Political polarization is one of the big problems of our time. That's why I started a series of dialogues where I have friendly disagreements over controversial topics with a variety of guests. These conversations are guided by three core principles: scout mindset, non-violent communication, and radical honesty. When I'm not disagreeing with guests, I read my blog posts about atheism, rationality, philosophy, science, and sociopolitical issues. I have a BSc in computer engineering, an MA in analytic philosophy, and I volunteer at secular humanist and effective altruist organizations.
Ghostless Machine
Claim This Podcastby Ariel Pontes
10 episodes
Updated Bi-weekly
Accepts GuestsHas SponsorsLocation 🇬🇧
50
Podcast Authority
BetaFairBased on show quality, social media presence, reviews, charts, and more
Quality55
Social0
YouTube82
Engagement27
Podcast Overview
Political polarization is one of the big problems of our time. That's why I started a series of dialogues where I have friendly disagreements over controversial topics with a variety of guests. These conversations are guided by three core principles: scout mindset, non-violent communication, and radical honesty. When I'm not disagreeing with guests, I read my blog posts about atheism, rationality, philosophy, science, and sociopolitical issues. I have a BSc in computer engineering, an MA in analytic philosophy, and I volunteer at secular humanist and effective altruist organizations.
Language
🇺🇲
Publishing Since
9/23/2020
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50
Podcast Authority
BetaFairBased on show quality, social media presence, reviews, charts, and more
Quality55
Social0
YouTube82
Engagement27
8
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2
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9
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excellent
Episode Length
18 minutes
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10 episodes over 4.5 years
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Every 163 days
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Recent Episodes
March 14, 2025
#10 Câlin Georgescu | A dialogue with Ștefan Mironescu
<p>In my fourth dialogue, I talk to Ștefan Mironescu about Câlin Georgescu. Ștefan studied cinema at the National University of Theatre and Film in Bucharest and works as a video producer. He’s also a member of the Party of Young People in Romania, one of the main parties behind Câlin Georgescu. Ștefan thinks Western values such as secularism, LGBT+ rights, and support for vaccine compulsion are harming Romania, and that the country needs a strong leader to preserve Romanian sovereignty and national values such as Christianity, traditional families, and the freedom to not vaccinate. Although I agree that there are legitimate reasons to be frustrated with the liberal world order, I think populists politicians are capitalizing on this frustration to promote an ideology that will ultimately harm Romania even more. Problems such as rising social inequality and the cost-of-living crisis are not going to be solved by scapegoating minorities, but by resisting culture wars and focusing on evidence-based policy. What do you think? Should Romania remain aligned with the EU and try to solve its problems within this paradigm? Or does it need a strong leader to fix the problems that liberal democracy has failed to address?</p><p><br></p><p>Glossary:</p><p><br></p><p>- PSD ("pe se de"): Partidul Social Democrat (Social Democratic Party)</p><p>- USR ("uh se re"): Uniunea Salvați România (Save Romania Union)</p><p>- AUR: Alianța pentru Unirea Românilor (Alliance for the Union of Romanians)</p><p>- SENS: Sănătate, Educație, Natură, Sustenabilitate (Health Education Nature Sustainability Party)</p><p><br></p><p>Intro</p><p>00:00 Teaser</p><p>00:42 The importance of dialogue</p><p><br></p><p>Discussion</p><p>08:33 Introducing Ștefan Mironescu</p><p>17:22 Reasons for opposing/supporting Georgescu</p><p>21:16 The legionary movement</p><p>23:43 Ciolacu (PSD) vs. Lasconi (USR)</p><p>25:03 Christian values and the state</p><p>26:05 Most pressing problems in Romania</p><p>32:12 Is religion at risk?</p><p>41:24 What specific AUR policy proposals do you support?</p><p>42:05 Same-sex marriage vs. civil partnership</p><p>42:47 S3x education</p><p>45:55 Does voting conservative increase well-being for Romanians?</p><p>50:26 Shouldn't we trust science?</p><p>54:23 If fighting poverty is a priority, shouldn't we support parties like SENS?</p><p>57:17 How confident are you that Georgescu would be good for Romania?</p><p>58:19 Are you concerned about Russia's influence on Romania?</p><p>01:03:38 What would change your mind?</p><p>01:04:20 What does it mean to be leftist?</p><p>01:05:25 Polarizing language vs. real fascism</p><p>01:07:37 Biden, Trump & American Democracy</p><p>01:12:56 Aggressive/tribal leftists</p><p>01:13:15 Being controlled, billionaires, and trans rights</p><p>01:20:05 What would change your mind about the "left"?</p><p>01:23:21 What about the "right"? Abortion rights?</p><p>01:25:17 What would change my mind</p><p>01:30:47 What is the social cost of changing our minds?</p><p><br></p><p>If you want to be up to date with Ștefan and his views, you can follow him on <a href="https://instagram.com/stephen_mironescu12" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferer">Instagram</a> or <a href="https://www.facebook.com/stefan.mironescu12" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferer">Facebook</a>.</p><p><br></p><p>And if you like my content, make sure to follow me:</p><p><br></p><p>- Website/Mailing list: <a href="http://ghostlessmachine.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferer">http://ghostlessmachine.com/</a></p><p>- YouTube: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@ghostless.machine" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferer">https://www.youtube.com/@ghostless.machine</a></p><p>- Facebook: <a href="https://facebook.com/ghostlessmachineblog" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferer">https://facebook.com/ghostlessmachineblog</a></p><p>- Instagram: <a href="https://instagram.com/arielpontes" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferer">https://instagram.com/arielpontes</a></p><p>- Twitter: <a href="https://medium.com/@arielpontes" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferer">https://twitter.com/arielpontes</a></p><p>- Medium: <a href="https://medium.com/@arielpontes" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferer">https://medium.com/@arielpontes</a></p><p>- Ko-Fi: <a href="https://ko-fi.com/arielpontes">https://ko-fi.com/arielpontes</a></p>
