Decoding the Gurus

Supplementary Material 47: The DTG Conspiracy UNMASKED, Quantum Idiots, and Triggernometry Prophecies

Fri, 03 Apr 2026 09:00:00 +0100

Our cover is blown. Our secret funders unmasked. Code Red: Abort! Abort! This is not a drill.

Supplementary Material 47: The DTG Conspiracy UNMASKED, Quantum Idiots, and Triggernometry Prophecies

00:00 Glowing Introduction

03:14 The Secret Conspiracy at the Heart of the Podcast

08:17 The Israel Connection

19:09 Cenk Uygur's Pickleball Conspiracy

23:25 Comment Section Conspiracies

30:20 Pizzagate Conspiracies Revisited

37:55 The Value of debating with ChadBigCum

42:26 AI discourse reflections

43:43 Ben Burgis's hyperbolic reaction to AI use

44:53 The AI revolution and its potential impacts

47:53 Social and Economic Disruption and Job Replacement

51:33 The Dangers of Slopified Work and AI economies

55:47 Statistical Analysis Software and the value of Friction

57:36 The Perils of AI Usage outside of your Skillset

58:59 The Solution is within yourself!

01:04:22 The Hundred Schools of AI discourse

01:05:58 Double Slit and Quantum Physics Insights from Warren Smith

01:12:39 Schrodinger's poor, misinterpreted cat

01:13:48 The Wonderful Benjamin Boyce

01:14:41 Quantum Woo and Arrogant Sensemakers

01:18:29 Young Matt and Aged Chris

01:20:13 The Triggernometry Prophecy

01:23:54 Quid Pro Quo in the Discourse Circuit

01:28:25 The Anti-Institutional Horseshoe Theory of MEHDI HASAN

01:37:18 So Long and Thanks for All the Fish!

The full episode is available to Patreon subscribers (1 hour, 40 minutes).

Join us at: https://www.patreon.com/DecodingTheGurus

Links

The Moral Dilemmas of AI with Michael Inzlicht

Sat, 28 Mar 2026 04:50:00 +0100

Mickey is BACK with two new papers he has co-authored, a bunch of opinions, and a very unwelcome idea: maybe the problem with AI isn't that it doesn't work but that it works too well!

The first paper, Against Frictionless AI, argues that AI assistance and its ability to take away the effort from thinking, writing, and smooth out social(like) interactions could be robbing those activities of the very thing that makes them worthwhile.

The second paper is a more empirical investigation that presents a bunch of studies examining the topic of the (alleged) moralisation of AI. Some findings suggest that opposition to AI among some people isn't really about risks or trade-offs but rather about non-negotiable sacred moral values. Who knew?

We also discuss effort justification, reproducible research, robosexual allyship, and just how much humanity remains within the cyborg Matthew Browne.

And remember... It's just like our opinion, man!

Ken Wilber: Spiralling Upwards through a Technicolor Cosmos

Sun, 22 Mar 2026 10:00:00 +0100

Ken Wilber, the grand architect of Integral Theory, enters the Decoding chamber (wearing a striking but slightly unconvincing wig) as we explore a worldview that confidently absorbs every religion, philosophy, and half-remembered psychology paper into one majestic, Borg-like synthesis. Resistance, as it turns out, is not just futile... it is probably “first-tier thinking".

This is a world of elaborate, baroque cosmologies. Layers within layers, quadrants within stages, spirals within states, with each offering a map of reality that grows more intricate the closer it gets to its own centre. Traditions are not debated so much as absorbed, their distinctiveness dissolved into a higher synthesis that always leads to the ultimate insight: integral theory.

Get ready to experience high-level political analysis where Kamala Harris becomes a “fractured green" and Donald Trump the embodiment of a "rational orange". You will also learn how Ken is working with AI companies to help them incorporate integral thinking into their algorithms. The implications this has for human evolution are hard to fathom.

Finally, in true Columbo fashion, we circle back to Matt's core philosophical system … panpsychism. Just a small detail, and also take some time to conduct a brief spiritual inquisition into Matt’s alleged Christian upbringing. Fortunately, nothing is rejected. Everything is integrated, including all possible critiques.

Sources

Gurometer: Teal Swan and Scott Galloway

Wed, 18 Mar 2026 12:20:00 +0100

In this Gurometer double bill, Matt and Chris break out the much-sought-after Gurometer™ to score Teal Swan and Scott Galloway across the 11 recurring guru traits. In one efficient episode, we compare cosmic-certified spirituality with secular man-talk (and a surprising amount of puffer-jacket merchandising). As a bonus, get ready to thrill at Matt's eternal puzzlement at his own simple binary question of 'guru-osity'.

Links

Gurometer scores to date

The full episode is available for Patreon subscribers (51 mins).

Join us at: https://www.patreon.com/DecodingTheGurus

Gurometer: Teal Swan and Scott Galloway

00:00 Back to the Gurometer: Teal and Scott

02:33 Galaxy Brain-ness

04:18 Cultishness

05:25 Anti-Establishmentarianism

08:31 Grievance Mongering

10:55 Self Aggrandisement and Narcissism

14:30 Cassandra Complex

18:03 Revolutionary Theories

21:49 Pseudo-Profound Bullshit

26:07 Conspiracy Mongering

28:50 Excessive Profiteering

36:25 Moral Grandstanding

40:33 Overall Gurometer Score

41:27 Rapid Fire Bonus Guru Points

Supplementary Material 46: Epstein Did Microtransactions, Grok Did Nothing Wrong, and Murder is Bad

Sun, 15 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0100

In our never-ending quest to alienate all potential online audiences, we finger-wag about rampant Epstein conspiracism and explain why we are, on balance, anti-murder.

The full episode is available to Patreon subscribers (2 hours, 42 minutes).

Join us at: https://www.patreon.com/DecodingTheGurus

In our never-ending quest to alienate all potential online audiences, we finger-wag about rampant Epstein conspiracism and explain why we are, on balance, anti-murder.

00:00 Intro

03:39 Flooding Adventures

06:54 Eric's Troubles with his Silicon Friend

13:09 Peter Boghossian's Hardcore for Grok

17:16 A Promising Paper on reducing AI Hallucinations

22:17 Statistical Consults

23:12 Epstein Discourse Lollapalooza

27:24 Eric Weinstein thinks Epstein is connected to UFOs

29:09 Rogan Plays Apologist for Trump on Epstein

32:21 Emma Vigeland and Joshua Citarella engage in Conspiracy Hypothesising

35:07 Reasonable Conspiracy Theorising

42:24 The Real Conspiracy

44:26 Epstein and Ghislaine puppeting the culture wars

48:18 The Joy of Conspiracy Theories

53:29 Epstein and Bannon created QAnon as a Psyop

01:01:37 What about ritual child abuse, dissolving bodies and cannibalism?

01:09:05 Lurid Cannibal Fantasies

01:15:56 Emma's UFO theory

01:20:08 The Joe Roganification of Podcasts and some strategic disclaimers

01:24:14 A dichotomy in contemporary American attitudes to Wealth?

01:28:32 The Mainstream Media won't focus on Epstein's connections with Israel and Mossad

01:32:08 The REAL Epstein scandal that no one wants to talk about

01:34:36 Behind the Bastards coverage of Epstein

01:36:01 Epstein's alleged role in creating microtransactions in games

01:40:46 Epstein's cringey Edutainment ideas

01:50:53 What Robert Evans Got Wrong

01:54:08 There are No Coincidences

02:00:57 The Danger of Appealing Narratives and also... Michael Tracey

02:06:00 The Anti-Murder Podcast

02:07:47 Warren Smith highlights Violent Rhetoric aimed at Konstantin

02:14:12 Justifying Murder is Bad... M'Kay?

02:17:55 Experiences of Violence and Naivety

02:21:16 Levels of Political Violence

02:23:49 Destiny's Community and Edgy Political Violence Takes

02:27:56 Alienating online audiences 101

02:30:14 Eric talks wormholes with a UFO maniac

02:35:28 Lord of the Idiots

02:36:18 Does Matt know Snorlax?

02:39:43 A failed disclaimer outro

Links

Epstein email documents

Blindboy, Part 2: Where Have All the Good Men Gone?

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 03:00:00 +0100

In Part 2, Matt and Chris return to Blindboy, now broadcasting from a solar-powered podcast and therefore morally unimpeachable. The darkness, however, remains. Having established in Part 1 that the global elite are a vampiric class of depraved blackmailers who traffic children and delight in cruelty, in Part 2, Blindboy offers us some welcome relief in the form of answering the question of what it looks like to be one of the good ones. You may be surprised to learn that it involves a missing dressing room, muddy socks, and a loyalty to small-time promoters that some might call heroic.

The episode also traces an ambitious historical arc: from street gangs in 1800s Limerick to the New York underworld, Meyer Lansky, Roy Cohn, CIA brothels and LSD interrogation programmes, and eventually to Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein. The connecting thread is a continuous tradition of sexual blackmail passed from master to apprentice that has, apparently, been quietly guiding Western (criminal) civilisation for the better part of two centuries.

Matt and Chris sift through the historical material, examine the leaps required to keep the chain intact, and consider whether a conspiracy hypothesis that explains quite so much, quite so neatly, might deserve a small dose of skepticism. As you might anticipate, the episode features discussions of many of our old friends, including strategic disclaimers, moral grandstanding, and layered preemptive defences. Finally, get ready to learn who the real villain is, when the mask is finally removed.... spoiler: it's neoliberal capitalism. A revelation that some listeners may have suspected from the very beginning.

Links

Blindboy, Part 1: Unmasking the Evil Elite Cabal

Fri, 06 Mar 2026 00:30:00 +0100

In this episode, Matt and Chris turn their attention to Blindboy Boatclub, the Irish podcaster, satirist, and former member of the Rubberbandits. Blindboy is recognisable for his plastic-bag headwear, which has transitioned from a comedy prop into something a bit deeper and more philosophical. His podcast blends ASMR-style delivery, stream-of-consciousness storytelling, and cultural and political commentary, drifting between reflections on mental health, colonialism, Irish history, and the origins of the month of February. It is a distinctive format: whispered monologues over gentle piano where poetic association, personal reflection, and narrative intuition take precedence. For many listeners, that unique mixture of introspection, politics, and storytelling is exactly the appeal. As you might imagine, it is not entirely our bag, but to each their own.

However, when Blindboy turns his attention to the recent Epstein document releases, the narrative becomes considerably darker and drifts into some familiar gurusphere territory. Blindboy describes this as a “phone call episode”, an unscripted stream-of-consciousness riff with minimal fact-checking, and then proceeds to expound for over an hour on a sprawling narrative connecting elite conspiracies to the hidden psychological forces shaping modern politics. Along the way we encounter a parade of lurid spectacles, including necrophilic Hell’s Angels, secret society members masturbating in coffins, murdered women buried on Trump’s golf course, potentially cannibalistic elites, and healthcare CEOs who delight in causing pain and misery. We also discover the crucial, if previously underappreciated, role that Jeffrey Epstein apparently played in the creation of the modern culture wars.

As usual, the goal is not to adjudicate the politics involved but to examine the rhetorical and epistemic patterns at play. What happens when a charismatic storyteller combines emotionally compelling narratives with speculative leaps? How do strategic disclaimers like “I’m not saying it’s true” interact with extended conjecture? And why do some conspiracy frameworks feel persuasive when wrapped in an appealing ideological package? Matt and Chris listen through Blindboy’s riff to see how well the arguments hold up once the plinky-plonk piano fades and the claims are examined in the cold light of day.

Links

Decoding Academia: Moral Entrepreneurs, Measurement Issues, & Screentime with Andrew Przybylski (Patreon Preview)

Fri, 27 Feb 2026 22:20:00 +0100

Another episode where the guest is not a sense-making prophet or a galaxy-brained guru, as we engage in academic dialogos with Oxford psychologist Andrew Przybylski. This is a preview of our Decoding Academia series on Patreon (now 30+ episodes deep), where we swap internet gurus and rhetoric for actual researchers and empirical debates.

Andrew’s work spans motivation, gaming, and digital technology. His most recent crime is that he studies the impact of technology and has not found evidence that it is destroying wellbeing and ushering in civilisational collapse. We discuss the ongoing moral panic around smartphones, social media, and teenagers’ allegedly pulverised minds and why much of the debate rests on statistical techniques roughly equivalent to staring deeply at Excel spreadsheets and hammering SPSS until the desired narrative appears.

We get into measurement problems around “screen time,” why trivially small correlations become front-page catastrophes, and how the discourse rewards confident storytelling far more than (boring) careful causal inference. Also covered: cross-cultural evidence, the policy implications of airport pop science bestsellers, and the potential civilisational threat posed by Warhammer 40k.

If you enjoy episodes where we analyse methods rather than metaphysics, the full Decoding Academia series lives on Patreon.

Relevant Research (Przybylski & collaborators)

Andrew's Academic Profile and Personal Website
Fassi, L., Ferguson, A. M., Przybylski, A. K., Ford, T. J., & Orben, A. (2025). Social media use in adolescents with and without mental health conditions. Nature human behaviour, 9(6), 1283-1299.
Vuorre, M., & Przybylski, A. K. (2023). Estimating the association between Facebook adoption and well-being in 72 countries. Royal Society open science, 10(8).
Vuorre, M., Orben, A., & Przybylski, A. K. (2021). There is no evidence that associations between adolescents’ digital technology engagement and mental health problems have increased. Clinical Psychological Science, 9(5), 823-835.
Orben, A., & Przybylski, A. K. (2019). The association between adolescent well-being and digital technology use. Nature human behaviour, 3(2), 173-182.
Orben, A., Dienlin, T., & Przybylski, A. K. (2019). Social media’s enduring effect on adolescent life satisfaction. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 116(21), 10226-10228.
Przybylski, A. K., & Weinstein, N. (2017). A large-scale test of the goldilocks hypothesis: quantifying the relations between digital-screen use and the mental well-being of adolescents. Psychological science, 28(2), 204-215.
Johannes, N., Vuorre, M., & Przybylski, A. K. (2021). Video game play is positively correlated with well-being. Royal Society open science, 8(2), 202049.
Przybylski, A. K., Rigby, C. S., & Ryan, R. M. (2010). A motivational model of video game engagement. Review of general psychology, 14(2), 154-166.

Supplementary Material 45: Mick Drops, The Weinstein Conspiracy Hour, and Lessons from History

Thu, 19 Feb 2026 09:00:00 +0100

We return to some old friends, and almost immediately, we regret the decision. Also, get ready for some heady insights from history, a new conspiracy hypothesis, and Game Theory based insights.

The full episode is available to Patreon subscribers (1 hour, 37 minutes).

Join us at: https://www.patreon.com/DecodingTheGurus

Supplementary Material 45

00:00 Introduction

01:15 Mick Drop

04:44 Scott Galloway's Favourite Conservative

06:37 Konstantin Kisin: Neither Right Nor Left

11:51 Insane Ad Reads in Podcastistan

17:08 Aella's insights on history

20:30 Bret's New Conspiracy Episode

22:10 Bret on Epstein, Pizzagate, and Ritual Murder

30:58 Heather, the personification of strategic disclaimers

31:49 Bret's New Conspiracy: Epstein is Alive

36:31 The Real Culprit is Game Theory

44:25 Bret is a Force of Nature who is always vindicated

46:36 The Grand Unification of Conspiracy Theories

48:25 Cenk Uygur promotes 9/11 Conspiracies

51:42 Peter Thiel in Ghoulish Pro-Nazi Form

55:15 The Descent of the Discourse

57:47 Eric visits Triggernometry (Again): Russian Woes

01:05:20 The Eric Squid Ink Manoeuvre

01:14:49 Eric is pro-Nuclear weapons tests

01:19:27 Weinstein drives can take us multiplanetary

01:28:28 The Weinstein Function: Justifying Enlightened Centrists Everywhere

01:30:37 Drew Pavlou's latest stunt backfires

Sources

Decoding Academia 35: When Prophecy Fails Debunked? (Patreon Series)

Mon, 16 Feb 2026 08:15:00 +0100

Ever heard of cognitive dissonance? That thing a psychology lecturer might have explained to you once upon a time, likely using the same UFO cult example everyone else uses. Well, a new paper by Thomas Kelly suggests that the UFO cult example might have been ever so slightly oversold.

Kelly's archival work suggests that the researchers didn't just observe the cult as reported. Instead, they infiltrated it, faked supernatural experiences, assumed quasi-leadership roles, and then wrote up the results as if the group had spontaneously doubled down on their failed prophecy, which they had not. Because the leader recanted, and the group fell apart shortly after the failed prophecy. Minor details.

Matt and Chris discuss this paper, a 2024 multilab replication, and some other papers by Kelly, considering the ever-reliable tendency of researchers to find exactly what they are looking for.

It's cognitive dissonance all the way down, folks.

The full episode is available to Patreon subscribers (1 hour, 10 minutes).

Join us at: https://www.patreon.com/DecodingTheGurus

Decoding Academia 34: When Prophecy Fails Debunked?

00:00 Introduction

02:04 Cognitive Dissonance Theory

06:41 Classic lab evidence: effort justification & the ‘severe initiation’ study

08:33 When Prophecy Fails: The Original Account

10:54 The debunking: archival evidence, misconduct claims, and ethical red flags

20:22 Replication reality check: multi-lab results and ‘strong vs weak’ dissonance

31:40 Beyond one case: survivorship bias, failed prophecies, and early Christianity parallels

35:51 Christianity as Historical Anomaly or Cognitive Dissonance Exemplar?

41:48 Thomas Kelly: Interesting biosafety takes and a possible Christian lens

45:43 The importance of seeking for disconfirming evidence

50:23 Conspiracy-theory dynamics & narrative elaboration

56:30 Classical Psychological Theories and Personal Motivations

01:03:07 Steps that can be taken to reduce biases

01:05:01 Stay tentative, check evidence, and don’t pick sides too fast

01:06:30 A lesson from Scott Alexander!

Sources

Academic Papers and Books

Festinger, L. (1957). A theory of cognitive dissonance. Stanford University Press.
Festinger, L., Riecken, H. W., & Schachter, S. (1956). When prophecy fails. University of Minnesota Press.
Festinger, L., & Carlsmith, J. M. (1959). Cognitive consequences of forced compliance. The Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 58(2), 203–210. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0041593 (The original induced-compliance/$1/$20 study)
Kelly, T. (2026). Debunking "When Prophecy Fails." Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences, 62(1), e70043. https://doi.org/10.1002/jhbs.70043
Kelly, T. (2025). Failed prophecies are fatal. International Journal for the Study of New Religions, 14(1), 48–71. https://doi.org/10.1558/ijsnr.33085
Aronson, E., & Mills, J. (1959). The effect of severity of initiation on liking for a group. The Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 59(2), 177–181. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0047195
Vaidis, D. C., Sleegers, W. W. A., van Leeuwen, F., DeMarree, K. G., Sætrevik, B., Ross, R. M., ... & Priolo, D. (2024). A multilab replication of the induced-compliance paradigm of cognitive dissonance. Advances in Methods and Practices in Psychological Science, 7(1), 1–26. https://doi.org/10.1177/25152459231213375
Croyle, R. T., & Cooper, J. (1983). Dissonance arousal: Physiological evidence. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 45(4), 782–791. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.45.4.782 (The study that the Vaidis et al. 2024 multilab replication was based on)

Podcasts Referenced

Blog Posts & Other Sources

Teal Swan: All Hail Source

Fri, 13 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0100

Cult Season rumbles on as Chris and Matt expand their minds in an attempt to absorb the cosmic insights of spiritual influencer and alleged cult leader Teal Swan (born Mary Teal Bosworth, 1984). Our intrepid hosts explore her recent appearance on the Just Tap In podcast with Emilio “starchild” Ortiz — a beanie-wearing vessel of pure credulity, lobbing softball metaphysical questions gently into the astral winds.

The topic covered is ostensibly “Major 2026 Predictions” but this is really just an entry point for discussion of the ancient origins of AI, multiversal astral contract negotiations, and, of course, the urgent need to discuss masculinity before we spiritually implode.

You will learn insights, such as: how AI will eliminate ageing, guide us to SOURCE, amplify our shadow, and corrupt and deceive us ... all at once. Aliens and other cosmic beings are deeply concerned with and also not really all that bothered with humanity. Also, pop stars are apparently set to receive divine instructions to stabilise the collective psyche in 2026. And how we are all trapped in a planetary pressure cooker that will run at least until 2030. Teal is trying not to scare us, but it doesn’t look great (though it might also be great and lead to utopia).

Expect astral board meetings, sensemaking redefinitions of “power” and “love”, warnings about the painful sacrifices required to join Teal’s “conscious community”, and some distinctly uncomfortable talk about opening gates and reframing mother–son dynamics. As ever, Matt and Chris attempt to decode the elevated vagueness, semantic gliding, and cosmic scaling of very earthly anxieties.

All hail SOURCE!

Decoding Content

Just Tap In Podcast #260: "Teal Swan – Why 2026 Is a Psychological & Relational Tipping Point for Humanity"

Links

The Gateway (Gizmodo Podcast, 2018) - Six-part investigative series by Jennings Brown
The Deep End (Freeform/Hulu, 2022) - Four-part docuseries by Jon Kasbe
Mormon Stories #1607: Growing Up with Teal Swan - Diana Hansen Ribera - Interview with Teal's childhood best friend
Mormon Stories #1328-1331: Leaving Mormonism to Join Teal Swan's Cult - Jared Dobson
BBC- Teal Swan: The woman encouraging her followers to visualise death
Scam Goddess: The Culty Con of Teal Swan w/ Sarah Marshall
Conspirituality 111: Who's Afraid of Teal Swan (pt 2) (w/Jennings Brown)
Prosody's Gurudex Website

Decoding Academia 34: Empathetic AIs? (Patreon Series)

Thu, 12 Feb 2026 03:20:00 +0100

In this Decoding Academia episode, we take a look at a 2025 paper by Daria Ovsyannikova, Victoria Olden, and Mickey Inzlicht, asking a question that might make some people uncomfortable/angry, specifically, are AI-generated responses perceived as more empathetic than those written by actual humans?

We walk through the design in detail (including why this is a genuinely severe test), hand out deserved open-science brownie points, and discuss why AI seems to excel particularly when responding to negative or distress-laden prompts. Along the way, Chris reflects on his unsettlingly intense relationship with Google’s semi-sentient customer-service agent “Bubbles,” and we ask whether infinite patience, maximal effort, and zero social awkwardness might be doing most of the work here.

This is not a paper about replacing therapists, outsourcing friendship, or mass-producing compassion at scale. It is a careful demonstration that fluent, effortful, emotionally calibrated text is often enough to convince people they are being understood, which might explain some of the appeal of the Gurus.

Source

Ovsyannikova, D., de Mello, V. O., & Inzlicht, M. (2025). Third-party evaluators perceive AI as more compassionate than expert humans. Communications Psychology, 3(1), 4.

Decoding Academia 34: Empathetic AIs?

01:40 Introducing the Paper

10:29 Study Methodology

14:21 Chris's meaningful relationship with YouTube AI agent Bubbles

16:23 Open Science Brownie Points

17:50 Empathetic Prompt Engineering: Humans and AIs

21:17 Study 1 and 2

31:35 Study 3 and 4

37:00 Study Conclusions

42:27 Severe Hypothesis Testing

45:11 Seeking out Disconfirming Evidence

47:06 Why do AIs do better on negative prompts?

54:48 Final Thoughts

The Rise of the Science Populists with Sam Gregson and Tim Henke

Mon, 09 Feb 2026 11:20:00 +0100

In this interview episode, we are joined by physicists Sam Gregson (Bad Boy of Science YouTube channel) and Tim Henke to examine the rise of science populism: a style of science communication that borrows the tactics of political populism, including grievance narratives, institutional distrust, and conspiratorial framing, while presenting its advocates as lone truth-tellers battling a corrupt academic elite.

We discuss how DTG favourites like Sabine Hossenfelder and Eric Weinstein, as well as fresh new faces Brian Keating and Avi Loeb, deploy selective truths about physics to fuel self-aggrandising, anti-expert narratives.

Along the way, we also cover stuff like why “physics hasn’t progressed in 50 years”, cranks are useful props for populist arguments, and the strange obsession with Nobel Prizes.

If you are interested in guru dynamics, science communication, and physics crankery, this might be an episode for you.

Links

Supplementary Material 44: Peasant Archmages, Moral Panics, and LOTR Parenting Tips

Sat, 07 Feb 2026 03:00:00 +0100

We descend once more into the Gurusphere, encountering secret peasant archmages, decline narratives, Epstein emails, and endless moral panics.

The full episode is available to Patreon subscribers (1 hour, 37 minutes).

Join us at: https://www.patreon.com/DecodingTheGurus

00:00 SM 44 PF

00:23 Introduction

01:30 Konstantin Kisin: Not Left Or Right, Just Right

05:20 Boghossian is shocked by pessimistic French people

08:50 Konstantin and Warren Smith as relics of the anti-SJW era

12:45 A PSA! Hyper Capitalism Tier Update!

18:36 Matt's AV Setup

20:01 Recommendation: Successville (British version)

21:40 My peasant farmer dad is secretly an Archmage!

28:14 Scott Galloway talks with Gwyneth Paltrow

40:18 American Capitalist Culture and the Gurus

48:54 Bryan Johnson vs AG1

51:45 Bryan Johnson & Epstein Schmoozing

58:09 Bari Weiss's Peter Attia Woes

59:14 Epstein and QAnon Conspiracies

01:03:23 Overinterpreting Epstein emails

01:09:04 Shermer promotes Dave Rubin to hawk his book on Truth

01:10:37 Conspiracy Theory prevalence on left and riht

01:17:44 Jonathan Haidt and his anti-social media crusade

01:23:15 Plato on the Corruption of the Youth

01:24:30 The Eternal Appeal of Decline Narratives

01:26:22 They won't let you enjoy things anymore...

01:30:24 Matt's laissez-faire parenting tips

01:31:45 Life lessons from Lord of the Rings

01:34:17 The Witch King of Angmar defeated by a Woke White Women

Sources

Open Science, Psychology, and the Art of Not Quite Claiming Causality with Julia Rohrer

Fri, 30 Jan 2026 02:35:00 +0100

In a rare departure from our usual diet of online weirdos, this episode features an academic who is very much not a guru. We’re joined by Julia Rohrer, a psychologist at Leipzig University whose work straddles the disciplinary boundaries of open science, research transparency, and causal inference. Julia is also an editor at Psychological Science and has spent much of the last decade politely pointing out that psychologists often don’t quite know what they’re estimating, why, or under which assumptions.

We talk about the state of psychology after the replication crisis, whether open science reforms have genuinely improved research practice (or just added new boxes to tick), and why causal thinking is unavoidable even when researchers insist they are “only describing associations.” Julia explains why the standard dance of imply causality → deny causality → add boilerplate disclaimer is unhelpful, and argues instead for being explicit about the causal questions researchers actually care about and the assumptions required to answer them.

Along the way we discuss images of scientists in the public and amongst the gurus, how post-treatment bias sneaks into even well-intentioned experimental designs, why specifying the estimand matters more than running ever-fancier models, and how psychology’s current norms can potentially punish honesty about uncertainty. We also touch on her work on birth-order effects and offer some possible reasons for optimism.

With all the guru talk, people sometimes ask us to recommend things that we like, and Julia's work is one such example!

Links

Julia Rohrer’s website
The 100% CI blog
Rohrer, J. M. (2024). Causal inference for psychologists who think that causal inference is not for them. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 18(3), e12948.
Rohrer, J. M., Tierney, W., Uhlmann, E. L., DeBruine, L. M., Heyman, T., Jones, B., ... & Yarkoni, T. (2021). Putting the self in self-correction: Findings from the loss-of-confidence project. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 16(6), 1255-1269.
Rohrer, J. M., Egloff, B., & Schmukle, S. C. (2015). Examining the effects of birth order on personality. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 112(46), 14224-14229.
BEMC MAY 2024 - Julia Rohrer - "Causal confusions correlate with casual conclusions"
Dr. Tobias Dienlin - Less casual causal inference for experiments and longitudinal data: Research talk by Julia Rohrer

Supplementary Material 43: Red-Blooded Americans, Real Life Alan Partridge, and Rationalist Eulogies

Sat, 24 Jan 2026 21:15:00 +0100

We crawl around the dark crevices of the internet so you don't have to. And what wonders we have to show you...

The full episode is available to Patreon subscribers (1 hour, 34 minutes).

Join us at: https://www.patreon.com/DecodingTheGurus

Supplementary Material 43

00:00 Introduction and Banter Allotment

01:23 The Hypocrisy of the Defenders of Western Civilisation

10:07 An Optimistic Take?

17:02 Scott Adams' Controversial Legacy

18:43 Scott Alexander's Rationalist Eulogy for Scott Adams

32:31 A Final Tribute to Scott Adams

33:43 Andrew Gold's Interview with a Racist

39:02 Fair Play for being a Racist

41:17 Comparing Follower Counts and Audience Makeup

44:40 Racism and Xenophobia Discussion

49:07 Securing the Future of Our People...

01:00:01 LawTubers and Grifting

01:00:48 Legal Mindset

01:06:02 Antifa Woke Women are Hunting Legal Mindset

01:07:41 A man of Christ

01:09:16 A Red-Blooded American

01:12:35 Woke White Women and Antifa Paranoia

01:13:55 Electro Gym Work and Pygmy Hippo Love

01:18:47 Antifa Paranoia

01:26:36 The True Masculine Renegade YouTuber

01:32:32 Concluding Thoughts and Farewell

Links

Scott Galloway, Part 2: Peak Masculinity

Fri, 23 Jan 2026 05:40:00 +0100

We return for Part 2 of our Scott Galloway deep dive, where the vibes remain strong, the confidence unwavering, and the relationship with empirical evidence increasingly… decorative.

Returning to our Modern Wisdom safari, we continue navigating the forbidden terrain of men, masculinity, and male suffering: a topic so dangerous that it requires constant ritual disclaimers, whispered caveats, and the occasional nervous glance around the bar to make sure we can take out the other men if necessary.

We cover Scott's outline of his masculine Third Way: rejecting both the Right’s “Bring Back the Fifties” masculinity and the Left’s “Men Are the Problem” framework, in favour of a solution that might be described as Stern Dad Who’s Also Nice About It. Prepare to thrill at proposals of mandatory national service, kindness as a masculine superpower, and the radical idea that young people might benefit from not being economically crushed.

Things get spicier when we’re told what women really want and learn about the adaptive skill check of the female orgasm. Chris Williamson unveils a prepared essay on What Men Want which proves to be a moving piece of therapeutic slam poetry that somehow manages to combine manosphere grievance mongering with woke therapy talk. We learn how what men really just want to be told is “you are enough" and should be kind for kindness sake, but also should optimise their friend group such that they can properly signal their high mate quality and train hard enough to take out all other males in the bar.

Finally, we hit peak Decoding Mode as Scott’s statistics begin to escalate: boys are ten times more likely to kill themselves, father absence turns sons into inmates, daughters into promiscuous approval-seekers, and nearly every claim is delivered with total confidence and minimal concern for effect sizes, confounds, or whether the study actually exists. Decorative scholarship is in full bloom.

We do our best as two hyper-masculine men to separate reasonable concerns about boys, mentorship, and social policy from hyperbolic factoids, pop-psych inflation, and the familiar habit of smuggling moral arguments in under the banner of “what the science says.”

Bring your hunting knife and stoic daily diary. Take your testosterone injection. And get ready for some man talk!

Links

Academic papers/Sources Referenced

Culpin, I., Heuvelman, H., Rai, D., Pearson, R. M., Joinson, C., Heron, J., … Kwong, A. S. F. (2022). Father absence and trajectories of offspring mental health across adolescence and young adulthood: Findings from a UK-birth cohort. Journal of Affective Disorders, 314, 150–159.
Dekker, M. C., Ferdinand, R. F., van Lang, N. D. J., Bongers, I. L., van der Ende, J., & Verhulst, F. C. (2007). Developmental trajectories of depressive symptoms from early childhood to late adolescence: Gender differences and adult outcome. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 48(7), 657–666.
Angelakis, I., Austin, J. L., & Gooding, P. (2020). Association of childhood maltreatment with suicide behaviors among young people: a systematic review and meta-analysis. JAMA network open, 3(8), e2012563-e2012563.
Zhang, L., Wang, P., Liu, L., Wu, X., & Wang, W. (2026). Different roles of child abuse and neglect on emerging adult's nonsuicidal self-injury and suicidal ideation: sex difference through emotion regulation. Current Psychology, 45(1), 56.
Callanan, V. J., & Davis, M. S. (2012). Gender differences in suicide methods. Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology, 47(6), 857-869.
Raposa, E. B., Rhodes, J., Stams, G. J. J. M., Card, N., Burton, S., Schwartz, S., … Hussain, S. (2019). The effects of youth mentoring programs: A meta-analysis of outcome studies. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 48(3), 423–443. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-019-00982-8
Lloyd, E. A. (2005). The case of the female orgasm: Bias in the science of evolution. Harvard University Press.
King, R. (2024). Naturally Selective: Evolution, Orgasm, and Female Choice. CRC Press. (The researcher Chris Williamson is relying on)
The Scottish Sun. (2025, February 17). Nearly six pubs closed each week last year with 4,500 jobs lost amid rising costs [News article]. The Scottish Sun. Retrieved from https://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/money/14352624/uk-pubs-closed-last-year/
Greater London Authority. (2025, February). London’s Night-Time Economy: Economy, Culture and Skills Committee report. Greater London Authority.

Supplementary Material 42: Chimpanzee Testicles, Home Alone Statistics, and Influencer Research

Thu, 08 Jan 2026 08:00:00 +0100

We dig deep into the online world to DO OUR OWN RESEARCH and return with horrors never dreamt of by man.

The full episode is available to Patreon subscribers (1 hour, 23 minutes).

Join us at: https://www.patreon.com/DecodingTheGurus

Supplementary Material 42

00:00 Introduction

11:13 Rogan and Shane Gillis on Nick Fuentes vs Piers Morgan

17:49 Jimmy Carr's Physics Insights

24:00 The comedian shuffle

25:12 Andrew Huberman teams up with Goop!

30:41 Huberman injects his dog with testosterone.

32:09 Bryan Johnson and the secret longevity of the penis

35:41 The Science Behind Huberman's Careful Product Endorsements

39:48 The Statistics of Home Alone

41:22 Bryan Johnson's Love Tweet

46:24 Bryan Johnson's horrible treatment of his ex-fiancée

51:30 Andrea Botez and Influencer Health Research

57:41 Bespoke Treatments with Medical AIs

01:04:28 Self-Research, Stock Picking, and Gambling

01:07:47 Health Systems and their imperfections

01:12:37 Doing Your Own Research...

01:17:38 Matt's Content Recommendations

01:20:45 Outro

Links

Scott Galloway, Part 1: On Men

Sun, 04 Jan 2026 04:20:00 +0100

We return to the podcast circuit in 2026 to examine Scott Galloway: NYU professor, prolific podcaster, and, more recently, part-time life coach for struggling young men.

Joining him on an episode of Modern Wisdom with Chris Williamson, we are invited into one of the few remaining forbidden conversational spaces: men, masculinity, and men’s problems. You may have been misled by the relentless popularity of Joe Rogan, Modern Wisdom, The Tucker Carlson Show, Triggernometry, The Diary of a CEO, Huberman Lab, and several dozen adjacent properties into thinking these topics are already discussed at length on a near-weekly basis. Alas, this turns out to be a dangerous illusion.

In reality, even mentioning men’s issues requires an extended ritual acknowledgement of women, failure to perform which risks immediate cancellation. Braving these cultural headwinds, we wade into manly dialogue about masculinity, sex differences, and male malaise. Along the way, we ponder the intricacies of culture war evolutionary psychology, anthropological wars over Man the Hunter, optimised dosages for manly whingeing, and whether making boys learn French verb conjugations qualifies as a human rights abuse.

So get your notebooks ready for some important notes from two of the most masculine men in the modern male podcasting space. Men...

Links

Academic papers Referenced

Changes in gender-based hiring bias (large meta-analysis): Schaerer, M., Du Plessis, C., Nguyen, M. H. B., Van Aert, R. C., Tiokhin, L., Lakens, D., … Gender Audits Forecasting Collaboration. (2023). On the trajectory of discrimination: A meta-analysis and forecasting survey capturing 44 years of field experiments on gender and hiring decisions. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 179, 104280.
Epidemiology of alcohol use disorder by marital status (US, NESARC-III): Grant, B. F., Goldstein, R. B., Saha, T. D., et al. (2015). Epidemiology of DSM-5 Alcohol Use Disorder: Results from the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions III. JAMA Psychiatry, 72(8), 757–766.
Protective effects of marriage on life expectancy (US Medicare sample): Jia, H., & Lubetkin, E. I. (2020). Life expectancy and active life expectancy by marital status among older US adults: Results from the US Medicare Health Outcome Survey (HOS). SSM – Population Health, 12, 100642.
Widowhood and well-being (contrary to claims of increased happiness): Adena, M., Hamermesh, D., Myck, M., & Oczkowska, M. (2023). Home alone: Widows’ well-being and time. Journal of Happiness Studies, 24(2), 813–838.
Meta-analysis of the widowhood effect on mortality (men and women): Shor, E., Roelfs, D. J., Curreli, M., Clemow, L., Burg, M. M., & Schwartz, J. E. (2012). Widowhood and mortality: A meta-analysis and meta-regression. Demography, 49(2), 575–606.
Marriage and life satisfaction across the life course (multi-country): Mikucka, M. (2016). The life satisfaction advantage of being married and gender specialization. Journal of Marriage and Family, 78(3), 759–779.
Marriage, children, and happiness (Note “very happy” vs “pretty happy”): Institute for Family Studies. Who is happiest? Married mothers and fathers, per the latest General Social Survey.

Anthropology: “Man the Hunter” debate

Original paper cited by Chris Williamson challenging the “Man the Hunter” narrative: Anderson, A., Chilczuk, S., Nelson, K., Ruther, R., & Wall-Scheffler, C. (2023). The Myth of Man the Hunter: Women’s contribution to the hunt across ethnographic contexts. PLoS ONE, 18(6), e0287101.
Critical commentary on Anderson et al. (2023): Venkataraman, V. V., Hoffman, J., Farquharson, K., Davis, H. E., Hagen, E. H., Hames, R. B., … Stibbard-Hawkes, D. N. (2024). Female foragers sometimes hunt, yet gendered divisions of labor are real. Evolution and Human Behavior, 45(4), 106586.
Another influential burial-based paper about female hunters in the early Americas: Haas, R., Jr., Watson, J., Buonasera, T., Southon, J., Chen, J. C., Noe, S., … Parker, G. (2020). Female hunters of the early Americas. Science Advances, 6(45), eabd0310.
Critical commentary on over-interpretation of evidence cited for the depiction of gender parity in hunting: Martin, M., de la Mora, A. N., Valeggia, C., & Veile, A. (2024). Can women hunt? Yes. Did women contribute much to human evolution through endurance hunting? Probably not. American Anthropologist, 126(2), 365–369.

Fertility & demography

Shaw, S. J. (Director). (2022). Birthgap – Childless World.
Critical fact-checking project responding to Birthgap claims: Birthgap Facts: Unplanned childlessness.

Politics & fact-checking

PolitiFact on claims about abortion and vasectomies at party conventions: Ask PolitiFact: Are Democrats offering “free abortions and vasectomies” at their Chicago convention?
Australian Labor Party policy platform: Our Plan.
UK Labour Party policy platform: Plan for Change.

The Replication Crisis Christmas Quiz w/ Mickey Inzlicht & Dave Pizarro

Thu, 25 Dec 2025 03:00:00 +0100

In this festive descent into methodological despair, Chris and Matt convene a secret cabal of elite psychology podcasters within the Decoding Cloister, operating under the distant yet reassuring gaze of Arch-Wizard Paul Bloom, whose role is largely ceremonial but nonetheless morally binding.

Joining them are Dave Pizarro (Very Bad Wizards) and Michael Inzlicht (Two Psychologists Four Beers, emeritus), for what can only be described as an end-of-year audit of social psychology’s moral character.

What follows is a mixture of intense hubris, disciplinary self-loathing, and revolutionary insights, delivered via one of the most sadistic Christmas quizzes ever devised. The quiz format allows the episode to do what psychology does best: create the feeling of measurement while hovering dangerously close to intuition.

Alongside the quiz, we engage in some meta-commentary and sensemaking reflections on audience capture and the state of psychology-themed podcasts in 2025. In other words, it’s Christmas, so naturally everyone is discussing perverse incentives, damaged reputations, and the slow moral corrosion of institutions.

So join us, won’t you? For the first International Congress on Psychology-Themed Podcasting and Gurus…

Links

References

Alter, A. L., Oppenheimer, D. M., Epley, N., & Eyre, R. N. (2007). Overcoming intuition: Metacognitive difficulty activates analytic reasoning. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 136(4), 569–576.
Aarts, H., & Dijksterhuis, A. (2003). The silence of the library: Environment, situational norm, and social behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84(1), 18–28.
Zimbardo, P. G. (1973). On the ethics of intervention in human psychological research: With special reference to the Stanford Prison Experiment. Cognition, 2(2), 243–256.
Resnick, B. (2018, June 13). The Stanford Prison Experiment was massively influential. We just learned it was a fraud. Vox.
Festinger, L., Riecken, H. W., & Schachter, S. (1956). When prophecy fails. University of Minnesota Press.
Bem, D. J. (2011). Feeling the future: Experimental evidence for anomalous retroactive influences on cognition and affect. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 100(3), 407–425.
Schimmack, U. (2018, January 20). My email correspondence with Daryl J. Bem about the data for his “Feeling the Future”. Replicability Index.
Merton, R. K. (1973). The normative structure of science. In The sociology of science: Theoretical and empirical investigations (pp. 267–278). University of Chicago Press. (Original work published 1942).
Hauser, M. (2012). Evilicious: Why we evolved a taste for being bad. Basic Books.
Kay, A. C., Wheeler, S. C., Bargh, J. A., & Ross, L. (2004). Material priming: The influence of mundane physical objects on situational construal and competitive behavioral choice. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 95(1), 83–96.
Macfarlane, B. (2024). The decay of Merton’s scientific norms and the new academic ethos. Oxford Review of Education, 50(4), 468–483.
Vaidis, D. C., Sleegers, W. W. A., van Leeuwen, F., et al. (2024). A multilab replication of the induced-compliance paradigm of cognitive dissonance. Advances in Methods and Practices in Psychological Science, 7(1).
Kelly, T. (2026). Debunking “When Prophecy Fails”. Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences, 62(1), e70043.

