christinahoffsommers

David and Tamler happen across Jorge Luis Borges’ “The Zahir” and now they can’t stop thinking about it. What is the ‘Zahir’ – this object that can take many forms and that consumes the people who find it? What does it represent? Is it the fanaticism of being in love? The ever-present threat (and temptation) of idealism? A subtle critique of Christian theology? Is the Zahir a microcosm of everything? Why is Borges so obsessed with obsession?

Plus, it’s the annual drunken end-of-the night Thanksgiving ‘debate’ between Tamler and IDW stepmother extraordinaire Christina Hoff Sommers. Topics raised and then quickly dropped include Bernie for President, Melinda Gates, critic reviews of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, and more. Stay tuned for the end when Christina finds her “notes”. (And for special cameos from David Sommers and Eliza).

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Links:

• The Zahir - Jorge Luis Borges (Full Text PDF)
• El Zahir - Sufi theme in Jorge Luis Borges's writing | Technology of the Heart
• The Most Famous Coin in Borges

David dies for science’s sins and addresses the failed replication of one of his studies (conducted with three former VBW guests) by the Many Labs Project. But first, the guys try to gauge their intuitions about the phenomenal experience of their molecule-for-molecule mirror reflection duplicate in a universe with a non-orientable topology. Could this spell doom for e-categoricalism? Plus, the annual Thanksgiving tradition: IDW star and Factual Feminist Christina Hoff Sommers and Tamler argue over drinks about standpoint epistemology, political correctness, and lingerie.

This episode is brought to you by Audible, Givewell, and the generosity of our supporters.

Special Guest: Christina Hoff Sommers.

Sponsored By:

• Audible Promo Code: VERYBADWIZARDS
• GiveWell

Support Very Bad Wizards

Links:

• 2018 Sanders Philosophy of Mind Prize Winner - Daily Nous — Experiencing Left and Right in a Non-Orientable World
• Experiencing Left and Right in a Non-Orientable World by Jonathan Simon
• Very Bad Wizards is on Reddit — Join in on all the repugnant discussions on our Reddit community.
• Large scale replication project finds that one of Dave's and colleagues' most cited findings (association between disgust sensitivity and homophobia) is not real. : VeryBadWizards
• OSF | Many Labs 2: Investigating Variation in Replicability Across Sample and Setting