Podcasts

I love podcasts. It started with This American Life, then "Stuff You Should Know" from HowStuffWorks.com (you should look for and download it at the Itunes store), and now it's WNYC's Radiolab.

Because I'm an old woman, I like nothing better than to sit on the couch, cross stitch, and listen to podcasts. I'd much prefer that to "going out" to a bar until two am. I need rest! Rest so I can wake up early and cross stitch some more! And rant about the good ol' days! And complain about my osteoporosis!

Plus who says you can't drink and listen to podcasts at the same time? I know I've never said that. That would be very hypocritical.

I first heard of Radiolab through This American Life, actually, when they used one of Radiolab's stories in a TAL episode. It's very similar to TAL, in that they have a theme and several stories about that theme, but they're a lot more obsessed with sound mixing or something, because it's edited very differently. I love them both.

So over the weekend, Mike and I listened to a Radiolab episode called, "Morality."

In it, they talked about two moral dilemmas.

Dilemma #1:
There are five people working on a railroad. You see a train coming towards them. However, there's a lever. If you pull the lever, it will redirect the train so that it will only hit one person standing on another track. If you don't pull the lever, those five people on the original track will die. Do you pull the lever or not?

Apparently ninety percent of people said they would pull the lever. Their logic was that one person dying is better than five people dying, so pulling the lever is the right thing to do.

Dilemma #2:
You're standing on a footbridge above the railroad and again see those five workers about to get hit by a train. However, there's a man standing next to you, and if you push him off the bridge (and he dies), the train will stop and you'll have saved the five workers. Do you push him or not?

Apparently most people they surveyed said they would not push the man. And even though the logic and the math is the same, they couldn't answer why they couldn't bring themselves to push the man off the bridge to save the others, but they could pull the lever to create the same effect.

What fun! So they talked about this and how our brains handle these kinds of questions. They've studied shots of people's brains while they're considering these dilemmas and apparently different parts of the brain "light up" when considering Dilemma #1 than Dilemma #2. People analyze Dilemma #1 very logically, but Dilemma #2 gives us trouble and we don't deal with it logically. I honestly don't even know how to answer either of those. My brain can't seem to handle either of them logically or otherwise. But it's really interesting stuff!

Another question they talked about is this:
It's wartime, and enemy soldiers are invading. You and your whole community are down in this basement hiding. You're holding your baby, who has a cold. If the baby coughs and alerts the invaders to your presence, you, the baby, and everyone else will be killed. If you smother the baby, the invaders won't hear you and everyone will be saved. Do you or do you not smother the baby?

I don't even have to think about this one. HELL NO would I smother the baby! I don't even think I could smother someone ELSE'S baby, let alone my own. But according to the academics that Radiolab interviewed, fifty percent of people would smother the baby. And apparently that's what happened in MASH, when they had an episode dealing with exactly this. Really? Fifty percent? I don't even HAVE a kid, and I can't imagine choosing to smother the baby. Yeah so, don't invite me to the basement when the Chinese invade!

I've listened to a few others since then, and they're all quite good. You should listen to it too! And check out Stuff You Should Know. I've learned all kinds of stuff, like the fact that the plural form of "ninja" is "ninja." Like "fish"! No "s"! Crazy, huh?

So would you smother the baby, or not?