Decoding The Gurus

Source to be used for Next Guru episode: Jaron Lanier

Hi everyone,

For those interested in playing along with the forthcoming Guru Decoding find the relevant episode attached. Yes, it's Bari Weiss' podcast and she is someone that might feature in a future episode herself. Regardless, it is a recently recorded, extended interview that outlines his views quite well.

For a preview, Matt is already positioning himself as the nice one for this ep...

(Slightly late) May DtG Live Hangout

Hi guys,

Matt & I have found a gap in our schedules... the notice is short and the timing not great for Western Europeans but isn't that always the way.

15 hours notice this time... 

If you are a Galaxy Brain and interested to join then click the link above for details.

Very Bad Gurus *Feedback Thread*

Hi everyone,

So I'm sure you noticed that we released the Very Bad Wizard's crossover episode. Some of you will have heard that content a while back but hopefully the intro/outro segments still proved entertaining.

I'm putting a post up here in case anyone had any comments or questions specific to the episode.

On the main feed our next releases will be:

1.  Jaron Lanier Decoding.
2. Mickey Inzlicht interview.
3. Lex Fridman Decoding.
4. Nathan Allebach ...

Update on the Bonus RSS Feed

Hi everyone,

Thought I would explain what has happened with the Galaxy Brain feed which has not been updated in a couple of months.

Originally we intended this to be THE feed for bonus content, where we could post things like Decoding Academia and release content earlier than on the main feed.

Unfortunately, our neuroticism meant that we didn't feel comfortable dumping raw content onto the feed, and so we ended up editing quite a bit. All of the content that is on there to d...

Audio version of Interview with Nathan Allebach (Steak Umms) *UNEDITED*

An audio version of the recent interview with Nathan Allebach about Weird Twitter, Online Brands, Conspiracy theories, Twitch streamers, the Steak Umms account and so on!

Sorry for the short description about to run out the door!

Interview with Nathan Allebach (Steak Umms account) VIDEO *UNEDITED*

Hi everyone,

Another interview to share this time with Nathan Allebach covering weird twitter, online brands, conspiracy thinking and teaching information literacy.

This was a really enjoyable one and we range quite widely and have some meta-conversations about managing parasociality as podcasters. Indulgent and sensemaking... a little... but also something that I think all people who make content should be thinking about, at least a little.

We had some problem with the vide...

Truth, Trust, and Culture War w/ Zubin Damania, Christopher Kavanagh, Ben Burgis, and David Fuller

Hello everyone...

Remember that 'The Stoa' channel? Well Peter Limberg asked me to come back to have a conversation about trust & the culture war with a rather eclectic panel.

I agreed and actually found the conversation quite refreshing because a lot of it centred on the problems with the heterodox sphere rather than what the mainstream does wrong.  I was also able to raise some points with Zubin directly that I've been ruminating on recently. The focus on heterodox spac...

Chris on 'Here We Are' discussing Internet Gurus

Hi everyone,

Thought some of you might enjoy this guest appearance on Shane Mauss' comedy/science themed podcast. 

We recorded it a few months ago but it just came out now. Was a nice chilled conversation and I tried to retreading the topics Matt covered during his appearance a few weeks before.

As always happy to hear any feedback. We will be back soon with new episodes, just dealing with our editing backlog.

Interview episode with Elgen Strait of Falling Out Podcast released

Hey everyone,

The first episode of two on the Moonies is released. 

This is a post for any comments anyone might want to make about the content.

Thanks!

DTG March Live Hangout for Galaxy Brain Gurus

Hey everyone,

20 hours notice this time! Click the link above to see the schedule in your local time.

If you are a Galaxy Brain Guru join us for an ol' chinwag about anything! 

See ya tomorrow (maybe!)

Rebel Wisdom Article 'Decoding' Us

Along with the interview, David wrote this quite in depth critical (in the good sense) piece on the podcast.

