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

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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E37. "Externalities" - While facts are unchanging, is 'truth' contextual?

Named “Top 20 Philosophy Podcast” for 2021!

STORY SUMMARY: Set in the 1600’s, a traveling man of knowledge comes into town with his young assistant and assortment of books. Various townspeople come to visit him, paying to ask questions. Why do my gums bleed? Why does is steel I forge brittle? Finally, a wealthy man comes and asks if he should allow his daughter to marry the local guard. The traveling man says yes, that love is always a thing to respect. The wealthy man comes back later with his daughter and attempts to bribe the traveling man to have him say they should call the relationship off. The traveling man refuses and, in the process, gives his assistant an important lesson about positive externalities.

DISCUSSION: Like all of our stories, this one is very well written and has the feel of being written by a very wise person, who just happens to also be a writer. It’s interesting the way each person who comes to pay for advice has a different question that allows the traveling man to expound upon a life lesson. Also, it seems like each question relates to the subtext of the thing going on in that person’s life as well. The story brings up an interesting point about the rare case of positive externalities. While they are typically associated with businesses pushing costs off to society, it can just as well be about a couple in love getting the benefit of the price paid for by their father.

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E36. "Everyone's Gay In Space" - What if your clone was gay?

Named “Top 15 Podcast” for 2020!

STORY SUMMARY: Douglas Junior and his wife both have a rare, recessive, genetic disease. They donate their blood to a lab to help them find a cure. Through a medical mix-up, Douglas Junior’s DNA is used to create his clone. 20 years later he finds out about his clone and reaches out to meet him. Things don’t go exactly as planned as Douglas Junior is a blue-collar working man, while his clone is a top-of-the-class gay student who plans to join the space program.

DISCUSSION: Interesting story that mirror some of the research done with sexual orientation differences between identical twins, as well as nature vs. nurture. Creates a springboard for good discussions about what information we would want to know about our clone. For example, are there unexplored genetic aptitudes I missed out on? Douglas seems to be very picky about which science he believes in, and which he doesn’t believe in, as so much of it is tied up how he self identifies. His clone is rightly frustrated by all the questions and says what may often be on the mind of others gay individuals, “it’s not my job to teach everyone in the world ‘Gay 101’”.

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E35. "Sacrificing Mercy" - Would you let your spouse die for their faith?

Named “Top 15 Podcast” for 2020!

STORY SUMMARY: A woman is diagnosed with a heart condition and is offered the ability to grow a new heart to replace hers. She declines based on her religious beliefs. Her husband, who has medical power of attorney, waits until she is unconscious and near death, and goes against her wishes and orders the life saving procedure. When she wakes and finds out what he has done she divorces him. Even after the divorce and going out of jail, he does not regret his choice.

DISCUSSION: This seems like a very real possibility today, or in the near future. There might not be any bad guys in this story. Mad respect to the woman for having the conviction of her faith. Respect to the man for saving his wife in support of his own ethics. Interesting how the mother, who is also religious, came to the conclusion the transplant was fine. The man clearly loved his wife, enough to save her, and lose her. Maybe he should have told her he would be unable to fulfill her wishes and to give medical power to someone else? This might be different if it was about children.

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E34. "Performance" - Are you simply what you repeat?

Named “Top 15 Podcast” for 2020!

STORY SUMMARY: A weak spirited loser is contacted by the government and informed he has a twin that is the head of a powerful mafia organization. The government will pay him $1 million dollars if he goes through their program to learn the mannerisms and speech of his mafia twin and replace him in the organization. As the twin learns how to act like the mafia boss, he becomes more like him until he escapes the training program with the money and a new personality.

DISCUSSION: A story about nature vs nurture, and to the extent which the way we act effects are mood, as well as who we are. The group generally agreed that changing behavior can change personality and mood. Kolby was of the opinion this process could be “hacked” to help us create better versions of ourselves. Others suggested this was already being done by celebrity product endorsements selling a lifestyle as much as the product. Ashley thought this might be a time-travel story, where they are actually creating the mob boss. Everyone thought the story was interesting as a premise, but a bit confusing how the organization could have some much information on the mob boss, but needed this twin to get information before arresting him.

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E33. "Love Sounds" - How much should you let family with mental health issues into your life?

Named “Top 15 Podcast” for 2020!

STORY SUMMARY: The story is from the perspective of a mother and her interest in what she believes is her daughter’s pending marriage. She has mental health issues that lead her to be temporarily institutionalized after the birth of her child. The daughter meets with mother from time to time, but provides very little information about her life. The mother continues to get worse until she is picked up by the police after an episode at a perspective wedding venue. The daughter later informs her mother that she got married without inviting her to the “small” wedding.

