The Morality of Everyday Things

Hi all, excuse the LONG pause - we've been heads down at Stasher.com and super busy. We did manage to get this episode together and decided that as Ant is appearing on a quiz show and this has likely brought some new people (hi, if that's you!), it'd be great to let people know that the next season is on it's way if very delayed. In this multi-parter, we discuss happinness and the dissonance of the human condition. The person who lives a meaningful but trying life is in some way happy (certainly they're admired and envied), but so to is the man who lives in his pleasant cottage and learns to appreciate the simple things...how can these 2 very distinct lives be called the same thing? This is what we explore in this series, what are the constituent parts of happiness and why is this term so fragmented anyway. We'll start from a biological and pyschological perspective (this episode) all the way up to a philosophical view in assessing how we should think about happiness and how we may incorporate these perspectives within our lives. We'll be back with more content soon! Support the show: Subscribe to ant's newsletter here. He posts about similar stuff to what we talk about + tech and startups and politics. Please leave us a review! Know anyone who likes to think about or debate the kind of topics we cover? Spread the word - and you'll have our gratitude. Here's the link to our new community whatsapp, where we'll discuss episodes and ask our most engaged listeners what sort of topics/formats they most enjoy. If you're a fan of the show, please consider signing up to our Patreon. A small subscription goes a long way towards supporting the show - and it makes us feel all warm inside too. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Old description: Is the Santa myth just harmless fun, or should we be honest to our kids about Saint Nick? In this very festive episode, Jake and Ant discuss the morality of lying to children about Santa Claus. They start with a brief history of the character's origins, including Father Christmas, Saint Nicholas and even Odin. Then they go over the origins of the tradition of teaching children of Santa's literal existence and the reasons for doing it. After that, they discuss the potential benefits of the fiction, as well as the potential harms, before bringing up several philosophical frameworks and what they have to say about lying to children in addition to lying in general. They end the discussion by talking about the lessons that the Santa myth may inadvertently teach children, as well as alternatives to lying to children that don't deprive kids of the fun of the Santa story. Support the show: Please leave us a review! Spotify even now let's you do it - see that little star icon - go on, give it a click. Reviews are a great way to help others find the show, and it makes us feel all warm inside. Know anyone who likes to think about or debate the kind of topics we cover? Spread the word - and you'll have our gratitude. Here's the link to our new community whatsapp, where we'll discuss episodes and ask our most engaged listeners what sort of topics/formats they most enjoy. If you're a fan of the show, please consider signing up to our Patreon. A small subscription goes a long way towards supporting the show - and it makes us feel all warm inside too. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Old description: In this episode, Jake and Ant look at the ethics of having children in the context of climate change. Is it ok to birth a child into a doomed circumstance...is this circumstance quite so doomed...even if it wasn't, is it maybe wrong to birth someone without their permission anyway? This discussion begins by exploring moral considerations around having children with 2 key perspectives, particularly: the way that you may be wronging a baby itself by birthing it, either by dooming it to a struggle with the woes of life (if that's how you view life) or the struggles of climate change, or the way you may be wronging society more widely. After an exploration in this regard we focus more on the practicalities of climate change: is human life actually doomed and is that question relevant? Can we weigh human happiness against humans having a place to live? Can we realistically ask people to not have children and what might a policy look like? Support the show: Please leave us a review! Spotify even now let's you do it - see that little star icon - go on, give it a click. Reviews are a great way to help others find the show, and it makes us feel all warm inside. Know anyone who likes to think about or debate the kind of topics we cover? Spread the word - and you'll have our gratitude. Here's the link to our new community whatsapp, where we'll discuss episodes and ask our most engaged listeners what sort of topics/formats they most enjoy. If you're a fan of the show, please consider signing up to our Patreon. A small subscription goes a long way towards supporting the show - and it makes us feel all warm inside too. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Old Description: In this episode, Jake and Ant look at the ethics of pet care. Is it ok to keep any sentient living being as property, free to be made infertile if their incessant humping annoys us and even to be put down if they become an inconvenience or minor danger. Part of this discussion will feel familiar from our vegan/vegetarianism episode (how do we compare animal vs human rights?), but the fundamental question is how do we square the very common stance of being anti-livestock/vegan but pro-pets? We do care about our pets, but we also violate what may very reasonably be their rights as sentient creatures in the interest of our enjoyment - and their being happy with the arrangement may not necessarily get us off the hook, just as it doesn't solve the 'benevolent slave owner' argument. Also, to what extent does keeping pets enable negligient or non-benevolent pet owners to cause suffering, and can we even agree what counts as negligient - by some accounts keeping a dog in an inner city apartment is not fair, for example. Support the show: Please leave us a review! Spotify even now let's you do it - see that little star icon - go on, give it a click. Reviews are a great way to help others find the show, and it makes us feel all warm inside. Know anyone who likes to think about or debate the kind of topics we cover? Spread the word - and you'll have our gratitude. Here's the link to our new community whatsapp, where we'll discuss episodes and ask our most engaged listeners what sort of topics/formats they most enjoy. If you're a fan of the show, please consider signing up to our Patreon. A small subscription goes a long way towards supporting the show - and it makes us feel all warm inside too. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Old description: In this episode, Jake and Ant look at the ethics of art. Well, a very small sub-section, enjoying the works of artists who are themselves immoral. In considering this, we consider the difference between art and things that are simply visually/audibly pleasing and how the context of art can (or should) affect how we appreciate it. Key considerations include whether the 'problematic' context of the artist is literally part of their work, a heavy influence or driver of the work, or totally separate. We also consider whether the issue is consequential, i.e. we should withold our attention to financially harm such artists, or diminish their reputation, or whether it's more to satisfy a personal moral qualm. Support the show: Please leave us a review! Spotify even now let's you do it - see that little star icon - go on, give it a click. Reviews are a great way to help others find the show, and it makes us feel all warm inside. Know anyone who likes to think about or debate the kind of topics we cover? Spread the word - and you'll have our gratitude. Here's the link to our new community whatsapp, where we'll discuss episodes and ask our most engaged listeners what sort of topics/formats they most enjoy. If you're a fan of the show, please consider signing up to our Patreon. A small subscription goes a long way towards supporting the show - and it makes us feel all warm inside too. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Old episode description: In this episode, Jake and Ant look at the ethics of private education. Education is so important - and so formative - that it's important to ask whether it is fair for some people to access a higher quality education on the basis of wealth. What happens when what is best for society does not line up with what is best for us individually?  Support the show: Please leave us a review! Spotify even now let's you do it - see that little star icon - go on, give it a click. Reviews are a great way to help others find the show, and it makes us feel all warm inside. Know anyone who likes to think about or debate the kind of topics we cover? Spread the word - and you'll have our gratitude. Here's the link to our new community whatsapp, where we'll discuss episodes and ask our most engaged listeners what sort of topics/formats they most enjoy. If you're a fan of the show, please consider signing up to our Patreon. A small subscription goes a long way towards supporting the show - and it makes us feel all warm inside too. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Old episdoe description: In this episode, Jake and Ant explore what it means to be a bad person, briefly revisit the distinction between good/bad and right/wrong and discuss in some more depth why they specifically chose Facebook for this question (rather than BP or Goldman Sachs or Google) and some of the harms and goods it facilitates. Support the show: Please leave us a review! Spotify even now let's you do it - see that little star icon - go on, give it a click. Reviews are a great way to help others find the show, and it makes us feel all warm inside. Know anyone who likes to think about or debate the kind of topics we cover? Spread the word - and you'll have our gratitude. Here's the link to our new community whatsapp, where we'll discuss episodes and ask our most engaged listeners what sort of topics/formats they most enjoy. If you're a fan of the show, please consider signing up to our Patreon. A small subscription goes a long way towards supporting the show - and it makes us feel all warm inside too. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Old Description: In this episode, Jake and Ant consider whether the consumption of meat - and specifically the production and slaughter of animals to that end - is immoral. This includes an exploration of the moral differences between different animals (humans included) and a consideration of whether the crux of the issue lies in the suffering and death involved in production or rather in the specific act of consuming the flesh of another creature. Following this, there's a consideration of the indirect effects of eating meat as part of the wider system of industrial meat farming, including the environmental impact of the industry, poor treatment of workers and the impact on propagating the spread of viruses. This episode was flatteringly described as "not bad, for carnists". Support the show: Please leave us a review! Spotify even now let's you do it - see that little star icon - go on, give it a click. Reviews are a great way to help others find the show, and it makes us feel all warm inside. Know anyone who likes to think about or debate the kind of topics we cover? Spread the word - and you'll have our gratitude. Here's the link to our new community whatsapp, where we'll discuss episodes and ask our most engaged listeners what sort of topics/formats they most enjoy. If you're a fan of the show, please consider signing up to our Patreon. A small subscription goes a long way towards supporting the show - and it makes us feel all warm inside too. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Old Description: In this second episode, Jake and Ant explore the circumstances in which we may be justified in doing something we'd typically class as wrong. Are we ever justified in using violence, particularly against those who have done or intend to do bad things? Would you be proud if your child punched a bully? Would you lie to an axe-murderer? Can you punch a secret nazi? All this and more discussed in this episode, including a breakdown of the 3 main types of moral frameworks - virtue based ethics, consequentalist and deontological. Support the show: Please leave us a review! Spotify even now let's you do it - see that little star icon - go on, give it a click. Reviews are a great way to help others find the show, and it makes us feel all warm inside. Know anyone who likes to think about or debate the kind of topics we cover? Spread the word - and you'll have our gratitude. Here's the link to our new community whatsapp, where we'll discuss episodes and ask our most engaged listeners what sort of topics/formats they most enjoy. If you're a fan of the show, please consider signing up to our Patreon. A small subscription goes a long way towards supporting the show - and it makes us feel all warm inside too. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

NOTE: we'll be doing replays and occassional hot-take updates between now and January next year, when we will release our next season! The episode that started it all...Should billionaires exist? We explore classic perspectives from the likes of Nozick and Rawls and give some context on just how much a billion is! Old description: In this first episode, Jake and Ant explore the moral implications of extreme wealth inequality. Can billionaires co-exist with a population in poverty? When, if ever, is it right to takeaway someone's private property? Do we deserve the cash we inherit any less than the talents we inherit by birth? Support the show: Please leave us a review! Spotify even now let's you do it - see that little star icon - go on, give it a click. Reviews are a great way to help others find the show, and it makes us feel all warm inside. Know anyone who likes to think about or debate the kind of topics we cover? Spread the word - and you'll have our gratitude. Here's the link to our new community whatsapp, where we'll discuss episodes and ask our most engaged listeners what sort of topics/formats they most enjoy. If you're a fan of the show, please consider signing up to our Patreon. A small subscription goes a long way towards supporting the show - and it makes us feel all warm inside too. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The season finale....we bring it back to films we love which are loaded with philosophical ideas and we dive into a little bit of Latin - Cogito Ergo Sum! We discuss the classic questions of, how do we know anything is real? Is there anything we CAN know is real? Does it even matter? We discuss Descartes and how he came to his famous "I think therefore I am" and what that exactly means, and we extend his skepticism to help explain the relationship with the classic movie The Matrix. This is the final episode for the season and the upcoming break may be a bit longer as we're busy focusing on Stasher's funding round - https://seedrs.com/stasher if you're interested. Support the show: Please leave us a review! Spotify even now let's you do it - see that little star icon - go on, give it a click. Reviews are a great way to help others find the show, and it makes us feel all warm inside. Know anyone who likes to think about or debate the kind of topics we cover? Spread the word - and you'll have our gratitude. Here's the link to our new community whatsapp, where we'll discuss episodes and ask our most engaged listeners what sort of topics/formats they most enjoy. If you're a fan of the show, please consider signing up to our Patreon. A small subscription goes a long way towards supporting the show - and it makes us feel all warm inside too. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, we use the recent nautical disaster of the imploding submarine to explore how we determine what makes the news, and what should make the news? We examine the model of "newsworthyness" as well as looking at the work of Baudrillard and Chomsky. Basically, is the news a filter that brings forward diamonds, or does the new have an agenda and weave narratives to guide our thinking, or distract us? P.s. we're thinking of a London live show! Let us know if you'd like to see us live :) Join the whatsapp and say hi. Support the show: Please leave us a review! Spotify even now let's you do it - see that little star icon - go on, give it a click. Reviews are a great way to help others find the show, and it makes us feel all warm inside. Know anyone who likes to think about or debate the kind of topics we cover? Spread the word - and you'll have our gratitude. Here's the link to our new community whatsapp, where we'll discuss episodes and ask our most engaged listeners what sort of topics/formats they most enjoy. If you're a fan of the show, please consider signing up to our Patreon. A small subscription goes a long way towards supporting the show - and it makes us feel all warm inside too. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Following our episode discussing his book and the concepts within, we speak with the author himself! Kieran is a professor in Philosophy from MIT and author of several books around philosophy and it's practical place within our lives. In this follow-on episode we focus more on the concept of justice and it's role in Kieran's conception of dealing with the hard parts of life - and a wider ranging conversation thereafter! Support the show: Please leave us a review! Spotify even now let's you do it - see that little star icon - go on, give it a click. Reviews are a great way to help others find the show, and it makes us feel all warm inside. Know anyone who likes to think about or debate the kind of topics we cover? Spread the word - and you'll have our gratitude. Here's the link to our new community whatsapp, where we'll discuss episodes and ask our most engaged listeners what sort of topics/formats they most enjoy. If you're a fan of the show, please consider signing up to our Patreon. A small subscription goes a long way towards supporting the show - and it makes us feel all warm inside too. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Excuse posting this episode 1 day late. This week, following our episode discussing his book and the concepts within, we speak with the author himself! Kieran is a professor in Philosophy from MIT and author of several books around philosophy and it's practical place within our lives. We have a far ranging topic around why he wrote this book, whether philosophy is self-help and a breakdown of a synopsis of the book! Support the show: Please leave us a review! Spotify even now let's you do it - see that little star icon - go on, give it a click. Reviews are a great way to help others find the show, and it makes us feel all warm inside. Know anyone who likes to think about or debate the kind of topics we cover? Spread the word - and you'll have our gratitude. Here's the link to our new community whatsapp, where we'll discuss episodes and ask our most engaged listeners what sort of topics/formats they most enjoy. If you're a fan of the show, please consider signing up to our Patreon. A small subscription goes a long way towards supporting the show - and it makes us feel all warm inside too. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Some of you may remember "The Pharma Bro" who raised the cost of medicine 1000%. He recently appeared on a podcast and it led us to consider the question. Should medicine be sacrasanct? Is it really that different ot other businesses and is being sanctimonious about it just going to get in the way of progress? We discuss whether Shkreli is fully morally developed, mid-term vs short-term moral optimization and the Heinz thought experiment (is it ok to steal medicine?). Support the show: Please leave us a review! Spotify even now let's you do it - see that little star icon - go on, give it a click. Reviews are a great way to help others find the show, and it makes us feel all warm inside. Know anyone who likes to think about or debate the kind of topics we cover? Spread the word - and you'll have our gratitude. Here's the link to our new community whatsapp, where we'll discuss episodes and ask our most engaged listeners what sort of topics/formats they most enjoy. If you're a fan of the show, please consider signing up to our Patreon. A small subscription goes a long way towards supporting the show - and it makes us feel all warm inside too. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, we discuss Kieran Setiya's book "life is hard" and discuss the place of philosophy in our everyday lives. Can philosophy be a guide to a life well lived, and actually educate us to live through suffering effectively? This one is a far-ranging open discussion around the topic of the book. Support the show: Please leave us a review! Spotify even now let's you do it - see that little star icon - go on, give it a click. Reviews are a great way to help others find the show, and it makes us feel all warm inside. Know anyone who likes to think about or debate the kind of topics we cover? Spread the word - and you'll have our gratitude. Here's the link to our new community whatsapp, where we'll discuss episodes and ask our most engaged listeners what sort of topics/formats they most enjoy. If you're a fan of the show, please consider signing up to our Patreon. A small subscription goes a long way towards supporting the show - and it makes us feel all warm inside too. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A follow on to last episode where we discuss Basic Income with Guy Standing. Last episode we talked about the moral basis for Basic Income, this week we follow on with a moral practical approach. How will it be funded, what will the impact be, how/when are we likely to see this, etc. Guy is a fantastic and fun guest, so it's definitely worth listening to the follow up here. Support the show: Please leave us a review! Spotify even now let's you do it - see that little star icon - go on, give it a click. Reviews are a great way to help others find the show, and it makes us feel all warm inside. Know anyone who likes to think about or debate the kind of topics we cover? Spread the word - and you'll have our gratitude. Here's the link to our new community whatsapp, where we'll discuss episodes and ask our most engaged listeners what sort of topics/formats they most enjoy. If you're a fan of the show, please consider signing up to our Patreon. A small subscription goes a long way towards supporting the show - and it makes us feel all warm inside too. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After having previously said over and over that we'll "do UBI properly at some point", the time has come, and what better way to approach this question than including the man who quite literally wrote the book on it, Guy Standing. A professor in Economics at SOAS, who spent many years at the Internatinoal Labour Organization and founded the Basic Income Earth Network (BIEN), this episode is really more about Guy than us - with us questioning him on what drives the moral imperative for everyone receiving basic income. Support the show: Please leave us a review! Spotify even now let's you do it - see that little star icon - go on, give it a click. Reviews are a great way to help others find the show, and it makes us feel all warm inside. Know anyone who likes to think about or debate the kind of topics we cover? Spread the word - and you'll have our gratitude. Here's the link to our new community whatsapp, where we'll discuss episodes and ask our most engaged listeners what sort of topics/formats they most enjoy. If you're a fan of the show, please consider signing up to our Patreon. A small subscription goes a long way towards supporting the show - and it makes us feel all warm inside too. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We've previously discussed footballers being overpaid...but where is that money coming from? With our beloved clubs being increasingly funded by authoritarian regimes with spotty human rights records, who are arguably intentionally using these investments as a means of improving their global image, what responsibility sits on the fans? Are newcastle fans required to take a stand against their saudi owners? Should we have boycotted the most recent world cup in Qatar? All this and more as we explore jakes favourite side-interest once again. Support the show: Please leave us a review! Spotify even now let's you do it - see that little star icon - go on, give it a click. Reviews are a great way to help others find the show, and it makes us feel all warm inside. Know anyone who likes to think about or debate the kind of topics we cover? Spread the word - and you'll have our gratitude. Here's the link to our new community whatsapp, where we'll discuss episodes and ask our most engaged listeners what sort of topics/formats they most enjoy. If you're a fan of the show, please consider signing up to our Patreon. A small subscription goes a long way towards supporting the show - and it makes us feel all warm inside too. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In today's episode, we use the lens of the film Everything Everywhere All At Once to examine the absurdist strand of the french existentialists. Specifically, we'll discuss Camus and his book The Myth Of Sisyphus, and how it may shape our view of the meaningless(?)ness of it all. On the way, we'll discuss how the stoics and Nietzsche shaped existentialism on its way to Camus, and ultimately wrap up by relating this to the film. Support the show: Please leave us a review! Spotify even now let's you do it - see that little star icon - go on, give it a click. Reviews are a great way to help others find the show, and it makes us feel all warm inside. Know anyone who likes to think about or debate the kind of topics we cover? Spread the word - and you'll have our gratitude. Here's the link to our new community whatsapp, where we'll discuss episodes and ask our most engaged listeners what sort of topics/formats they most enjoy. If you're a fan of the show, please consider signing up to our Patreon. A small subscription goes a long way towards supporting the show - and it makes us feel all warm inside too. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What to expect this season, each wednesday. Support the show: Here's the link to our new community whatsapp. Please leave us a review! Spotify even let's you do it - see the little star icon? Go on, give it a click and leave a cheeky 5 stars. Reviews are a great way to help others find the show, and it makes us feel all warm inside. Also, click the bell icon to get notified of new episode releases! If you're a fan of the show, please consider signing up to our Patreon. A small subscription goes a long way towards supporting the show - and it makes us feel all warm inside too. Know anyone who likes to think about or debate the kind of topics we cover? Spread the word - and you'll have our gratitude. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The final episode in our mid-season hiatus - which means season 3 will launch next week! This replay also relates to an upcoming episode in the new season....little teaser for you there. Old episode description In this episode Jake and Ant explore what it means to be overpaid - both from an economic and moral perspective. Particularly, footballers are considered in the context of essentially being entertainers. In it, you'll get a potted history of how footballers went from earning £1 a week to over £300k, an original take on the footballers v nurses debate and a look at what happened to the Gunnersaurus.  