Matt and I both enjoyed it, despite disagreeing with various points. The sense making ecosystem is good at making things more complex than they need to be but it is nice that David and others took so much effort to consider our criticisms.

Don't worry though this will not prevent us from continue to taking the piss out of sense making! Indeed, we likely will do it to David'...

In the Valley of the Sensemakers (Interview on Rebel Wisdom)

Hey everyone,

Some of you might enjoy this interview I did with David Fuller of Rebel Wisdom about... well Decoding the Gurus, appropriate skepticism, the IDW & heterodox spheres, our biases, etc.

I think it was a fair interview and David asks good questions/makes good arguments. We disagree on some things on a fundamental level but as with Eiynah I think there is value in these kind of meta discussions as long as you know what you are getting into.

Interested to hear an...

Interview with Mickey Inzlicht on the Replication Crisis, the state of Psychology, and Mindfulness *UNEDITED* (Audio)

An in depth discussion with well known psychologist and former psychology podcast host Mickey Inzlicht (Two Psychologists, Four Beers) that touches on a lot of topics but mostly revolves around psychology, academia, and the replication crisis.

I think we fixed the issue with the audio levels in this version but let me know if you encounter any problems.

Interview with Mickey Inzlicht on the Replication Crisis, the state of Psychology, and Mindfulness *UNEDITED* (Video)

An in depth discussion with well known psychologist and former psychology podcast host Mickey Inzlicht (Two Psychologists, Four Beers) that touches on a lot of topics but mostly revolves around psychology, academia, and the replication crisis.

We know there is an issue with differing audio levels which we will address in editing for the audio podcast but can't adjust in this video version. Sorry!

Upcoming Release Schedule

I'm sure you understand by now how tentative our planned release schedule is because it largely depends on editing timeframes which can be unpredictable and we might sub in some randoms if we need to.

Nevertheless, here is our aspirational plan for the next few weeks in order of release:

1. Julian Walker Interview (60-70% edited, this week)
2. Elgen Strait Interview (this week or next week)
3. Reverend Moon Decoding episode w/ Elgen Strait (this week or next week)
4. Timb...

Recoding Sam Harris with Eiynah (Part 2)

Here is the second part of the conversation with Eiynah on her podcast 'Polite Conversations'. As Eiynah describes:

"This episode covers the second part of our chat. Here, we get into the nitty gritty of our differences. I think it's important because to casual listeners all IDW criticism may appear to be similar but actually there are some pretty fundamental differences even within the critical space."

I agree with her and I think we still probably do disagree on the best approac...

Recoding Sam Harris with Eiynah (Part 1)

Hey everyone,

Thought some of you might be interested in this if you haven't already seen it. I did an extended (4 hour!) interview with Eiynah from the Polite Conversations podcast. Eiynah is a long term critic of Sam Harris and has been semi-vocal about some disagreements she has with our approach.

When she asked me to come on and discuss our relative experiences with interviewing Sam Harris & our broader views I thought it would make for an interesting discussion and that...

A Trek into Tech Gurus

Hey 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 o...

Decoding Academia #4: (Uhlmann, et al. 2015) *Audio*

Slightly delayed but good things come to those who wait... maybe...

We take a look at another paper this time one focusing on Moral Psychology and a possible 'third way' to avoid the limitations with act-based approaches (that fall into Consequentialist and Deontological categories).

Decoding Academia #4: (Uhlmann, et al. 2015) *Video*

Slightly delayed but good things come to those who wait... maybe...

We take a look at another paper this time one focusing on Moral Psychology and a possible 'third way' to avoid the limitations with act-based approaches (that fall into Consequentialist and Deontological categories).

The paper is posted in a previous post but if anyone wants it I'll add it here so just comment below if so. Audio version coming soon...

Lindsay & O'Fallon episode released

Hey guys,

Just a note to say we finally released a long overdue episode with Aaron Rabinowitz on the dynamic duo of James Lindsay & Michael O'Fallon.

It's a long episode but really I don't see us going back to either of these figures for a very long time.

