Episode 90: Of Mice and Morals

from Very Bad Wizards · host Tamler Sommers & David Pizarro

David and Tamler have their first real fight in a while over an article defending "social mixing"--distributing babies randomly across families such that no infant is genetically related to the parents who raise them.. Then they discuss a study published in Science in 2013 in which participants could earn money if they agreed to let mice be killed in a gas chamber. Do free markets threaten our moral characters and cause us to abandon our principles? What are mechanisms behind this phenomenon when it happens? And why does David hate mice so much? Episode Links Maus by Art Spiegelman [wikipedia.org] If babies were randomly allocated to families, would racism end? by Howard Rachlin and Melvin Frankel [aeon.co] Falk, A., & Szech, N. (2013). Morals and markets. Science, 340, 707-711. [sciencemag.org] .pdf available here [gtcenter.org] Support Very Bad Wizards

NOW PLAYING

0:00 1:20:50

1×

No transcript for this episode yet

We transcribe on demand. Request one and we'll notify you when it's ready — usually under 10 minutes.

Share this episode

Similar Episodes

The confession tapes When Confessions Break

Apr 17, 2026 ·16m

Mr. Robot’s First Episode Works Because You Can’t Trust What You See

Apr 8, 2026 ·17m

Episode 50 - Wicked Movie Review, Musical Masterpiece or A Bum Note?

Nov 18, 2025 ·70m

Episode 49 - Back to the Future Review, From DeLoreans to Delusions

Nov 4, 2025 ·81m

Episode 48 - Mad Max, Aussie Indie To Hollywood Epic

Oct 21, 2025 ·60m

hEaD PoP #78, One Punch Man Season 3 EP1, The Rock Deserves an Oscar and Tron Deserves a Timeout!

Oct 18, 2025 ·88m

Similar Podcasts

BALDERDAWGS Several John Doe's Old high school friends decide to come back together after 30 years to create a Podcast. Bad idea? Explicit Cast-A-Role: A Movie Podcast Cast-a-role A movie podcast that has absolutely nothing to do with cooking. Three friends take some of cinema’s much loved (or unloved) films and, for better or worse, stir in a different cast (it’s usually worse). A must listen for film and comedy fans alike.Cast-A-Role is filled with delicious humour, bad language, dubious opinions, and delectable movie trivia. Explicit The Purge Chris Henderson Host Chris Henderson and a guest binge an insane amount of television in a very short period of time then tell you what they think. Week-by-week they'll cover every Netflix original series. Explicit The Midnight Cinema Screening Unkn Welcome to The Midnight Cinema Screening.This is basically the place where we hang out after midnight and talk about movies and TV shows that stuck with us… the good, the bad, the weird, and the ones that probably shouldn’t exist but somehow do. I also talk about true crime. If you love horror, cult classics, creepy shows, and the occasional random deep dive into something strange, you’re in the right place. Nothing here is super scripted or overly serious. It’s more like sitting around with friends after a late-night movie, breaking down what worked, what didn’t, and the moments that made you pause the screen and go, “Wait… what just happened?”Some episodes we’ll be reviewing movies.Some we’ll be talking about TV episodes.And sometimes we’ll just go down a rabbit hole about the weird history behind something we watched.So if you like late-night movie talk, dark stories, and conversations that feel a little unfiltered Explicit

Frequently Asked Questions

How long is this episode of Very Bad Wizards?

This episode is 1 hour and 20 minutes long.

When was this Very Bad Wizards episode published?

This episode was published on May 25, 2016.

What is this episode about?

Can I download this Very Bad Wizards episode?

Yes, you can download this episode by clicking the download button on the episode player, or subscribe to the podcast in your preferred podcast app for automatic downloads.

URL copied to clipboard!