Philosophers In Space

Aaron Rabinowitz and Callie Wright

Welcome to Philosophers In Space, where the intrepid trekker captain Callie Wright and their questionable Chief Ethics Officer Aaron Rabinowitz explore the weird, gooey world of sci-fi, searching for tantalizing hypotheticals and gear-stripping questions in a space odyssey of meaning and amusement.

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Top 10 Philosophers In Space Episodes

Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best Philosophers In Space episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to Philosophers In Space for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite Philosophers In Space episode by adding your comments to the episode page.

Helsreach and Grimdark Gamergate

Philosophers In Space

11/05/23 • 99 min

In the grim dark future, there is only show notes. Are you MAN enough to pick up an absurd set of sentences and hold the line alongside literally overwrought walking metaphors? We're covering Helsreach, a fan made movie in the Warhammer 40k universe, and discussing both the philosophy of Grimdark and the interestingly related philosophy of Gamergate. We discuss why 40k is one of the last major holdouts in the Gamergate wars.

Helsreach: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2WGE1L6WKs

Grimdark: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grimdark#:~:text=Grimdark%20is%20a%20subgenre%20of,future%20there%20is%20only%20war.%22

Gamergate: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamergate_(harassment_campaign)#:~:text=Gamergate%20has%20been%20described%20as%20an%20expression%20of%20sexism%20and,threat%20to%20traditional%20video%20games.

Listener Survey: https://rutgers.ca1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_8ih4oa8ZSUaT0Cq

Music by Thomas Smith: https://seriouspod.com/

Support us at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/0G

Join our Facebook discussion group (make sure to answer the questions to join): https://www.facebook.com/groups/985828008244018/

Email us at: [email protected]

If you have time, please write us a review on iTunes. It really really helps. Please and thank you!

Sibling shows:

Queersplaining: https://www.queersplaining.com/

Embrace the Void: https://voidpod.com/

Recent appearances:

Aaron and Callie were recently on The Psychology Podcast to discuss all things trans. Check it out and share it around, we really did try to cover alllllll the bases: https://scottbarrykaufman.com/podcast/aaron-rabinowitz-callie-wright-what-we-get-wrong-about-transgender-people/

Content Preview: Gideon the Ninth and Queer Theory

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A Prayer for the Crown-Shy and Meaningful Needs pt. 2

Philosophers In Space

10/20/23 • 88 min

Well, at last we've come to our not super long or honestly all that taxing journey. We asked some hard questions that we felt no obligation to answer. We banged some hot blacksmiths and blew off our obligations to play with the phytoplankton. If this isn't the good life, there probably isn't one. Enjoy Prayer for the Crown-Shy pt. 2 and consider what real need for meaning still exists.

A Prayer for the Crown-Shy: https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250236234/aprayerforthecrownshy

Listener Survey: https://rutgers.ca1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_8ih4oa8ZSUaT0Cq

Music by Thomas Smith: https://seriouspod.com/

Support us at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/0G

Join our Facebook discussion group (make sure to answer the questions to join): https://www.facebook.com/groups/985828008244018/

Email us at: [email protected]

If you have time, please write us a review on iTunes. It really really helps. Please and thank you!

Sibling shows:

Queersplaining: https://www.queersplaining.com/

Embrace the Void: https://voidpod.com/

Recent appearances:

Content Preview: Helsreach the movie and Grimdark Gamergate

1 Listener

0G66: Striking Vipers and Multifaceted Virtual Identities

Philosophers In Space

07/24/19 • 37 min

Sooooo, we introduced someone new into the podcast this week and things got...weird...We're joined by Heath of the PiaT crowd to discuss episode one of Black Mirror's new season. The BM episode is called Striking Vipers, but it really should have been called Mauling Bears. Lotta ursine erotica is what I'm saying. We also squeeze in a little bit of philosophy on the multifaceted nature of identity and how virtual worlds change what is possible and what feels so so right. I think it's fair to say we're willing to go much farther on this issue than Black Mirror was, so if you were also left wanting more, this might help.

Virtual Identity vs. IRL identity: https://journals.tdl.org/jvwr/index.php/jvwr/article/view/2150

Scathing Atheist: https://scathingatheist.com/

Support us at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/0G

Join our Facebook discussion group (make sure to answer the questions to join): https://www.facebook.com/groups/985828008244018/

Email us at: [email protected]

If you have time, please write us a review on iTunes. It really really helps. Please and thank you!

Sibling shows:

Serious Inquiries Only: https://seriouspod.com/

Opening Arguments: https://openargs.com/

Embrace the Void: https://voidpod.com/

Recent appearances: Aaron had a great time with the NJ Humanist Network giving a talk on moral realism. Here's a recording of a previous version of the talk if you're interested: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2zw3ZSSnN4

Come see Aaron at NECSS this Sunday! We're talking mutants!

CONTENT PREVIEW: Next week we have already recorded a killer two parter with a special guest on Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, so get your hopes so high that there is no way they can ever be met.