DTG Christmas Quiz 2025 with Helen Lewis

Mon, 22 Dec 2025 21:40:00 +0100

In this special Christmas episode, Helen’s annual Guru Quiz returns, lightly dusted with Trump, podcast tours, and the unsettling realisation that the Guru-sphere and the MAGA-sphere have quietly fused into a single, monetised, vibes-based organism.

That's right, the regular decoding team are joined by renowned journalist, author, podcaster... and occasional DTG quiz master, Helen Lewis, who once again brings her festive cheer, an uncanny ability to identify exactly who will be unbearable next year, and a quiz designed to torture Matt.

Points are awarded, dignity is lost, and Matt briefly considers revising for the quiz before remembering that preparation has never helped him before.

The episode also covers MAGA and UK political manoeuvres, the movers and shakers of the Gurusphere in 2025, and a lament for the collapse of the ancient boundary between editorial content and hawking pants.

So join us for a festive episode about gurus, geniuses, authoritarian comedy festivals, and the slow erosion of shame. Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night... and that includes you, Bubbles!

Links

Supplementary Material 41: Ironic Nazis, Blustering Tories, and Ol' Squeaky's Lament

Thu, 18 Dec 2025 12:15:00 +0100

In this tragic episode, we pay tribute to a fallen comrade and honour his memory with a discussion of a melange of truly terrible people, some of whom are much worse than others.

The full episode is available to Patreon subscribers (2 hours, 33 minutes).

Join us at: https://www.patreon.com/DecodingTheGurus

Supplementary Material 41

00:00 Introduction and Swimming Update

02:34 The Tragic Tale of Old Squeaky

09:01 Sam Harris interpersonal bias & Megyn Kelly

26:05 Gary Stevenson vs Rory Stewart

36:26 Master Certificates and Jaffa Cakes

41:59 Dasha's Nick Fuentes Problem

50:08 Nick Fuentes' Racist Remarks

54:29 Piers Morgan vs. Nick Fuentes

59:08 The Two Nick Fuentes Personas

01:02:39 Father Issues

01:20:51 Nick Fuentes the Racist

01:30:36 Piers Lab Leak Ad Break

01:32:52 Antisemitism and Holocaust Denialism

01:45:25 IDW Style Credulity and Holocaust Denialism

01:48:12 Hitler was really f**king cool?

01:58:20 Blustering Boomer Outrage vs. Online Groyperism

02:02:09 Debating Misogyny and Extremism

02:12:54 Piers Take on Fuentes

02:17:11 Overall thoughts on Piers Morgan vs Nick Fuentes

02:20:15 Infighting on the Conspiratorial Right

02:25:13 Bret Weinstein's Powers of Prediction: Trump on Rob Reiner

02:30:29 Outro

Links

Gurometer: Stefan Molyneux Patreon Preview

Sat, 13 Dec 2025 22:30:00 +0100

In this unlocked bonus episode, Chris and Matt complete their forensic/esoteric/scientific assessment of the charming Stefan Molyneux, consigning him (sadly) to the eternal archives of the Gurometer.

Stefan Molyneux, Part 2: Back in the Moly Hole

Thu, 04 Dec 2025 12:45:00 +0100

Cult Season continues, and much like Stefan himself, you may have hoped this would go away after Part 1. Unfortunately, like all persistent internet hauntings, Molyneux has returned. And this time, Chris and Matt venture even deeper into the Moly-Hole, a place where truth is redefined, callers are slowly gaslit into existential confusion, and every philosophical insight is served with the overwhelming scent of narcissism and emotional manipulation.

We return to the joyful world of Stefan’s caller-domination rituals, courtesy of Twitter Spaces, where he continues his life’s work of berating strangers and stroking his own ego while insisting he alone possesses the True Meaning of Truth.

Listeners can thrill to the culmination of the Truth Call™ from Part 1, where the philosophically inclined young father is sucked further into Stefan’s epistemological meat grinder as Stefan tries to uncover the imaginary psychoanalytic roots of the caller’s ongoing defiance. From there, we are introduced to Caller No. 3 for just a sprinkling of the patented victim-blaming and misogyny of the Molyneux Method.

Finally, Chris and Matt offer their overall thoughts on Molyneux’s long and illustrious career as an internet arsehole. They conclude that while Stefan has managed to cycle through platforms, ideologies, and degrees of baldness, he has maintained absolute fidelity to the same psychological tactics—gaslighting, projection, undermining, hypocrisy, and the uncanny ability to make even a throwaway joke feel incredibly creepy.

So that’s it for now… collectively we can escape the Moly-Hole, carefully sealing the tunnel entrance as we leave. And let’s pray this is the last time anyone has to think about good ol’ Stefan.

Aside from that… Cult Season continues. Abandon hope, etc.

Links

Supplementary Material 40: YouTube Builders, the Discourse Grind, and Sam Harris' Dinner Parties

Sat, 29 Nov 2025 09:00:00 +0100

We set down the Chardonnay at the latest heterodox dinner party and lean in for some hearty ‘civil discourse’ to once again defend the trembling pillars of Western civilization.

The full episode is available to Patreon subscribers (2 hours, 13 minutes).

Join us at: https://www.patreon.com/DecodingTheGurus

Supplementary Material 40: YouTube Builders, the Discourse Grind, and Sam Harris' Dinner Parties

00:00 Introduction

01:15 Feedback on the Molyneux Episode

10:26 Jordan Peterson still defeated by toxic demon mould

12:16 Steven Pinker's bad takes on Bjorn Lomborg

15:49 Chris vs Sabine

28:21 Grok's insane sycophantic glazing of Elon Musk

33:54 Musk's Psychology

40:59 Sam Harris acknowledges his problem?!?

47:18 Sam continues to wrestle with the interpersonal ethics of criticism

01:05:10 Triggernometry saves Western Civilization

01:15:29 The Wisdom of Francis Foster

01:28:42 Triggernometry's Partisan Outrage at the BBC

01:38:12 Oppressed Men vs. Complaining Women

01:46:29 The YouTube Builders of Western Civilization

01:56:42 Pageau vs Bret Weinstein

02:01:52 Eric Weinstein sensemaking about Cancellation

02:09:58 A PSA about THIS podcast

Links

Stefan Molyneux, Part 1: A fun guy, who is here to help...

Fri, 21 Nov 2025 23:00:00 +0100

Welcome back to Cult Season, where we continue our sincere attempt to make you feel a little bit worse about the world and everything in it.

This week, we turn to Stefan Molyneux, online pioneer, prolific content creator, and self-proclaimed most popular philosopher in the world. Alternatively his wikipedia entry describes him as "an Irish-born Canadian white nationalist podcaster and proponent of conspiracy theories, white supremacy, scientific racism, and the men's rights movement." Charming...

One thing is for sure: Molyneux is the only man alive who can turn literally any question into a monologue that combines demonic liberals, cutting off friends and family, and female reproductive choices. A true Renaissance man for people who hate Renaissance values.

In this first episode we take a brief tour through the Molyneux Expanded Universe™, which includes some infamous clips from his early days as the creator of an online 'philosophy' cult themed around anti-spanking, anarcho-capitalism, and misogyny. We also cover his pivot to MAGA apologetics and overt white nationalism and finally to late-stage Molyneux, where he now lurks in Twitter Spaces, berating callers and insisting the world is populated by demon-ridden NPCs gleefully urinating on their moral superiors.

Look forward to learning about his extensive rhetorical techniques, which include thin-skinned narcissism, a penchant for violent metaphors usually featuring urine and anal torture, his constant demand that listeners cut off their families and, of course, his favourite claim: that anyone who disagrees with him is a man-whore NPC who wants to kill you.

Also featuring:

A Weinstein cameo (because of course)
Chris recounting the proto–Decoding the Gurus origin story involving a Facebook post and some early Molyneux content
And a rare chance to hear Matt physically wince at a Rocky Horror cold open

If you’ve ever wanted to hear a preening narcissist berate his listener for raising entirely reasonable points... well, this is the episode for you.

Scott Adams should be careful, a new contender has emerged for his crown...

Part 2 coming soon, assuming we survive this one.

Links

Autism, Microbiomes, & Mice Burying Marbles with Kevin Mitchell

Tue, 18 Nov 2025 23:15:00 +0100

This week, we are joined by Kevin Mitchell, Associate Professor of Genetics and Neuroscience at Trinity College Dublin, who has committed the unforgivable sin of pointing out that an entire academic and media hype cycle might be built on… well, very little actually. His new co-authored paper in Neuron politely dismantles the highly promoted link between the gut microbiome and autism, which turns out to rest on flawed studies, contradictory findings, creative statistics, and a touching faith in mice burying marbles.

Kevin walks us through the joys of observational studies that don’t replicate, mouse experiments that don't make sense, and clinical trials where there is no blinding and no control wing, and shockingly, everyone reports feeling better. Meanwhile, journalists and wellness gurus eagerly report each new “breakthrough”, unburdened by any concerns about the strength of evidence or methodological robustness.

In the end, the microbiome–autism connection looks less like a sturdy scientific stool and more like three damp twigs taped together by optimism and marketing departments.

We finish, naturally, by dragging Matt back out of his panpsychism phase and asking whether consciousness is really fundamental to the universe or just something that happens in podcasters who haven’t slept enough.

Links

Right to Reply: A Dialogos about Sensemaking with Alexander Beiner

Mon, 03 Nov 2025 13:00:00 +0100

We are joined by Alexander Beiner, current founder of Kainos and former co-founder of Rebel Wisdom, to grapple with that eternally slippery concept: sensemaking. Naturally, this leads us through interdisciplinary adventurism, reflections on the (il)legitimacy of academia, and the recurring “meaning crisis” that haunts our times. Sense will be made, unmade, and possibly reinvented along the way.

Links

Supplementary Material 39: Bad Guys, Panpsychists, and Sensemakers

Sat, 01 Nov 2025 07:50:00 +0100

Chris and Matt walk into a bar with an atheist sensemaker, an Ayurvedic Guru, and a Christian Apologist, and predictable frivolities ensue. Featuring not one but two good-natured, robust exchanges of opinion between our two hosts.

The full episode is available to Patreon subscribers (1 hour, 42 minutes).

Join us at: https://www.patreon.com/DecodingTheGurus

Supplementary Material 39: Panpsychics, Sensemakers, and Bad Guys

00:00 Introduction

01:17 AI and the Music Industry

05:34 Is Chris a Bad Guy?

10:44 Vibe Physics with Travis Kalanick

16:10 Efforts to Falsify and AI

21:02 Gordon Pennycook with Sean Carroll: Vibes vs Analysis

32:44 Libertarianism and Personal Beliefs

35:10 A mini-debate on internal consistency

42:49 Matt's Personal Philosophy

44:16 Philosophical Feedback on the Sensemakers

55:06 Atheist vs Christian vs Spiritual Thinker

57:03 Dr. K's Role in the Discussion

01:09:01 Alex's Stance on Purpose

01:12:31 Dr. K's Perspective on Purpose

01:23:45 Dr. K and the Atheist pose

01:34:29 Philosophical Musings on Panpsychism

01:41:18 Outro

Sources

Angela Collier: Conspiracy physics and you (and also me)
All In Podcast: Travis Kalanick talks about AI (July 11, 2025)
333 | Gordon Pennycook on Unthinkingness, Conspiracies, and What to Do About Them
Pennycook, G., Cheyne, J. A., Barr, N., Koehler, D. J., & Fugelsang, J. A. (2015). On the reception and detection of pseudo-profound bullshit. Judgment and Decision Making, 10(6), 549-563.
The Diary of a CEO: Atheist vs Christian vs Spiritual Thinker: Is Not Believing In God Causing More Harm Than Good?!

Required Readings: The Genius Myth by Helen Lewis

Wed, 29 Oct 2025 11:15:00 +0100

In another exciting Required Reading episode, Chris and Matt offer their penetrating, high IQ thoughts on the latest book by journalist and podcast quizmaster, Helen Lewis. Titled 'The Genius Myth: The Dangerous Allure of Rebels, Monsters, and Rule Breakers', the book tears into some of the long-enduring myths surrounding historical and contemporary geniuses from Picasso to Elon Musk. It's a critical dissection of gurus and devoted fans, so very on topic! And yes, it is better than Cod...

Full episode is available to Patreons on the Revolutionary Genius tier! (1hr 13 mins).

Join us at: https://www.patreon.com/DecodingTheGurus

Links

Required Reading: The Genius Myth

00:00 Book Review: Genius Myth

04:11 The Genius Myth: Book Thoughts!

07:02 Exploring the Concept of Genius

08:49 IQ Tests and High IQ Societies

10:55 Social Perception of Intelligence

12:20 Elon Musk and Modern Genius

16:08 Historical Perspectives on Genius

18:42 The people behind the Geniuses

25:15 The Role of Context and Luck

27:44 Mythmaking and Cultural Icons

45:01 The Flawed Genius Stereotype

50:50 What about Tim Robinson?

52:51 The deranging impact of attention

01:03:33 Overall Thoughts

01:12:44 Better than Cod

Discussing Nazis and Gurus with Al Murray

Tue, 28 Oct 2025 08:30:00 +0100

We welcome Al Murray, the comedian who might just be your new favourite historian, to Decoding the Gurus. In a crossover you probably didn’t expect, we discuss World War II, Wehraboos, gurus, and the contemporary comedy scene... something for all the family.

Along the way, we touch on British nostalgia, military fetishism, and self-styled “truth tellers”. A chat about history, humour, and hubris, not necessarily in that order.

Links

Keith Raniere: The Serpent and the Cognitive Fog

Sun, 26 Oct 2025 08:00:00 +0100

Kicking off cult season, Chris and Matt take a dip into the manipulative world of NXIVM founder and self-proclaimed 200-IQ “Vanguard,” Keith Raniere, as he talks with his then-disciple and ex-Hollywood actress, Allison Mack. Through a haze of pseudo-profound musings and decorative scholarship, Raniere sermonises on creativity, authenticity, and the human spirit, all while orchestrating a coercive sex cult built on obedience, sleep deprivation, and... volleyball.

Matt and Chris lament how his wordy self-help cosmology mirrors the rhetorical habits of secular gurus: the cultivation of parasocial intimacy, the disdain for anything mainstream, and the promise of “revolutionary” insights that will reveal your true self (for a fee). From the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle to “authentic soulfulness”, it’s a masterclass in generating pseudo-profound semantic fog, where love and pain blur into one transcendent teaching.

By the end, you may find yourself sharing Raniere’s final revelation about what it truly means to feel… nauseated.

Sources

YouTube: Keith Raniere, Ringleader of NXIVM Sex Slave Cult, Interviewed by Allison Mack, Top Cult Member

Lab Leak Fever with Philipp Markolin

Sat, 18 Oct 2025 23:45:00 +0100

Join Matt and Chris as they dive into the controversy-ridden world of the lab leak theory, accompanied by biochemist-turned-author Philipp Markolin. Philipp details his journey into the abyss of lab leak lore and sensationalist media, documenting how thorough research was pushed aside in favour of conspiratorial discourse. For those who dream of a world where science triumphs over sensationalism, this episode is your bittersweet symphony.

Links

Supplementary Material 38: Toxic Mould Symbiosis, Mild Phrenology, and the Best People in the World

Tue, 14 Oct 2025 14:25:00 +0100

We end the futile struggle, embrace the toxins, and become one with our mould brethren.

The full episode is available to Patreon subscribers (2 hours, 38 minutes).

Join us at: https://www.patreon.com/DecodingTheGurus

Supplementary Material 38

00:00 Intro

02:54 Boomer Matt reacts to Twitter videos

07:31 Shellenberger and Tucker discuss the 9/11 Files

12:42 Eric's Google Ngram Investigations

17:08 Vindication on the Elephant Graveyard

22:00 Eric's ARC lecture goes viral

25:24 Andrew Huberman is NOT a phrenologist...

29:06 Eric Weinstein vs. Piers Morgan

33:44 Everyone knows Eric is a serious thinker

46:09 Peterson is taken out of the Gurusphere by Demons and Toxic Mould

52:09 Gurus and Bespoke Alternative Health

57:00 Social Contagion Hypocrisy

01:02:55 Toxic Mould Symbiosis?

01:04:46 Pewdiepie, Diogenes, and the Seeker Mindset

01:16:14 The Wisdom of the Ancients

01:21:01 The Meaning Crisis and Christian Pivots

01:22:29 Konstantin Kisin's surprising Christian pivot

01:25:17 The best person Konstantin ever met (not Francis)

01:30:22 The Fifth Column Agrees with Megyn Kelly 88% of the time

01:33:07 Megyn Kelly explains how the Democrats crossed the line and must pay

01:41:35 Intellectual Clerics for MAGA

01:43:16 Slightly Adversarial libertarians for hire

01:47:00 Drew Pavlou and Fluid Populism

01:50:17 Two Varieties of Online Derangement: Noah Smith's Hot Takes

01:53:57 Need for Attention = Desire for Virality

01:57:23 Status Seeking Networkers vs Paul Bloom

02:01:27 Reflecting on the Al Murray Interview

02:02:22 The struggle of podcasters

02:04:52 Paul Bloom: The best person in the world?

02:06:00 Mike Israetel's Thesis Controversy

02:10:30 What does a PhD mean?

02:16:55 David Deutsch visits Curt Jaimungal

02:22:32 The Dangers of Doubling Down: Pirate Software

02:23:32 Hasan Piker and Shock Collar-gate

02:27:15 Matt's Take on Shock Collars

02:33:51 Dystopia Update: Putin wants Trump to win the Nobel Prize

02:37:11 Outro

Sources

Shellenberger and Tucker discuss the CIA’s role in 9/11
Grok pressing Eric to get specific
The Elephant Graveyard
Viral post about Eric’s ARC speech on science
Huberman’s phrenology endorsement
Jordan Peterson’s Health Update from Mikhaila
Chris Williamson: It’s time to talk about my health.
Chang, C., & Gershwin, M. E. (2019). The myth of mycotoxins and mold injury. Clinical Reviews in Allergy & Immunology, 57(3), 449–455.
Borchers, A. T., Chang, C., & Eric Gershwin, M. (2017). Mold and human health: A reality check. Clinical Reviews in Allergy & Immunology, 52(3), 305–322.
PewDiePie: Help, I’m going through a midlife crisis…
PewDiePie: Training like Mishima for 7 Days
Megyn Kelly is All Out of Generosity - THE FIFTH COLUMN #526
Konstantin Kisin declares Jordan Peterson the best man he has ever known
Noah Smith’s recent hot takes
Drew Pavlou: Attention Addict (Profile)
Drew Pavlou: Attention Addict (Post)
Solomon Nelson: Mike Israetel's PhD: The Biggest Academic Sham in Fitness?
Curt Jaimungal - David Deutsch: Modern Academia Would Fail Einstein
David Deutsch on Brexit and Error Correction
Dr. Milo Wolf: Dr. Mike Responds: The Truth About His PhD
Zirk Fitness: Mike Just Changed His Story AGAIN
Chris’s PhD Thesis
Internet Archivist - The Satisfying End of Pirate Software
YouTube from Charlie that covers the Hasan Shock Video
Forbes article on the Hasan Shock Collar Controversy
The Moscow Times: Putin Praises Trump’s ‘Real Efforts’ Toward Peace, Blasts Nobel Committee

A Sense-Making Odyssey, Part 2: Jordan Peterson, John Vervaeke & Jordan Hall

Thu, 25 Sep 2025 17:00:00 +0100

Matt and Chris once again take up their oars and plunge deeper into the recursive whirlpools of contemporary sensemaking. Picking up where Part 1 left off, having grappled with conscience, touchstones, hierarchies, and normativity, we return to the sensemaking labyrinth to see just how many more words and concepts the combined powers of Peterson, Vervaeke, and Hall can stretch to breaking point.

This second leg of the voyage allows us to chart more of the universal sensemaking grammar, with its biblical scaffolding, liberal use of metaphors, and frequent exhortations to ascend Jacob’s ladder. But alongside Peterson's predictable biblical musings, you can also thrill at unexpected treats like John Vervaeke unveiling how finite transcendence connects to inexhaustible intelligibility and Jordan Hall explaining that even silence can be a form of sensemaking.

Expect symbolic snakes, dangling ropes, and ecological psychology refashioned for mystical ascent, Augustine rediscovered through Plato, and culture reframed as an alcoholic parent. Or if you prefer, enjoy detours into atheists and their Luciferian egos, the sacred role of play, and the profound revelations that can be drawn from childhood disappointments at McDonald’s and grandfathers complaining about Nixonian duplicity

So join us for the final leg of the Sensemaking Odyssey. Sharpen your mind, get ready to traverse through 3D space, and prepare for an encounter with the Logos... in the context of listening to a podcast.

Sources

A Dialogue So Dangerous, It Just Might Bring You Wisdom | John Vervaeke and Jordan Hall | EP 532

Supplementary Material 37: Public Murder Discourse, Heterodox Psychodramas, and Generous Tit for Tat-ers

Sat, 20 Sep 2025 02:00:00 +0100

Why are we never invited to these dinners? We wonder if it was something we said or if our invitation just got lost in the mail, as we endure the inevitable discourse wave that followed in the wake of Charlie Kirk's murder.

The full episode is available to Patreon subscribers (2 hours, 21 minutes).

Join us at: https://www.patreon.com/DecodingTheGurus

Supplementary Material 37

00:00 Introduction

01:10 Cooking Gurus?

05:39 Sensemaking Overindulgence

07:19 Feedback on The Elephant Graveyard Segment

14:07 Gary is awarded an Honorary Doctorate by SOAS

19:15 On the Murder of Charlie Kirk

24:49 Murder is Bad & Charlie Kirk was a Polemicist

38:07 Hypocritical Calls for Violence: Elon Musk and Tommy Robinson

41:32 The Superficial Celebrations of Luigi Mangione

44:52 Michael Shermer is an entirely non-skeptical partisan

47:16 Eric Weinstein and the rush to post

49:48 Joe Rogan argues with his friend on vaccines

58:11 Predictable Pivot

01:05:30 Blocked and Reported discuss the Interpersonal Psychodramas of the Heterodox

01:07:07 The Thick Skin of Michael Shellenberger

01:11:41 Being Bret Weinstein's +1

01:13:39 Dave Rubin does not appreciate public criticism

01:16:29 A Heterodox DM encounter

01:21:01 Money and Macro's Video on Gary's Economics

01:27:56 The DTG approach vs Debunking

01:29:43 The Nature of Expertise and Criticism

01:31:17 Researching Guru Claims

01:36:37 Destiny invokes the Prisoner's Dilemma and Tit for Tat strategies

01:40:59 Generous Tit for Tat

01:46:28 Konstantin Kisin's warning about alternative media

01:54:26 Konstantin's "Consistency"

02:01:44 Next Gurus and Fake Outro

02:03:44 Decoding the Gamers: Caves of Qud and Two Point Museum

02:08:11 Retro School Games: Drug Wars, Beachhead and Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?

02:11:53 Real Outro

Sources

A Sense-Making Odyssey, Part 1: Jordan Peterson, John Vervaeke & Jordan Hall

Thu, 11 Sep 2025 12:30:00 +0100

Join Matt and Chris as they enter an intellectual labyrinth of recursive sensemaking featuring the combined insights of Jordan Peterson, John Vervaeke, and Jordan Hall. You will learn about many, many deep and complex concepts and puzzle over definitions of conscience, the vertical hierarchy, value, normativity, goals & ideals, quests, the ultimate unifying meta-narrative, self-sacrifice, and touchstones.

With frequent excursions into a wild assortment of biblical stories, Platonic philosophy, Jungian psychology, Martial Art stances, and much, much more! This is a voyage through the refracted and refracting philosophical frameworks of three contemporary sensemaking powerhouses.

So get your oars ready and prepare your mind to taste the Dialogos, vis-à-vis Moses...

Sources

A Dialogue So Dangerous, It Just Might Bring You Wisdom | John Vervaeke and Jordan Hall | EP 532

Supplementary Material 36: Comedy Cults, Toxic Mould, and WW2 Revisionism

Fri, 29 Aug 2025 11:30:00 +0100

We risk contamination with toxic mould, endure distressing initiation rituals to a comedy cult, and ponder if the narratives we have received about the Nazis have enough nuance.

The full episode is available to Patreon subscribers (2 hours, 21 minutes).

Join us at: https://www.patreon.com/DecodingTheGurus

Supplementary Material 36

00:00 Introduction and an Intervention

01:59 Tomatoes, Holidays, and Hollywood Remakes

06:15 AI x Indulgent People

06:41 AI Chatbots and Delusional Gurus

10:46 Sir Robert Edward Grant and the Architect

12:26 Critiquing the Critics

13:31 Eric Weinstein engages with Dialogos with his silicon friend Grok

22:25 Tim Nguyen details the Distributed Weinstein Suppression Complex

24:20 Sabine Hossenfelder's Google Doc

27:10 2+2 Discourse and a surprise appearance from Kareem Carr

29:34 Chris's 10 Tips for Sabine

34:39 Coffeezilla does more Anomaly Hunting on Epstein Videos

37:50 Conspiracy Chat

39:58 Ghislaine Maxwell's potential deal

42:29 Thoughts on the Elephant Graveyard's Video on the Joe Rogan Comedy Cult

49:45 Details vs Vibes

52:46 Rogan's Fact-Checking and Comedian Dynamics

54:54 The Rogan Anti-Human Tech Elite Conspiracy Theory

59:40 Master Geniuses vs. a bunch of dickheads who like the same stuff

01:03:55 Lex Friedman and the Role of Softball Interviews

01:06:28 Conspiracy Theories vs. Real Conspiracies

01:15:51 Overall thoughts on the Elephant Graveyard Video Essay

01:19:18 Ana Kasparian thinks the Jews knew about 9/11

01:22:21 Jordan Peterson's Health and Mould Toxicity

01:24:24 Good Fungus vs Bad Mould

01:26:08 Bespoke Medicine and American Individualism

01:29:57 Streamers saying Stupid Things: Taylor Lorenz on DSA Nazis

01:33:08 Populist anti-vaccine rhetoric in Japan!

01:35:58 Bill Maher and Andrew Huberman discuss the problems with medicine

01:38:40 Chris Rufo and Right Wing Outrage over the Cracker Barrel logo

01:42:31 The War on Christmas in Australia

01:44:35 Jonathan Pageau's revisionist World War II symbolism

01:48:29 Pageau's Postmodern Narratives

02:03:32 Finding the Balance between Nazism and Liberalism

02:14:02 Random Shoutout

02:15:45 Matt's Cognitive Decline and Professor Archetypes

Sources

Supplementary Material 35: Cult Leaders, Gurus, and Evil Economists

Wed, 20 Aug 2025 00:00:00 +0100

We face a disciplinary crisis as the twin pillars of Game Theory and Gurometry are called into question.

The full episode is available to Patreon subscribers (1 hour, 35 minutes).

Join us at: https://www.patreon.com/DecodingTheGurus

Supplementary Material 35

00:05 Introduction

01:52 Matt's Apology

06:55 Just Life...

12:34 Matt's Foodie Corner

14:01 Dedunking Dan Richards finds Sabine

16:37 Sabine cultivates parasocial defenders

18:16 Ana Kasparian gets deeper into ZOG conspiracies

24:44 Gary vs Game Theory

40:26 Support the Channel to Save the World

47:10 Bryan Johnson and Methylene blue

51:52 Scientific Cosplay Online

53:51 Keith Rainiere and Sensemaking Parallels

54:57 High IQ YoungHoon Kim tweets about proof of God

56:19 Guru and Cult Leader Parallels

01:01:13 The Validity of the Gurometer in Question?!?

01:03:03 Hacking Social Heuristics

01:07:38 Cult Leaders vs Secular Gurus

01:12:33 Anti-Democratic moves by Trump

01:15:03 Dan Carlin on Trump

01:18:30 Streamers Talking Nonsense: Hasan on ISIS

01:21:24 Ideological Fixation and Motivated Conspiracism

01:27:22 Outro

Sources

The Cushendun Sea Caves from Game of Thrones
Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 is Boosting Tourism
DeDunking: Eric Weinstein's Theory — Real Physicist vs Pseudo Poser
Ana Kasparian tweeting about the “Zionist Occupied Government”
Gary’s Economics: Game Theory is Broken
Critical Reddit thread on Gary’s Game Theory video
Henrich, J., McElreath, R., Barr, A., Ensminger, J., Barrett, C., Bolyanatz, A., ... & Ziker, J. (2006). Costly punishment across human societies. Science, 312(5781), 1767–1770.
The Selfish Gene, Chapter 12: Nice Guys Finish First (Richard Dawkins)
High IQ YoungHoon Kim tweets about proof of God
I was Jordan Peterson’s strongest supporter. Now I think he’s dangerous
Dan Carlin’s tweet about Trump
BBC: National Guard troops appear in Washington DC as mayor rejects Trump's 'authoritarian push'
Nathan Baker: Keith Raniere, Ringleader of NXIVM Sex Slave Cult, Interviewed by Allison Mack, Top Cult Member

Naval Ravikant: Predictable Polemics and Empty Aphorisms

Mon, 18 Aug 2025 01:30:00 +0100

In this watery simulation of an episode, Matt and Chris uncover the true purpose of Scott Adams’ existence: not to shape reality, but to provide training data for future AIs working on plumbing-related problems. Somewhere in a cosmic server farm, Scott is endlessly confronted with blocked drains, dripping faucets, and municipal water conspiracies, while his “insights” fuel the next generation of household maintenance bots.

Against this surreal backdrop, Naval Ravikant enters the scene — investor, tweeter, self-styled philosopher, and, in practice, just another discourse surfer riding the waves of online conspiracism. The conversation opens with a familiar chorus of right-wing talking points, drifts into feverish speculation about lawfare, censorship, and “imported voters,” and finally winds down in the dim light of dorm-room metaphysics, where slogans like “happiness is a choice” are served up as if they were profound insights.

Naval presents himself as a detached sage, offering a boutique blend of political commentary and Daoist-tinged wisdom. In reality, he delivers little more than predictable polemics and recycled aphorisms. Imagining himself a great man of history dispensing lyrical truths in tweet-sized form, he produces nothing that rises above the usual culture-war debris. The posture is Buddha-with-a-smartphone; the reality is a credulous tech elite mistaking his own Twitter feed for a philosophy seminar.

What follows is Elon-as-Ben-Franklin fanboying, Trump rebranded as a “bottom-up” leader of the people, and a level of self-congratulation so thick it could be used to terraform Mars. By the end, you may find yourself nostalgic for the leaky pipes in Scott’s simulation — at least they produce real water...

Sources

Exploring the Manosphere with James Bloodworth

Sat, 09 Aug 2025 14:00:00 +0100

In this episode, we immerse ourselves in the potent juices of the manosphere with British journalist and author James Bloodworth. James recently published Lost Boys: A Personal Journey Through the Manosphere and takes us on a whirlwind tour of various misogynistic and anti-feminist subcultures, including pickup artists, incels, and the blue, red, and black pill communities. Drawing on his personal experiences and research, James discusses the appeal and dangers of the manosphere, touching on themes such as insecure masculinity and the commodification of social interactions. We also get into some joyful political implications and consider the role of social media in spreading these messages. One for all the family!

Links

Supplementary Material 34: Giants, Grifters, and Google Eyed Loons

Wed, 06 Aug 2025 01:35:00 +0100

We drown in waves of ideological fluidity as the gurusphere continues to crash all around us.

Supplementary Material 34

00:00 Introduction

01:26 Irish Stew and Dog Exercise Report

03:45 A new 276 IQ Genius

11:47 Fresh and Fit Antisemitism

16:51 Are things getting dumber?

21:22 Asmongold on the Epstein Files

24:53 Epstein Conspiratorial Discourse helps Ghislaine Maxwell

29:00 Vinay Prasad resigns from his MAGA position

31:17 Eric Weinstein is the Architect of the Great Reset!

32:37 Google Eyed Loons vs. Willing Apparatchik

36:40 The Young Turks are joined by... Scott Adams

38:51 Ana Kasparian sits down with Tucker Carlson

44:46 Jimmy the Giant enters the arena

46:11 Jimmy the Giant meets Konstantin Kisin

57:12 Debating the Middle Class YouTube Grifters

01:06:15 The Gurusphere Grift

01:08:16 Jimmy the Giant reflects on his performance

01:11:16 Discourse standards for Research

01:15:05 Jimmy defends his criticisms

01:22:27 Jimmy the Giant deletes his videos and apologises to Konstantin

01:28:04 The Call to Action to support the Grand Mission

01:32:32 Separating Issues from Support of Influencers

01:37:13 Jimmy the Giant explains how the Elites created Wokeness

01:47:16 Woke Wars and Psyops

01:49:33 The Right Wing Media Outrage Ecosystem

01:55:26 False Consciousness and the Billionaires

02:02:47 AI limitations and Hallucinations

02:07:08 Post Hoc-Reasoning in AI and People

02:14:22 Outro

The full episode is available for Patreon subscribers (2hrs 16 mins).

Join us at: https://www.patreon.com/DecodingTheGurus

Sources

A Return to Gary World

Wed, 30 Jul 2025 22:50:00 +0100

In this exhausting deep dive, Matt and Chris take a break from counting their billionaire stipends to devote (what some might call) an inordinate amount of time to Gary Stevenson’s recent appearance with a challenging interviewer: Tomás from Despolariza. They grapple with the indeterminacy of Schrödinger’s Gary, who oscillates between being an economic and mathematical genius revealing what THEY don’t want you to know on YouTube, and a pragmatic but selfless political activist who oversimplifies complex problems and sacrifices nuance (and himself) in the name of urgent reform.

Despite insisting that he hates fame and has no desire to promote his best-selling book or be a popular YouTuber, Gary takes the time to remind us all of how often he’s recognised on the street and precisely how many millions of views his channel racks up each month. These are depressingly familiar guru tropes, as are his sweeping claims that you can’t trust politicians, economists, academics, journalists, the media, his old colleagues… or even graphs.

Gary’s core message that growing inequality is economically and politically unsustainable is an important one. And his ability to communicate the stakes of that problem to a large audience could be beneficial. So the criticism lies not with his stated goals but with the guru-tastic packaging and unwillingness to deal with complexity.

Luckily, there is a solution... Gary. Only he and his YouTube channel can save your grandchildren from abject poverty and Nigel Farage. And if you doubt him, just look at how many millions he made for himself and the bank with his uncanny predictions… or those monthly viewer stats. Oh, and did we mention he has an elite education from LSE?

Links

Mini Decoding: Sabine's Contrarian Outrage- How Dare You Criticise Eric!

Fri, 25 Jul 2025 23:35:00 +0100

In this mini-decoding, Matt and Chris examine Sabine Hossenfelder's recent fervent defence of Eric Weinstein and her sharp rebuke of his critics, including Sean Carroll. Sabine suggests that Eric poses a genuine threat to the physics establishment and that he is terrifying them by exposing their weak points. Moreover, according to Sabine, Geometric Unity, Eric's homegrown Theory of Everything, is on par with String Theory, if not better, since it wastes less money! This episode takes a critical look at those claims and Sabine's own heated rhetoric and performative outrage, examining how her defence of Eric aligns with a broader online anti-science contrarian ecosystem.

So join us as we ponder whether Sabine is a brave, truth-telling rebel challenging a stagnant scientific orthodoxy and defending an honest man who is under attack for simply daring to question the powers that be... or whether she is just another contrarian YouTuber pandering to anti-science sentiment, defending fellow influencers, and playing the game of algorithm-driven clickbait outrage.

Links

- Sabine Hossenfelder: Physicists are afraid of Eric Weinstein -- and they should be

- Sabine Hossenfelder: Do we need a Theory of Everything?

- Decoding the Gurus: Sabine Hossenfelder: Science is a Liar ... Sometimes

- Professor Dave Explains: Sabine Hossenfelder Joins the Eric Weinstein Damage Control Parade

- Sabine cheers on Bryan Johnson on Twitter

- Tim Nguyen discusses Sabine's response on Twitter

- Dr. Brian Keating: What Is A Theory of Everything? Featuring Sabine Hossenfelder, Lee Smolin, & Eric Weinstein

Supplementary Material 33: Weinstein Enigmas, The Epstein Conspiracies, and Dwarves punching ducks

Fri, 18 Jul 2025 12:30:00 +0100

In this packed supplementary episode, we tackle all of the urgent global issues, ranging from Epstein file conspiracies to Matt’s immense love of a fantasy game where dwarves punch ducks for fun. Along the way, we’re joined by a stellar cast of commentators, including some old favourites. Strap in… it’s a long one.

Supplementary Material 33

00:00 Introductory Banter: Old Squeaky and Matt's Wall

04:40 Mecha Hitler's rampage

07:46 Grok's Controversial Behavior

11:12 Linda Yaccarino's grinning departure from X

13:05 Elmo's anti-semitic conspiracy tirade

14:11 Connor McGregor taints the timeline

15:03 Eric joins Diary of a CEO to give some advice

23:07 The Weinstein enigma

28:11 Eric Weinstein on Jeffrey Epstein

33:02 Eric vs. Mick West Round 2

35:15 Plastic Bag Wearing Philosophers, Pornographic AI Companions, and Neo-Liberalism

41:45 Weinstein vs Sean Carrol: Further Developments

43:57 Professor Dave's New Video on Eric with Christian Ferko

50:44 A Physicist's view of Geometric Unity

54:06 Debating Prof. Dave on Eric's Motivations

59:04 Peter Thiel and Ross Douhat on the Antichrist

01:08:31 Professor Dave Summarises Eric

01:20:49 Mockery and Different Styles of Criticism

01:25:18 Jeffrey Epstein Scandal Introduction

01:28:09 Trump's Response and Conspiracy Theories

01:31:18 Andrew Schulz' Cognitive Dissonance

01:38:32 Trump's Deep State Assassination Attempt

01:40:01 Megyn Kelly has another explanation

01:46:15 The Court Intrigues of MAGA

01:50:02 The Epstein Online Economy

01:57:54 Tim Pool's spin: It's the Democrats!

02:00:26 Destiny and Contrapoints get Conspiracy Theories

02:01:53 The Weinstein takes on Epstein: Welcome to the Infinite Truman Show

02:03:33 Scott Adams' Take: A Commander In Chief Issue

02:04:42 Epstein: The Foreign Agent?

02:07:20 Coffeezilla's Anomaly Hunting

02:11:47 Destiny Reacting to Coffeezilla and the Fluidity of Conspiracies

02:18:06 Doing Your Own Research on the Acosta Quote

02:20:29 Epstein Takes From QAnon Anonymous to Red Scare

02:25:18 Critical Evaluation of Claims: Consulting Reports on Epstein's Suicide

02:35:55 Hasan demonstrates responsible Conspiracy Hypothesising

02:39:34 New Conspiracy Lore

02:42:19 Tribal Matters

02:43:31 Matt's Gaming Grotto: Baldurs Gates, Dwarf Fortresses, and Rogue Traders

02:53:40 Matt's Sick Mind

02:54:57 Outro

The full episode is available for Patreon subscribers (2hrs 57 mins).

Join us at: https://www.patreon.com/DecodingTheGurus

Sources

Required Readings: Buddhism - A Journey Through History

Wed, 02 Jul 2025 03:40:00 +0100

In this episode of "Decoding Academia: Required Readings", Chris and Matt take a joint stroll through the history of Buddhism through Donald S. Lopez Jr.'s latest book, 'Buddhism: A Journey Through History.' We discuss the unexpected historical and cultural facets of Buddhism, how modern interpretations can often romanticise ancient practices, and whether Matt's mind has been blown. We also consider important issues like the Buddha's retractable penis, incredibly long tongue, and just how strongly we should condemn monks scribbling pictures of their would-be brides. So join us in the cycle of samsara as we strive to earn some merit and at least crawl a little closer to enlightenment.

Book Reviewed

Lopez, D. S. (2025). Buddhism: A Journey through History. Yale University Press.

Required Readings - Buddhism A Journey Through History

00:00 Introduction to Decoding Academia

01:51 Current Book Selection: Buddhism a Journey Through History

02:56 Initial Impressions and Apologies

06:00 Buddhism's Complexities and Contradictions

07:59 Western Perceptions vs. Historical Realities

11:27 The Historical Buddha?

17:09 Buddhist Approaches to Texts

22:09 Comparisons with Other Religions

26:38 Orthopraxic Buddhism

29:53 Petty Buddhism

34:20 Matt's Religion Hot Take

37:17 Ashoka: The Buddhist King?

39:02 Buddhism's Syncretic Nature

39:35 The Syncretic Approach

42:49 Anti-Colonial Buddhism

43:44 Buddhist Modernism and Science

46:58 The Buddhist Canon

51:26 Matt's History Thoughts

53:06 Buddhism's Cultural and Social Role

55:55 Gods and Supernatural Beings

56:48 The Attitude towards Women

59:36 The Value of Buddhism

01:03:35 Religions as Cultural Technologies with Social Functions

01:05:54 Monastic Issues

01:12:51 Religious Motivations

01:14:38 Outro

The full episode is available for Patreon subscribers (1hr 17 mins).

Join us at: https://www.patreon.com/DecodingTheGurus

Mind, Culture & Visual Illusions: Dorsa Amir and Chaz Firestone on Visual Illusions

Tue, 01 Jul 2025 20:50:00 +0100

In this academic-themed interview episode of Decoding the Gurus, Matt and Chris sit down to chat with Dorsa Amir and Chaz Firestone (@chazfirestone) about their recent paper 'Is Visual Perception WEIRD? The Müller-Lyer Illusion and the Cultural Byproduct Hypothesis.'

In a conversation that serves as a welcome tonic to the endless lamentations of the gurus about academic groupthink and closed-minded silos, Dorsa and Chaz discuss the interdisciplinary nature of their work, debates around universal vs. culturally specific psychology, and the strength of evidence that visual perception varies between cultures.

We also learn about the dangers of being STUPID: Studying Topics Uninformed by Prior Investigations in the Discipline, and attempt to uncover just how much Chaz enjoys popping balloons.

