A Trek into Tech Gurus
Added 2022-03-22 05:36:18 +0000 UTCHey everyone,
Just an update on our upcoming plans.
We still have a bit of an episode back-log to clear but after we get through those we are heading into tech land for a while for a mini-season of similarly themed gurus.
Our plans at the minute are to cover:
1. Jaron Lanier (image above)
2. Naval Ravikant
3. Lex Fridman
We are also interested in a Bitcoin type guru if Naval Ravikant doesn't cover that. One suggestion has been Balaji Srinivasan but we are open to others.
We might interrupt this schedule as necessary but these folk are all on the 'to-do' list.
If you have any other suggestions or comments all are welcome.
After we get done with these folk we are thinking of taking a look at some of the left wing gurus and possibly updates on some previous gurus (e.g. Russell Brand) but I'll post an update on our upcoming schedule and some special ideas separately.
Comments
Thanks for letting us know!
Christopher Kavanagh
2022-03-30 05:24:39 +0000 UTCCheers!
Christopher Kavanagh
2022-03-30 05:24:23 +0000 UTCThe tech guru series is a GREAT idea!
Martin Pelchat
2022-03-23 23:57:06 +0000 UTCNaval is also a pal of Scott Adams: https://youtu.be/hLrUReVoyA0 https://youtu.be/TQ49hVgi8SU There are probably many more like these.
Mark K
2022-03-23 22:57:30 +0000 UTCFor me looking at the gurometer, I think the only axis that he might be low on is the Conspiracy Mongering. Similar to what you mentioned, colonizing mars is one of those things that sounds good in theory, but in practice it sounds like a really dumb idea at this point in time. For example, imagine a nuclear war on earth, it would still be way more habitable than mars. Almost any technology that allows you to survive on mars can be used on earth if there is a catastrophe without having to move all these heavy things to a planet that we can only travel to every two years.
MaxPlan
2022-03-23 03:16:25 +0000 UTCAny plans to do “entrepreneurs” like Tom Bilyeu? He hires minorities and says he’s trying to make it better world through promoting “success mindsets “ etc. He creeps me out.
Rod Hodges
2022-03-23 00:51:22 +0000 UTCI agree with all the previous points and would like to add my own. In my view one of the most sinister things he has done is make cars “cool and sexy” again in the age of feeling the ever more intense effects of climate change. My position is that these cars allow consumers to feel like they are saving the world by consuming very resource intensive goods. This is akin to the Resin Identifier logo on plastic containers that have a symbol that looks awfully similar to the recycling logo. Many items with that identifier are non-recyclable despite giving the consumer that feeling.
Aidan
2022-03-22 18:44:41 +0000 UTCMy suggestion (more of a wish really) is a guru I had fallen under the sway of and am still partially fascinated by Dr.Raymond Peat, Phd. Anyone else ever heard of him?
Michael Morency-Frame
2022-03-22 18:32:45 +0000 UTCYou might have to, he's treated as the Omnissiah by his devotees. Plus he did have some covid gaffes back in the day...
Benjamin Cooper
2022-03-22 14:23:52 +0000 UTCI'm not worried about his tech expertise but listening to him waffle... I suppose we might have to do him.
Christopher Kavanagh
2022-03-22 14:01:04 +0000 UTCThe biggest tech guru of all Elon Musk is not on this list?? I think you have mentioned that you might not have the tech expertise to decode him but you could probably bring in a fellow decoder with the expertise like you have done with other gurus.
MaxPlan
2022-03-22 13:42:49 +0000 UTCI would suggest Coleen Rowley as a guru of the left. Years ago she liked and shared a FB post I made (and it was no great shakes or anything I need to stress) and I was taken aback by the DMs I got from her fans. Things like "Do you know what this means for you?" or just "congratulations". It was really unnerving.
Allan Malcolm McPherson
2022-03-22 13:32:26 +0000 UTCNote Naval has his own "guru", who he interviews: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBtuqpNZwio Interesting commentary here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26284630
Mark K
2022-03-22 12:58:36 +0000 UTCLooking forward to hearing more about the tech gurus! I'm embarrassed to admit but I did briefly own some percent of a bitcoin. Ha! But I saw the light and sold it off. Re. left-wing gurus. I was trying to think of someone my leftie friend group love who is a bit guruish and I thought of Alain de Botton and the school of life. I don't mind Alain but he def has some guruish elements to him! In a way he has the opposite belief system to Jordan Peterson but a sort of similar highfalutin presentation style which sometimes annoys me. Oh another potential guru i thought of who crosses over being sort of a leftie and also sort of a techy type is Sheryl Sandberg of FB. But I think she's probably had her day in the sun and is already old news.
Emma
2022-03-22 10:20:43 +0000 UTCI stopped watching Fridman altogether when he did a series on his workouts. It wasn’t even a conscious decision, I just floated away, all interest gone……
Allan Hutton
2022-03-22 07:38:49 +0000 UTCDoing Schmachtenberger would be great, he was also a guest on the “Your Undivided Attention” podcast. https://podcasts.apple.com/nl/podcast/your-undivided-attention/id1460030305?i=1000526825665
Thom Hehemann
2022-03-22 07:32:42 +0000 UTCNaval would make a great guru to cover. I do like Naval, but his "How to Get Rich" series would make for excellent decoding!
