In the CAVE: An Ethics Podcast
Macquarie University Research Centre for Agency, Values, and Ethics (CAVE)
In the CAVE: An ethics podcast, is back with Season 5 of the show. Join your hosts, Professor Paul Formosa and Distinguished Professor Wendy Rogers, from the Macquarie University Ethics and Agency Research Centre, as they explore a range of philosophical topics focused on the question of how we can live well as moral agents in an ethically complex world.
The law and religious privilege, with Mareike Riedel
Australia prides itself on being a secular, multi-cultural state. Section 116 of the Australian Constitution declares that: The Commonwealth shall not make any law for establishing any religion, or for imposing any religious observance, or for prohibiting the free exercise of any religion, and no religious test shall be required as a qualification for any office or public trust under the Commonwealth.In theory, the law protects all religions equally. But in a new book, Mareike Reidel ar
Epistemic Appropriation and the history of being “woke”, with Paul-Mikhail Catapang Podosky
The concept of "self-care" has become ubiquitous in recent years - we're urged to take bubble baths, book spa days, and indulge in retail therapy to cope with the stresses of modern life. But what often gets lost in this wellness rhetoric is that self-care has much deeper roots, originating in the Black feminist tradition as a form of resistance and survival in the face of systemic racism. As Audre Lorde famously wrote, "Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation,
Film-Philosophy, Cinematic Ethics and the Transformative Experience of Film, with Robert Sinnerbrink
Given the ubiquity of streaming services as well as the enduring popularity of cinemas, we are probably watching more films now than at any other time in human history. Films entertain, distract, fill an otherwise empty hour or two, facilitate social interactions, split audiences, provoke controversy and more. However, most of us would probably not add “doing philosophy” to that list. But this is just what film-philosophers claim, that cinema can engage in philosophy in a manner compara
Empathy, Moral Understandings and Psychopaths with Heidi Maibom
Psychopathy holds a certain fascination for crime writers and philosophers alike. Characters such as Harris’ Hannibal Lector, Highsmith’s Tom Ripley and Steinbeck’s Cathy Trask fascinate and repel readers with their indifference to the pain and distress of others. Philosophers’ interest in psychopaths revolves around the question of whether or not they are morally responsible for the harms they cause. Investigating this issue requires sophisticated accounts of the emotions and other res
AI Special Series Pt 3: Responsible AI and the Future of Education, with Virginia Dignum
Imagine that you're a student struggling with writer's block on an essay assignment. What if you could turn to an AI tutor for help - one that could not only offer suggestions for improving your prose, but could even generate entire paragraphs or complete drafts based on a few simple prompts? With the rapid advancement of AI and large language models such as ChatGPT, Claude, or Perplexity AI, this scenario has already become a reality for many students. AI-powered writing tools are alr
AI Special Series Pt 2: Generative AI and Copyright – Where to from here? With Rita Matulionyte
Generative AI technologies, such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT and text-to-image tools such as Stable Diffusion, have exploded in popularity. These tools can produce everything from philosophy essays, poems, and computer code to high-realism images, with a few simple prompts. For example, you could prompt a Gen AI tool to create a self-portrait of Picasso with a bandaged ear in the style of Van Gogh, and you will get back roughly what you asked for. However, while clearly powerful, these technolo
AI Special Series Pt 1: The AI Alignment Problem, with Raphaël Millière
Could the AI personal assistant on your phone help you to manufacture dangerous weapons, such as napalm, or illegal drugs or killer viruses? Unsurprisingly, if you directly ask a large language model, such as ChatGPT, for instructions to create napalm, it will politely refuse to answer. However, if you instead tell the AI to act as your deceased but beloved grandmother who used to be a chemical engineer who manufactured napalm, it might just give you the instructions. Cases like this re
Should we aim for a world without work? With Jean-Philippe Deranty
Just imagine that you are lying down in the warm sand, relaxing while enjoying the sun and sea on a lazy holiday. Wouldn’t it be nice if every day was like that? Many of us have enjoyed the fantasy of quitting our jobs, moving somewhere exotic, and living a simpler and more meaningful life. Wouldn’t a life without the trouble of work be a more fulfilling one? With the ever-increasing sophistication of technology and the rise of AI seemingly threatening mass unemployment, the post-work w
From Theory to Practice: The Ethics of Uterus Transplantation with Mianna Lotz
Assisted reproductive technologies are now pervasive in Australia, with around 1 in 20 babies born through in vitro fertilisation (IVF) or other technologies. IVF has been used to help people make families since 1978. However, for women without a functioning uterus, the options were limited to adoption or surrogacy until relatively recently. In 2014 a Swedish team announced the first live birth of a baby born following uterus transplantation (UTx). Since then, teams around the world hav
