Bad Philosophy

When was the last time you held a door open for a stranger? Refrained from shaking hands with someone while you were sick? Cringed at dipping from that bleu cheese sauce your friend just dipped in after taking a bite from his chicken strip? Likely you don’t remember specific instances. Etiquette is just a part of what you do. But is there a deeper structure to the actions we take in the name of etiquette? Could there be a science to determine the ideal model for human interaction? In a recent article for Charlie’s Diary, Karl Schroeder poses this question and offers some interesting thoughts on how we might “re-wild etiquette.” Too tempting a topic to pass up, we decided to get the band back together, having Kevin Saunders, Eric Beutlich, and I all in the same place for the first time in years! Magic, beer, and some fresh baked cookies definitely went down. So grab your salad fork, put on your Sunday best, and prepare for some good ol’ fashioned BF! Have a listen…

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This Week’s Post-show Song Pimpage: “Etiquette Song” by the Animaniacs

Question(s) Answered in This Week’s FormSqueeze:

Can you copyright the copyright sign?

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America, Brave New World, cannibalism, civilization, code, cognitive science, Coke, communication, conflict, copyright, culture, education, Emily Post, Eric, ethics, etiquette, Google, Karl Schroeder, Kevin, law, Miss Manners, morality, National Instruments, NOVA, objectivism, Pabst Blue Ribbon, physics, programming, progress, quantum physics, racism, Schrodinger's Cat, secular humanism, soda, Stephen, technology, trademark, Xerox

Take a moment to picture something that truly, deeply disgusts you; that photo in the lobby of your doctor’s office, rubbing felt the wrong direction, your own face in the mirror every morning… y’know, that sorta stuff. As it turns out, people get disgusted by relatively similar things, at least according to a couple of researchers with an endless supply of eager survey victims and carte blanche from the IRB. This episode Julie Meadows made her triumphant return to the show alongside myself and Kevin. It was a pretty rank B-isode, but we did manage to throw in some zombies, Star Trek, and a completely unnecessary film adaptation of a decent board game. So grab a barf bag and check yourself for hagfish, it’s BF time!

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This Episodes’s Post-show Song Pimpage: “Fish Heads” by Barnes & Barnes

Questions answered in this episode’s FormSqueeze:

Intro song? Technological civilizations?

The power of names?

What is the meaning of life?

Do people have free will?

If you were a pirate, what would your name be?

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aliens, alternate reality games, Battleship, Boing Boing, death, disease, disgust, dolphins, food, free will, Greek, hagfish, iLoveBees, Julie, Kevin, kosher, language, Liam Neeson, Malaysia, MythBusters, pirates, radio drama, sex, South Korea, Stephen, Taken, World War Z, zombies

Ever get the urge to just go out with a few friends and completely wreck your entire neighborhood, steal some crap, and set it all on fire when you’re done? No? Congratulations! You may not be among the 11,000 feral, uneducated, illiterate, uncultured under-citizens of the U.K. who took part in the country’s worst riots in years this past week. Max Hastings still hates you though. So why did this happen anyway? Kevin and I threw in our 2 pence this episode with a few ideas. I also got to dust off my British accent for a dramatic reading of some classically classist bigotry. Tally ho, chaps! Have a listen…

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This Week’s Post-Show Song Pimpage: “Anarchy in the U.K.” by The Sex Pistols

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anarchy, causality, crime, David Cameron, determination, drugs, economics, England Riots, entitlement, Fresh Prince of Bel Air, Growing Pains, harm principle, John Stuart Mill, Kevin, London, marijuana, Max Hastings, morality, paternalism, police, poverty, race relations, rational anarchy, riots, Saved By The Bell, social services, speed, Stephen, Tottenham, U-Box, UK Riots, United Kingdom, V for Vendetta, Wayne Rooney, Will Smith

Conventions! In the geek world the idea of them is synonymous with sleepless nights, smelly hallways, and unforgettable times with friends and strangers. Recently a few of us got to experience such an adventure, Kevin Saunders at San Diego Comic Con and me, Britton Peele (of the Dallas Morning News), and Tim Poon (of Platform Nation) at QuakeCon in Dallas, Texas. We all had our fair share of awful thespians and awesome new releases. So get your Waldo costume ready, put a hamster on your piano, and jump on a pig, you monkey! It’s BF time…

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Angry Birds, Bawls, BioShock, BioWare, Britton, caffeine, casual gaming, Daily Toreador, Dishonored, Dumb and Dumber, games, Gamespot, gaming, Half-Life 2, Harvey Smith, Id Software, IKV Stranglehold, Inception, John Carmack, Kevin, LA Noir, League of Legends, Mario, Marty Stratton, Mass Effect 2, Master Pancake Theater, NES, Nintendo, Oblivion, Peggle, pizza, plants vs zombies, Platform Nation, Pop Tarts, Portal 2, QuakeCon, San Diego Comic Con, SDCC, Skyrim, Starcraft 2, Stephen, Team Fortress 2, Tetris, Thief, Tim, Tribes: Ascend, Twilight, Ventrilo, Victor Antonov, Waldo, Wii, Wilford Brimley