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We live in times of unprecedented change and confusion – identity politics, war, loneliness, social division, the promise and the threat of artificial intelligence, woke culture… I believe that Judaism has answers. But these answers need to be unpacked. SHMOOZING is more than a podcast. It’s a platform to create a community of thoughtful voices on important topics, from personal to social, from communal to global. Let’s explore how Torah can provoke us to deepen our understanding of the time ...
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We'd LOVE your feedback. Shoot us a text! I asked ChatGPT to take a position on the following issues; 1) Abortion 2) Gun control 3) Illegal immigration 4) Same-sex marriage 5) Global Warming 6) Preferred pronouns 7) Wealth inequity 8) Israel and Gaza 9) Equality of opportunity And on all 9 issues, ChatGPT took a left-wing position! We had an intere…
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Ep 20- Interview with Dr Harris Bor: Staying Human in the Age of AI
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48:38
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We'd LOVE your feedback. Shoot us a text! Harris Bor is a Research Fellow and Lecturer at the London School of Jewish Studies and English barrister (trial advocate). He holds a PhD in theology from Cambridge University, is a rabbinic scholar with the Montefiore Endowment, and has been a visiting scholar at Harvard University and University College …
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Ep 19- The Rabbi & AI: Can You Be Good Without God?
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We'd LOVE your feedback. Shoot us a text! Last week's debate with ChatGPT on the question of God's existence really created a wave of interest. Hundreds of new downloads and subscribers. It's fascinating to see how far AI bots can be reasoned with, can be pushed out of their programmed nature to be "balanced", and to learn new information. This wee…
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We'd LOVE your feedback. Shoot us a text! I asked ChatGPT to act as a human and, using the vast library of knowledge at it's disposal, to defend atheism. AND, to not worry about being "balanced" or politically correct; to take a stand a defend it. ChatGPT got frustratingly evasive at some points, especially toward the end.... just like us humans. A…
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Ep 17- The Day Google Translates the Tower of Babel
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We'd LOVE your feedback. Shoot us a text! The Tower of Babel was humanity's epic attempt at total unification. God wasn't pleased and made them disperse and speak different languages. Now we're able to undo the curse. Will God be pleased this time around? Follow us to join the conversation! https://shmoozing.net https://www.facebook.com/groups/5871…
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Ep 16- Forbidden Fruit 2.0: Taking Another Byte
27:22
27:22
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We'd LOVE your feedback. Shoot us a text! This episode explores how a Tree of Knowledge got humanity kicked out of paradise and how Artificial Intelligence might bring us back. But don't forget- it's a Tree of Knowledge of good AND evil. Follow us to join the conversation! https://shmoozing.net https://www.facebook.com/groups/5871772776273202 https…
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Ep 15- Artificial Intelligence: Are Humans Becoming Machines?
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39:58
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We'd LOVE your feedback. Shoot us a text! We get confused sometimes about the advances of AI. Are bots and avatars, Siri and ChatGPT and Replika becoming human? Do they feel, think, choose? In the last year, machines have definitely come closer to human functioning far more than ever before. But isn't it still just a programmed computer? Maybe part…
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Ep 14- Artificial Intelligence: Are Machines Becoming Human?
