Paul Bloom on "Free Will" : Gene Expression

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Posted on: December 9, 2008 3:28 AM, by Razib Khan

Of all the bloggingheads.tv "regulars" I enjoy Will Wilkinson's "Free Will" the most, probably because of an intersection of our interests and general outlooks (though Will is far more liberal than I am). Though the headline for this week's episode has to do with atheism, the really interesting part of this interview with Paul Bloom is the second half. By the end of the diavlog Will admits that he aspires toward being a traitor to the United States, and that he isn't too inclined to engage in a cannibal feast where his grandmother is the main course due to her lack of attraction to his palette. Also, Bloom makes a reference to the Crying Game in fleshing out his nuanced views of hedonic utility. Oh, and is it me, or does Will look a lot younger than this old photo from a few years back?

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Comments

I can't *stand* bloggingheads interviews. Spoken language is so slow compared to reading. Give me a transcript, sure, I'm interested. But spending half an hour to listen to something I could read in five or ten minutes? Life is too short.

It's palate, not palette, in the gastronomic context.

Posted by: Zora | December 9, 2008 4:50 AM

I'm normally the same Zora. (I hated lectures in college which made it hard when the profs ventured outside of the reading lists or texts and then expected us to remember it)

Posted by: Clark | December 10, 2008 2:24 PM

*Shudder*
Anyone that Wilkinson is liberal in comparison to must be the most radical, take-to-the-streets, revolutionary. So I take it you're an anarcho-capitalist? A little social darwinism for your scientific darwinism?

Posted by: SumGi | December 11, 2008 7:42 AM

aspires toward being a traitor to the United States

Well, isn't that special.

On the other hand, he would have to get out of his pajamas and out of the apartment long enough to take a run at it.

Blather is so much easier.

Posted by: Paul A'Barge | December 11, 2008 11:11 AM

Anyone that Wilkinson is liberal in comparison to must be the most radical, take-to-the-streets, revolutionary. So I take it you're an anarcho-capitalist? A little social darwinism for your scientific darwinism?

will calls himself liberal and he voted for obama. don't be stupid.

Posted by: razib | December 11, 2008 12:26 PM

In his short autobiography, Darwin mentioned finding lectures to have "no advantages, and many disadvantages" compared to reading (probably varies by person). And he emphasized how little he learned at the university in class.

I was known to cut more than a few classes in my time... but rarely cut o-chem because I respected the prof so much; yet when an exam was approaching and it was time to get real, I usually found it necessary to cut o-chem to read the o-chem book.

Posted by: Eric J. Johnson | December 12, 2008 1:03 AM