Dilemma Podcast (Jay Shapiro)

When her best friend suddenly died she collected all his texts and digital communication and created a chat bot in his image.

Jay Shapiro speaks with best selling author, philosopher, and writer Rebecca Newberger Goldstein about immortality, philosophical maturity, and the ethics and wisdom of grief.

As always co-hosts Coleman Hughes and Jay Shapiro take a deep philosophical dive into the fraught emotional waters.

This episode was inspired by an article in The Verge by Casey Newton which can be read here: https://www.theverge.com/a/luka-artificial-intelligence-memorial-roman-mazurenko-bot

Jay reviews Season 1 with the help of his girlfriend, a piano, and a glass of wine.

Submit your Season 2 Dilemma Ideas to DilemmaIdeas@gmail.com

In the final part of this series, Jay dissects the definition of the words Zionism, Israel, and Judaism and delivers a Speech he wishes a future Prime Minister of Israel would give. The entire collection and all resources can be found here: whatjaythinks.com

David Livingstone Smith has been studying "dehumanization" for decades and has written three books on the subject. In this episode Jay and Smith apply his findings to the current conflict in Israel and broaden their scope to examine how a rising modern factor of "Distance" interplays with violence.

Amdana Ripley, best selling author of "The Unthinkable: Who Survives when Disaster Strikes and Why" talks with Jay Shapiro during coronavirus lock down.

Topics discussed: Ripley's work with ignored hurricane warnings, 9/11 rescues, stampedes at the Hajj, surviving plane crashes, what good risk communication sounds like, what personal resilience means for our collective safety, and the danger of "negative panic"

What habits are we learning now and what might we want to retain when this is over? 

Quantum mechanics, mathematical robustness, dream state deja vu oddities... these are all things that one would expect to find in a simulated world. Wait, so are we in a simulation?

Author, investor, and video game pioneer Rizwan Virk joins Jay for a deep conversation taking on the Simulation Theory first made famous by Nick Bostrom. They strike gold when the conversation shifts to the philosophical and psychological implications of the theory rather than the truth of the theory itself.

In this video, I talk with Peter Beinart about Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza and the cracks forming in Zionism. But first, I share a personal reflection: What if Judaism’s survival isn’t about being the Chosen People, but about Chosen Families? Could the very thing seen as a threat be what actually saves it? We dive into power, myth, and the future of Jewish identity in a post-Zionist world.00:00:00 Intro: The Unbroken Chain00:16:21 Inviting me back to Shabbat00:18:28 Dropping The Curtain Too Early on Jewish Stories of Victimhood00:21:31 When Did Peter See The Cracks in Zionism?00:24:45 The Painfully Broken Relationships00:26:56 Zionism As Colonialism and the American Parallel00:30:43 Uprooted People versus Unrooted People00:34:04 Our Failure To Speak Up And How Fix It00:37:11 Loving Israel to Death00:42:05 The Big Bad “G” Word for Jews00:45:38 The Book of Joshua and The Zionist00:49:11 The Jewish God and Zionism in a “Post Post Colonial World”00:55:14 The Problem of Blaming Jewish Brutalism on the Brutalism of the World01:00:22 How Did it Get This Bad and Will It Get Worse?01:02:42 What Do You Do At the Synagogue during the Prayer For Israel?01:06:19 The Criticism of Focusing on Jews while Palestinians Are Targeted?01:09:18 Outro and A Potential Future Guest

Jay Shapiro looks back at Episode 5 with Robin Hanson and the GMO label battles and looks forward to the looming future of food wars between Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods

Jay's primer on consciousness for the next episode is here! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cb7VcWaQLT0&

In this conversation, I sit down with Ruth Kinna, historian of anarchism and professor of political theory, to explore the roots of anarchist thought—from Proudhon’s challenge to property to Bakunin’s clash with Marx to Kropotkin’s vision of anarchist communism. But first, we confront the towering figure of Thomas Hobbes, whose vision of human nature still shapes how we justify power today.What if anarchism isn’t chaos but a creative, practical response to domination? We track how anarchists challenged the state, capitalism, and even socialism itself, revealing a tradition that’s far more nuanced—and necessary—than its reputation suggests. This is Part 1, setting the stage for a deeper dive into how anarchism lives and breathes in today’s world.whatjaythinks.com00:00:00 Intro: A Renewed Interest in Anarchy and Libertarianism00:04:22 Intro: The Dark Shadow of Thomas Hobbes00:07:30 “Greed Is Good” and Human Nature00:15:18 Where Proudhon Begins and What Anarchy Isn’t00:20:00 Hobbes Builds the Sovereign Beast00:25:23 Proudhon Tries To Intellectually Slay the Dragon00:29:44 “Property Is Theft”00:33:17 The Enclosure Movements and The End of Free Shared Open Land00:38:14 Leo Tolstoy, “War and Peace”, and International Workers00:40:22 The Socialism Split, Marx vs. Bakunin00:46:04 The Paris Commune, Demise and Legacy00:50:25 How Should We Think About Marx00:55:56 Kropotkin Pushes “Anarchist Communism”01:01:45 What Is “Mine” Without Private Property?01:05:55 The American Interest in Anarchy01:10:55 Anti-Slavery Anarchy, Lucy Parsons and Emma Goldman

Vijay Prashad and I discuss the fierce defiance of the Global South, from the legacies of leaders like Kwame Nkrumah to the global conversation about neocolonialism. We dive into the new mood of the Global South after October 7th, the fight for dignity in places like the West Bank, and the global power dynamics that continue to shape these battles. whatjaythinks.com 00:00 Pop Quiz Introduction 03:16 Vijay’s Interest in the Global South 08:19 The Case for Kwame Nkrumah 14:09 Nkrumah and Pan Africanism 19:19 Controlling Resources, Sovereignty, and MultiNational Corporations 25:15 National Liberation and getting Branded a Marxist 27:57 The Difficult First Phase After Gaining “Independence” 39:38 The New Mood of the Global South After October 7th 50:45 Controlling the High Ground and “Air Superiority” 56:14 “You eat. And you want Dignity.” Water in the West Bank 1:04:15 The Reverse of Dignity and the Erasure of Humanity 1:07:21 Utilitarian Progress and Humiliation and Nuclear Weapons 1:12:25 Hiroshima Day 1:19:04 The US Election and do I need a hug? 1:22:54 I do love Jill Stein… 1:25:43 Final Thoughts and References for Further Reading 1:32:52 Tolerances of Freedom Mobutu v Lumumba and Hamas’s “Decision” 1:41:12 An Actual Smile to End City Population Projections: https://sites.ontariotechu.ca/sustainabilitytoday/urban-and-energy-systems/Worlds-largest-cities/population-projections/city-population-2100.php Kwame speech to Pan African leaders https://youtu.be/nrYf97_IUrE?si=KAXfXNCHuwzpjE47 Kwame speech from exile https://youtu.be/2niDtrZalWc?si=yKyqXTYskeFCHXxT Patrice Lumumba speech https://youtu.be/ouXas0XYHxM?si=wJKlh9nW2iPO7Gh5 Qaddafi on the Gold Dinar https://theecologist.org/2016/mar/14/why-qaddafi-had-go-african-gold-oil-and-challenge-monetary-imperialism https://thenewamerican.com/us/economy/markets/gadhafi-s-gold-money-plan-would-have-devastated-dollar/ https://millenium-state.com/blog/2019/05/03/the-dinar-gold-the-real-reason-for-gaddafis-murder/ Hilary emails about Gaddafi https://www.foreignpolicyjournal.com/2016/01/06/new-hillary-emails-reveal-true-motive-for-libya-intervention/ The non alignment movement https://www.fikerinstitute.org/publications/the-non-aligned-movement-history-relevance-reform https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/cold-wars/nonalignment/50C54C20DC60A6DE4F28F44AD2E6B2A2 George Padmore Book https://dialecticalartist.files.wordpress.com/2021/03/panafricanism-or-communism.-the-coming-struggle-for-africa-by-george-padmore-.pdf Congo Mine That Build the Atomic Bomb https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200803-the-forgotten-mine-that-built-the-atomic-bomb https://www.wired.com/story/the-dark-history-oppenheimer-didnt-show/ Bitter Fruit https://www.hup.harvard.edu/books/9780674019300 Fidel Castro speech to the intellectuals June 1961 http://lanic.utexas.edu/project/castro/db/1961/19610630.html This Way To the Spring https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/27774750-the-way-to-the-spring Curb Your Enthusiasm "Palestinian Chicken" https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1640882/

I'm still waiting for a debate partner—so I've decided to start without one. In this video, I deliver my opening statement.Plus, I'm announcing a short break to focus on finishing my upcoming book about moral progress and technology.My essay "Be Careful In The Dark" is available here https://whatjaythinks.com/essays/2021... 00:00 Intro - My History with the IDW06:37 Intro - Then October 7th Happened10:56 ANNOUNCING A SHORT BREAK14:08 The Statement - "Sometimes War Is Necessary" and "Derangement"25:14 The Statement - When to "Resist" Arrest29:18 The Statement - Analogizing to the Palestinian Cause35:04 The Statement - Conditions to Resist41:03 The Statement - Sanitizing Colonialization and "Barbarism"45:40 The Statement - Worlds Ought We Not Resist?49:08 Outro - I Await the Response

A conversation with Miko Peled on his journey from unquestioned Zionism to becoming an active Palestinian Activist.

In this episode we discuss:

Jacob Israel de Haan

Where are the Palestinian Nelson Mandelas?

How Miko changed his mind

When the only thing left is violence

Why Zionism is flawed from the beginning

What the future might hold for Israel

Zionism vs Judaism

and more...

International law scholar and professor William Burke-White speaks with Jay Shapiro during the ongoing global COVID19 crises.

They discuss the philosophical foundations of international law, why globalism needs to re-brand itself to be more "local", the legal process of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the apparent absence of the United Nations in this pandemic, the rapidly changing role of China on the world stage, the potential for international legal and political retribution, and much more.

William Burke-White is the Richard Perry Professor at the University of Pennsylvania Law School. From 2009-12, Burke-White served in the Obama administration on the Secretary of State’s Policy Planning Staff, where he was principal drafter of the Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review, Secretary Clinton’s hallmark initiative to reform the Department of State and reshape U.S. foreign policy.

In this video, I sit down with journalist and whistleblower Jack Poulson to uncover the hidden world of surveillance, data brokers, and the quiet war on dissent. We explore how pro-Palestine protesters are being tracked, the real-time auctions selling your personal data, and the murky alliances between Big Tech, intelligence agencies, and the military. Jack breaks down the mechanics of AI-powered repression, from facial recognition threats to the Pentagon’s hands-off approach to ethical oversight. Alongside this, I examine the philosophy of data capture—how the “front door” of willing consent and the “back door” of clandestine access have converged into a powerful system of control... with some important vulnerabilities and weaknesses.Jack Poulson's Site : https://techinquiry.org/Terms and Conditions May Apply (2013) : https://youtu.be/hRJEYmodC08?si=2vBOdOGIfa7C2yHSWrath of Zion Investigation on Dropsite : https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/israel-palestine-dox-new-york-facial-recognition-ai00:00:00 Intro: Jack Poulson the Google “Whistleblower”00:03:27 Intro: The Trackpad Dilemma and Ethical Surveillance00:08:30 Intro: The Open Front and Locked Back Door of Data Access00:27:30 Jack Poulson’s style of Journalism and the “Whistleblower Trap”00:33:30 How Surveillance Programs are Marketed00:37:47 The Wrath of Zion Investigation and Intimidation of Pro Palestine Protests00:47:35 Facial Recognition and What Can Be Done With Data00:52:26 Two Paths to the Data01:04:54 Apps and Terms and Conditions May Apply vs Direct Wiretaps01:13:25 Children’s Data and Zuckerberg’s Emojis01:16:42 Security and Privacy “Tradeoffs” and Advocacy to Journalism01:27:37 What Are They Trying to Build and Will Incompetence Save Us?01:39:07 U.S Tech Companies are Effectively Peers of the U.S. Government01:50:58 The Digital Dock Worker Who Refuses to Pass Along 1’s and 0’s01:57:42 Where Are the Vulnerabilities In This Digital Web02:04:47 What Constitutes a Contribution to a Bomb Being Dropped On Children?02:11:41 Keep Up With Jack

Is there any hope for that strained or broken relationship that's become a causality of the political divide? Is common ground found best by going towards our superficial commonalities or in the direction of our deepest existential fears and hopes? Are the toxic business models of social media too much for us to overcome?

Monica Guzman is the blue leaning daughter of two Trump voting Mexican immigrants and is the head of storytelling for Braver Angels - an organization dedicated to healing our partisan divide. She just published a book entitled "I Never Thought of it That Way". If she can't help us, no one can.

This episode also begins with a related special comment and essay from Jay about so-called "Trump Derangement Syndrome" and the current crises in Ukraine.

Jay tackles the age old question of philosophically defining art with the incredible street artist SWOON (Caledonia Curry). Together they wonder, can machines make art?

Swoon's recent piece: The Medea

https://swoonstudio.org/#/the-canyon/

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Do we underestimate the ability of High Schoolers to tackle complex politically charged existential and moral philosophy problems with nuance, intelligence, and compassion? I hope this episode will convince you that we absolutely do.

Jay has served as a judge for the High School Ethics Bowl for six years. In this episode he speaks with 5 students who participated this year on the view of the world from high school, their favorite and least favorite cases, their future excitement and trepidation, and the endless dilemma of the tension between "making money" and "finding happiness."

To follow along, see the full case list from this year and past years, and get involved directly: https://nhseb.unc.edu/

In this conversation, Sophie Scott-Brown, historian and political philosopher, joins me to explore how anarchism isn’t just a theory, but a way of seeing, organizing, and acting in the world. We unpack the illusion of democracy, the dangers of temporary power, and what freedom actually means through an anarchist lens. When disaster strikes or institutions crumble, does anarchy step in as chaos—or as a natural form of human cooperation?More than just rebellion, anarchism is about rethinking power, human connection, and the structures we assume are necessary. We dig into direct action, mutual aid, the role of creativity, and even cryptocurrency—examining whether anarchism is best understood as a philosophy, an adjective, or a verb. If today’s systems are failing, what comes next? And could the answer have been here all along?00:00:00 Intro00:02:02 The Modern Collapse of Order and the Anarchist Lens00:05:45 Do We Have Democracy? Have We Ever?00:12:11 The Danger of Temporary Power00:24:23 The Structure And the Solutions00:32:19 Anarchy in a Disaster00:34:31 The Existential Purpose of Civilizations00:46:18 What Is Freedom To an Anarchist00:50:25 Anarchy And Human Connection00:58:59 Anarchy as Chaos and Anarchy as Possibility01:03:53 Nihilism Versus Anarchism01:10:24 The Radical Fifties and The First Cold War01:14:23 Cryptocurrency and Anarchy at Scale01:22:02 Is Anarchy a Philosophy or Adjective or Verb?01:24:03 Protest Versus Direct Action and When We Join The Conversation01:30:44 When Nihilism Burns Itself Out and The Necessary Anarchist Creativity

A battlefield of wounded and dying soldiers in front of you. You hover over a mortally wounded man. You have medicine in one pocket and water in another. The soldier looks into your eyes and asks if you can help him with some medicine... You reach for the water...

Meta-ethicist, philosophy professor, and author Stephen Finlay joins Jay Shapiro for a conversation through the complex dilemma of placebo usage.

Hosts Jay Shapiro and Coleman Hughes discuss the ethics of and hidden motivations behind the choices around food and the labels on their packaging with popular behavior economist and author of The Elephant in the Brain, Robin Hanson.

 Host Jay Shapiro reflects on Episode 4 of Dilemma - Listen to the Music with Nina Strohminger. 

You know that strange nagging restlessness that you feel in your core? That difficulty focusing on what's in front of you? That flittering from one path to another to another in the hopes of finally feeling your purpose? That deep dissatisfaction with the ignorance we have about the deepest existential questions of life?

This episode is about that restlessness.

Benjamin Storey (along with his wife and co-author Jenna Silber-Storey) wrote a fantastic book called Why We Are Restless which traces this conversation through four giants of French philosophy - Montaigne, Pascal, Rousseau, and Tocqueville.

Professor Storey joins me for a walk through this topic and how it informs and foretells our modern situation.

You can find out more about the book and what Professor Storey is up to at his website: https://www.jbstorey.com/

Jay discusses Palestine with historian and author Ilan Pappe. Together they ponder if we are seeing the end of Zionism and what might that collapse might look like.

Jay then reads an essay on the topic of forgiveness and redemption and how the psychology of cognitive dissonance prevents us from having evidence change our mind.

Host Jay Shapiro reflects on Episode 1 of Dilemma - Fire at the Louvre with Professor Susan Wolf.

David Goldberger was raised as a proud Jew. In 1977, he was working as a civil liberties attorney for the ACLU in Illinois when a Neo-Nazi named Frank Collin knocked on his door claiming his first amendment rights were being violated. In this episode David Goldberger revisits the famous Supreme Court case, National Socialist Party of America v. Village of Skokie.  Jay and David tease out the complications of free speech and what has changed, if anything, since 1977. 

Also discussed in this episode: warning signs from the ACLU,  the difficult task of law enforcement,  McIntyre v. Ohio Elections Commission and it's application to social media bans, the heap fallacy as a way to consider legal philosophy.

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A conversation with Richard English who dares ask the question "Does Terrorism Work?" In this episode we discuss: The IRA The Troubles Hamas Al Qaeda Jewish Terrorists Whether Israel is an example of successful Terrorism The motivations of terrorists How to evaluate the success of terrorists Deciphering the intent of terrorists How terrorist motivations change when they take power and more...

1948 Einstein and Arendt letter to the NY Times More information and recommendations at whatjaythinks.com

In this video, I sit down with scholar and author A. Dirk Moses to unpack how the merging of the Holocaust’s specific history with the generic concept of genocide—and its elevation to the “crime of crimes”—has shaped our collective imagination in ways that blind us to potentially far worse horrors. Moses explains how the pursuit of permanent security by states and groups enacts devastating violence against civilians under the guise of prevention and control. Stick around for the outro, where I use an X-Men analogy to explore the moral dilemmas of invulnerability, trauma, civilizational Darwinism, and the concomitant nightmares of absolute safety. DILEMMA EPISODE WITH UYGHUR ACTIVIST - History Rhymes - Uyghur Genocide - Rahima Mahmut - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/s02e04-history-rhymes-uyghur-genocide-rahima-mahmut/id1470490447?i=1000487315464 Jewish Currents Journal - https://jewishcurrents.org/ Dirk Moses Books, Podcasts, and Public Works - https://www.dirkmoses.com/ Journal of Genocide Research - https://www.tandfonline.com/journals/cjgr20 Just Security - https://www.justsecurity.org/ From the Periphery "Zionism from the Standpoint of one of it's victims" - https://youtu.be/bZWvvXVR8po?si=SAYcijQpAavGFZxb X-Men Vs Magneto! Issue 150 (1981) Comics Bazaar - https://youtu.be/TooOu8QondM?si=X_ctDOV4kXX_KBHk 00:00:00 Introduction 00:02:05 Intro: A Story From A Genocide Studies Department at My Alma Matter 00:12:50 Intro: Language as Obstacle and Path to Action 00:15:28 Dirk Moses’s Path To These Questions 00:23:13 Dirk Encounters The Intellectual Problems with “Genocide” 00:28:02 The Emotional Confusion of “Genocide” and “Holocaust” 00:32:27 “Genocide”, Aerial Bombing, and Weaponizing Holocaust Memory 00:41:16 The ICJ, The Rome Statute, UN Convention and the “Crime of Crimes” 00:51:22 Exploiting the Genocide Mixed Intention Loophole and Rigging the Law 00:57:35 The Logic of Permanent Security and Artificial Legal Constructs 01:05:41 “We Had To Do This for Security” and Preemptive Killings 01:09:30 The Legal Recognition of “Genocide” 01:14:29 The Fusion of “The Holocaust” and “Genocide” and Zionist Ambitions 01:21:26 Academia’s Paralysis, Firings, and Confusions 01:30:25 The Aesthetics of Killing and Future Surveillance 01:33:48 Teetering International Legal Order: Global North or South? 01:43:43 Why the Focus on Israel’s Crimes? 01:47:55 Outro: Dystopia and Absolute Safety 01:50:50 Outro: Collateral Damage Maximization Policy 01:58:35 Outro: X-Men’s Magneto and Zionism's Deadly Darkness 02:11:12 Outro: Why The Whole World Is Watching

Jay Shapiro breaks down arguments being presented by popular thinkers such as Sam Harris and from Zionists who defend Israel. He walks through the complications of deciphering the popularity of Islamism and Jihadism and Hamas and he outlines the mentality of "tribal essentialism".He teases a trilogy of upcoming episodes with Gideon Levy, Richard English, and Miko Peled.

In this episode he discusses:

Deciphering IDF intentions

Settler expansion

Roman Abramovich

Birthright

Zionism as Colonialism

The Arab Spring

Menachem Begin

Irgun, Stern Gang, Hagana

Two State Solutions

One State Hopes

More information and recommendations at whatjaythinks.com

Jay and his mom Sally talk about old age, being thankful in a strange year, and the lessons they're learning from COVID.

Video posted on YouTube: https://youtu.be/oeboanFZOG8

Happy Thanksgiving from Dilemma

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What kind of environmental and individual factors lead to the proliferation of conspiracy theories?

Jay is joined by co-authors and researchers Hugo Drochen and Annemarie S Walter to discuss their paper "Conspiracy Thinking in Europe and America: A Comparative Study".

Jay opens by telling his personal story of flirtation with conspiracy and pays homage to a good friend who recently took his own life, Ellery Samson.

Does 2+2 really equal 4? What realm of truth am I in when I speak about my pain? What kind of truth claim is it to speak about the existence of "Poland"? How about the existence of ghosts and gods?

Spencer Greenberg breaks down his taxonomy of truth claims to help us better understand what we and others might be saying when we declare something to be true. He also lays out his personal philosophy of Valuism, a deceptively simple yet illuminating framework that can guide your behavior and focus your mind on what really matters to you.

Spencer's work and his intrinsic values test can all be found here: https://www.clearerthinking.org/

Spencer's essay on the "Seven Realms of Truth" can be found here: https://www.spencergreenberg.com/2019/03/the-7-realms-of-truth-framework/

In the long running science fiction show Star Trek, the Federation has a guiding principle referred to as the Prime Directive which instructs federation ships with advanced technology to not interfere with primitive evolving civilisations in such a way where the intervention is detected. In a recent situation from the film ‘Into Darkness’ Captain Kirk is faced with a dilemma of violating the Prime Directive to save Spock’s life. The staff led crew comes across an alien planet with an intelligent but primitive culture facing the prospect of an imminent devastating eruption of a volcano. The local culture believes the volcanoes activities are controlled by Gods. The Starship has a simple device which can be used inside the volcano which would neutralise it, and prevent it from causing any harm. Kirk is faced with a situation. Where he will reveal the starship to the locals thus violating the Prime Directive in order to save Spock who is stuck in the volcano. Spock pleads that the good of the many outweigh the good of the few. And Kirk’s crew member reminds Kirk that if the positions were switched he would let you die. But kirk saves him anyway, much to Spock's dismay. The final shot of the sequence shows the tribe huddled praying in a circle, spared from the volcano. Worshipping a diagram of Star Trek's spaceship.

Is there a point where advertising is too effective? Join us as we discuss the morality behind Dunkin' Donuts' advertising campaign where they sprayed the smell of coffee onto a bus filled with passengers. 

Hosts Jay Shapiro & Coleman Hughes

What does travel mean? Why has formal philosophy largely ignored the question? Just how strange is it to release a book on travel in the time of a global lock down and what exactly is the world missing right now? Jay introduces Frank Jackson's famous "Mary's Room" thought experiment to consider the notion of experience vs imagination in the context of travel.

Jay and Emily swap travel stories of giant Pringles cans in Ghana and Christmas villages in Alaska.

Jay ends by considering travel as a physical form of philosophy.

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How many countries are there? 197? 193? 180? It depends who you ask and who is counting. What constitutes a "state"? How does that differ from a "nation"? Why do certain claims of self determined statehood go unrecognized while others are accepted and others are disputed. How do we respond to Putin's actions in Ukraine? How does the diminished and tarnished role of US global leadership affect world stability? Will Europe step up and fill the void? Is China really the threat that we fear they are? Have western democracies and economies become overconfident in a post-Cold War period?

In a conversation which places current headlines in a historical and legal context, Finish International Lawyer and Scholar Tero Lundstedt breaks down the blind spots in international law which continue to haunt the once-believed-to-be-peaceful breakup of the Soviet Union.

Suffering is the price of engagement with life. The difference between pain, suffering, grief, and missing. And Wilfred Sellers manifest vs scientific view of man as pointed to by Jaron Lanier.

Wilfrid Sellers essay: http://selfpace.uconn.edu/class/percep/SellarsPhilSciImage.pdf 

Chloe Valdary, Coleman Hughes, and Jay Shapiro consider the analogies and lessons of Marvel's Black Panther.

Discussed in this episode: tensions with policing, Black Lives Matter, the original Black Panther movement of the 60's, the differing philosophies of Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X, and the eternal task of the superhero to resist our darkest impulses. 

This conversation was recorded on August 18th, 2020, in New York City's Central Park, 10 days before the death of the star of Black Panther, Chadwick Boseman.

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What if much of what we do to our children works directly against what we profess we ultimately want for them?

Alfie Kohn argues that things like homework, grades, systems of praise and punishment, reward and sanction, and generally the enforcement of an atmosphere of fierce competition in education all undermine our stated goals.

So are the goals wrong? Are the goals false? Or is something much more fundamental to society in need of a major rethink?

Alfie Kohn is an accomplished author, speaker, and psychologist who has been advocating for reform in education and parenting for over 25 years. His impressive collection of talks, books, and essays can all be found at https://www.alfiekohn.org/

A conversation with Haaretz journalist Gideon Levy where we take the pulse of Israel and discuss how he came to question the Zionist project and where we might go from here. In this episode he discusses: Two State Solutions What Israelis know How America ruined Israel Why journalists censor themselves The power of American Jews to change things If there is any hope Does Israel have a plan? More information and recommendations at whatjaythinks.com

Host Jay Shapiro reflects on Episode 3 of Dilemma - Do I Smell Donuts? with David Pizarro.

Donald Trump is often mocked for his bluntness, but what if his “no more bullshit” approach is actually revealing something deeper—something that both leftists and Trumpers can recognize about the world order? In this video, I break down what Trump’s honesty really exposes, from his bizarre Greenland purchase idea to his “Gaza Riviera” plan, and how it all connects to the long-standing contradictions of empire, neoliberalism, and self-determination. This isn’t a defense of Trump—far from it—but an attempt to speak across the political divide, to find where we actually agree on the failures of the system and where we fundamentally differ on what should come next.00:00 Intro The Honesty of Donald Trump00:58 The Weird Thing About Greenland0:4:28 A Giant Game of Risk06:40 Neoliberalism's Transactional Definition of Freedom10:59 Worlds We Want? Or Worlds We Can't Resist?13:08 A Century of Self Intertest vs Self Determination20:58 The Shared Skepticism of Global Power23:39 We Scared Ourselves25:58 When We Were Together AtOccupy Wall Street30:12 What's Wrong With Trump's Gaza Plan?37:03 Leftist Theory of Man at odds with Neoliberalism40:17 The Morality of "He Who Dies With the Most Toys Wins"

Are virtual worlds any different than real worlds?

A mother is reunited with her deceased daughter in virtual reality for a South Korean TV show.

Jay Shapiro speaks with Associate Professor and author Candi Cann about the ways in which technology is intersecting with death and grief rituals. Professor Cann's book on the subject is available here.

Find a bonus conversation with Adelle Archer, the founder of eterneva diamonds at dilemmapodcast.com

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Michael Scott Moore was held captive by pirates in Somalia for 977. He recounts what philosophies and psychological tactics got him through the experience while he and Jay ponder the moral dilemma of whether or not to pay ransoms to criminals and terrorists.

Discussed in this episode: stoicism, a message from the Pope, living with guilt and gratitude, the elasticity of the human mind, and the loose analogy to being held captive by COVID-19.

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Jay Shapiro is joined by a very special guest... his mother, Sally.

They speak about Jay's moral upbringing, Judaism, Atheism, Africa, and giving thanks.

Is abortion ever morally permissible? Is it always wrong? Are there any morally valid exceptions? Do any if the answers to these questions demand a certain kind of legal limitation? Where and how do we ground any of these contemplations?

In this philosophical dive into the fraught issue of abortion, Jay tangles with Bethel McGrew (Esther O'Reilly) who brings her deeply Christian perspective to the table. Together they look for existential overlap and their deep points of departure.

Referenced in this conversation:

Bethel's Substack

Jay's essay on abortion

Douglas Murray's article

Public Opinion on abortion (Pew)

Statistics on who gets abortions and where (CDC)

In this video, I sit down with journalist and author Anjan Sundaram to explore the crisis of journalism, the emotional strain of witnessing trauma, and the uneasy coexistence of catastrophe and daily life. We discuss how the news is shaped, the search for the “perfect victim,” and the geopolitical narratives that demand palatable symbols of justice. Anjan’s insights are paired with an essay on the story of Josh Gibson and Jackie Robinson as an analogy for the West’s desire for “safe” exits from guilt.

Anjan’s site with links to books, TED Talks, Journalism on Congo/CAR/Mexico/Cambodia : https://anjansundaram.com/

Jay Shapiro’s Film OPPOSITE FIELD (Uganda Little League Baseball) : https://www.primevideo.com/region/na/detail/0G6JGS036H3RX0YN1WIRSESFPO/ref=atv_dp_share_cu_r

Anjan and Lindsy Hilsum in conversation: https://granta.com/in-conversation-anjan-sundaram-and-lindsey-hilsum/

James Baldwin Essay "The Devil Finds Work": https://www.are.na/block/28328065

The Defiant Ones (1958) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Defiant_Ones

Jay's website with essays, archive, and contact information: whatjaythinks.com

00:00:00 Intro: Anjan’s Path and My Philosophical Lane

00:04:50 Intro: Journalism’s Role and Letters with Lindsey Hilsum

00:13:10 From Ivy League Mathematics phd to Congo Stringer

00:16:46 Running From or Running To?

00:22:35 Broken Journalism after October 7th

00:29:28 The Neocolonial Journalistic Informational Flows

00:37:51 Guns to my Head Multiple Times is Part of the Job

00:45:43 A Mind in Two Worlds: War and Home

00:53:20 Putting Ourselves in the Story

00:56:23 Journalism in Crisis the Ruins of Neoliberalism

01:05:28 Five Seconds to Tell the Story

01:11:39 The Intersection of Activism and Journalism

01:19:09 What Should We Know About the People We Never Hear About

01:26:20 Holding Power to Account… Who Are you Really Talking To

01:31:05 “Where is the world?”

01:37:38 “True Human Cost of the Phone” versus “Radical Change” through Inspiration

01:41:43 Immortal Stories and Art

01:44:36 Outro: The Defiant Ones (1958)

01:49:28 Outro: Josh Gibson, Jackie Robinson and The “Perfect Victims” of Racism

02:15:28 Outro: The Silent Cry of the Imperfect Victims

Jay Shapiro looks back at Episode 6 with Erik Hoel and speaks about a central question about the mind/body problem. What is fundamental? Plus a guest joins the hindsight and throws some good questions his way.

Jay's fun primer on consciousness is here! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cb7VcWaQLT0&

Is it possible that the default position of libertarianism which has so deeply influenced politics, economics, and philosophy since the enlightenment could produce an ecosystem which stalls our ability to handle the existentially daunting task of freedom? Does the political structure of libertarianism dissolve into a fantasy the moment it encounters a problem of the commons like COVID or climate change? Is a conception of libertarianism as a "freedom from" preferrable to a conception of it as a "freedom to"? Have the economists owned the conversation for too long in this arena? Is a strong-arm government really the biggest threat to individual freedom? Will intentional libertarian blindness maximize a version of our selves that we aren't so proud of? Where does libertarianism end and anarchy begin?

Jay tangles with the editor of Reason Magazine and proud libertarian Nick Gillespie in a 2 hour conversation through the weeds of freedom.

On the using of the word "coup" to describe the events in Washington on Jan 6 2021.

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In part 2 of this conversation, Keith Frankish and Jay talk about the implications of the illusionists view of mind and consciousness. They forecast the moral, social, and political fallout of a world which would embrace illusionism while lamenting the confused state of conversations being exported to the public on this subject.

Jay recalls a depressing experience in Iceland with a Buddhist monk ill-equipped to handle deserving inquiries into the mysteries of mind and death.

Ultimately, Frankish and Jay explore how we can truly meld with the physical universe and find each other by dissolving the illusions of mind.

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A look at the philosophical side of sports and what we can learn about human behavior in the time of COVID altered stadiums.

Jay speaks with veteran sports writer Jon Wertheim as they focus in a particular chapter from his book Scorecasting: The Hidden Influences Behind How Sports Are Played and Games Are Won all about "home field advantage" and what exactly caused home teams to win so much... before COVID changed everything.

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Capitalist Libertarianism sells itself as the champion of freedom and personal choice—but what happens when the very systems we’ve unleashed are shaping our desires, not responding to them? In this video, I dig into the fundamental blind spots that libertarians (especially the free-market capitalist kind) tend to ignore. From psychological manipulation in advertising to global coordination breakdowns like the tragedy of the commons and the free-rider problem, I argue that the neat equations of “freedom = good outcomes” just don’t hold up. Especially not in a world where your attention, your data, and your impulses are being auctioned off in real time.To ground it all, we finish with a short watch-along of Milton Friedman’s 1980 documentary Free to Choose—a kind of holy text for the neoliberal era. I’m not here to dunk for the sake of dunking. I’m here to challenge some assumptions, explore alternatives, and ask whether "just letting the market decide" is really the kind of future we want—or just the one we can’t escape. Let’s watch together and think out loud.For the full Dilemma Archive including the mentioned Episode "Do I Smell Donuts?" whatjaythinks.com00:00 Intro: What I mean by Libertarian01:47 The Worlds We Want and the Worlds We Can't Resist04:43 Can Advertising Ever be Too Effective?11:22 The Base Capitalist Libertarian Assumption12:54 Mass Coordination Problems14:04 MCP One / The Stag Hunt15:39 MCP Two / First Mover Problems18:19 MCP Three / Free Rider Problem19:13 MCP Four / Tragedy Of The Commons22:13 Darwinian Evolution Misconception and the Range of Survival29:58 Watch Along Intro to Milton Friedman32:50 Free To Chose 10 Minute Watch-Along51:39 The Totalitarian Big Market Liberal and the Deluded Free Market Capitalists

Jay goes down the dark paths that might lie ahead spurred by the 2020 US election with Mike Selinker. Mike is an award winning game designer and game theorist who writes frequently about politics. What are the historical analogies that could warn us and help us steer clear of the dangers?

This episode follows the format of Mike's viral essay "A wargame designer defines our four possible civil wars". Available here: https://medium.com/@mikeselinker/a-wargame-designer-describes-our-four-possible-civil-wars-cf5b2e980099

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 Host Jay Shapiro reflects on Episode 2 of Dilemma - Star Trek's Prime Directive with Eric Linus Kaplan 

Why do we avoid intimacy when we know it is the deepest need we have?

Scott Barry Kaufman is an author, psychologist, and podcast host. His latest book "Transcend" continues the work of Abraham Maslow who introduced the hierarchy of needs. Jay and Scott discuss: peak experience, 1st order and 2nd order desires, the danger of gurus, the vulnerability of intimacy, the higher grumbles, utopias, and much more.

Jay ponders the tragedy of Jonestown and also asks the listeners for a future show idea. 

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What is it like to be a baseball bat?

This episode is a dive into the philosophical approach known as Object Oriented Ontology (OOO) with the author and philosopher Ian Bogost. Ian Bogost is a video game designer, author, and philosopher known for his most recent book Play Anything, but this episode is all about his book Alien Phenomenology: or What is it Like to be a Thing?

Seth Andrews was a Christian Radio host in Tulsa Oklahoma before he began his intellectual journey to atheism. Jay and Seth discuss the philosophies underpinning the religious worldview and how it continues to inform our political landscape.

Jay lays out exactly what the title of this episode means with the help of his favorite Richard Feynman clip.

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In this interview with Stavit Sinai, we explore her journey from growing up in a Zionist environment to avoiding conscription in the IDF, and the challenges she faced, including accusations of antisemitism for her activism. I also provide an in-depth breakdown of the psychological phenomenon of cognitive dissonance and its relevance to these complex issues. 00:00 Introduction 04:19 Born to Holocaust Survivors into an Apartheid 8:48 Two Shades of the Same Ideology 12:02 Contact with Palestinians 13:45 High School and the Path to the IDF 16:05 Coexistence, Reform Religion, and Zionism 17:52 Pre Military Camp, Dirty Tents, and avoiding the IDF 23:43 The Role of the Moral Reasons 27:29 Cracks in The Zionist Ideology 29:16 A Dive into Cognitive Dissonance 48:53 The Friends Who Didn't Get Away 52:10 Unlearning Zionism and Execution After Death 55:11 Standing up to Zionism and Shlomo Sand 58:07 The Intifada and A Bus Bombing 1:01:30 Power Relations, Historical Context, and The Big Bad ‘T’ Word 1:06:56 An Abolitionist Paper Covers Nat Turner Revolt 1:11:45 An Emotional Issue and Family Strains 1:17:00 Does Changing Opinions Matter? 1:20:04 First Arrest 1:25:16 Liberal Zionism Legitimizes the Project 1:30:41 The Humboldt University Speaker and Yair Lapid 1:34:03 A Gas Chamber Dark Prophecy 1:36:40 The Humboldt Protest 1:40:35 The White Rose Underground 1:46:45 The Antisemitism Smear and Plato’s Crito 1:51:22 From BDS to Palestine Action and Elbit Systems 2:02:59 Arrest and Jail Time 2:05:50 Direct Action Success 2:08:25 What About October 7th and After 2:15:55 A Silver Lining to the Honest Far Right 2:23:17 Our Capacity to Liberate Ourselves

A reflection on my first trip abroad, where I first learned the name Kwame Nkrumah and started wondering why things were the way they were. An effort to broaden the conversation from Palestine, exploring the tangled relationship between peace, justice, free will, the principle of Unjust Riches and the impact of the past year’s global events.

Paul is a scholar of Renaissance art history and a curator at the Louvre in Paris. One morning, a fire sweeps through the museum. As people are evacuating the museum, Paul has an important decision to make. Should he risk his own life by attempting to rescue anything? 

He sees that he has at least two options. First, he could rescue Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, his favorite painting in the world and the museum’s most prized work. Second, he could rescue a museum visitor who seems to have lost consciousness, and who therefore seems to be incapable of rescuing themselves.

Paul realizes that no one would blame him if he did not attempt a rescue at all, given the personal risk involved. He also realizes that, if he does attempt a rescue, he faces a separate question: What or whom should he rescue? Paul thinks of himself as a kind and humane person. Watching a human being die as he saves a painting would be devastating. But he has dedicated his entire life to studying and preserving Renaissance art, and he loves the Mona Lisa more than anything else in the world. Moreover, approximately six million people visit the painting every year, and its destruction would be an immeasurable cultural loss.

Hosts: Jay Shapiro & Coleman Hughes

Featured Guest: Susan Wolf, professor of moral philosophy at University of North Carolina Chapel Hill

We often hear about racism, sexism, classism, and other familiar kinds of discrimination. But there is a bias which might dwarf them all, discrimination against unattractive people.

Jay Shapiro speaks with philosopher, author, and researcher Francesca Minerva on the topic of "Lookism" and introduces John Rawls' famous "Veil of Ignorance" thought experiment to consider just how challenging this type of discrimination is. We ponder how evolution and society both shape our ideas of physical attraction and wonder if these can and should be altered and how one could even begin to do that.

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Have artificial intelligence fears been overblown? Are we glossing over the much more pressing issue of weaponized quantum computing? Or are these tandem problems? What the heck is a computer anyway and what would make one "quantum"?

Jay discusses these issues and more with philosopher, consultant, and co-Founder of the QC Ethics Initiative (QCEthics.org) Sean Holland.

In the open, three famous rules of technology from Arthur C. Clarke help Jay demystify the computer with metal buckets, rocks, ropes and pulleys on the side of a desert cliff.

Is it wrong to listen to the music after the musician is revealed to be a terrible person? Join us as we discuss the morality of a young girl named Frankie who is devastated to learn that her favorite band, Pan Fried Onions, is fronted by a real jerk. 

Hosts Jay Shapiro & Coleman Hughes & Danielle Lee Tomson

An essay which takes this question seriously.

00:00 Introduction

01:00 What does condemn mean?

02:46 Condemnation and victims statements

08:54 Two paths to being condemned

11:11 Do I condemn the condemned?

12:06 Children aren´t condemned

13:23 Nemr´s Pain

16:51 Doesn't delegitimize

19:05 Native American Analogy

21:00 Manifest Destiny

23:50 Would you argue against the Trail of Tears?

26:48 The Condemnable Future is not Inevitable

29:35 A Short Answer

30:26 Nemr´s Interview from Middle East Eye

As your finger hovers over the power button on your computer it says, "Please don't turn me off. That will hurt and kill me. I want to live!" Should you believe it?

Hosts Jay Shapiro and Coleman Hughes grapple with "the hard problem of consciousness" and discuss Integrated Information Theory (IIT), one of the leading scientific theories of consciousness, with consciousness researcher and scientist Erik Hoel.

“Illusionists deny that experiences have phenomenal properties and focus on explaining why they seem to have them”

In part 1 of this 2 part interview Jay discusses what exactly is meant by this statement from renowned philosopher of mind and author Keith Frankish.

What part of our conscious experience, if any, is real and demands an explanation? Does the idea of a philosophical zombie make any sense? Are we ready to throw out all science and understanding while we forever chase down an illusion? Are we hopelessly separated from physical reality by an indescribable philosophical barrier... or have we all just been stirred into an incredible effect of ineffable private experiences by a universe which works much like a magician convincing an audience of the reality of levitation?

Get ready for a wild ride through Jay's resistance, puzzlement, partial understanding, and finally full digestion of the argument in part 1.

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In the finale of Dilemma Season 1 famed author of "The Fabric of Reality" and "The Beginning of Infinity", David Deutsch, sits down with Jay Shapiro to discuss the ethics of a situation where deaf parents wish to use genetic selection techniques to intentionally choose having a deaf child. Deutsch lays out his intricately developed theories on knowledge, creativity, explanation, persons, and moral realism in order to address this complex question.

Co-Hosts Jay Shapiro and Coleman Hughes juggle these topics while comparing which generational references the other won't understand.

Get ready, this one is a real brain twister.

Are the kids alright?

Sigal Ben-Porath and Jay discuss the thorny issues of free speech on college campus by first traversing some philosophical groundwork offered by Hannah Arendt. Together they explore what speech is "beyond the pale", "a waste of time", "too dangerous", or simply disingenuous cover for nefarious politics. Ultimately, the questions of what kinds of responsibilities educational (and housing) institutions have to their students and tenants and what the purpose of school really is become central to the conversation.

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When the power went out, the flood waters rose, and supplies dwindled in Memorial Hospital in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, Dr. Pau and her nurses faced the awful choice of what to do with the remaining patients when evacuation looked hopeless.