Any thoughts or comments are welcome!

We are hoping to release another two episodes this week... probably the review with Julian or Josh and then either the Very Bad Wizards crossover or the Reverend Moon decodin...

Very Bad Gurus *UNEDITED* (Audio)

In the most ambitious crossover since the Fraggles met the Muppets, this episode features not just two but four(!) middle aged male academics waffling for an extended period on niche topics and internet randomness.

We are joined by famed moral psychologist and returning guest, Dave Pizarro, and ghost hunter/philosopher extraordinaire, Tamler Sommers.

Stealing the Very Bad Wizards format we have an intro segment in which we sort out all of the silly culture war nonsense then as a s...

Very Bad Gurus *UNEDITED* (Video)

In the most ambitious crossover since the Fraggles met the Muppets, this episode features not just two but four(!) middle aged male academics waffling for an extended period on niche topics and internet randomness. 

We are joined by famed moral psychologist and returning guest, Dave Pizarro, and ghost hunter/philosopher extraordinaire, Tamler Sommers.

Stealing the Very Bad Wizards format we have an intro segment in which we sort out all of the silly culture war nonsense then ...

Very Bad Wizards Crossover Announcement

Hey everyone,

Just a little heads-up for anyone who did not get the subtle hints.

We will be recording a crossover episode with our fellow academic podcasters the 'Very Bad Wizards' this week on Friday. We are stealing their format and discussing the movie 'The Master', which is about a L. Ron  Hubbard-esque Guru/Cult leader and his relationship with a violent alcoholic.

Should be good fun and looking forward to tease Tamler about his ghost beliefs and Dave about his Ro...

February Live Hangout in 2 Hours *for Galaxy Brains*

Sorry sorry sorry!

I know it is only 2 hours notice but we have had a crazy week scheduling and seems better to be closer to the end of the month!

For anyone who is around good to see you! For other Galaxy Brains the stream will be available to access afterwards!

*Timing/Date Fixed Now*

Discussion with Josh Szeps on Rogan, Censorship, Heterodox-sphere madness, & criticism *UNEDITED* (Video)

Another day, another interview.

We have now got a hell of a backlog developing so we are going to be pushing out one or two episodes a week for the next while but before that here in all it's crowning glory is the unedited video of our discussion with Josh Szeps on all the things listed in the title.

Release schedule will look something like this:

1. Liam (as soon as it is ready this week)
2. Lindsay & O'Fallon (Fri/weekend)
3. Timbah (early next week)
4. Jul...

Presentation and Q&A on the Gurometer at The Stoa

Hi everyone,

Some of you might be interested in this presentation I (Chris) gave at The Stoa earlier in the week. The Stoa is a channel that has featured a number of our gurus and has quite a strong connection to the sense-maker world.

I was slightly wary about the talk due to the audience and the topic but thought it would be good outreach and I was pleasantly surprised. Nice questions and I think (at least amongst some) a receptivity to the points I was making.

Not under a...

Interview with Elgen Strait from Falling Out podcast (Video) *UNEDITED*

Hi everyone,

Another interview... we have a lot of editing ahead.

We have an enjoyable chat with Elgen Strait from the Falling Out podcast about his experiences growing up in the Moonies, the manipulative techniques of cults, and how they parallel or differ from the techniques we see in the Guru-sphere. One not to miss!

Enjoy!

Robert Wright Gurometer (Audio) *UNEDITED*

Like the video version but this time with audio.

And as with the video apologies for the meandering intro... such is our nature!

Robert Wright Gurometer (Video) *UNEDITED*

Hi everyone,

Brain is a bit mush from an early morning recording so nothing funny or interesting to say here except here is the Gurometer episode for Bob. We get a bit into recent geopolitics and usual tangents at the start so sorry for that but y'know...

Audio will be uploaded in a short while and *I promise I will get the bonus RSS feed updated soon*. Thanks for your patience on that.

Enjoy!