Decoding The Gurus

December Livestream

Hey everyone,

December livestream tomorrow!

Click the link above for timing.

Sorry as always about short notice. Last free time of the year!

Decoding Academia #2: False Positive Psychology *Audio*

The audio version for those who prefer that!

"Not had enough content with the Christmas Special?

Well, here is the second instalment of the Decoding Academia series. This episode is on a classic 2011 paper on 'False Positive Psychology'. This was one of the harbingers of the replication crisis and shows how important the concept of 'Researchers Degrees of Freedom' are for critically evaluating research.

The discussion is a little bit technical at times but I hope some of you...

Decoding Academia #2: False Positive Psychology *Video*

Not had enough content with the Christmas Special?

Well, here is the second instalment of the Decoding Academia series. This episode is on a classic 2011 paper on 'False Positive Psychology'. This was one of the harbingers of the replication crisis and shows how important the concept of 'Researchers Degrees of Freedom' are for critically evaluating research.

The discussion is a little bit technical at times but I hope some of you find it useful.

Interested in feedback as alw...

A Rambling Christmas Special *Audio*

Much like the video version but this time with Audio...

But at the risk of repeating ourselves...

"Hi everyone,

We decided to take some time to record our (unedited) End of Year/Christmas special just for the Patreons. It's a bit rambling and fairly self indulgent, but hey it's Christmas...

Topics covered include: reflecting on the year that was, checking in on the old Gurus, our annual airing of political grievances, discussing our very moderate and boring personal go...

A Rambling Christmas Special *Video*

Hi everyone,

We decided to take some time to record our (unedited) End of Year/Christmas special just for the Patreons. It's a bit rambling and fairly self indulgent, but hey it's Christmas...

Topics covered include: reflecting on the year that was, checking in on the old Gurus, our annual airing of political grievances, discussing our very moderate and boring personal goals for the New Year, and finally some listener requested dialogue reads. 

Consider the politics sec...

Decoding Academia #1: Beliefs are like Possessions (AUDIO)

As with the video... but with audio.

The article discussed is attached to this post as well. 

We will record a proper Christmas/End of Year special soon enough and Livestream date coming soon too!

Merry Christmas all!

Decoding Academia #1: Beliefs are like Possessions

Hi everyone,

We are starting a Patreon bonus series focused on introducing and discussing academic research/papers that we find interesting and think are relevant to the kinds of topics we cover on Decoding the Gurus.

This first episode was a bit rushed due to restricted recording time but hopefully it gives you a taste of what we have in mind. We didn't even have time to joke about our Zoom backgrounds... I intended the prominent Oxford logo taken from an official Oxford Uni Zoom...

Joe Rogan Episode RELEASED

Damn this one took a while.

Scheduling problems... Audio issues... Editing problems... Output problems...

Sorry about the slightly below par sound, normal service will be resumed next episode.

And thanks for your patience!

Interested in any comments/thoughts!

Editing Update for Rogan Episode

Rogan episode is recorded and we are in edit mode.

It is currently 3hr40mins long... which is too long.

Matt is working on it now, I'll work on it later and our editor Ron will work on it when he has some time.

Should be able to release some time at the weekend. Saturday at best. Today seems very unlikely.

Just thought you would all like to know.

Joe Rogan Gurometer (Video) *UNEDITED*

Want to SEE the Gurometer get filled in LIVE?!?

Well, here is the next best thing. A recorded video of us discussing Joe Rogan's Gurometer score.

*Spoiler* 

He scores high.

Joe Rogan Gurometer (Audio) *Unedited*

Hey everyone,

We've got the Rogan episode in the editing bay and are busy chipping away at all our verbal ticks. But if you want a preview here is the Gurometer episode for your enjoyment!

Come one, come all!

Video version uploading shortly too.

Best Wishes,
Chris

Upcoming Release Schedule

Hey everyone,

So many gurus, so little time.

Just wanted to give another update on forthcoming content.

Today- 'Decoding Academia: Matt's Research Story' (Many of you will have heard this but now in edited form on the main feed).

Next Week- 'Guru Right to Reply: Chris Williamson' (As above!)

Week After that- Joe Rogan episode currently thinking of doing the recent Jocko Willink episode. We will get to Daniel Schm...

DTG Livestream November

Hey everyone,

Almost an entire days notice this time!

If you are a Galaxy Brain Guru and have the time please join us for a live hangout.

We will cover our plans for the Decoding Academia series, the Right to Reply episode we recorded with Chris Williamson, what we think about Joe Rogan, and whatever else anyone wants to discuss!

You can find the time in your relevant location by clicking the link but in Japan time it is 9.30am Dec 3rd.

- Chris

Guru Right to Reply: Chris Williamson *UNEDITED* (AUDIO)

Audio version of our extended discussion with host of the Modern Wisdom podcast & YouTube channel. An early morning chat for us but one that I think was very worth having and raises lots of relevant topics for both the podcast and the broader topics we tackle. Welcome any feedback and enjoy!

-Chris

Guru Right to Reply: Chris Williamson *UNEDITED*

Some of you may remember the ex-Love Island contest who featured as the interviewer on the Gad Saad episode. We were quite harsh in our assessments with some reasonable criticisms and some unfair comments.

