Decoding the Gurus

Decoding the Gurus

Christopher Kavanagh and Matthew Browne

A psychologist and an anthropologist try to make sense of the world's greatest self-declared Gurus.

1 hour 20 minutes

The Wounded Bird Lex Fridman vs. The Evil Ukrainian Bot Farms
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
22 January 2025, 9:00 am
48 minutes

Supplementary Material 21: The emergency snake, thought = secularised prayer, and Love and War
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
10 January 2025, 7:00 am
17 minutes 17 seconds

Gurometer: Curtis Yarvin

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

2 January 2025, 9:00 am
40 minutes 18 seconds

Supplementary Material 20: Stolen Valour, Based Murder, and Eric Weinstein's Phonecall Problems
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
27 December 2024, 6:00 am
2 hours 41 minutes

Curtis Yarvin: The Edgelord's Guide to Monarchy 40K
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
25 December 2024, 10:30 pm
1 hour 33 minutes

DTG Christmas Quiz 2024 with Helen Lewis & Badstats
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
- Helen Lewis on Substack
- Dan Gilbert on Twitter and YouTube
13 December 2024, 10:55 pm
47 minutes 30 seconds

Supplementary Material 19: Critic-O-Rama with extra trans-dimensional alien demons
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
29 November 2024, 9:45 pm
1 hour 38 minutes

Dawkins vs. Peterson: There Be Dragons
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
24 November 2024, 3:00 am
38 minutes 15 seconds

Supplementary Material 18: The Clown Car Cometh
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
16 November 2024, 2:00 am
1 hour 50 minutes

Sabine Hossenfelder: Science is a Liar ... Sometimes
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
12 November 2024, 1:15 am
1 hour 54 minutes

Guru US Election Special
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
4 November 2024, 3:00 am
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