If you'd like to support the show, check out our Patreon at: https://www.patreon.com/moedt References from the episode: For more information about Treepoints, visit https://treepoints.green The Peter Crouch podcast's Roy Keane photos Seville's capture of the Gunnersaurus The Acquired Podcast The shareholders cartoon Support the show: Here's the link to our new community whatsapp. Please leave us a review! Spotify even now let's you do it - see that little star icon - go on, give it a click. Reviews are a great way to help others find the show, and it makes us feel all warm inside. If you're a fan of the show, please consider signing up to our Patreon. A small subscription goes a long way towards supporting the show - and it makes us feel all warm inside too. Know anyone who likes to think about or debate the kind of topics we cover? Spread the word - and you'll have our gratitude. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The third in 3 parts which will relate to the first episode in our next season - absurdism! Old Description: In this episode, we finish our series (of 3 episodes) exploring the intersection of 'God' and morality. You'll note the use of quotation marks, this is because we explore the moral implications of theism and organized religion in a way that is not limited to faith-based belief. This means both looking purely at the incentives around belief rather than basing belief on faith, but also weighing up the pros and cons of organized religion and their impact on society. Did it help to instill moral norms and unity, or more act as a basis for persecution, subjugation and undue docility. In this episode, we consider the source of moral authority when it comes to religion. Ultimately, if people say things like 'this is the correct way to interpret scripture', there must be some method they're leaning on to pick between alternative interpretations. If this is the case, is God's word not, in itself, the source of moral authority? Is God good at selecting what's good, or does he define it be choosing it? We talk through these problems and consider whether, in the context of morality, an appeal to authority is ever a compelling form of argument. Support the show: Here's the link to our new community whatsapp. Please leave us a review! Spotify even now let's you do it - see that little star icon - go on, give it a click. Reviews are a great way to help others find the show, and it makes us feel all warm inside. If you're a fan of the show, please consider signing up to our Patreon. A small subscription goes a long way towards supporting the show - and it makes us feel all warm inside too. Know anyone who likes to think about or debate the kind of topics we cover? Spread the word - and you'll have our gratitude. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The second in 3 parts which will relate to the first episode in our next season - absurdism! Old Description: In this episode, we begin a series (of 3 episodes) exploring the intersection of 'God' and morality. You'll note the use of quotation marks, this is because we explore the moral implications of theism and organized religion in a way that is not limited to faith-based belief. This means both looking purely at the incentives around belief rather than basing belief on faith, but also weighing up the pros and cons of organized religion and their impact on society. Did it help to instill moral norms and unity, or more act as a basis for persecution, subjugation and undue docility. We begin by assessing some of the classic arguments for either believing or not believing in god, drawing inspiration all the way from the Ancient Greece to Dostoevsky. Next we'll consider whether religion (irrespective of god's existence) has been a net good for humanity, and finally what the moral basis for god's morality could be (an appeal to authority, the definition of what is moral or something else entirely). Support the show: Here's the link to our new community whatsapp. Please leave us a review! Spotify even now let's you do it - see that little star icon - go on, give it a click. Reviews are a great way to help others find the show, and it makes us feel all warm inside. If you're a fan of the show, please consider signing up to our Patreon. A small subscription goes a long way towards supporting the show - and it makes us feel all warm inside too. Know anyone who likes to think about or debate the kind of topics we cover? Spread the word - and you'll have our gratitude. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As the audio explains, here's the link to our new community whatsapp, to discuss upcoming episodes and engage generally! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The first in 3 parts which will relate to the first episode in our next season - absurdism! Old Description: In this episode, we begin a series (of 3 episodes) exploring the intersection of 'God' and morality. You'll note the use of quotation marks, this is because we explore the moral implications of theism and organized religion in a way that is not limited to faith-based belief. This means both looking purely at the incentives around belief rather than basing belief on faith, but also weighing up the pros and cons of organized religion and their impact on society. Did it help to instill moral norms and unity, or more act as a basis for persecution, subjugation and undue docility. We begin by assessing some of the classic arguments for either believing or not believing in god, drawing inspiration all the way from the Ancient Greece to Dostoevsky. Next we'll consider whether religion (irrespective of god's existence) has been a net good for humanity, and finally what the moral basis for god's morality could be (an appeal to authority, the definition of what is moral or something else entirely). Support the show: Please leave us a review! Spotify even now let's you do it - see that little star icon - go on, give it a click. Reviews are a great way to help others find the show, and it makes us feel all warm inside. If you're a fan of the show, please consider signing up to our Patreon. A small subscription goes a long way towards supporting the show - and it makes us feel all warm inside too. Know anyone who likes to think about or debate the kind of topics we cover? Spread the word - and you'll have our gratitude. Keep up to date with future episodes on our website here: https://moedt.substack.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This episode is an inter-season replay - enjoy! Old intro: Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are all the rage - at time of posting. Should we all be rushing to buy digital images of gorillas wearing sunglasses? Or are there better ways of supporting struggling artists? In this episode, Jake and Ant look at whether NFTs represent a bright future for helping artists monetize their work. They begin by discussing how NFTs work, what web3 is and why people are so excited about where this technology could lead us. Bill Gates famously warned that one of the early design flaws of the internet was that it would be hard for creators to monetise their content - and we've certainly seen the risks of this with the rise of platforms like Spotify - so does web3 hold the answers? Along the way, they look at what art is, what it means to own art and whether NFTs will actually fulfil all their promises. Is the current hype around NFT just the beginning, or is it a bubble? Or, worse, are NFTs a kind of ponzi scheme or pyramid scheme? Support the show: Please leave us a review! Spotify even now let's you do it - see that little star icon - go on, give it a click. Reviews are a great way to help others find the show, and it makes us feel all warm inside. If you're a fan of the show, please consider signing up to our Patreon. A small subscription goes a long way towards supporting the show - and it makes us feel all warm inside.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's felt great to hold a streak and post for you guys each week for a couple months - even if a bunch of bank holidays changed posting days, and we missed the last one by a week! Unfortunately, we're busy busy boys so we'll now be taking a hiatus to build up a bank of episodes again and focus on our business over a rather key month for us. If there's a question you'd like to hear about in the upcoming season, an anecdote you'd like to share, or something you're an expert on (open to guest sessions in that case) then just let us know. You can reach us on our socials, or by emailing anthony@stasher.com. Support the show: Please leave us a review! Spotify even now let's you do it - see that little star icon, go on, give it a click. Reviews are a great way to help others find the show, and it makes us feel all warm and fuzzy inside. If you're a fan of the show, we'd love to chat to you! Book a call with us here and it'll feel like being on one of our episodes: https://calendly.com/jacob-stasher/user-research And if you want to give us feedback via our survey, please fill that in here: https://forms.gle/xMjvDbsipam1RAwg6 If you're a fan of the show, please consider signing up to our Patreon. A small subscription of just $1 goes a long way towards supporting the show - and it makes us feel pretty great too. https://www.patreon.com/moedt. Know anyone who likes to think about or debate the kind of topics we cover? Spread the word - and you'll have our gratitude. Keep up to date with future episodes on our website here: https://moedt.substack.