Decoding the Gurus artwork

Decoding the Gurus

130 episodes - English - Latest episode: 9 days ago - ★★★★ - 720 ratings

An exiled Northern Irish anthropologist and a hitchhiking Australian psychologist take a close look at the contemporary crop of 'secular gurus', iconoclasts, and other exiles from the mainstream, offering their own brands of unique takes and special insights.

Leveraging two of the most diverse accents in modern podcasting, Chris and Matt dig deep into the claims, peek behind the psychological curtains, and try to figure out once and for all... What's it all About?

Join us, as we try to puzzle our way through and talk some smart-sounding smack about the intellectual giants of our age, from Jordan Peterson to Robin DiAngelo. Are they revolutionary thinkers or just grifters with delusions of grandeur?

Join us and let's find out!

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Episodes

Supplementary Material 2: Dissident Dialogues, Bloodbaths, & Genocidal Debates

March 22, 2024 01:45 - 36 minutes - 33.6 MB

The adventure in formatting continues with the second Supplementary Material episode. On this episode: Sam Harris Devotees Dissident Dialogues Lex's important message about idolism 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 Lex Fridman Podcast: Finkelstein, Destiny, M. Rabbani & B...

Gurometer: Hasan Piker *PREVIEW*

March 15, 2024 03:00 - 23 minutes - 21.6 MB

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 ...

Hasan Piker: A swashbuckling Bromance

March 13, 2024 01:00 - 1 hour - 106 MB

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 youn...

Supplementary Material 1: Cringe Immunity & Supplemental Ethics

March 07, 2024 10:15 - 29 minutes - 27 MB

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 (...

Interview with Kevin Mitchell on Agency and Evolution

March 06, 2024 08:00 - 2 hours - 119 MB

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 sc...

Sean Carroll: The Worst Guru Yet?!?

March 02, 2024 12:00 - 2 hours - 147 MB

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 profe...

Mini-Decoding: Indulgent Monologuing

February 28, 2024 07:30 - 50 minutes - 46.4 MB

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 t...

Sam Harris: Right to Reply

February 17, 2024 02:30 - 2 hours - 123 MB

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 in...

The Passion of the Jordan and the Wisdom of the Bret

February 09, 2024 16:00 - 1 hour - 72.7 MB

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, w...

Mini Decoding: Yuval and the Philosophers

January 30, 2024 06:30 - 40 minutes - 32.6 MB

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 w...

DTG's Face to Face Reflections 2024

January 19, 2024 08:00 - 31 minutes - 29 MB

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 conve...

Mini-Decoding: Huberman on the Vaccine-Autism Controversy

December 28, 2023 23:00 - 48 minutes - 44.8 MB

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 pande...

Sam Harris: Transcending it All?

December 24, 2023 00:00 - 3 hours - 160 MB

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 Willia...

DTG Christmas Quiz 2023 with Helen Lewis

December 22, 2023 06:30 - 1 hour - 93.4 MB

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 ...

Red Scare: Bohemian Hipsterism x Reactionary Tradcaths

December 08, 2023 22:30 - 2 hours - 146 MB

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 resea...

Interview with Daniël Lakens and Smriti Mehta on the state of Psychology

November 18, 2023 05:45 - 2 hours - 186 MB

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...

Andrew Huberman and Peter Attia: Self-enhancement, supplements & doughnuts?

November 09, 2023 09:30 - 3 hours - 176 MB

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-end...

Interview with Julia Ebner: Extremist Networks & Radicalisation

October 16, 2023 23:00 - 2 hours - 113 MB

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 D...

Triggernometry's Big Moment: Entering the Guru Galaxy

October 03, 2023 09:00 - 2 hours - 138 MB

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-...

Interview with the Conspirituality Trio: Navigating the Chakras of Conspiracy

September 19, 2023 13:15 - 2 hours - 147 MB

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 prevale...

Andrew Huberman: Forest Bathing in Negative Ions

September 06, 2023 09:45 - 2 hours - 120 MB

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. ...

Noam Chomsky: Lover of linguistics, the USA... not so much

August 18, 2023 07:30 - 3 hours - 185 MB

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 pr...