March 24, 2024
#9 Is astrology real? | A dialogue with Adrian Cotora
<p>In my third dialogue, I talk to Adrian Cotora about astrology. Adrian is the vice-president of the Romanian Astrologer's association and, as you can imagine, he believes the position of planets in the sky at the time of our birth correlate with different personality traits. I, on the other hand, as a naturalistic atheist, don't believe the position of planets correlate in any way with our personality. In this conversation we discuss how our different epistemic values lead us to these different conclusions, and we also discuss the possibility of a reformed astrology that focuses on its value as a potential psychological tool for exploring our relationships with different archetypes while avoiding untestable claims about the nature of the universe. So, what do you think? Is astrology real? 00:00 Teaser 00:26 Topic Introduction 01:14 The guest Adrian Cotora 02:05 Where do you think we agree? 03:17 Where do we disagree? 09:19 How does Astrology work? 17:21 The Barnum/Forer Effect 27:44 Pseudoscience and Popperian falsification 36:07 What would change your mind about Astrology? 49:02 How do you view Pseudoscience? 01:04:13 How sure are you about your version of Astrology? 01:09:15 Not believing but using astrology for personal growth? 01:30:29 Value of intuition in knowledge creationFor Adrian's Podcast (in Romanian), you can visit <a href="https://studio.youtube.com/channel/UCUUkj0h4ZfXg67MNACjfuQg"> @Transformarecontinua </a> . And if you like my content, make sure to follow me here: - Website/Newsletter: <a href="http://ghostlessmachine.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferer">http://ghostlessmachine.com/</a> - YouTube: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@ghostless.machine" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferer">https://www.youtube.com/@ghostless.machine</a> - Facebook: <a href="https://facebook.com/ghostlessmachineblog" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferer">https://facebook.com/ghostlessmachineblog</a> - Instagram: <a href="https://instagram.com/arielpontes" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferer">https://instagram.com/arielpontes</a> - Twitter: <a href="https://twitter.com/arielpontes" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferer">https://twitter.com/arielpontes</a> - Medium: <a href="https://medium.com/@arielpontes" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferer">https://medium.com/@arielpontes</a> - Ko-Fi: <a href="https://ko-fi.com/arielpontes" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferer">https://ko-fi.com/arielpontes</a></p>
June 25, 2023
#8 Is nonverbal consent ever enough? | A dialogue with Kitty
<p>In the second Ghostless Machine dialogue, I talk to Kitty about verbal vs. nonverbal consent. Kitty jokingly refers to herself as a “consent-nazi”, meaning she thinks the only legitimate way to obtain consent is verbally. I, on the other hand, tend to think that such an approach fails to take into consideration the full complexity of human behavior and sexuality. Because of that I tend to favor alternative ways to tackle the issue of accidental violations of consent. So what do you think? Is nonverbal consent ever enough?</p> <p><br></p> <p>00:00:00 Teaser</p> <p>00:00:42 Intro</p> <p>00:01:50 Kitty's intro</p> <p>00:02:30 Where do we agree and disagree?</p> <p>00:06:47 How to ethically make a move on the first date?</p> <p>00:08:35 Are there legitimate alternatives to verbal consent?</p> <p>00:12:26 Steelmanning</p> <p>00:15:59 What about people who are turned off by verbal requests for consent?</p> <p>00:16:53 Nurture vs. Nature</p> <p>00:33:43 How plausible it is that asking for verbal consent could become a dominant social norm?</p> <p>00:39:36 If verbal consent wasn't an option, what would be the second best alternative?</p> <p>00:43:23 Should we promote verbal consent as an admirable option rather than an obligation?</p> <p>00:44:59 How confident are we about your opinion?</p> <p>00:46:42 How confident am I?</p> <p>00:47:20 Asking for consent in a non-robotic way</p> <p>00:51:23 Why do guys reject the idea of asking for consent verbally?</p> <p>00:55:33 What would make you change your mind?</p> <p>00:57:25 What would make me change my mind?</p> <p>01:00:20 Tips and final thoughts from Kitty</p> <p>01:01:30 Do you think being dogmatic about verbal consent risks backfiring?</p> <p><br></p> <p>If you’re interested in Kitty’s work, you can learn more about it in the following links:</p> <p><br></p> <p>- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thekittyrea/</p> <p>- Podcast: https://eropedia.ro/</p> <p>- Influx: https://influx.events/</p> <p><br></p> <p>If you’re interested in tips about relationships, dating, and masculinity from her recommended sources, you can check them out here:</p> <p><br></p> <p>- https://www.tiktok.com/@mattcama23</p> <p>- https://www.tiktok.com/@justinbaldoni</p> <p>- https://www.tiktok.com/@remasculine</p> <p>- https://www.tiktok.com/@watchfulcoyote</p> <p><br></p> <p>And finally, if you like my content, you can always follow me here:</p> <p><br></p> <p>- Website/Newsletter: http://ghostlessmachine.com/</p> <p>- Podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/ghostlessmachine</p> <p>- Facebook: https://facebook.com/ghostlessmachineblog</p> <p>- Instagram: https://instagram.com/ghostlessmachine</p> <p>- Twitter: https://twitter.com/arielpontes</p> <p>- Medium: https://medium.com/@arielpontes</p> <p>- Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/arielpontes</p>
10 total episodes available
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This podcast updates bi-weekly.
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This podcast is available on 8 platforms including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and more. You can also use the RSS feed directly.
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