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Firstly, apologies for the slow release - technical issue with an AI product to smooth the sound ruined our initial release. This will also be the last episode in our recent season, so expect 3-4 weeks of replays of our old hits while we build out a bank for our new season! Today's Episode: Today, we do a hot take on the deputy PM's recent firing (Dominic Raab) based on allegations of bullying. We dig in to the specifics of the report, and touch on concepts of management and culture (generally and specific to government) and discuss concepts such as "radical candour", the story of Bartleby and other relevant topics. Support the show: Please leave us a review! Spotify even now let's you do it - see that little star icon, go on, give it a click. Reviews are a great way to help others find the show, and it makes us feel all warm and fuzzy inside. If you're a fan of the show, we'd love to chat to you! Book a call with us here and it'll feel like being on one of our episodes: https://calendly.com/jacob-stasher/user-research And if you want to give us feedback via our survey, please fill that in here: https://forms.gle/xMjvDbsipam1RAwg6 If you're a fan of the show, please consider signing up to our Patreon. A small subscription of just $1 goes a long way towards supporting the show - and it makes us feel pretty great too. https://www.patreon.com/moedt. Know anyone who likes to think about or debate the kind of topics we cover? Spread the word - and you'll have our gratitude. Keep up to date with future episodes on our website here: https://moedt.substack.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today's Episode: We've previously touched on AI and understanding. In today's episode, we explore what sorts of jobs are at risk of loss, and how and why AI poses a risk to human existence. This explores both it becoming out of control, but also intentional misuse. Check it out and let us know your thoughts! Support the show: Please leave us a review! Spotify even now let's you do it - see that little star icon, go on, give it a click. Reviews are a great way to help others find the show, and it makes us feel all warm and fuzzy inside. If you're a fan of the show, we'd love to chat to you! Book a call with us here and it'll feel like being on one of our episodes: https://calendly.com/jacob-stasher/user-research And if you want to give us feedback via our survey, please fill that in here: https://forms.gle/xMjvDbsipam1RAwg6 If you're a fan of the show, please consider signing up to our Patreon. A small subscription of just $1 goes a long way towards supporting the show - and it makes us feel pretty great too. https://www.patreon.com/moedt. Know anyone who likes to think about or debate the kind of topics we cover? Spread the word - and you'll have our gratitude. Keep up to date with future episodes on our website here: https://moedt.substack.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today's Episode: The concept of living out your golden years somewhere warm, wallowing away the hours in the garden or on a beach has gone from the idea of luxury (100-200 years ago) to the expectation for all. In a world with declining fertility rates (i.e. people aren't having babies) and some larger generations approaching their twilight years, some countries are seeing pension spending rising to over 10% of GDP. Put simply, generational demographics (gens getting smaller in many developed countries) and people living longer mean that, when the old outnumber the young, it's going to be very hard to support our pensioners. We're seeing attempts to reform ahead of this pension timebomb, but people do not want to give up money they've come to expect and to continue to work. Nowhere are we seeing this clash happen than in France, where the clash is really quite literal. This also forms a nice follow-on to our episodes on striking - is this the real life example of trade unions taking it to far? All this and more in today's hot-take episode. Excuse the cursory research into the details of the pension reform in France - further reading has revealed that a large part of the anger towards this policy is that it will hurt poorer people harder than bureaucrats and public sector workers. Support the show: Please leave us a review! Spotify even now let's you do it - see that little star icon, go on, give it a click. Reviews are a great way to help others find the show, and it makes us feel all warm and fuzzy inside. If you're a fan of the show, we'd love to chat to you! Book a call with us here and it'll feel like being on one of our episodes: https://calendly.com/jacob-stasher/user-research And if you want to give us feedback via our survey, please fill that in here: https://forms.gle/xMjvDbsipam1RAwg6 If you're a fan of the show, please consider signing up to our Patreon. A small subscription of just $1 goes a long way towards supporting the show - and it makes us feel pretty great too. https://www.patreon.com/moedt. Know anyone who likes to think about or debate the kind of topics we cover? Spread the word - and you'll have our gratitude. Keep up to date with future episodes on our website here: https://moedt.substack.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today's Episode: Many will recall the remote/wfh fervour during covid, what felt like the coming of a new revolution. So many CEOs were saying how much more productive they were, employees were happy and commutes were a distant memory. Things are different now that covid's gone. CEOs and demanding people back into the office (if they're not just laying people off), cities are rather sad ghost towns and commutes are coming back. In this ongoing struggle between WFH, remote or office based work, where do you stand? More important than the practical, we talk about the subtle psychological factors at play, and discuss the place of work relative to meaning within our lives. This episode is less of a philosophical exploration, and really just musings between 2 young founders on the nature of work and happiness, particularly when it comes to being a physical part of your working community vs the comfort of WFH or the novelty of travelling! Support the show: Please leave us a review! Spotify even now let's you do it - see that little star icon, go on, give it a click. Reviews are a great way to help others find the show, and it makes us feel all warm and fuzzy inside. If you're a fan of the show, we'd love to chat to you! Book a call with us here and it'll feel like being on one of our episodes: https://calendly.com/jacob-stasher/user-research And if you want to give us feedback via our survey, please fill that in here: https://forms.gle/xMjvDbsipam1RAwg6 If you're a fan of the show, please consider signing up to our Patreon. A small subscription of just $1 goes a long way towards supporting the show - and it makes us feel pretty great too. https://www.patreon.com/moedt. Know anyone who likes to think about or debate the kind of topics we cover? Spread the word - and you'll have our gratitude. Keep up to date with future episodes on our website here: https://moedt.substack.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today's Episode: ChatGPT is the hot topic of the day and, much like when google first came out, it still feels magic to use. However, it raises several bigger questions to match. Some are practical, but many are a bit deeper. On the practical side: what happens when AI is doing all the work, will enough be left for us? How should we renumerate people to survive, if not for work? On the philosophical side: does AI ACTUALLY understand me? What does it even mean to understand? If AI reaches the point where for all intents and purposes it perfectly mimics (or even improves on) understanding...does it matter that there's no thinking, feeling thing behind the code? I mean, how do I know that anyone else is more than an input -> output machine with a conscious experience inbetween? My own is the only one I can verify afterall. We discuss this and more in our first episode exploring AI, focusing on understanding. We explain the distinction between functional and phenomenal understanding and use thought experiments like The Chinese Room to highlight the point. Support the show: Please leave us a review! Spotify even now let's you do it - see that little star icon, go on, give it a click. Reviews are a great way to help others find the show, and it makes us feel all warm and fuzzy inside. If you're a fan of the show, we'd love to chat to you! Book a call with us here and it'll feel like being on one of our episodes: https://calendly.com/jacob-stasher/user-research And if you want to give us feedback via our survey, please fill that in here: https://forms.gle/xMjvDbsipam1RAwg6 If you're a fan of the show, please consider signing up to our Patreon. A small subscription of just $1 goes a long way towards supporting the show - and it makes us feel pretty great too. https://www.patreon.com/moedt. Know anyone who likes to think about or debate the kind of topics we cover? Spread the word - and you'll have our gratitude. Keep up to date with future episodes on our website here: https://moedt.substack.