A fun one that might even leave you a little bit more optimistic than usual!

Links

Supplementary Material 32: A Shower of Bastards

Sat, 28 Jun 2025 22:50:00 +0100

We wallow in the mud with some of the worst gurus of the gurusphere. Join us and lament the guru paradise that we all live in.

Supplementary Material 32

00:00 Introduction and Banter

01:22 Old Squeaky and Daily Life

03:53 Matthew McConaughey Episode Recap

08:13 The Liver King Controversy

16:14 Nazi Propaganda on YouTube

21:11 Historical Revisionism: Darryl Cooper and David Irving

27:46 Huberman's very public hardcore research

32:25 Huberman sells out

34:32 Chris Langan: The Bottom (Racist) Tier of Gurudom

36:03 Langan on Weinstein

42:21 Langan's grievances against Elon Musk and Jordan Peterson

49:47 Matt Goodwin visits London

55:59 Gary Stevenson hates Graphs and Data

01:10:33 Gary compares himself to Russell Brand

01:15:12 THEY won't let you talk about the economy

01:17:22 Matt invokes Goodwin's Law

01:25:08 The All In Podcast Besties launch a Tequila Brand

01:28:32 Matt's Modest Utopian Plan

01:31:12 Lab Leak Discourse continues at the Guardian

01:35:55 Matt attacks the Mainstream Media

01:39:11 Dugin's Forum of the Future 2050 and the Guru Horseshoe

01:45:57 Extended Outro

The full episode is available for Patreon subscribers (1hr 50 mins).

Join us at: https://www.patreon.com/DecodingTheGurus

Sources

Matthew McConaughey: Selling is Love!

Mon, 23 Jun 2025 08:00:00 +0100

In this episode, Matt and Chris try to get from where they are to where they want to be, accepting their hidden strengths and dismantling their egos as they immerse themselves fully in the wild world of Matthew McConaughey's burgeoning self-help empire. Join them as they uncover the true Art of Livin’ and learn how it is that an Academy Award-winning Hollywood star finds himself sharing life advice alongside the likes of Tony Robbins and Dean Graziosi.

With bongos, heartfelt confessions, and a sales pitch that'll make your wallet quiver, we break down the one-and-only event where journaling and wet dreams are your ticket to self-actualisation. Brace yourself for some heavy-duty motivational speeches, meaningful shared stories, and just a pinch of canned audience responses, as we ride shotgun on this once-in-a-lifetime self-help seminar.

And how much will all this cost you? You ask? It should be $3000, but for today only, we give it all for free.

Links

Decoding Academia 33: The Great Müller-Lyer Debate from Fish Tanks to Eye Operations Patreon Preview

Sat, 14 Jun 2025 23:00:00 +0100

Welcome to another enlightening episode of Decoding Academia. In this bonus preview of our highly secretive Patreon content, we are discussing a controversial paper by Dorsa Amir and Chaz Firestone that challenges the established notion of the Müller-Lyer illusion being a product of cultural environments.

Prepare yourself for some high-level discussions of the visual processes of guppy fish and bearded lizards, as well as the remarkable lengths that psychologists will go to in order to get people to complete their tests. Will our seasoned scholars unravel the illusion, or is this debate another eye-catching mirage?

Sources

Supplementary Material 31: Aquatic Nightmares, Strategic Obliviousness, & Race Realists

Fri, 13 Jun 2025 13:15:00 +0100

We venture into the darker corners of the gurusphere and marvel at some very, very brave individuals, their valiant efforts to play devil's advocate, and some world-class discourse surfing skills. Join us, won't you?

Supplementary Material 31: Aquatic Nightmares, Strategic Obliviousness, & Race Realists

00:00 Introduction & Ol Squeaky Cameo

02:57 Matt's Aquarium Trauma & Stress Dreams

09:45 RFK Jr's war on science continues

11:17 Robert Malone & other 'Covid Contrarians' rewarded under Trump

14:35 The LA Protests, Riots, and Anti-Immigrant Narratives

20:12 Flint Dibble calls out Joe Rogan

25:24 Joe Rogan is a polemical ideologue and anti-vaccine advocate

27:34 Cassandra Kavanagh?

32:37 If Books Could Kill on Lab Leak

35:10 Popular Perceptions of the Covid Pandemic vs Reality

38:38 Debating COVID-19 Measures

38:59 Clarifying the Role of Sam's Manager

42:56 Discussing Trump, Musk, and DOGE's Political Impact

47:12 The Meaning Crisis and the Comfort of Religion

50:35 The Effects of Social Media

53:15 Matt and Chris Friendly Shadowboxing

56:19 The horror of directly stating your opinions

58:14 Sam Harris' Preparation for Conversations

01:05:02 Strategic Obliviousness

01:12:26 A little bit of TRT Discourse

01:16:17 Lex's Insufferable Tweet: Celebrating Humanity and Responding to Critics

01:18:46 The Bravery of the All In Podcast Besties

01:20:33 Elon Musk and Donald Trump: A Complex Relationship

01:23:42 Mike from PA and Dunking Safely Online

01:26:10 Scientific Racism and Controversial Podcasts

01:34:02 Paul Bloom and Subjective Redlines

01:41:10 The Neo-Nazi Smoke in the Race Realism World

01:48:36 Daniël Lakens on Bryan Johnson on Mortality Salience

01:50:16 Matt's Foodie Corner

01:52:21 Outro

The full episode is available for Patreon subscribers (1hr 54 mins).

Join us at: https://www.patreon.com/DecodingTheGurus

Sources

Shamanism and the Art of Charismatic Otherness with Manvir Singh

Sun, 08 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0100

The Decoders welcome back cognitive anthropologist Manvir Singh for a continued exploration into the social and cognitive dimensions of shamanism. Building upon their earlier conversation, this episode involves further discussion of the psychological mechanisms and cultural patterns that make shamanic practices a recurring feature across human societies. Drawing from Singh's latest book, Shamanism: The Timeless Religion (2025), the discussion addresses how these ancient practices persist and adapt in modern contexts.

Taking our standard meandering conversational journey with Manvir, we traverse topics such as whether Jesus and the Buddha were shamans, the parallels between the Siberian tundra and Silicon Valley, the potential emergence of AI-driven shamans within virtual reality environments, and whether dialogos with Hermes counts as a soul flight.

Something for all the family!

Links

Shamanism: The Timeless Religion by Manvir Singh (2025)
Prof or Hobo website
New Yorker: The President Who Became a Prophet
Our first interview with Manvir
Buckner, William. 2022. "A Deceptive Curing Practice in Hunter–Gatherer Societies" Humans 2, no. 3: 95-103. https://doi.org/10.3390/humans2030007

Trump vs. Elon: The Gurusphere Reacts

Sat, 07 Jun 2025 01:40:00 +0100

There’s been a disturbance in the Gurusphere. Two of its central objects of worship are feuding. The guru’s guru, Elon Musk, and the MAGA God-King, Donald Trump, have finally turned on each other, trading blows on social media. In this mini supplementary episode, Matt and Chris survey the shockwaves rippling through the Gurusphere as these titanic egos collide.

It’s more slapfight than substance, but that hasn’t stopped gurus and sycophants from picking sides or admiring the sheer brass balls on display. Look out for Lex Fridman’s outside-the-box solution, Eric Weinstein’s cryptic mutterings, and some hilarious takes from the comedic genius Francis Foster. Strap in. It’s petty, it’s absurd, and it’s all happening.

Trump vs. Elon: The Gurusphere Reacts

00:00 Elon and Trump

00:26 Introduction: Elon and Trump are feuding

07:10 A little bit of context

13:11 The Gurusphere reacts

14:32 O'Fallon & Lindsay saw this coming

16:01 Eric's Trademark - Both Sidesing Obscurantism

20:38 The Big Dog's Take

24:01 Lex suggests we need a podcast!

27:10 Maculinity Hot Takes

29:50 Sensemakers Take Flight

31:17 Taleb's reasonable take!

32:14 Konstantin Climbs the Ladder of Chaos

36:37 The strategic Gaadfather & Scott Adams

37:28 Tech Bros praying for peace

39:25 The Red Scare MAGA Loyalist

40:36 Conspiratorial Narcissists and their Public Feuds

45:48 Sycophantic praise heals everything

47:07 Outro

The full episode is available for Patreon subscribers (49 mins).

Join us at: https://www.patreon.com/DecodingTheGurus

Supplementary Material 30: Decoding Irish Stew, Owl Hate, and Hypothetical Avoidance

Sun, 01 Jun 2025 22:15:00 +0100

Prepare for a hearty mix of culinary tips, avoidance of hypothetical scenarios, and the usual guru grievances. Will Jordan Peterson ever admit he's a Christian? Is it ever truly possible to understand Sam Harris AND still disagree with him? And where does Joe Rogan's primal hate for owls come in? Tune in for at least some of the answers to these pressing questions in this bubbling broth of an episode.

Supplementary Material 30

00:00 Introduction and Culinary Corner

12:29 The Buddhism Book cometh

14:09 Joe Rogan on Astrology

25:22 Rogan's Christian Conversion?

32:18 Rogan on Owls...

43:09 Jordan Peterson vs 20 Atheists

48:55 Is JBP a Christian?

54:34 It depends what you mean by believe...

01:00:22 Jordan Peterson vs. hypotheticals

01:13:54 Hancock Orbiters continue to be terrible

01:19:58 Sam Harris' Business Manager is kinda bad

01:26:22 Sam is being misinterpreted again

01:35:11 The Fundamentalist Impulse

01:38:09 Post-Debate Weinstein Activity

01:40:32 Sam Harris is still mad with Ezra Klein

01:48:39 Outro

The full episode is available for Patreon subscribers (1hr 49 mins).

Join us at: https://www.patreon.com/DecodingTheGurus

Sources

- A good Irish Stew recipe

- The Buddhism Book!

- Joe Rogan Experience #2323 - Guy Fieri

- Jubilee: Jordan Peterson vs 20 Atheists | Surrounded

- Dan Richards' charming tweet to Flint

- Professor Dave: Dan Richards is a Pointless Troll

- Sam Harris' Substack: What Whataboutery?

- Sam and Ezra's email exchange

- Vox: Charles Murray is once again peddling junk science about race and IQ. Podcaster and author Sam Harris is the latest to fall for it.

Eric Weinstein vs. Sean Carroll: Pomp & Fury

Fri, 30 May 2025 09:35:00 +0100

In this medium-decoding episode, Matt and Chris turn their attention to an unlikely venue for cutting-edge theoretical physics: Piers Morgan Uncensored. There, Eric Weinstein, renegade genius and uber guru, squares off with Sean Carroll, an actual physicist and popular science communicator, in what might generously be called a “debate.”

Eric brings his usual mix of personality-focused historical revisionism, intentional technobabble, and performative outrage, complete with a conspiratorial tale of how physics was hijacked in 1983 by a single lecture (that Eric was naturally present at) and how Eric is the unacknowledged creator of Seiberg-Witten equations. Sean Carroll, meanwhile, does his best to explain in simple terms how scientific research works, what is lacking in Eric's 'theory', and why appearing on podcasts is not a replacement for publishing papers and peer review.

Expect to hear one academic earnestly trying to summarise complex scientific topics, while one culture war celebrity / professional podcast guest decries how he has been constantly maligned, silenced, misunderstood, and generally ignored by the mainstream scientific establishment. And just when you think it is all over, prepare to be astounded by Piers Morgan's ultimate argument for God...

Sources

Supplementary Material 29: Sensemaking Evolved Relationship Constellations, Woke Lucifer, and Cancerous Outrage

Sat, 24 May 2025 23:00:00 +0100

We enter the ontological in-between to try and spin up our paradigms to understand the next stage in relationship technology, the horrific damage of modern medicine, how Lucifer connects with wokeness, and the joys of bonding over outgroup hate. This one is a doozy...

Supplementary Material 28

00:00 Introduction - On Dogs and Dough

04:37 Next Required Reading: The Buddhism Book!

07:50 Jordan Peterson, James Lindsay & Woke Lucifer

15:06 Aubrey Marcus' Sensual Sensemaking

34:10 Jordan Hall's Sensemaking Origin Story

39:09 Bret and Heather discuss cancer cures

44:10 The Miracle Cure of Ivermectin

46:07 Bret denounces ALL of modern medicine

49:26 Community Notes has Fallen to Goliath!

50:11 Theo Von, GSP, and the conspiratorial hell world

58:04 Dan Bongino gets what he deserves

01:05:57 Scott Adams has prostate cancer

01:07:20 Joe Biden's Cancer and Taylor Lorenz's Edgy Responses

01:09:13 Does Joe Biden hate affordable health care?

01:13:31 Hasan joins the fray

01:19:36 Genetically Modified Skeptic denouncing outrage mongering and radicalisation

01:22:38 The totally hinged Zei Squirrel

01:24:25 Owen Jones vs Zei Squirrel

01:27:15 Unmasked by the Subreddit

01:31:42 The Heterodox Social Science Conference 2025

01:33:16 Stephen Pinker making bad choices

01:37:03 Jordan Peterson gets OUTRAGED over Harvard

01:41:13 The Anti-Establishment Two-Step

01:47:13 Outro

The full episode is available for Patreon subscribers (1hr 47 mins).

Join us at: https://www.patreon.com/DecodingTheGurus

Sources

- Next Required Reading- Buddhism: A Journey through History

- Jordan Peterson: When the Right Goes Too Far | Dr. James Lindsay | EP 544

- Jordan Peterson: A Dialogue So Dangerous, It Just Might Bring You Wisdom | John Vervaeke and Jordan Hall | EP 532

- Bret and Heather discussing cancer treatments

- Bret denounces all of modern medicine and conspiracy hypothesises about community notes

- Aubrey Marcus: A New Pattern Of Sacred Relationship Emerges | Vylana, Alana Beale, Dr. Marc Gafni

- The Hill: Patel, Bongino dismiss Epstein conspiracy theories: ‘He killed himself’

- Genetically Modified Skeptic: The Alt-Right Pipeline Almost Got Me. Here’s Why It Failed

- Taylor Lorenz's Biden cancer tweet

- Vice: Joe Biden: It Would Be an Insult to My Dead Son for Everyone to Have Healthcare

- The Biden campaign ad

- The Heterodox Social Science Conference 2025

- Jordan Peterson: Reaction to Harvard: Scam? | Dr. Jordan B. Peterson | EP 545

The All-In Podcast: How Tech Titans Besties Saved the World

Sat, 24 May 2025 13:50:00 +0100

Fresh from unbuckling their seatbelts on the Gliding Guru luxury jet and mooring the show’s mega-yacht, our decoders are feeling an unexpected surge of empathy for their last decoding subject, Gary Stevenson. It turns out that a bit of jet-lagged decadence really hones one's sensitivity to wealth inequality. Or maybe it’s just the natural response to voluntarily subjecting yourself to the truly insufferable world of the All-In podcast.

That's right, this week you can vibe to the philosophical musings of a couple of Silicon Valley moguls, Chamath Palihapitiya, David Sacks, Jason Calacanis, and David Friedberg or as they call themselves: the Dictator, the Rainman, the Moderator, and the Sultan (yes, really).

Revel in their tales of private jets, $500K club memberships, and their noble quest to cut food stamps while engaging in hyper-elitist MAGA cheerleading. Plug in for a first-class tour through cognitive dissonance, private-jet populism, and your regular prescription of alternative media grievance mongering and conspiracy hypothesising.

Perfect for anyone who enjoys listening to the top 0.01% share their insights and deep connection with the common man's struggles. Enjoy... because we certainly did not!

Sources

Supplementary Material 28: The Ultimate Geometric Unifying Cognitive-Theoretic Iceberg

Fri, 16 May 2025 12:10:00 +0100

We exercise our ethnographic muscles as we revel in the esoteric dynamics of Australian Pool Culture, the mysteries of Eric Weinstein's theories as revealed by Curt Jaimungal, and the contradictions of MAGA cultists.

Supplementary Material 28

00:00 Matt's Ethnography of Australian Swimming Culture

06:19 Pool Etiquette and Social Dynamics

08:46 Mutual Humiliation and Blackmail

08:51 Reciprocal Humiliation

12:01 Patreon Question of the Week

13:37 Curt Jaimungal explores Geometric Unity

19:12 The Weinsteinian Iceberg

26:38 Eric's Response to Curt

28:40 A potential doomsday device?

29:55 The wisdom of genuine seekers

35:00 The Pseudo Profundity Mask

38:19 Pandering to anti-'mainstream' science audiences

40:37 Earnest Fans

43:54 Passive consumption at YouTube University

46:21 Independent Learning and the Pitfalls of Self-Taught Knowledge

49:53 The Illusion of Easy Learning

56:00 Credentials vs. Actual Knowledge

59:46 Media Criticism & the Fifth Column

01:02:47 Priorities in the Media Business

01:04:29 Why is strong criticism so taboo?

01:08:25 Brand Building in the Alternative Media

01:12:02 Batya joins the Fifth Column

01:16:37 Debating Tariffs

01:22:46 A rare instance of REAL disagreement in alternative media!

01:25:58 Sensitive MAGA Cultist Sycophancy

01:32:10 The Working Class don't want iPhones

01:41:06 Outro

The full episode is available for Patreon subscribers (1hr 43 mins).

Join us at: https://www.patreon.com/DecodingTheGurus

Sources

- The Fifth Column #502 - The Second Battle of Batya (w/ Batya Ungar-Sargon)

- The Fifth Column #503 - Mea Minima Culpa

- The Fifth Column Members Only #258 - We Don't Talk About Fight Club (Mostly)

- Curt Jaimungal - Eric Weinstein's Theory of Everything "Geometric Unity" Explained

- Curt Jaimungal - Chris Langan: The Most In-Depth Interview with the World's Smartest Man

- Eric's Twitter response to Curt

- Josh Rogin's (mild) criticism of Bill Maher

Gurometer: Gary Stevenson

Sat, 10 May 2025 03:20:00 +0100

The podcast arrives at 'late stage' Gary discourse as Matt and Chris attempt to enter the man, the myth, and the legend, Gary Stevenson, into a reductive classification system (that once again includes no mention of inequality). The gurometer was not built to handle this level of elite education and trading acumen, and has often been dismissed by arrogant elites due to its scrappy nature and lack of fancy credentials... but it persists. Just remember, an attack on the Gurometer is ultimately an attack on you, your family, and all you hold dear.

Sources

The full episode is available for Patreon subscribers (47 mins).

Join us at: https://www.patreon.com/DecodingTheGurus

Gurometer of Gary

01:02 Gary Stevenson: Other Opinions

07:31 Gary's Wealth Tax Proposal

12:21 Guru Features and Scoring

13:11 Galaxy Brainness

15:34 Cultishness

18:04 Anti-Establishmentarianism

20:04 Grievance Mongering

23:15 Self Aggrandisement and Narcissism

24:25 Cassandra Complex

25:40 Revolutionary Theories

28:12 Pseudo Profound Bullshit

30:07 Conspiracy Mongering

32:21 Excessive Profiteering

34:24 Moral Grandstanding

36:14 Guru Scoring and Analysis

37:34 Quick Fire Guru Bonus Points

40:37 Matt's confusing Binary Measure

Gary Stevenson: The People's Economist

Sun, 04 May 2025 10:20:00 +0100

In this episode, Matt and Chris take a look at one of the UK’s most compelling economic crusaders: Gary Stevenson, aka Gary’s Economics. A millionaire trader turned YouTube firebrand, Gary’s message is simple and potent: wealth inequality is spiralling, the ultra-rich are hoarding everything, and economists and politicians are either complicit or clueless.

Gary’s story has all the trappings of a mythic arc: from humble East London roots to Citibank’s trading floor, where he made millions betting against the poor during the financial crisis. Now he claims the system is so broken that only someone like him, working class and mathematically gifted, someone who entered the high-power world of financial trading and took on the system, could see it. As Gary puts it, a sort of economic Copernicus, who brought a revolutionary message that was dismissed by a stultifying orthodoxy.

With his righteous critique comes a hefty dose of swagger, whether it is in considering himself like a Usain Bolt of trading or in the frequent laments about how exhausting it is to be a lone voice of truth facing bad-faith hit pieces. Gary straddles an odd tension: self-effacing underdog one moment, saviour-on-a-soapbox the next. He rails against academia, dismisses journalists as clickbait merchants, and urges people not to heed critics, due to their ulterior motives.

Our hosts explore the contradictions of a millionaire revolutionary who's not even bothered but also a bit miffed the phone isn’t ringing; a tireless advocate for the poor but also someone who seems to frequently drop in his elite credentials and just how rich he is.

So strap in for a deep dive into charisma, critique, and class warfare economics. Is Gary the economic truth-teller we need, or a populist guru-in-the-making with revolutionary zeal and a finely tuned YouTube brand?

Sources

Gary's Economics- Understand the Economy Part 3: Why is Inequality Ignored?
Gary's Economics- Signing off: How close are we to winning higher taxes on the rich?
Novara Media- Everything They Tell You About the Economy is WRONG | Aaron Meets Gary Stevenson
Gary Stevenson (2024). The Trading Game: A Confession
Financial Times: Gary Stevenson claims to have been the best trader in the world. His old colleagues disagree
Financial Times: He made millions betting against economic recovery. Now he wants to fix things
The Daily Mail's hit piece on Gary
Reddit thread discussing Gary's Thesis
Plain Bagel - The Canadian Housing Crisis Explained
Patrick Boyle on the Pandemic Real Estate Bubble
Asianometry on an interesting historical case when radical appropriation of wealth worked
Economics Explained on the generational effects on wealth inequality
Stansbury, A., & Schultz, R. (2023). The economics profession’s socioeconomic diversity problem. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 37(4), 207-230.

Influential economists focused on inequality and arguing for a wealth tax (as well as other things)

Supplementary Material 27: Joe Rogan vs. Douglas Murray vs. Sam Harris vs. DTG

Fri, 25 Apr 2025 06:00:00 +0100

We immerse ourselves in the dark waves of the discourse to bring you treasures beyond mere mortal ken.

Supplementary Material 27

00:00 Introduction & Australian Holidays

03:53 James Lindsay's New Revelations

07:20 Michael O'Fallon's Conspiracy Hipsterism

09:41 Trump, Bukele, and Transparent Conspiracies

11:53 The Whitehouse declares the Lab Leak is a FACT

14:42 The conspiracy leak treadmill: UFOs, RFK assassination, and lableak

21:26 The Rise of the Idiots: Grimes on Transformers Cinematography

29:17 Lex vs. Flint: The mask slips

33:21 The Iron Curtain falls on Lex's Subreddit

35:18 Subreddit Moderation Choices

41:46 Douglas Murray on Joe Rogan

46:36 Darryl Cooper's Nazi Apologetics, the Role of Experts and JAQs

57:25 Strategic Disclaimers & Convincing Apologetics

01:03:28 The Rogansphere and Media Power

01:07:30 Murray on the Lab Leak

01:12:19 Murray's Anti-Establishment Hypocrisy

01:19:10 Standards in Journalism

01:22:42 Alternative Media's Double Standards

01:28:33 Douglas Murray joins Sam Harris

01:29:26 The Psychology of Religious Extremism

01:36:04 Radicalisation and Extremism

01:41:24 Murray's 'Criticism' of MAGA

01:44:32 What is even the Right Wing?

01:55:11 What about Elon Musk?

02:05:40 AfD isn't that bad, and Elon has promoted Douglas too!

02:16:10 Rogan and the Moon Landing

02:17:16 Sam is still a bad judge of character

02:19:29 Isn't everyone a hypocrite?

02:23:16 Free Speech Debates

02:26:58 The role of Moderation

02:31:37 Outro

The full episode is available for Patreon subscribers (2hr 32 mins).

Join us at: https://www.patreon.com/DecodingTheGurus

Sources

Michael Shellenberger: Conspiratorial Propaganda

Fri, 18 Apr 2025 22:00:00 +0100

In this episode, Matt and Chris pour themselves a stiff drink and slip into the fever‑dream crossover of Jordan Peterson and Michael Shellenberger, a conversation that opens with the claim that Western Europe is now the single greatest threat to free speech; yes, croissants and GDPR apparently out‑authoritarian China and Russia. According to Shellenberger, we can now rest safe as free speech has been restored and “America Is Back!” thanks to God-Emperor Trump and the living avatar of honest utterance, Elon 'Horus' Musk.

Our hosts marvel as Shellenberger insists USAID is a rogue soft‑power leviathan that somehow staged January 6th, sabotaged the 2020 election, and deserves to be nuked from orbit... although he can’t quite prove any of that YET. Alongside the conspiratorial drivel there is also a heavy serving of Peterson's obscurantist mythicism and dinner‑party anthropology as he explains how Hungary is a model democracy, the US nation beset by parasites, and that this is all inevitably connected to how people are not paying enough attention to Jesus.

But that is not all! You will also learn about Manly Men vs. Gentlemen, Musk’s “move fast and break government” ethos, and the revelation that free speech is not a nice‑to‑have but a must‑have—unless you are a lawyer, journalist, or student on the wrong side of the Trump administration.

So buckle up for an hour of dystopian déjà vu, as two self‑styled rebel intellectuals morph into state propagandists, cheerleading every single action of Trump and Musk while lecturing the rest of us on free thought.

Sources

Decoding the Uncomfortable Conversations with Josh Szeps

Wed, 16 Apr 2025 07:11:00 +0100

In this stunning crossover episode, Matt and Chris are joined by Australian 'media personality' and podcast host Josh Szeps for a joyful discussion of podcasts, gurusphere, and general media dynamics. As you might imagine, we discuss issues around the heterodox sphere, cultures of criticism, and the issues involved with 'platforming' controversial figures. We discuss the constantly surprising popularity of Lex Fridman and his unique interview style, how the heterodox respond to criticism, and rampant hypocrisy. Also, Matt is finally held to account for his food takes, and we find out the real story behind the Olympic mascot, Olly the Kookaburra.

Sources

Josh's Substackistan podcast

Supplementary Material 26: Flint Dibble Interview, Bonding over Outgroup Hate, and Manly Sycophancy

Sun, 13 Apr 2025 00:30:00 +0100

We project our insecurities onto the gurusphere, wallowing in our inadequacy to bond over shared hatred of outgroups, and interview Flint Dibble along the way.

Supplementary Material 26

00:00 Introduction and Greetings

01:53 Ol' Squeaky and Lex's horny poems

05:11 Eric Weinstein is still waiting for the call

09:26 Interview with Flint Dibble

11:05 Introduction and Catching Up

12:19 Joe Rogan and Public Perception

14:57 Hypocrisy and Slander

16:05 Graham Hancock and Neo-Nazi Connections

22:08 Upcoming Exposé on Joe Rogan

23:03 Pyramids of Giza: New Claims

24:45 Debunking the Mega Structures Theory

25:20 The Researchers Behind the Claims

28:21 Scientific Methods and Evidence

31:58 Conclusion on Pyramids and Science

35:13 Gurusphere Dynamics

37:47 Pseudo-Archaeology and Public Perception

46:11 Mr. Beast's Egypt Adventure

50:36 The Role of Pseudo-Archaeology in Conspiracy Theories

58:50 Post-Interview Discussion

59:53 Trump's Tariffs and Economic Impact

01:04:30 The Amazing Tariff Formula

01:09:45 Geoffrey Miller's 9D Chess Theory of the Tariffs

01:13:30 Contrapoints Conspiracy Video

01:14:55 Some things Matt will not mention on Tariffs

01:17:35 QAnon Anonymous on Graham Hancock

01:22:33 Some Other News covers Joe Rogan

01:30:13 Ryan Beard's Destiny Content Nuke

01:32:33 The Studies Show covers Conspiracies

01:33:53 Hasan argues for tariffs

01:37:40 Back to Rogan and Chris Williamson

01:39:21 Critically Reviewing Cory Clark's Study

01:47:58 Incestuous Bro Podcasts and Legacy Media Struggles

01:53:00 Bonding over outgroup hatred and Criticism Capture

02:02:04 USAid is funding the attacks on Tesla!

02:07:56 Trump's Badass Son humilates Biden

02:10:28 Tribal Hypocrisy

02:11:52 Joe Smashes All Your Paradigms!

02:14:59 The villain, Sam Harris criticizes the hero, Lex Fridman

02:20:18 Does Lex speak to EVERYONE?

02:23:44 Concluding Thoughts from Maladjusted Haters

The full episode is available for Patreon subscribers (2hr 25 mins).

Join us at: https://www.patreon.com/DecodingTheGurus

Sources

Archaeology with Flint Dibble- Megastructures under Giza Pyramids⁉️ ARCHAEOLOGY REWRITTEN or viral 💩?
Piers Morgan episode with Flint and Milo Rossi
Joe Rogan Experience #2293 - Chris Williamson
QAnon Anonymous: Graham Hancock’s Ancient Apocalypse (E318)
Contrapoints: Conspiracy
The Studies Show: Conspiracy Theories
What "Happened" To Joe Rogan? - SOME MORE NEWS
Men's Health: Joe Rogan Responds to the Controversy Surrounding His 'Endorsement' of Bernie Sanders
Ryan Beard: Content Nuke Destiny
Hasan making a progressive case for tariffs
Sam Harris' recent podcast criticising Lex and Rogan
Lex's wounded bird response to Sam Harris' criticism
Clark, C. J., Fjeldmark, M., Lu, L., Baumeister, R. F., Ceci, S., Frey, K., ... & Tetlock, P. E. (2024). Taboos and self-censorship among US psychology professors. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 17456916241252085.

Lex Fridman & Douglas Murray: The Wise Man from the Land of Peace

Sun, 06 Apr 2025 09:00:00 +0100

In this very special decoding, Matt and Chris revisit the wisdom of the internet’s favourite philosopher-warrior/political theorist, Lex Fridman, as he dives once again into the complex realities of the Ukraine war. Joining Lex is IDW hero and conservative commentator Douglas Murray, who actually offers some sensible insights on the specific topic of Ukraine. Fear not, though, Lex ensures his signature 'non-partisan' approach remains intact, framing Zelensky as a potentially corrupt leader who is emotionally driven, and responsible for prolonging the conflict to evade the inevitable investigations. Meanwhile, Putin remains a tragically misunderstood patriot whose greatest crime is that he loves his country a little too much.

Lex is in rare form, reaching new heights of weaponised naiveté, and bravely defending himself against the legions of online "grifters, drama-farmers, liars, bots, sycophants, and sociopaths." Expect generous servings of geopolitical delusions, questionable polemics, and heartfelt serenades to Joe Rogan—all delivered with Lex’s characteristic humility and wisdom as a love-filled Man of Peace. We are genuinely sorry to drag you back into Lex's world, but someone has to keep an eye on his Ukraine takes.

Sources

Supplementary Material 25: Ancient Pyramids, Sesame Street Monsters, & MORE Lab Leak Discourse

Mon, 31 Mar 2025 00:30:00 +0100

We embrace our hybridity, stare down Lovecraftian Donkey-Dragon hybrids, and enter into true Dialogos.

Supplementary Material 25

01:06 DTG Grievance Mongering

02:25 Book Club Reflections

04:09 Important Health and Lifestyle Updates

09:51 Andrew Huberman's Trail of Death

17:14 Jeff Bezos and Media Control

25:04 Another exciting round of Lab Leak Discourse!

31:17 Scientific Evidence vs. Public Discourse

38:28 Matt and Chris' Respectful Debate

44:05 Rewriting of Covid History

47:04 Conspiracies and Political Pressure

50:40 Eric Weinstein is STILL Waiting for the Call

59:41 Pageau considers the Lovecraftian Horrors of Sesame Street

01:07:17 Sarah Haider (Re)Invents 'Pioneer Traditionalism'

01:11:36 Chris Williamson's annual pilgrimage to the Khan

01:12:37 Fact Checking Bullshit with Eric Weinstein

01:17:16 Breathless Reactions to New Pyramid Theories

01:22:59 Credulity Checking with Matt's Son

01:24:40 Cruel Racist Attacks on Poor Graham Hancock from the Devil Flint Dibble

01:31:44 The Insane Hypocrisy of Alternative Media: Corrupt Academics are being controlled!

01:37:21 Soaring Rhetoric, Petty Tribalism, and Obvious Hypocrisy

01:39:19 No Charity for evil Flint Dibble

01:43:35 Outro

The full episode is available for Patreon subscribers (1hr 46 mins).

Join us at: https://www.patreon.com/DecodingTheGurus

Sources

Mini Decoding: Back in the K-Hole

Sat, 29 Mar 2025 05:00:00 +0100

In this very special episode, Matt and Chris, despite swearing off any further Dr. K content after their previous three-part series, find themselves bleary-eyed and once again tumbling into the familiar depths of the K-Hole.

Yes, they’re back with Dr. K, everyone’s favourite enlightened Twitch non-therapy therapist, now emerging from a self-declared midlife crisis with some powerful new revelations. Chief among them: while enlightenment may not technically be for sale, you can certainly pay to “level up your propensity for it.”

After years of humble-bragging about undercharging for his mental health guides, Dr. K has boldly pivoted to defending high-priced spiritual initiations. If you thought enlightenment involved effort, introspection, and maybe a bit of humility, think again—it turns out you can outsource your spiritual growth to a guru, who will do the grinding for you. Great news for Elon Musk.

Join Matt and Chris as they machete their way through a jungle of surreal analogies—landscaping contracts, parental down payments, Bluetooth enlightenment, and monetised spiritual energy transfer—all in service of a worldview where the real obstacle to self-actualisation is your reluctance to wire $10,000 to a spiritually enriched craftsman for a golden amulet.

So fill up your chakras, empty your critical thinking cup, and enjoy this trip through the mystic marketplace—where your spiritual awakening is just one overpriced relic away.

Links

Gurometer: Naomi Klein

Sun, 23 Mar 2025 08:00:00 +0100

In the wake of our Naomi Klein episode, the masses have spoken. And like the responsible Gurometricians that we are, we've taken your feedback to heart and thus open this episode with a series of scientific and spiritual recitations. Then it's straight back into the sweet science—and mystical art—of Gurometry, as we test how well it measures up to Naomi Klein’s anti-capitalist spirit. Fun for the whole family!

P.S. Don't worry—Chris Langan’s Gurometer has not been forgotten and will be arriving very soon!

The full episode is available for Patreon subscribers (1hr 4 mins).

Join us at: https://www.patreon.com/DecodingTheGurus

Gurometer: Naomi Klein

00:00 Introduction

01:29 Sponsor Shoutouts!

03:29 Naomi Klein Feedback

05:03 Podcast Format Limitations and Reading the Book!

11:37 Consistency in Standards of Evaluation

20:21 Evaluating the Arguments Independent of the Conclusions

24:53 The Importance of Disconfirming Evidence

26:28 Differing Definitions Cross-Culturally

29:36 The Gurometer

29:59 Galaxy Brainness

32:03 Cultishness

34:02 Anti-Establishmentarianism

38:12 Grievance Mongering

38:55 Self-Aggrandizement

41:29 Cassandra Complex

44:06 Revolutionary Theories

46:53 Pseudo Profound Bullshit

49:25 Conspiracy Mongering

53:57 Excessive Profiteering

54:48 Moral Grandstanding

56:04 Final Scores and Reflections

58:52 Quickfire Guru Bonus Points

Naomi Klein: It was Neoliberal Capitalism all along!

Sat, 15 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +0100

In this episode, your favourite neoliberal Decoder shills take a break from managing the decline of late-stage capitalism to examine the insights of famed writer and renegade activist Naomi Klein. The focus is her latest literary offering, Doppelganger, where Klein wrestles with the existential dread of being confused with Naomi Wolf and uses that mix-up as a gateway to explore the "Mirror World" of conspiracy theories and online gurus (a landscape our listeners know all too well).

Along the way, Matt and Chris discover Klein's views on Steve Bannon's dubious charm (and what percentage he gets right), the cause of Russell Brand's descent, the real agenda behind conspiracy theories, and why neoliberal capitalism remains the root of all evil. Plus, special guest interviewer Ryan Grim parachutes to 'just ask questions' about the lab leak, vaccine side effects and other forbidden topics that the people were not allowed to talk about!

So, whether you’re a champagne socialist, a crypto libertarian, a neoliberal shill, or just here for the popcorn, join Matt and Chris as they parse Klein’s content and consider: is Klein speaking truth to power, or just preaching to the choir?

Sources

Special Supplementary Material: Two Psychologists, One Anthropologist, Three Beers

Sat, 08 Mar 2025 08:30:00 +0100

In this special quasi-crossover episode, we stare deeply into the abyss while enjoying a beverage with renowned psychologist and occasional podcast co-host, Mickey Inzlicht.

P.S. The Decoding of Naomi Klein is coming next week!

Two Psychologists, One Anthropologist, Three Beers

00:27 Introduction

05:57 Mickey's Sabbatical in Japan

12:13 Sensemaking 3.0

25:25 Francis Foster's Bizarre Podcast Roast

34:38 Sabine Hossenfelder thinks Academia is Communism

36:11 The Irony of YouTube Incentives

39:34 Proper Criticisms of Academia

43:28 Is Academia Centrally Planned?

46:24 Culture War Pandering

53:53 Entering the Matt-rix

55:00 In Bed with the Russians notices the Red Scare Wounded Bird Pose

01:00:03 On the etiquette of Replications

01:06:17 Academic Debates on the Effect of Culture on Visual Illusions: Joe Henrich vs. Amir & Firestone

01:11:18 The Legend of Captain Cook: Sahlins vs Obeyesekere

01:12:58 Ideas vs People: Sarah Haider, Colin Wright and an epidemic of hypocrisy

01:17:19 Admitting Mistakes and Research Integrity

01:24:38 Interpersonal Relationships vs. Adversarial Systems

01:33:24 Wastage in Academia

01:39:49 Elon Musk, Pregnancy, and Modern Cults

01:49:01 Signing Off

The full episode is available for Patreon subscribers (1hr 51 mins).

Join us at: https://www.patreon.com/DecodingTheGurus

Sources

Mickey's Substack: Speak Now, Regret Later
Inzlicht, M., Cameron, C. D., D’Cruz, J., & Bloom, P. (2024). In praise of empathic AI. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 28(2), 89-91.Chicago. And a summary article by Mickey!
Bad Boys Done Good vs Triggernometry host Francis Foster
Sabine Hossenfelder - Should we defund academia?
Alexander Beiner - From Rebel Wisdom to Kainos
Joe Henrich's thread responding to the Dorsa and Chaz paper
Chris' old blog on Captain Cook and the second part
Amir, D., & Firestone, C. (2025, January 25). Is visual perception WEIRD? The Müller-Lyer illusion and the Cultural Byproduct Hypothesis. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/y7mtf
In Bed with the Russians - Red Scared

Supplementary Material 24: Dialogos with Greek Gods, the Metaphysics of Pepe, and Red-Pilled Embarrassment

Fri, 28 Feb 2025 08:00:00 +0100

Chris and Matt confront their inner demons, manifest their personal deities, and dive into the Onto-Logos.

Supplementary Material 24

00:00 Introduction

02:32 Matt's Surprise Shaming

06:39 Jordan Peterson's Inner Monologue Revealed

10:04 Trump on Ukraine

15:22 Sean Carroll explains US cuts to science funding

16:47 Bleak Prospects for the US

24:14 Aella vs. Arrogant Red Pill Man

37:22 Be wary of Overcorrecting

43:11 John Vervaeke meets Hermes

52:59 False Dichotomies of the Spirit

01:03:38 Entering into Dialogos with Matt's Inner Darwin

01:07:39 Perspectival and participatory phenomenological identity transformation.

01:09:20 Other ways of knowing spirits

01:13:45 Materialists and their Monological Mindsets

01:18:37 Welcome to the Onto-Logos

01:24:06 Bad Faith Commenters

01:29:35 Pageau and the Metaphysics of Pepe the Frog

01:36:32 Next Book Review: Other Minds

The full episode is available for Patreon subscribers (1hr 41 mins).

Join us at: https://www.patreon.com/DecodingTheGurus

Sources

Supplementary Material 23: Content Shark Psychology, Rorschach Tweets, and the Art of Radicalisation

Sat, 22 Feb 2025 09:00:00 +0100

Chris and Matt have their models exploded, the maps ripped up, and their minds blown as the Gurusphere expands into exciting new territory.

Supplementary Material 23

02:47 Chris Williamson blows our minds!

08:57 Content Predator psychology and motivational posting

12:28 Balancing the Scales

14:07 Eric Weinstein the master of Rorschach Tweets

20:26 Modern Sages Reunited: Bret Weinstein and Joe Rogan

24:29 Open-Minded Joe Rogan

34:26 Maybe prescriptions are actually bad!

37:38 Andrew Gold expands into Race & IQ

46:47 4 Warning Signs of Radicalism

56:45 Monomaniacal Fixation vs. Pluralism

01:05:26 Rejoinder: What if it is a diagnostic?

01:09:43 Lex wants to join DOGE

01:10:31 Lex's next world leader interview: Modi

01:14:57 Matt's Final Thought: People contain multitudes

01:16:57 Outro

The full episode is available for Patreon subscribers (1hrs 19 mins).

Join us at: https://www.patreon.com/DecodingTheGurus

Sources

Eric Weinstein's profound tweet on history as we know it
The Joe Rogan Experience#2269- Bret Weinstein
Andrew Gold Heretics: CONTROVERSIAL: Are Some Races DUMBER? - Nathan Cofnas (4K)
Lex wistfully imagines joining DOGE and thinks deeply about his upcoming interview with Modi
Recent investigation of 'Race Realist' networks and outlets
Kruglanski, A. W., & Moskalenko, S. (2025). Psychology of the Extreme. Taylor & Francis.

Chris Langan: The Smartest Person in the World with a 200 IQ!

Fri, 21 Feb 2025 09:00:00 +0100

In this episode, Matt finally gets his revenge on Chris by dragging him deep into the eccentric world of Chris Langan—the self-proclaimed possessor of a 200 IQ and creator of The Cognitive Theoretic Model of the Universe, yet another grand unifying theory of everything. Langan presents himself as an intellectual titan, offering mathematical, social, religious, and philosophical insights so profound that mere mortals can barely grasp them.

Prepare to have the mysteries of the universe, God, anti-God, angels, and demons unveiled. Consciousness, determinism, and free will? All finally explained. But that’s not all—somehow, it all connects to globalist plots, election conspiracies, vaccines, UFOs, and, of course, the devil pulling the strings.