DISCUSSION: The core question in this story is how much do you involve, or limit, a family member in your life who suffers from mental health issues? The mother isn’t a bad person, she just struggles. Is it more humane to simply cut her out of your life so as to limit the information and stress you cause her? Is it better to only interact with her on your own terms? Would you invite your mother to your wedding if you knew she might have an episode and become the center of attention? We are split, as podcasters, in what we would do. The story both plays into and mocks Jewish stereotypes, but at its core, deals directly with how we decide of level of support for family members with mental health issues.

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

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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E31. "Idle Horns" - What do you do when it's punishment to punish?

Named “Top 15 Podcast” for 2020!

STORY SUMMARY: Set in hell, a demon, “Bub” asks the person he is torturing for eternity what he did to end up in hell. Turns out he stole a few bikes. This causes Bub to question his purpose and walk off the job. He climbs to limbo to take a break from it all. Eventually, Hermes comes to fetch him and bring him before Satan, who punishes him for eternity for walking off the job.

DISCUSSION: Wonderful story, both for the questions it asks, and the humor it brings to the situation. Brings up good questions about the “fairness” of eternal punishment for any temporary act. Also, brings up the question of a god who would is all good, all powerful, and all knowing, and yet allows people to be tortured. Nice twist on the concept in that Satan is hurting people, not because he cares about people, but because he knows it hurts God to see his children being hurt. Kolby wonders if walking off the job because of concerns about the morality of his actions should be enough to earn Bub a place in heaven.

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E30. "Farewell, Odysseus" - Would you get a human as a pet?

Named “Top 15 Podcast” for 2020!

STORY SUMMARY: Set in the future, the Dios are a group of super humans who, because of having the wealth over generations to make mental and physical enhancements, are a different, and superior, race. Humans on earth sometimes agree to go to live on Mars with the Dios as their pets. The narrator is one such person, that is, until he starts to ask too many questions.

DISCUSSION: Great world building. A longer and more complete story than we usually do. Perhaps this is a warning, not about keeping people as pets, but about the long term effects of the wealthy having access to technology that allows them to further separate themselves from the poor over generations. What level of difference in ability makes it okay to keep another species as a pet? Maybe the differences in the story aren’t as great as the Dios want them to seem? Is this slavery? Is it fair that those on earth are so poor this is their only way out? Is that the crime here? Is this different than having a “sugar-daddy” that takes care of you?

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E29. "All My Tomorrows" - How many tomorrows would you give up for a single yesterday?

Named “Top 15 Podcast” for 2020!

STORY SUMMARY: A sixteen year old girl is put in charge of her parents’ shop that sells memories of your past in exchange for a year of your future. The girl loves her job and all the memories she can feel leaking through the files. A sad man comes in and asks to have the memory of his “last good day.” She sells him the day at a discounted price for the remainder of the life he has left. It was, he says, the last day before he learned a terrible secret he never recovered from, one that caused his wife to leave him.

DISCUSSION: The story is so beautifully written. The energy of the young girl working alone, and the visuals of the memories and feelings as she walks by them draw you in so deeply to her joy. However, the story is terribly sad. Would you trade a year of your future for a past day? It means you think one year of your future can’t live up to one day of your past. It means you think your best days are behind you. It also means you are living in the past. Maybe would be worth doing it to see a dead parent again or to relive a past moment and provide forgiveness for past mistakes. The very fact that this is possible might make living for the future harder. It’s perfect that a young girl is working the shop, because she only sees the memories as positive, rather than in relation to the life people have today they compare those days to.

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E28. "The Seven Absent Sins" - Are all sentient species hard-wired to sin?

Named “Top 15 Podcast” for 2020!

STORY SUMMARY: A Jesuit Priest researches other sentient beings in the universe looking for species that are incapable of committing one of the cardinal sins. He finds six different species that, because of their biology, he says, cannot commit one of the sins. He is unable to find a species without the sin of Pride. He questions, but finally confirms, that this strengthens his belief in God.

DISCUSSION: Are there merits to the earth closing itself off from the universe for years in order to maintain its “cultural purity.” Is this a good idea or doomed to cause issues? Are there ways to preserve culture without bans on other cultures? Is sin automatic with choice? As soon as you have a sentient choice, does the fact you can make the wrong choice mean we are capable of sin? The examples for various species are tough, because it’s not like they aren’t capable of sin. The issue is that their biology or environment makes the sin impossible. So, with different choices available to different species, could there be different sins possible? Are the number of sins infinite?

