A Million Little Gods
by Aaron Gowen
A Million Little Gods: A podcast on the consolation of uncertainty. It's about being of two—or more—minds about things and being okay with that. Hosted by Aaron Gowen of the Institute for English and American Studies at the University of Hamburg. amillionlittlegods.com amillionlittlegods.substack.com
Episodes
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Book 3: Introduction – Part Two
Cafe La Morenita. “The little dark-haired girl.” Ehn. Should’ve made Yerba Mate or something. All right, let’s get back to it. Once people around the world had finally caught on to the fact that they’d been the marks in a shell game they’d foolishly been betting on since the industrial...
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Book 3: Introduction – Part One
Uki Goñi was born in the United States. Much to the chagrin of folks whose political fortunes—and embarrassment of power—have lately been restored, that would normally mean that Goñi was an American citizen. But his father was an Argentine diplomat stationed at that country’s embassy in…
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Book 3 Teaser
. . . with this teaser. Get full access to A Million Little Gods at amillionlittlegods.substack.com/subscribe
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Book 3: Foreword
Hello. Hi. My name is Aaron Gowen, and I’m here to tell you about this show that you’re listening to: A Million Little Gods. A Million Little Gods has been around for—I’m just gonna keep saying “A Million Little Gods” until it gets stuck in your synapses. A Million Little Gods. A.M.L.G. A Million...
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Special Episode: Thanksgiving 2023
It’s my favorite holiday again, and even though I’m hunkered down trying to produce the most complex, intricate, creative season of the podcast yet, there’s no way I’m going to skip a chance to celebrate. This time our guest is Bryon White, CEO of Yaupon Brothers, an organic producer of Yaupon...
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Special Episode: Stephen Metcalf
Steve Metcalf seems to shed urbanity and passion like I shed dandruff. His off-the-cuff manner of speech is as trenchant as his writing, and he is able to say wise things about any subject. Here he discusses with me the topic that launched an episode of this podcast and my three-part essay “Best...
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Special Episode: Ayah Nuriddin and Nathaniel Comfort
In order to entice more people to become subscribers, here is our full interview (complimenting my three-part essay “The Razor Blade in the Apple,” which I released last month and you can read here) with two scholars who have much to say about the formation of the scientific consensus on race: *...
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Book 2 Episode 11: "Don't Call It Race"
We've reached the heart of the part of our series "Race: Is That a Thing?" devoted to statistics and data. Having laid the groundwork for understanding Bayesian techniques and machine learning—as well as the limits and discontents of those tools—in episodes nine and ten, we turn to how they've…
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An AMLG Thanksgiving Message
Ben and Aaron, their families, and their colleagues and students at the University of Hamburg wish everyone in America a Happy Thanksgiving. Here's a little tone poem, so to speak, for the holiday. Stay safe everyone. Get full access to A Million Little Gods at...
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Special Episode - Polling: We're Determined (But Nothing Else Is)
Is the margin of error the same thing as the percentage of certainty you can have in that margin of error? Can a prediction ever happen in a vacuum without affecting the thing it's making a prediction about? Can we even distinguish between a deterministic universe and one in which we have free...
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Book 2 - Episode 10: "Ballpark Figures Part II"
Continuing the theme from Episode 9, we closely examine: how machine learning works, how our subconsciouses—both individual and collective—learn from the past, making ad hoc categories based on contingencies, how those categories are the origin of basically all of the things that populate the...
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Book 2 - Episode 9: "Ballpark Figures Part I"
We flip to the B-Side of Season 2, as we enter a section of the season devoted to statistics and mathematical modeling. In this episode we examine the life and career of baseball great Ted Williams and consider how adding new variables to a model can change what the model shows, for better or...
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Book 2 Episode 8: "The Holy Family in a Pane of Frosted Glass" (encore)
Today we begin part two—or, as we're calling it, the B Side—of season two, "Race: Is That a Thing?" To kick things off we're re-releasing the last episode of part one, Episode 8: "The Holy Family in a Pane of Frosted Glass" together with Episode 9: "Ballpark Figures Part I." Get full access to A...
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Book 2 - Episode 8: "The Holy Family in a Pane of Frosted Glass"
To set the stage for part two of our series, “Race: Is That a Thing?", we take a deep look at a recurring metaphor that has permeated our entire series. Get full access to A Million Little Gods at amillionlittlegods.substack.com/subscribe
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Book 2 - Ep 7 Footcast Appendix
Once again, this is a set of material that we couldn’t fit into Episode Seven: “Categorical Declarative” proper. Consider the contents of the appendix the audio footnote podcasts—or “footcasts”—to that episode. We will be releasing Episode Eight: “The Holy Family in a Pane of Frosted Glass” on...
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Book 2, Chapter 7: "Categorical Declarative"
According to the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, he “is the central figure in modern philosophy. He synthesized early modern rationalism and empiricism, set the terms for much of nineteenth and twentieth century philosophy, and continues to exercise a significant influence today in...
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Book 2 - Episode 6: "What the What?"