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today's Episode: You may have recently heard that Penguin Random House released new, editted versions of Roald Dahl's old classic childrens books, to keep them up to date with current norms around discussions of: weight, gender, race and mental health. Those are some weighty (no pun intended) topics of identity politics of recent years, but have they got this right? Come with us and examine some of these edits to determine where you sit on this decision, that has found critics from across the ideological spectrum. Particularly, we start by examining the severity of these changes, and ultimately 3 key strands we touch on are: the distinction between the removal of something versus the insertion or promotion of new ideas that weren't previously present, the special case of children's books versus general censorship and finally dicussing censorship, free-speech and the 'marketplace for ideas' more generally. Support the show: Please leave us a review! Spotify even now let's you do it - see that little star icon, go on, give it a click. Reviews are a great way to help others find the show, and it makes us feel all warm and fuzzy inside. If you're a fan of the show, we'd love to chat to you! Book a call with us here and it'll feel like being on one of our episodes: https://calendly.com/jacob-stasher/user-research And if you want to give us feedback via our survey, please fill that in here: https://forms.gle/xMjvDbsipam1RAwg6 If you're a fan of the show, please consider signing up to our Patreon. A small subscription of just $1 goes a long way towards supporting the show - and it makes us feel pretty great too. https://www.patreon.com/moedt. Know anyone who likes to think about or debate the kind of topics we cover? Spread the word - and you'll have our gratitude. Keep up to date with future episodes on our website here: https://moedt.substack.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

One more replay before we start our new season - p.s. let us know how you like our current affairs hot-takes, early feedback has been positive! Following the covid theme to mark the 3 year anniversary (do you say that for bad occasions?) of the first lockdowns in 2020, here we discuss the ethics of making vaccines mandatory - original description follows: ---- In this episode, Jake and Ant look at the ethics of mandatory vaccination, particularly in the context of covid and the year of mandatory lockdowns we've just been through. Arguably, vaccines have clearer benefits and fewer trade-offs than lockdowns, but precedent over the last few decades has been to enshrine people's freedom of choice on the matter (even if their opinions are based on debunked conspiracy theories). Does the covid crisis make for a different circumstance, particularly given all the recent, mandatory lockdowns? They do after all represent another example of restricting personal freedoms in the interest of public health. We consider the similarities and differences between these interventions which either support or detract from this analogy, exploring concepts of bodily autonomy and human dignity, as well as a brief 'ground-up' view from consequentialist and deontological perspectives. Sign up to our newsletter here to receive a breakdown of the arguments presented, some memes and updates on future episodes: https://moedt.substack.com/ If you'd like to support the show, checkout our patreon at: https://www.patreon.com/moedt Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The first of our hot-take episodes, where we assess current affairs, what our feelings are on it and try to apply a philosophical lens where appropriate - and talk through recent listener questions! This week, we discuss the BBC's temporary suspension of Gary Lineker after comparing descriptions of plans to deal with refugees as akin to the talk of 1930's germany. Please do send in your suggested questions, thoughts etc via instagram. Support the show: Please leave us a review! Spotify even now let's you do it - see that little star icon, go on, give it a click. Reviews are a great way to help others find the show, and it makes us feel all warm and fuzzy inside. If you're a fan of the show, please consider signing up to our Patreon. A small subscription of just $1 goes a long way towards supporting the show - and it makes us feel pretty great too. https://www.patreon.com/moedt. Know anyone who likes to think about or debate the kind of topics we cover? Spread the word - and you'll have our gratitude. Keep up to date with future episodes on our website here: https://moedt.substack.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

An ominous anniversary hit us yesterday...3 years since the first UK lockdown. It seemed only fitting to replay this episode. The original description follows. Next up is a hot-take episode for you to let us know what you think of the format, and we then plan to replay our 2nd covid episode as a follow-on to this one, before getting started on the next season! In this episode, Jake and Ant consider the circumstances where restricting personal freedoms in the interest of public health may be morally justified. This includes an exploration of whether this is a truly unique circumstances, versus issues like national security, what moral frameworks are most appropriate and the classic balancing of the moral calculus. We'll address questions such as: what's the value of a human life? How should we spread benefits and harms across society and, of course, what might Kant have to say about all this? If you'd like to support the show, check out our Patreon at: https://www.patreon.com/moedt Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Firstly, if you enjoy the show, please send in your listener questions via instagram - whether they're personal or topics you'd like us to cover. We'll be addressing more of these in our new episode format (read on for more)... An update on how we'll be running the podcast in future: to give you all a more consistent posting schedule, we're moving to a seasonal format so we can keep up with weekly posts (if not even more frequent)! 2 things on this...we're moving to a more typical 'season' structure. This means that we'll post every week for a stretch of 5-10 episodes, then take a break every couple months or so to replenish our backlog of episodes to come - during this period, we'll reshare older episodes that newer listeners will have missed. Secondly, we're also adding "hot take" episodes for about 50% of our episodes, where we'll look at current affairs topics through a philosophical lense, and discussing listener questions - first one will be on Gary Lineker and refugees. Those listener questions we find most interesting will be spun into full episodes (if we don't end up rambling a whole episodes worth, there and then!) Excited for all that's to come with these changes...onwards and upwards friends :) Support the show: Please leave us a review! Spotify even now let's you do it - see that little star icon, go on, give it a click. Reviews are a great way to help others find the show, and it makes us feel all warm and fuzzy inside. If you're a fan of the show, please consider signing up to our Patreon. A small subscription of just $1 goes a long way towards supporting the show - and it makes us feel pretty great too. https://www.patreon.com/moedt. Know anyone who likes to think about or debate the kind of topics we cover? Spread the word - and you'll have our gratitude. Keep up to date with future episodes on our website here: https://moedt.substack.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A quick one for you today spawned from a real discussion that Anthony and Jake recently had. Ever the cynic and hater of celebrity culture, upon hearing that Greta Thunberg was releasing a book, Anthony was a little miffed - is this capitalist/celebrity co-opting? Jake fights the case in defence of what he rates as quite a good book! Hear it all here. If you're a fan of the show, please do follow, review and recommend it to a friend - it does far more good than you may realize! :) Support the show: Please leave us a review! Spotify even now let's you do it - see that little star icon, go on, give it a click. Reviews are a great way to help others find the show, and it makes us feel all warm and fuzzy inside. If you're a fan of the show, please consider signing up to our Patreon. A small subscription of just $1 goes a long way towards supporting the show - and it makes us feel pretty great too. https://www.patreon.com/moedt. Know anyone who likes to think about or debate the kind of topics we cover? Spread the word - and you'll have our gratitude. Keep up to date with future episodes on our website here: https://moedt.substack.