General Update

Maybe Esther Perel as a female guru. https://your-undivided-attention.simplecast.com/episodes/esther-perel-on-artificial-intimacy-EmU_Vxro

Kirsten Greed

V late to this thread. Just going to voice an interest in Peter Turchin. Some folks I knew on the more techbro/stemlord side of leftism fell into his cliodynamics circle (me, not so much, for reasons). So I keep an eye on his stuff. Also I noticed recently, looking into the background to Chris and Julia Ebner's paper on social fusion and manifesto language, that Harvey Whitehead is on the board of the Seshat global history database project. So another connection there!

Paul Bowman

https://tealswan.com

Ymirsdreams

Teal Swan is a pretty interesting female guru, Her content ranges from spiritual talk to seeming to 'cross over' into giving mental health advice (which I don't believe she is qualified to do). https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-50478821 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teal_Swan

Ymirsdreams

Interesting example of Huberman worship by sub-influencers I just came across yesterday: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJQjJOiP2Eo At least in the beginning of the video.

Marcin Junczys-Dowmunt

very good point

LaserRange

Huberman decoding would be a cool opportunity to do a cross-over with StrongerByScience. Yall could pick content that's got some lifting/bodybuilding/dieting/nutrition advice and get Eric Trexler and Greg Nuckols (and/or new host Lindsay Nuckols?) to bring that well informed bite. They got good epistemology. Check the recent 5 hour episode about aspartame, or the solo review/overview episodes Eric Trexler was doing around the start of the year. They can also help yall clarify your understanding of how nut/seeds macros impact Chris' body composition goals

Play Hurling In The USA

The Josh Szeps Sam Harris episode from this year is also another good example of his IDW sentiments

Riku

Ahh awesome! Looking forward to that :)

SHOUNAK SARKAR

Actually come to think of it, Rowling might be a bit of a right wing guru now.

Emma

Ohh funny. I knew of Phelps-Roper because I read her book and a few interviews with her about her escape from the terrible cult of the Westboro Baptist church. And I saw her as very sympathetic character who had done some bad stuff in the past but was really sorry for it now. Didn't know she had got involved with Rowling. I would have though after escaping from such a conservative right wing childhood she would have come more to the other side.

Emma

Now I'm really looking forward to the Huberman decode.

LaserRange

It is the Chris Williamson interview and it covers a lot of ground.

Christopher Kavanagh

Yes, this is actually a warning indicator. If Huberman was everything he sells himself as, you would think he would be concerned about Rogan's output and more skeptical of Lex's framing but nope.

Christopher Kavanagh

Yeah, I think this content is fair. It shows his good points and his bad points.

Christopher Kavanagh

TBC... but will schedule it very soon.

Christopher Kavanagh

I (a woman) don't find the all-male thing a problem but you could always incorporate some critiques from/discussions about women into the decodings you have planned... like for Sam Harris, there's his rambling non-apology to his remarks about the 'critical posture' of the new athiest movement being 'to some degree intrinsically male' - https://www.samharris.org/blog/im-not-the-sexist-pig-youre-looking-for. And according to a random blogger, as at June 2021 only 14.74% of his 'Making Sense' podcast guests were women - https://www.eliseloehnen.com/blog/we-need-to-listen-to-more-women There must be at least one woman on the internet who has given some thought to Matthew McConaghey's weird self-help cult... I have no interest in celebrity culture and even I knew that the hot priest guy from the sci fi classic Contact had turned into a dodgy self-help guru :P And he's certainly been out there giving dating advice aimed at women - https://www.howtogettheguy.com/blog/how-to-find-love-by-loving-life-with-matthew-mcconaughey/

Artemis Green

For a female guru, why not examine Vandana Shiva?

Brice F

Maybe "The Diary of a CEO"?

Roland Weber

That and the fact that he still praises/ fawns over Douglas Murray and Joe Rogan. Ppl give far too much credit to him for clearing the lowest of low bars - ie being pro-vaccines and anti-Trump. People forget that he still downplayed Trump’s racist comments about the Squad, ie telling AOC & others to “go back where they came from”, enthusiastically promoting race-IQ science, failing to challenge Douglas Murray’s far-right politics, extreme past statements and praise of Wilders, Baudet, Le Pen, Orban, Meloni etc. Plus Harris’ ego, thin skin, arrogance and continuously framing things from a reactionary standpoint and doing false equivalences - latest one was where he equated RFK’s anti-vaxx shtick to anti-racism. Idea being that both are as crazy as each other which is a mind boggling statement.

SHOUNAK SARKAR

Looking forward to all of the upcoming content guys, especially the Chomsky, McConaughey and Harris ones. For Harris, I am curious as to which content you have found. Just to let you know he did a recent interview with Chris Williamson, where he spoke about his opinions/ friendships with JP & Douglas Murray (amongst other things). Would be really interested to know if he still fawned over Murray. Also please do cover his promotion of Charles Murray and race-IQ as well. Plus his continuously framing things from a reactionary standpoint and doing false equivalences - latest one was where he equated RFK’s anti-vaxx shtick to anti-racism. Idea being that both are as crazy as each other which is a mind boggling statement. With regards to the interviews, really looking forward to the Julia Ebner one. Saw that she’s doing some undercover reporting on incel groups now. But please do ask her about her past work for Quilliam, Maajid Nawaz and also about the experience of being aggressively confronted by Tommy Robinson on live video for Rebel Media.