When people talk about things as social constructs, should we understand that as derision or dismissal? Do socially constructed human kinds, like races, get realer over time, the more those who supposedly fit a construct begin to behave as if they naturally fit it? We ask Professor of Philosophy...
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Book 2 - Episode 5: "Deflation Part II"
Can there be a plurality of concepts of race floating in the social air? If so, are we okay with that? Are there pragmatic uses for one or more of those concepts in the areas of medicine or public policy? In this episode we speak with Robin O. Andreasen, philosopher and Associate Professor of...
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Book 2- Episode 4: "Deflation Part I"
If race has no essence, then is it an irrational social contrivance? Or is it somewhere in-between? We speak with Michael Hardimon, Professor of Philosophy at the University of California, San Diego, and author of Rethinking Race: The Case for Deflationary Realism, who argues we must come to…
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Book 2 - Episode 3: "Kinds"
As our guest this episode, philosopher Stewart Umphrey, writes, “Our everyday understanding of natural things presupposes that their reality does not depend on how we regard them, and that the way we ordinarily regard them is heuristically if not cognitively valuable.” Join us as we explore…
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Book 2 - Episode 2: "Things"
Our season is called "Race: Is That a Thing?" What does it mean for a thing to be a thing? What is a thing? We consult Oxford English Dictionary editor and authorized OED historian Peter Gilliver, who updated the entry on "Thing." Get full access to A Million Little Gods at...
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Book 2 Episode 1: "Differences"
How deep do the categories we use to navigate the world go? Are they more transient than we normally think? In episode one of the new season, Ben and Aaron lay the groundwork for the series "Race: Is That a Thing?" In this episode we meet Armand Marie Leroi, Prof. of Evolutionary Developmental...
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Book 2 Preview: "Linguistic Typological Smackdown"
Are there types of languages that are unique from other types of languages? Are there newer languages that are formed from other languages, but have less vocabulary, less grammar, less stuff? Is that what we mean by “creoles”? John McWhorter thinks so; Salikoko Mufwene doesn’t. Welcome to the...
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A Million Little Gods Book 2 Trailer
Now produced at the University of Hamburg, A Million Little Gods is relaunching with the second season, a series called "Race: Is That a Thing?" The new season launches November 5. But watch out for a sneak peak of the new season tomorrow with a preview episode featuring John McWhorter called...
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Book 1 Episode 5: I Am What I Am That I Am - Part 3
In this final part of a three-part series on what it means to be a self—and the final episode of the first season—Aaron discusses with the analytic philosopher Galen Strawson whether you can know your own character, thinking of yourself as the same person over time, and telling a narrative about...
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Book 1 Episode 4: "I Am What I Am That I Am – Part 2"
In this second episode of a three-part series on what it means to be a self, we tour a cognitive neuroscience research laboratory, examine "qualia"—instances of subjective perception or experience—and discuss with Prof. Galen Strawson the counterintuitive view of "panpsychism"—the idea that...
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Book 1 Ep.3 Footcast 3
Aristotle on primary premises Get full access to A Million Little Gods at amillionlittlegods.substack.com/subscribe
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Book 1 Ep.3 Footcast 2
On the supervenience of the mind on the brain Get full access to A Million Little Gods at amillionlittlegods.substack.com/subscribe
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Book 1 Ep.3 Footcast 1
On believing in natural selection and being a believer Get full access to A Million Little Gods at amillionlittlegods.substack.com/subscribe
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Book 1 Episode 3: "I Am What I Am That I Am – Part 1"
What does it mean to be a self? Do you emerge from your brain? Is a self just a human being? Is it something more? Something less? Something altogether different? We'll try to wrap our minds--so to speak--around these intractable questions in this, the first in a series of three episodes…
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Book 1 Ep.2 Footcast 1
On the “phantasmagorical wall” Get full access to A Million Little Gods at amillionlittlegods.substack.com/subscribe
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Book 1 Episode 2: "Party and Science and Bullsh*t"
What is science? Is everything, in the end, explainable by science? What makes a practice scientific? What makes one nonscientific? Do rhetoric and debate have a place in science? Do values? In our second episode, “Party and Science and Bullsh*t,” we try our hands at answering these questions,...
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Book 1 Ep. 1 Footcast 2
On the connection between “allusion” and “play” Get full access to A Million Little Gods at amillionlittlegods.substack.com/subscribe
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Book 1 Ep.1 Footcast 1
On the podcast’s title Get full access to A Million Little Gods at amillionlittlegods.substack.com/subscribe
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Book 1 Episode 1: "The Anxiety of Influence"
In the premiere episode of A Million Little Gods, we explore the supposedly “literary theoretical” method conceived by Harold Bloom for critiquing the work of poets and other artists over and against their predecessors. As a literary theory, Bloom’s idea was pretty insipid, but as a (somewhat...
About this show
A Million Little Gods: A podcast on the consolation of uncertainty. It's about being of two—or more—minds about things and being okay with that. Hosted by Aaron Gowen of the Institute for English and American Studies at the University of Hamburg. amillionlittlegods.com
amillionlittlegods.substack.com
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Aaron Gowen
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