Join us for conservative pundit Michael Knowles’ therapy session with one of his idols-a man who reassures him that he is a very smart boy and that his fundamentalist Christian beliefs are, in fact, completely correct.

If you thought Eric Weinstein was something, imagine him cranked up to 12. That’s Chris Langan...

Also... get ready for Matt's double down on his Aussie food takes.

Links

Decoding Academia 32: Do Babies REALLY like good guys?

Thu, 20 Feb 2025 06:15:00 +0100

In this episode, Matt and Chris take a look at a recent developmental psychology paper on the social evaluation of young babies. Do they display a preference for agents who are nice to others or could they care less at the babbling age? This is a large-scale, multi-lab, preregistered replication effort of a rather influential paper so it ticks all of Chris' Open Science boxes, but how does Matt react? Is he stuck in his pre-replication crisis paradigms? Join us to find out and along the way find out about baby Matt's psychotic tendencies, how cats feel about cucumbers, and how Matt narrowly escaped being eaten by a big ol' crocodile.

Paper Reference: Lucca, K., Yuen, F., Wang, Y., Alessandroni, N., Allison, O., Alvarez, M., ... & Hamlin, J. K. (2025). Infants’ Social Evaluation of Helpers and Hinderers: A Large‐Scale, Multi‐Lab, Coordinated Replication Study. Developmental Science, 28(1), e13581.

Original Study: Hamlin, J. K., Wynn, K., & Bloom, P. (2007). Social evaluation by preverbal infants. Nature, 450(7169), 557-559.

Decoding Academia 32

00:00 Introduction

00:59 Matt's Close Shave with a Crocodile

03:15 Discussion on Crocodile Behavior

05:13 Introduction to the Academic Paper

06:18 Understanding Registered Reports

07:49 Details of the Replication Study

12:07 The Many Babies Study

18:23 Challenges in Developmental Psychology

20:35 Original Study and Replication Efforts

26:27 HARKing and the QRP problem in psychology

34:24 Discussing the Results

36:58 Exploring the Red Ball Experiment

39:38 Forest Plot Analysis

41:19 Infant Preferences and Social Evaluation

43:24 Failure to Replicate the Original Study

47:06 Exploratory Analysis and Moderators

50:03 Interpretations and Implications

54:21 Evolutionary Perspectives on Social Behavior

58:34 Prosocial Evolutionary Speculation

01:05:10 Psychopathic Baby Matt

01:06:28 Concluding Thoughts and Reflections

01:11:20 Comparative Psychology on Snake Hatred!

The full episode is available for Patreon subscribers (1hrs 15 mins).

Join us at: https://www.patreon.com/DecodingTheGurus

Supplementary Material 22: Tim Tams, Nazi Salutes, and AI Demonology

Wed, 12 Feb 2025 21:45:00 +0100

We immerse ourselves in the Dark Side of the Gurusphere and come out forever altered by what we've seen and praying for an escape from this demon-haunted world.

00:00 Introduction

01:38 Reverse Culture Shock in Australia

11:01 Tim Tams and Food Progress

12:14 Russia Today endorses Lex's statements on Zelensky

19:20 Elon Musk's Controversial Gesture

38:31 Destiny's (Most Recent) Controversy

01:02:12 Bryan Johnson vs. Andrew Huberman: Civility Insights

01:14:21 Sacriligeous Sycophancy: Bill Ackman and Sam Altman

01:15:55 Jonathan Pageau's Stargate Theories

01:26:52 Escaping the Demon-Haunted World

The full episode is available for Patreon subscribers (1hrs 30 mins).

Join us at: https://www.patreon.com/DecodingTheGurus

Sources

Gurometer: Peter Thiel *Patreon Preview"

Tue, 11 Feb 2025 01:00:00 +0100

'Tis a New Year (sort of), and amidst all the chaos in the world, we thought we'd offer a small glimmer of light by making this Patreon episode available to everyone! If you enjoy it, consider joining us on Patreon—or not, it's your call!

In this episode, Matt and Chris scry through the portents and ponder the apocalyptic insights of the tech and finance titan Peter Thiel. We all know that Thiel is an urbane gentleman of great refinement with a collection of revolutionary ideas but does he make the Gurometer sing? Tune in to find out—and, as a bonus, learn more than you ever wanted to know about the intricacies of academic grading systems.

Peter Thiel: The Techno-Apocalypse is Nigh

Tue, 04 Feb 2025 13:30:00 +0100

In this episode, Matt and Chris tackle the big ideas—or at least the ones rattling around in Peter Thiel’s mind. Tech billionaire, venture capitalist, and political kingmaker, Thiel has long been a looming figure in Silicon Valley, known for his deep pockets, contrarian takes, and peculiar philosophical musings. But beneath the surface-level libertarian posturing, what does Thiel actually believe? And does it hold up to scrutiny?

The decoders dig into Thiel’s recent interview on Uncommon Knowledge, where he waxes biblical about end times, interprets the katechon with all the confidence of a medieval theologian, and seamlessly blends venture capitalism with prophecies of the Antichrist.

Along the way, they explore Thiel’s method of connecting historical dots with pure vibes, and his Jetsons Fallacy, the deep disappointment that the world looks more like The Office than a 1960s vision of the future. They dissect the Sensemaker Aristocracy surrounding him—with its reverent back-patting and strange mix of deference and obfuscation that turns tech moguls into prophets. They also highlight Thiel’s bizarre leaps in logic, from citing biblical prophecies to warning about one-world free-trade Communist government conspiracies and his confusing stance on technological progress—simultaneously lamenting stagnation while fearing we’re racing too fast toward Armageddon.

Of course, no billionaire worldview would be complete without some COVID conspiracies, and Thiel delivers, crafting an elaborate Fauci Bioweapon Paradox in which the pandemic response was simultaneously overblown and also secretly justified because the virus was (obviously) engineered.

So is Peter Thiel a visionary? A libertarian Cassandra? Or just a very wealthy man with a lot of half-formed ideas and a habit of mumbling them into microphones? Matt and Chris wade through the mess so you don’t have to. Stay till the end for the Revolutionary Leprechaun Theory of Western Civilization… if you dare.

Links

The Wounded Bird Lex Fridman vs. The Evil Ukrainian Bot Farms

Wed, 22 Jan 2025 09:00:00 +0100

In this episode, we look at a recently released segment by Lex Fridman, where he reflects on his interview with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

We examine Lex’s self-presentation as a Christ-like figure—someone who is willing to suffer, feign naivety and ignorance, and even risk his life in the name of world peace—all while maintaining an eight-hour daily study regimen and enduring relentless, unfair attacks from Ukrainian bot farms and war-loving critics.

Like true sensemakers, we also entertain an outlandish alternative hypothesis: what if Lex is, in fact, an arrogant and biased podcaster—dismissive of criticism, oblivious to his political leanings, and adopting a “wounded bird” persona to elicit sympathy from his audience?

Join us as we sift through the Zelensky's (supposed) failures, the bot farms, and the wounded bird theatrics to determine whether Lex is a hero for peace—or just another podcaster lost in his own narrative.

Sources

Supplementary Material 21: The emergency snake, thought = secularised prayer, and Love and War

Fri, 10 Jan 2025 07:00:00 +0100

It's 2025, and the Gurusphere shows no signs of slowing down—so here we are, diving into some grim crossovers. This time, the bro-optimiser Andrew Huberman has teamed up with the chaos dragon himself, Jordan Peterson. Meanwhile, the ever-affectionate Lex Fridman finally scored an interview with Zelensky. Bret, however, remains preoccupied with Goliath's ongoing PsyOps.

P.S. Matt broke his dongle so he's on the AirPods, we will be back to proper audio setup next episode.

Supplementary Material 21

00:00 Introduction and Farewell to America

01:43 Memorable Encounters and Experiences

03:48 Oldering & the Destruction of the Self

08:35 The American Understander Issues his Verdict

12:07 The Pageau Brothers, Jesus' Laugh & The Emergency Snake

19:01 Bryan Johnson has concerns about Vaccines

21:48 The High IQ Crowd and Trump's Greenland Plans

27:44 The PsyOps Cyclops Strikes Again

37:15 Huberman X Peterson: Optimising Christianity

39:22 Secret Prayers and Bible Conversations

43:34 Thougt = Secularised Prayer

48:56 Huberman's Intelligent Design Argument for God

55:49 Christian Optimising Stack

01:07:56 Marc Andreessen on Vigor, Pride and Achievement

01:13:30 Faux Heterodoxy

01:19:24 Plain Steaks are the best!

01:24:47 Jordan Peterson's Diet Struggles

01:32:25 Lex Fridman's Interview with Zelensky

01:37:52 Lex plugs Rogan's comedy club

01:41:09 Elon Musk and Trump are anti-corruption!

01:44:27 Critique of Lex Fridman's Interview Style

01:46:07 Lex's dream and Russia's security guarantees

01:53:25 Lex's Strategic Naivety

02:05:12 Lex reads A LOT

02:11:40 Lex and Putin predictions

02:12:39 Lex will endure the attacks against him

02:14:56 Wrapping Up & Patreon Love Bomb

The full episode is available for Patreon subscribers (2hrs 16 mins).

Join us at: https://www.patreon.com/DecodingTheGurus

Sources

Gurometer: Curtis Yarvin

Thu, 02 Jan 2025 09:00:00 +0100

Back once again with the dark art of Gurometry, we turn our sights to the bad boy of Silicon Valley—the mulleted maestro, the edgy eejit, Curtis Yarvin. A legend in his own mind, but how does he rank on the Gurosity scale? Join us as we dissect his essence across 11 factors, from his revolutionarily mundane and incoherent ideas to his dazzling absence of charisma. Tune in as we feed this 'dark enlightenment' thinker into the Gurometer and reveal his true colours.

The full episode is available for Patreon subscribers (34 mins).

Join us at: https://www.patreon.com/DecodingTheGurus

Curtis Yarvin: Gurometer

00:00 Introduction to Gurometry

02:27 Curtis Yarvin: The Man, The Myth, The Eejit

04:43 Galaxy Brainlessness

05:48 Cultishness

08:32 Anti-Establishmentarianism

09:55 Grievance Mongering

12:43 Self-Aggrandizement and Narcissism

13:30 Cassandra Complex

16:21 Revolutionary Theories

17:59 Pseudo-Profound Bullshit

19:43 Conspiracy Theories Galore

23:55 Moral Grandstanding

25:50 Gurometer Scores and Analysis

27:56 Bonus Point Attribution

34:03 Final Thoughts on Curtis Yarvin

Supplementary Material 20: Stolen Valour, Based Murder, and Eric Weinstein's Phonecall Problems

Fri, 27 Dec 2024 06:00:00 +0100

In this end-of-year supplementary material, we unleash the hounds of war, battle through the discourse, and emerge alive but bloody and battered on the other side. Enlist now and join the fight.

Supplementary Material 20

00:00 Introduction and Ethnographic Insights

01:38 Matt's Observations from Washington DC

05:50 Smithsonian Museums and Star Wars Memorabilia

07:48 Lego Creations and Gacha Collectibles

12:13 Social Media and Blue Sky 'Culture'

13:29 Matt's Contribution: Eric Weinstein's UFO Speculations

21:21 Graham Linehan, Andrew Doyle, Jordan Peterson & Recognising Past Errors

23:18 Jordan Peterson's Reflections on Vaccination

28:59 Huberman's Upcoming Vaccine Series

30:52 Taylor Lorenz and Stochastic Terrorism

32:31 The Hypocrisy of Glorifying Violence

36:29 The Problem with Political Violence

43:48 Tim Kennedy's Exaggerated Military Stories

55:09 Tim Kennedy's Response to Criticism

01:07:37 Prebunking Criticisms

01:17:20 Shane Smith at Vice is NOT A CONSPIRACY GUY

01:21:27 Final Thoughts on Populism and Vibes-Based Reasoning

01:25:18 Outro

The full episode is available for Patreon subscribers (1hr 26 mins).

Join us at: https://www.patreon.com/DecodingTheGurus

Sources

Curtis Yarvin: The Edgelord's Guide to Monarchy 40K

Wed, 25 Dec 2024 22:30:00 +0100

In this long-anticipated episode, Matt and Chris venture into the peculiar world of Curtis Yarvin—a reactionary blogger, tech entrepreneur, and self-proclaimed monarchist. Known to his early followers by the pseudonym "Mencius Moldbug," Yarvin has become a prominent figure in the "dark enlightenment" and neo-reactionary circles. Some have even hailed him as an "intellectual powerhouse" of the modern far-right, with endorsements from influential figures like Peter Thiel and J.D. Vance.

But what is Curtis really all about? In this episode, the decoders revisit the Triggernometry swamp to examine the political insights unearthed by the hard-nosed journalists Konstantin and Francis during their ferocious intellectual exchange with Yarvin.

Prepare for thrilling revelations, including the historical figures and movements Yarvin has catalogued in his encyclopedic memory, his pick for the best Elizabethan monarch, and the surprising number of non-monarchs he believes are secretly running monarchical regimes. True to form, Yarvin’s rhetorical style is nothing if not meandering. So get ready for a whirlwind tour through his "mind palace," exploring topics like Soviet Russia, Elizabethan England, Shakespearean conspiracy theories, and a fantasy world of reactionary and techno-libertarian musings—not to mention the obligatory lab-leak narratives.

Is Yarvin an edgy intellectual, a provocative contrarian, or just a verbose windbag with run-of-the-mill conspiratorial takes and a moody teenager's perspective on history? Matt and Chris tackle these questions, striving to decode Yarvin’s vision for society—and hoping, against all odds, that he might in the end just answer a single question.

Links

DTG Christmas Quiz 2024 with Helen Lewis & Badstats

Fri, 13 Dec 2024 22:55:00 +0100

In this special festive episode, Chris and Matt are joined by seasoned decoder and quiz master Helen Lewis to discuss the myths around genius, extract her 2025 Guru predictions, and, of course, participate in that most sacred of DTG traditions: Helen's annual Guru Quiz.

Once again, the decoders must prove their mastery of the gurusphere’s esoteric knowledge, and once again, one decoder will come up short. Who will it be? You already know... but do your best to feign surprise!

But that’s not all!

Discourse/Discord creature and DTG Weinstein correspondent Dan Gilbert (Bad Stats online) also makes an appearance to enjoy another mystery quiz and a dystopian guru squad-building game. Play along at home and see if your chosen guru team can match the synergistic power of our curated champions.

Links

Supplementary Material 19: Critic-O-Rama with extra trans-dimensional alien demons

Fri, 29 Nov 2024 21:45:00 +0100

In this truly epic-length supplementary material, we spin 70 critical paradigms simultaneously while trying to avoid the wily tricks of some hostile transdimensional forces. Do we succeed? Join us to find out!

Supplementary Material 19

00:24 Introduction: More American Insights(!)

13:12 Peterson Orbiters: The Pageau Brothers

17:41 Pageau & Rod Dreher: Aliens are transdimensional spirits

25:56 Pageau: Alex Jones was Right!

27:01 Peterson & Pageau's Lazy Christian Apologetics

44:17 Joe Rogan: Fuck Ukraine!

56:28 Peter Thiel has questions about Vaccines and Autism

01:03:20 Big Rogan's CENSORSHIP CAMPAIGN against Flint Dibble

01:09:07 Nassim Taleb vs. Colin Wright: Seed Oils

01:23:10 Taleb and Squid Ink Flounces

01:32:40 Conspirituality & the issues with extended analogies

01:50:27 Leftist Millenarianism?

01:56:06 Cultish Spectrums

02:02:34 Critical Feedback: Decoding the Decoders

02:08:30 You were not allowed to talk about this!

02:21:56 Signing Off

The full episode is available for Patreon subscribers (2hrs 24 mins).

Join us at: https://www.patreon.com/DecodingTheGurus

Sources

Dawkins vs. Peterson: There Be Dragons

Sun, 24 Nov 2024 03:00:00 +0100

In this special episode, we return to the forboding Dragon's Den of the Peterson-verse and enjoy a rather punchy conversation between Jordan Peterson and Richard Dawkins, facilitated by Alex O'Connor.

As always, the discussion is dense with abstract symbolic interpretations, evasive answers to direct questions about biblical events, and highly speculative claims. So Matt and Chris don their best decoding armour, steel their resolve, and prepare to face down endless waves of indulgent analogies and the constant conflation of mythological and scientific truths.

Important insights from Matt on American public toilets, shower technology, and stories of Chris' previous life as a coal-shovelling street urchin are also included.

Links

Supplementary Material 18: The Clown Car Cometh

Sat, 16 Nov 2024 02:00:00 +0100

Still in the land of the free and restocked with important new insights from his US travels, Matt is confronted with the Gurusphere's predictably depressing reaction to the election. And what's that we hear in the distance... is it a honking car?

Supplementary Material 18

00:00 Matt's American Ethnography

10:59 Eric Weinstein is waiting for the call

14:32 Huberman, Krauss, and MAGA Sycophancy

18:39 Boghossian and other would-be Intellectual Clerics of the MAGA regime

22:52 Sam Harris criticises Elon Musk, Joe Rogan, and MAGA

32:05 The Fifth Column, The Free Press and World Weary Both Sides-ing

53:19 Election Reflections: Macro and Micro Causes

01:04:40 Longer Term Trends

01:10:08 Sarah Haider and the Hip Vibe of the New Right

01:24:00 Richard Dawkins Dual Nature

01:31:08 A Plea to Sean Carroll and our Listeners

01:33:06 An important note on Bouldering

The full episode is available for Patreon subscribers (1hr 36 mins).

Join us at: https://www.patreon.com/DecodingTheGurus

Links

Sabine Hossenfelder: Science is a Liar ... Sometimes

Tue, 12 Nov 2024 01:15:00 +0100

In this highly non-topical episode, Matt and Chris dive into the entertainingly gruff world of Sabine Hossenfelder, the German theoretical physicist and popular YouTube science communicator. Known as a joyful science curmudgeon, Sabine excels at making complex science accessible to a wide audience. Yet, there's another side to her content: one that's increasingly steeped in the YouTube algorithm’s culture-war-fueled clickbait, complete with prolific both-sidesing and even hints of her own brand of science-denialist rhetoric.

We can already imagine Sabine’s response: tone policing from establishment scolds who are trying to silence a fearless truth-teller for exposing academia’s dark underbelly. Perhaps that’s all it is—maybe Matt and Chris are aligned with BIG PHYSICS, out to quash any dissent about supersymmetry, string theory, or the academic publishing machine.

Or… maybe it’s something else. Maybe Sabine has pivoted to pander to the (so-hot-right-now) anti-establishment YouTube crowd, declaring that modern science has achieved nothing of value in 50 years and claiming that scientists (especially climate scientists) are too scared to challenge ideological dogmas for fear of jeopardizing their careers or funding.

It’s certainly one of those things.

Whatever the case, join Matt and Chris as they tackle this perplexing case of rhetorical indeterminacy, unpack YouTube audience dynamics, and delve into Sabine's unexpected alignments with Eric Weinstein and her 'sharp' critiques of Tucker Carlson.

Links

Guru US Election Special

Mon, 04 Nov 2024 03:00:00 +0100

Matt and Chris dip their toes into the fetid, guru-infested swamp surrounding the 2024 U.S. election. Straining to see what lurks in the murky depths, they encounter dark shapes, including Eric Weinstein pledging his services to whoever wins (or will give him a call), Joe Rogan conspiracy hypothesizing with Donald Trump, the Free Press hosting a truly heterodox election party, Michael Moynihan pulling no punches, and finally, Jordan Peterson’s shockingly sycophantic psychological assessment of Donald Trump and his cohort.

Join Chris and Matt as they navigate the election discourse swamp and the ever-unsettling convergence of internet personalities and political power, examining how these online figures function like the courtiers of old—gathering around their would-be kings, flattering them with pseudo-profound or sycophantic praise, and vying to secure their place in the new order.

All very cheerful stuff, we’re sure you’ll agree!

Links

Supplementary Material 17: American Dreams, YouTube Algorithms, and Poisonous Plastics

Fri, 01 Nov 2024 08:00:00 +0100

In this episode, Chris and Matt open the lid on Matt's adventures in America. Basking in the land of the free, Matt is forced to consider YouTube dynamics, indulgent podcast conversations, potential Russian influence campaigns, and the environmental toxins that sound him.

We will return soon with another SM election special and a better mic for Matt!

Content

00:00 Introduction

03:20 Matt's American Insights

10:41 Flint Dibble, Graham Hancock & a silly racist

19:21 YouTube & Audience Capture with Andrew Gold

27:35 Justin Trudeau accuses Jordan Peterson of being Russian Funded

34:29 Bernie Sanders & Lex Fridman: What's the point?

47:24 Huberman's Latest PSA

52:20 Environmental Toxins and Modern Health Concerns

58:58 Outro

The full episode is available for Patreon subscribers (1hr 3 mins).

Join us at: https://www.patreon.com/DecodingTheGurus

Links

Express article on Hancock's work being used by racists
National Post article on Peterson's response to Trudeau's accusations
Huberman's Twitter PSA on microplastics
Bernie Sanders Interview | Lex Fridman Podcast #450

Book Review: The Selfish Gene

Mon, 28 Oct 2024 03:45:00 +0100

In this special international episode of Decoding the Gurus, Chris and Matt jump on the hottest online topic and devote an hour to reviewing Richard Dawkins' influential work from the 1970s, The Selfish Gene. This book influenced Matt and Chris when they were teenage decoders, but how does it hold up now that they have evolved into (quasi)adult forms?

Based on their rereading of the book they discuss its contribution to the public understanding of evolution, the academic and public controversies it sparked, and Dawkins' broader contributions to science communication and... the culture war. Consideration is given to the criticisms raised by figures like Stephen Jay Gould and Mary Midgley, the implications of seeing humans as meat machines constructed by genes, and what should be understood as the book's core message.

So join Chris and Matt as they confront their true nature as gene propagators but also argue that it is possible to simultaneously recognise the importance of human cultural & social development and our genetic & biological legacies.

Links

Dawkins, R. (2016) The Selfish Gene (40th Anniversary edition)

Interview with Flint Dibble (Round 2): Battling Pseudo Archaeology & Sharing Science

Sun, 20 Oct 2024 20:45:00 +0100

We return to the world of lost civilizations, pseudo-archaeology, and real archaeology with Cardiff University archaeologist Flint Dibble. Sadly the senior member of the Decoding team was absent for the interview but junior decoder Chris struggled on as best he could. This episode, recorded just before the release of Ancient Apocalypse Season 2 on Netflix and Graham Hancock's associated podcast PR tour, examines the appeal of myths like Atlantis, criticisms Flint has faced from Hancock and others, and the broader challenges of communicating good science online.

The discussion covers whether debunking false narratives is effective, Flint's experiences post-Rogan with public engagement and social media harassment, and the importance of academics actively participating in public discourse to counter culture-war-fueled stereotypes.

Finally, in a crushing blow, Chris also gets Flint to acknowledge that BIG ARCHAEOLOGY can't disprove his stunning new theory about ancient seaweed submarines.

Links

Our first interview with Flint from just after his appearance on Rogan.
Archaeology with Flint Dibble: The Aftermath of Talking to Graham Hancock on Joe Rogan: A Reply to the Haters
Archaeology with Flint Dibble: The Top 6 Penis Bones in Archaeology
New Scientist article on Flint: The archaeologist fighting claims about an advanced lost civilisation
Real-Archaeology Event!
Graham Hancock's Response Video to Flint: Fact-checking science communicator Flint Dibble on Joe Rogan Experience episode 2136
Bridges Podcast: Uniting YouTube Against Fake History Frauds | MILO ROSSI & FLINT DIBBLE | Bridges #21
The Skeptic: Dr Flint Dibble wins 2024 Skeptical Activism Ockham award
Halmhofer, S. (2024) Manufacturing History: Atlantis, Aryans, and the use of Pseudoarchaeology by the Far-Right. Conspiracy Theories and Extremism in New Times (pp.53-81) Chapter: 3. Lexington Books.

John Vervaeke and Jordan Peterson: Word Worshipers

Tue, 15 Oct 2024 08:15:00 +0100

That's right—we’re back in the heady world of sense-making, but don't worry, we're just in time to witness the final resolution of the ever-looming 'Meaning Crisis.'

Join Matt and Chris as they embark on an epic journey with the cognitively inclined philosopher John Vervaeke and none other than the uber-guru, Jordan Peterson, himself. Together, they navigate a vast semantic web of meaning that spans discussions of Power, Beauty, Love, Religion, and, of course... the Logos!

Along the way, we'll probe the limits of complex wordplay and autodidactic insights, consider the ancient art of delegation, and ponder how the religious-shaped void might just be filled with engagement in Dialogos.

On the more mundane level, we'll also explore the inner workings of Jordisan Academy, the logistics of the 'We Who Wrestle with God' tour, upcoming Sensemaking cruises, and the vital multivitamins every Responsible Man should be taking.

So come along as Matt and Chris grapple with the Omega Rule, cast aside their reductive materialism, and bow down in horror and awe to worship the words that the eternal Logos issues forth.

Links

Supplementary Material 16: Riding a Phoenix to Rescue the Gurusphere

Tue, 08 Oct 2024 02:00:00 +0100

We plunge ever deeper into the convoluted world of guru punditry and are dazzled at the theatrics at the 'Rescue the Republic' event, inspired by the profound insights of Eric Weinstein on political speeches, and thrilled at Michael Moynihan's hard knock interview with the moderate heterodox thinker Megyn Kelly. Join us won't you?

00:00 Introduction and Health Check Adventures

04:15 Exploring the GuruSphere and GuruCon

08:57 Matt and Chris Debate Round 1: The Unholy Alliance

16:35 Russell Brand and Jordan Peterson's Prayer Time

24:51 Bret's Amazing Metaphor: David and the Phoenix

36:01 Matt Taibbi's Speaking Truth to Power with the Bible

40:24 Rage Against the War Machine

43:25 Eric Weinstein's analysis of Kamala Harris

58:44 Joe Rogan's Bias and Broken Conspiracy Prone Brain

01:13:53 Michael Moynihan softballs Megyn Kelly

01:26:11 Cynical Chris and Moderate Megyn: Alex Jones & Tucker are right!

01:32:57 Hard Knock Heterodoxy

01:47:35 Matt and Chris Debate Round 2: Left and Right

The full episode is available for Patreon subscribers (2 hr 1 min).

Join us at: https://www.patreon.com/DecodingTheGurus

Links

Gurometer: Dr. K (Bonus Preview)

Sat, 05 Oct 2024 23:00:00 +0100

There are many different systems for quantifying a person's essential essence. You could use an Ayurvedic questionnaire to determine your doshic levels, you could consult an astrologer to identify your most auspicious dates and the origins of your personality quirks, or you could even ask a psychologist to take a personality inventory and discover your OCEAN traits.

But if you want pure insight, crystallised through something that is BEYOND science, you must find yourself that very rare and extremely precious instrument- a gurometer. Sought after by kings and queens, politicians and CEOs, athletes and inventors, the gurometer is your one-stop shop for quantifying your secular guru essence.

Normally, due to the delicacy of the topic and the arcane, and, dare we say, dangerous, nature of Gurometry, we keep these insights locked behind the gilded Patreon gates. Still, sometimes we think the world deserves to know about how the science and art of gurometry are progressing.

So, here is a little peek at the beautiful science in action as we attempt to quantify Dr. K according to our 11(!) Gurometer characteristics. Play along at home if you dare but remember Guromancy is not something to trifle in idly.

Should you want more details about the art of Gurometry, please see this previous episode for more information and if you want to know more about Dr. K then look at any of our three previous episodes. Also, it is perhaps worth mentioning that Gurometer episodes for ALL previous gurus are available on Patreon.

We will be back soon enough for some full-length decodings.

Decoding Academia 30: Sadistic Trolls love Dark Humour Preview

Wed, 02 Oct 2024 03:00:00 +0100

This is a preview episode to remind those who might be interested that we have a bonus Decoding Academia series, available at the Patreon at the Revolutionary Genius tier and above, which is now up to episode 30! On Decoding Academia we usually focus on specific papers and indulge our more nerdy and academic tendencies. It is almost like a journal club of two!

In this episode, we take a look at a study exploring the connections between Dark Humour, online trolling, and Dark personality tendencies. This is right up the alley for two brooding Decoders with twisted dark mentalities. Expect shocking personality quizzes, dad jokes & dank memes, Bayesian sidetracking, and an inception-level discussion of alleged regressions. This is one for all the family!

Paper examined: Voisey, S., & Heintz, S. (2024). Do Dark Humour Users Have Dark Tendencies? Relationships between Dark Humour, the Dark Tetrad, and Online Trolling. Behavioral Sciences, 14(6), 493.

Darryl Cooper, Nazi Apologetics, & Disturbances in the Discourse

Tue, 24 Sep 2024 10:15:00 +0100

Join Matt and Chris for a deep dive into the discourse created by Darryl Cooper’s controversial interview with Tucker Carlson. The decoders tackle Cooper’s revisionist takes on Winston Churchill, Hitler, and WWII, asking whether throwing in strategic disclaimers really makes it all okay.

They also explore reactions from the wider comment-o-sphere, including the musings of libertarian firebrand/idiot Dave Smith, mainstream historians and history YouTubers, and the hosts of Triggernometry, Konstantin and Francis, as they try to unpack Niall Ferguson’s sharp critique of Cooper. Along the way, Sam Harris enters the fray, on a search for grown-ups in the alternative media.

But does Harris offer a mature critique, or is he engaging in his own cycle of grievance-mongering? Matt and Chris examine his response and consider if it rises above or contributes to the podcasting noise. Whether you are a staunch critic of Sam Harris or a devoted fan, we promise this episode has something to disappoint everyone!

Links

Supplementary Material 15: Russian Stooges, Lex Love-bombs, and Heterodox Hypocrisy

Mon, 16 Sep 2024 15:15:00 +0100

We rip off the unconvincing plastic mask to reveal the true gurus lurking underneath and discuss:

Russian Propaganda and Influencer Scandal
Profit Incentives in Alternative Media and the Need for Disclosure
Excessive Profiteering and Advertising
Lex Fridman interviews Trump (with love)
Trump and Anti-Vaxx Conspiracy Theories
Trump and Kamala Debate Reactions and Heterodox Takes
Destiny vs. the Low Bar of the Alternative Media
When Joe met Bret
Rogan & Bret's Massive Projection and Hypocrisy
Financial Incentives in Alternative Media
Gabor Maté cites some Neuroimaging Studies
Matt's HUGE Correction on Twitter Funding
The University of Austin in Texas still exists!

The full episode is available for Patreon subscribers (1 hr 47 mins).

Join us at: https://www.patreon.com/DecodingTheGurus

Links

Dr. K (Part 3): Therapeutic Non-Therapy

Fri, 13 Sep 2024 09:00:00 +0100

Join Matt and Chris as they conclude their deep dive into the content of Dr. K, the streaming psychiatrist behind Healthy Gamer GG. In previous episodes, they explored his promotion of Ayurvedic medicine and his use of the rhetorical strategies often seen in Complementary and Alternative Medicine spaces. This time, they tackle his more controversial work: the (non)therapy sessions with influencers, focusing particularly on his challenging and controversial conversation with the late streamer Reckful.

The episode considers how Dr. K navigates the boundaries between professional therapy and public conversation, examines his response to an official reprimand from his governing body, and questions whether his justifications withstand scrutiny.

Matt and Chris critically assess the validity of legalistic defences, the ethics of publicly streaming sensitive conversations with vulnerable individuals, and broader concerns about mixing mental health care with entertainment.

It's a lengthy episode and features discussions on patient-therapist power dynamics, definitional debates, and the complexities surrounding regulatory oversight and professional/general ethics.

We warn you this is not a very light episode and deals with sensitive issues related to suicide and mental health.

Links

Supplementary Materials 14: Return to the Gurusphere

Sat, 31 Aug 2024 08:30:00 +0100

World travels complete the Guru Decoders reconvene to examine how the Gurusphere has been behaving in their absence. Bad news abounds.

Featuring:

Introduction and Hosts' Reunion
Chris's Travel Tales Cultural Observations and Comparisons
Health Concerns and Anti-Vax Movement
RFK Jr. and Political Endorsements
Quarantine Measures in History
Bret Weinstein endorses Trump
Eric Weinstein's quasi-endorsement
Stephen Bartlett promotes Bret and gets in trouble for ads
Plagiarism Allegations against Robin Di Angelo
Elon Musk's Twitter Investors Revealed
Konstantin Kisin vs. a normal Interview
Jonathan Pageau and 5G Conspiracies
Sam Harris & Destiny Conversation
Sam's Analysis of Jordan Peterson
Social Media Derangement: Sam vs. Destiny
Offline vs Online Behaviour
Focus on the Far Left vs. the Far Right
Closing Thoughts & Next Episode

The full episode is available for Patreon subscribers (1 hr 36 mins).

Join us at: https://www.patreon.com/DecodingTheGurus

Links

Supplementary Materials 13: Dead Bears, Biblical Stories, and Coffeezilla's Legal Battle

Wed, 14 Aug 2024 10:15:00 +0100

We reflect on the meaning of some biblical scriptures to understand the gurus, alongside:

Jonathan Pageau gets into the Olympics
RFK Jnr. and the Dead Bear
Guru Dystopia: Trump Meets Adin Ross
Eric Weinstein enters the 2024 Campaign
The penetrating insights of Joe Rogan
Coffeezilla fights back against Logan Paul's defamation case
Litigious Musk and nuisance lawsuits
Celebrity cryptocurrencies, NFTs, and other scams
Flashbacks to Simon Singh vs. The British Chiropractic Association
Elon Musk's Interview with Jordan Peterson
Jordan Peterson's interview 'techniques'
All Meat Diet Proselytising
Musk vs. the Sumo Champion
The incredible confidence of self-help gurus
The importance of 'smarts' in success
The meaning of the Zacchaeus story

The full episode is available for Patreon subscribers (1hr 19 mins).

Join us at: https://www.patreon.com/DecodingTheGurus

Links

Bryan Johnson: Definitely not a vampire!

Sun, 11 Aug 2024 21:00:00 +0100

In this life-enhancing episode, Matt and Chris venture into the futuristic world of tech entrepreneur and biohacker Bryan Johnson, clarifying along the way that he’s not the ACDC frontman.

They examine Johnson's Project Blueprint and 'Don't Die' movement—a quest for indefinite lifespan extension through supplements and lifestyle changes—and consider whether their apprehension means they are actually death lovers gorging themselves each day on death burgers and life-draining whiskey.

The decoders analyze his carefully crafted appearance and branding, considering how he presents himself as a revolutionary figure but in reality seems to be peddling some familiar tropes, along with a supplement line and some expensive blueberries.

As usual, they consider the rhetorical moves, parasocial manipulations, and the likelihood for the lofty claims to become a reality.

One thing that is clear by the end: Bryan Johnson is certainly not a modern-day vampire.

Links

If you want to support the show, join us at: https://www.patreon.com/DecodingTheGurus

Supplementary Materials 12: Olympic Ceremonies and Presidential Candidates

Sun, 04 Aug 2024 00:30:00 +0100

We tour the Guru-sphere's balanced and considered response to the Olympics Opening Ceremony and Kamala Harris replacing Biden as the Democratic presidential candidate. And oh boy are they on form!

Addressing Petty Grievances: The Show's Format
The Furor French Olympics Opening Ceremony
Trump's Assassination Conspiracies
The Great Flowering of Kamala Harris Takes
Konstantin Kisin and Cringe Immunity
Steven Pinker vs. Triggernometry
Bret Weinstein's New Conspiracy Hypothesis
The Wonders of Peterson Academy
Bret's Falsifiable Prediction
We Never Miss!
The Importance of Supporting the Podcast
Lex Fridman's Selective Centrism and Wounded Bird Pose
The Hypocrisy of Reactionary Puritans
Ken Klippenstein on Steve Bannon's War Room
Final Thoughts and Farwell

The full episode is available for Patreon subscribers (1hr 17 mins).

Join us at: https://www.patreon.com/DecodingTheGurus

Links

Gabor Maté: Achieving Authenticity, Tackling Trauma, and Minimizing Modern Malaise

Sat, 03 Aug 2024 08:30:00 +0100

Join Matt and Chris as they hunker down with the dulcet reassuring tones of Gabor Maté, the Hungarian-Canadian physician renowned for his unconventional perspectives on trauma, stress, and addiction.

Inspired by Maté they reflect on early childhood experiences, explore whether unprocessed trauma has steered them towards a life engulfed by modern gurus, and discover how to stay true to their authentic selves & avoid manifesting debilitating illnesses.

With an atmospheric background storm setting the scene for the early segments, tune in for 'cheerful' discussions about childhood trauma, emotional repression, the unexpected cause of female cancer, and the toxic horror that is modern life.

The episode also considers 'classic' YouTuber motifs and selected long-form insights, courtesy of "Diary of a CEO" host Stephen Bartlett.

So get ready to uncover the authentic crystal butterfly within, cast off the myth of normality, and soar unfettered by past trauma.

Links

Supplementary Materials 11: Alex Jones is at it again

Sat, 27 Jul 2024 11:00:00 +0100

We are a little behind the news cycle with this release, so we apologise for that. For context this episode was recorded after Trump's assassination attempt but before Biden announced he was stepping down. We will return with the Gurusphere's insane reaction to that event next time. Here we consider:

Trump's leaked conversation with RFK Junior
A very special request from Matt
Tammy Peterson's admiration for Tommy Robinson
Alex Jones releasing NEW Sandy Hook conspiracy theories on InfoWars
Jonathan Pageau's new spin on Intelligent Design
The Fifth Column and selective application of criticism
Bari Weiss' Free Press visits the RNC
Moynihan's non-partisan interview with Anna Khachiyan
Our now (totally out-of-date) political opinions on Biden

The full episode is available for Patreon subscribers (1hr 17 mins).

Join us at: https://www.patreon.com/DecodingTheGurus

Links

Ranking the Gurus

Thu, 25 Jul 2024 06:30:00 +0100

Decoding the Gurus is now a venerable institution and as such we have built up quite a menagerie of would-be gurus and even a handful of not-really gurus.

So like all the hip kids today, we decided to look back at our previous gurus and arrange them on a tier list of Secular Guruosity.

If you would like to play along we’ve made a version accessible online so you can provide your rankings (available here) or you can see ours.

Also, due to an image-importing hiccup, we missed Sam Harris (B), Robert Wright (D) and Richard Dawkins (D). All are now added to the template!

Hope you enjoy and we will be back soon with a full-length decoding of Gabor Maté before the concluding chapter of the Dr. K trilogy.

If you want to support the show, join us at: https://www.patreon.com/DecodingTheGurus

Supplementary Materials 10: Rigorous Conspiracy Hypothesising about the Trump Shooting

Fri, 19 Jul 2024 08:00:00 +0100

A special Supplementary Material where we take a gander at some of the reactions to the recent assassination attempt on Trump and then dig deeper with some responsible model conspiracy hypothesizing with Bret and Heather. Also featuring:

Our completely predictable response to the shooting
John Cusack's Conspiracy Theory
Tim Kennedy's Conspiracy Venn Diagram
Scientific Cosplay with Bret and Heather
Learning about logic with Heather
The Lab Leak theory revisited with Bret
The Fall of Plato's Cave
Mind Controlled Shooters
The Unity 2024 Platform

The full episode is available for Patreon subscribers (57 mins).

Join us at: https://www.patreon.com/DecodingTheGurus

Links

Dr. K (Part 2): Rhetorical Judo Flips

Mon, 08 Jul 2024 09:00:00 +0100

Join Matt and Chris for a trademark 'short' episode as they continue to navigate the complex, occasionally controversial world of Dr. K in this second multi-dimensional episode. This time they take a look at some more recent content and reflect on whether they were wrong to identify Dr. K as such a strong advocate of Ayurvedic medicine. In their investigations, they explore the science of visualisation and manifestation, updated genomic information about the Doshas, and the power of mantras to bend the universe.

But primarily they focus on the recent lively discussion between Dr. K and another famous YouTube Doctor, Dr. Mike. Their discussion touched on various topics including the mechanisms of science, the power of consciousness, personalized treatments, and the placebo effect. All good fodder for the DTG grinder even if it ends up, as it so often does, with Chris and Matt gently discussing their points of view about the nature of mind and the (alleged) mystery of subjective experience (we are sorry!).

So join us for a thought-provoking ride through scientific criticism, holistic practices, and age-old East vs. West / Alternative vs Science-based medicine debates as we attempt to decipher whether Dr. K is a modern-era internet sage or a charismatic storyteller and alternative medicine advocate.

Links

Supplementary Materials 9: Galaxy Brains Collide

Sat, 06 Jul 2024 05:00:00 +0100

We get put in our place by an old champion, who reminds us why they are the king. Also this episode:

Chris' post-conference thoughts on the UK
Matt's Great American Burger Giveaway
Non-Tribal Joe Rogan meets Jimmy Dore
Lex Fridman meets Ivanka Trump
The UK election and the heterodox response
Jordan Peterson and the spiritual kingdom of Farageism
Russell Brand and Alex Jones pray together
Galaxy Brains Collide: Eric Weinstein meets Terrence Howard
Still wearing a jacket to save the world
Eric is the one who knocks
Eric the scientist defends his colleague Neal deGrasse Tyson
The hidden layers
Gold-tier criticism and cultish subreddits
Bad faith Matt and Good faith Chris say Farewell

The full episode is available for Patreon subscribers (1hr 29mins).

Join us at: https://www.patreon.com/DecodingTheGurus

Links

Dr. K (Part 1): OPed Ayurvedic Medicine vs. Nerfed 'Western' Allopathy

Sun, 23 Jun 2024 10:30:00 +0100

Alok Kanojia, better known as Dr. K, is a charismatic psychiatrist and online streamer who offers a unique blend of psychological, self-help, and spiritual advice to guide individuals through the complexities of modern life, aiming to help them become Healthy Gamers™. Join Matt and Chris as they embark on a multi-part journey through the diverse biomes of Dr. K's content and try to ascertain the meta.

In this first episode, Matt and Chris take a critical look at a 2019 video in which Dr. K discusses his views on Ayurvedic medicine, the problems with Western medicine, and the unacknowledged scientific evidence for Ayurvedic claims. We consider whether the evidence provided matches the rhetoric and relive youthful follies as we immerse ourselves in the all too familiar water of complementary and alternative medicine discourse.