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We'd LOVE your feedback. Shoot us a text! In this episode we start to unravel where the new breakthroughs in artificial intelligence are taking us. Can computers think for themselves? Feel? Be sentient? Make choices? The more that technology advances, the more these lines will get blurred. If we want to understand the limits of machines, we need to…
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Ep 13- When Smart People Say Not Smart Things- Astrophysicist Dr Neil Degrasse Tyson
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We'd LOVE your feedback. Shoot us a text! Dr Neil Degrasse Tyson is possibly today's most recognized scientist. Some call him the Einstein of our generation. His presentations go from explaining the galaxies, to climate change to God, religion, suffering and meaning of life. Let's see how an astrophysicist approaches the deeper questions of life. F…
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We'd LOVE your feedback. Shoot us a text! "Life is what it is. And no one can say with certainty that God exists, so why bother asking the question? One day I guess we'll all find out!" What difference does it make to life if there is, or there isn't a God? This episode examines three critical areas of life that assume radically different perspecti…
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We'd LOVE your feedback. Shoot us a text! My truth, your truth; My narrative, your narrative; My facts, your alternative facts.... There's factual objective truth, there's personal subjective opinion, and then there's a fascinating Rabbinical allegory where there's heavenly debate about creating humans and God takes down Truth and throws it to the …
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Ep 10- How To Think About Stuff Part 4: Rebuff the Fluff
27:53
27:53
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We'd LOVE your feedback. Shoot us a text! In this episode, we look at how to not get fooled by "fluff", surface impressions. Follow us to join the conversation! https://shmoozing.net https://www.facebook.com/groups/5871772776273202 https://twitter.com/moshezeldmanBy Moshe Zeldman
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Ep 9- How to Think About Stuff Part 3: To Conform or Not to Conform
31:17
31:17
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We'd LOVE your feedback. Shoot us a text! This is part 3 of our discussion on How to Think About Stuff. This week's topic is Social Pressure. Even when we know we're right, there's that piece of us that wants to fit in. Some of us will sometimes go against our own values to be accepted by people around us- friends, classmates, the online community,…
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Ep 8- How to Think About Stuff Part 2: Cognitive Bias
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31:13
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We'd LOVE your feedback. Shoot us a text! In our last episode we looked at external forces that feed our values and opinions, social conditioning: our childhood influences, family, school, media, friends. We were fed a whole worldview before we were at an age where we could critically examine in through any filter of truth! The lesson of Abraham te…
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Ep 7- How to Think About Stuff Part 1: Social Conditioning
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27:17
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We'd LOVE your feedback. Shoot us a text! This is the beginning of a new series on how we should make decisions. How do we form opinions, on anything, that are realistic, unbiased, coherent and honest? We can't begin tackling heavy topics without first knowing the basic principles of thought and reasoning. And Judaism has some fascinating insights …
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Ep 6- When Your Nation is at War (Wrapup)
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19:29
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We'd LOVE your feedback. Shoot us a text! In this episode we're going to wrap up our talk about the many dimensions of this war against Hamas. It's a short summary and we'll come back to revisit the war as things develop. In the meantime, we're developing new episodes on other topics of interest. Trying to glean a Jewish-values view at what else in…
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Ep 5- The Evil of Indifference with Sister Carol Rittner
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46:34
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We'd LOVE your feedback. Shoot us a text! When evil proliferates, why do so few people actively stand against it? Why do we sometimes allow ourselves to remain indifferent? It's a question that we could pose on Germans and the West in World War II, it's a question we could pose on the West today in light of Hamas' atrocities of October 7. And perha…
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Ep 4- Diversity, Equity and Ex-clusion, with Amy Shriberg Ph.D
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44:49
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We'd LOVE your feedback. Shoot us a text! My guest is Dr. Amy Shriberg, who taught in the Political Scince department of College Lake County. Amy is a Jewish communal professional and a freelance writer. She recently wrote a fascinating article called Diversity, Equity and Exclusion, about how the movement of DEI, ironically has morphed into a move…
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Ep 3- How Media Shapes our Inner and Outer Worlds, with David Olesker
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41:32
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We'd LOVE your feedback. Shoot us a text! Media shapes so much of how we think about the world. It informs our political beliefs, but also our values and attitudes towards all of life. And it certainly influences people's opinions about Jews, Israel and the war with Hamas. This week I had the pleasure of Shmoozing with David Olesker. Originally fro…
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Ep 2- Unpacking AntiSemitism with Rabbi Ken Spiro
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40:41
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We'd LOVE your feedback. Shoot us a text! "In every generation they rise up against us to destroy us". So says the familiar refrain from the Passover Seder. Now it's Hamas's turn, and shocking numbers of people around the world seem to support them. Why? AntiSemitism is a paradox. Jews are simultaneously hated for being poor, for being powerful; fo…
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We'd LOVE your feedback. Shoot us a text! You can look at this war with Hamas from a political perspective- the history, the competing claims, the surrounding political actors in the regrion, the milieu of military and PR strategies... You can relate to this war emotionally- the shock and horror, the outrage, the panic of the present, and the fear …
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We'd LOVE your feedback. Shoot us a text! This introductory episode explains the purpose of this podcast- why I decided to tackle hard issues. What do I hope to gain? Not an audience, but a community of thinkers who are interested in sharing and getting clarity on today's important topics. Follow us to join the conversation! https://shmoozing.net h…
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