XaiJu
Decoding The Gurus
Decoding The Gurus

patreon


Some forthcoming stuff

Hey everyone,

Thought you might appreciate an update on forthcoming content/plans.

Consider this all provisional but we likely will get to it all.

1. The Oprah episode (coming next week!)

2. The Paul Bloom interview (with intro/outro): I know you probably mostly heard this but Paul is very good!

3. Weinstein World UFO special: Eric & Bret have both been talking about UFOs and it's time to catch up with the brothers and see if their takes have improved.

4. Christopher Hitchens episode with a guest decoder.

5. An AI episode probably featuring Eliezer Yudkowsky or Stephen Wolfram.

6. Thinking about leftie & female guru candidates, undetermined but possibly...
Teal Swan, Red Scare (Anna Khachiyan and Dasha Nekrasova), Destiny, Chomsky.

Interviews are scheduled and in the pipeline but will update you on those another time.

Just wanted to let you know what's on our docket!

Suggestions are always welcome!

Some forthcoming stuff

Comments

Please decode this tit, Aubrey Marcus 🙏

NIALL DAVISON

I'm such a fan of Christopher Hitchens writing and speaking throughout his career. Very excited to hear some decoding by Chris and Matt of a guy that many people either hold in too high a regard and seek to clumsily emulate or demand that we as a culture must completely write off and never reference, because at the end of his life he was in favor of invading Iraq and wrote a shitty sexist article about comedy. When it comes to him compared to Dennett, Dawkins and Harris, I always feel like there's no point in lumping them in together. His life and work were so much more influenced by literature and world travel and participation in left wing political movements than anyone in that sphere at the time, or since. The guy did some real living and loving that clearly influenced his work. But still, plenty there to criticize and I look forward to the episode!

JustTheWorstEver

Amazing, thank you! Interested to discuss.

Erin Dougherty

Sent this on to my husband who is an organic chemist working at the department of Medicinal Chemistry/Pharmacy at Utrecht University. I'll try and take a gander later Erin. Thanks for posting it.

Suzan Lemont

Please do Ken Wilber at some point!

Suzan Lemont

Dr. Kirk Honda, a psychologist in Seattle analyzes The Deep End/Teal Swan https://open.spotify.com/episode/6AD70xC37tZC2BYCleuNVU?si=82677febe61f4bc6

Suzan Lemont

Eliezer Yudkowsky would be a fantastic subject!! They love him on r/SneerClub. Also the Red Scare girls would be great, Dasha I know for sure has gone way off the deep end in the past couple years.. might be funny to recount this series of incidents she had with this critic Mike Crumplar chronicled here https://mcrumps.substack.com/p/my-own-dimes-square-fascist-humiliation .. though it's probably straying a bit from the well-trodden path on DtG :D

ketracel-white

I think looked at through the lens of psychology that DtG could add some new layers - none of the Conspirituality guys come from psychology angles (though Mathew is married to one and all have a reasonable grasp of the field). There is a psychologist from Washington state whose podcast I stumbled on (can't think of the name just now but I'll look it up - he was also commenting on the whole Depp/Heard debacle) who covered Teal Swan a few times but I think y'all would do a better (and more entertaining) job!

Suzan Lemont

Would love Chomsky. The Great Man’s ideas are mostly simply mistaken, but his cultivated following of deluded leftists is a fascination

Kyle Wilson

How about doing at some point some of the longevity gurus, such as David Sinclair. Here is a relevant article today on how they moved lots of people to go on Metaformin probably all for nought. https://www.wsj.com/articles/longevity-metformin-anti-aging-biohacking-diabetes-16443b03

Maytree

I wrote an essay about Wolfram a few years back. Definitely guru vibes. https://www.cantorsparadise.com/richard-feynmans-advice-to-a-young-stephen-wolfram-1985-d572dc360c18

Jørgen

Great news, looking forward to listening to it!

Jim Murray

Destiny would be very interesting. I have heard CK mention him in a couple pods here and there and his content is….. interesting / hit or miss. I really can’t put my finger on it.

Chris Snyder

Hey everyone. My husband shared this article to highlight a familiar personality type we’ve recognized but don’t hear talked about often. Would love to discuss it with all the big brains here. https://english.elpais.com/science-tech/2023-04-02/one-of-the-worlds-most-cited-scientists-rafael-luque-suspended-without-pay-for-13-years.html

Erin Dougherty

Yes!!!

Joel H. Dinolt

We've done it but it needs a big lift in editing.

Christopher Kavanagh

I think DTG usually likes having a piece of content that sort of functions standalone. A lot of other drama streams are so context-dependent, it would take too much effort to 1) explain, and 2) understand on DTG’s end. The Wolff debate is nice because you can get two gurus in one, and both show their style of talking a lil bit

Ethan Milne

Other than the fact that he makes Wolff look like a fool in this debate what’s the point of them watching it? I feel like it doesn’t really showcase the guru-ness of his content. Honestly, his drama streams and his Twitter probably showcase his guru-ness much more but those wouldn’t lend themselves very well to a decoding.

Andy

What ever happened to the Darkhorse and Info Wars episode? I was looking forward to that one.

Colin Fardey

This all looks great, and some excellent suggestions for left wing and female gurus in the comments. At the risk of sounding ungrateful for the good content, are you still planning an episode with Gideon MK on Ivermectin?

Jim Murray

PLEASE do Yudkowsky

Johnny Marengo

Graham Hancock is my top vote though. He is seriously slippery

Robert Roots

Conspiratuality did pretty comprehensive coverage of Swan, but I can’t deny that a decoding would make a good listen

Robert Roots

Greta!

Robert Roots

Lauren Southern! Camille Paglia!

Samantha Rae

Good timing, too.

