After Dinner Conversation

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Channel • 2 Shows

Philosophy

Philosophy

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Science Fiction

Science Fiction

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04/04/2022

Rose-tinted Glasses

Philosophy | Ethics Short Story Magazine: Code “Happy” for 12 Issues/$4.95! https://www.afterdinnerconversation.com/subscribe/yearly Named “Top 20 Philosophy Podcast” for 2022! STORY SUMMARY: What do we lose when we leave childhood and become adults? Is this a good thing? Can we, at least for a moment, turn back time and see the world again as a child? In this work of philosophical short story fiction, Becca and Adam are members of the Fairytale Fellowship, a group of children who can still see the magic in the world and protect the world from wrong-doing magical creatures. Becca and Adam find special glasses that allow anyone, even adults, to see the invisible magical creatures around them. They rush to get the glasses to the Fellowship, but are stopped by a Faun who steals the glasses and forces them to play a game to win the glasses back. They win the game, but valuable time has passed. Becca and Adam have aged out and experienced “The Shift” all children experience into adulthood that makes them unable to see magical things. Their worst fear has happened, they have grown up. DISCUSSION: Another really strong story, this one about growing up and what it means to grow up. That’s the main question for discussion, what does it mean to grow up? What does it mean to play, and when is the last time you can remember being able to play in a child-like way? And what is the difference with that, and playing as an adult? Is it “intent?” If you really waned to could you even play without intent again? We went round and round on this one, and never really had great answers. Perhaps, after listening to the discussion, you will have developed some answers of your own. BOOK LINK: Download the accompanying short story here. COMPANION PODCAST: Listen to our audiobook readings of After Dinner Conversation short stories (“Philosophy | Ethics Short Story Audiobooks”). MAGAZINE: Sign up for our monthly magazine and receive short stories that ask ethical and philosophical questions. Use the discount code on our website to get the first month free or an entire year for just $4.95! SUPPORT: Support us on Patreon. FOLLOW: Twitter, Instagram, Facebook

04/04/2022

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33 min
07/09/2023

"Conscience Cleaners" by Alexander B. Joy (Audiobook)

This audiobook features "Conscience Cleaners" by Alexander B. Joy. Published in the September 2021 issue of After Dinner Conversation: Philosophy | Ethics Short Story Magazine. Philosophy | Ethics Short Story Magazine: Code “Happy” for 12 Issues/$4.95! https://www.afterdinnerconversation.com/subscribe/yearly STORY SUMMARY (Spoilers): Should a criminal suffering from the remorse of the crime he committed be permitted to be freed of that pain? In this work of philosophical short story fiction, Mr. Henmore’s was convicted of a terrible crime many years ago. He served his time, and been paroled, and is genuinely remorseful for what he did. In fact, his pain is so great, even years later, he suffers severe, almost daily, mental anguish from the knowledge of what he did. His lawyer has gone before the Grand Rectification Council to ask permission to have Mr. Henmore’s memory wiped clean of the crime he committed so as to enter his suffering. After making his case on behalf of his client, it is now up to the Council, should Mr. Henmore forever remember the horrible thing he has done? COMPANION PODCAST: Listen to our panel discussions of After Dinner Conversation short stories (“Philosophy | Ethics Short Story Discussions”). BOOK LINK: Download the accompanying short story here. MAGAZINE: Sign up for our monthly magazine and receive short stories that ask ethical and philosophical questions. Use the discount code on our website to get the first month free or an entire year for just $4.95! SUPPORT: Support us on Patreon. FOLLOW: Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok

07/09/2023

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22 min
04/23/2023

"Home For The Holidays" by Alexis Dubon (Audiobook)