The Science and the Art of Gurometry

July 22, 2023 03:15 - 1 hour - 61.5 MB

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 sh...

Mick West & Eric Weinstein: UFO Tango

July 14, 2023 15:00 - 2 hours - 121 MB

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 fo...

Interview with Jonathan Howard on Covid Contrarians

June 23, 2023 23:40 - 2 hours - 117 MB

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...

"Mini" Decoding of Michael Shermer's Advice on Conspiracy Theories

June 21, 2023 22:00 - 1 hour - 78.3 MB

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 con...

Interview with Mick West: UFOs, Aliens, and Conspiracy Psychology

June 17, 2023 04:15 - 1 hour - 95.4 MB

UFOs are all the rage now, and it's certainly a topic that excites many of our gurus *cough* <Eric Weinstein>. 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!!?). Joinin...

Eliezer Yudkowksy: AI is going to kill us all

June 10, 2023 03:00 - 3 hours - 184 MB

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 c...

Interview with Renée DiResta: Online Ecosystems, Disinformation, & Censorship Debates

May 20, 2023 02:00 - 2 hours - 129 MB

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 stand...

Christopher Hitchens: Rhetoric, Religion, and Ramadan

May 15, 2023 09:30 - 2 hours - 130 MB

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 ...

Interview with Matt Johnson on Christopher Hitchens

May 09, 2023 15:15 - 2 hours - 128 MB

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...

Oprah Winfrey: Self Actualising Your Destiny

April 16, 2023 02:00 - 2 hours - 120 MB

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...

"Mini" Decoding of Matthew Goodwin & Interview with Paul Bloom

April 08, 2023 13:00 - 2 hours - 153 MB

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" ...

Interview with Travis View: QANon & Modern Conspiracies

March 25, 2023 09:00 - 1 hour - 99.6 MB

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...

Interview with Worobey, Andersen & Holmes: The Lab Leak

March 11, 2023 09:00 - 2 hours - 228 MB

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 mainstre...

Dave Rubin: A Pointless Partisan Pundit

March 08, 2023 03:00 - 2 hours - 124 MB

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 classic...

Bill Maher: A boozy, stoned, liberal take on classic anti-vax tropes

February 25, 2023 00:00 - 2 hours - 119 MB

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 Chri...

Daniel Dennett: It's Evolution Baby

February 02, 2023 01:00 - 2 hours - 141 MB

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 t...

"Mini" Decoding of Konstantin Kisin's Oxford Union speech

January 21, 2023 00:00 - 1 hour - 62 MB

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 acr...

Interview with Coffeezilla on Cryptocurrencies, NFTs, and modern scammers

January 14, 2023 00:00 - 3 hours - 171 MB

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 sche...

Elon Musk: The Techno Shaman

December 29, 2022 21:00 - 2 hours - 135 MB

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. Bu...

Gurus Christmas Special with Helen Lewis

December 27, 2022 01:00 - 2 hours - 125 MB

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 ab...

Guru Right to Reply with Jamie Wheal

December 10, 2022 00:00 - 2 hours - 142 MB

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 S...

Interview with Manvir Singh on Gurus & Shamans

November 17, 2022 04:00 - 2 hours - 133 MB

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...

Robin DiAngelo: Matt and Chris struggle with their fragility

November 02, 2022 06:15 - 3 hours - 172 MB

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 jo...

Interview with Konstantin Kisin from Triggernometry on Heterodoxy, Biases, and the Media

October 16, 2022 00:45 - 2 hours - 115 MB

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 f...

Peterson, Murray & Pageau: Transcendent Tableware

October 01, 2022 00:00 - 1 hour - 55.5 MB

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 ...

Interview with Neil Levy on Intellectual Virtue Signalling

September 27, 2022 09:00 - 1 hour - 107 MB

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 o...

Daniel Schmachtenberger, Jamie Wheal & Jordan Hall: Making Sense about Making Sense of Sensemaking

September 14, 2022 07:00 - 3 hours - 298 MB

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......

Interview with Helen Lewis on culture wars and religion, that Jordan Peterson interview, and gurus generally

September 03, 2022 09:00 - 2 hours - 188 MB

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...

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