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If you're a fan of the show, we'd love to chat to you! Book a call with us here and it'll feel like being on one of our episodes: https://calendly.com/jacob-stasher/user-research And if you want to give us feedback via our survey, please fill that in here: https://forms.gle/xMjvDbsipam1RAwg6 Today's Episode: Anyone who lives in the UK will have been affected by these recently...large-scale strikes. This has taken on a very unique flavour, begging a podcast episode, for 2 reasons: aside from the fact this an issue we've not encountered at this scale for decades, we're primarily seeing these in public (or quasi-public) services such as transport and healthcare where the people being hurt aren't profiteering capitalists but everyday people, and this is also coinciding with a wider (and very deep) cost of living crisis for the entire economy. That said, many of these public service workers have seen real wage losses for many years and the 10% real wage drop they face due to inflation this year would be devastating. All of this really changes the moral calculus on both sides and begs the question...where is the line between fighting for the little man, and holding the public hostage? Support the show: Please leave us a review! Spotify even now let's you do it - see that little star icon, go on, give it a click. Reviews are a great way to help others find the show, and it makes us feel all warm and fuzzy inside. If you're a fan of the show, please consider signing up to our Patreon. A small subscription of just $1 goes a long way towards supporting the show - and it makes us feel pretty great too. https://www.patreon.com/moedt. Know anyone who likes to think about or debate the kind of topics we cover? Spread the word - and you'll have our gratitude. Keep up to date with future episodes on our website here: https://moedt.substack.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If you're a fan of the show, we'd love to chat to you! Book a call with us here and it'll feel like being on one of our episodes: https://calendly.com/jacob-stasher/user-research And if you want to give us feedback via our survey, please fill that in here: https://forms.gle/xMjvDbsipam1RAwg6 Today's Episode: Really taking it to a modern everyday issue here...ghosting. What exactly is ghosting, why does it hurt so much, and when is it ok to do (if ever?). We discuss why the appearance of the romantic trend of simply going silent on a partner and disappearing has emerged. In discussing this, we explore some of the morality around expectations, our obligations to others and how much we should really care about what others think. For further reading on this episode, see this article: https://ideas.ted.com/why-ghosting-hurts-us-psychology/ It forms the foundation of the psychological analysis we discuss, including: Why caring about what others think of you is a socially beneficial skill. The key is not to care “too much”. How uncertainty reduction theory explains the pain of ghosting Why our craving for human connection exacerbates this pain in a romantic setting Support the show: Please leave us a review! Spotify even now let's you do it - see that little star icon, go on, give it a click. Reviews are a great way to help others find the show, and it makes us feel all warm and fuzzy inside. If you're a fan of the show, please consider signing up to our Patreon. A small subscription of just $1 goes a long way towards supporting the show - and it makes us feel pretty great too. https://www.patreon.com/moedt. Know anyone who likes to think about or debate the kind of topics we cover? Spread the word - and you'll have our gratitude. Keep up to date with future episodes on our website here: https://moedt.substack.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If you're a fan of the show, we'd love to chat to you! Book a call with us here and it'll feel like being on one of our episodes: https://calendly.com/jacob-stasher/user-research And if you want to give us feedback via our survey, please fill that in here: https://forms.gle/xMjvDbsipam1RAwg6 Today's Episode: Should teenagers get a vote, or should we limit voting even further? Famously in the UK, many reported that, had 16 year olds been included, Brexit would not have passed. Further, had retirees been excluded, it wouldn't have even been close. It raises several interesting questions...why do we allow people who will largely be uninvolved in the future knock-on effects to vote? Where does the legitimacy of getting a vote come from? Also, why do we limit anyone voting by age? Isn't the implication some lack of a certain capacity? If we agree on that point as a good thing, then why don't we introduce MORE tests to indentify people who aren't clued up enough to vote and do that? We discuss these questions and how our feelings on this may relate to other forms of government (direct vs representative democracies, democracies vs aristocracies, epistocracies and technocracies). All of this follows on neatly from our previous chats on voting, tying it all together with a little intro on Walter Lippman. Support the show: Please leave us a review! Spotify even now let's you do it - see that little star icon, go on, give it a click. Reviews are a great way to help others find the show, and it makes us feel all warm and fuzzy inside. If you're a fan of the show, please consider signing up to our Patreon. A small subscription of just $1 goes a long way towards supporting the show - and it makes us feel pretty great too. https://www.patreon.com/moedt. Know anyone who likes to think about or debate the kind of topics we cover? Spread the word - and you'll have our gratitude. Keep up to date with future episodes on our website here: https://moedt.substack.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If you're a fan of the show, we'd love to chat to you! Book a call with us here and it'll feel like being on one of our episodes: https://calendly.com/jacob-stasher/user-research And if you want to give us feedback via our survey, please fill that in here: https://forms.gle/xMjvDbsipam1RAwg6 Today's Episode: Should voting be required by law? Should you have to pay a fine if you fail to get to the polls? With voter turnout dropping around the world, Ant & Jake look at the example of Australia and the effects of mandatory voting. Advocates for mandatory voting say that apart from getting voter turnout above 90%, it makes citizens more politically aware, makes governments more representative and means candidates can focus more on issues. But do these bear out in practice? And is it an infringement on people's liberty to force them to the polls? Then, in the second half of the episode, they ask the question: what if you could sell your vote? Economists normally argue that the free market leads to more efficient outcomes, but could the risks outweigh the benefits. And would commodifying a vote undermine the very sanctity of democracy? Support the show: Please leave us a review! Spotify even now let's you do it - see that little star icon, go on, give it a click. Reviews are a great way to help others find the show, and it makes us feel all warm and fuzzy inside. If you're a fan of the show, please consider signing up to our Patreon. A small subscription of just $1 goes a long way towards supporting the show - and it makes us feel pretty great too. https://www.patreon.com/moedt. Know anyone who likes to think about or debate the kind of topics we cover? Spread the word - and you'll have our gratitude. Keep up to date with future episodes on our website here: https://moedt.substack.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Do you have a moral duty to vote? Are you letting down your country if you don't make the effort to ballot? Last episode, we looked at whether voting was rational. This episode we shift focus and ask whether you have a duty - a moral obligation - to vote, whether or not you think voting makes sense. Surveys show most people feel you do have a duty to vote - and most moral and political philosophers agree. But why? We look at a few of the major arguments, including the generalization argument, the civic virtue argument and the complicity argument. Other themes we touch on are the theory of easy-aid, free-riding and Arrow's Impossibility Theorem (more on that here). Support the show: Please let us know what you think of the pod and how we can improve via our feedback survey! https://forms.gle/xMjvDbsipam1RAwg6 Please leave us a review! Spotify even now let's you do it - see that little star icon, go on, give it a click. Reviews are a great way to help others find the show, and it makes us feel all warm and fuzzy inside. If you're a fan of the show, please consider signing up to our Patreon. A small subscription of just $1 goes a long way towards supporting the show - and it makes us feel pretty great too. https://www.patreon.com/moedt. Know anyone who likes to think about or debate the kind of topics we cover? Spread the word - and you'll have our gratitude. Keep up to date with future episodes on our website here: https://moedt.substack.