This audiobook features "Home For The Holidays" by Alexis Dubon. Published in the August 2021 issue of After Dinner Conversation: Philosophy | Ethics Short Story Magazine. Philosophy | Ethics Short Story Magazine: Code “Happy” for 12 Issues/$4.95! https://www.afterdinnerconversation.com/subscribe/yearly STORY SUMMARY (Spoilers): How do you find common ground with those that believe in a vast, intricate, media conspiracy to hide the truth? In this work of philosophical short story of fiction, the narrator drives out to his parent’s house to visit them for the holidays. Much to his surprise, when his parents open the door, they are only two feet tall! He is concerned that his parents, like many in the world, have shrunk to half their size. His parents, however, are equally concerned about their son because they believe he, and others in the world, have doubled in size. The son tries to explain to his parents that they have shrunk, that is why their house, and all their belongings, seem so large. However, his parents believe he, like many others, have an altered idea of what reality is, and that they have been lied to by the media and local officials. The son continues to come year after year to visit his tiny parents, who continue to refuse that they have changed, not the world around them. COMPANION PODCAST (E60.): Listen to our panel discussions of After Dinner Conversation short stories (“Philosophy | Ethics Short Story Discussions”). BOOK LINK: Download the accompanying short story here. MAGAZINE: Sign up for our monthly magazine and receive short stories that ask ethical and philosophical questions. Use the discount code on our website to get the first month free or an entire year for just $4.95! SUPPORT: Support us on Patreon. FOLLOW: Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok

04/23/2023

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15 min
03/21/2022

The Wrong Side Of History

Philosophy | Ethics Short Story Magazine: Code “Happy” for 12 Issues/$4.95! https://www.afterdinnerconversation.com/subscribe/yearly Named “Top 20 Philosophy Podcast” for 2022! STORY SUMMARY: Is it appropriate to hold politicians accountable for their past votes, their past actions, and their past opinions, even if they are not reflective of them today? In this work of philosophical short story fiction, Senator McCoy is 130 years old and is considered a “national treasure” for his nearly century of public service. Shortly before his retirement he is confronted by a member of an extremist organization (that supports eugenics) who have found evidence of a paper he published in college where he supports abortion. Given the modern political climate where every person is needed to build society, this information would forever stain his legacy. Senator McCoy hires a “fixer” to find and destroy the source material and preserve his legacy. However, things go wrong and the would-be blackmailer crashes the Senators party in an attempt to expose him. The Senator is nearly killed, but is finally able to enjoy an untarnished retirement legacy free from the truth of his past. DISCUSSION: An interesting story, for sure, and one that functions really well as a short story with a fully developed arc. There are also some really great questions in the story ripe for discussion. For example, are there votes that politicians might make that are “unforgivable?” So, are they never allowed to change with the times? And if there are unforgiveable votes, what is the thread in them that makes certain votes unable to ever be walked back, while others can be in the future if minds are changed? There is also a really interesting idea in the story about how malleable history is to fits the narrative of the day. The main person was pro-choice, but now, to fit the culture of the day, being pro-choice in the past means being pro-eugenics in the present. That reframing of history may happen far more than we would think. And finally, at least for Kolby, perhaps the biggest ethical error in the entire story is the cavalier way in which the Senator goes back and changes historical documents to secure his political legacy. Great story all around! BOOK LINK: Download the accompanying short story here. COMPANION PODCAST: Listen to our audiobook readings of After Dinner Conversation short stories (“Philosophy | Ethics Short Story Audiobooks”). MAGAZINE: Sign up for our monthly magazine and receive short stories that ask ethical and philosophical questions. Use the discount code on our website to get the first month free or an entire year for just $4.95! SUPPORT: Support us on Patreon. FOLLOW: Twitter, Instagram, Facebook

03/21/2022

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37 min
01/29/2023

Season Five Recap - Listener Questions

Named “Top 20 Philosophy Podcast” for 2023! STORY SUMMARY: After Dinner Conversation editor Kolby wraps up the Season Five podcast and answers ten listener questions. BOOK LINK: Download the accompanying short stories here. MAGAZINE: Sign up for our monthly magazine and receive short stories that ask ethical and philosophical questions. Use the discount code on our website to get the first month free! SUPPORT: Support us on Patreon. FOLLOW: Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok

01/29/2023

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19 min
02/08/2021

Externalities

Named “Top 20 Philosophy Podcast” for 2021! STORY SUMMARY: Set in the 1600’s, a traveling man of knowledge comes into town with his young assistant and assortment of books. Various townspeople come to visit him, paying to ask questions. Why do my gums bleed? Why does is steel I forge brittle? Finally, a wealthy man comes and asks if he should allow his daughter to marry the local guard. The traveling man says yes, that love is always a thing to respect. The wealthy man comes back later with his daughter and attempts to bribe the traveling man to have him say they should call the relationship off. The traveling man refuses and, in the process, gives his assistant an important lesson about positive externalities. DISCUSSION: Like all of our stories, this one is very well written and has the feel of being written by a very wise person, who just happens to also be a writer. It’s interesting the way each person who comes to pay for advice has a different question that allows the traveling man to expound upon a life lesson. Also, it seems like each question relates to the subtext of the thing going on in that person’s life as well. The story brings up an interesting point about the rare case of positive externalities. While they are typically associated with businesses pushing costs off to society, it can just as well be about a couple in love getting the benefit of the price paid for by their father. BOOK LINK: Download the accompanying short story here. MAGAZINE: Sign up for our monthly magazine and receive short stories that ask ethical and philosophical questions. SUPPORT: Support us on Patreon. FOLLOW: Twitter, Instagram, Facebook

02/08/2021

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46 min
12/28/2020

Performance

Named “Top 15 Podcast” for 2020! STORY SUMMARY: A weak spirited loser is contacted by the government and informed he has a twin that is the head of a powerful mafia organization. The government will pay him $1 million dollars if he goes through their program to learn the mannerisms and speech of his mafia twin and replace him in the organization. As the twin learns how to act like the mafia boss, he becomes more like him until he escapes the training program with the money and a new personality. DISCUSSION: A story about nature vs nurture, and to the extent which the way we act effects are mood, as well as who we are. The group generally agreed that changing behavior can change personality and mood. Kolby was of the opinion this process could be “hacked” to help us create better versions of ourselves. Others suggested this was already being done by celebrity product endorsements selling a lifestyle as much as the product. Ashley thought this might be a time-travel story, where they are actually creating the mob boss. Everyone thought the story was interesting as a premise, but a bit confusing how the organization could have some much information on the mob boss, but needed this twin to get information before arresting him. BOOK LINK: Download the accompanying short story here. MAGAZINE: Sign up for our monthly magazine and receive short stories that ask ethical and philosophical questions. SUPPORT: Support us on Patreon. FOLLOW: Twitter, Instagram, Facebook

12/28/2020

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41 min
09/06/2021

Guilt-Edge Security

Named “Top 20 Philosophy Podcast” for 2021! STORY SUMMARY: A traveling salesman sits at the bar after a long day drinking bourbon. He is approached and cleverly pitched a new product he has discovered on a distant rim planet, Life. The product stops the aging process. The first batch is free, and the salesman returns eight years later to get into the distribution business. DISCUSSION: There are really three things going on in the story. First, how would you live your life differently if you knew you were going to live forever? Would you value other lives more, or less? Would you take a different review of risk? Second, there is the idea in the story that your soul exists because you have choices, and if you have your ability to make choices taken away, you have had your soul taken away. In the story, arguably, in order to continue to get the elixir, you have to get other people into the pyramid scheme, which means you have no choice, and have no soul. The third minor point of the story is about countries (or a planet in this case) with a single valuable resource can best leverage that resource for prosperity and power without risking being conquered by others to secure the resource supply. BOOK LINK: Download the accompanying short story here. MAGAZINE: Sign up for our monthly magazine and receive short stories that ask ethical and philosophical questions. Use the discount code on our website to get the first month free! SUPPORT: Support us on Patreon. FOLLOW: Twitter, Instagram, Facebook

09/06/2021

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32 min
04/24/2022

“Believing In Ghosts” by André Lopes (Audiobook)

