TrueSciPhi

Podcast Profile: Little Bad Thing

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11 episodes
2020 to 2022
Median: 18 minutes
Collection: Philosophy

Description (podcaster-provided):

True stories each week of the things we wish we hadn't done. Smart, dark, wry, and surprising, this is a show for anyone who's made a big decision or regretted a small one. Hosted by philosopher Eleanor Gordon-Smith and produced by The Ethics Centre.

Themes and summary (AI-generated based on podcaster-provided show and episode descriptions):

➤ True confession-style stories • Moral dilemmas, regret, guilt • Everyday wrongdoing: scams, theft, plagiarism • Bystander inaction and vigilante impulse • Relationships and abrupt breakups • Ethics in aid and authority decisions • Social unrest consequences

This podcast tells true, first-person stories about choices people regret, the moral compromises they didn’t anticipate, and the moments they can’t quite explain even to themselves. Hosted by philosopher Eleanor Gordon-Smith and produced by The Ethics Centre, it uses confession-like narratives to examine how ordinary decisions—made under pressure, ambition, fear, loyalty, or uncertainty—can become “little bad things” that linger for years.

Across the episodes, listeners hear about ethical dilemmas in both private and public life: following rules that harm vulnerable people, benefiting from or enabling deception, taking credit or borrowing too much from someone else’s work, and misjudging what justice requires in a tense confrontation. Some stories explore the thin line between being a bystander and being complicit, and how hindsight reframes what felt inevitable in the moment. Others focus on relationship ruptures, abrupt departures, and the unsettling realization that a past self acted without a clear reason—or with reasons that no longer feel like they belong.

A recurring theme is how systems and roles shape behavior: workplace directives, social expectations, and the desire to be seen as good, brave, or successful can pull people into decisions they later contest. The show’s tone is described as smart, dark, and wry, aiming less at tidy lessons than at understanding how regret forms, how responsibility is assigned or avoided, and what it means to live with the consequences.

The podcast also points listeners toward related audio from The Ethics Centre and the Festival of Dangerous Ideas, signaling an interest in big questions—power, broken systems, technology, climate, and culture—alongside intimate accounts of personal wrongdoing and moral uncertainty.

Episodes: