There's trouble at the work site! There are secret shifts of emotion going on. Do they make sense? Later, a guy's car is blocking a driveway. Does he deserve the electric chair, or a beer? It depends on your theory of punishment. Ep. art cribbed from a Psychology Today article. Audio editing by Tyler Hislop at Pixelbox Media. Hear more PvI. Support the podcast to get  Continue Reading …

The scene is its own entity. What else might be its own entity? Can a machine that passes the Turing test know what it's like to be a bat? We bring in emotions from irrelevant contexts, and we keep hearing them long after they're gone. Episode art by Alvin Alvaro. Audio editing by Tyler Hislop at Pixelbox Media. Hear more PvI. Support the podcast to get bonus stuff and  Continue Reading …

What is "othering"? Why did Bill get such a bad grade? Is it because of his feather quill pen? Don't miss our anti-vaxxer drama! This is our first episode with a real philosophy professor on it, and we get to talk about her experience as an academic as it relates to this most socially relevant philosophical topic. Listen to Jenny talk in more depth with Mark and co. on The  Continue Reading …

Let's all lose our jobs and talk instead about fundamental ontology and social dynamics.  Image by I don't remember. Audio editing by Tyler Hislop. Hear more PvI. Support the podcast to get bonus stuff and good karma! Sponsors: Visit betterhelp.com/improv to be matched with a licensed, professional therapist. Learn about St. John's College at sjc.edu/improv.  Continue Reading …

Hell is NOT other people, and the more the merrier, with our second episode with guests being with TWO guest improvisers, Jill, co-founder of HUGE Theater and her friend Michelle, owner of Improv MKE. Bill and our guests each start a scene to explore something of what utopia might amount to, and of course how it will inevitably go bad. Then we discuss whether there is some  Continue Reading …

Riffing on resemblance. Eventually invoking the spirit of a toaster. Mark is wrong: the God Emperor of Dune can't drink water at all, just dried food. Learn about Del Close. Philosophy barely makes it in, but if you want to chase down this nonsense about whether a robot cat is still a cat or not, check out the Twin Earth stuff in PEL's Putnam episode. Image by Maia.  Continue Reading …

Do you believe in miracles? If doctors believed in miracles, would they just let surgeries finish themselves? Do assumptions of a logical universe make it not just unjustified by psychologically impossible for us to really believe in miracles? Read about our VERY FIRST guest, Tim Sniffen at timsniffen.com. Follow him @MisterSniffen and hear him talking more with Mark about  Continue Reading …

Who stole Carmine's lunch? I think you know. Are there only a certain number of "logical" directions from one idea to another? Are there no mistakes, or are there mistakes that know? This week's image (which definitely has an eye in it) cribbed from Child's Own. Audio editing by Tyler Hislop. Hear more PvI. Support the podcast to get bonus stuff (like the post-game  Continue Reading …

Are so-called "material objects" really just a scam? These two cut-ups (Bill and Mark) cut up the world in various ways, showing you how to teach, how to act, and how to haggle.  Learn more about Berkeley's idealism with PEL #89. Image by Sam (called "Sharp Dressed Man"). Audio editing by Tyler Hislop. Hear more PvI. Support the podcast to get bonus stuff and good  Continue Reading …

Beauty is cool, but is art always aiming at beauty? Generations disagree about their music. Snakes disagree about how much they should worry. Image by 3rd grader Ariana; google says the image is somewhere on this page. Audio editing by Tyler Hislop. Hear more PvI. Support the podcast to get bonus stuff and good karma!  Continue Reading …

Bill gets really real, with his unlogical emotions. When we feel things, do we know why? Is there a why? Image found in a serious academic paper to reflect the seriousness (the snapped bra strap is merely implied). Audio editing by Tyler Hislop. Hear more PvI. Support the podcast to get bonus stuff and good karma!  Continue Reading …

Bill gets to have the power of live and death, with a bit of moral luck. Is he enthused? Image found on twitter by a kid told to draw a fruit salad. Audio editing by Tyler Hislop. Hear more PvI. Support the podcast to get bonus stuff and good karma! Sponsor: Learn about St. John's college at sjc.edu/improv.  Continue Reading …

Turkeys speculate in a game scene. Are they reasonable and/or jive turkeys? Then, geometry is subject to ad hominem attack in an instructive relationship scene. Image by Ava from this site. Audio editing by Tyler Hislop. Hear more PvI. Support the podcast to get bonus stuff and good karma!  Continue Reading …

Why is lying wrong? Scene conceptions clash. It is hard to lie in a pretend scene, because the pretending is already a lie. You can lie inside-out or outside-in. The relevant PEL episode to find out about Kant on lying is #10. Image cribbed from this article. Just look at that goddamned liar in the middle of the picture His deceit is captured perfectly! Audio editing  Continue Reading …

Mark and Bill do impressions of people you don’t know. The is-ought distinction is bravely explored. Does pretending to be cavemen help? Magic business is afoot. Childhood speaks. We’ve now passed the point where the post-game discussion is just included with the episode here. If you want to hear our reflections on the episodes going forward and our recommendations for other  Continue Reading …

Does it make sense to try to have everyone get what they "deserve"? We act out the desert machine but yet get no predictable cake. Judgebot 5000 enters our lives. Is this our first really good episode? Maybe. To hear more about meritocracy, try the Partially Examined Life's recent interview with the great Michael Sandel. Audio editing by Tyler Hislop. Image by Alice  Continue Reading …

Is death something to be feared? What's next? What are the DETAILS? Do not adjust your listening device or call an ambulance. That sound you hear is not ground hum nor tinnitus but is the sound of improvisation. Warning: We talk about suicide a bit. If you're feeling depressed, don't call the lava demon hotline, as it is a scam. We make a few references in this one that  Continue Reading …