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.

49 minutes 34 seconds

Supplementary Materials 6: Christian Sensemaking, Hipster Race Realists, & Marijuana Pseudoscience
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
10 May 2024, 2:30 pm
1 hour 11 minutes

Interview with Flint Dibble on Pseudo Archaeology and Science Communication
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
2 May 2024, 9:45 pm
44 minutes 5 seconds

Supplementary Material 5: Spiritual UFOs, Alternative Theories of Evolution, and Atlantean Grievances
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
26 April 2024, 12:00 pm
3 hours 16 minutes

Destiny: Debate King and/or Degenerate?
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
22 April 2024, 7:00 am
36 minutes 23 seconds

Supplementary Material 4: Passive Aggressive Therapists, Shit-posting Monks, and Weaponised Naivety
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
13 April 2024, 9:45 pm
2 hours 17 minutes

Yuval Noah Harari: Eat Bugs and Live Forever
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
5 April 2024, 8:00 am
52 minutes 17 seconds

Supplementary Material 3: Sand-worms, Anti-Capitalist Merch, and High Level Idea-Jacking
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
31 March 2024, 1:30 am
1 hour 23 minutes

Mini-Decoding: The Descent of Jordan B. Peterson
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
26 March 2024, 10:30 pm
36 minutes 42 seconds

Supplementary Material 2: Dissident Dialogues, Bloodbaths, & Genocidal Debates
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
22 March 2024, 12:45 am
23 minutes 33 seconds

Gurometer: Hasan Piker *PREVIEW*

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

15 March 2024, 2:00 am
1 hour 55 minutes

Hasan Piker: A swashbuckling Bromance

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)

13 March 2024, 12:00 am
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