This audiobook features “Believing In Ghosts” by André Lopes. Published in the January 2021 issue of After Dinner Conversation: Philosophy | Ethics Short Story Magazine. Philosophy | Ethics Short Story Magazine: Code “Happy” for 12 Issues/$4.95! https://www.afterdinnerconversation.com/subscribe/yearly STORY SUMMARY (Spoilers): What does it mean to be alive? At what point does artificial intelligence know enough to be alive? Does the Turing test even matter? If we want the best government policy possible, does it matter if it comes from a computer? In this work of philosophical short story fiction, Rain is hired to do cyber-security for Presidential candidate Mr. Booker. There is a cyber-attack into Booker’s computer network and Rain is called to answer for the breach. In the process of digging into the data, Rain finds out that Booker is an actor, what is known in society as a “ghost,” and that all of the policy and speeches he has been given are being written by a sophisticated artificial intelligence using polling and other data. He says, literally, the perfect things at the perfect times, to the perfect audience. While artificial people, like news reporters, bloggers, actors, and influencers, are slowly becoming standard in this near future story, the idea of a politician being nothing more but an actor serving as a vessel for AI is unprecedented. Before Rain can decide what to do with her newfound information she is framed and is forced to use all her computer skills just to keep herself out of jail. COMPANION PODCAST (Episode #13): Listen to our panel discussions of After Dinner Conversation short stories (“Philosophy | Ethics Short Story Discussions”). BOOK LINK: Download the accompanying short story here. MAGAZINE: Sign up for our monthly magazine and receive short stories that ask ethical and philosophical questions. Use the discount code on our website to get the first month free or an entire year for just $4.95! SUPPORT: Support us on Patreon. FOLLOW: Twitter, Instagram, Facebook

04/24/2022

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41 min
04/30/2023

"The Dividual" by Mina Ikemoto Ghosh (Audiobook)

This audiobook features "The Dividual" by Mina Ikemoto Ghosh. Published in the August 2021 issue of After Dinner Conversation: Philosophy | Ethics Short Story Magazine. Philosophy | Ethics Short Story Magazine: Code “Happy” for 12 Issues/$4.95! https://www.afterdinnerconversation.com/subscribe/yearly STORY SUMMARY (Spoilers): How do people come to terms with the different aspects of their personality? What happens if we “cut away” the parts of ourselves we don’t like? In this work of philosophical short fiction, the world has two related species, humans as we know them, and “dividuals.” Dividuals are related to humans, but, unlike humans, have a trunk with different people, representing the different aspects of their personalities. Seizo is a medical student who is selected for an exchange program to work with, and learn from Osqaris, a dividual he is to have ongoing interactions with. Over time, they become friends. In the end, Seizo learns that he is part dividual, with mixed parents, but was born primarily human. Osqaris was also born of mixed parents, but born primarily dividual. They both, it seems, have struggled to come to terms with how to show, and cut out, the parts of their personality they wish to hide. COMPANION PODCAST: Listen to our panel discussions of After Dinner Conversation short stories (“Philosophy | Ethics Short Story Discussions”). BOOK LINK: Download the accompanying short story here. MAGAZINE: Sign up for our monthly magazine and receive short stories that ask ethical and philosophical questions. Use the discount code on our website to get the first month free or an entire year for just $4.95! SUPPORT: Support us on Patreon. FOLLOW: Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok

04/30/2023

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43 min

Brought to you by “After Dinner Conversation” publishing; (1) audiobooks readings and (2) thoughtful discussions about the philosophy and ethics found in the short fiction stories from our monthly magazine. Or, put another way, discussions about “what-if” examples, across literary genres, regarding ethics, metaphysics, epistemology, utilitarianism, aesthetics, moral relativism, and political and economic philosophy.

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After Dinner Conversation

Top Shows

Rose-tinted Glasses

"Conscience Cleaners" by Alexander B. Joy (Audiobook)

"Home For The Holidays" by Alexis Dubon (Audiobook)

The Wrong Side Of History

Season Five Recap - Listener Questions

Externalities

Performance

Guilt-Edge Security

“Believing In Ghosts” by André Lopes (Audiobook)

"The Dividual" by Mina Ikemoto Ghosh (Audiobook)

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