Chris reached out and a few weeks ago I had a discussion with him about the experience of being featured on the show and broader topics of audience capture, responsible criticism, and our role in the online discourse-o-sphere.

Chris proved more thoughtful than we credited him. H...

Brene Brown Gurometer *UNEDITED* (AUDIO)

Again... two hours of sleep, so this is the audio version of that video!

Enjoy!

Brene Brown Gurometer *UNEDITED*

Hey everyone,

I'm operating on two hours sleep this morning so nothing witty to add just thought you might appreciate ye olde Gurometer episode. Audio coming soon and will be added to the feed too!

P.S. Sorry for the tangent on Japanese food at the start!

Our next guru: Joe Rogan

As mentioned at the end of the last episode, our next Guru episode will be Joe Rogan.

We are considering doing his episode with Tim Pool to try and overload on terrible takes but are open to other suggestions.

I feel like I (Chris) have a handle on Rogan because I've consumes his content on and off for years but still I think this will be a fun one.

Let's see!

-Chris

Brené Brown episode is OUT!

Here we are, after some delays... our Brené Brown episode is finally released.

We recorded when both feeling slightly more grumbly than usual so apologies for any additional doses of cynicism beyond the norm.

Our editor suggested that we could title the episode: “Our Thanksgiving release: America sucks and kids shouldn’t follow their dreams”.

There's some truth to that but the reality is that we are both fond of the good ol' US of A and realise it does contain multitu...

(Audio Version) Decoding Academia: Matt Edition *UNEDITED*

Very similar to the video version... here is Matt's heroic tale of his academic journey.

Gather the kids around the fire and nestle in for a tale of daring, statistics, and convulation.

Enjoy!

Decoding Academia: Matt Edition *UNEDITED*

The people have asked for it.

'What about the nice one?' they said.

So here it is the unedited, unfiltered tale of Matt and his surprisingly diverse career.

The format is a bit different than the Chris' episode and we do apologise for our self-indulgence but hopefully some of you find this all helpful for trying to decode us and our nefarious motivations.

Audio version coming soon.

- Chris

Update on Brene Brown Episode

Recording is complete.

Now in the editing bay.

Unfortunately we were both in slightly darker moods than usual for this episode -and it wasn't really Brene's fault- so we are going to have to hope that editing reduces our grumpiness factor. Possibly wasn't a great idea to start up with a Weinstein update to cheer us up! It's also hard not to sound like bastards when you are essentially complaining about the messages from inspirational posters.

In any case, god and altruistic ...

Article by Chris on Religion at Aeon

Hi everyone,

Wasn't sure the best place to post this (and sorry if you are getting a notification!) but I thought some of you might be interested in the article I mentioned at the end of the recent mini-episode on my research interests. It's about the role of ritual in religion and how focusing on belief can be misleading. Lots of examples from Japanese religious context, for any Japanophiles.

It's a few years old now but I stand by all of it! They also got a professional voice ac...

*Audio version* Talking about our research (Chris edition)

The audio version of the video of...

"Matt asking Chris' about his PhD research, and broader topics about religion and ritual.

The Matt focused edition will come next week probably and after that we will periodically release bite size episodes on research themed stuff (as we discuss at the end of the video).

Any suggestions or feedback about the content (or suggestions for a catchy title for the series) is welcome and we hope you enjoy!

Also, I apologise for the video ...

Talking about our research (Chris edition)

So we've had various requests from Patreons and listeners to talk a bit more about our research & specialities and so as an apology for the delay on the Brene Brown episode we recorded this.

Matt asking Chris' about his PhD research, and broader topics about religion and ritual.

The Matt focused edition will come next week probably and after that we will periodically release bite size episodes on research themed stuff (as we discuss at the end of the video).

Any suggesti...

No episode today!

Sorry folks, my schedule made this week difficult to record and then Matt got sick so we are now due to record on Monday. Sorry for the bad news but we will definitely have it out next week.

We should also have some interviews recording next week so there should be some early *UNEDITED* releases in the mean time.

Thanks for your patience!

Robert Wright has written a fantastic article on Tribalism

I know the full article is pay walled.

I know I'm a little biased.

But this article by Bob is soooo good that I wanted to recommend everyone to check it out. I'm trying to convince Bob to release it from behind the paywall and he is considering to do so in a few weeks. So at least one to bookmark.

He's doing a whole series on Tribalism and if this is anything to go by it will be great.

This is what I meant when I used the term.

Cathartic.

-Chris

Decoding the... Foundation?!? *Audio Version*

Like the video version but with no video.

Matt and I geek out about a sci-fi series we are enjoying.

Expect fascinating insights like actors are not the same as the characters they play!

Decoding the... Foundation?!?

Just a bit of fun about a series we are both watching.

Hari* Seldon counts as a fictional guru at least... I mean, right?

Hot takes welcome in the comments!

*Audio version forthcoming*

Update on next Guru episode *Brene Brown*

Hey everyone,

Thought another update was due on our next guru episode and forthcoming plans.

So... my schedule still sucks at the min but we are hoping to record, edit, and release the episode this week by Fri/Sat. We've done our required watching and now just need to clip and carve out 3+ hrs to record. Probably tomorrow.

This is part of our season of self-help and is another excursion from the culture wars. But we are considering to get back into things with a Rogan episod...