Erin Dougherty

Wow I'm pretty excited about all of these! Sweet!

Erin Dougherty

You’re thinking of Naomi Wolf, yes she’s gone wildly red pilled bonkers. Naomi Klein (Shock Doctrine, etc) is still sane as far as i know.

Daniel Reed Miller

Destiny would be a fantastic person to both interview AND decide. Maybe check out his Richard Wolff debate?

Ethan Milne

Same with some of the other high profile feminists from that era. I think it was Germaine Greer who caused a stir a few years ago by saying that younger women need to toughen up and stop making such a big deal about rape. It reminds me of what Helen Lewis said about how narcassists often make the best activists because they tie their own ego to the cause. And in my experience narcassists do seem to get nuttier as they get older.

Emma

Fair enough. To me she actually manages to be more abrasive than her own father. Which is a high bar!

Emma

I don't know if she is all that popular now, but she's certainly gone a bit bonkers in the 30 years since The Beauty Myth came out.

Sue Sutton

For sure. I wonder if there are differences when it comes to things like blame and anger? One side directs it more outwards, one inwards? I have no idea, this just popped into my head.

Sue Sutton

Nice. Feel like Naomi Klein might ding some boxes but not sure, and dunno if she does much audio content

Ryan Nesselrodt

Teal Swan seems like the epitome of a guru, whereas I suspect Chomsky won't come out that high on the gurometer. Maybe Chomsky should decode you guys! Isn't "Manufacturing Consent" a kind of decoding of mass media & its effects (with a particular point of view)? I'll be interested nevertheless, especially if you decode a talk about that book (even though I haven't actually read it).

Kat

Then I need to listen to more Mikhaila...

Christopher Kavanagh

Yeah, the Sam Altman interview was indicative of Lex's weaknesses. Lots of discussion about Elon and love. Otherwise mostly softball questions. Altman seemed like someone who was naturally not inclined to be a guru but was becoming one due to the success and eagerness for him to have BIG ideas.

Christopher Kavanagh

Destiny seems fairly left wing but Hasan is another candidate. The streamer ecosystem is intriguing.

Christopher Kavanagh

Not seeking balance but think there might be interesting somewhat distinctive dynamics at play.

Christopher Kavanagh

No idea but never actually consumed any of her content.

Christopher Kavanagh

Ya, am vaguely aware of his content and recognise that spicy takes aside he is not that far from us politically.

Christopher Kavanagh

In what world is Destiny not left wing?

lun

All looks excellent. My only suggestion. Can we have more of the 'Wisdom of Mikhaila' segment?

Emma

Haha I think you might have missed a lot. That must have been ages ago though.

Oliver Bostridge

Last I watched him his was calling himself an anarcho-capitalist and saying he had more in common with fascists than anyone on the left. But that space is fluid so maybe I missed a transition.

Joel H. Dinolt

I believe he identifies as a social democrat(?)

Oliver Bostridge

I wouldn’t recommend anyone actually watch Piker, just saying he’s an avowed lefty operating in the same social media space as Destiny (who does not consider himself a leftist, center or otherwise).

Joel H. Dinolt

Destiny is most definitely centre-left and Hasan is both incredibly boring and not a guru. Also Destiny does have a girl's name.

Oliver Bostridge

For female gurus: - Ayaan Hirsi Ali - Germaine Greer - Camille Paglia - Naomi Wolf - Lauren Southern - Ann Coulter...

Artemis Green

Oooh - looking forward to the AI epsiode! Will you give it a guru-y twist - I see that Lex Fridman has been discussing AI with Sam Altman and... some other guy who knows about poker. Interested in your thoughts.

Artemis Green

Destiny is neither female nor left-wing. Would suggest Hasan Piker, an avowed communist, if you’re looking for a lefty guru in the twitch streamer space.

Joel H. Dinolt

I'm not sure there's a need to find any kind of balance re left/right, mostly because I increasingly believe left/right is too simplistic a way of looking at the world.

Sue Sutton

Do you think you can add something to Teal Swan to what the guys from Conspirituality did on her? I would much prefer you tackling Chomsky.

Red Balloon

I'd love to see you tackle Matt Yglesias. I think he's a really interesting character that has some guru aspects. For lefty content, PhilosophyTube (Abigail Thorn) would be interesting to hear just because I like her content. (Though maybe she's a bit too similar to Contrapoints)

Normal Name

I vote Redscare for your female/leftie decoding

Ben Mitchell

That's interesting...I still enjoy their show but I definitely have gotten a vibe of them really reaching for content in the last year. Like they maybe should consider going monthly or something. I definitely have felt they've been really leaning into too cute by half wordplay.

Allan Malcolm McPherson

Please do Red Scare/the evolution of the dirtbag left.

Rodi

Destiny sounds interesting. He's certainly a guru in one sense - he's created a sort of cult of personality with legions of people who will agree with him about everything - but he's also strongly anti-populist/conspiricism and is probably relatively close to you guys politically (centre-left). His thing is basically giving pro-establishment hot takes and that's pretty unique in both the guru-sphere and the internet in general - he's sort of turned basic Democratic liberalism into galaxybrained-ness. Also there is *plenty* to criticise even though I'm sympathetic to his broad outlook.

Oliver Bostridge

Awesome!! 🤗 I'd love to hear your opinion (or better yet, a decoding ;)) of the Conspirituality Podcast crew as well. I know you hosted them, but in the last year they got undigestable, at least for me. Sooo guruish on being antiguru, while constantly pushing everything "woke" without any critical distance. I recommend listening to their episodes on fatphobia, their interview with Steve Hassan and all the other on transgenderism. They talk like angry activists, take themselves way too seriously and mock evreyone they disagree with. Also, they delete comments on their FB page they don't like.

Maruša MaaBee


More Creators