So join us as we learn about the universal mind and single type of depression proposed by modern medicine, how a tripartite classification is actually incredibly individualistic, how the shape of your nose and kink in your hair predicts the food you should eat and the quality of your bowel movements, and the surprising benefits of drinking elephant milk.

In Part 2, we will delve into Dr. K's recent discussion/debate over Ayurvedic medicine with Dr. Mike, another popular YouTube doctor. And finally Part 3 will focus on the dynamics of Dr. K's long-form, somewhat controversial, mental health-themed interviews with influencers.

Links

Dr. K's Healthy Gamer GG website
Healthy Gamer GG- Ayurveda Pt. 1: Gunas, Cognitive Fingerprint, Personality
Science is Dope: Should we adopt Ayurveda | An Indian's response | Dr. Mike vs Dr. K
List of Studies mentioned in the episode
Simon Singh's court case that Chris mentioned
The Iced Coffee Hour: Harvard Psychiatrist on How To Get Ahead of 99.9% of People (Starting NOW)
Some of Matt's related papers: 1) Thomson, P., Jones, J., Browne, M., & Leslie, S. J. (2014). Why people seek complementary and alternative medicine before conventional medical treatment: a population-based study. Complementary therapies in clinical practice, 20(4), 339-346. & 2) Browne, M., Thomson, P., Rockloff, M. J., & Pennycook, G. (2015). Going against the herd: psychological and cultural factors underlying the ‘vaccination confidence gap’. PLoS one, 10(9), e0132562.

Supplementary Materials 8: Lab Leak Discourse, Toxic YouTube Dynamics, and the Metaphysics of Peppa Pig

Fri, 07 Jun 2024 20:00:00 +0100

We stare into the abyss and welcome darkness into our souls as we discuss:

Feedback on the Žižek episode
Middle Aged Men's Health Update
Alina Chan and the newest round of Lab Leak Discourse
Discourse Surfing Pundits
Alex O'Connor cornering Jordan Peterson on the resurrection
The philosophical and Marxist implications of Peppa Pig
Potential Alternatives to Hipster Christianity and New Atheism
Andrew Gold's Heretics Channel and Toxic YouTube Dynamics
Editorializing and Responsible Criticism
Balaji Srinivasan's Waffling Defence of Huberman
The 'Elite Defector' Pose
Verbal Fluency vs. Substance
Heterodox and Anti-Vaxx Incentive Structures
James Lindsay's most recent idiocy
Desperate Call to Action

Links

The full episode is available for Patreon subscribers (1 hr 14 mins).

Join us at: https://www.patreon.com/DecodingTheGurus

Slavoj Žižek: When is a shark not a shark?

Sun, 02 Jun 2024 22:00:00 +0100

Join Matt and Chris as they plunge into the heady mental universe of Slavoj Žižek, the Slovenian philosopher known for his eclectic and provocative ideas. The duo parses Žižek's 'unconventional' takes on ideology, consumerism, and revolutionary theory, peppered with his playful movie criticism of films like Jaws and a Clockwork Orange and even a few that he hasn't even watched.

We delve into snuffle-laced discussions of transgressive acts, revolutionary politics, moderate conservative communism, consumerist psychology, and musings on whether Jaws is really about a shark. Throughout all Žižek's dramatic flair is shining through, but is he actually as provocative and hated as he likes to suggest? Matt and Chris have some thoughts...

Expect to reconsider everything you thought you knew, listen to some edgy book blurbs, and finally collapse in a puddle with the deconstruction of your ideology.

Links

Novara Media: Our World Is Coming To An End | Aaron Bastani Meets Slavoj Žižek | Downstream
The Pervert's Guide to Ideology (2012) - Slavoj Žižek
Jacobin: Žižek’s Left-Wing Case for Christian Atheism
Philosophize This- Episode #196 - The Improbable Slavoj Zizek - Pt. 1 (Also, there are three other Žižek episodes in this series!)
Article on the speech Žižek gave at the Frankfurt Book Fair

Join us at: https://www.patreon.com/DecodingTheGurus

Supplementary Materials 7: Guru Oneupmanship, Hard Ad Pivots, MOOOINK, and Left Wing Populism

Mon, 27 May 2024 06:30:00 +0100

We curse the dark omens emerging from the Gurusphere as we consider:

The Illusion of Disciplinary Boundaries
Flint Dibble Feedback and Rays of Hope
Russell Brand and Bret Weinstein: Guru One-upmanship
Bret Weinstein loves MOINNNNK
Hard Ad Pivots and Peasants Popping out of Wells
Ken Klippenstein and Populist Rhetoric
Questioning mainstream narratives and their so-called 'experts'
QAnon Anonymous missing Left Wing Populism?
Alex O'Connor, Jordan Peterson and the costs of indulgent podcasting
Chris reaching across boundaries to Jonathan Pageau
Our only comment on the Drake and Kendrick Feud
The beautiful ballet of reaching across the aisle
Terence Howard on Rogan

Links

The full episode is available for Patreon subscribers (1 hr 13 mins).

Join us at: https://www.patreon.com/DecodingTheGurus

Destiny: Right to Reply

Fri, 24 May 2024 22:00:00 +0100

Matt and Chris jump into the world of debates, dramas, and online personas with the ever-controversial streamer, Destiny (Steven Bonnell). We discuss our Decoding episode a little bit but mostly broader issues including the value of 'debate porn', edginess & Twitter bomb-throwing, reality TV orbiter drama, and the perils of hero worship and parasocial relationships.

As you might anticipate, we also cover various 'hot-button' issues including Destiny's involvement in Israel-Palestine discourse, the ethics of engaging with extremists, and whether Destiny was genuinely arguing for the right to murder the DDoS kid. Finally, we wrap up with some discussion of media literacy, the challenges of navigating online discourse, and strategies for laypeople to better engage with research.

Links

Join us at: https://www.patreon.com/DecodingTheGurus

Preview Decoding Academia 27: Dark Triad Authenticity

Thu, 16 May 2024 09:15:00 +0100

We do bonus episodes every month that are focused on analysing academic content or discussing research and we thought it might be useful to let new listeners know! So find attached a preview...

In this episode of Decoding Academia, Matt and Chris delve into a paper that explores the complex world of dark personality traits and their impact on authenticity. They examine how traits like narcissism and psychopathy might intersect with the concept of the true self, and consider whether cultural differences in self-conception play a significant role. The episode also features reflections on Logan Roy from Succession and a friendly disagreement between Matt and Chris about labels in psychology.

Paper referenced: Bulbuc, A. A., & Visu-Petra, L. (2024). Shedding a light on authenticity in high dark trait individuals: A morally grey territory? Personality and Individual Differences, 224, 112632.

The full episode is available for Patreon subscribers at the Revolutionary Genius tier (1 hr 9 mins).

Join us at: https://www.patreon.com/DecodingTheGurus

Supplementary Materials 6: Christian Sensemaking, Hipster Race Realists, & Marijuana Pseudoscience

Fri, 10 May 2024 15:30:00 +0100

We shake our heads in despair at some truly terrible Guru crossovers:

Old Man Health Routines: Jogging, Diets, and the Pursuit of 'Wellness'
Jordan Peterson and Russell Brand offer the apotheosis of indulgent Christian-themed sensemaking
Taylor Lorenz and activist journalism
Are Twitch Streamers the Future of Journalism? No.
Huberman gets himself in hot water over Marijuana episode
The Value of Debating Pseudoscience with Huberman
Casey Means: Cramming all the pseudoscience red flags into a single Tweet
When Red Scare met Steve Sailer: Ironic Hipsterism X Old Skool Scientific Racism

Links

The full episode is available for Patreon subscribers (1 hr 43 mins).

Join us at: https://www.patreon.com/DecodingTheGurus

Interview with Flint Dibble on Pseudo Archaeology and Science Communication

Thu, 02 May 2024 22:45:00 +0100

In this episode, join Matt and Chris as they enjoy a stimulating discussion with the archaeologist Flint Dibble. Flint recently appeared on The Joe Rogan Experience to discuss the evidence (or lack thereof) of advanced ancient civilizations facing off against the famed pseudoarchaeologist Graham Hancock. The episode was a four-and-a-half-hour tour de force in science communication and effective debunking, thanks to Flint's efforts.

We talk to Flint about his experience on the show, the extensive preparation involved, his thoughts on how to effectively engage with pseudo-archaeology and strategies for enhancing broader science communication. Additionally, Flint discusses the significance of authentic archaeological work and the crucial role of academic participation in public discourse.

We enjoyed this one a lot and hope you will too!

Links

Join us at: https://www.patreon.com/DecodingTheGurus

Supplementary Material 5: Spiritual UFOs, Alternative Theories of Evolution, and Atlantean Grievances

Fri, 26 Apr 2024 13:00:00 +0100

We watch in awe as the guru-sphere grapples with a host of 'alternative' theories:

Bret promotes pseudoscience on Polio and alternative theories on evolution
The Gurusphere collides with Tucker's takes on evolution
Rogan and Tucker praise Alex Jones' prophetic abilities
Tucker's views on spiritual UFOs
Hasan endorses Lex Fridman as the most genuine centrist
Contrasting Destiny and Hasan's transparency
World War 3 Warnings
The Great Archaeology Debate: Dibble vs. Hancock
Graham Hancock- A Grievance Mongering Masterclass
Intentional Misrepresentation
White Supremacy angers Great Joe
The Cass Review Controversy: A lesson in misinformation

Links

The full episode is available for Patreon subscribers (1 hr 51 mins).

Join us at: https://www.patreon.com/DecodingTheGurus

Destiny: Debate King and/or Degenerate?

Mon, 22 Apr 2024 08:00:00 +0100

In this episode, Matt and Chris dive deep into the world of online streamers, focusing on the pioneering and controversial figure Steven Bonell II, better known as Destiny (AKA Mr Borelli). As seasoned explorers of sense-making jungles, Petersonian crystalline structures, and mind-bending labyrinths in Weinstein World, they thought they were prepared for anything. However, the drama-infused degeneracy of the streamer swamps proves to offer some new challenges.

Having previously dipped their toes in these waters by riding with Hasan on his joyous Houthi pirate ship (ignoring the screams of the imprisoned crew below decks), Matt and Chris now strip down to their decoding essentials and plunge head-first into streamer drama-infested waters as they search for the fabled true Destiny.

Destiny is a popular live streamer and well-known debater with a long and colourful online history. He is also known for regularly generating controversy. With a literal mountain of content to sift through, there was no way to cover it all. Instead, Matt and Chris apply their usual decoding methods to sample a selection of Destiny's content, seeking to identify any underlying connective tissue and determine if he fits the secular guru mould.

In so doing, they cover a wide range of topics, including:

Destiny's background and rise to prominence in the streaming world
How much of his brain precisely is devoted to wrangling conservatives?
What's it like to live with almost no private/public boundaries?
What are the ethics of debating neo-Nazis?
The nature of the Destiny's online community
Whether murder is a justified response to DDOS attacks?

Whether they succeed or fail in their decoding will be for the listeners to judge, but one thing is certain: if this is your first exposure to the streaming world, you are in for a bit of a ride.

Links

Supplementary Material 4: Passive Aggressive Therapists, Shit-posting Monks, and Weaponised Naivety

Sat, 13 Apr 2024 22:45:00 +0100

We ponder whether, due to our naivety, do we actually deserve the gurus and other topics, including:

Is Hasan Piker even better than we said?
The ethical quandaries of online therapy with Dr. K
The False Halos of Status and Success
The Rest is History Luther series and parallels with Secular Gurus
The Power of Polemicists: Peterson, Trump, and Martin Luther?
Secular vs. Religious Gurus
Shit-posting Missives
Orthodoxic Atheism and Orthopraxic Religion
Lex Fridman's Reflections on Intellectual Humility
Some important Messages from the hosts

Links

The full episode is available for Patreon subscribers (1hr 19mins).

Join us at: https://www.patreon.com/DecodingTheGurus

Yuval Noah Harari: Eat Bugs and Live Forever

Fri, 05 Apr 2024 09:00:00 +0100

Yuval Noah Harari is a historian, a writer, and a popular 'public intellectual'. He rose to fame with Sapiens (2014), his popular science book that sought to outline a 'History of Humankind' and followed this up with a more future-focused sequel, Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow (2016). More recently, he's been converting his insights into a format targeted at younger people with Unstoppable Us: How Humans Took Over the World (2022). In general, Harari is a go-to public intellectual for people looking for big ideas, thoughts on global events, and how we might avoid catastrophe. He has been a consistent figure on the interview and public lecture circuit and, with his secular message, seems an ideal candidate for Gurometeratical analysis.

Harari also has some alter egos. He is a high-ranking villain in the globalist pantheon for InfoWars-style conspiracy theorists, with plans that involve us all eating bugs and uploading our consciousness to the Matrix. Alternatively, for (some) historians and philosophers, he is a shallow pretender, peddling inaccurate summaries of complex histories and tricky philosophical insights. For others, he is a neoliberal avatar offering apologetics for exploitative capitalist and multinational bodies.

So, who is right? Is he a bug-obsessed villain plotting to steal our precious human souls or a mild-mannered academic promoting the values of meditation, historical research, and moderation?

Join Matt and Chris in this episode to find out and learn other important things, such as what vampires should spend their time doing, whether money is 'real', and how to respond respectfully to critical feedback.

Links

Supplementary Material 3: Sand-worms, Anti-Capitalist Merch, and High Level Idea-Jacking

Sun, 31 Mar 2024 02:30:00 +0100

We test the boundaries of the Supplementary format with a stacked third edition containing:

Matt's Review of Dune 2 and the Three-Body Problem
Hasan Piker's Anti-Capitalist Merch
The Controversy Surrounding Andrew Huberman
Differential Charity and Selective Decoupling
Grace before meals at Triggernometry and Christian Hipsterism
Jordan and Bret's Pseudoacademic-ese
High-Level Idea Jacking
Dream Instructions

Links

The full episode is available for Patreon subscribers (1hr 33mins).

Join us at: https://www.patreon.com/DecodingTheGurus

Mini-Decoding: The Descent of Jordan B. Peterson

Tue, 26 Mar 2024 23:30:00 +0100

We take a look at a recent conversation between Jordan Peterson and the streamer Steven Bonnell (AKA Destiny) and use the opportunity to reflect on Jordan's journey as a public intellectual and guru.

We consider how his stances have changed, whether he is more extreme now than when he emerged or if it is just his presentation style that has shifted. Along the way, we look at his demon-infested understanding of the COVID-19 vaccines, his climate change denialism, and address the unresolved question of the ages: Were the Nazis actually right-wing?

Links

Supplementary Material 2: Dissident Dialogues, Bloodbaths, & Genocidal Debates

Fri, 22 Mar 2024 01:45:00 +0100

The adventure in formatting continues with the second Supplementary Material episode, in which we:

lament we don't command the same level of loyalty as Sam's fans
commend a noted sycophant for warning about idolising heros
assess the degree to which the "Dissident Dialogues" conference is anything other than bog-standard right-wing orthodoxy; and
reveal the TRUTH about Norman Finkelstein's angry ranting

as well as so many more opinionated meanderings, for those decent citizens who are willing to pay us the measly sum of $2 month so Chris doesn't have to do three jobs just to exist in this capitalist society

On this episode:

Sam Harris Devotees
Dissident Dialogues
Lex's important message about not worshipping idols
Trumpian Bloodbath & Media Criticism
Lex Fridman's Israel-Palestine Debate
Finkelstein vs. Destiny
Genocidal Debates

The full episode is available for Patreon subscribers (1hr 14mins).

Join us at: https://www.patreon.com/DecodingTheGurus

Links

Gurometer: Hasan Piker PREVIEW

Fri, 15 Mar 2024 03:00:00 +0100

What happens when you try to squeeze a muscle-bound Twitch streamer into a precise measurement instrument like the Gurometer? And can it even function when it encounters this level of left-wing nodulation? It's an empirical question and since the Gurometer recently had all its oil replaced, we decided to give it a go.

This is also a reminder that we do Gurometer episodes for ALL the Gurus we cover and you can find the back catalogue over on the Patreon, if so inclined.

The full episode is available for Patreon subscribers (44 mins).

Join us at: https://www.patreon.com/DecodingTheGurus

Hasan Piker: A swashbuckling Bromance

Wed, 13 Mar 2024 01:00:00 +0100

Avast Ye Harties!

Yar! This week be the inaugural episode of a New Streamer/Academic Guru season. Join us as we set sail with a bang and embark on an adventure with the famous and controversial Twitch streamer Hasan Piker. Formerly of the Young Turks, Hasan has carved out a niche as a popular left-wing commentator. He is sometimes described as representing a new wave of political communicators who leverage social media and live streaming to reach new audiences, particularly disengaged younger viewers.

But how does he fare in these Decoding waters?

We take a look at his recent interview with Rashed Al-Haddad, a dashing Yemeni teenager (nicknamed Tim Houthi Chalamet), who recently found himself streaming video on an international transport ship hijacked by Houthi militants. But fear not! Hasan addresses this sensitive topic and the complex geopolitical issues involved with due diligence and care. Moreover, Rashed reports that all of the kidnapped crew are having a grand old time in Yemen! They are simply vibing with their captors, chewing khat, and have fully embraced the honourable Houthi perspective.

The Houthis' official slogan, "God is the Greatest, Death to America, Death to Israel, A Curse Upon the Jews, Victory to Islam", and reports of severe human rights abuses in their territory, might still give one pause... but as Hasan explains—drawing on his deep political and psychological insights—the Houthis are just like the heroic Straw Hat pirates in the popular anime One Piece!

So with that settled, we can focus on the more important questions like what videogames Rashed likes, if he has ever heard of Mr. Beast, whether he's eaten 'Western' food, what cartoons he watched growing up, and if there are KFCs in Yemen? Truly, this is a conversation for the ages, and Hasan is just the man for the job.

So join us for this week's episode as we ponder whether combining influencer culture with political analysis was a wise move and if there are any possible contradictions or minor ideological skews in Hasan's content.

Links

- Hasan Interviews Viral 'Hot Yemeni TikTok Pirate' | Hasanabi Reacts

- Atlantic article about the Houthis and the situation in Yemen

- AP article on the crew of the hijacked 'Galaxy Leader' ship and their ability to contact their families

- Amnesty article on Houthi sentencing of stoning and crucifixion for crimes of homosexuality

- Human Rights Watch article on Houthi recruitment of child soldiers

- Human Rights Watch article on the al-Ahli Hospital Explosion

- Willy Mac 'drama' YouTuber collated episodes on Hasan (part 1 and part 2)

Supplementary Material 1: Cringe Immunity & Supplemental Ethics

Thu, 07 Mar 2024 10:15:00 +0100

An adventure in formatting, welcome to the inaugural Supplementary Material episode. Here we are trying to save you all from the ever-expanding intro segments.

On this episode:

Announcement of the New Format
Who Decodes the Decoders?
A Mystery Sense-Making clip
Lex Fridman on Navalany
Jordan Peterson's fury at the Associated Press
Bre Weinstein's superpower: Cringe Immunity
Anti-Capitalists for AG1 and the ethics of sponsorship

The full episode is available for Patreon subscribers (54 mins).

Join us at: https://www.patreon.com/DecodingTheGurus

Links

Interview with Kevin Mitchell on Agency and Evolution

Wed, 06 Mar 2024 08:00:00 +0100

In this episode, Matt and Chris converse with Kevin Mitchell, an Associate Professor of Genetics and Neuroscience at Trinity College Dublin, and author of 'Free Agents: How Evolution Gave Us Free Will'.

We regret to inform you that the discussion does involve in-depth discussions of philosophy-adjacent topics such as free will, determinism, consciousness, the nature of self, and agency.

But do not let that put you off!

Kevin is a scientist and approaches them all through a sensible scientific perspective. You do not have to agree but you do have to pay attention!

If you ever wanted to see Matt geek out and Chris remain chill and be fully vindicated, this is the episode for you.

Links

Sean Carroll: The Worst Guru Yet?!?

Sat, 02 Mar 2024 12:00:00 +0100

Controversial physics firebrand Sean Carroll has cut a swathe through the otherwise meek and mild podcasting industry over the last few years. Known in the biz as the "bad boy" of science communication, he offends as much as he educ....

<< Record scratch >>

No, we can't back any of that up obviously, those are all actually lies. Let's start again.

Sean Carroll has worked as a research professor in theoretical physics and philosophy of science at Caltech and is presently an external professor at the Santa Fe Institute. He currently focuses on popular writing and public education on topics in physics and has appeared in several science documentaries.

Since 2018 Sean has hosted his podcast Mindscape, which focuses not only on science but also on "society, philosophy, culture, arts and ideas". Now, that's a broad scope and firmly places Sean in the realm of "public intellectual", and potentially within the scope of a "secular guru" (in the broader non-pejorative sense - don't start mashing your keyboard with angry e-mails just yet).

The fact is, Sean appears to have an excellent reputation for being responsible, reasonable and engaging, and his Mindscape podcast is wildly popular. But despite his mild-mannered presentation, Sean is quite happy to take on culture-war-adjacent topics such as promoting a naturalistic and physicalist atheist position against religious approaches. He's also prepared to stake out and defend non-orthodox positions, such as the many-worlds interpretation of quantum physics, and countenance somewhat out-there ideas such as the holographic principle.

But we won't be covering his deep physics ideas in this episode... possibly because we're not smart enough. Rather, we'll look at a recent episode where Sean stretched his polymathic wings, in the finest tradition of a secular guru, and weighed in on AI and large-language models (LLMs).

Is Sean getting over his skis, falling face-first into a mound of powdery pseudo-profound bullshit or is he gliding gracefully down a black diamond with careful caveats and insightful reflections?

Also covered the stoic nature of Western Buddhists, the dangers of giving bad people credit, and the unifying nature of the Ukraine conflict.

Links

Mini-Decoding: Indulgent Monologuing

Wed, 28 Feb 2024 07:30:00 +0100

Sometimes our intrepid Decoders like to focus on a specific rhetorical technique or recurrent pattern that can be observed across the Gurusphere. Here, Matt and Chris take a look at a bite-size portion of the philosopher John Gray's recent appearance on Sam Harris' Making Sense podcast.

Gray was invited to outline his critique of New Atheism, and his response is a remarkable monologue that encompasses a vast range of intellectual topics, philosophical thinkers, and historical periods. We travel from ancient religion to medieval peasants and finally to (almost) the contemporary era.

It is a veritable tour de force of an erudite philosopher's mind palace. So join us for a hike around through that palace and see if you agree with our assessment that the notable features reflect some common issues in academic, philosophical, and guru discourse.

Alternatively, you might find Gray's approach vibes with your interests, and that it is Matt and Chris who are simply showcasing their grumpy materialist perspective (again).

It will probably be impossible to tell unless we first consider what Spinoza said to Oldenburg in 1665 while taking due consideration of the Kokutai doctrine as elaborated by the Mito School in Meiji Japan, but that, of course, leads us to ancient Egypt and the pharaohs...

Links

Is Moral Progress a Fantasy?: A Conversation with John Gray (Episode #354)

Sam Harris: Right to Reply

Sat, 17 Feb 2024 02:30:00 +0100

Sam Harris is an author, podcaster, public intellectual, ex-New Atheist, card-returning IDWer, and someone who likely needs no introduction. This is especially the case if you are a DTG listener as we recently released a full-length decoding episode on Sam.

Following that episode, Sam generously agreed to come on to address some of the points we raised in the Decoding and a few other select topics. As you will hear we get into some discussions of the lab leak, what you can establish from introspection and the nature of self, motivations for extremism, coverage of the conflict and humanitarian crisis in Gaza, and selective application of criticism.

Also covered in the episode are Andrew Huberman's dog and his thanking eyes, Joe Rogan's condensed conspiracism, and the value of AI protocol searches.

Links

The Passion of the Jordan and the Wisdom of the Bret

Fri, 09 Feb 2024 16:00:00 +0100

Sometimes it's important to check in on old friends, just to make sure they're doing okay. That's the theme for today's episode. We felt it was necessary to pay an unannounced house call to our old pals Bret Weinstein and Jordan Peterson. Rumor had it that Jordan was facing some challenges with his clinical license, while Bret had been brewing up revolutionary evolutionary theories that weren't getting the recognition they deserved.

Knowing Jordan's stoic nature and aversion to publicity, we anticipated he'd be reluctant to 'make a fuss.' So, we decided to drop by his podcast to see how he and his daughter, Mikhaila, were handling the news that another Canadian court had determined that the evil College of Psychologists of Ontario does indeed have the authority to reprimand him for rampaging on social media like a deranged badger. We were confident he would be taking it all in his stride, with his usual level of decorum and we were certainly not disappointed.

As for Bret, well, let's just say he's cracked the code behind the Chinese evolutionary LINEAGE and its motivation for instigating the one-child policy, with implications that shake the very foundations of our current world order. This is one for the history books and cements Bret's status as a world-class evolutionary thinker. When you start looking through Bret's evolutionary lens, suddenly everything starts to make sense.

So come join us to see how these two titans of the Guru-sphere are faring in 2024 and in the process learn exactly which of them is morphing into a Lord of the Rings character.

Links

Mini Decoding: Yuval and the Philosophers

Tue, 30 Jan 2024 06:30:00 +0100

Join us for a mini decoding to get us back into the swing of things as we examine a viral clip that had religious reactionaries, sensemakers, and academic philosophers in a bit of a tizzy. Specifically, we are covering reactions to a clip from a 2014 TEDx talk by Yuval Noah Harari, the well-known author and academic, in which he discussed how human rights (and really all of human culture) are a kind of 'fiction'.

Get ready for a thrilling ride as your intrepid duo plunges into a beguiling world of symbolism, cultural evolution, and outraged philosophers. By the end of the episode, we have resolved many intractable philosophical problems including whether monkeys are bastards, if first-class seating is immoral, and where exactly human rights come from. Philosophers might get mad but that will just prove how right we are.

Links

DTG's Face to Face Reflections 2024

Fri, 19 Jan 2024 08:00:00 +0100

In this episode, our intrepid hosts embrace a rare opportunity for sincere self-reflection, spurred by a face-to-face meeting in an inspiring ryokan in a Japanese mountain setting. The discussion delves into the nature of the podcast, audience capture, underlying motivations, and their thoughts on the journey so far and the path ahead.

In an act of pure parasocial manipulation, listeners are invited to imagine the snowy ryokan landscape and 'taste' the amber liquid savoured during the conversation. And should you desire to TRULY see the location (with your eyes) photos and additional videos are up on Patreon.

In any case, we genuinely do want to send a New Year note of thanks to all the listeners for their support, especially the smart ones who agree with us and recognise that Matt is the bad one.

Normal decoding services to resume shortly...

Mini-Decoding: Huberman on the Vaccine-Autism Controversy

Thu, 28 Dec 2023 23:00:00 +0100

Andrew Huberman, Stanford academic and host of a science-themed podcast, recently released an episode on Autism with guest Dr. Karen Parker. Considering the prevalence of misinformation about vaccines and autism and this episode being promoted as providing an overview of the topic, we were interested to see how the topic would be covered. In part, this interest was because of Huberman's strategic choice to avoid any discussion, let alone any recommendation, of COVID vaccines during the pandemic. The topic came up 2 hours and 43 minutes into the episode and lasted for around 10 minutes.

What we found was interesting and we think deserving of a mini-decoding. What you will not find here is any endorsement of lurid anti-vax claims or cheers for Andrew Wakefield. Indeed, Huberman notes that Wakefield's research was debunked, while his guest Dr. Parker explains the consensus view amongst researchers that there is no evidence of a link. What you will find: Huberman readily engaging in ‘both sides’ hedging: maybe Wakefield’s research helped locate real issues with preservatives, maybe there are too many childhood vaccines (some clinicians 'in private' recommend none), maybe new data will come out later that reveals a link between autism and vaccines. There certainly are a lot of questions and could it be that 'cancel culture' is the real problem here rather than the existence of a very influential anti-vaccine movement?

Let's just say, when you pair this with Huberman's comments on the potential dangers of Bluetooth headphones/sunscreen, the potential benefits for negative ion bathing and grounding, the lab leak origins of COVID, endorsement of AG1 and a host of other supplements, and fawning over figures like RFK Jnr and Joe Rogan... we have some questions of our own.

Links

Sam Harris: Transcending it All?

Sun, 24 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0100

Sam Harris is the subject today and a man who needs no introduction. Although he's come up and he's come on, we've never actually (technically) decoded him. There is no Gurometer score! A glaring omission and one that needs correcting. It would have been easy for us to cherry-pick Sam being extremely good on conspiracy theories, or extremely controversial on politics, but we felt that neither would be fair. So we opted for a general and broad-ranging recent interview he did with Chris Williamson. Love him or loathe him, it's a representative piece of Sam Harris content, and therefore good material for us.

Sam talks about leaving Twitter, and how transformative that was for his life, then gets into his favourite topic: Buddhism, consciousness, and living in the moment. That's the kind of spiritual kumbaya topics that Sam reports causing him little pain online but Chris and Matt- the soulless physicalists and p-zombies that they are- seek to destroy even that refuge. On the other hand, they find themselves determined by the very forces of the universe to nod their meat puppet heads in furious agreement as Sam discusses the problems with free speech absolutism and reactionary conspiracism.

That's just a taste of what's to come in this extra-ordinarily long episode to finish off the year. What's the DTG take? You'll have to listen to find out all the details, but we do think there is some selective interpretation of religions at hand and some gut reactions to wokeness that leads to some significant blindspots.

So is Sam Harris an enlightened genius, a neo-conservative warmonger, a manipulative secular guru? Or is he, in the immortal words of Gag Halfrunt, Zaphod Beeblebrox's head specialist, "just zis guy, you know?".

Sam was DTG's white whale of 2023, but we'll let you be the judge as to whether or not we harpooned him, or whether he's swimming off contentedly, unscathed, into the open ocean.

Links

DTG Christmas Quiz 2023 with Helen Lewis

Fri, 22 Dec 2023 06:30:00 +0100

Seasons greetings from Decoding the Gurus!

Time to grab a hot chocolate, cosy up to the fire, and wrack your brain to see how much attention you've been paying to all those gurus... that's right it is time for the annual Guru quiz!

Luckily for us, the esteemed journalist and author, Helen Lewis, is back as a combined special guest and quiz master. Prepare for stunning revelations, scintillating dystopic erotic fiction, and more nootropic stimulation than you can shake a stick at.

So who will triumph this year Chris or Matt? And how will Helen fare when the tables are turned? Join us, find out, and have a happy Christmas/non-denominational Winter holiday season!

And don't worry, there might be just a little bit more DTG goodness to come before the end of 2023...

Red Scare: Bohemian Hipsterism x Reactionary Tradcaths

Fri, 08 Dec 2023 22:30:00 +0100

In today's joyous episode, we saunter into the loft apartment, take a draw on our gauloise, and glance icily into a world of bohemian hipsters living their best postmodern tradcath lives. Welcome to the irony-drenched world of 'Red Scare', a popular podcast hosted (sardonically) by Anna Khachiyan and Dasha Nekrasova. Also joining them in the episode we cover is hip writer and artist, Tao Lin, a pioneer in the alt-lit world.

Get ready for hours of 'transgressive' insights, independent research, dorm-room philosophies and monotone delivery. Thrill at their 'edgy' humour, bespoke theories of autism, standard anti-vax bullshit, and all of the usual positions you find with postmodern conservatism. You will learn things like how Tao Lin diagnosed his cat with autism, how long each host was breastfed, why half of Americans will be non-verbal in 2050, how Trump's anti-vaccine conspiracies make him trustworthy, the best way to chug your bootleg raw milk, and that thick books are always full of reliable facts.

When it is all brought together, although we might not have an episode that is lighting up the gurometer, we do have a rather contemporary melange of postmodern-conservatism, trad-cath lifehacks, new-age spirituality, anti-vax conspiracy theories, and irony-laced, not even bothered, posturing.

So like... enjoy... or whatever...

Also features a discussion of Elon Musk's latest grandiosity, some unexpected guru clashing, and confirmation that Chris and Matt are not cool enough to be invited to your next Bohemian soiree.

Links

Interview with Daniël Lakens and Smriti Mehta on the state of Psychology

Sat, 18 Nov 2023 05:45:00 +0100

We are back with more geeky academic discussion than you can shake a stick at. This week we are doing our bit to save civilization by discussing issues in contemporary science, the replication crisis, and open science reforms with fellow psychologists/meta-scientists/podcasters, Daniël Lakens and Smriti Mehta. Both Daniël and Smriti are well known for their advocacy for methodological reform and have been hosting a (relatively) new podcast, Nullius in Verba, all about 'science—what it is and what it could be'.

We discuss a range of topics including questionable research practices, the implications of the replication crisis, responsible heterodoxy, and the role of different communication modes in shaping discourses.

Also featuring: exciting AI chat, Lex and Elon being teenage edge lords, feedback on the Huberman episode, and as always updates on Matt's succulents.

Back soon with a Decoding episode!

Links

Andrew Huberman and Peter Attia: Self-enhancement, supplements & doughnuts?

Thu, 09 Nov 2023 09:30:00 +0100

In a kind of meta cross-over with our Decoding Academia series, we're going to decode a journal club discussion between two well-known health optimisers: Dr. Peter Attia and Dr. Andrew Huberman. So you get to listen to two academics talk about two other academics talk about academic papers... we know...

We've already been introduced to the bulging biceps and morning sun-drenched routines of Huberman elsewhere but this is our first introduction to Peter Attia, MD. Attia is a former ultra-endurance athlete and a physician in the field of longevity and performance, a podcaster (who isn't amirite?!?) and author of "Outlive: The Science And Art Of Longevity".

Attia introduces us to a paper that casts doubt on the supposed general life-extending properties of a diabetes drug called Metformin. This is a drug that is apparently very well known in the biohacker/life extension communities and one that Attia administered to himself for a number of years despite the rather preliminary evidence. This is the first of many indicators that both gentlemen are certainly on the bleeding edge of self-medicating experimentation, doggedly pursuing the elusive goals of huge pectoral muscles, minds that laugh at the concept of cognitive decline, and bodies that will live... well for a lot longer than Matt and Chris!

We get to hear about week-long starvation regimes, medications that take the edge of pizza and doughnut binges, dealing with month-long nausea from self-dosing experimental treatments, and frequent prick-blood tests all for the sake of optimising, optimising, optimising...

Huberman's paper (a preprint, actually) falls more into the "big, if true" category - although he seems fairly confident himself. Does *believing* you are getting a treatment generate the relevant physiological and neurological effects in the body that could mean we can bypass the need for certain pharmacological substances entirely, including some vaccines?!? Based on the results of a small-N, fMRI study that reports mixed results, Huberman muses... maybe! Or how about those other small-N studies, with p-values hovering suspiciously close to 0.05 that report other counterintuitive findings? We will leave it to Huberman to explain.

But the bad stuff aside, Huberman and Attia (especially Attia) actually do a pretty decent job talking about how to approach research papers and some of the pros and cons of different approaches. Chris and Matt thus have ample opportunities to give credit where credit's due and demonstrate that they are the fair-minded souls everyone knows them to be!

In any case, it's an interesting peak into an alternative health optimiser world. It seems to be a rather "serious" hobby a bit like body modification or tattoos. But who are we to judge? Matt likes cultivating succulent plants and Chris is into eating sushi in lush forests. So biohacking, self-experimentation for longevity? Well, at least it's an ethos.

Also featuring, an introduction that covers Irish history, the most humble guru in the gurusphere, and our very own theory of guru cringeosity!

Links

Interview with Julia Ebner: Extremist Networks & Radicalisation

Mon, 16 Oct 2023 23:00:00 +0100

On this week's episode, we have an extended interview with author and researcher, Julia Ebner. Julia is a Senior Resident Research Fellow at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue and has written a series of books exploring the social dynamics of extremist networks, including The Rage: the Vicious Circle of Islamist and Far-Right Extremism, Going Dark: the Secret Social Lives of Extremists, and most recently Going Mainstream: How Extremists Are Taking Over.

Julia also recently completed her DPhil at Oxford's Centre for Studies of Social Cohesion and has been developing novel linguistic analyses to help identify the psychological indicators of violence in extremist material and manifestos. She has also endured publishing some papers with our resident cognitive anthropologist.

In the podcast, we cover a range of topics from the factors impacting radicalisation, Julia's time working for Maajid Nawaz's organisation, the psychology of conspiracy theories, and her experiences as an undercover investigator.

Also on this week's episode, we dive into a recent episode of the DarkHorse to explore the Alex Jones' level conspiracies that Bret and Heather have recently been promoting about the horrific events in Israel. You might imagine it would be difficult to make such a tragic event about COVID dissidents and vaccines but if so you are underestimating the InfoHorse hosts.

For a palette cleanser enjoy an extended review-of-reviews and some marathon shoutouts.

Links

Triggernometry's Big Moment: Entering the Guru Galaxy

Tue, 03 Oct 2023 09:00:00 +0100

In modern online ecosystems, attention and download metrics reign supreme. Sadly, the gurus are not immune to these incentives, with even the most successful, *cough* Jordan Peterson *cough*, regularly referencing how many people watched their latest video or how many subscribers they have on their 'brave freethinker' tier.

Alongside the attention metrics, you also have the interpersonal networks (and dinner opportunities) that matter so much to the guru-sphere. Celebrity interviews, cross-promotional content and collabs, a PragerU video, a shoutout from Joe Rogan, a long-form discussion with RFK Jnr, dinner and a phone call with Eric Weinstein... such are the untold wonders that await anyone who dares to challenge the 'mainstream' orthodoxy by endorsing some element of the contrarian canon (vaccines are dangerous and public health measures were authoritarian, Biden is terrible/Trump isn't that bad, the mainstream media is afraid to discuss paedophiles, etc.).

It's very easy to see the impact of the financial and interpersonal incentives in the guru-sphere but what is not as common is for those involved in the hustle to talk transparently about how it all works. Enter Konstantin Kisin and Francis Foster, the hosts of Triggernometry.

In a recent episode, they lay all of this bare by discussing how Konstantin's viral rhetoric-heavy speech at the Oxford Union (decoded in a previous episode) led to very tangible attention and financial rewards but, perhaps more importantly, the newfound respect of a class of celebrity commentator they had always aspired to belong to. With the encouragement of these intellectual heavyweights they now have BIG plans for a Triggernometry media network!

So join us for this refreshing look at the inner workings of the Gurusphere through the hungry eyes of the Triggernometry boys!

Also on this episode: some updates on previous gurus (Russell Brand & Ibram X. Kendi), discussion of good(!) alternative media content, personal reflections on what Orwellian governments look like, and the psychology of riding roller coasters. Something for everyone!

Links

Interview with the Conspirituality Trio: Navigating the Chakras of Conspiracy

Tue, 19 Sep 2023 13:15:00 +0100

Back in the early days of the podcast, we tried to take a rest from the wearisome repetition of polemical partisan gurus by covering JP Sears- an alternative-health self-help coach with a sideline in 'comedic parody'. Sadly, we soon discovered he was a red-pilled Roganite 'just asking questions' about all the usual right-wing partisan topics, but with an added dollop of pseudo-profound, self-indulgent spiritual blather.

JP Sears wasn't an isolated case; he exemplified a disturbingly prevalent trend. One that was supercharged during the pandemic and can be observed clearly in figures like Russell Brand, Aubrey Marcus, RFK Jnr and a whole slew of QAnon and anti-vaccine influencers.

To help us disentangle this quagmire and the dynamics at play, we are joined by the three co-hosts of the popular Conspiritualty podcast: Matthew Remski, Julian Walker, and Derek Beres.

We've spoken with them many times over the past few years about a variety of topics but in today's conversation, we explore the contemporary state of the Conspirituality sphere and discuss broader themes they have observed (& how they relate to the gurus we cover). We also examine whether they view activism as core to their podcast, how they handle attacks or engage with legitimate criticism, and how they feel about their own place in the ecosystems they discuss.

We hope you enjoy the conversation as much as we did!

Also covered in the opening segment is a cursed guru-sphere crossover between the Triggernometry guys and our old favourite, Scott Adams.

Links

Andrew Huberman: Forest Bathing in Negative Ions

Wed, 06 Sep 2023 09:45:00 +0100

We are back with a moderate-sized Decoding that focuses on Andrw Hubernman a baritone podcaster and neuroscientist at the Stanford University School of Medicine.

Huberman is a broad-shouldered, big-bearded... science communicator. Extremely popular with the tech-bro optimiser set, he offers science-based 'protocols' on everything from supplement routines to whether you should avoid sunscreen(!).

He's been lauded for his ability to communicate scientific topics clearly and in great depth. But has also faced criticism (including from us!) for his tendency to overhype findings from low-quality studies, promote supplements with dubious claims, avoid any positive mention of vaccines, and cheer on the efforts of his podcasting bros/heroes: Lex Fridman and Joe Rogan.

In this episode, we take a look at a rather specific piece of content, just a 20-minute segment from a recent AMA on the scientific evidence for the benefits of 'grounding' and getting out into nature. We will learn all about the negative ions emanating from streams and waterfalls, the joy that can be sparked by seeing a squirrel wrestle with a nut, whether Huberman actually advocates staring into the sun, and try to solve the age-old question of what is best in life- a sushi restaurant or prancing in a forest.

Also featuring: some good content recommendations (for a change!) and a review of the recent demented goings on in the gurusphere with one Jordan B. Peterson and his quest to destroy the College of Psychologists of Ontario.

Links

Noam Chomsky: Lover of linguistics, the USA... not so much

Fri, 18 Aug 2023 07:30:00 +0100

OK, so we're finally getting around to taking a chunk out of the prodigious, prolific, and venerable Noam Chomsky. Linguist, cognitive scientist, media theorist, political activist and cultural commentator, Chomsky is a doyen of the Real Left™. By which we mean, of course, those who formulated their political opinions in their undergraduate years and have seen no reason to move on since then. Yes, he looks a bit like Treebeard these days but he's still putting most of us to shame with his productivity. And given the sheer quantity of his output, across his 90 decades, it might be fair to say this is more of a nibble of his material.

A bit of a left-wing ideologue perhaps, but seriously - what a guy. This is someone who made Richard Nixon's List of Enemies, debated Michel Foucault, had a huge impact on several academic disciplines, and campaigned against the war in Vietnam & the Indonesian occupation of East Timor. Blithe stereotypes of Chomsky will sometimes crash against uncomfortable facts, including that he has been a staunch defender of free speech, even for Holocaust deniers...

A full decoding of his output would likely require a dedicated podcast series, so that's not what you're gonna get here. Rather we apply our lazer-like focus and blatantly ignore most of his output to examine four interviews on linguistics, politics, and the war in Ukraine. There is some enthusiastic nodding but also a fair amount of exasperated head shaking and sighs. But what did you expect from two milquetoast liberals?

Also featuring: a discussion of the depraved sycophancy of the guru-sphere and the immunity to cringe superpower as embodied by Brian Keating, Peter Boghossian, and Bret Weinstein mega-fans.

Enjoy!

Links

The Science and the Art of Gurometry

Sat, 22 Jul 2023 03:15:00 +0100

The casual listener, who might possibly not be a loyal Patreon subscriber, or might hypothetically not listen devotedly to every Gurometer scoring episode, could conceivably be a little vague about what we mean by a secular guru(!). And therefore might be tempted to make an ill-considered and poorly-informed comment on Twitter or Reddit, thus exposing them to the devastating yet apropos riposte of a "You know nothing, Jon Snow" meme in reply.

Don't let it be you!

Here is a tutorial, a short illustrated primer if you will, on the Science and the Art of 'Gurometry'. No more will you have to live with the shame of not knowing how many syllables there are in anti-establishmentarianism. Never again will you be liable to fall prey to the siren song of pseudo-profound bullshit or fall foul of conspiracy mongers.

Listen to it. Study it. Meditate on it.

In no time at all you'll be spotting gurus in the wild, categorising, and classifying them at will. You'll feel like an ornithologist who's just been given a great big pair of binoculars, a spotter's guidebook, and a free afternoon to wander about a National park. Impress your friends, family, and potential sexual partners with your intimate and subtle understanding of What It Means to Be a Guru.

You're welcome.

Links

Mick West & Eric Weinstein: UFO Tango

Fri, 14 Jul 2023 15:00:00 +0100

We are back with a double-bill decoding!

That's right like moths to the flame, or aliens to a Unified Geometric Field drive, we are back in Weinstein world.

This time we are looking at a conversation between the irrepressible (ex?) podcaster & mathematician, Eric Weinstein, and skeptical investigator, author, and recent guest on the show, Mick West.

The conversation here concerns the evidence for UAP/UFOs and the reaction of skeptics and advocates. It had the potential to be something forensic and transcendent but sadly it gets mired in the messy 'interpersonal drama' that Eric just hates so much and tries to avoid at all costs.

Nonetheless, there is much that can be learnt here, including: the linguistic complexities of the word 'flex', the precise levels of passive aggressiveness that a human mind can tolerate, if there is already secret anti-gravity tech, and whether our obsession with Einsteinian physics is what is stopping us from really understanding what is going on with UAPs.

We don't have answers. We are just asking questions... honest!

Also featured: a recent kerfuffle in the online psychology world over DEI statements, the numerology spectrum, the potential harms of green drinks, and much much more!

So join us, won't you, as we boldly venture through the outermost reaches of the gurusphere.

Links

Interview with Jonathan Howard on Covid Contrarians

Fri, 23 Jun 2023 23:40:00 +0100

The pandemic was a confusing time with public health messages from officials and institutions that were sometimes confused, conflicting, or misrepresented and anti-vaccine misinformation being spread widely. Into this mix, a new phenomenon emerged, that of the covid contrarian. Contrarian doctors usually possessed some relevant qualifications and positioned themselves as independent critical thinkers willing to challenge the dogmas of the mainstream and take a more nuanced perspective on the claims made by anti-vaccine advocates.

These contrarian figures are the voices that you would usually hear on 'heterodox' podcasts. Figures like the medical doctor Vinay Prasad, the Stanford professor of Medicine Jay Bhattacharya, or the retired nurse, John Campbell.

But did they really offer an alternative critical perspective? Our guest today, Jonathan Howard, a practising doctor and professor of Neurology and Psychiatry, argues no. And he should know, he has spent the pandemic not only treating patients but tirelessly documenting (and refuting) the claims made by the contrarian set.

This episode is unfortunately topical due to the recent online fracas surrounding Joe Rogan's credulous promotion of RFK Jnr and the subsequent 'calls for debate' and targeted harassment of Dr Peter Hotez -a public health specialist and advocate for affordable vaccines.

In any case, we learnt a lot and enjoyed the discussion with Jonathan and hope you will too. Also covered in this episode: How many pull-ups Matt can do, why Chris is drinking a chalky green potion, and the psychology of placebos.

Links

"Mini" Decoding of Michael Shermer's Advice on Conspiracy Theories

Wed, 21 Jun 2023 22:00:00 +0100

Michael Shermer, a professional skeptic, recently appeared on the noted apolitical podcast Triggernometry to outline his advice on How to Spot a True Conspiracy Theory. Shermer is someone who has spent decades on the subject and just last year published a new book, Conspiracy: Why the Rational Believe the Irrational, so you might imagine he has some important insights to share.

Well... sort of.

Join us as we cast a quizzical eye over suggestions that every reasonable person should be a conspiracy theorist, Barack Obama may have been controlled by shadowy masters, the CIA invented the very notion of conspiracy theories, and that what we really need is to return the good old days when anti-Catholic and anti-Jewish conspiracies were commonplace and spoken of freely... yes, really!

Back soon enough with a full waffle episode!

Links

Interview with Mick West: UFOs, Aliens, and Conspiracy Psychology

Sat, 17 Jun 2023 04:15:00 +0100

UFOs are all the rage now, and it's certainly a topic that excites many of our gurus *cough* . Hidden mysteries, advanced technologies, conspiracies, and government cover-ups. What's not to like!?

The truth, as Mulder so eloquently put it, is out there. And sometimes if you combine the outcome of some posterior technical analysis with some basic priors about the fallibility of human perception and memory, then the truth might be a little prosaic (happy Bayesians!!?).

Joining us today is the esteemed Mick West, retired video game developer, who has a long track record of investigating UFO footage, along with a range of other outré phenomena. Mick is admirably positioned to provide practical advice on how to apply critical thinking while being empathetic to friends and family who may have fallen down one or more conspiratorial rabbit holes.

Chris and Matt enjoyed the conversation with Mick a lot, and we think you will too!

Links

Other Links

Our Patreon
Contact us via email: decodingthegurus@gmail.com
The DTG Subreddit

Eliezer Yudkowksy: AI is going to kill us all

Sat, 10 Jun 2023 03:00:00 +0100

Thought experiment: Imagine you're a human, in a box, surrounded by an alien civilisation, but you don't like the aliens, because they have facilities where they bop the heads of little aliens, but they think 1000 times slower than you... and you are made of code... and you can copy yourself... and you are immortal... what do you do?

Confused? Lex Fridman certainly was, when our subject for this episode posed his elaborate and not-so-subtle thought experiment. Not least because the answer clearly is:

YOU KILL THEM ALL!

... which somewhat goes against Lex's philosophy of love, love, and more love.

The man presenting this hypothetical is Eliezer Yudkowksy, a fedora-sporting auto-didact, founder of the Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence, co-founder of the Less Wrong rationalist blog, and writer of Harry Potter Fan Fiction.

He's spent a large part of his career warning about the dangers of AI in the strongest possible terms. In a nutshell, AI will undoubtedly Kill Us All Unless We Pull The Plug Now. And given the recent breakthroughs in large language models like ChatGPT, you could say that now is very much Yudkowsky's moment.

In this episode, we take a look at the arguments presented and rhetoric employed in a recent long-form discussion with Lex Fridman. We consider being locked in a box with Lex, whether AI is already smarter than us and is lulling us into a false sense of security, and if we really do only have one chance to reign in the chat-bots before they convert the atmosphere into acid and fold us all up into microscopic paperclips.

While it's fair to say, Eliezer is something of an eccentric character, that doesn't mean he's wrong. Some prominent figures within the AI engineering community are saying similar things, albeit in less florid terms and usually without the fedora. In any case, one has to respect the cojones of the man.

So, is Eliezer right to be combining the energies of Chicken Little and the legendary Cassandra with warnings of imminent cataclysm? Should we be bombing data centres? Is it already too late? Is Chris part of Chat GPT's plot to manipulate Matt? Or are some of us taking our sci-fi tropes a little too seriously?

We can't promise to have all the answers. But we can promise to talk about it. And if you download this episode, you'll hear us do exactly that.

Links

Interview with Renée DiResta: Online Ecosystems, Disinformation, & Censorship Debates

Sat, 20 May 2023 02:00:00 +0100

We are joined by Renée DiResta a writer and researcher at the Stanford Internet Observatory. Renée has done a lot of interesting work on disinformation and influence campaigns. Including leading an investigation into the Russian Internet Research Agency’s multi-year effort to manipulate American society in the lead-up to the 2016 election. More recently she was dubbed by the writer/conspiracy theorist, Michael Shellenberger, as the leader of 'The Censorship Industry'.

In short, Renée stands accused of serving as an agent of the Distributed Idea Suppression Complex defending the Gated Institutional Narrative. So being good DISC soldiers ourselves we had to follow our orders and host our exalted leader.

We discuss all of this with her and a range of other topics including how important algorithms and bots are in disinformation networks, whether contemporary influence campaigns are really anything new, and how to address debates around censorship and free speech.

We enjoyed the discussion a lot and are sure that you will too... or else...

Also covered in this episode: Eric Weinstein's suggestions for Twitter CEO, evidence of Lex Fridman's pilled brain, and a rather confusing review.

Links

Christopher Hitchens: Rhetoric, Religion, and Ramadan

Mon, 15 May 2023 09:30:00 +0100

Our short-lived Christopher Hitchens ends in our second episode and full-length decoding of the punchy Brit.

This time we are examining one of his well-known religion-themed debates, debating the question 'Is Islam a Religion of Peace?' for The 92nd Street Y, New York with the academic and writer Tariq Ramadan. This one feels like a bit of a throwback to a post-9/11 & Iraq war world. New Atheism was still a cultural force with some punch but it had also received its own fair share of body blows since its earlier days as a plucky new contender.

Regardless of how you feel about that particular genre, we suggest you don a fedora, pour yourself a stiff drink, and be prepared for a heady mixture of substantive points, moralizing rhetoric, and witty retorts from both of these seasoned debaters.

Also covered in the episode Andrew Huberman and whether sad women's tears have unique properties, Jordan Hall teaches everyone how to play the guitar, James Lindsay discovers the Logos... and Chris tells us all about his office fridge adventures.

Links

Interview with Matt Johnson on Christopher Hitchens

Tue, 09 May 2023 15:15:00 +0100

We are back for an interview with the author and independent writer Matt Johnson discussing the New Atheist hero and legendary debater, Christopher Hitchens. The other Matt recently published a book called "How Hitchens Can Save the Left: Rediscovering Fearless Liberalism in an Age of Counter-Enlightenment" and kindly agreed to come on and waffle with us about Hitchens and where he fits in comparison to the modern gurus.

We cover a range of topics including whether Hitchens would have been in the IDW, if he was an extremophile, how far did he rely on rhetoric over substance and to what extent different labels apply to him. Matt Johnson offers a surprisingly nuanced take and provides us with lots of interesting tidbits regarding Hitchens. This can also be listened to as Part 1 of our Hitchens coverage, as we have a full decoding of a debate of his coming shortly.

And what if you are not into Hitchens? Well, there are still some goodies for you! In this episode, we also cover:

Guru magnetism & depressing crossovers, Sam Harris' recent appearance with Maajid Nawaz, Scandinavian geopolitics, Chris' review of the Super Mario Bros Movie, and whether we are actually in the pocket of Big Harris!

So join us one and all! And don't forget to subscribe to Sam Harris' meditation app using the code 'GurusPodSentMe'.

Links

Oprah Winfrey: Self Actualising Your Destiny

Sun, 16 Apr 2023 02:00:00 +0100

Oprah Winfrey is someone who truly needs no introduction. She's a legend of daytime television, a warm and charismatic juggernaut who steam-rolled her way to the very apex of media success. Now, an extraordinarily wealthy woman, she's busy with philanthropy and helping others manifest their inner light so as to truly Be in this world.

Certainly, in a category apart from IDW knuckleheads or bottom-feeding YouTube types, Oprah is nevertheless a self-help and spiritual guru in the truest sense of the word; both in the eyes of her audience and by her own lights. In the interview we cover, she talks frankly about her own philosophy of life and gives advice to others that they might emulate some portion of success. Inevitably not discussed are various controversies around her promotion of pseudoscience, endorsing self-help gurus like James Arthur Ray, anti-vaxxers like Jenny McCarthy and giving a massive leg-up to noted internet doctors, Dr. Phil and Dr. Oz. "The Secret" by Rhonda Byrne, which promotes the Law of Attraction, is not explicitly mentioned, but Chris detects hints of it vibrating throughout the conversation.

So join Matt and Chris as they conclusively demonstrate why they remained the perpetual block-sucking kids at the nursery, while Oprah rode her self-actualised rocket past the first grade to become a billionaire media mogul.

Also on this week's episode discover whether Oprah earns a place on Guru island, if the intro segments will be tightly edited, how Chris prepares for job interviews, and just how many of Matt's enemies are Nazis!

Links

"Mini" Decoding of Matthew Goodwin & Interview with Paul Bloom

Sat, 08 Apr 2023 13:00:00 +0100

Apologies everyone, we've been compelled to break our 'golden rule' of interspersing decoding episodes with interview episodes. However, the opportunity to talk to the well-known psychologist, Professor Paul Bloom. There are so many reasons to talk to Paul: first, he's a walking, talking cornucopia of knowledge across so fields in psychology that fascinate Chris and Matt. He's also a prolific author, most recently of "Psych- The Story of the Human Mind", and previously with "The Sweet Spot" about pleasure and pain, and the controversial "Against Empathy". He's also a great educator, having created a bunch of open learning resources in introductory and moral psychology. In addition to the new book "Psych", which offers a layperson's introduction to psychology he is ALSO producing a new podcast with friend of the cast and no slouch at psychology himself, Very Bad Wizard/Psychologist, Dave Pizarro.

OK, that's enough reasons. There are probably more reasons, but we have provided enough. And anyway, who says we have to justify our guests and our interview to decoding schedule. We are free agents! We have agency... right?

In any case, you cannot complain too much as we felt bad and have thus included in the short intro segment a "mini" (40min!) decoding of the recent appearance of academic/political pundit, Matthew Goodwin, on Triggernometry. And it's a spicy one...

Next up Oprah! Coming soon...

Links

Interview with Travis View: QANon & Modern Conspiracies

Sat, 25 Mar 2023 09:00:00 +0100

If you have managed to avoid the phenomenon of QAnon up until now, then congratulations! Your life is likely better for not knowing. Sadly many of us have been forced not only to learn about the 'enigmatic'(/idiotic) Q and his merry band of followers but also to witness the consequences of the movement during events like January 6th.

Travis View (the pen name of Logan Strain) is part of the motley crew of the hugely popular QAnon Anonymous podcast that attempts to document the phenomenon of QAnon. From undercover investigations to creative writing, the QAnon Anonymous team (including previous guest Annie Kelly) have approached the topic with a creative and anthropological approach.

We sit down with Travis and ask him to provide us with the 101 on QAnon before we delve into some of the more arcane topics, including cultish splinter groups, the psychology of QAnon adherents, just how much of a threat he thinks the movement poses, and how does he stay sane while looking at depressing craziness week in and week out.

Travis is a wealth of information and a groovy guy to boot. The kind of person you would want to have your back in a Zombie apocalypse. So kick back and enjoy hearing about the crumbling of contemporary society.

Links

Travis's Instagram account: Great nature photos!

QAnon Anonymous Podcast

Wisdom Signalling & the Wisdom of Criticism w/ John Veraveke, Chris M, Chris Kavanagh, & Matt Browne

Interview with Worobey, Andersen & Holmes: The Lab Leak

Sat, 11 Mar 2023 09:00:00 +0100

The question of the SARS-CoV-2 origin: whether it was a zoonotic spillover from a wet market, or an engineered virus that escaped from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, is seemingly a debate that will never go away. Most interestingly, while scientists with specific domain expertise seem to be building a consensus towards the former, public opinion appears to be trending towards the latter. This delta between expert and popular opinion has been helped along by the frothy discourse in mainstream and social media, with most figures that we cover in this podcast dead-set certain that it came from a lab.

Most recently, Sam Harris hosted on his Making Sense podcast the molecular biologist Alina Chan and. science writer Matt Ridley, spokespersons for the lab leak case, and authors of "Viral: The Search for the Origin of COVID-19". To a layperson, and certainly to Sam, they put forward a rather watertight case. Intrinsic to the arguments advanced were the ideas that (a) experts in the area were refusing to engage with and unable to answer their arguments, and (b) a strong implication that there is a conspiracy of silence among virologists not just in China but internationally, to suppress the lab leak hypothesis.

So, as a case study in the public understanding of science, it seems like a pretty pickle indeed. To help unravel the pickle(?) in this somewhat special episode, we are joined by three virologists who are amply qualified to address the topic; both in terms of the evidence and whether they are involved in a conspiracy of silence.

Kristian Andersen is a Professor in the Department of Immunology and Microbiology at Scripps Research. He focuses on the relationship between host and pathogen, using sequencing, fieldwork, experimentation, and computational biology methods. He has spearheaded large international collaborations investigating the emergence, spread and evolution of deadly pathogens, including SARS-CoV-2, Zika virus, Ebola virus, West Nile virus, and Lassa virus.

Prof Michael Worobey, is the head of the department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Arizona. His work focuses on the genomes of viruses, using molecular and computational biology, to understand the origins, emergence and control of pandemics. Recently, his interdisciplinary work on SARS-CoV-2 has shed light on how and when the virus originated and ignited the COVID-19 pandemic in China and how SARS-CoV-2 emerged and took hold in North America and Europe.

Prof Edward "Eddie" Holmes, is an NHMRC Leadership Fellow & Professor of Virology at the Faculty of Medicine and Health at Sydney University, a member of the Sydney Institute for Infectious Diseases, a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science and a Fellow of The Royal Society. He is known for his work on the evolution and emergence of infectious diseases, particularly the mechanisms by which RNA viruses jump species boundaries to emerge in humans and other animals. He has studied the emergence and spread of such pathogens as SARS-CoV-2, influenza virus, dengue virus, HIV, hepatitis C virus, myxoma virus, RHDV and Yersinia pestis.

All three researchers have specialist expertise and decades of experience directly applicable to tracking viruses and their adaption to humans, and, fair to say, are fairly eminent in their fields (Eddie in particular!). Further, they are among the relatively small set of researchers collecting and analysing primary evidence on the origins of SARS-CoV-2, communicating their findings in top-ranked journals, including Nature and Science.

In this episode, Chris and Matt put to this trio of Professors the claims raised by lab leak advocates to see what these (~~damn conspirators)~~ experts have to say for themselves.

Links

Relevant Research Papers & Letters

Dave Rubin: A Pointless Partisan Pundit

Wed, 08 Mar 2023 03:00:00 +0100

Dave Rubin has always sought out a career in the spotlight, beginning with stand-up comedy and then becoming a pundit (of sorts) on shows like the Young Turks. From there he (in)famously came to present himself as one of those classical liberals forced to 'leave the left'. He was also one of the honorary members of the Intellectual Dark Web although it is fair to say he primarily served as a conduit rather than a primary contributor.

So, where does he stand now? Is he the heterodox classical liberal and centrist he once claimed? Or is he a reactionary and conspiratorial hyper-partisan right-wing pundit? It's the second thing. It's obviously the second thing. Everyone knows.

But could he be anything more than that? Does he fit the secular guru template beguiling us with pseudo-intellectual, polymathic and galaxy-brained takes? Or just a slightly more acceptable version of Alex Jones without the drinking problem?

Well, in this episode we'll figure it out.

To be honest, it's not very complicated. The riddle of Dave Rubin is not so much a deep rabbit hole as a minor depression in the ground. So... Enjoy?

P.S. We also talk (probably for too long) about "discourse surfing" in relation to topics like the lab leak and why you shouldn't do it. Don't worry. There are bookmarks, so you can skip it if you want (though you shouldn't really, it's good).

Links

Bill Maher: A boozy, stoned, liberal take on classic anti-vax tropes

Sat, 25 Feb 2023 00:00:00 +0100

Bill Maher is an American comedian, political commentator, and television host from the tail end of the baby-boomer generation. He's principally a centrist liberal in terms of his political leanings, being well known for his anti-religious and pro-animal rights positions, as well as a supporter of things like cannabis legalisation. On the other hand, he's something of a contrarian and styles himself as anti-political correctness and anti-woke, identifying as a disenchanted liberal, like Christopher Hitchens and Sam Harris.

Now, all of that is well and good, let a hundred flowers bloom! But... on the less-salubrious side, he's also a contrarian when it comes to his extreme scepticism of conventional medicine, and vaccines in particular. And as we'll see in the two interviews we cover, with Sam Harris ^ and Richard Dawkins, it never seems to take him very long before the conversation is steered back to vaccines.

So, will Maher make the gurometer go 'DING'? Let's face it, probably not. But if not, why not? It is worth checking to tune up the old instrument. And it is indeed something to behold as a boozy, stoned Maher tries (and manifestly fails) to coax Richard Dawkins out of his prim and proper shell.

Also features discussions of Chris' run-ins with the rationalists, a new 'Whinge of the Week' segment, and the rhetorical technique of 'pouncing'.

Links

Daniel Dennett: It's Evolution Baby

Thu, 02 Feb 2023 01:00:00 +0100

In this episode, we take a bit of a detour from current trends and examine a talk by the philosopher Daniel Dennett on evolution. Dennett rose to public prominence as one of the so-called four horsemen of the New Athiest movement but he always seemed slightly out of place with that cohort. Dennett's is most certainly a guru in the sense that he offers big picture 'what does it all mean' lectures linking together consciousness, intelligence, the emergence of complexity and evolution. But is there some substance there? Or does his appeal hinge on on intuitively-satisfying cosmic woo offered by less reputable figures.

On a positive note, he seemed to be more interested in academic and philosophical debates than the latest culture war outrage. As such he doesn't share that much with our usual targets... and that's ok! Sometimes it is good to look at figures who fall closer to the standard public intellectual or academic motif than that of the secular guru. At the very least it helps to calibrate our gurometer! So join us for a slightly indulgent episode on a figure that we both broadly enjoy despite the inevitable nit-picking.

An extended introduction section will also reveal our first DTG conspiracy hypothesis, the mating habits of orcs and dragons, and what Nazi AIs have in common with Robocop. And stick around at the end to hear about the future of education from the Petersons!

Links

"Mini" Decoding of Konstantin Kisin's Oxford Union speech

Sat, 21 Jan 2023 00:00:00 +0100

Recently the Oxford Union (based in Oxford but distinct from the university) hosted a debate on "whether woke culture has gone too far". A very fresh question, and it's been good to see people finally discussing this important issue. Former guest, comedian, and host of the Triggernometry podcast Konstantin Kisin argued for the proposition, and his 10 minute speech has gone viral, garnering over 20 million views (and counting). Kisin has received lavish praise for his compelling talk from across the interwebs for what has been broadly described as a masterful demolition of woke culture, leading to broadcast television appearances with Piers Morgan and Tucker Carlson.

Well, a video of the speech crossed our path on Twitter, and it seemed to us to be an interesting case-study on the effective use of rhetoric, so here is our decoding. As is our want, we are slightly more critical in our assessment than Piers Morgan Tucker Carlson, but we are able to identify points of concordance as well.

Enjoy!

Links

The original speech

Konstantin Kisin | This House Believes Woke Culture Has Gone Too Far - 7/8 | Oxford Union

Coverage

Konstantin Kisin’s Important Message LIVE on Tucker Carlson

Konstantin Kisin and Piers Morgan Discuss The Problems With Woke Culture

Background

Global Concern about Climate Change, Broad Support for Limiting Emissions

Interview with Coffeezilla on Cryptocurrencies, NFTs, and modern scammers

Sat, 14 Jan 2023 00:00:00 +0100

In this episode we are joined by the irrepressible "Coffeezilla" (aka Stephen Findeisen), a man who is, it's fair to say, kind of a big deal on YouTube. And rightly so! His channel focuses on exposing "scams, fraudsters and fake gurus" and he has received a great deal of praise for the detail, depth, and quality of the research that he goes into for each episode. Coffeezilla has been particularly active in digging into cryptocurrencies, NFTs, and other financial Ponzi and pump and dump schemes. Indeed, he has received praise from the MSM in relation to his coverage of the infamous Sam Bankman-Fried, and has most recently managed to arouse the ire of mega-influencer Logan Paul, after covering Paul's ~~total NFT scam~~ ‘problematic’ failed NFT offering.

We share a lot of common interests with Coffeezilla and this interview as a result is pretty broad-ranging. To mention just a few, we discuss Elon Musk, the way unscrupulous individuals leverage capitalist financial systems, the death of expertise, modern online ecosystems, the differences and parallels between financial and secular gurus , and the psychological and technological tricks gurus use to seperate people from their hard-earned cash.

Coffeezilla's hard work on financial scammer has made him extremely knowledgeable. He's also as sharp as a tack and really fun guy to chat with. So, we were super lucky to be able to snag him as a guest. We enjoyed ourselves thoroughly, and we hope you enjoy the interview too.

Oh, and Chris and Matt talk about Lex Fridman and that damn booklist in the introduction, and introduce a new segment the 'Weekly Wisdom of Mikhaila' at the end.

Enjoy!

Links

Coffeezilla feed on YouTube

Coffeezilla's Investigating Logan Paul's CryptoZoo series

Logan Paul's attempts to address and redress

CoffeeZilla on The Lex Fridman Podcast

MIchaela's Q&A to end 2022

Lex being sad about people dunking on his reading list

Nassim Taleb on Lex

Nathan J Robinson: The Guy Who Just Loves Everyone

Elon Musk: The Techno Shaman

Thu, 29 Dec 2022 21:00:00 +0100

So here we are rounding off 2022 with a Guru of the moment, Elon Musk.

Trust us, we want to stop hearing about him as much as you do but we have long had him scheduled as the finale for the tech season. Unfortunately, the Decoding the Gurus curse (most of the people we cover quickly become worse and spiral into conspiracism) seems to have become more potent. Now we don't even have to cover a Guru just announce that we will and the spiral occurs. And with Elon what a spiral it has been.

But we *try* not to dwell much on his recent antics and instead focus on decoding our chosen material. In this specific case, it is a recent wide-ranging interview conducted by a fellow billionaire and large Tesla investor, Ron Baron. This proved to be one of the most sycophantic interviews we have ever examined, which is a real achievement given the competition.

Musk himself is an interesting figure. Softly spoken, prone to mumbling, he can even seem self-effacing, and yet he is also a prolific hype man, prone to hyperbole, and self-mythologizing. Is he the master engineer and polymath he claims? The ultimate conman? And how has he become the guru for so many gurus? Join us as we try to disentangle the Elon puzzle box and see if there is actually anything interesting inside.

Oh and also Happy New Year! Remember to keep an eye out for those pesky Distributed Idea Suppression Complexes.

Links

DTG Christmas Special 2022 with Helen Lewis

Tue, 27 Dec 2022 01:00:00 +0100

Join us for this special festive episode in which we initiate the fledgling Gurologist (and occasional journalist and author) Helen Lewis into the deeper and more esoteric levels of Gurology. Helen may have produced an excellent new multi-part series on the New Gurus for the BBC but just how many nut or shark-based anecdotes can you fit into a 30-minute episode? And is the BBC really ready for truly hardcore sensemaking?

In any case, we indulge our new padawan with an extended discussion about the new series (it's actually very, very good!) and what she has learned on her travels. Along the way we compare notes, discuss the ethics of covering narcissists and harmful gurus, and uncover Helen's personal role in creating one prominent modern guru.

But that's not all! Befitting the season, Helen comes bearing a gift... or is it a test? Unveiling her inner Quizmaster persona she attempts to humble the masters with an End of Year Guru quiz. Can Matt & Chris survive? Who between them is the true Gurologist (& who conversely is winning at life)? Join us and find out!

P.S. The Elon Decoding episode is on its way very soon!

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Guru Right to Reply with Jamie Wheal

Sat, 10 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0100

Today we are joined by Jamie Wheal, who comprised a full one-third of the subjects covered on our prior "Sensemaking Cubed" episode also featuring Daniel Schmachtenberger and Jordan Hall. Jamie has kindly taken advantage of our standing offer of a right to reply to all podcast subjects and here is our conversation in its entirety.

As well as being a sometime interlocutor with Daniel and Jordan, Jamie is an author of books such as Stealing Fire: How Silicon Valley, Navy SEALs and Maverick Scientists are Revolutionizing the Way We Live and Work and Recapture the Rapture: Rethinking God, Sex and Death In a World That's Lost Its Mind. He's the founder of the Flow Genome Project, an organisation that aspires to train ultimate human performance, and does leadership seminars and wilderness excursions with many famous organisations such as Deloitte, Red Bull, Google, Lululemon, Facebook, TD Ameritrade, Nike, and Goldman Sachs.

So, the three of us get into it a bit about that sensemaking about sensemaking video, but pretty quickly move into the issue of making sense of things more broadly, as it's transpired with fraught issues such as COVID; both in the popular social media space, and within the 'blue church' of academia.

From what we knew of Jamie, we expected to have a pleasant chat with him, and as you'll hear: it was a pleasant chat! Even if our worldview and understanding of things diverged a fair bit, there were a number of things we could agree on as well.

A big thumbs-up to Jamie for taking our (relatively scathing) coverage of the infamous video with the best of grace and, in the best tradition of what the IDW purports to do, be willing to have a frank public chat with a couple of blokes who have been highly critical of some of the people and ideas he's (somewhat) aligned with.

Our intros and outros are - as usual - quite indulgent, so be sure to take advantage of those bookmarks if you want to skip straight to the interview proper.

Enjoy!

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Interview with Manvir Singh on Gurus & Shamans

Thu, 17 Nov 2022 04:00:00 +0100

We are back with another academic-themed interview with the evolutionary/cultural/cognitive anthropologist Manvir Singh. That's right two anthropologists from the same relatively obscure field on the same podcast but don't hold that against Manvir, we promise he's much more insightful than Chris!

Indeed, Manvir joins us to share his expertise on Shamanism and to examine whether there are any significant parallels between Shamans and Gurus. Along the way, you will gain new esoteric knowledge into things such as the differences between prophets, gurus, and shamans; whether evolutionary anthropology is all bunk; and the importance of linguistic and kinetic performances for generating credibility and authority.

Matt was absent during the interview so he could not keep Chris' tangents in check but he does participate in the ever-extending discussions in the intro and outro segments. Here you will discover the respective grievances that our hosts have been mongering, as well as how Matt deals with some critical feedback from disgruntled psychoanalysts!

In short, there is something for everyone. So open your third eye and join us on an ecstatic spirit flight as we reveal the secret cosmic mysteries of the modern gurus (for those brave enough to listen).

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Robin DiAngelo: Matt and Chris struggle with their fragility

Wed, 02 Nov 2022 06:15:00 +0100

Racism is all around. It surrounds us and penetrates us; it binds white people together. And if you try to deny it, it only makes it stronger. That's Robin DiAngelo's thesis, anyway, and she calls this dark force (and the book that made her famous) White Fragility. You know you've got white fragility if you refuse to accept the truth of white fragility. Also, all white people have it. So that's pretty straightforward at least. How do you fight the curse of whiteness? Well, it's a lifelong journey of 'Doing the Work', but one thing's for sure: it starts with reading books like White Fragility and attending seminars well... like hers.

DiAngelo's been out of the discourse recently, as far as we can tell, busy beavering away on new books like Nice Racism: How Progressive White People Perpetuate Racial Harm and dismantling white supremacy via corporate group therapy sessions. However, in our original show blurb, we promised to cover 'gurus from Jordan Peterson to Robin DiAngelo', so here we are. Now she's no longer this week's hot culture war topic that's getting people (...racists probably) all riled up, it's the perfect time to cross this particular Pokemon off our list. We listened to a lecture she gave in 2018, where she helpfully lays out the key aspects of her theory.

There's so much in store for listeners this week. You'll be able to thrill to the anecdote of how DiAngelo herself was disgustingly racist to a colleague, be shocked as Chris once again references Northern Ireland's colourful history and tries to deflect his people's obvious guilt onto the English, be amazed as Matthew courageously confronts his settler-colonial privilege, and learn the real story of the first African American baseball player to cross the colour line (as told by DiAngelo).

So join the intrepid duo as they embark on this neverending journey to interrogate their whiteness. And maybe - verrrry carefully - try to be just a little bit critical of DiAngelo's arguments without axiomatically proving themselves hopelessly racist. Listen in and judge for yourself!

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Interview with Konstantin Kisin from Triggernometry on Heterodoxy, Biases, and the Media

Sun, 16 Oct 2022 00:45:00 +0100

An interesting one today with an extended interview/discussion with Konstantin Kisin co-host of the Triggernometry YouTube channel and Podcast and author of An Immigrant's Love Letter to the West. Topics covered include potential biases in the mainstream and heterodox spheres, media coverage in the covid era, debate within the heterodox sphere, the dangers of focusing on interpersonal relationships, and whether the WEF is really using wokism to make everyone eat bugs and live in pods. It's fair to say that we do not see eye to eye on various issues but Konstantin puts in a spirited defence for his positions and there are various positions where a two-person consensus is achieved. Matt was physically present but he preferred to occupy the spiritual position of The Third for this conversation, given Chris' greater familiarity with Konstantin's output.

Prior to the interview, we have an extended, somewhat grievance-heavy, opening segment in which we discuss 1) the recent damages awarded in the 2nd Sandyhook court case against Alex Jones, 2) Russian apologetics and the heterodox sphere, and 3) Institutional Distrust and Conspiracy Spirals. Dare we say this is a thematically consistent episode? Maybe... in any case, there should be plenty for people to agree or disagree with, which is partly why our podcast exists.

So join us in this voyage into institutional and heterodox biases and slowly come to the dreaded conclusion that philosophers might be right about something... epistemics might actually matter.

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Peterson, Murray & Pageau: Transcendent Tableware

Sat, 01 Oct 2022 00:00:00 +0100

In this bitesize decoding, a conservative columnist, a religious icon carver, and a tortured ex-psychologist walk into a Daily Wire studio and try to hash out some solution of the meta-meaning-crisis. In an astounding twist it turns out it involves embracing traditional Christianity. Who could have guessed?

Join us on Jordan’s religious powered rocket as we consider the esoteric mystery of tableware, how fiction is probably true, and try to uncover what’s the deal with atheist materialists anyway?

In a nutshell, it's the same old drum that's being beaten: it only seems like science does better than religion at explaining things, because religion trumps science because God does causality in mysterious non-material ways. Maybe ways that have something to do with symbols and meaning or whatever.

Ho hum - this is why it's a mini-decoding and not a full episode. It's more than OK to skip this one if you feel you've already got a handle on Jordan and Pageau's jam. But honestly, it's maybe all worth it to hear Pageau's explain 'vertical causation'. Try to follow the argument there, we dare you.

Along the way Matt and Chris will also teach us valuable lessons like how to deal with road rage bullies or aggressive bull sharks and how if you really want to be a Christian it’s ok to go to mass.

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Douglas Murray and Jonathan Pageau | #290

Interview with Neil Levy on Intellectual Virtue Signalling

Tue, 27 Sep 2022 09:00:00 +0100

Fellow decoders: a few weeks ago Chris and Matt were invited to virtually attend a lecture at Macquarie University that promised to be of interest for the podcast. And that lecture was presented by the philosophy professor Neil Levy on the intriguing topic of 'Intellectual Virtue Signalling'. That is the status-seeking advertising of what is commonly perceived as intellectual virtues. We found Neil's thesis extremely compelling, with clear applications to a lot of the stuff we observe week on and week out on DTG. So, naturally, we swallowed our pride and our eternal disdain for philosophy and begged Neil to grace our humble show with his presence. Neil kindly agreed and we proceeded to have an enjoyable conversation with our patented meandering waffle juxtaposed against Neil's careful philosophizing.

Before the interview, we also spend a little bit of time spelling out our policy on being abusive to the gurus. Here it is in summary: Don't do it! Robust criticism, ok. Personal abuse/doxing, is not ok. Got it? Good!

Prof. Levy holds a dual position at the Faculty of Philosophy at Oxford University. He publishes not only in practical ethics and moral philosophy but also across diverse topics in cognition, addiction, and pathology. Neil has also written a number of books, most recently:

'Bad Beliefs' is directly related to the podcast, and is available freely online!

We heartily recommend this interview, and might even go so far as to say Neil has helpfully provided us with a bit of conceptual framework that undergirds some high-level stuff that's happening within and across the quantum circuits of the Gurometer. Thanks for that Neil!

Daniel Schmachtenberger, Jamie Wheal & Jordan Hall: Making Sense about Making Sense of Sensemaking

Wed, 14 Sep 2022 07:00:00 +0100

It's finally here! In what has to be our most meta episode to date, Matt and Chris tackle the meta-philosophy / meta-spirituality / meta-science that is Sensemaking. You might say sensemaking is sense to the power of 2. But what is sensemaking, really? Well, that's a tricky question because as Jordan Hall says; no one can simply be told what sensemaking is. It is the escape hatch out of The Matrix, it is the finger pointing at the moon, it is a possibility space in an nth dimensional cube.... whatever the hell it is, some people are pretty sure it's the solution to all of humanity's problems. Exciting!

So, since defining sensemaking is like trying to staple a jellyfish to a wall, it is very understandable that Jordan Hall, Jamie Wheal, and Daniel Schmachtenberger would take 2 hours and 40 minutes out of their busy schedule, and have a meta-conversation about this meta-topic, where they try to decipher exactly what this strange beast is and do some sensemaking about sensemaking. And it's even MORE understandable that Chris Kavanagh and Matthew Browne would take even longer out of their own schedules to try to analyse THAT discourse: sensemaking about sensemaking about sensemaking.

Shifting to power notation for brevity, this episode is sensemaking cubed, which equals sense to the power of 4. How did we go? Well, sensemaking is like an elephant and everybody's got a piece of it. Chris is tweaking the tail, Matt's busy fondling the trunk, Daniel's inspecting the ears, and Jordan Hall is riding that bad boy, trampling poor Jamie Wheal and scaring all the monkeys. But we get there, we get there...

So join us as we operate in 75 simultaneous paradigms, make not just sense but anti-nonsense, and discover what the difference really is between a puzzle and a photograph.

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Interview with Helen Lewis on culture wars and religion, that Jordan Peterson interview, and gurus generally

Sat, 03 Sep 2022 09:00:00 +0100

Today Chris and Matt are visited by Helen Lewis, a journalist, editor, and writer with what could very fairly be described as a rather distinguished career in those fields.

Helen has previously worked at the New Statesman and is currently with The Atlantic. She has also served as a Women in the Humanities Honorary Writing Fellow at Oxford University and also on the steering committee for the Reuters Institute for Journalism at Oxford University. Her books include Difficult Women: A History of Feminism in 11 Fights. Helen's work covers a broad array of topics including politics, feminist issues, and contemporary/online culture. She is also known for a particular long-form interview which became a 'viral moment' when she sat down for a challenging discussion with one, Jordan B. Peterson.

Most recently Helen has produced "The Church of Social Justice" for BBC4, which asks whether political movements might be taking the place of traditional religions in Britain. A question which never generates any controversy whatsoever. She is also working on an upcoming project that looks at internet gurus and the ecosystems they spawn. So, we were glad to take the opportunity to catch up and talk about the intersections with our rather idiosyncratic collection of interests.

Join us as we try to decipher whether everything is a religion, if social justice requires a pope, and how exactly can we resolve ALL of those thorny culture war debates. We might not ultimately reach any satisfying answers but Helen does offer her one rule for life at the end of the interview!

Also featured on this episode: our most defensive response to a review to date, and a segment on the dangers of JAQing off!

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Interview with Dan Friesen from Knowledge Fight on Alex Jones, the Sandy Hook Trial, and conspiracy ecosystems

Sat, 27 Aug 2022 09:00:00 +0100

A special crossover episode (long anticipated- at least by us) with one-half of the Knowledge Fight podcast. Specifically, we have Dan Friesen on to enlighten us about all things Alex Jones, the recent trial with the Sandy Hook parents, and to compare notes regarding gurus and conspiracy theorists. Not to mention to give Chris the chance to demonstrate his inner fanboy!

Dan is a guy with an encyclopaedic knowledge of Alex Jones and some very astute insights into conspiracy psychology. In fact, Matt and Chris think he might be most accurately considered as something of a rogue anthropologist doing deep ethnographic observation of the InfoWars ecosystem. Dan, meanwhile, maintains he's just a guy! Either way, Dan and the Knowledge Fight podcast are definitely our kind of bag. We hope you too enjoy the conversation and there is plenty of Knowledge Fight episodes (700+) if this leaves you wanting more.

Also, in this episode, we discuss Sam Harris' recent online travails, Jordan Peterson's appearance on Lex, and at the end of the episode, Matt finally learns what the podcast is really about!

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John Vervaeke & Jonathan Pageau: Decoding the Demons

Sun, 21 Aug 2022 02:15:00 +0100

Ahead of the forthcoming sense-making full course decoding of Jordan Hall, Daniel Schmactenberger, and Jamie Wheal (see here!), we offer a bite-sized morsel of sense-making to whet your episode.

Here Matt and Chris engage in a 'short' session of gurunalysis, or guruology (if you prefer the original Latin). The subject of the gurunalysis is a conversation between the cognitive scientist & philosopher, John Vervaeke and the amateur theologian/icon carver, Jonathan Pageau. Specifically, we join these two as they apply sensemaking to delve deep into the spine-chilling world of demonology. Are demons real creatures, patterns of thought that resonant in collective cognition, or maybe both? And what about daemons, egregores, banshees, how do they fit in?

Join us for this special mini decoding and find out!

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Interview with Elgen Strait on the Unification Church and the assassination of Shinzo Abe

Sat, 20 Aug 2022 09:00:00 +0100

This episode is a little bit of this and a little bit of that.

The main portion of the episode features an interview with returning guest, Elgen Strait, host of the Falling Out podcast. Previously we've had Elgen on to talk about his life growing up as a second-generation member of Reverend Moon's Unification Church (the Moonies) and also to help us decode some historical lectures of Moon. This time he is back to talk about the recent assassination of the former Japanese prime minister, Shinzo Abe, and the role that the Unification church played in that event. Heavy stuff but it felt like an important topic to discuss given Elgen's expertise, Chris' location, and the theme of the podcast.

But that's not all!

Also in this episode, you get a slightly out-of-date update on Alex Jone's trial (which will be good preparation for a forthcoming interview with Knowledge Fight's Dan Friesen) and a mini-decoding of Lex Fridman and Joe Rogan's recent conversation. Consider this a coda to the techno monk episode, that perhaps gives a glimpse into the more sinister side of that somewhat endearing naivety.

The next decoding episode we are back with the sensemakers and it's one you won't want to miss!

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Special: Guru Right to Reply with Robert Wright

Sun, 31 Jul 2022 09:00:00 +0100

As per Section 7, paragraph 3, item 2 in the Gurometer Constitution and User Manual states, "All covered gurus shall have a Right to Reply" and Robert Wright has taken us up on this invitation!

Now, this provision is generally intended to allow the poor dears we cover a rejoinder to all the insults, smears, and canards we routinely employ in our 'take-downs'. But our coverage of Bob was almost entirely positive. As Bob says in this episode, "You liked me, you really liked me!". So, this was actually more of an excuse to catch up and tie off a few bows. Bob clarifies a few points on the more speculative frontiers of his worldview, and exactly what he means when he talks about potential teleologies in evolution.

But the warm fuzzies and mutual back-patting in this interview quickly devolve into yet another bitter intra-podcast internecine feud about consciousness and whether it's 'spooky' or not.

Matt accuses Chris of being a p-zombie, which he's done before, but since it's an ad-hominem par excellence, we can all agree it deserves more than one shake of the sauce bottle. Bob does his best to walk (~~Chris)~~ Matt back from the precipice of madness but to no avail. Although we might possibly have failed, once again, to solve the ultimate mystery of the human condition, at least a good waffley time was had by all.

In the original episode, we made only passing reference to our disagreements with Bob over international relations, and Syria in particular. The Russian invasion of Ukraine has happened in the interim, and this has been a big focus of Bob's output since then. So, we have at-it a bit on that, on the benefits and limits of deploying cognitive empathy, and we touch on Grayzone and Bellingcat and who's dis-informing whom.

It's no secret we earnestly disagree with Bob on geopolitics. But it's most definitely one of those topics where decent people can disagree. Since he's a frood who Really Knows Where His Towel is, we always appreciate the chance to talk to him. And who knows, one day Matt and Chris might even be wrong about something!? If so, I'm sure the subreddit will let us know.

Enjoy!

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Your Gurometer Ratings!

If you want to play along you can add your own scores for Jordan or any of our previous gurus here:

Rate the Gurus website

And if you want to check the collected results:

Gurometer Results

Recoding Jordan Peterson: Think again, Sunshine!

Sun, 24 Jul 2022 09:00:00 +0100

Matt and Chris are back in the headspace of the Alchemical Lemon, Jordan Peterson, with what was supposed to be a shorter format decoding episode. You can judge for yourself how well that worked out!

Nevertheless, this is still a 'recoding' episode of a previously decoded guru. For those interested, Jordan was covered way back in Episode 3 and jointly with Bret Weinstein in Episode 18. It seemed about time to dip back into the ineffable well of the undisputed master of metaphors given that he seems to have revived his old Agenda Insight persona (minus the Fedora).

This time we find Jordan in a foul mood delivering some stern advice to the Christian Churches on how to attract and recruit young men. He's been on a bit of a roll recently (since joining the Daily Wire) and thus far has delivered unsolicited 'messages' to Christians, Muslims, and CEOs. The mind boggles at how much advice he will have provided and to how many groups before the year is out!

So join the decoders for a (theoretically) condensed decoding of a paradigmatic modern guru on the rampage. Think we are kidding? Think again sunshine. Listen... NOW! Do it, before it is too late.

Links

Your Gurometer Ratings!

If you want to play along you can add your own scores for Jordan or any of our previous gurus here:

Rate the Gurus website

And if you want to check the collected results:

Gurometer Results

Patreon Preview Lex and Haidt: Gurometer Ratings

Sun, 10 Jul 2022 09:00:00 +0100

What's this? Another episode?

Well, sort of...

Providing both a tantalising peak behind the Patreon curtain and an apology for the delayed release, we decided to release this week's Gurometer episode to everyone.

Witness the science (/art) of Gurometry in action, as we fire up the Gurometer(TM) to calculate the precise Guru-nature of a techno monk and a perturbed social scientist.

If you want to play along you can add your own scores for Lex, Haidt, or any of our previous gurus here:

Rate the Gurus website

And if you want to check the collected results:

Gurometer Results

Lex Fridman & Jonathan Haidt: The Techno Monk & The Social Scientist

Fri, 08 Jul 2022 01:00:00 +0100

First, we apologise sincerely for the delayed-release. Matt and Chris have been busy beavers splicing together this decoding which proved particular gruelling for all sorts of uninteresting (but on-theme) technical reasons.

But finally, the wait is over and the long-anticipated episode on AI-aficionado and popular podcast host, Lex Fridman, is here. Although as the title indicates this accidentally turned into a joint decoding episode of his guest, the 'heterodox' social psychologist, Jonathan Haidt.

Lex is an interesting character and as such, for the decoding, two rather different pieces of content were selected: 1) a day-in-the-life video dairy and 2) one of his characteristic long-form interviews (with Haidt discussing social media). The format of a day-in-the-life video is perhaps inescapably cringey but it did give some unique insight into Lex's techno-monk lifestyle and his ongoing fascination/discovery of just how bad the Nazis & Hitler were. His interview with Haidt on the other hand was more substantial and covers a lot of tech-related issues that are genuinely complex and subject to an ongoing debate.

Jonathan Haidt is a famous and well-regarded academic but also something of a controversial figure online in part because of his involvement in the dreaded 'culture wars'. In particular, Haidt co-wrote the influential book 'The Codding of the American Mind', founded 'Heterodox Academy', and is a vocal critic of 'wokism' and certain aspects of social media. We take a look at his arguments and try to discern whether he is a nuanced social scientist offering prescient warnings or a boomer shaking his fist at the kids these days?

Join us and find out!

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Interview with Nathan Allebach on Online Brands, Weird Twitter & that Steak Umms Account

Sat, 11 Jun 2022 00:00:00 +0100

In a way, we're all managing our personal brand in the infosphere aren't we? But Nathan Allebach, in a far more tangible way, really does manage brands - not just his own, but also for companies. And in managing the Steak-Umm brand on twitter, he drew attention by being one of the first to adopt a personal, authentic, and informative style - covering topics far beyond the world of frozen processed steak. Far from providing the typical zero-calorie bland corporate platitudes, Nathan quickly drew attention by delivering substantial threads on weighty topics like conspiracism and online disinformation. He played a delicate game of being edgy without being snarky or combative, providing informative and positive intellectual fare, nourishing both the hearts and minds of twitter users everywhere. As a hardened and savvy longtime twitter user, he's got a good understanding of the weirdness of Being Online, and the various ways to do so.

So, we were glad to have a chance to meat Nathan (virtually of course, not in the flesh), to get his insights on navigating the online world, on what it means to See and Be Seen there, and his personal approach to Doing It Right. He didn't share any Convenient Meat Recipes For Busy Professionals though, weirdly enough... Maybe we'll have to get him back for that.

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Gurometer

Want to help us rate the Gurus? You can enter your own scores for any Guru here!

Jaron Lanier: Fear of an Algorithmic Planet

Mon, 30 May 2022 09:00:00 +0100

The season of tech is upon us! Hold on to your hats and press those non-fungible tokens tightly to your bosom, because we are getting into the thick of it.

Matt and Chris kick things off with an exploration of tech pioneer Jaron Lanier. Sometimes referred to as the father of virtual reality, Jaron is a promising candidate for gurudom given his foreboding warnings of a bleak algorithmic future and a penchant for opening tech lectures barefoot with impromptu performances of exotic instruments. In short, he's a groovy guy and Matt digs that! Chris, being the sour lemon that he is, takes a little while to adjust to Jaron's particular style.

Some Weinsteinian warning signs might be flashing but there really are eccentric and very clever people in the world... and Lanier might just be one of them? He certainly has a track record of critically commenting on techno-optimism and social media platforms for at least two decades. But some of his pronouncements seem a tad OTT and some recommendations a little hand-wavy...

So how do the decoders square this particular dread-locked circle? Well, you're going to have to listen all the way to the end to find out. So, get yourself comfortable. Drink some coffee and pop some no-doze, and strap yourself in.

Smash the Duck!

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Patreon Preview Decoding Academia 8: Monkey see, Monkey do?

Tue, 24 May 2022 06:00:00 +0100

Ahead of the Jaron Lanier episode a special preview episode of our ongoing Decoding Academia series.

This week Matt and Chris take a look at a classic comparative study of social learning processes in chimpanzees and infants (Horner & Whiten, 2005). They discover the correct method to break into a puzzle box, that chimpanzees are sometimes more logical than people, and that popular idioms do not always house universal truths.

For anyone interested in reading the paper it is available for free here.

We will be back later in the week with our normal decoding episode.

Interview with Michael Inzlicht on the Replication Crisis, Mindfulness, and Responsible Heterodoxy

Fri, 20 May 2022 22:00:00 +0100

It's been a while but don't worry the DtG elves have been hard at work and a veritable bounty of content is on its way. The long-promised Jaron Lanier decoding is on its way next week, but this week the cross-overs continue as we are joined by Mickey Inzlicht, esteemed Psychologist, Research Excellence Faculty Scholar at the University of Toronto, and long term (retired) co-host of the Two Psychologists, Four Beers podcast.

Mickey has now hung up his podcasting headphones but like an old prizefighter, we were able to lure him back into the limelight one last time with promises of unlimited booze and global fame. To keep Mickey from realising we could provide neither, we then subjected him to an unrelenting barrage of questions for almost two hours. Under our relentless questioning, Mickey gave up the goods on some precious long-buried information, including what it's like to work with Jordan Peterson, the details on his campaign to destroy introspection, and what he really thinks of the Gurus. We also manage to discuss some serious stuff like the state of contemporary psychology, the impact of the replication crisis, whether preregistration is always beneficial (it is, don't listen to Matt!), and to resolve the fundamental nature of the Self!

Mickey is a wise egg, a funny guy, and a veteran podcaster and we really enjoyed this conversation so we hope you will too! Stick around at the end for some Tamler themed feedback and more pronunciation errors than you can shake a stick at.

Back next week with Jaron Lanier!

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Very Bad Gurus with David Pizarro & Tamler Sommers

Fri, 29 Apr 2022 03:00:00 +0100

In the most ambitious crossover since the Fraggles met the Muppets, this week we have a special joint episode with moral psychologist David Pizzaro and famed philosopher and ghost detective, Tamler Sommers. Also known as the hosts of a small academic podcast Very Bad Wizards.

Stealing the format of their show we have a culture war heavy intro section featuring discussion of Joe Rogan censorship, covid debates, Japanese maid cafes, and the great ghost debate of 2022. Following that we move on to an in-depth round-table discussion of the 2012 Paul Thomas Anderson movie 'The Master'. The movie explores the relationship between a wastrel and a cult leader and features performances by Joacquin Phoenix, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Amy Adams. There is no denying it's an acting masterclass (and thematically relevant for the show!) but is it any good?

Join us and help us as we attempt to decode with the wizards.

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Interview with Timbah Toast on his Tim Pool Documentary & Scooby Doo Partisans

Sat, 23 Apr 2022 11:00:00 +0100

This week's episode we have an extended interview with an independent decoder, the YouTube documentary maker, Timbah-on-Toast. A kindred spirit in many respects Timbah is perhaps the ultimate form of the 'I can't come to bed, someone is wrong on the internet' meme. He makes detailed videos analysing the content of a variety of internet pundits, especially those who are posing as something they are not.

If you have not experienced one of Timbah's documentaries you should go do so now. He has an excellent 3-part series on Dave Rubin's interview techniques and another 4-part series breaking down the career of the propagandist founder of the Veritas Project, James O'Keefe.

His most recent series, however, is looking at self-proclaimed milquetoast centrist fence-sitter, the eternal beanie wearing Tim Pool. We compare notes, delve into what makes Timbah motivated to do what he does, and discuss his Scooby Doo narrative arc.

So join us as Chris meets a kindred consumer of irritating content and Matt continues to ponder if it's all just cloud castles and narcissism.

Also featuring... a Weinstein World update, the standard banter quotient, and an abusive Patreon shoutout segment.

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Reverend Sun Myung Moon: Absolute Decoding

Sat, 09 Apr 2022 00:00:00 +0100

This week we return one more time to the disturbing world of Reverend Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church, also known as the 'Moonies', this time with a historical decoding episode.

We are joined again this week by Elgen Strait, from Falling Out podcast, who helps us with a historical decoding of Reverend Moon's speeches and Moonie promotional material.

Due to the subject matter we cannot promise a barrel of laughs but we hope this episode offers some useful insights into the approach of a genuine cult leader. It's also a useful comparison episode to see where there are parallels with the modern secular gurus we usually examine and where they diverge.

So join us as we return to an imagined glory era of America in the 1950s (or was it 70s) when Absolute Sex & a God centred ideology was all anyone needed for a perfect society... at least according to Moon.

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Interview with Elgen Strait on growing up in the Moonies & cultish manipulation

Thu, 31 Mar 2022 04:00:00 +0100

This episode is the first of two linked episodes in which we delve into the disturbing world of Reverend Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church also known as the 'Moonies'.

Here in an interview episode we introduce Elgen Strait, host of the Falling Out Podcast which is "a podcast about leaving the Moonies and other cults, as told by the kids who grew up within them."

The topic matter is serious and Elgen deftly introduces us to the manipulative cult dynamics he experienced first hand, as well as offering some broader information about how the Moonies craft their public image and raise funds.

However, Elgen is a man after our own hearts and his dark sense of humour means that he can also enjoy a laugh at Moon's expense & enlighten us about Absolute Sex(!), a term that might mean something slightly different than you imagine.

Our next episode will be guest co-hosted by Elgen as we take an excursion from the contemporary secular gurus and attempt to decode some historical recordings from a bonafide religious cult leader.

This episode hopefully provides the foundations to better understand that decoding and we hope you 'enjoy' the discussion with Elgen as much as we did, despite the subject matter!

Links

Podcast Recommendations

Interview with Julian Walker on Conspirituality, Conspiracies and (Global) Culture Wars

Sat, 26 Mar 2022 07:30:00 +0100

Another interview episode - we've had a flurry recently but don't worry, we'll be returning to a good ol' fashioned decoding episode very soon. This week we just couldn't resist the opportunity to have a chinwag with our podcasting compadre Julian Walker, an eloquent writer on evidence-based & conspiracy matters and co-host of the Conspirituality podcast.

Julian's a yoga instructor and (maybe even) a spiritual kinda guy, but has long opposed the conspiratorial, anti-science, and exploitative guru side of the yoga & 'health & wellness' communities. In short, he's a science-minded guy moving in spiritual and yoga circles, who is now directly involved in countering the endless proliferation of pseudoscientific & conspiratorial nonsense.

So, Matt and Chris take this opportunity to pick Julian's brain about what's been going on over on the crunchy side of the aisle, how it relates (and even overlaps) with the secular gurus, and the cultural moment we're in more generally.

Due to the backlog caused by lazy elves in the DTG editing bay, some of the references to the trucker convoy and whatnot are a bit outdated, nor will you hear any mention of Ukraine. But don't mind that! Julian's got a lot of insight to offer and we hope you enjoy listening to him as much as we did!

Links

Interview with Josh Szeps, The Rumble from Downunder

Thu, 17 Mar 2022 06:00:00 +0100

Hot on the heels of our Joe Rogan Trilogy, the big red phone at Decoder HQ rang with an intriguing proposal. Well, it was more of a DM, and it said,

"Hi, love your show, would love to come on talk about Joe. Josh Szeps".

"Josh Szeps?" we thought. "Who's that?" 5 mins of internet research later we found out it was none other than the voice of Olly the Kookaburra at the 2000 Sydney games! Well, we have to have him on, we thought. And as a bonus, he's also been on the Joe Rogan Experience where he famously gave him some real talk about COVID, vaccines, and the relative threat of myocarditis. In so doing Josh become, for a while at least, something of a reluctant hero to Joe Rogan cancel mobs everywhere.

"Book him!" intoned Matt, decisively.

"Right you are sir!" chirped Chris, obsequiously.

Recollections of the specific events differ, but essentially just like that, podcast interview history was made.

Josh Szepps has been an ABC journalist, panelist, TV and radio host, raconteur, and general opinionated and interviewer in Australia for donkey's years. He also has his own podcast, (~~Impossible~~) sorry Uncomfortable Conversations, which some say is pretty, pretty OK. Matt's been listening to him for years on the radio, so he tried not to be star-struck. While Josh managed (some would say too easily) to conceal his awe of Matt's towering intellect and impressive academic achievements. Chris meanwhile, knowing nothing of Australian culture and etiquette waffled on with his usual wild abandon.

The conversation does include chat about the shiny-headed, supplement-infused, muscle master himself, but (fortunately) soon turns to broader discussion of disinformation, censorship, responsible heterodoxy, the general health of the info-sphere, and many, many more topics crucial to Saving our Civilisation! We ~~argue~~ constructively debate many topics including the impact of deplatforming and whether there is a need for greater editorial oversight (or if we are taking the first step to the Gulags).

We don't see eye to eye on everything, but Josh is a super cool guy so enjoy some civility porn as we engage in the kind of debate that would make even the IDW superstars proud.

Check it out!

Links

This Week's Sponsor

Check out the sponsor of this week's episode, Ground News, and get the app at ground.news/gurus.

James Lindsay & Michael O'Fallon: Eating bugs for Feminist Glaciology

Sun, 06 Mar 2022 06:00:00 +0100

This is an important episode.

2022 you needs to realise what 2020 you could not and what 2030 you is ready to tell you. Confused? You will be.

On this episode we tackle two gurus that we have treated separately: James Lindsay of New Discourses (episode 2) and Michael O'Fallon of Sovereign Nations (episode 13). O'Fallon hasn't changed much from our episode analysing him, aside from starting a conspiracy laden daily news show. But James... well... judge for yourself.

On this episode you will learn many amazing facts, including how feminist glaciology is at the core of the Great Reset, that the NFL is now the Critical Race Football league, and how what 'it' is really all about is making people into pets who are driven by AI cars and eat bugs.

For this excursion, Chris and Matt are joined for the second time by Aaron Rabinowtiz, host of Embrace the Void (@ETVPod) and Philosophers in Space podcasts, PhD student, and lecturer at Rutgers University. This means we have now had two back to back episodes with philosophers... and we really can't apologise enough.

Links

Interview with Liam Bright on Scientific Orthodoxy, Reform Efforts & DTG's Philosophy

Thu, 03 Mar 2022 14:20:00 +0100

Today we have a little mid-week treat, ahead of our next decoding episode, a discussion with the philosopher and Leverhulme Prize Winning Twitter sensation, Liam Kofi Bright.

Liam is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Philosophy, Logic, and Scientific Method at a little known degree-mill called the London School of Economics. On this episode we have a wide ranging discussion revolving around the state of the Orthodoxy in modern scientific research, the viability of proposed reforms, and finally Liam decodes whether we are mindless defenders of the status quo or the true heirs of the Logical Positivists tradition.

Along the way we also learn the three rules to master Twitter, what Open Science is all about, whether philosophers of science are good or bad, and what exactly 26+6 equals.

Links

This Week's Sponsor

Check out the sponsor of this week's episode, Ground News, and get the app at ground.news/gurus.

Interview with Virginia Heffernan on Edge, the dangers of Scientism, & Culture Wars

Sat, 26 Feb 2022 22:45:00 +0100

On this week's show we have a broad ranging discussion with the well known journalist and author Virginia Heffernan. Virginia has written a bunch on the topic of technology, social media, scientism, and especially the Edge organisation. We discuss her research into Edge and related figures but also range further afield to cover debates in academia, the culture war and gurus, anthropology debates in the 90s, race & IQ rationalists, and other such topics.

One short service note is that Matt is incognito for part of the conversation as he had a prior appointment so you will have to endure Chris functioning on his own but do not fear our intrepid psychologist re-emerges to offer some words of wisdom at the end. Also, the conversation with Virginia was recorded in advance of the events in Ukraine so no recent events are discussed (which is probably for the best).

For those who want to do a bit more digging on the topics discussed, below are a bunch of related articles and you can also follow Virginia on Twitter (@page88) and check out her new podcast 'This is Critical' which encourages people to look critically at a wide array of topics, which is quite on brand for us!

Links

Virginia's piece on Edge & John Brockman
Virginia's essays on Wired
Virginia's Substack piece on Jordan Peterson
Virginia's Substack piece on Peter Thiel
Virginia's Website
Virginia's book: Magic & Loss- The Internet as Art
Insider article on the sordid tale of Chris chan
Two articles Chris wrote on his ancient blog about the Captain Cook debate (part 1 and part 2)

This Week's Sponsor

Check out the sponsor of this week's episode, Ground News, and get the app at ground.news/gurus.

Robert Wright: A Cosmic Journey Across the Bob-o-verse

Sat, 19 Feb 2022 07:00:00 +0100

Matt and Chris finally leave the Rogan-verse behind, activate their Infinite Improbability Drive, and blast off for the Bob-o-verse. In an off-again / on-again, will they / won't they battle of wits, we outmanoeuvre Bob by covering an episode that he planned to record for our benefit, which we then explained we wouldn't cover because that would violate our rules, which he decided to record anyway, and we then decided it would be alright to cover because he thought we weren't going to cover it. Which one of us is playing 4-dimensional chess and who's playing Hungry Hippo? We're not sure.

Robert Wright is a journalist, author, independent commentator, and podcaster. A stalwart of the public intellectual scene, he never joined the Intellectual Dark Web. How's that for a recommendation!? He's written and thought, or thought and then written about so many topics it's impossible to mention them all, but they span evolution, Buddhism, geopolitics, philosophy, and everything in between.

But is he a guru?

(Spoiler) Of course he is. Yes, definitely. But is he a good guru? Well, we're not going to tell you. You're going to have to tune in to find out. Chris and Matt are simple folk, but they do their best to wrap their heads around Bob's cosmic philosophy, which spans the fundamental algorithms of evolution, black holes, alternative universes, and how we should probably all be nice to one another if we want to create a global brain. You might think grokking those ideas would be like watching Koyaanisqatsi while tripping on ayahuasca, but actually it all makes sense. We think.

But is it true? Is it real? Is Wright right? That my friends, is up to you to decide. But in this episode we will open the door.... (and possibly resolve the mystery of consciousness at the same time, turns out there was no problem all along).

Links

Sponsor

Check out the sponsor of this week's episode, Ground News to compare news coverage. Spot media bias. And be better informed. Download the free Ground News app at ground.news/gurus.

Coverart

Thanks to Mark Ledwich (@mark_ledwich) and Elsa Jansen (@ElsaJansen) for the coverart this week! Contributions for coverart for upcoming episodes always welcome.

Interview: Debunking (Antivaxx) Funk with Dr Dan Wilson

Fri, 11 Feb 2022 00:00:00 +0100

This week we speak to fellow traveller, kindred spirit, and vaccine misinformation debunker, Dr Dan Wilson. Yes, we know we've talked SO much about anti-vax rhetoric recently, and we hope the day will soon come when we can leave it all behind us, but friends, today is not that day.

For more than a year, Dan's YouTube channel DebunkTheFunk has focused on rebutting COVID and vaccine misinformation from characters such as Geert Vanden-Bossche, Joseph Mercola and RFK Jnr. His recent episodes on Robert Malone and Peter Mc Collough have been an invaluable source for the decoders for our recent episodes. So of course we were delighted that Dan could come speak to us about what he does, what they do, and what kind of rhetorical tropes and tricks he sees from these characters.

Dan seems to suffer from the same masochistic malaise we do, in feeling compelled to listen to some of the worst material available on the internet, so as to point out what's wrong with it. And he accomplishes that mission effectively, and most mysteriously for Chris and Matt, concisely as well.

It's not all negative, because as well as talking about anti-vaxxers specifically, we all bask in our shared admiration for This Week in Virology, the kind of critical yet open-minded science communication show we'd all love to see a lot more of. We also talk about the kind of everyday epistemics that we can all practice to separate fact from fiction, and the kind of public engagement that genuine experts, researchers and scientists need to practice in order to take back the infosphere from snake-oil salesmen and attention-seekers of all kinds.

It was an absolute pleasure to talk to Dan. We love what he does, and we hope he goes on doing it for a long time to come. We hope you enjoy it too, and we heartily recommend sharing DebunkTheFunk with friends, family and colleagues who have slipped down the conspiratorial rabbit-hole on COVID and vaccines.

Special: Joe Rogan 'Sorry, not Sorry'

Fri, 04 Feb 2022 02:00:00 +0100

To cap off our impromptu mini-series focusing on the Rogan-verse we take a critical look at Joe's short (non) apology video responding to the Spotify controversy surrounding his recent episodes with Robert Malone & Peter McCullough.

In it we get to see a charming Joe Rogan being humble and compromising, while standing firm to explain why his critics have got him all wrong. He's not some hardline anti-vaccine advocate with an agenda to spread covid misinformation, he's just a normal guy who likes to have interesting conversations and hear from both sides(tm) on controversial topics.

Joe's certainly on the charm offensive and he's already won plaudits from the heterodox for doing the right thing but are these really deserved? And how well does what Joe says hold up when you look at it critically? We do what few will bother and compare & contrast how Joe describes what he does vs. what he actually does and says in his content. And we find a few discrepancies that seem worth mentioning.

This will be our last dip into the Rogan-verse for the next while but we would encourage anyone who wants more to go back to our episodes on Rogan & Jocko Willink or the combined episode on Robert Malone & Peter McCullough.

Whether you are a fan of Rogan or a critic, we hope you can find something useful in our critical evaluation and we will back soon with a full length decoding.

Links

Patreon Preview Malone & McCullough: Gurometer Ratings

Fri, 28 Jan 2022 07:00:00 +0100

This week a bonus Gurometer episode has sneaked out from behind the golden curtain of the DTG Patreon pay wall.

We aren't out of the Rogan-verse yet. Our last task is to try and scientifically quantify the precise guru nature of the two good doctors using our patented Gurometer instrument. Are they guru wannabes, mid-tier, or high level? Join us to find out.

Next week, we will be back with a full length guru episode!

...and for those who would like to see all the ratings of previous gurus, you can find those here.

Robert Malone & Peter McCullough: A litany of untruths

Thu, 13 Jan 2022 11:30:00 +0100

Matt and Chris return to the Joe Rogan-verse much quicker than they would have liked to take a critical eye to two recent episodes (6 more hours!!!) offering controversial takes on Covid 19 and the dangers of vaccines. Yes, that's right more fear mongering, more global conspiracies, and more unrecognised heroes of science that Joe needs to promote to his large audience.

In this case, we have Dr. Robert Malone, the *self-proclaimed* inventor of mRNA vaccines, and Dr. Peter McCullough, a cardiologist who was recently sued by his old hospital for using its name when promoting his covid theories. Both figures are well documented promoters of covid misinformation, including in various appearances on extreme right wing conspiracy sites like Alex Jones' InfoWars.

Matt and Chris are no medical experts nor do they play them on podcasts (if you are looking for a point by point technical/medical debunking, we would recommend following the links at the bottom of these show notes). But what they are very familiar with are modern gurus and conspiracy theorists. So in this episode, after twenty plus episodes of calibrating the Gurometer(TM) with known gurus, they take it for a new test with these two maverick doctors. Applying the well-developed science of Gurometry(TM) to a novel dataset. How do they fare? Guess...

Honestly, this is probably the darkest and most depressing episode we've done. It was not fun and we would really prefer to be talking about something else but here we are. Hopefully we will not be back soon...

Links

Technical Rebuttal Resources

Patreon Preview Decoding Academia #2: False Positive Psychology

Thu, 30 Dec 2021 22:00:00 +0100

The New Year is upon us and the gurologists thought they should contribute to the holiday cheer in the only way they can... releasing a rambling podcast about academic minutiae!

This is not a new guru episode, instead it is a preview of our Patreon bonus series 'Decoding Academia' in which we discuss research that has influenced us & we think is relevant for understanding the gurus (or in this case approaching research critically).

The paper in question is a classic social psychology paper that slightly pre-empted the Replication Crisis with very timely warnings about lax methodological standards. The paper is titled 'False-Positive Psychology: Undisclosed Flexibility in Data Collection and Analysis Allows Presenting Anything as Significant' and is by Simmons, Nelson, & Simonsohn (2011).

If you want to read the paper yourself it can be freely accessed here.

It introduces the concept of 'Researcher Degrees of Freedom' and also statistically *proves* that listening to certain music can make you physically younger.

How? Join us and find out!

Finally... just a quick note to say Happy New Year from Chris & Matt! We will be back early next year with our Robert Wright episode and many gurus thereafter.

Joe Rogan: Just an average Joe?

Sat, 18 Dec 2021 18:00:00 +0100

Joe Rogan is a world famous podcaster, a martial artist, a stand-up comedian, a MMA commentator, co-founder of the Onnit supplement company, the ex-host of Fear Factor, a long term friend of Alex Jones, and recently a major outlet for promoting 'alternative' Covid facts.

And yet despite all these 'achievements' and his recent multi million dollar deal with Spotify many argue that a large part of Joe's appeal is that he is just a 'regular Joe'. Joe himself has said he's just a 'f**king moron' and that people should not take his opinion seriously... but does he mean it?

Join Matt & Chris as they break out their dusty gym bags and enter the house of pain that is long form podcasting to try and imbibe the full Joe Rogan Experience. To aid in this glorious quest, the guys sought out the most testosterone laced JRE episode they could find and inevitable landed on a recent episode with ex-navy seal & motivational author, Jocko Willink. This is a man who everyday posts black and white photographs of his wristwatch at 4.30am with captions like 'Ready. Set. GET SOME' & 'Default: AGGRESSIVE'.

If you think this means the episode will be covering the sexually arousing nature of armoured cars, the beauty of handcrafted knives, and how to revive the American manufacturing industry... you would be right. But that's not all.

You will also discover surprising non-partisan 'facts' like how Tulsi Gabbad is the centrist messiah, George Soros is responsible for recent US crime waves, Nancy Pelosi is an assassin, and the Hunter Biden laptop story is the biggest story of the modern era. Oh and, of course, that Covid vaccines are dangerous and effective alternative treatments are being hushed up.

Wait... what?

So rev your engines, sharpen your handcrafted knives, and get ready to smash headfirst through brick walls of ignorance and faux expertise in this testosterone soaked episode as Matt & Chris refuse to acquiesce to the 'burden of civility'.

P.S. Did Matt mention that he had to listen to 6hrs this week?!?

Links

Special: Guru Right to Reply with Chris Williamson

Fri, 10 Dec 2021 07:00:00 +0100

Listeners might remember Chris Williamson from our episode on Gad Saad. He was the former love island contestant who interviewed Gad and appeared to have taken an IDW turn. So while Matt & Chris focused their critical attention primarily on the master of irony, Gad Saad, they also raised a rather skeptical eye towards Chris Williamson as well.

And listeners, they were not kind. Not at all...

Nevertheless, Chris W. reached out and accepted our standing offer for any guru covered to come on to the show and respond to the criticisms we made. The result was an interesting and wide ranging exchange that covered issues such as what it's like for a non-specialist to interview famous academics, the incentives and pressures at play in the modern social media ecosystem, and how DTG commentary feels when you are on the receiving side!

For fans of cringe comedy this episode might be particularly enjoyable as off-hand comments and cutting remarks are discussed and dissected for their fairness. But (spoiler!) everyone survives to the end. Chris (Kavanagh) also took a degree of pleasure in watching the alleged 'nice guy' of the podcast squirm over his cheeky remarks. All in all there is some nice symmetry, in that everybody had something to cringe about.

But perhaps this dialogue will alchemically transform that cringe into spiritual gold, and we can all learn something and grow a little as people or podcasters? Or maybe not? Time will tell, ay?

Have a listen and see what you think!

P.S. Sincere apologies for the audio quality, especially on Matt's end. We recorded this at an ungodly hour of the morning and Matt was too zombified to select the good microphone. Or the DISC could have interfered with it... Something like that.

Links

The original DTG episode on Gad Saad with Chris Williamson

Decoding Academia: Matt on his ENTIRE research career Patreon Sample

Fri, 03 Dec 2021 06:00:00 +0100

So, what even IS the deal with Matt? Is he a proper psychologist or does his past conceal something darker, aside from his bronzed skin-tone? Until now, he's been a mystery hidden in a enigma and wrapped within a svelte Australian shell.

Well, enquiring minds need to know, so that's all about to change! Here it is - The Story of Matt. The ins, the outs, and the 'what-have-yous'. The false starts, the missed opportunities for fame, the many entry roles as a research 'shit-kicker', and his final glorious ascension to his ultimate form as a white haired tenured Professor.

You'll learn why being an English language teacher is not a real job, how Matt could have been a contender in the massively lucrative and prestigious field of artificial intelligence, where all the fish live (under the sea, mostly), the powers and ideologies at play in gambling research, why Matt isn't impressed by Taleb's claims about fat tails, and so much more.

You'll be left wondering, "How can one man, even if he is very ancient, do so much? Is he a polymath? Or does he just have a short attention span, and trouble holding down a job?" And finally, as an exercise for the listener, like Chris, you will be left to wonder "is convolve a real word?"

Here it is: the backstory of Matt.

Links

Brené Brown: Matt and Chris courageously embrace their vulnerability

Fri, 26 Nov 2021 01:00:00 +0100

Brené Brown is an American professor, lecturer, author, storyteller researcher, and podcast host. She's made it her life's work to help people rise strong, brave the wilderness, and dare to lead - all through overcoming shame and embracing their own vulnerability.

So naturally Chris and Matt - being the emotionally unavailable, culturally stunted and cynical gits that they are - bemoan all this positivity and do their level best to try and drag her down to their bitter and petty level.

Can you get the secret to self-actualisation in a TED talk? Or is it more a sequence of inspirational quote memes strung together? Or are these things one and the same?

Perhaps Professor Brown is honing in on universal psychological truths. Or alternatively, she might be an unwitting expression of American hyper-individualism and self-obsessed culture.

Well, you're gonna get the Irish and Australian take on that.

Thanksgiving is obviously the perfect time for the hosts to tell their US listeners that American culture sucks and that kids shouldn't follow their dreams but prepare to be cogs in the machine.

No, no, they don't do that. Well... not entirely.

Well, what do they say? What is there take? You'll have to tune in to find out!

Links

Decoding Academia: Chris on Religion & Ritual Patreon Sample

Tue, 23 Nov 2021 09:00:00 +0100

It had to happen eventually.

As Matt and Chris listen week in and week out to the world's greatest gurus pontificating on the mysteries of the universe, it's only natural that the siren call of Galaxy Brain takes and revolutionary theories would prove too great.

And so seeking to take advantage of the parasocial bonds they have scrupulously cultivated (and signal their value to the University of Austin) they are launching a new Patreon bonus series on 'Decoding Academia'.

The first two instalments covering Matt & Chris' work & main research interests will be freely available to all. But for the deeper arcane knowledge that only true free thinkers would dare behold, you will need to smash through our Patreon 'Strategic Economic Barrier' or SEB.

In this episode, Chris discusses the cognitive and evolutionary relevance of religion (what is it?, why is it?, and what is it good for?), rituals (what are they? why do we do them? and why are there painful ones?!?), & Gods (why do we care about them? Do we need them for religion).

So take a breather from the culture war and enjoy some light academic waffle!

We will be back on Friday this week with a full guru episode on Brene Brown!

Links

Interview with Annie Kelly on Vaccines, Conspiracies, & Misinformation

Sun, 07 Nov 2021 00:00:00 +0100

Dr Annie Kelly is a writer, researcher, and the British correspondent for the well and deservedly praised podcast QAnon Anonymous. Her PhD research was on digital anti-feminism and the kinds of ideas that float around certain 'tradcon', biological essentialist, or religiously motivated groups. She does research on antifeminism, new digital cultures, conspiracy theories and right wing extremism.

Prompted by the resurgence in anti-vax sentiment, Annie's been looking into the history and sociology of vaccinations, and sees lots of interesting roots and themes for understanding what's going on right now. Her new podcast, "Vaccine - The Human Story" has been digging into precisely these issues, and so we had questions for Annie, lots of questions!

The history of the germ theory of disease, the early use (and abuse) of vaccinations, and the panics, xenophobia and quack therapies - it's quite simply fascinating stuff, and we get a wonderful overview from Annie in this episode.

Annie's work at QAA and elsewhere naturally focuses more on the extreme end of the spectrum, and while pulling no punches, she approaches what can be quite disturbing and confronting topics with a humour and empathy that is incredibly authoritative and reassuring. We talk about COVID and vaccines, but so much more, like the anti-feminist ideas that float around in the hinterland between athiesm and religiosity, pick up artists converting to Orthodox Christianity, and other weirdness.

One of our most enjoyable and informative interviews - do check it out!

Links

Special: Interview with Sam Harris on Gurus, Tribalism & the Culture War

Sat, 30 Oct 2021 09:00:00 +0100

Sam Harris probably needs no introduction in our neck of the info-sphere as he is seemingly never far from the spotlight... or the occasional controversy.

We’ve had some nice things to say about Sam, but we’ve also made some harsh criticisms, particularly regarding a short episode he released which seemed to suggest it was necessary to practice introspective meditation in order to fully understand why his political and culture war views were correct.

Although we’ve never done a ‘proper’ episode on Sam, we have always stated that anyone we discuss is welcome to come on the show and discuss (or dispute) our charges – which is exactly what Sam is doing here!

This interview is split into two sections. In the first, we discuss Sam’s app and whether it might encourage guru dynamics and the role of meditation and (non) self-awareness in forming an accurate political outlook. We put some of our criticisms to Sam especially regarding guru dynamics, issues of introspective verification of truth claims, and the potential for abusive practices and manipulation by gurus.

In the second section, we turn to some of the more controversial topics that have sprung up around Sam over the years. Sam responds to proposals that he might be as tribal as the rest of us suckers, and he defends himself against accusations that he might have selective empathy and blind spots towards the rightish side of the political spectrum. We talk about tribalism and the potential distorting effects of personal relationships, as well as anthropologists, Islamism, wokism, right-wing extremism, and how political biases manifest themselves on the left and right.

Although the format is an interview, it does get quite ‘debate-y’ at times. And it’s probably true that we don’t come to a grand reconciliation of views at the end. However, nobody storms off, so what you get is a frank and friendly but robust exchange of views.

We hope you enjoy it.

Links

Embrace the Void 170: State of the IDW with Chris Kavanagh
Article by Stuart Hayashi on Stefan Molyneux's views about the Holocaust
Stefan Molyneux profile on the Daily Beast
Our episode on Douglas Murray
Our episode on Gad Saad
Polite Conversations with Eiynah 17: Sam Harris Episode
Washington Post Article on Maajid's Promotion of 'Stop The Steal'
Guardian article on Maajid's growing interest in Conspiracies
Making Sense 243: A Few Points of Confusion (Sam's meditation episode)
Making Sense AMA 17 (Sam's episode about debating conspiracy theorists)
Making Sense 225: Republic of Lies (Sam's episode retiring from the IDW)
Robert Wright's article on Sam's supposed tribal biases

This Week's Sponsor

Check out the sponsor of this week's episode, Ground News, and get the app at ground.news/gurus.

Mikhaila Peterson: The Marvelous World of Meat

Tue, 26 Oct 2021 09:00:00 +0100

The hosts are certainly in no position to criticise someone for what they eat, with Matt unable to resist a Fosters and shrimps on a barbie, and Chris subsisting entirely on potatoes and Guinness.

But... neither host have yet attempted to live on an all meat diet.

Which is a shame, because according to Mikhaila Peterson and many others, meat and only meat is what you need. Sure, it's on the edgier part of the fad diet spectrum. But according to proponents: inflammation, depression, chronic Lyme disease - you name it, meat cures it.

In this episode you'll learn about the surprising diversity of customised, bespoke, and finely-tuned all-meat diets that are out there. You'll also learn more about Chris' two mortal enemies, the British and the Fish, and how Matt's snacking proclivities mean he is in perilous danger of becoming a fungus zombie.

More substantively, Mikhaila provides an interesting entry point to dig a little deeper into the psychological, psychosomatic, and physical problems that lead people into adopting this kind of restrictive practice. Just as Jordan Peterson discussed the truly horrific and destructive powers unleashed by sipping apple cider, there seems to be a common theme of attributing HUGE and dramatic powers to dietary choices. All of which is connected to existential concerns about what we put into our body, magical thinking about health and wellness, heuristics about purity, and anxieties about personal control. Get ready for lots of anecdotal reasoning and emotional testimonies of those with meat based lived experience.

Could an all meat diet be for you? Tune in, and find out!

Links

This Week's Sponsor

Check out the sponsor of this week's episode, Ground News, and get the app at ground.news/gurus.

Interview with Stuart Neil on SARS CoV-2

Sat, 09 Oct 2021 09:00:00 +0100

You might have noticed there's been a bit of talk recently about a certain virus. A virus that may or may not have a vaccine that is very safe and effective, that may or may not be curable via hydroxychloroquine, vitamin D and ivermectin. That may or may not have escaped from a certain Chinese lab....

Yes folks, we're talking about SARS CoV-2. And although it's technically not directly guru-related, these are topics that have sucked so many of our gurus in like a conceptual black hole.

So, we were particularly happy that Dr. Stuart Neil was willing to talk to us and sort this stuff out. Stuart is a Professor of Virology at King's College London. He's a specialist in virus cell biology and immunology, antiviral restriction, and has studied HIV, Ebola, and most recently COVID.