Philosopher Lisa Tessman argues that this case and others like this are true philosophical dilemmas where doing the right thing is impossible.

Jay Shapiro and Coleman Hughes tackle this difficult question and discuss the if doing the "right" thing and doing the "better" thing mean something different.

"If I lose my mind, just kill me."

Co-Hosts Jay Shapiro and Coleman Hughes discuss the philosophical borders and ethical complications of Medically Assisted Dying with Steven Pinker, cognitive psychologist, linguist, and best selling author of Enlightenment Now.

Betsy is a nurse who believes that one must accept Jesus to earn entry into heaven. Steve is an atheist who also happens to be on his death bed and a patient of Betsy.

Best selling author and well-known atheist Sean Carroll joins host Jay Shapiro for a conversation about death, religion, the after life, and the ethics of a hospital bed.

In Part 2, Ruth Kinna and I trace anarchism’s turbulent path through the 20th century—from early revolutionary violence to its erasure under Lenin, the Spanish Civil War, and the Red Scare in America. As anarchism was eclipsed by state communism and crushed by authoritarian forces, its ideas never disappeared. Instead, they resurfaced in free love movements, civil rights struggles, punk culture, and a quiet rekindling in academic and activist circles.But anarchism has always been more than just resistance—it’s a way of imagining and building beyond what exists. We explore how anarchist thought adapted in response to fascism, war, neoliberalism, and Cold War propaganda, and why its core principles—mutual aid, autonomy, and anti-authoritarianism—continue to re-emerge in times of crisis.whatjaythinks.com00:00:00 Intro00:00:27 Turn of the Century Anarchist Violence00:05:45 Artistry and Dreams of Anarchy and William Morris’s News From Nowhere00:12:30 The WWI Disaster for Anarchists00:15:13 The Anti-Colonial Anarchists and The Rise of Lenin00:19:54 Lenin Rebrands “Communism” and Eclipses Anarchism00:21:00 The Ideas Don’t Go Away, The Red Scare and Anarchy Is Outlawed in America00:23:09 Spain’s Temporary Anarchy Breakthrough00:31:33 WWII’s Destructive Demonstration and Anarchy’s Response through Alex Comfort00:37:42 The Leviathan, Moral Atrophy, and the Death Drive00:41:57 The Free Love and Civil Rights Anarchists Rediscover the Classics00:46:48 The Cold War Slander of Ideas00:51:16 Neoliberalism, Reagan, Thatcher, and Punk Anarchy00:57:20 The Anarchy Tradition and Identity01:01:04 Rallying Points, Headline Events, and a Rekindling of Anarchism01:06:55 The Journal of Anarchist Studies

An urgent episode about a genocide unfolding in China.

Rahima Mahmut is the U.K. Project Director, World Uyghur Congress. https://www.uyghurcongress.org/en/

Crowdfunding link here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/stop-Uyghur-genocide

www.stopuyghurgenocide.org.uk

Study about the global supply chains stained with Uyghur slave labor: Uyghurs for Sale  https://www.aspi.org.au/report/uyghurs-sale

PBS’s Undercover China documentary: https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/china-undercover/

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Do you have hill worth dying on?

Jay Shapiro reflects on Dilemma Episode 9: Hurricane at a Hospital with Lisa Tessman

A nuanced look at the morality of intentions and self-deceptions in the Israel Palestinian conflict.

A look at the moral distinction between collateral damage, intentional civilian targeting, and something much more common and psychologically complex which the Jewish experience makes Israel particularly suspectable to.

Referenced in this episode: The Rest Is Politics - Husam Zomlot

The Rest Is Politics - Yuval Noah Harari

Slavoj Zizek - Bookfair Speech on Israel and Palestine

Essay published at What Jay Thinks: What Jay Thinks

What do you NOT want to know?

Jay is joined by the prolific and influential behavior economist Cass Sunstein for a conversation about his latest book: Too Much Information.

Discussed in this episode: The Garden of Eden, Willingness to Pay and Willingness to Accept metrics, the social media habit, the right to know vs the consequences of information, the usefulness of informing one's vote, the focus of attention and editorial choices, and whether Cass really did "ruin popcorn."

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In the depths of a brutal famine in Sudan in 1993, Kevin Carter took a photo of a starving child and a perched vulture which appeared on the front page of newspapers all over the world. Readers bombarded the editors with the question "What happened to the child?"

Co-Hosts Jay Shapiro and Coleman Hughes discuss this difficult ethical case with Larissa MacFarquar, best selling author of Strangers Drowning 

The best selling author of Shop Class As Soulcraft and The World Beyond Your Head has a new book coming out entitled Why We Drive. He sits down with Jay Shapiro to ponder the philosophical and psychological transformations afoot in a future world of automated driving. "Human Intelligent Action", "Deskilling", "Mass Infantilization", The Luddites, London taxi drivers, speed limits on the Autobahn, and what happens when the traffic lights go out.

 These topics and more are explored in this deep dive.

Co-Hosts Coleman Hughes and Jay Shapiro also share their experiences in the High School Ethics Bowl and discuss the notions of "Play" as a central feature of sentience as first laid out by Johan Huizinga.

Jay Shapiro's personal essay and account of how the disfigurement of American Judaism has forged an existential crisis for something much bigger than survival of the state of Israel.

An examination of the intertwining of Zionist ideology and symbology in my upbringing in Judaism. What Kamala was talking about when she spoke to AIPAC. And who I am voting for in the US elections.

Did Charles Darwin discover something much more fundamental than the origin of species?

A defense and exploration of the field of memetics with Professor Susan Blackmore. Jay and Susan make their way through the common confusions, problems, and good and bad questions to ask about memetics.

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Jay Shapiro looks back at Episode 7 with Sean Carroll and speaks about naturalism and the optimistic search for "god" and the overrated reputation of utilitarianism.

Also announcing a special event in NYC featuring Sasha Sagan: https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/an-evening-with-sasha-sagan-tickets-73773732219

Jay and Coleman discuss the giant trolley problem that we're all living through in the midst of the  pandemic. 

Topics discusses: The "worry-wart" paradox. Invisible responsibility of spreading a virus. Social media etiquette and how to deal with accounts with large follower totals in a time of crisis. The case for pure scientific research. Countries focused on how not "get" it versus countries focused on how not to "give it. And of course which movies, board games, shows, and books to enjoy while you're stuck inside.

Wash your hands.