Episode 130: Dehumanization and Disintegration (with Paul Bloom)

In this Very Special Boxing Day edition of the podcast, Tamler and David welcome back honorary Third Wizard Paul Bloom to discuss his latest article in the New Yorker about dehumanization and cruelty. Is it really the case that we dehumanize in order to harm others? Or does most violence actually require us to view others as fundamentally human, agentic, and capable of true suffering? But first, we discuss the stages of Star Trek transporter cognition, whether Paul and David are closet-dualists, and whether the process of choosing a Dalai Lama suffers from p-hacking concerns. (And between segments we give our brief, spoiler-free thoughts on Season 3 of Mr. Robot). Happy Chanukah, Kwanzaa, New Year, and Merry Christmas to all!

Special Guest: Paul Bloom.

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Links:

• Join the Very Bad Wizards discussion on Reddit
• Paul Bloom | Department of Psychology
• The Root of All Cruelty? | The New Yorker
• Klaus J. Jacobs Awards - Jacobs Foundation
• War Child
• Our enemies are human: that’s why we want to kill them | Aeon Ideas
• On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society - Kindle edition by Dave Grossman. Professional & Technical Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com.
• Virtuous Violence: Hurting and Killing to Create, Sustain, End, and Honor Social Relationships by Alan Fiske and Tage Rai
• Down Girl: The Logic of Misogyny by Kate Manne