Oh the Humility!

Oh the Humility! is the 299th episode of the Very Bad Wizards podcast, released on December 24, 2024.

Title

"Oh, the humanity!" is nowadays an ironic exclamation used to express mock outrage. It originates from reporter Herb Morrison's live coverage of the Hindenburg disaster in 1937. This episode's title is a pun on that exclamation, swapping "humanity" for "humility", expressing mock outrage at Rachel Fraser's essay "Against Humility", which is the subject matter of the episode's first segment.

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Opening Quote

I may a fucked my life up flatter than hammered shit, but I stand here before you today beholden to no human cocksucker.

—Ellsworth, Deadwood

Opening Segment

Intellectual Humility

Discussion of Rachel Frazier's Aeon essay *"Against Humility."* This is the main first-segment topic and covers:

• Virtue epistemology explained `[00:08:45 – 00:13:00]`
• Personal takes on intellectual humility before diving into the essay `[00:16:42 – 00:22:20]`
• Simone de Beauvoir's *The Mandarins* example (Soviet labor camps, Henri vs. Robert) `[00:22:30 – 00:29:58]`
• Humility vs. cowardice `[00:28:42 – 00:30:10]`
• Humility as a social virtue vs. an epistemic one `[00:31:52 – 00:38:00]`
• Barbara McClintock case (Nobel-winning biologist who ignored her peers) `[00:38:24 – 00:44:26]`
• Nietzsche on virtues and darker drives `[00:41:55 – 00:42:54]`
• Orson Welles and "the confidence of ignorance" `[00:43:33 – 00:44:54]`
• Frazier's closing paragraph / final takeaways `[00:44:56 – 00:48:10]`

Main Segment

The Ambies

Category	Winner
Best Side Character	Mr. Wu
Best Scene	Al's monologue / Dolly scene (Jewel's Boot Was Made for Walking)
Best Use of Profanity	"Those that doubt me suck cock by choice"
Best Insult / Slur	"Dirt worshippers"
Best Anti-Semitic Slur	EB's "Farnham, twice measured – Starr, once cut"
Best Quote	Al to Merrick: "The world ends when you're dead"
Best Episode	Sold Under Sin (Season 1 finale)
Best Character (other than Al)	Jane (Robin Weigert)
Best Sex Worker	Lila

Show Notes

David and Tamler wrap up the new year talking about intellectual virtues and Rachel Fraser's excellent essay "Against Humility." What is intellectual humility exactly and do we need it for knowledge and understanding? Does the value of humility depend on the person or the circumstances? Are there contexts where intellectual arrogance is the epistemic virtue? We arrive at the definitive answers to these questions and anyone who disagrees with us is a stupid idiot. Plus in the second segment we present THE AMBIES (..the ambies), the final episode of "The Ambulators," our episode by episode breakdown of David Milch's Deadwood. It's a clip-filled awards ceremony to celebrate what might be the great TV series of all time. Highlights include Best Quote, Best Scene, Best Character (other than Al), Best Slur, Best Antisemitic slur, and lots more. "Why intellectual humility isn't always a virtue" by Rachel Fraser [aeon.co] Deadwood (TV Series) [wikipedia.org]

• Why intellectual humility isn't always a virtue" by Rachel Fraser
  
• Deadwood (TV Series)

Technical / Philosophical Topics

Topic	Timestamp
Virtue ethics vs. act-based ethics (Aristotle, Plato)	[00:08:45 – 00:10:03]
Virtue epistemology explained	[00:10:03 – 00:13:00]
The Gettier problem (mentioned briefly)	[00:11:24 – 00:11:32]
Problem of induction	[00:10:41 – 00:11:12]
Self-report measures of humility (psychological research)	[00:07:23 – 00:08:13]
Bayesian updating / priors (briefly invoked)	[00:24:38 – 00:24:42]
Epistemic cowardice vs. humility	[00:28:42 – 00:30:10]
Nietzsche's psychology (Beyond Good and Evil)	[00:41:55 – 00:42:25]

Cultural References

Reference	Timestamp
Billy Joel's We Didn't Start the Fire	[00:01:54 – 00:02:15]
Loch Ness monster / Bigfoot hoaxes	[00:03:42 – 00:04:11]
Ukraine drone warfare footage	[00:04:31 – 00:05:01]
Simone de Beauvoir – The Mandarins	[00:22:30 – 00:25:28]
Barbara McClintock (Nobel Prize-winning geneticist)	[00:38:24 – 00:44:26]
Orson Welles / Citizen Kane / "confidence of ignorance"	[00:43:33 – 00:44:54]
Orson Welles – Paul Masson wine commercials	[00:44:42 – 00:44:54]
New Atheists (Dawkins-era movement, Sam Harris mockery discussion)	[00:17:49 – 00:18:08], [00:34:48 – 00:35:11]
Joseph Campbell (upcoming listener-selected episode)	[00:37:58 – 00:38:02], [00:51:35 – 00:51:40]
Deadwood (HBO) – throughout Ambies segment	[00:54:51 – 02:06:31]
The Wire and The Sopranos (compared to Deadwood)	[00:57:31 – 00:58:08]
Ian McShane as Al Swearengen	[01:00:01 – 01:00:19]
Ricky Jay (Eddie on Deadwood)	[01:02:55 – 01:03:02]
Titus Welliver (Silas on Deadwood, also Bosch)	[01:02:31 – 01:02:44]
Garrett Dillahunt (Jack McCall / Francis Wolcott)	[01:27:15 – 01:27:20]
Kristin Bell as Flora on Deadwood	[02:00:44 – 02:01:00]
Letterboxd (social media for film ratings)	[00:50:22 – 00:50:57]

Repugnance

• "It was Obama's Specialty" [00:04:32]
• "I have often invoked intellectual humility when speaking about things like the possibility of ghosts... people who take an overly reductionist materialist view don't exhibit a lot of intellectual humility, which always rubbed me the wrong way."* `[00:17:46]`
• "If I were in a situation like Nazi Germany, would I have spoken out or would I have said, let's just wait and see what this Adolf guy's plans are?"* `[00:28:51]`
• *"We were the McClintocks of the world."* `[00:46:16]`
• *"There's actually really good reason to think that these are well-crafted movies. It's like Homer. It's like the myths. It's all Homer when you get down to it."* `[00:37:43]`
• *"We have the exact right view of this paper and this issue. It's crazy that we do. You might think it's a coincidence, but it's not. It's our skill that allows us to home in. And if you disagree, you're a dumb hillbilly fuck and you shouldn't be allowed to vote anymore."* `[00:47:54]`