The Dawdler's Philosophy

E8: Curing this Guy's Headache - Alfred Korzybski's General Semantics

Hey you! Yeah you, dummy. You know what time binding is? No? Good! We (Ryan) don’t either.

This episode the Dawdlers get in over their heads with Alfred Korzybski’s General Semantics. Well, Ryan is in over his head. Harland just can’t get his out of his bum. Badum ching! Rim shot! Pun intended.

Anyway, it’s the thought that counts and the thoughts count mostly when spoken properly. And that’s what this episode is all about.

Don’t forget to thank us.

-Da Dawds

E7: Summer at Aphelion - The Climate Change Episode

Hot topic alert!

This episode the Dawdlers pull focus on planet Earth. They talk about Earth processes, especially climate. I guess one could say this is the climate change episode. Yaaay! Earth gets the bullet too!

BUT they spend much of their time on the science and much less on the politics. So if you came in wanting to hear the familiar repetition in the echo chamber, y’ain’t gonna find it! Well, maybe you will, but with much less emotional emphasis, fear mongering, and triggered sobbing.

Buckle your chin straps, folks. It’s about to get technical.

E6: NME Skepticism - Pyrrho was Right!

Last time the Dawdlers had an original idea it was pretty goofy. This time it is less goofy. So “less goofy” in fact, anyone who listens might get downright pissed off. How dare us! For shaaaame…

Anyhoo, this topic is a take on skepticism. Some may say it’s radical. Harland would probably be fine with that. But in any case, it is—we think—important. Trying to change the world here folks…One. Chimp. At a time.

Cheers,

The Dawdlers

E5: This Reminds Me of Another Future - The Emergence Episode

New rule: no new ideas after two hours!

This time we talked about the idea of emergence and naturally, its counterpart, reductionism. Of course, supervenience was all thinking it’s host to this party like Rick Moranis in Ghostbusters, “Hiya doin’! Why don’t you have some of the brie. It’s at room temperature. You think it’s too warm in here for the brie?” But never mind, we soon bailed on that party.

Nearly as many names get dropped as threads in this full-on geek-out sesh on radical metaphysics.  Make no mistake, we wrestle with the big ideas-- and this tag-team don't tap-out.  Nevertheless, the ideas usually get us on points.    

Our number one fan  brought a friend. Things are really starting to get going.

E4: The Tiger in the Bushes - The Truth Episode

Uh oh. We're talkin' 'bout the truth. There are various positions on the truth these days. Truth, post-truth; we take a different direction. We think it is a better direction. But, at this point, it's hard to remember what that direction was exactly. You'll just have to listen zero members of the audience.

Also, we're at Harland's deeeeeep in Minnesota. It's basically Canada. And Canada is basically the North Pole. And the North Pole is where Santa lives. And that is NOT NORMAL. :-)

E3: Triamond Joy! - A World Beyond Truth Seeking

Triangles. Diamonds. Triamond Joy!

In this episode the Dawdlers go deep into lesser known territory: original ideas. Truth Seekers, Game Players, Overseers, and Engineers are united in a unique interpretive mechanism for evaluating contributions to inquiry. Our number one fan is present but we tried to reduce the constant cheering using tek-nah-luh-gee. Unfortunately, this means Harland sounds like he has a cold or is talking through one of those cardboard tubes in a roll of paper towels. Ryan sounds great, as usual. Fans. Amirite? Or is it “arwerite”? Whatever…

E2: An Immense Investment in the Utterly Obvious - Gould and Lewontin's "Spandrels of San Marco"

Prior Preparation Prevents Piss Poor Performance.

Harland and Ryan tackle Stephen J Gould and Richard Lewontin’s paper “The Spandrels of San Marco” and discuss adaptationism’s benefits and flaws in evolutionary biology.

This is a topic we thought we could shoot off. Well…hard to tell…it’s hard to tell if we just fucked off or if we got anywhere. Maybe we get somewhere in some places. Hopefully this is more than just listening to two people talk and making no sense (especially Ryan). Our best to all those involved who had little say in the matter other than saying anything at all. It’s a lesson in how not to record a conversation intended for an audience larger than zero. Also, about two-thirds of the way through we are visited by our biggest fan who shouts over us the whole time.

P.S. This is not an apology…we think…no, we’re sorry.

E1: John Searle does not Understand - The Chinese Room Argument

This time the Dawdlers are attempting to make sense of being in a room where they have to understand Chinese. John Searle sure can’t help! To remedy this, Harland and Ryan take a deep dive in a shallow pool, with a close consideration of John Searle’s Chinese Room Argument in the Philosophy of Mind from his 1980 paper “Minds, Brains, and Programs”. Can computers “understand”? What is the function of intuition in philosophy? What good are “intuition pumps”? What can the Turing Test establish? And more…

E0: Dawdlers & (but mostly) Hustlers - Introducing the Dawdler's Philosophy

Dawdlers, Harland and Ryan, discuss The Dawdle. Admittedly a less popular concept in 2018 America than The Hustle, but this dichotomy is considered and arguments presented that perhaps too many underestimate the virtues of Dawdling.

P.S. This is episode zero. Why? We don’t know! Guess it’s a thing we Dawdlers are not up to date on like those Hustlers out there.

P.P.S. In this episode you will hear great pauses of unedited connection failures and foolish people talking about their failings. Naturally, a podcast is where this should be channeled.