Upcoming Episode: Sensemaking Special
Added 2022-01-03 08:09:13 +0000 UTCHappy New Year to everyone!
Hope you enjoyed the Christmas Special and our recent Decoding Academia episode.
For our next trick, we are going to release a special 'emergency' episode on Rogan and his covid contrarian 'sense makers'. Primarily we will focus on Robert Malone & Peter McCullough, but we are going to address Rogan & the broader alternative 'sense making' ecosystem. In particular, how so many of these alternative media figures seem to be so remarkably credulous in the face of people who sound scientific, criticise the mainstream, and flash credentials.
Unfortunately, this episode will be jumping the queue ahead of the Bob Wright episode (that we are actually looking forward to) but c'est la vie. We will get to Bob this month and, I mean, if we don't produce a long form podcast on the topic, how will the world survive?
It won't be a full guru episode because of the nature of the topic but hope you all enjoy! If we can record early enough it will be out the end of this week and if not then definitely next week. Third episode of Decoding Academia will be up this week too!
Comments
We are going to interview this doctor!
Christopher Kavanagh
2022-01-08 23:50:12 +0000 UTCTo Emma's points -- I generally agree the "optimizing" efforts should be questioned constantly. 4000 weeks by Oliver Burkeman is a nice antidote to a lot of this stuff. But I would say Peter seems thoughtful in that while at one time his goal was to figure out how he could lose weight and be "fit", he now is really focused he says on the "centenarian olympics" -- that is, assuming one does end up living a long time, what sorts of things might we do now to better ensure we can have a good quality of life at that age -- lifting up your great grand kids, being able to stay mobile, etc. This is in contrast to the Rogan-esque more present-state of fitness obsession, or the sort of general short-term optimization that seems so prevalent in the guru-sphere these days. I find it an attractive way to think about the arc of life, how to approach health and fitness, etc. Along with Dr. Rhonda, he's the only person in this space I follow, and support and I pay my $12 a month for him perhaps for wishful thinking that he's got worthy insights!
Maytree
2022-01-08 18:35:58 +0000 UTCThat makes a lot of sense re Peter -- " a guru, but not a rhetorician". I subscribe to Peter's stuff, and there are some admirable aspects: (1) He refuses to do ads on his show to make money, and he's explained why. He just doesn't trust himself to deal with the inherent conflict that raises in what he's trying to do; (2) He doesn't generally seem to be dogmatic in any scientific theory as far as I can tell -- and generally makes extra effort to weight all sides of the data; (3) He, like our hosts, seems sharp when it comes to processing research, and he has a whole podcast on how to analyze studies, the traps to watch out for, where most folks get it wrong etc. He seems to generally apply those principles; (4) He generally seems to apply his "theories" more to himself, making himself the guinea pig, and letting people know, rather than taking a more advocacy position. And he has changed up his views on "optimizing" his own health over the years and admits that. I generally find him a persuasive human being, though the Covid stuff starts to give me pause. I always separated him from the other gurus, but am I just being a bit gullible and wishful-thinking, because he's just a much more rational-seeming guru? I did see the Taube stuff with Rogan, and I agree he does make leaps and at the end of the day seems to rely more on hunches, and is squarely in advocacy territory. I didn't know about the connection with Attia and their venture together.
Maytree
2022-01-08 18:22:47 +0000 UTCAttia is a guru, but I'm not sure he's a rhetorician in the same sense as the others. It's the health claims that are dubious, which requires some careful analysis of the literature. Attia had a revolutionary theory, the carbohydrate-insulin model of obesity, which he teamed up with Gary Taubes (!) to raise $40mm to try to prove. "They predicted their efforts would reduce the prevalence of obesity by 50 percent, and the prevalence of diabetes by 75 percent, by 2025." Obviously, it didn't pan out and the foundation crumbled. Stephan debated Taubes on a JRE episode, which is worth checking out to see how Taubes builds a narrative and then uses select studies to support it, rather than looking at the whole body of evidence http://www.stephanguyenet.com/nutrition-science-initiative-nusi-in-retrospect/ His new theory, though less revolutionary, seems to be use of CGMs for non-diabetics. It doesn't appear to be supported by current evidence. https://thedietwars.com/peter-attia-cgm/
Teddy Garland
2022-01-08 17:22:40 +0000 UTCHe’s good, he’s very good. Watching this would be some excellent preparatory material https://twitter.com/debunk_the_funk/status/1478772786961293321?s=21
Guruspod 2
2022-01-08 08:51:49 +0000 UTCHold my beer, we’re going in
Guruspod 2
2022-01-08 08:49:44 +0000 UTCThanks Arabella! Answer is below
Guruspod 2
2022-01-08 08:49:12 +0000 UTCI for one will bravely engage in these wars, as long as there’s no physical risk of any kind
Guruspod 2
2022-01-08 08:48:41 +0000 UTCThank you Sir. We are like the Watchers on the Wall.
