Two longtime friends take on the intriguing and the bizarre with opposing viewpoints. We invite you to listen in and pick a side: Mark "the open-minded" and David "the skeptic."
It's the Halloween episode, and Mark and David turn down the lights to swap stories. They cover Halloween traditions and the horror movies they love (and the horror movies that scarred them). Mark tells a few personal stories he still can't explain. David talks about seeing horror movies way too young and finding it difficult to suspend disbelief today.
Mark and David veer into fun topics like:
Spook vs Gory Halloween
Dia De Los Muertos
Mark's haunted childhood home
Positing a supernatural detector
The "magic" of Halloween
Horror movies and shows mentioned
The Exorcist
The Conjuring
Poltergeist
Jaws
Aliens
Ex Machina
Siren
The Ring
The Twilight Zone
Stranger Things
The Haunting of Hill House
Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die
11 Oct 2026
It's Nolan Time
Is Nolan’s Time Genius or Nonsense? Memento, Inception, Interstellar, and Tenet
Mark and David discuss Christopher Nolan’s recurring use of time across films with guest Mark Wiberg, debating whether it’s brilliant or overly complicated. Wiberg ranks Interstellar highest for its time pressure on humanity, relativity set pieces like Miller’s planet, and the emotional video-message sequence, wchhile noting issues with early dialogue, character development, and the final reunion. They revisit Memento’s reverse structure, unreliable narrator, manipulation of Leonard’s memory, and the reveal that he chooses to continue the quest. Inception’s nested dream time is criticized for exposition and an ambiguous ending, though praised for ambition and effects. Tenet divides them: Davidt calls it a favorite for entropy reversal, determinism themes, and set pieces, while others find it cold or confusing. They end with broader thoughts on time stories, determinism vs free will, and recommendations.
Check out Wiberg's DJ Butterz Youtube
https://www.youtube.com/@DJButterz
16 Aug 2026
Solaris and AI
This week Mark and David ostensibly talk about the book and movie versions of Solaris. Solaris is a story that asks some deep questions like:
What are the limitations of Science?
How do you determine if an entity is conscious?
What are 50 ways to kill your re-animated loved one?
However, Mark triggered David by asking about AI. This causes David to go on a long and tedious explanation of why LLMs are not conscious. Which is basically a recapitulation of:
https://gracefulatheist.com/2026/06/07/humanism-and-ai/
They discuss this aritcle in Verge: AI bots started a religion — humans immediately followed
https://www.theverge.com/ai-artificial-intelligence/975017/ai-spiralism-chatbot-movement
Counter points to my argumetns on LLMs:
Are LLMs conscious?
https://preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2026/08/10/363-chandra-sripada-on-how-llms-and-humans-are-cognitive-cousins/
Do LLMs plan?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=locKEKxG3os
Other topics Mark and David veer into:
The Odyssey
Morality
Re-dos
5 Jul 2026
The Big Foot Edition
Mark and David watched "The Legend of Boggy Creek" and discuss the Fouke Monster and the Big Foot legend.
Should the creature be called:
The Fouke Monster
Big Foot
Sasquatch
The Squatch
We veer into:
How truly atrocious "The Legend of Boggy Creek" movie is
Our appreciation for the musical interlude in the movie
The personal vendetta the Fouke Monster has for one group of people
The different ways Mark and David look at evidence
Cryptids and stories around the camp fire
What humans get out of monster stories
Science progresses one tomb stone at a time
Science Fiction and dreamers led us to our modern world
20 Jun 2026
The UAP Edition
Earlier in June more UAP documents were declassified. A document dump, if you will. Ostensibly, that is the topic of this weeks Certainly Dubious. We also veer into topics such as these:
Calling them UAPs vs UFOs
Science changes its mind and has an attitude
In which we accidentally talk about Covid 19
Fighter pilots are heroes and no one should ever doubt them
The Drake equation and the Fermi paradox
Borges' Library vs Monkeys with typewriters
Mark and David assert their sanity and that is not a demand, that is a solid fact! What we demand is solid facts!"
God is cool with aliens
Should angels be considered aliens?
How open minded can you be?
How to avoid an anti-moral bender
31 May 2026
We are Certainly Dubious
Welcome to the Certainly Dubious podcast, where two longtime friends take on the intriguing and the bizarre with opposing viewpoints. We invite you to listen in and pick a side: Mark "the open-minded" and David "the skeptic."
So, sit down with your coffee, tea, beer, or the ubiquitous bottle of water and listen in while two old friends talk about things that they are in no way qualified to comment on. Oh, and turn off all the lights; this podcast is better in the dark.
In this episode Mark and David discuss:
Introduction to the podcast and each other
How we met each other
Teaching our children about Santa Claus
Social contagion of psychoses
Love and grace: is it just biochemical?
Star Trek morality
Our roles in the zombie apocalypse
Join us and pick a side!
Show page https://redcircle.com/shows/dfa680d5-1ad8-45a3-9c93-07d49ae12711
Mark's podcast
Read Keeper’s Journey (https://www.reedkeeper.com/): The only way back is forward
https://www.reedkeeper.com/
David's podcast
Graceful Atheist Podcast (https://gracefulatheist.com/podcast/)
https://gracefulatheist.com/podcast/
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Apple Podcasts (US)
5.0 / 5
2 ratings
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