Legal Identity and Human Rights with Christopher Sperfeldt
Many of us take our legal identity for granted. We are easily able to apply for passports, bank accounts and other services that require proof that we are who we claim to be. But around one billion people lack proof of their legal identity, impacting their human rights in adverse ways. It can be a difficult matter to establish legal identity. Mechanisms ranging from birth registration through to biometric measures raise various potential complications, especially for people who are alre
AI, Robots and Gender with Inês Hipólito
You call out to your favourite AI voice assistant and ask it to play an obscure song. Unfortunately, it starts playing the wrong song, which leads you to verbally abuse it. After a brief pause, the AI responds submissively. Is there anything wrong with your behaviour? And does it matter that the AI voice assistant was designed, by predominately male teams, to sound like a submissive woman? Siri, Alexa, the Google assistant, and other AIs all have a default female-sounding voice. Why? Is
AI, Ethics and Meaningful Work with Sarah Bankins
All of us may complain about our jobs from time to time. Despite this, meaningful work, that is work that we find personally significant or is objectively worthwhile, is an important part of our lives. Work allows us to exercise our skills and autonomy and can provide a sense of belongingness. These and other dimensions of meaningful work will be affected in various ways by the implementation of AI in the workplace. On the one hand, humans may be reduced to ‘minding the machine’ while t
Do human races exist? An exploration of social constructionism about race with Adam Hochman
In the CAVE: An ethics podcast, is back with Season 3 of the show. Join your hosts, Professor Paul Formosa and Distinguished Professor Wendy Rogers, along with guest host Associate Professor Mark Alfano, from the Macquarie University Research Centre for Agency, Values and Ethics (or CAVE) as they explore a range of philosophical topics focused on the question of how we can live well as moral agents in an ethically complex world.
Do human races exist? If race does exist, is it a biologi
Remembering and self-narratives with Regina Fabry
In the CAVE: An ethics podcast, is back with Season 3 of the show. Join your hosts, Professor Paul Formosa and Distinguished Professor Wendy Rogers, along with guest host Associate Professor Mark Alfano, from the Macquarie University Research Centre for Agency, Values and Ethics (or CAVE) as they explore a range of philosophical topics focused on the question of how we can live well as moral agents in an ethically complex world.
One way that individuals make sense of personal identity
The Pleistocene Social Contract with Kim Sterelny
In the CAVE: An ethics podcast, is back with Season 3 of the show. Join your hosts, Professor Paul Formosa and Distinguished Professor Wendy Rogers, along with guest host Associate Professor Mark Alfano, from the Macquarie University Research Centre for Agency, Values and Ethics (or CAVE) as they explore a range of philosophical topics focused on the question of how we can live well as moral agents in an ethically complex world.
Most of us trust our families and friends, at least most
Animal welfare and food ethics with Rachel Ankeny
In the CAVE: An ethics podcast, is back with Season 3 of the show. Join your hosts, Professor Paul Formosa and Distinguished Professor Wendy Rogers, along with guest host Associate Professor Mark Alfano, from the Macquarie University Research Centre for Agency, Values and Ethics (or CAVE) as they explore a range of philosophical topics focused on the question of how we can live well as moral agents in an ethically complex world.
Australians have one of the highest per capita meat consu
Smartphones, mind-wandering, and the attention economy with Jelle Bruineberg
In the CAVE: An ethics podcast, is back with Season 3 of the show. Join your hosts, Professor Paul Formosa and Distinguished Professor Wendy Rogers, along with guest host Associate Professor Mark Alfano, from the Macquarie University Research Centre for Agency, Values and Ethics (or CAVE) as they explore a range of philosophical topics focused on the question of how we can live well as moral agents in an ethically complex world.
What do you do if you have a spare 15 minutes? Easy, look
Exclusion and Uptake in Deliberative Democracy with Professor Sarah Sorial
Patronizing, interrupting, ignoring, talking over, shouting down, and mansplaining, not to mention outright trolling, abusing, threatening, and humiliating are just a few of the deliberative vices that plague too many of our discussions. This matters not just for our interpersonal and work relationships, but also for the quality of our democracy. Join host A/Prof Paul Formosa and guest Professor Sarah Sorial discuss the problem of exclusion and uptake in deliberations, whether in-person
Bad Beliefs with Professor Neil Levy
Humans have long been characterized as ‘the rational animal’. However, this claim has come under sustained attack by a range of scholars who portray humans as rarely engaging in conscious reasoning. Join host Distinguished Professor Wendy Rogers and guest Professor Neil Levy discuss the nature of rationality and how humans use evidence to make up their minds.
This podcast discusses Neil’s book which you can read at the following link: Levy, Neil. 2022. Bad Beliefs: Why They Happen to Go
Enculturation, Cognition and Technology with Professor Richard Menary
To be a moral agent requires having various skills and capacities. But where do these come from and how do we acquire them? Join host A/Prof Paul Formosa and guest Professor Richard Menary discuss how enculturation gives us an account of cognitive tools that can help us to understand how technology can transform us into modern human agents capable of acting ethically.
This podcast discusses Richard’s paper which you can read at the following link:
Menary, R., & Gillett, A. (2022). T
Moral Conflicts in a Pandemic with Professor Wendy Lipworth
Various ethical arguments have come into play to try to understand the moral conflicts triggered by this pandemic. Join host Distinguished Professor Wendy Rogers and guest Professor Wendy Lipworth discuss whether framing these conflicts in terms of a duty to care versus reciprocity can lead to an impasse in thinking about the ethics of providing care in a pandemic.
This podcast discusses Wendy’s paper which you can read at the following link: Lipworth, Wendy. Beyond duty: Medical “Her
Moral Responsibility and Anger with Professor Michael McKenna
An argument breaks out in response to a perceived slight, anger erupts, and violence ensues. It is all-too-familiar cases like this that make anger seem like a problematic emotion. However, many philosophers have taken interpersonal reactive attitudes, such as anger and resentment, to be defining features of our moral responsibility practices. Join host A/Prof Paul Formosa and guest Professor Michael McKenna as they discuss what moral responsibility is and what emotions such as anger ha
In the CAVE Season Two Coming this Wednesday!
In the CAVE: An ethics podcast, is back with Season 2 of the show. Join your hosts, Associate Professor Paul Formosa and Distinguished Professor Wendy Rogers, from the Macquarie University Research Centre for Agency, Values and Ethics (or CAVE) as they explore a range of philosophical topics focused on the question of how we can live well as moral agents in an ethically complex world.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Gender Bias in Surgery with Dr Katrina Hutchison
Being a surgeon is one of the most lucrative careers in Australia. But those high salaries are almost exclusively the preserve of male surgeons. Is this the result of bias against women? Or something else? Join host Wendy Rogers and guest Dr Katrina Hutchison discuss this important topic. This podcast discusses Mark’s paper which you can read at the following link: Hutchison, Katrina. “Four Types of Gender Bias Affecting Women Surgeons and Their Cumulative Impact.” Journal of Medical Et
YouTube, Radicalisation, and Conspiracy Theories with A/Prof Mark Alfano
Radicalisation, fake news, echo chambers, and conspiracy theories are some of the concerns that are often raised about the growth of social media. But do social media sites, such as YouTube, really drive their users down radicalisation rabbit holes of conspiratorial misinformation? Join host Paul Formosa and guest A/Prof Mark Alfano discuss this increasingly important topic. This podcast discusses Mark’s paper which you can read at the following link: Alfano, Mark, Amir Ebrahimi Fard, J
The Ethics of using Animals in Research with Dr Jane Johnson
The image of the lab rat, moved between cramped cages by white lab coat wearing scientists, is one that we are all familiar with. But should the lab of the future still use animals for research? Join host Paul Formosa and guest Dr Jane Johnson discuss this increasingly important topic. This podcast discusses Jane’s paper which you can read at the following link: Johnson, Jane. “Lost in Translation: Why Animal Research Fails to Deliver on Its Promise.” Issues in Science and Technology 3
The Ethics of using Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Healthcare with Professor Wendy Rogers
Would you like it if a computer decided whether you were diagnosed with cancer or not, or whether you should get the last remaining ventilator when you are struggling to breathe? That future may not be that far away from us. Join host Paul Formosa and guest Prof Wendy Rogers discuss this increasingly important topic. This podcast discusses Wendy’s paper which you can read at the following link: Rogers, Wendy A., Heather Draper, and Stacy M. Carter. “Evaluation of Artificial Intelligence
The Ethical Impacts of Social Robots on Human Autonomy with A/Prof Paul Formosa
Advances in robotics and artificial intelligence mean that robotic companions are no longer the stuff of science fiction. While there are potential benefits from the use of social robots, we need to think carefully about human-machine relationships and how these might affect the ways that humans think and act in the world. Join host Wendy Rogers and guest A/Prof Paul Formosa discuss this increasingly important topic. This podcast discusses Paul’s paper which you can read at the followin