Guruspod 2
2022-01-08 08:47:51 +0000 UTCIt’s going to be a doozy
Guruspod 2
2022-01-08 08:47:04 +0000 UTCGreat video. But, Ugh, I should not have looked in the comments…
Kit McLean
2022-01-08 00:01:21 +0000 UTCMaybe it's also because I've been listening to conspirituality as well. And it made me think that this whole obsession with self optimisation (of an already very privileged group), which Peter could be the poster boy for, is inherently a bit shallow and selfish. Why do we need to be so optimised? Is it making a positive contribution to the world in any way? Or maybe all these podcasts are just making me overthink.
Emma
2022-01-07 11:18:08 +0000 UTCSimilar experience here.
Maytree
2022-01-07 00:29:18 +0000 UTCI'd love to hear the DTGs boys take on Peter Attia. I used to be a big fan and a subscriber but lately have gone off him a bit due to noticing the types of people he is rubbing shoulders with.
Emma
2022-01-06 09:32:09 +0000 UTCterrific video
Maytree
2022-01-06 01:25:06 +0000 UTChttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjszVOfG_wo For anyone interested while waiting, great podcast here from a young US Doctor tearing down the Malone episode
Henry
2022-01-05 23:21:23 +0000 UTCI also listened to that Peter Attia talk with Dr. Zdogg etc. I'm pretty curious what the Decoders think of that podcast as well!
Maytree
2022-01-05 19:59:46 +0000 UTCBingo!
Christopher Kavanagh
2022-01-05 03:21:25 +0000 UTCThe Stoa.
Brainbiter
2022-01-03 23:12:04 +0000 UTCLooking forward to the analysis of Kenny Rogers! Would be interesting to also have the context of the latest overview from Peter Attia: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/covid-19-current-state-of-affairs-omicron-and-a/id1400828889?i=1000546767767
J
2022-01-03 17:43:21 +0000 UTCI’ve been trying to view malone through guru goggles and he’s harder to dismiss offhand than McCullough. One thing is certain, I DO NOT thing Joe is a good arbiter of truth. If he moderated a presidential debate it would be a disaster.
Peter Zavlaris
2022-01-03 16:06:03 +0000 UTCOh no… good luck fellas
Peter
2022-01-03 14:31:17 +0000 UTCI know what you mean -- I watched his ep with Stuart Neil and Yuri Deigen. Seemed like a great idea, but I did get pretty lost.
Arabella Holzapfel
2022-01-03 13:37:04 +0000 UTCDavid Fuller's channel "Rebel Wisdom" is almost entirely to blame. He absolutely loves this term and 40% of his output is about how to do better sensemaking. Strangely I always leave the videos more confused than I began. It's strange because he actually seems like a sensible nice guy but for some reason he is absolutely in love with anybody who can take a simple idea easily expressed in a tweet and turn it into an incomprehensible 2 hour word salad.
Tasty3141
2022-01-03 12:54:51 +0000 UTCLooking forward to this. Question: can one of you explain where the phrase "sense-making" ... I'm having trouble framing the question. From your podcasts, I had thought it was a phrase the IDW, etc., used. But, based in part on Evan Thompson's visit with you, I recently read "Why I am not a Buddhist". Evan uses that phrase a few times in his book and it seems like it is a legitimate (i.e., academically accepted) philosophical concept. What's going on with this phrase? I really appreciate all that you do, Chris and Matt! --Arabella in Ferrisburgh, Vermont, USA
Arabella Holzapfel
2022-01-03 12:22:20 +0000 UTCThank you for this I'm losing family and friends left and right out here. The Great Sensemaking Wars of the early 21st century will be infamous for being particularly, rhetorically, bloody.
William LEGRAIN
2022-01-03 11:57:46 +0000 UTCI really respect your self-sacrifice to voluntarily expose yourself by the McCullough and Malone episodes. <3
F
2022-01-03 11:33:18 +0000 UTCThis is exactly what I wanted the next episode to be. Thank you Decoding The Gurus 10/10 A+ Would buy again! <3
Tasty3141
2022-01-03 11:31:07 +0000 UTC
