In the CAVE: An Ethics Podcast
Macquarie University Research Centre for Agency, Values, and Ethics (CAVE)
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S8E2 Strategic Human Rights Litigation in Australia, with Dr Ebony Birchall
Strategic human rights litigation sits at the intersection of law, ethics, and politics. It promises that courts can serve as vehicles for driving social progress by giving voice to those who have…
S8E1 Digital Empathy and Social Media, with Dr Bhanuraj Kashyap
Empathy might seem like a private emotion, something that belongs to the realm of personal relationships rather than public policy. But social media platforms are actively shaping the conditions…
S7E6 Special Episode: AI, Copyright, and Model Collapse, with Professor Alain Strowel
We are told that Generative AI is the future. But what if that future is built on, as one commentator puts it, the "largest theft of intellectual labor in history"? AI models are trained by ingesting…
S7E5 Ontology and the Ethics of Milk: A Relational Materialist Approach
Milk is largely taken for granted as a food source in many societies. However, the fact that milk is considered such a normal and staple part of many diets obscures various questions that we might…
S7E4 Loneliness and Being Other/ed in Autism
There are many assumptions about autistic people and their presumed desire to be alone. But being alone can also lead to profound experiences of loneliness, which can be detrimental to the lonely…
S7E3 Synthetic Biology and the Goals of Conservation, with Christopher Lean
One potential solution to the various ecosystem crises we face is to genetically engineer organisms better to survive in a changing climate. Synthetic biology offers the tools to attempt this, by…
S7E2 Feeling is Believing? Exploring Belief as Emotion with Professor Miriam Schleifer McCormick
We typically think of beliefs as cognitive representations of the world that should be responsive to evidence and truth. In contrast, emotions are very different sorts of mental states: they seem to…
S7E1 The Gamer's Dilemma: Navigating Morality in Virtual Worlds, with Dr. Tom Montefiore
Many of us enjoy video games, immersing ourselves in rich virtual worlds where we can perform actions that would be unthinkable in reality. We might slay dragons, topple empires, or even engage in…
S6E4 Public Reason and Conscientious Objection in Healthcare, with Dr Doug McConnell
Imagine that you are a doctor with deeply held moral or religious beliefs that conflict with providing certain medical treatments. For example, perhaps you oppose physician-assisted dying, or you…
S6E3 Do People Really Believe in Conspiracy Theories? With Dr Robert Ross
We've all seen the headlines: "20% of Americans believe the government is using COVID vaccines to microchip the population"; "12 million Americans think lizard people control their country."; or “9%…
S6E2 Can ChatGTP be an author? Exploring the ethics of AI creative writing assistance with Paul Formosa.
We often imaging novelists as solitary creatures, shut away in a room, labouring over their keyboards and relying on their imaginations for the words that fill the page. But even before the advent of…
S6E1 Exploring the roles of medical device reps in Australian hospitals: ethical challenges, with Dr Brette Blakely
From the ventilator to the pulse oximeter to the surgical robot, medical care is mediated by sophisticated devices. It takes time to learn to use these devices safely. They require upkeep from…
S5E7 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…
S5E6 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…
S5E5 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,…
S5E4 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…
S5E3 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…
S5E2 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,…
S5E1 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…
S4E5 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…
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In the CAVE: An Ethics Podcast has published 40 episodes since February 2022, covering topics in Society & Culture.
In the CAVE: An Ethics Podcast is currently highly active with new episodes weekly. Average episode length is 25m.
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