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Year: 2021

Hotel Bar Sessions, Episode 22: White Working Class

August 29, 2021 Leigh M. Johnson Ethics, Hotel Bar Sessions, Marx, podcast, Politics, Public Philosophy, RMWMTMBM Archive, Trump Comments Off on Hotel Bar Sessions, Episode 22: White Working Class

The HBS hosts take a critical look at the white working class and their grievances. Leading up to the 2016 election of President Donald Trump, and even more so afterwards, the U.S. found itself inundated with analyses of the allegedly “overlooked” grievances of the white working class. Were those legitimate grievances that should have been…

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Hotel Bar Sessions, Episode 21: Conspiracy Theories

August 6, 2021 Leigh M. Johnson conspiracy theories, critical thinking, Democracy, Ethics, Hotel Bar Sessions, Internet, Philosophy, podcast, Politics, Public Philosophy, RMWMTMBM Archive Comments Off on Hotel Bar Sessions, Episode 21: Conspiracy Theories

The HBS hosts discuss conspiracy theories and what motivates people to believe in them.  The word “conspiracy” derives from the Latin con- (“with” or “together”) and spirare (“to breathe”), and it seems like more and more people are breathing in the thin air of dubious explanations and bonding together over them. From Q-Anon to flat earthers to anti-vaxxers to…

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Hotel Bar Sessions, Episode 20: Vulgarity

July 31, 2021 Leigh M. Johnson Ethics, Hotel Bar Sessions, podcast, Politics, Public Philosophy, RMWMTMBM Archive, Vulgarity Comments Off on Hotel Bar Sessions, Episode 20: Vulgarity

The HBS hosts lower themselves into the muck in this NSFW episode! Dr. Charles F. Peterson is in the hot seat for this discussion of vulgarity. What is the difference between obscenity, profanity, and vulgarity? Who determines what is “appropriate” or “inappropriate” in public (or in private)? Is the very concept of vulgarity elitist? When…

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Hotel Bar Sessions “Afterthoughts” (Episodes 16-18)

July 31, 2021 Leigh M. Johnson Afterthoughts, citizenship, echnology, Ethics, Hotel Bar Sessions, Philosophy, podcast, Politics, RMWMTMBM Archive Comments Off on Hotel Bar Sessions “Afterthoughts” (Episodes 16-18)

For Season 2 of Hotel Bar Sessions, we’re recording one “Afterthoughts” episode for every three podcast episodes, which we post to our HBS YouTube channel. The “Afterthoughts” series gives us a chance to say what we wish we would’ve said during one of the podcasts, or to add something new to the conversation that only occurred…

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Hotel Bar Sessions Ep 19: Laughter

July 25, 2021 Leigh M. Johnson Aesthetics, Hotel Bar Sessions, humor, Philosophy, podcast, Politics, Public Philosophy, RMWMTMBM Archive, Trump Comments Off on Hotel Bar Sessions Ep 19: Laughter

  In advance of Rick Lee’s forthcoming book, co-hosts Charles and Leigh ask him why he thinks all “theories” of comedy are inadequate. What exactly is the “joke” part of a joke? Why are philosophers not only hostile to comedy, but also categorically unfunny? Is comedy formulaic or does it resist systematic analysis? What is…

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Hotel Bar Sessions Ep 18: Digital Afterlives

July 23, 2021 Leigh M. Johnson Artificial Intelligence, Biotech, Emergent Tech, Ethics, Hotel Bar Sessions, Philosophy, podcast, Politics, Public Philosophy, RMWMTMBM Archive, Technology, Technology and Human Values Comments Off on Hotel Bar Sessions Ep 18: Digital Afterlives

 Co-host Leigh M. Johnson is in the hot seat for this episode’s discussion of “digital afterlives.” If we consider the digital, i.e., information-based, self to be distinguishable from the living and breathing meatspace self, we should ask” how long can the Digital Me live on after the Meatspace Me dies? Technology already enables us to…

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Hotel Bar Sessions Ep17: Citizenship

July 23, 2021 Leigh M. Johnson Democracy, Ethics, Hotel Bar Sessions, Justice, podcast, Politics, Public Philosophy, Race and Racism, RMWMTMBM Archive Comments Off on Hotel Bar Sessions Ep17: Citizenship

  This episode explores the political and ethical dimensions of the category of the “citizen.” In anticipation of his soon-to-be-released book Beyond Civil Disobedience: Social Nullification and Black Citizenship (August 2021!), Charles Peterson takes the “captain’s seat” for this episode’s discussion of the limits of citizenship, the failure of the state, and the construction of new…

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Hotel Bar Sessions Ep16: Private Cities

July 23, 2021 Leigh M. Johnson Democracy, Ethics, Hotel Bar Sessions, Justice, podcast, Politics, Race and Racism, RMWMTMBM Archive Comments Off on Hotel Bar Sessions Ep16: Private Cities

  The HBS hosts discuss how cities, once considered hubs of public life and interaction, have become increasingly segregated, partitioned, disconnected, and privatized.  Drawing on his experience using the city of Chigoe as a classroom, Rick Lee asks: can we identify the material markers of “privatization” in contemporary cities? How do we know which parts…

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Hotel Bar Sessions podcast: A brief history

July 23, 2021 Leigh M. Johnson Hotel Bar Sessions, Philosophy, podcast, Public Philosophy, RMWMTMBM Archive Comments Off on Hotel Bar Sessions podcast: A brief history

I can’t be sure who’s still regularly checking in on this blog, but those of you who are have surely noticed that I’ve shifted my energies from blogging to podcasting over the last year. Beginning in November 2020, I did a 22-episode run of my first podcast BLACK MIRROR REFLECTIONS, in which I interviewed philosophers,…

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BLACK MIRROR REFLECTIONS, Ep 22: “Smithereens” with James Buchanan Wallace

March 5, 2021 Leigh M. Johnson Black Mirror, Black Mirror Reflections, Blog 2023+, Ethics, Philosophy, RMWMTMBM Archive, Technology, Technology and Human Values Comments Off on BLACK MIRROR REFLECTIONS, Ep 22: “Smithereens” with James Buchanan Wallace

  For Episode 22 (our last episode!), I am joined by Dr. James Buchanan “Bru” Wallace to talk about religion, techniques of the self, guilt, the imperative to look up from your screen and really see others, and “Smithereens” (Season 5, Episode 2 of Black Mirror), which first premiered in 2019. Dr. James Buchanan Wallace, known…

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