Will
2022-03-22 06:52:08 +0000 UTCJim Rutt, apparently one of the instigators of the Plan B movement (along with everyone's favourite guru Bret Weinstein), holds some generally quite interesting conversations on his Jim Rutt Show. He's got some strong opinions, seems extremely pragmatic, though with very much a prepper vibe given he believes our current civilisation (Plan A) is doomed. Don't know whether he's really a guru, but worth considering. I should note that he's some kind of tech entrepreneur, and getting on in years (68), but seems to have been involved in a lot of internet stuff from the early days. At least according to him. I don't think he's a bad guru, though he's certainly highly opinionated!
Jason Etheridge
2022-03-22 06:44:21 +0000 UTCIf you really want to get sadistic, Balaji was on an episode of the Portal
Corey Bicknell
2022-03-22 06:35:21 +0000 UTCI (Chris) only heard Balaji on the episode with Sam Harris and tapped out after like 40 minutes felt quite Weinstein-ian in nature. Thanks for the kind words too!
Christopher Kavanagh
2022-03-22 06:33:36 +0000 UTCMight do a special on that movie! Tristan Harris on Rogan is an option as he also brought along Daniel Schmachtenberger but not sure we are ready to get back into Rogan anytime soon.
Christopher Kavanagh
2022-03-22 06:31:27 +0000 UTCGenuinely excited for that! Instead of Dore, what about someone like Matt Taibbi who is almost certainly left but also fairly conspiracy-minded? He’s not lost his marbles to the same degree as Jimmy Dore but kinda swimming in the shallow end of those waters oftentimes. Or even Glenn Greenwald who is more on the Jimmy Dore side of that divide but not QUITE as bad. There’s a spectrum there of populist leftists who clearly fit the scope of the show who might frankly be more interesting to dissect than Jimmy Dore who is just a raving lunatic and that’s all there is to him.
Andy
2022-03-22 06:30:48 +0000 UTCBoth... but we want to deal with some people who are genuinely left not just self-identified left. So maybe we will sample from across the stream, like: Jimmy Dore, Destiny, Some Persuasion Centre Left, & some Dirtbag Left.
Christopher Kavanagh
2022-03-22 06:29:59 +0000 UTCLooking forward to these! I’d suggest looking at Paul Graham, he’s heavily involved in SV startup culture (look up YCombinator and his essays) but more behind the scenes. The YC cult(ure) revolves around these personas (Sam Altman, Michael Seibel, etc) and venerates them. However IMO they seem to have inflated reputations as a result of luck + survivorship bias. OTOH, they may be too niche for broad appeal.
J
2022-03-22 06:28:42 +0000 UTCI think you’ll find Naval might hit some familiar guru notes with his adoption of eastern religion. Also, absolutely loving DTG! I’ve been listening since ep1 release, I got recommended DTG in some random subreddit that I don’t even remember. Thank you for all your work, Chris and Matt Smith.
Corey Bicknell
2022-03-22 06:28:21 +0000 UTCVery much looking forward to this! Balaji is an interesting one, I’m not sure if he falls into the regular guru-sphere, apart from distrust of institutions perhaps. The way Balaji makes his arguments I find quite interesting, all breadth no depth. He literally throws so much shit at a wall, citing graphs from random studies that help validate his world view. Of course with this approach there is severe selection bias. I am in no way comparing the substance of Balaji’s arguments to that of Alex Jones, or even the tone for that matter. But I’ve always found the way that Balaji cherry picks statistics without relevant context has always reminded me of AJ. Perhaps that is quite a common trope and I’m just consumed in guru/ online world lol
Corey Bicknell
2022-03-22 06:25:51 +0000 UTCAbout lex. I am not an ai researcher but being in big tech as an engineer I know some. Lex is much like Sam Harris or perhaps closer to Brett wienstien the way he uses his credentials to falsely look more qualified than he is to talk on AI topics. He says he’s an ai researcher at mit but is not. He has very few papers and many in the field don’t respect him at all. Major red flags
YellowDreams
2022-03-22 06:00:48 +0000 UTCI think I heard Chris say he wants to decode him at some point and he has some bones to pick with The Social Dilema so I wouldn’t be surprised to see him featured!
Andy
2022-03-22 05:55:54 +0000 UTCOh wow I was thinking about a suggestion in this vien! I have a great on that I think is a positive podcaster/personality that has some guru aspects to him. Tristan Harris He’s the one behind the very popular documentary “the social dilema” and also has a pod called “Your undivided attention”. A great example of where he is interviewed rather than interviewing. https://pca.st/episode/f972285a-0f8d-4c43-b3ba-8a15ecf18271 I find it fascinating how he makes everything seem very big, important and paints great pictures like some of the gurus. I tend to agree with him and I think he’s not a charleton at all but I’d would be great to hear a decoding on him!
YellowDreams
2022-03-22 05:50:51 +0000 UTCAlso the very fact that I was able to formulate this question is making me feel kinda gross like maybe I should be a bit less online…..
Andy
2022-03-22 05:46:15 +0000 UTCWhen you say left gurus do you mean like the broadly left Twitch debate/commentary scene (Destiny, Vaush, Hasan etc.) or more like Jimmy Dore and Russel Brand where they’re so deep in the left wing conspiracy soup they’re genuinely hard to distinguish from the hardcore populist right or something else? I’m sure I’ll love it regardless but I’m curious what’s in store if you are at liberty to say as I’ve heard you express interest in both of those types of gurus.
Andy
2022-03-22 05:41:28 +0000 UTC
