We crank up the Gurometer to stare directly into our cosmic insignificance and ponder where Sagan resides in the guru cosmology.
Featuring some Weinstein World chat at the end.
Also note this is the UNEDITED video version. We will get an edited version up on the bonus feed this week!
Enjoy
2021-08-01 07:47:40 +0000 UTC View Post
Busy day for notifications (apologies!),
Chris here again. I’m currently commuting to get my second vaccine jab and just had an idea I thought I’d run past everyone.
I am currently reading Evan Thompson’s ‘Why I’m Not a Buddhist’ (which is a great book) on the train and was thinking it would be nice to discuss it with someone whose read it. That lead me to the thought that maybe some of *you* might be interested in creating some kind of periodic DTG topic relevant boo...
2021-07-27 06:18:40 +0000 UTC View Post
Following Robert Wright's recently developed interest in Weinstein flavoured crack-pottery, we've exchanged some messages about doing crossover interviews.
This is likely to happen in the next month or so. We will likely cover the Weinsteins & IDW, secular Buddhism, alternative & mainstream media ecosystems & how to avoid becoming a guru. Bob's an interesting guy who has written critically about Sam Harris and positively about secular Buddhism (see 'Why Buddhism is True'). H...
2021-07-27 02:25:21 +0000 UTC View PostWe got approached by a company that wants to advertise on the show. Matt and I are semi-ambivalent to the concept beyond being unwilling to promote anything that is too random or we do not agree with/approve of. In this case it's a news aggregator app which seems fine.
We are considering to accept with the intention being that if we can increase the podcast income a bit we can invest in an editor and potentially someone to manage the social media accounts/extract clips for YouTube, etc....
2021-07-27 02:04:31 +0000 UTC View Post
With the release today of our Sagan episode we decided that for the next main episode we would return to modern gurus by leaping back into the cess pool with both feet and covering Gad Saad.
We are actually considering doing a twofer with some other terrible person he interviews, like Rubin…
If you have any suggestions please let us know in the comments below.
2021-07-23 22:31:07 +0000 UTC View Post
For those of you who want another fix of Gurology... here is a two hour interview with Chris on Stephan Kesting's 'the Strenuous Life Podcast'. Stephan is a BJJ instructor but also a very switched on guy when it comes to pseudoscience, conspiracy theories, and gurus.
Sadly Matt was on walkabout during the recording so only 50% of the team is representing. Still a fun experience and Matt is there in spirit and various shout outs! It is also available in podcast format here: 2021-07-21 08:15:36 +0000 UTC View Post
This is a little bit petty and I (Chris) apologise for that in advance but what is the point of having a Patreon if you can't occasionally post something that is a little indulgent.
These are some tweets from an FYI thread I got tagged into on Twitter. The person responsible has 4 followers so I'm not going to put them on blast. I am however going to complain a bit here...
I don't have any issue with receiving critical feedback about the show. The vast majority of feedback we rec...
Hey guys,
Episode update. We are 50% through the Carl Sagan episode and should have it out for next Friday. This is the second in the personal gurus season (Matt's guru) and we think is actually useful as it may be our first example of a 'good' guru.
If you want to see the lecture we are using it is available here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_-jtyhAVTc
We did want to release an em...
2021-07-17 04:44:42 +0000 UTC View Post
Hi everyone,
Sorry for the lack of updates recently.
Last week was a busy work week for Matt and me so we couldn't get finished with the editing we wanted.
We have two recorded interviews: one with Evan Thompson that many of you probably heard and one with Daniel Harper from I Don't Speak German podcast, which we have almost finished editing. We should be good to release it sometime this week and we will also be recording the next main guru episode in the next few day...
2021-07-12 07:09:53 +0000 UTC View Post
Hey guys,
Matt is off this week on walk about so we are going to schedule the monthly livestream for next Monday (5th July) at 10am JST.
If anyone has any burning questions they want answered or comments/suggestions put them in the comments below and we will get to them even if you can't attend.
Assuming we don't have the same audio issues as last time we will put the audio up on the bonus feed after a week or so (when we get a chance to do some editing).
Hope to spea...
2021-06-29 02:37:53 +0000 UTC View Post
We crank up the Gurometer to wake ourselves up, deprogram our conditioning, and calculate just how much of a guru is Anthony DeMello.
Featuring some bonus Weinstein World chat up front...
2021-06-26 05:05:07 +0000 UTC View Post
Hey everyone,
We are in the very rare position of having a bunch of content recorded in advance of release. Editing is still necessary but here are the release plans for the coming few weeks:
This Friday: DeMello Episode (Recorded today!)
Next week: Amanda Montell episode on main feed (already out on bonus feed)
Next next week: Evan Thompson or Daniel Harper Interview (depending on editing)
Fourth week: Carl Sagan episode (this is Matt’s personal guru episode)<...
2021-06-23 14:46:00 +0000 UTC View PostHi guys,
We are releasing the Amanda Montell interview early for Patreons.
It won't be out on the main feed for a few weeks but it should be in the Bonus 'Galaxy Brain' feed now. If you haven't got access to that feed yet just drop us a message or use this link: patreon.com/rss/DecodingTheGurus?auth=g2O6nEppM4VAwGvPuFYPr5PcqCrzVX-8
Amanda has a wealth of know...
2021-06-21 03:11:37 +0000 UTC View Post
Just a post to alert those waiting that the interview with Jesse is now out on the main feed.
This was a fun one, we cover his new book and the replication crisis but we also didn't shy away from discussing some of the more controversial culture war stuff.
Wherever you land on all of that, I hope you find the interview interesting!
Next week: DeMello Guru Episode
Following week: Amanda Montell Interview
-Chris
2021-06-18 07:00:24 +0000 UTC View Post
In this UNEDITED interview with philosophy professor we cover a wide range of topics, including Buddhist modernism & exoticism, the nature of the self(!), what Sam Harris and Robert Wright get wrong about Buddhism, and how all of this relates to the modern guru environment.
We enjoyed the discussion, Chris came out as an Evan fanboy, and we hope that you do too by the end!
This episode will not be released for a few weeks on the main feed so consider this a sneak peek!<...
2021-06-17 04:59:47 +0000 UTC View Post
In case any of you missed it, we got some really nice coverage by the All in the Mind show on ABC in Australia.
The format is an extended interview, interspersed with narration and clips. Was really nice to chat with Sana, she actually knew a tonne about the gurometer which was an unexpected surprise.
A side effect is that it did make Matt and me feel guilty for not writing an academic paper on the topic (yet)... we do have that draft lying around.
In any case, was a lot of ...
2021-06-14 21:08:36 +0000 UTC View Post
Hey guys,
Busy week but a couple of updates...
So remember those interviews I mentioned? Well, we have been working hard and have already completed some of them. Specifically:
Jesse Singal - Recorded.
Amanda Montell- Recorded.
Next up this week are:
Evan Thompson (Western Buddhism & Exoticism)
Daniel Harper (Far Right Gurus & IDW Criticism)
Given some horrifying work schedules, it is likely that the Jesse Interview will be released at th...
2021-06-14 21:04:23 +0000 UTC View Post
For anyone interested, here is a video of the talk we will be covering on the next full episode on Anthony DeMello. It is a little awkward to find online so here is a copy for reference (please do not share).
2021-06-07 21:28:29 +0000 UTC View Post
As mentioned on the last episode, we are taking a needed holiday from the culture war to delve into our personal gurus.
Anthony DeMello was a Jesuit and Christian mystic who produced some 'popular' lectures about spirituality in the 80s/90s. The now ex-pope, then Cardinal Ratzinger, also issued a warning about how his teachings could be harmful to Christians.
Chris came across his content as a teenager during his Buddhist dalliances and found it very persuasive. But how does he fe...
2021-06-04 20:34:18 +0000 UTC View Post
As I'm sure some of you already noticed the Jordan & Bret episode is released! This was a very enjoyable episode, perhaps because of the positive contrast with the anti-vaccine heavy rhetoric from Bret & Heather. Sadly, as the image above shows Jordan is far from immune to such impulses.
Also, clips are now added for the past two episodes:
2021-06-04 20:29:19 +0000 UTC View Post
Well, following on from the Tim Nguyen interview we've now got a couple of other interviews scheduled for the next couple of weeks so I thought I would share. This is not the release date but the unedited versions might pop up here before we edit for release on the feed.