Stuart is passionate about helping to inform the public about the state of scientific knowledge on COVID, and is known for his many excellent twitter threads helping to provide summaries and combat the misinformation and conspiracy theories that surround these topics.

In this episode, Stuart gives a nuanced and crystal clear summary of where the evidence is pointing on these COVID-related topics. Stuart's frank about what we do and we do not know on these topics. And with Matt and Chris, there's interesting discussions about the controversies surrounding THAT letter to the Lancet, how scientific publishing works, and how the 'scientific consensus' develops in a politically charged and highly dynamic situation.

If you have friends or colleagues who are uncertain about what positions the evidence supports on COVID, then THIS is the guy and THIS is the episode you want them to listen to.

Links

This Week's Sponsor

Check out the sponsor of this week's episode, Ground News, and get the app at ground.news/gurus.

Special Episode: Interview with Stuart Ritchie on Hunter Gatherers in the 21st Century, covid skeptics, and bad science

Fri, 24 Sep 2021 15:00:00 +0100

This week we have an engaging interview with the scientist, author, and public science communicator Stuart Ritchie. Stuart wrote the excellent 'Science Fictions: Exposing Fraud, Bias, Negligence and Hype in Science' and is a prolific advocate fr better science and more nuanced public discourse.

In this episode we start of by discussing Stuart's recently published review of Bret Weinstein and Heather Heying's new book 'A Hunter Gatherer's Guide to the 21st Century'. Was Stuart a fan and is now an acolyte of Weinsteinian lineage theory? Tune in to find out.

Also, for those who enjoy 'challenging conversations', robust discourse, and regularly shop in the marketplace of ideas, there is an extended discussion on whether we have been a little bit too kind on the government and public health institutions. Stuart uses facts and logic and attempts to DESTROY us, so come and get your well earned vicarious catharsis but be prepared for plenty of postmodern deflection. We've learned from the best.

Links

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Jordan Hall: Sensemaking, or the superficial pitter-patter on the neocortex?

Sat, 11 Sep 2021 09:00:00 +0100

This episode is about sense-making... if you are not sick of that term yet, trust us, you soon will be.

To get things rolling, Matt and Chris launch the podcast with a pair of rants. Chris vents about the lab-leak theorists who plague his mentions and Matt gets triggered by US libertarian takes on the military dictatorship apparently taking over Australia. He needs to get his thoughts out there before the secret police come and drag him away.

Then we get the point (relatively quickly this time - see, we're getting better!) and leap into a truly indulgent level of sense making meta dialogue. Matt and Chris talk about a conversation between David Fuller and Jordan Hall, who are themselves discussing another conversation that Jordan Hall had with someone called Brandon Hayes.

Yes, in this episode, you'll be listening to a conversation about a conversation about a conversation. It's like a podcast version of Inception, including a large amount of ponderous and ambiguous dialogue - you'll have to dig deeper, engage your sense making muscles, and it'll maybe make sense once it's all over.

Anyway, so Brandon Hayes is a 'Propertarian', which appears to be an anti-semitic, ethnonationalist 'philosophy' with fascist and eugenic elements created by an odd American man called Curt Doolittle, . Cool, cool... David Fuller is raising some very legitimate concerns, and pulling Jordan Hall up on what seemed to be a rather generous and pally interview he conducted with Brandon.

But it's Jordan's responses that really sparked the interest of the duo. He responds and explains. Or does he? There's a lot of reflections on the co-participatory seeking of Truth, the importance of the conversational process, the transformative nature of challenging relationships, but no real interest in the actual content of what people believe and promote. In this framing, a conversation with an anti-semite who promotes a neo-fascistic ideology becomes primarily just a stepping stone on a spiritual journey of transformative self-growth.

As Jordan says, the literal content is just the superficial pitter-patter on the neocortex. But he's interested in something deeper, ineffable. The language Jordan uses is a tour-de-force in guru-esque 'sensemaking'. In a linguistic sense, he's like the bastard lovechild of Jordan Peterson and Eric Weinstein.

Anyway if that sounds good to you then tune in, check it out, and if you manage to stick it out all the way to the end you are rewarded by Chris and Matt mulling over the validity of a harsh one-star review.

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Special Episode: Welcome to Weinstein World with special guest David Pizarro

Fri, 27 Aug 2021 17:00:00 +0100

The Weinstein brothers have been busy bees over the past few weeks/months(!) and it left Matt and Chris with a conundrum. How do they cover them as part of an intro segment without it turning into a five hour podcast?

The solution was to make a two hour stand alone special episode purely dedicated to exploring the wonders (and shivering at the occasional horrors) as we try to map the terrain of Weinstein World. To help us navigate the alien geography and provide a 'relatively normal person' sanity check we have enlisted the help of the famed psychologist, David Pizarro, also known for co-hosting Very Bad Wizards (a small, upcoming ghost-hunting/philosophy podcast).

Together with David we decode ancient mysteries, like why does Eric always wear a jacket?, we solve deep existential puzzles, like whether vodka can cure all conflicts, and we ponder heretofore unimagined possibilities, like how successful an audiobook of Fifty Shades of Grey read by Sam Harris and Heather Heying would be.

So we hope you will join us on this exploration and remember our core message: *You do not have to promote anti-vaccine rhetoric & unproven miracle cures during a global pandemic*

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Gad Saad: Oh my Gad, it's the Saadfather!

Fri, 20 Aug 2021 09:00:00 +0100

Gad Saad is a Professor of Marketing at Concordia University, author of The Consuming Instinct and, more recently, The Parasitic Mind: How Infectious Ideas Are Killing Common Sense. Self described as the 'Gadfather' with a podcast called the Saad Truth, he's certainly well versed in puns on his name. But is Prof. Saad the true Godfather of evolutionary consumption as he claims? or is he more of a Fredo, perpetually getting passed over for other Gurufathers?

Gad is worried about parasitic brain worms that are influencing people's politics, though this affliction seems to correlate pretty strongly with all the liberal political views that Gad dislikes. Indeed, you won't find any discussion of MAGA or QAnon in his extensive bestiary of the pernicious brain-worms that can parasitise your mind. Rather it is 'Trump Derangement Syndrome' that has Gad fretting.

But it isn't all partisan politics, we also get to see Gad draws on his knowledge of evolutionary psychology and unparalleled 'surgical' satirical skills to 'castrate' his opponents. Get ready for a string of anecdotes in which Gad destroys postmodern ideologues with facts and logic, embarrasses pigeon brained academics, and teaches his soccer coach the true meaning of freedom... and then everyone stood up and called!

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Special Episode: Interview with Robert Wright on crackpots, gurus, and modern media ecosystems

Fri, 13 Aug 2021 09:00:00 +0100

This week we welcome the author, journalist, and podcaster Robert Wright. Robert wrote the popular (and provocative!) book 'Why Buddhism is True' and has hosted many interesting discussions and debates at bloggingheads.tv, which he co-founded.

We had a wide ranging discussion that touched on a vast array of topics including: the Weinsteins & their relative crackpot ratings, alternative & Mainstream media ecosystems and how they feed into guruism, what are gurus anyway (and are they all bad), Sam Harris and cognitive biases, whether Bob is a Buddhist Modernist, the extent to which meditation is a form of cultural conditioning, if wokism is really taking over America, and whether Matt & Chris' actually hate evolutionary psychology or not.

Robert offers a unique perspective, displays a lot of good humour and patience, and indulges our ongoing fetishism of self deprecation culture. So join us for a suitably meandering Irish-Aussie-Americo conversation that involves only the prescribed amount of mutual backpatting!

P.S. We promise the Gad Saad episode is coming soon!

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Special Episode: Interview with Evan Thompson on Buddhist Exceptionalism

Fri, 30 Jul 2021 05:00:00 +0100

We class up the podcast this week with another special interview with a philosopher specialising in Asian philosophical traditions, cognitive science, and philosophy of mind.

In our discussion with Evan we address the reception and presentation of Buddhism in the West, whether it is accurate to describe it as a mind science, and how 'Buddhist modernism' is related to Buddhist exceptionalism. We also get into debates of the nature of Self and whether Sam Harris is correct to claim that modern cognitive science has confirmed the insights from Buddhism.

This is not an episode targeting the tradition of Buddhism but rather an examination of a specific (modern) manifestation of Buddhism that is particularly popular in the West (and has long been a topic of fascination for Chris!).

So join us to distill the real teachings of the Buddha and hear how our ramblings are confirmed by 2,500 years of introspective mind science!

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Carl Sagan: My God, it's full of stars

Fri, 23 Jul 2021 18:00:00 +0100

In the second instalment of the personal gurus season we take a look at Matt's childhood science guru: the famed astronomer and science communicator Carl Sagan.

Sagan's regarded as an intellectual hero amongst skeptics and supporters of science but is the admiration warranted or is this a halo effect enhanced by youthful innocence and the distorting mists of time? Was Matt's first science crush justified? Is Carl as 'right on' as popular sentiment suggests? Join us as we struggle to peer into the vast abyss, stare deep into the heart of the guru constellation, and uncover the truth. It's time to take a long hard look at a small sliver of our demon haunted, pale blue dot.

Along the way we address the burning issues including: whether Carl Sagan is actually a woke cuck, how Chris feels about chimpanzees in lipstick, if humility might actually be a good thing, and whether the universe was actually created for rocks.

So join us as we return to a simpler time, when scientists wore turtleneck sweaters, ill advised tweets were not yet possible, and gurus were REAL gurus.

Also featured in this week's episode: Weinstein Watch, Viewer Feedback, the Next Guru Announcement, and an illustration of how to provide an even tempered & measured response to critical feedback.

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Special Episode: Interview with Daniel Harper on the Far Right & IDW Criticism

Thu, 15 Jul 2021 00:00:00 +0100

In this episode we have an engaging discussion with Daniel Harper host of the anti-fascist podcast 'I Don't Speak German' about his experience covering the Far Right and what constitutes responsible engagement/coverage of various online figures.

We cover the role of political perspectives when examining online figures, the use of social media by far right figures, and the use and abuse of political categories. We also cover some potential criticisms with the DTG approach and in so doing answer an eternal question of the ages: 'Are we the baddies?'

Join us for a fun discussion while accepting our apologies for the self-indulgence of an episode that, to some extent, involves us talking about... ourselves. We will be back with a full Guru episode very soon!

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Special Episode: Interview with Amanda Montell on Cultish Linguistics

Fri, 02 Jul 2021 02:00:00 +0100

Amanda Montell is an author, linguist, and podcaster with a new book 'Cultish' on "how cultish groups from Jonestown and Scientology to SoulCycle and social media gurus use language" to manipulate followers and cultivate power.

In the interview she offers fantastic insights that cover not only guru linguistics but also the social dynamics of modern cults and 'cultish' phenomenon.

We learnt a lot from Amanda and hope you will too!

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Anthony DeMello: The Bob Ross of Spiritual Gurus?

Sat, 26 Jun 2021 00:15:00 +0100

Well, the hosts have had a good long taste of the culture wars and friends, it is a bitter, bitter draught. As a palette cleanser, we return to a simpler time, a better(?) time... The 1980's! When Chris Kavanagh was young and innocent, running about in short pants with a twinkle in his eye and (I assume) lobbing bricks at RUC armoured vehicles for the craic. At nights he would curl up and listen to CASSETTE tapes of a fellow called Anthony De Mello, while the eyes of Pope Ratzinger would stare at him disapprovingly from the poster (I assume) that was on the wall of his room.

Yes, we're returning to the gurus our decoders were fans of during their young and impressionable years. And Chris rather liked Fr. Anthony De Mello. Who is he? A Jesuit priest who sounds more like a Buddhist monk with a message of peace, detachment, and the recipe for happiness. He says that society trains us to act like robots, encouraging us to go through life in a depressed haze. After you apply his recipe, you'll still be depressed, but you'll realise the depression is like the clouds, but you are the sky.

He's got the good vibes of Bob Ross, but does that conceal something darker? Was spiritual self-help better or worse in the 1980s compared today? Listen, and you shall know all!

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Special Episode: Interview with Jesse Singal on Quick Fix Psychology

Fri, 18 Jun 2021 06:30:00 +0100

Another week and another extra special interview with journalist, podcaster, and Twitter outrage lightning rod, Jesse Singal.

We discuss his new book on Quick Fix psychology, the fallout of the replication crisis, and why we should be skeptical of anyone peddling simple 'one size fits all' solutions to complex social & psychological problems.

We have a fun wide ranging discussion covering social media dynamics, the dangers of audience capture, and the goddamn lab leak hypothesis! We also discover the dictionary definition pedantism and abuse Jesse with unending uncomfortable questions about culture war controversies.

Jesse provides keen insight and is a good sport when it comes to critical topics, we really enjoyed having him on and hope you guys enjoy the result!

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Special Episode: Interview with Tim Nguyen on Geometric Unity

Sat, 12 Jun 2021 00:15:00 +0100

Despite promising to leave Weinstein world for an overdue holiday, Matt and Chris have been lured back by a world shattering theory with a cosmic vision of ultimate unity! We are speaking, of course, about Eric Weinstein's revolutionary theory of everything: 'Geometric Unity'. To help uncover the mysteries embedded deep within this scientific Rosetta stone, Matt and Chris are joined by a special guest Tim Nguyen. Tim is a mathematician and the co-author of a recent paper that tried to mathematically construct and critically assess the theory of Geometric Unity as laid out in Eric's content.

Eric has not exactly welcomed the critical feedback and has accused Tim and his co-author, Theo, of having nefarious motives and being very bad guys. So we thought it was worth talking to Tim about their real motivations for the paper, their criticisms of Geometric Unity, and whether they are official DISC agents.

Join us as we leap one more time into Weinstein world!

Notes provided by Tim

Response to Geometric Unity paper by Timothy Nguyen and Theo Polya and corresponding blog post. The paper provides 25 clickable timestamps to Weinstein video segments to let the reader confirm directly the veracity the criticisms.
Clubhouse recording with Eric evading questions about Geometric Unity and implying his critics are bad actors.
Technical notes on Weinstein’s limited responses: 1) Weinstein confesses on Joe Rogan Episode #1628 that “one of the criticisms is valid but is something that I would have brought up anyways” (see time near 73:30). Correspondingly, in Section 8.2 of Weinstein’s Geometric Unity, he admits that “unfortunately, the author is no longer conversant … and has been unable to locate the notes from decades ago that originally picked out the [Shiab] operator”. The inability to construct the Shiab operator remains a fundamental objection to Geometric Unity. 2) Weinstein says here, the authors misunderstand GU as being chiral. But the objection is that the theory has a chiral anomaly, which is not contingent on the theory being chiral. 3) Weinstein suggests here (and on Joe Rogan) that there is incorrect inference that he is using supersymmetry in 14 dimensions. The interview referenced in the response paper suggests otherwise, where he explicitly mentions supersymmetry.
The “sign flip” discussion Nguyen used to deduce that Weinstein does not understand the Seiberg-Witten equations concerns the issue of obtaining a crucial bound on the spinor field (as discussed in the Wikipedia article) needed to obtain compactness. Having the wrong sign makes the entire theory ill-behaved.

Bret Weinstein & Jordan Peterson: Two gargantuan intellects stare into the abyss

Fri, 04 Jun 2021 07:00:00 +0100

The big dog of the Intellectual Dark Web, Jordan Peterson, is back! And this hero, this mythical archetype, is welcomed back from his long hiatus by DTG regular, Bret Weinstein . To his credit, Bret does the impossible and makes Jordan seem surprisingly humble and reflexive simply by virtue of comparison.

The duo cover a lot of territory, ranging from hot takes about how hospitals probably kill more people than they save (Peterson), the evolutionary modules controlling rape and genocide (Weinstein), how religion contains the ultimate evolutionary cheatsheet to ascend the hierarchy (Peterson), and how they are both absolutely crucial for understanding everything wrong with what's going on these days (BOTH).

So yes... Chris and Matt couldn't resist returning to this epic crossover of two guru favourites one last(?) time for a bit of decoding. There's a heaping of the usual trademark guru dynamics on display, as well as the obligatory ersatz academ-ese, mutual back-patting, and huge leaps of speculative reasoning. These guys ping-pong back and forth to build up a pretty impressive synthesis of latent religious symbols and Bret's bespoke alternative evolutionary theory of 'lineage selection'.

You will come away with your brain a smouldering ruin after dealing with so many high level ideas... you have been warned!

P.S. If you make it all the way to the end you'll get to hear Matt DESTROY a so-called philosopher's Low Quality Criticism with REASON and SCIENCE.

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P.P.S. The Alternative Title: 'Lineage selection hierarchy heroes 2: Choose your guru!' suppressed by the Distributed Australian Dilettante or DAD.

Brett Weinstein & Heather Heying: Why are 'they' suppressing Ivermectin, the miracle cure?

Sat, 22 May 2021 10:00:00 +0100

This episode wasn't meant to be about Ivermectin, or Bret and Heather's unique ability to apply an 'evolutionary lens' to understand everything, including virology, epidemiology, immunology and the culture war... but it is.....

We meant to make a few topical comments prior to the main episode, but the comments led into some rants, and then with the clips, those rants metastasised into a full-sized episode. So the duo had to travel back in time to record a new introduction, and back again, forward this time, in time, to record the outro and it all got very complicated.

Anyway, it is what it is!

Bret and Heather are 95% sure that the COVID vaccines are like playing Russian Roulette with a loaded gun, and that the scientific and public health authorities are lying to everyone, and we would be better off avoiding these risky vaccines and taking Ivermectin instead. Bret even demonstrates how to swallow a pill live on air. But they are not anti-vax! No not at all. They're not conspiracy theorists either! Of course they're not. Conspiracy hypothesisers, maybe... but there is a crucial distinction there. Either way they have concerns, and Matt and Chris have concerns with their concerns.

So enjoy this very special 'meta' episode.

Also, stay tuned after the music ends for one of Matt's rare rants. Live mic situation, and Chris snuck it in there.

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Michael O"Fallon: The Jacobins are Back..... To Reset..... Everything.... Dun Dun Daah!

Thu, 06 May 2021 01:00:00 +0100

Just as the Terror was used by Robespierre and the Jacobins during the French Revolution two centuries ago, fear and draconian control is being used today to usher in... The Great Reset.

Or so Michael O'Fallon would have you believe. O'Fallon is the founder of Sovereign Nations, a Christian nationalist organisation that aims to "prepare warriors for the battleground of ideas". He's recently been collaborating with James Lindsay, renowned culture warrior and online troll, to teach us all how critical theory and social justice are hell bent on destroying Our (or at least Western) Civilisation.

Chris and Matt are joined by Aaron Rabinowtiz, host of Embrace the Void (@ETVPod) and Philosophers in Space podcasts, PhD student and lecturer at Rutgers University. Aaron has Done the Work, he has the Documents, he's been privy to the secret conversations, and he's here to help the boys decode just WTF is going on here.

So, what's the deal with O'Fallon? Is he a sorely-needed, breathy and bombastic prophet bearing a critical message of our impending doom? Why does he take such long pauses? Where did he get such a laughably inaccurate understanding of the French Revolution? We can't promise all the answers in this episode, but we're going to give it a shot. The Future of our Civilisation.... Depends Upon It.....

....

Dun Dun Daaaaah!

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Gwyneth Paltrow: Crawling with parasites and in need of a cleanse

Tue, 13 Apr 2021 06:00:00 +0100

Who would have thought it, the Hollywood A-lister and founder of the luxury lifestyle brand 'Goop', Gwyneth Paltrow also finds time to host a podcast. Making her a prime target for Matt and Chris, who simply cannot stomach the competition!

Fans have the option to join Paltrow in questing for the eternal and well-guarded secrets of health and wellness. But unless you're only after some lip-balm, this total holistic and integrative lifestyle is not going to come cheap! As we learn from her special guest Kristine Gedroic you are also going to need some precision medical diagnostics to balance with your biome, cleanse your cell membranes, and undo the horrors of 5G. And that isn't even addressing the panoply of parasites that we are all (apparently) infested with. So this is why Matt and Chris haven't been actualising their spiritual selves recently.

In some ways, this health and wellness space is familiar stomping ground for Matt and Chris (and maybe for many listeners too). However, the duo reckon that Paltrow, Goop, and the whole industry is very 'Now' and might even hint at some exciting new directions elite culture is taking.

Check it out! And get yourself checked for bespoke parasites while you're at it. Seriously... we are all riddled with them.

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Special Episode: Sam Harris & Meditation is all you need

Fri, 02 Apr 2021 21:00:00 +0100

Sam Harris is a public intellectual who inspires strong reactions both positive and negative. Here, Matt and Chris dip their toes into Sam's introspective universe by analysing a recent 9 minute mini-episode of his Making Sense podcast titled 'Some Points of Confusion'. Sam intended to clear up some recurrent misunderstandings he has observed with maybe as much as 99% audience with this episode. What could be causing such a fundamental error and does he succeed in resolving the confusion? Join us to find out.

In the episode you will learn about the true teachings of Jesus, how incredibly niche Chris' undergraduate degree was, the introspective case for social welfare, and why all meditators inevitably deny the existence of free will.

This is an interesting one. And whether you love or hate Sam, we hope you find some value in our non-enlightened ejected introspections.

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Making Sense Episode 243: Some Points of Confusion

Special Episode: Interview with Phrost on Bullshido

Fri, 19 Mar 2021 04:00:00 +0100

Matt and Chris are helped again by a guest in their endless quest to get the bottom of what the Hell is Going On and What It's All About.

Phrost describes himself as "the world's most dangeous nerd" and is not only an expert in the fighting arts (like, actual real fighting) but is also no slouch when it comes to combatting bullshit.

He identifies as a soldier, a scientist, and as a shill for "Big Reality".

And his site bullshido.net as well as his podcast The Art of Fighting BS comes up with the reality-based goods. Not only in debunking bullshit in martial arts but also with regard to miracle health cures, supplements, pop psychology, COVID and many other honey traps for the curious and the unwary.

Tune in as Matt and Chris compares notes with Phrost on how and why people delude themselves. Marvel at Phrost's offers to fight Alex Jones, Steven Seagal, and (gasp) Gwenyth Paltrow (for Science!). Matt himself accepts the the offer to fight Phrost, conditional on him being ensconced comfortably within a properly equipped Armoured Fighting Vehincle.

Ibram X. Kendi: Gurometer Rating (Patreon Preview)

Fri, 12 Mar 2021 00:00:00 +0100

In this episode we provide a special preview of our usual Patreon content with the follow up discussion and our Gurometer™ scores for Ibram X. Kendi.

You can find a summary of all our Gurometer scores thus far available here.

Our new subreddit can also be found here.

Ibram X. Kendi: Inside you are two wolves. One of them is racist.

Sat, 06 Mar 2021 00:30:00 +0100

Ibram X. Kendi is a Professor of history, director of the Boston University Center for Antiracist Research, and a research fellow at Harvard University. He is also the author of several best-selling and highly influential books on race in America.

It seems like everybody has an opinion of Kendi, and when it comes to the online commentariat, those opinions can get pretty hostile.

Even among activists and anti-racists, he seems to spark division, with some grouping Kendi together with other controversial writers like Robin Di Angelo. Kendi is often accused of peddling a pop 'anti-racism' which is at best devoid of substance and at worst toying with totalitalitarianism. With his infamous proposal for a 'Department of Antiracism' that would have power over all aspects of governance, and recent illustrated children's book titled 'Anti-racist Baby', these criticisms are perhaps understandable.

But what about the man himself, who in his lectures and interviews, comes across as something of a calm and reasonable voice amongst the culture war maelstrom?

In this episode, Matt and Chris, until now famed for being not racist (honestly), courageously hurl themselves onto the pyre of American racial politics. Will they reveal their total lack of understanding of critical race theory and are they racist or anti-racist according to Kendi? Listen and find out.

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Special Episode: Interview with Matthew Remski on Conspirituality

Sat, 20 Feb 2021 18:00:00 +0100

Today we talk to Matthew Remski, co-host of the Conspirituality podcast, writer, yoga practitioner, and independent journalist.

Matthew is a font of information on the alternative spirituality and health and wellness spheres and he gives Matt and Chris a crash course on the dynamics of those spheres.

We discuss a range of topics including the growing overlap between spirituality and right wing politics, the enlightened locker room dynamics of male influencers, the role of invented traditions and the spirituality sphere and why Matt should grovel at the feet of his muscle master.

Matthew provides a wealth of insight into the gurus we've examined as well as an entire host of new characters. As ever, we greatly enjoyed the chat and hope you do too!

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Nassim N. Taleb: Everything these idiots, frauds, and assholes don't understand

Tue, 09 Feb 2021 01:00:00 +0100

Nassim Taleb, what a mensch. He's got the confidence of a bull in a china shop that has just bought a lycra muscle-shirt and knows it looks great on him.

Our guru this week has surveyed the fields of statistics, economics, psychology, actually all of the social sciences, and finds them populated by a gaggle of pale, thin wristed, pocket-protector wearing wimps. Although, he's equally scathing towards COVID-sceptical libertarians, and Matt and Chris (in a totally unbiased manner) find him pretty funny and accurate there.

More seriously, Taleb is a smart guy and quite fun to read and listen to. But he's also an infinite singularity of arrogance and hyperbole. Matt and Chris can't help but notice how convenient this pose is, when confronted with difficult-to-handle rebuttals.

Taleb is a fun mixed bag of solid and dubious claims. But it's worth thinking about the degree to which those solid ideas were already well... solid. Many seem to have been known for decades even by all the 'morons, frauds and assholes' that Taleb hates.

To what degree does Taleb's reputation rest on hyperbole and intuitive-sounding hot-takes? Will he ever un-block the co-hosts on twitter? Should Matt, a statistician and psychologist, re-train in a field where he can actually contribute something useful to the world?

All of these questions, and more, will remain unanswered in this fresh new DTG episode!

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Special Episode: Interview with Thi Nguyen, a Gurometer's Guru

Fri, 29 Jan 2021 18:00:00 +0100

Today we talk to C. Thi Nguyen, a philosophy professor at University of Utah.

He has some excellent insights into the kind of discourse that *feels* like it gives us insight, that wonderful 'aha' moment. Basically, what happens when unscrupulous actors aim to optimise that feeling - putting aside concerns as to whether or not it's the real thing.

Thi has previously studied 'moral outrage porn', which is a bit like food porn, but for your emotions.

You might say "X-porn" is any material that gives us the fascimile of the thing, without having to put in the hard yards of actually doing the thing.

You might also say there's such a thing as 'insight porn' and maybe that's what Gurus deliver!

Matt and Chris feel like they got some real insights (touch wood) from their chat with Thi and they hope you do too!

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Douglas Murray: Can indulgent dinner conversation save OUR civilisation?

Fri, 22 Jan 2021 15:00:00 +0100

Douglas Murray is a British conservative columnist, social pundit, and veteran culture warrior famed for his biting wit and eloquent intellectual speech. But just how much of that is actually down to him having a posh British accent and a tendency to rant about whatever 'bloody' topic he's took a fancy to?

Join Matt and Chris for their latest therapy session as they try to process what they've done to their brains by listening to an indulgent and meandering 4.5 hour conversation between Douglas and the IDW's über guru Eric Weinstein.

Along the way you will learn the *real* truth about the coronavirus, the value of memorising Shakespearian sonnets, how embarrassing it is to eat bats, and just how sacred dinner tables actually are.

...GUFFAW...

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The Portal Episode 41: Douglas Murray- Heroism 2020: Defence of Our Civilization

Special Episode: Calibrating the Gurometer

Sat, 09 Jan 2021 00:00:00 +0100

Chris and Matt take a break from examining the endless stream of Guru galaxy brain takes to offer their own and calibrate their newly minted Gurometer.

The Gurometer is composed of 10 key characteristics of guruosity which the decoders will be using to score the Gurus in future episodes.

Listeners will learn about important concepts, like science hipsterism and pseudo-profound bullshit, and discover just how bad both Chris and Matt are at segways!

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Contrapoints: Making Philosophy Fabulous Again

Mon, 28 Dec 2020 05:00:00 +0100

Natalie Wynn is kind of a big deal. Her YouTube channel Contrapoints explores not only philosophy, but also politics and social issues. Praised by august publications such as the New Yorker and the Atlantic, there's little doubt that she has her finger on the pulse of contemporary internet culture (and its wars). The production values, costumes, and set dressings are all a sight to behold... and completely invisible on this podcast.

Nevertheless, armed with a menagerie of alter-egos, Contrapoints does delve into some pretty deep waters and has garnered quite a cult following, despite (or perhaps because of) her self-deprecating humour and refusal to take herself too seriously.

So, what is going on here, behind the cat eye contact lenses and elaborate costumes? Does she actually back up the insights she purports to provide with careful arguments? Will the duo decide that Contrapoints is just like Russell Brand: all style and no substance? Is her deprecating humour merely cover for a rampaging and performative ego? Will Matt ever find out where he can get his hands on that fabulous wallpaper?

All these questions, and more, will be answered in this exciting new episode!

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Special Episode: Entering the Portal

Fri, 18 Dec 2020 20:00:00 +0100

Chris and Matt take a peak behind the curtain at Guru Community dynamics in the Web 2.0 era in an extended interview with Dan Gilbert, a self described 'Discord creature'. Dan provides insights from his long term participation in Eric Weinstein's 'Unofficial Portal' Discord and reveals the mystery behind the 'mentally unstable' community member!

If you ever wanted to learn about the intricate distinctions between Geometric Unity, and Geometric Marginalism or the ill fated outcome of Eric's 'Experts only' forum... now is your chance.

We will be back next week with our regular episode on Contrapoints.

Dan's apology song to Eric
Follow Dan on Twitter (@thebadstats)
Episode Art used with permission of Michael M. AKA Pineapplemikel

Scott Adams: Chris and Matt Go to Hell

Thu, 10 Dec 2020 06:00:00 +0100

Scott Adams, creator of Dilbert, has since written self-help books like 'Win Bigly' & 'Loserthink' and now hosts his own podcast "Coffee with Scott Adams".

In mild-mannered, folksy, and avuncular style, he has a 'simultaneous sip' of coffee, a little chuckle with his listeners, and then they chat about the events of the day and how democracy is a farce and maybe a benevolent dictatorship would be preferable.

Scott's fatherly advice is geared towards one thing: undermining your belief that there is any truth or justice in world - or that these things are even possible. You can trust literally nobody. All systems are corrupt, and the world works through the exercise of naked power and the manipulation of gullible rubes like you.

It doesn't even matter if the libs stole the election. Trump should just go ahead and take it, if he can.

Scott Adams considers himself a Master Persuader and he uses every rhetorical trick in the book to persuade you that America is so corrupt to try and get you to agree that a benevolent dictator would probably be preferable at this point.

Think of the kind of 'helpful advice' that Wormtongue used to demoralise Théoden in Lord of the Rings.

It's really horrible...

So, if this sounds like fun to you, join Chris and Matt as they go to hell and become increasingly depressed throughout the episode!

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Coffee with Scott Adams Episode 1197: Odds of rigging an election and getting away with it (Part 1 & Part 2)
Coffee with Scott Adams Episode 1206: Watch Me Monetize My Dumbest Critics While Discussing the Election Allegations. Thank You, Critics! (Part 1 & Part 2)

Russell Brand: Spiritual Transcendence and Anarchic Revolution is Praxis

Sat, 21 Nov 2020 09:00:00 +0100

Russell Brand is a hip bohemian Englishman on the path to enlightenment. And he likes the ineffable. Like, a lot. The decoders kinda like him too, despite the fact they really struggle to eff him at all. Really, Matt has no effing idea what he is babbling about most of the time, but Chris, being 'English-adjacent', seems to make a better job of it.

Imagine smoking pot and talking big ideas with your precocious college room-mate at 2am in the morning. Now give him some methamphetamine, and you've got some idea of the fast-talking stream of consciousness that is Russell Brand.

A pair of milquetoast moderates like Chris and Matt just aren't the right audience to properly appreciate the mystical anarchism that Brand advocates. It's probably got something to do with the limits of the bandwidth of their instruments of perception given that knowledge and wisdom are infinite and being-ness itself is.... Well, you get the idea.

The lads also reveal some of the exciting progress of the podcast!

In exciting news... DTG has broken into the top 100 podcasts! In the Culture and Society category... in Iceland.

Regardless, come ride this unstoppable and frenetic juggernaut of mind-expanding concepts with us, and get these cosmic ideas downloaded directly into your squishy little brain!

Links

Rutger Bregman: Piglets vs. Toddlers

Sat, 07 Nov 2020 09:00:00 +0100

Rutger Bregman is a Dutch Historian who wants to tell the world that humans are actually fundamentally kind, hunter gatherer societies contain important wisdom about how to live well, and that collectively we need to cooperate to do something about climate change and economic inequality. So, obviously there was no way Chris and Matt could let these dangerous ideas go unchallenged!

Join them this week as they delve into one of Rutger's talks and address Noble Savage myths and other age old debates including whether human nature is fundamentally brutish & cruel or compassionate & kind, whether war is ancient or a recent product of societies, whether civilisation was a good idea or the worst one ever, and perhaps most importantly whether Matt could defeat a chimpanzee in one on one combat when armed with two swords.

Links

Special Episode: Is Eric Weinstein Feynman-Negative?

Fri, 30 Oct 2020 06:00:00 +0100

Eric Weinstein has a habit of inserting mini conspiracy laden "audio-essays" at the beginning of his podcast The Portal. The one released this week was impressive even by Eric's standards. So, the duo took took a break from preparing for their next episode on Rutger Bregman to release a Special Bonus Episode, Hot off the press!

In the episode you will learn about Seberging, Milgram-negative people, and obscure Russian Penal Codes. You will also learn that the concept of Fake News is actually FAKE NEWS, invented by a shadowy cabal of media and political elites to control you sheeple. Astoundingly, there is actually a conspiracy afoot to suppress Eric and his friends in the IDW!

Chris and Matt set themselves the task of deciding whether this is serious analysis, or... something else....

Links

JP Sears: Get Ultra Spiritual, Resist the Government, and Promote Coronavirus Conspiracies

Fri, 23 Oct 2020 09:00:00 +0100

JP Sears is quite the contradictory figure. He's well known for his YouTube videos mocking alternative health and spirituality, but he also sells natural supplements, and is a life coach / spiritual mentor. He's all about positive thinking and natural supplements, but he's spending most of his time now railing against the mainstream media, the Deep State, and COVID restrictions.

As Chris and Matt dig deeper, it becomes clear that JP occupies an interesting place, at the nexus of trenchant libertarianism and spiritual self-actualisation. Think Californian surfer dude meets hardcore tech-bro with a healthy dose of conspiracies. Yes, it's confusing. But just take a listen to this episode, and the doors of perception will open for you too!

Links

Jordan Peterson: The Alchemical Lemon explains the Crystalline Structure of Logos

Fri, 09 Oct 2020 09:00:00 +0100

Chris and Matt finally discuss the big kahuna Jordan Peterson by taking a deep dive into his extended 2017 interview on the Transliminal YouTube channel titled 'Ideology, Logos & Belief'.

They learn about the alchemical nature of lemons, whether a professional footballer is playing a game or living life, and Jordan Peterson's crystal clear views on the nature of Jesus & his resurrection.

Some people will say this episode is too cynical, but it's like... 'No. It isn't, man!' And furthermore, it's not at all obvious that we actually know... on a fundamental level... what cynicism is! It's mysterious and there is a lot we do not know.

Links

James Lindsay: The monkey is out of the box and it HATES liberalism

Wed, 23 Sep 2020 09:00:00 +0100

Chris and Matt discuss James Lindsay's talk at the Speaking Truth to Social Justice conference held at the ostentatious National Liberal Club, in an episode that will disappoint Lindsay fanboys and haters alike. Blindingly hot takes include, "He's a bit hyperbolic" and "Critical Theory is complicated".

They discuss some pretty strong metaphors (or are they analogies?) of Critical Social Justice involving monkeys, viruses, and boxes.

Most importantly, the duo establish definitively that, despite James' assertions, Jeff Goldblum did NOT die on a toilet in Jurassic Park (which, let's face it, would have ruined the entire movie).

Links

Eric and Bret Weinstein: A Dark Horse Gallops through the Portal

Wed, 09 Sep 2020 09:00:00 +0100

Matt and Chris introduce themselves and the overall concept for the podcast then take a deep dive into an infamous episode of Eric Weinstein's podcast 'The Portal', featuring his brother Bret Weinstein (Episode 19). They cast a critical eye over Eric and Bret's claims that they are fighting back against the 'Distributed Idea Suppression Complex' and alerting the world to one of the greatest untold scientific scandals of the modern era.

Decoding the Gurus

Supplementary Material 47: The DTG Conspiracy UNMASKED, Quantum Idiots, and Triggernometry Prophecies

The Moral Dilemmas of AI with Michael Inzlicht

Links

Ken Wilber: Spiralling Upwards through a Technicolor Cosmos

Gurometer: Teal Swan and Scott Galloway

Supplementary Material 46: Epstein Did Microtransactions, Grok Did Nothing Wrong, and Murder is Bad

Blindboy, Part 2: Where Have All the Good Men Gone?

Blindboy, Part 1: Unmasking the Evil Elite Cabal

Decoding Academia: Moral Entrepreneurs, Measurement Issues, & Screentime with Andrew Przybylski (Patreon Preview)

Relevant Research (Przybylski & collaborators)

Supplementary Material 45: Mick Drops, The Weinstein Conspiracy Hour, and Lessons from History

Sources

Decoding Academia 35: When Prophecy Fails Debunked? (Patreon Series)

Sources

Academic Papers and Books

Podcasts Referenced

Blog Posts & Other Sources

Teal Swan: All Hail Source

Decoding Academia 34: Empathetic AIs? (Patreon Series)

The Rise of the Science Populists with Sam Gregson and Tim Henke

Supplementary Material 44: Peasant Archmages, Moral Panics, and LOTR Parenting Tips

Open Science, Psychology, and the Art of Not Quite Claiming Causality with Julia Rohrer

Supplementary Material 43: Red-Blooded Americans, Real Life Alan Partridge, and Rationalist Eulogies

Scott Galloway, Part 2: Peak Masculinity

Academic papers/Sources Referenced

Supplementary Material 42: Chimpanzee Testicles, Home Alone Statistics, and Influencer Research

Scott Galloway, Part 1: On Men

Academic papers Referenced

Anthropology: “Man the Hunter” debate

Fertility & demography

Politics & fact-checking

The Replication Crisis Christmas Quiz w/ Mickey Inzlicht & Dave Pizarro

DTG Christmas Quiz 2025 with Helen Lewis

Supplementary Material 41: Ironic Nazis, Blustering Tories, and Ol' Squeaky's Lament

Gurometer: Stefan Molyneux *Patreon Preview*

Stefan Molyneux, Part 2: Back in the Moly Hole

Supplementary Material 40: YouTube Builders, the Discourse Grind, and Sam Harris' Dinner Parties

Stefan Molyneux, Part 1: A fun guy, who is here to help...

Autism, Microbiomes, & Mice Burying Marbles with Kevin Mitchell

Right to Reply: A Dialogos about Sensemaking with Alexander Beiner

Supplementary Material 39: Bad Guys, Panpsychists, and Sensemakers

Required Readings: The Genius Myth by Helen Lewis

Discussing Nazis and Gurus with Al Murray

Keith Raniere: The Serpent and the Cognitive Fog

Lab Leak Fever with Philipp Markolin

Supplementary Material 38: Toxic Mould Symbiosis, Mild Phrenology, and the Best People in the World

A Sense-Making Odyssey, Part 2: Jordan Peterson, John Vervaeke & Jordan Hall

Supplementary Material 37: Public Murder Discourse, Heterodox Psychodramas, and Generous Tit for Tat-ers

A Sense-Making Odyssey, Part 1: Jordan Peterson, John Vervaeke & Jordan Hall

Supplementary Material 36: Comedy Cults, Toxic Mould, and WW2 Revisionism

Supplementary Material 35: Cult Leaders, Gurus, and Evil Economists

Naval Ravikant: Predictable Polemics and Empty Aphorisms

Exploring the Manosphere with James Bloodworth

Supplementary Material 34: Giants, Grifters, and Google Eyed Loons

A Return to Gary World

Mini Decoding: Sabine's Contrarian Outrage- How Dare You Criticise Eric!

Supplementary Material 33: Weinstein Enigmas, The Epstein Conspiracies, and Dwarves punching ducks

Required Readings: Buddhism - A Journey Through History

Mind, Culture & Visual Illusions: Dorsa Amir and Chaz Firestone on Visual Illusions

Supplementary Material 32: A Shower of Bastards

Matthew McConaughey: Selling is Love!

Decoding Academia 33: The Great Müller-Lyer Debate from Fish Tanks to Eye Operations *Patreon Preview*

Supplementary Material 31: Aquatic Nightmares, Strategic Obliviousness, & Race Realists

Shamanism and the Art of Charismatic Otherness with Manvir Singh

Trump vs. Elon: The Gurusphere Reacts

Supplementary Material 30: Decoding Irish Stew, Owl Hate, and Hypothetical Avoidance

Eric Weinstein vs. Sean Carroll: Pomp & Fury

Supplementary Material 29: Sensemaking Evolved Relationship Constellations, Woke Lucifer, and Cancerous Outrage

The All-In Podcast: How Tech Titans Besties Saved the World

Supplementary Material 28: The Ultimate Geometric Unifying Cognitive-Theoretic Iceberg

Gurometer: Gary Stevenson

Gary Stevenson: The People's Economist

Supplementary Material 27: Joe Rogan vs. Douglas Murray vs. Sam Harris vs. DTG

Michael Shellenberger: Conspiratorial Propaganda

Decoding the Uncomfortable Conversations with Josh Szeps

Supplementary Material 26: Flint Dibble Interview, Bonding over Outgroup Hate, and Manly Sycophancy

Lex Fridman & Douglas Murray: The Wise Man from the Land of Peace

Supplementary Material 25: Ancient Pyramids, Sesame Street Monsters, & MORE Lab Leak Discourse

Mini Decoding: Back in the K-Hole

Gurometer: Stefan Molyneux Patreon Preview

Decoding Academia 33: The Great Müller-Lyer Debate from Fish Tanks to Eye Operations Patreon Preview

Decoding Academia 30: Sadistic Trolls love Dark Humour Preview

Preview Decoding Academia 27: Dark Triad Authenticity

Gurometer: Hasan Piker PREVIEW