SHOUNAK SARKAR

Such a circle jerk isn't it. The last time I listened to Sam harris - and decided he is infact bit of a dick - was when he interviewed Megan Phelps-Roper. She produced the podcast 'the witch trial of J K Rowling'. In my opinion - and others - this was just a platform for J K to defend her anti trans stance. A big criticism of J K is her support for Kellie-Jay Keen Minshull - AKA Posie Parker - who was leading the rally you are talking about. Which you most likely already know. :)

LaserRange

DOAC?

LaserRange

Yeah me too. I like them but sometimes.. ooo

Joanna Rusher

Yeah agree. Do Ferris!! And DOAC. He’s huge atm.

Joanna Rusher

Boy o boy am I looking forward to the Huberman episode. I do enjoy some of his content, but I really despair at his bromance with some of the tools out there like Lex, Jocko and Tim Ferris. Speaking of Ferris, maybe he can be decoded.

LaserRange

Then build a better gurometer. Theoretically, the gurometer should be applicable to anyone.

Michael

I don’t know her content at all but I can’t think of any part of the gurometer that would be relevant to her.

Evan the Wrestler

Really looking forward to the Sam Harris one. I always wondered how you could find the right mix of content to try and give a good impression of his work. Personally, I think the stuff on Waking Up is benign (and genuinely excellent for anyone interested), as are some of the opinions on moral philosophy. I would prefer more of an analysis of a lot of the political takes, and how all of his friends have gone genuinely insane - and whether it was naivety or just being wilfully blind to have ignored early signs.

Riku

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-03-20/liberal-moira-deeming-to-fight-ousting-after-rally/102119996

Emma

Ohh good idea. I had not heard of this specific women before now (just googled her) but I think this is another interesting phenomena which has been growing in the last few years. A weird fusion between a type of feminism (I guess), wellness grifting, anti-trans activism and anti-mainstream medicine-ism. In Melbourne, Australia we recently had this weird incident where a local politician got involved in a 'feminist' protest against trans rights called 'let women speak'. But then the protest got infiltrated by actual neo-natzis who said they were on side with the anti trans feminists. The feminists then tried to say they were not aligned with the neo-natzis but the neo-natzis disagreed. In the end the female politician got fired over it. I mean when you are doing political activism and actual natzis show up and think they are on the same side as you, surely that would make you question your position?

Emma

How about Taylor Swift? People hang on her every word, she has a cult around her. A lot of these grifters, er, gurus present as some variety of alpha dog and traffic in male insecurity and women express their insecurities differently. I would look at any woman having an outsized influence on today’s young women and work backwards.

Michael

Esther Perel+1

Michael

When is the galaxy hangout?

Diane Morrison

i have an idea for a female guru but it might get into tricky territory 😂 - Isabella Malbin

Diane Morrison

how about Liv Boeree? She's an idiot.

Bertrand Sperling

Ooohhh tackling the Sam Harris and the Andrew Huberman! I await with glee!! (And anytime you guys hang out and hash stuff out with Matthew, Julian and Derek of Conspirituality, I learn!) Can’t wait!!!

Dee the Lobsterdancing Bananaland Dinosaur Monster

With some googling and thinking I made the following list.. but not all of them will rate high. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheryl_Sandberg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Holmes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Gilbert https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rebecca_Goldstein https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susan_Cain https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susan_Pinker (The sexual paradox could have some clues abut the lack of women gurus) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naomi_Wolf https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naomi_Klein https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kara_Swisher https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ita_Buttrose Fun: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolly_Parton https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taylor_Swift Deceased: Anne Hamilton-Byrne https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Family_(Australian_New_Age_group) (5 on cultish) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayn_Rand

Kirsten Greed

I also wondered if the female gurus are hiding in plain site with the likes of the Kardashians... but I find it a depressing thought.

Kirsten Greed

Oh and off the charts on narcassism which I think you said once was possibly the most common element in the gurus.

Emma

Lots to look forward to!! The female gurus thing is tricky because female influencers seem to mostly stay in quite separate areas from the topics male gurus dabble in. Two female influencers that spring to mind are Mel Robbins and Esther Perel who are popular in my circle. But I'm not really aware of them creating much controversy, they seem to pretty much stay in their own area of expertise. The Kardashians are probably more typical of the female versions of gurus. Having a massive unearned cultural power & influence and giving their hot takes on a wide range of subjects. I don't know if anyone could handle an episode on them though.

Emma

it's a little below: *For Sam Harris, we wanted to do a full decoding for a long time but couldn't really get content that was recent and seemed fair (highlighting his good and bad points) but we have now found the perfect content.

MaxPlan

Colin Fardey

Got it!

Christopher Kavanagh

Oh yeah and Hasan!

Christopher Kavanagh

Oh forgot about Red Scare and is applying the Gurometer to each other would be relatively pointless. You’d want someone else to do it.

Christopher Kavanagh

You guys said you were going to do Red Scare, what happened to that? Why not apply the Gurometer to each other, or yourselves as a whole?

Michael

I'm glad destiny is in the running, was kind of curious if you folks would go twitch side. Obviously lots of charismatics with a lot of rabid fan based and narcissism there

Anonymous ethicist, not a serial killer at all, just asking questions.

Plenty to look forward to, cheers guys

Peter

Keep telling you! Camille Paglia!!!

Simon Patience