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E27. "Two-Percenters" - Should we make everyone special?

Named “Top 15 Podcast” for 2020!

STORY SUMMARY: Set in the future, 2% of the population have a genetic makeup that allows them to be enhanced. The intelligent are very intelligent, the beautiful, like Greek gods. Because of their enhanced abilities, they run the world. An enhanced “Social” meets up with an enhanced “Rational” to tell him about a newly discovered drug that would allow the other 98% of the world to be able to be enhanced as well, but it would cause the 2% to regress to average, or worse. The Rational takes the vial and releases it into the world. The Social kills herself.

DISCUSSION: If things in this world are so amazing, why are the 98% causing civil unrest? Should the elite naturally be left to lead others? Does being super-human automatically make you super moral? Should the truly exception should lead the masses? if everyone is raised up, we are right back where we were, with people fighting to be on top and not enough to go around. Do we live in a meritocracy today? Doesn’t money allow those at the top to keep their children at the top today? The only ones with no choice are the 2% after the virus is released. Discussion about if we would release the virus.

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E26. "Snitch" - When doing a moral good, do the ends justify the means?

Named “Top 15 Podcast” for 2020!

STORY SUMMARY: A black pastor in New Orleans is trying to get a redevelopment project built for his poor community post Katrina. Things aren’t going well. A white person was robbed and beat up in the area, which scared off the banks from lending. The pastor goes to the local gang and pays them to keep white people safe. He also reaches out to another church group to help with protests. The white developer/partner comes and says he is going to make the project smaller and the church will get less. The pastor goes to the black mayor who also wants a cut of the development money for his re-election campaign. The pastor finally decides he’s had enough and calls the federal government to report corruption in the city.

DISCUSSION: Seems a very realistic portrayal of how things get done. There aren’t any clear good guys in this story, just people with codes that go with their social group. Which comes first, your code that pushes you into a group, or a group you get into that pushes their code on you? Maybe the pastor has finally decided to stop making moral compromises and live by better ethics, maybe not.

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E25. "Pneumadectomy" - Would you remove your soul, to save your life?

Named “Top 15 Podcast” for 2020!

STORY SUMMARY: A young boy heads to the park to play soccer with friends, they tease him and won’t let him play because he had his soul removed. Flash to the discovery of the soul. A doctor has modified a CAT Scan machine and found the soul in the appendix. When the appendix is inflamed, sometimes it is medically caused, sometimes it is because of an injured soul. Regardless of the cause, it can still be removed and the problem is fine. And the person with no soul seems no different. The mother comforts the boy when he gets home. Later, the boy goes to a friends house, his mother tells the boy her son died, because he was having appendix issues, and they refused to have it removed because they didn’t want to remove his soul.

DISCUSSION: You must first accept the premise of the story, that the people in the story found the soul in the appendix. Knowing that, what good is it to have a soul in the story? Seems like everyone stays basically the same. Would you write on a piece of paper selling your soul to another person? If so, you must believe in a soul, regardless of what you say. Otherwise, the paper means nothing and it’s free money. Would you be friends with someone without a soul? Is the soul tied to an afterlife, if so, maybe the mother who let her child die did the right thing. Should the government be allowed to impose a medically necessary procedure that a parent refuses? Courts in the US say parents can refuse treatment for their children, if they are under 12 years old, with a court order.

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E24. "Choose" - What if death is the only option?

Named “Top 15 Podcast” for 2020!

STORY SUMMARY: A woman wakes up strapped to a lab table. An emotionless doctor asks her to choose what she would do for the trolley problem. She is then graphically shown the results of her choice. A new choice, do you push people out of an over-capacity life raft to save the others? She is again graphically show the result of her choice. This goes on for 1000’s of scenarios until the woman is totally exhausted from watching death. Only then does she realize she is being punished, 900 years after a choice she made, to kill children in order to find the cure to a disease.

DISCUSSION: Loads of utilitarian questions in this story, just one after another. Scenario makes them fit in the story very organically. Would a person really get rattled from watching all that death, or get desensitized? In Greek plays, it was called catharsis. It’s hard to know, is the woman being punished for her past acts, or re-educated, or being used as a deterrent to others? Should a person be punished after they have died? Should they be punished longer than their lifetime, or more than a single death?

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E23. "Prevention" - Would you turn on your son, to save his school?

Named “Top 15 Podcast” for 2020!