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Please let us know what you think of the pod and how we can improve via our feedback survey! https://forms.gle/xMjvDbsipam1RAwg6 Why should you bother voting at all? In a world where your vote feels like a drop in the ocean, where you're only voting for a representative most of the time, where districts are gerrymandered and voters are suppressed...why bother? Maybe the answer to that is that we're doing something for the communal good? Maybe you need to communicate to swing future elections? Maybe it's more about saying something to yourself than achieving something! We'll approach this firstly from a perspective of political science and explain the distinction between instrumental and expressive reasons to vote, before building up to moral reasons and considering policies such as mandatory voting and where we should draw the line of who gets to vote. Following this series, we'll assess a little more closely what makes democracy legitimate more generally and a review of the history of thought around the topic. Support the show: Please leave us a review! Spotify even now let's you do it - see that little star icon, go on, give it a click. Reviews are a great way to help others find the show, and it makes us feel all warm and fuzzy inside. If you're a fan of the show, please consider signing up to our Patreon. A small subscription of just $1 goes a long way towards supporting the show - and it makes us feel pretty great too. https://www.patreon.com/moedt. Know anyone who likes to think about or debate the kind of topics we cover? Spread the word - and you'll have our gratitude. Keep up to date with future episodes on our website here: https://moedt.substack.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A replay of last year's festive episode - new episode on voting to follow soon :) Is the Santa myth just harmless fun, or should we be honest to our kids about Saint Nick? In this very festive episode, Jake and Ant discuss the morality of lying to children about Santa Claus. They start with a brief history of the character's origins, including Father Christmas, Saint Nicholas and even Odin. Then they go over the origins of the tradition of teaching children of Santa's literal existence and the reasons for doing it. After that, they discuss the potential benefits of the fiction, as well as the potential harms, before bringing up several philosophical frameworks and what they have to say about lying to children in addition to lying in general. They end the discussion by talking about the lessons that the Santa myth may inadvertently teach children, as well as alternatives to lying to children that don't deprive kids of the fun of the Santa story. Want to create your own podcast? Zencastr is an all in one podcast creation studio that you can access right from your browser, no installations needed. Just get on the site and send a link to your guests and you can get started, recording studio quality audio, and now video too. Automatic post-production makes finalising your podcast easy, all guests have their own audio channels to make editing a breeze, and all files are stored on the cloud for easy access and peace of mind. Click this link to get started with 30% off your subscription for your first 3 months. Support the show: If you're a fan of the show, please consider signing up to our Patreon. A small subscription goes a long way towards supporting the show - and it makes us feel all warm inside. Alternatively, leave us a review! We read every one and they're a great way to help others find the show… which in turn, means we'll make more episodes. Win-win.

Excuse our delay in posting this part 2 - we had to swap podcast providers as we've joined the Auddy.co podcast network and had some issues with this move. In a slightly different format to normal, today we have part 2 in a discussion around the role that work should have in our lives. Should jobs that make us have to choose between doing good and making money even exist really? Why is there a cultural dichotomy between making money and pursuing meaning, has this always been the case? This is a loosely scripted/planned episode based on an essay written by Ant, which can be found here: https://adonic.medium.com/work-money-or-meaning-why-has-this-become-a-choice-we-have-to-make-b4628fb2a337.

In a slightly different format to normal, today we have a discussion around the role that work should have in our lives. Should jobs that make us have to choose between doing good and making money even exist really? Why is there a cultural dichotomy between making money and pursuing meaning, has this always been the case? This is a loosely scripted/planned episode based on an essay written by Ant, which can be found here: https://adonic.medium.com/work-money-or-meaning-why-has-this-become-a-choice-we-have-to-make-b4628fb2a337.

The second in a two-parter where we discuss taxes and specifically inheritance tax. The series explores why taxes make sense at all, and then apply this thinking to inheritance tax - both whether it meets the ideological/moral aims we have for taxes more generally, and indeed whether they seem to actually effectively meet their intended aims!In this episode, we get into the specifics of inheritance tax - context, policy, ideology. We discuss the intended moral impact of inheritance taxes - avoiding the "paris hilton" effect, a country with too many indolent heirs and landed aristocracy - and also the policy implications, which have some surpising differences vs the ideology. Who's actually paying inheritance tax? Is the law too complicated? Do the rich, with their offshore accounts and tax advisors, even pay it?Support the show:Please leave us a review! Spotify even now let's you do it - see that little star icon, go on, give it a click. Reviews are a great way to help others find the show, and it makes us feel all warm and fuzzy inside. If you're a fan of the show, please consider signing up to our Patreon. A small subscription of just $1 goes a long way towards supporting the show - and it makes us feel pretty great too. https://www.patreon.com/moedt.Know anyone who likes to think about or debate the kind of topics we cover? Spread the word - and you'll have our gratitude. Keep up to date with future episodes on our website here: https://moedt.substack.com/ If you'd like to listen ad-free (on any podcast app) and support us as creators, become a member for as little as $2 per month at: https://plus.acast.com/s/moedt. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The first in a two-parter where we discuss taxes and specifically inheritance tax. The series explores why taxes make sense at all, and then apply this thinking to inheritance tax - both whether it meets the ideological/moral aims we have for taxes more generally, and indeed whether they seem to actually effectively meet their intended aims!In this episode, we focus a lot on the point of taxes in general and break it down into 3 points: supporting public goods that it wouldn't make sense to privately provide, nudging behaviour and internalizing externalities and finally support general redistribution of wealth. It makes a great pre-cursor to any future tax episodes!Support the show:Please leave us a review! Spotify even now let's you do it - see that little star icon, go on, give it a click. Reviews are a great way to help others find the show, and it makes us feel all warm and fuzzy inside. If you're a fan of the show, please consider signing up to our Patreon. A small subscription of just $1 goes a long way towards supporting the show - and it makes us feel pretty great too. https://www.patreon.com/moedt.Know anyone who likes to think about or debate the kind of topics we cover? Spread the word - and you'll have our gratitude. Keep up to date with future episodes on our website here: https://moedt.substack.com/ If you'd like to listen ad-free (on any podcast app) and support us as creators, become a member for as little as $2 per month at: https://plus.acast.com/s/moedt. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The second in a two-parter where we discuss whether landlords are evil. In a world where more and more urban centers in the western world are becoming unlivably expensive, should we be permitting people to treat homes as investment assets and sources of incomes? We also specifically discuss this in the context of 'leverage', which is basically when you use a mortgage to multiply your gains and losses.In this episode, we discuss whether asset ownership in general should be a means of generating returns with specific reference to Rawls and Piketty. After some back and forth on this, we look at the example set out by some other countries around the world with different living situations which haven't led to the same issues and also some discussion of potential policy solutions, and of course whether it is wrong for landlords to continue to partake in the market given the crisis.Support the show:Please leave us a review! Spotify even now let's you do it - see that little star icon, go on, give it a click. Reviews are a great way to help others find the show, and it makes us feel all warm and fuzzy inside. If you're a fan of the show, please consider signing up to our Patreon. A small subscription of just $1 goes a long way towards supporting the show - and it makes us feel pretty great too. https://www.patreon.com/moedt.Know anyone who likes to think about or debate the kind of topics we cover? Spread the word - and you'll have our gratitude. Keep up to date with future episodes on our website here: https://moedt.substack.com/ If you'd like to listen ad-free (on any podcast app) and support us as creators, become a member for as little as $2 per month at: https://plus.acast.com/s/moedt. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.