For Episode 21, I am joined by Dr. John Torrey to talk about whether or not we each have (and can find) “The One,” dating apps, the freedom to make bad choices, simulated relationships, and “Hang the DJ” (Season 4, Episode 4 of Black Mirror), which first premiered in 2017.
This is the penultimate episode of BLACK MIRROR REFLECTIONS, as we have only one more episode of Black Mirror to discuss after this one! I have learned so much and had so much fun on this podcast that I am very sorry to end it, but I promise that if another season of Black Mirror is ever released, I will start it back up again!
In the interim, however, I want to encourage listeners/readers to please go ahead and subscribe to HOTEL BAR SESSIONS, which will be my next adventure in podcasting! I am really fortunate to have two amazing co-hosts for the new podcast, Ammon Allred and Shannon Mussett, and I am very much looking forward to the conversations we will have together. HOTEL BAR SESSIONS will release a new episode every Friday, just like BLACK MIRROR REFLECTIONS, and HBS will launch on March 12, the Friday after BMR ends (March 5).
You can learn more about the new podcast at our HOTEL BAR SESSIONS website or follow our updates on Twitter @hotelbarpodcast and here’s a trailer to whet your interest:
Dr. John Torrey is an Assistant Professor of Philosophy and a contributing professor in the Africana Studies unit at SUNY Buffalo State. He holds a BA in Philosophy and Spanish from Morehouse College and an MA and Ph. D in Philosophy from the University of Memphis. His research interests are in the intersection of social and political philosophy and African-American philosophy, specifically how social recognition affects moral and political deliberations regarding calls for Black reparations in America; applied ethics, and pre-college philosophy. He has published on the theoretical underpinnings of Black Lives Matter and on doing precollege philosophy, and was featured on the UnMute Podcast (Episode 52) in 2020. He also has developed precollege philosophy programs since 2010, including the July 2019 Buffalo State Lyceum, currently serves on the board of PLATO (Philosophy Learning and Teaching Organization), and was recently appointed to Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown’s Commission to Recommend Police Policy and Advance Social Reconstruction.
- Philosophical Horizons (University of Memphis)
- How dating apps use your data (Vox, 2020)
- How dating apps predict “matches” (BBC, 2019)
- “The Virtues and Downsides of Online Dating” (Pew Research, 2020)
- The dangers of physical distancing (no hugs!) during COVID (The Guardian, 2021)
- Are we living in a simulation? (Scientific American, 2020)