STORY SUMMARY: A single mother and her son have coffee before school. His car is in the shop, so she drives him to high school. He calls his mom later to say he left his laptop in the car. She decides to go through his laptop, and finds out his son and two friends are planning on shooting up the school in just days. She searches his room, and finds guns and drugs. The mother is worried about how this will effect her college daughter, and herself, if the shooting happens. The next day she spikes her son’s morning coffee with drugs and waits for him to die in his room of an overdose. She calls the police and ambulance. She disposes of the guns and laptop on the outskirts of town. The police suspect nothing and her son’s death is deemed a suicide by drug overdose.

DISCUSSION: The mother is a psychopath, and her priorities are all wrong. Her first concern is her daughter, and she treats her son like a stranger. She is emotionless in killing her son. This also hints that the son’s issues might be genetic from the mother. This is wrong behavior. She didn’t have to call the police, she could have taken him to the father, or for treatment. There are still two remaining kids planning to shoot up the school, and she doesn’t even tell the school about them. This is a story as much about the mother’s issues as about a school shooting. However, school shootings are now just the world we live in as the “new normal.”

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E22. "An Infinite Game" - Is everyone selfish, when death is on the line?

Named “Top 15 Podcast” for 2020!

STORY SUMMARY: Four prisoners are made to draw straws for the order they stand in a row. Their prison guard plans to push his bayonet into the first person and see how far back it goes in the line of men. The first man in line panics, runs, and is shot. The narrator talks to the man in front of him and tries to convince him not to run so he might slow down the thrust. The heavy set man in the back thinks he is safe, but the guard changes his mind and stabs him instead. In the end, only the narrator survives.

DISCUSSION: Story focuses on morality, game theory, value theory, and infinite game theory. Should the heavy set man have volunteered to be first in line to slow down the blade for everyone else? Is it selfish to run and, thus, cause those behind you to be more likely to die? Should the four men have simply tried to rush the guard? Does everyone find God when they are about to die? Game theory seems to only work when dealing with large numbers, not individuals. Value theory seems to state that, at the end of the day, nothing is worth more than your own life. This is an infinite, not a finite, game. The guard seems like an arm-chair philosopher.

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E21. "Prohibition" - Can you blame an addict for not following the law?

Named “Top 15 Podcast” for 2020!

STORY SUMMARY: Set in the future, an addict takes a cab to an isolated part of town. He goes to a private, illegal club to break the law; he orders meat. The club is raided by the police, who kill a patron during their interrogation of her. The meat-eating addict sneaks away, knowing he will break the law again.

DISCUSSION: Story with so many layers. First, the contrast between the “humane” society that has banned meat eating, but the brutality of the individual police. Do more serious laws allow for more brutal policing? Also, is this man protesting, or is he simply an addict? Seems to be just be an addict. Are there natural rights? If so, is eating meat one of those natural rights? Does it matter if the reason the law was passed was to protect animals, or to prevent climate change? If a law is passed you disagree with, does it change your behavior? Do you leave the party where they are eating meat? Does it depend on the level of the crime they are committing?

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E20. "How The Cockroach Lost Its Voice" - When cockroaches could talk, and humans were still unhappy.

Named “Top 15 Podcast” for 2020!

STORY SUMMARY: An older and younger (talking) cockroach climb to the top of the highest thing, the refrigerator, to overlook their world. The older roach tells the child that the humans he sees can talk, and also have a 3rd eye inside of them that allows them to imagine the future and remember the past, and this is what makes them unhappy all the time. An angel moth comes down and takes away the roaches ability to speak forever.

DISCUSSION: A children’s story, but one with a good lesson, about having the ability to think about the future, but not let it trouble you or dwell on it. Do other animals have this “3rd eye”? Maybe dogs or others do, to some degree. It has made humans successful because we can remember errors, and plan for future problems. It’s a trade off, but a good one. The key is to not worry so much.

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E19. "The Orphan's Dilemma" - Is getting a future worth forgetting the past?

Named “Top 15 Short Story Podcast” for 2020!

STORY SUMMARY: The story takes place in the thoughts of a 16 year old boy waiting to have his memory erased for his adoption. He thinks about going on his first date, and about being teased by others. He wonders about the family that is adopting him and having new memories implanted in him. It’s finally his turn, he has decided if he is getting his memory replaced, and he heads in to the room to tell them his decision.

DISCUSSION: Wonderful story about a “hero’s journey” of death and rebirth. Brings up good questions about how our pain, as well as our joy, creates our personality. What kind of family would want a kid only on the condition of cleaning his memories? But, isn’t the goal a successful adoption, and maybe having a clean slate would make that more possible. Don’t people avoid adopting dogs with “issues?” Is there a screening process? Should a family be able to select a child who isn’t “broken?” What if a free college education is included? How much are memories worth?

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