Jesse Singal - 7th June
Amanda Montell - 11th June
Evan Thompson - 16th June
Possible but not scheduled yet...
Sarah Mojarad
Julian Walker (Conspirituality)
Daniel Harper (I Don't Spe...
2021-06-03 02:22:50 +0000 UTC View Post
We conduct an extended interview with Tim Nguyen- the co-author on a recent paper attempting to critically examine Eric Weinstein's 'Geometric Unity' theory of everything.
A lot of topics are covered and the content will be substantially reduced for the podcast but here for your viewing pleasure is the full UNEDITED interview.
2021-06-02 10:48:24 +0000 UTC View PostJust a short note.
The next episode is completely recorded and now in the editing bay. Current length around 3hrs 10mins, but still a lot of editing to do.
Includes about 20 mins on the Lab Leak controversy.
Was a fun one!
Next up the Christian mystic and Jesuit, Anthony De Mello!
Also, the Livestream was completed earlier, I think if you are a Galaxy Brain Guru you can access it anytime you like on the crowd-cast recording. I don't think we will post this ...
2021-06-01 04:49:14 +0000 UTC View Post
Hi guys,
Not as good as last month, but better than a few hours notice... our May live hangout will be in 3 days! Join us if you are a Galaxy Brain and have the time and fancy a chat about gurus and whatnot.
Date is in the link above but just for reference: June 1st 9am Japan time.
Will release on the bonus feed after with light editing.
2021-05-29 00:59:58 +0000 UTC View PostI thought some of you might enjoy seeing an ancient DTG artefact.
The link above will take you to a pdf annotated transcript produced by me (Chris) for The Portal episode 19 with Eric and Bret Weinstein.
This was the topic for our first episode and is a good illustration of my problematic levels of neuroticism.
I should add that I do not do this for each episode and that now we have nice software that automatically produces transcripts from audio (Descript) rather than...
2021-05-28 21:56:19 +0000 UTC View PostSince I'm posting updates, it might be a good time to mention about interviews.
We did have a bunch of interviews scheduled (or at least penciled in) for May but then due to various issues (people being unavailable, work deadlines, family illness, etc.) we were not able to record them. I'm hoping that we can reschedule most of them for June/July although we are going to have to go through the scheduling process again (which is always a little bit of an issue due to the national time dif...
2021-05-28 21:27:28 +0000 UTC View Post
Hi guys,
Time for an update!
We had hoped to get this episode out for the weekend but our schedules didn't align well this week so we only got to recording on Friday. We are about an hour or so in and will record the rest at the start of next week then edit down to release at the end of the week.
In the meantime, we have a segment discussing the lab leak theory and the current medi...
2021-05-28 21:09:54 +0000 UTC View Post
Matt and Chris, crank up the Gurometer and engage in the esoteric (but highly precise) science of Gurometry in order to quantify the contrarian essence taken human form of Heather Heying.
Chris had some mic issues so sorry about the questionable audio quality on his end. Won't happen again we promise!
Also, this is the UNEDITED version so you have been warned!
P.S. This one is already up on the bonus feed in edited format should you prefer. Editing flow getting ...
2021-05-26 21:03:41 +0000 UTC View Post
Hi guys,
It's been a week so here's an update on the episode schedule.
First, we have already started recording the Jordan and Bret crossover extravaganza. And the revolutionary thinkers certainly are colliding in the night.
However... as part of the episode we made the somewhat ill advised choice to intro the episode by looking at Bret and Heather's recent vaccine hesitant/straight up anti-vaxx conspiracy laded DarkHorse content, using clips from recent episodes.
This...
2021-05-18 21:23:07 +0000 UTC View PostHi guys,
I added this to the bonus feed already today but just in case anyone prefers to access on here, find the edited audio above. We did record video that I had planned to share but am currently battling with the software to get the individual video files combined (supposed to happen automatically) so afraid this is just the audio.
A bit more off-the-cuff than usual but hopefully still interesting!
We need to get some way to crowdsource the community Gurometer ratings......
2021-05-11 07:06:47 +0000 UTC View Post