" - Should we know "the story" of the people behind the products we purchase?

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Named “Top 20 Philosophy Podcast” for 2021!

STORY SUMMARY: Jack Benson gives his child a prototype toy from his company as a Christmas present. When they check the toy battery compartment, they find a sad poem written in Chinese. Jack decides to fly to China and visit the factory where the toy is produced. He pays an employee to read the poem over the factory floor loudspeaker. A woman on the factory line stands up in acknowledgement, then humbly returns to her work. Later, after the shift, she slips him a book of her writings, presumably, expressing more thoughts and emotions about her life.

DISCUSSION: The obvious question for this story is, of course, do we have an obligation to know more about where our products are sourced and the labor that is being used to build them? His child shows the very disposable way we look at products of cheap labor. Also, it may have been irresponsible on the part of the narrator to put the poem writer at risk. What if she had been fired? She didn’t specifically ask for help. In some ways he seems trapped in his wealthy life as well, just trapped in a different way.

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E47. "Echo" - What natural rights does a human in an artificial body deserve?

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Named “Top 20 Philosophy Podcast” for 2021!

STORY SUMMARY: Martha dies. She wakes up three years later with her consciousness put into the body of an android. She did not ask for this, it simply happened. She is forced to accept that Martha is dead, and that she must live out her new life as Echo. As an android, she has limited rights. She cannot see her former family or friends. She can only work for minimum wage. She cannot interact with any technology. She cannot go to the same location more than twice in a week. She cannot meet other androids for prolonged periods of time. She is not even allowed to terminate her own existence. Her only friend is a journalist who is trying to get the “android story” out. He does this by using an override switch that paralyzes Echo and allows him to download her complete data set since her inception.

DISCUSSION: Story brings up wonderful points about what rights you are born with and what it is about you that earns you those rights. Is it your body, or something else? Is it inevitable that there are always lower class people to do the hard work and have limited rights? She was perfectly happy to take rights away from the androids until she was one. Even the person that is helping her takes her memories without her permission. The question we are wholly not qualified to answer is, when is AI “alive?”

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E38. "In Their Image" - What happens when a Teddy can't find its purpose?

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Named “Top 20 Philosophy Podcast” for 2021!

STORY SUMMARY: A preacher arrives on an off-world planet inhabited by 7 foot tall, multi-colored, bears, aka “Teddies.” Her mission is to run her church and, if possible, convert the local Teddies to Christianity. Over time she makes no progress and her church is at risk of being shut down by those funding it. She heads to the local Teddy church and learns that, according to their faith, God can only return when everyone alive is fulfilling their “Purpose” and, if you cannot find your purpose, you should volunteer to die so that you can re-enter the wheel of life and try again. Appalled by this doctrine, the preacher turns her focus to feeding the hungry. This is a violation of the culture as the Teddies believe that those that starve do so because it as their purpose to starve.

DISCUSSION: Really fascinating story and world building, and a wonderful springboard for a discussion about free will and choice. Is “Purpose” just another version of a Zen discussion about “the way?” Can your purpose change? Do people really have a single purpose? And yet, teachers, and others, refer to their careers as a “calling.” The wealthy have also, historically, told those without that they are hungry because it is God’s will. Is this a caste system, of sorts at work?

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E32. "The Mind Reader" - Is it in our nature to be ruled by a Fascist?

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Named “Top 15 Podcast” for 2020!

STORY SUMMARY: The story is a flashback of a man telling a story from the 1970’s that has always stuck with him. He is a psychology student learning about the “F Test” a test that supposedly allows you to gauge your fascist tendencies. He friend, a Vietnam Vet, disagrees with the simplicity of the test. To prove his point he talks to, and easily manipulates, a bohemian woman in the bar to change her life. The narrator watches and does nothing, but is horrified by how easily this happens. The incident ends their friendship.

DISCUSSION: The story of being a charismatic leader is all too common; they say things that “feel good” to our emotions but aren’t true. They lead us with persuasion and ask us to forgot our critical thinking skills. The vet shows the narrator how easy it is to manipulate others, including the narrator. This process of praying on the weak, or on everyone, happens every day, to almost everyone. The trick is to be aware you have these tendencies and to use logic to not allow your emotions to rule you.

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