0G32: Alien and The Corporation as Sociopath

Philosophers In Space

11/21/18 • 41 min

This week we're breaking out the big guns, except not really because one of the greatest horror movies of all time ain't got no guns. Just some ineffective flamethrowers misused by some schluby rockhoppers. Best in class on all fronts, Alien! We're mixing it up with the 2003 cultural touchstone The Corporation. A book/movie about how corporate persons are functionally sociopaths. We attempt some pushback on that, which goes about as well as the pushback humans give in the corporation dominated Xenoverse. And if just one alien isn't enough nightmarish space rape for you, we're doing Aliens's next week. It's Thomas's first time, so lets all pressure him to liveblog it. While we're chatting, what sort of rock is worth carrying through alien infested space? Or is the mining thing all a clever ruse?! Okay, here's some links:

The Corporation Wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Corporation_(2003_film)

The Documentary, which is definitely worth watching as a cultural artifact: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y888wVY5hzw

Support us at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/0G

Join our Facebook discussion group (make sure to answer the questions to join): https://www.facebook.com/groups/985828008244018/

Email us at: [email protected]

Sibling shows:

Serious Inquiries Only: https://seriouspod.com/

Opening Arguments: https://openargs.com/

Embrace the Void: https://voidpod.com/

Recent appearances: Thomas is off at QED, appearing to British people or something. Aaron's going to be on an upcoming episode of Utah Outcasts, so keep an ear out for that. Help us out by convincing people they should totally have us on and then we can turn them into pod people like you. (I really try to make it worth it for the folks who read all the way to the end)

0G67: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Grief

Philosophers In Space

07/31/19 • 38 min

I'm getting a very Groundhog day "already written these show notes" vibe. I guess they didn't go well last time or something, so hopefully this time around will be better. We're joined by an amazing guest, the award eligible Tom from Cog Dis, to discuss Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, a movie we all really enjoyed and had largely forgotten. There's a lot to cover so we space it over two episodes, the first one dealing with grief more broadly and the second one incorporating Nietzsche's take on eternal recurrence. Mostly it's a lot of Tom saying clever things and then Thomas saying "seeee!" and glaring at me.

Eternal Sunshine and Nietzsche: http://screenprism.com/insights/article/how-does-eternal-sunshine-illustrate-nietzschean-philosophies

https://www.the-philosophy.com/eternal-sunshine-spotless-mind-analysis

Cognitive Dissonance Podcast: https://dissonancepod.com/

Support us at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/0G

Join our Facebook discussion group (make sure to answer the questions to join): https://www.facebook.com/groups/985828008244018/

Email us at: [email protected]

If you have time, please write us a review on iTunes. It really really helps. Please and thank you!

Sibling shows:

Serious Inquiries Only: https://seriouspod.com/

Opening Arguments: https://openargs.com/

Embrace the Void: https://voidpod.com/

Recent appearances: Aaron had a blast at NECSS. Definitely want to get to some more conventions so hit us up if there's anything going on in your area.

CONTENT PREVIEW: Part 2 of our Eternal Sunshine analysis.

Gideon pt1 and Queer Theory

Philosophers In Space

11/21/23 • 102 min

Fuck yes mother fuckers, grab your girly mags and hide your corpse brides, it's fucking Gideon time people. You know that that means? Fucking boning! Bones for days. Just an endless sea of bones and bone related humor. Truly, this is one of the best series of all time and I cannot wait to inflict it on all of you. Enjoy our discussion of queer theory, cause shit's about to get hella-gay.

Gideon the Ninth: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gideon_the_Ninth

Queer Theory: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queer_theory

Listener Survey: https://rutgers.ca1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_8ih4oa8ZSUaT0Cq

Music by Thomas Smith: https://seriouspod.com/

Support us at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/0G

Join our Facebook discussion group (make sure to answer the questions to join): https://www.facebook.com/groups/985828008244018/

Email us at: [email protected]

If you have time, please write us a review on iTunes. It really really helps. Please and thank you!

Sibling shows:

Queersplaining: https://www.queersplaining.com/

Embrace the Void: https://voidpod.com/

Recent appearances:

Content Preview: Gideon the Ninth pt.2 and Meritocratic Pedagogy

0G102: Player of Games and Gamification of Ethics, Part 3

Philosophers In Space

05/13/20 • 42 min

Time to wrap up another opus. It's been a beautiful dance of ideas and symbolism, played out on a board of intrigue and robits, but all good things must come to an end. Has the dance left us as better people? Only the future will tell. Here's to Player of Games, a brilliant first look at the Culture series and a wonderful way to nerd out about games and ethics.

Gamification and Ethics: https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=vDxTBgAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA225&dq=gamification+of+ethics&ots=mJ_ME4jC0U&sig=h602Bed-_gmWPrud4EN2hxGH2as#v=onepage&q=gamification%20of%20ethics&f=false

Support us at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/0G

Join our Facebook discussion group (make sure to answer the questions to join): https://www.facebook.com/groups/985828008244018/

Email us at: [email protected]

If you have time, please write us a review on iTunes. It really really helps. Please and thank you!

Sibling shows:

Serious Inquiries Only: https://seriouspod.com/

Opening Arguments: https://openargs.com/

Embrace the Void: https://voidpod.com/

Editing by Brian Ziegenhagen, check out his pod: http://youarehere.libsyn.com/s02e02-rex-manning-day?fbclid=IwAR2L2_YIJvQpcw0nx6nTSfz0GmyJ1DtWsF--vvdI9W1ug3XW7IAtU6dQ36s

Recent appearances: Aaron did a two part chat with Emerson over at the Counterapologetics and Walden Pod. Pt1 is on Moral Luck and Pt2 is on Neutral Monism:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9n2Tz97eGos

CONTENT PREVIEW: Listener Q's 13

0G110: What's Expected of Us and Dennett's Compatibilism

Philosophers In Space

07/08/20 • 42 min

Turns out Thomas has a bit of a free will monkey on his back, so we're going the full Dune on Daniel Dennett's compatibilism. We started out with Devs and the paradox of predictability and now we're on to a short story about predictors and what they might mean for our sense of meaning and purpose. We're going to follow up with another short story from Ted Chiang's Exhalation and then check out the anime Psychopass. All because we're lucky enough to do so.

What's Expected of Us: https://www.nature.com/articles/436150a

Dennett on Free Will as Moral Competence: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwbnGqOrAEM

Support us at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/0G

Join our Facebook discussion group (make sure to answer the questions to join): https://www.facebook.com/groups/985828008244018/

Email us at: [email protected]

If you have time, please write us a review on iTunes. It really really helps. Please and thank you!

Sibling shows:

Serious Inquiries Only: https://seriouspod.com/

Opening Arguments: https://openargs.com/

Embrace the Void: https://voidpod.com/

Recent appearances: Aaron had a wonderful time with This Film is Lit talking about the epic A Scanner Darkly by Philip K Dick. Stick around for me trying to keep it together through reading the afterword. https://thisfilmislit.podiant.co/e/a-scanner-darkly-feat-aaron-rabinowitz-388b34bda8a870/

CONTENT PREVIEW: Anxiety Is the Dizziness of Freedom and "Could have done otherwise"

Fraggle Rock 1.6: The Preachification of Convincing John and the Dangers of Paternalism

Philosophers In Space

10/18/24 • 86 min

If you think about it "dance your cares away, worries for another day" has a horrifying ring to it when the cares in question concern the reproduction of systemic hierarchies through legitimizing narratives about the "natural" order. Is the Doozer motto "work your cares away, dancing is for another day", are they really expressing their authentic preference or merely a preference bred into them through generations of domestication by their Fraggle overlorders. OR, did an ancient, advanced Doozer society in fact domesticate the Fraggles to distract the Gorgs from feeding on Doozer, only to become a sub-altern species in the heirarchy that formed after the collapse of the golden age of Doozer/Fraggle relations. OOOOOR, is that itself just a speciestist mytho-historic narrative constructed by Fraggle scholars as yet another level of social control?! And what does all of this have to do with animal rights and paternalism in environmental ethics?! Let the music of the colonizers play and find out, down in Fraggle Rock!

Fraggle Rock 1.6: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0778238/

Support us at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/0G

Join our Facebook discussion group (make sure to answer the questions to join): https://www.facebook.com/groups/985828008244018/

Email us at: [email protected]

If you have time, please write us a review on iTunes. It really really helps. Please and thank you!

Music by Thomas Smith: https://seriouspod.com/

Sibling shows:

Embrace the Void: https://voidpod.com/

Content Preview: Scavangers Reign Season One and parasitism vs. symbiosis.

A Psalm for the Wild-Built and Solarpunk pt1

Philosophers In Space

05/19/23 • 86 min

Dear friends, please pull up a cushion and enjoy a cup of warm herbal tea, freshly picked from the nearby forrest just this morning. Share your troubles with us and we'll lighten them with a story of monk and robit, their journey through the wilds, and there attempts to unravel what humans really need. We start with some delicious worldbuilding and show how that worldbuilding exemplifies the solarpunk mentality, one of the best of all possible ways to approach the future. Drink up!

Content: https://www.amazon.com/Psalm-Wild-Built-Monk-Robot/dp/1250236215

Listener Survey: https://rutgers.ca1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_8ih4oa8ZSUaT0Cq

Editing by Luisa Lyons, check out her amazing podcast Filmed Live Musicals: http://www.filmedlivemusicals.com/

Music by Thomas Smith: https://seriouspod.com/

Support us at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/0G

Join our Facebook discussion group (make sure to answer the questions to join): https://www.facebook.com/groups/985828008244018/

Email us at: [email protected]

If you have time, please write us a review on iTunes. It really really helps. Please and thank you!

Sibling shows:

Queersplaining: https://www.queersplaining.com/

Embrace the Void: https://voidpod.com/

Recent appearances: