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An exiled Northern Irish anthropologist and a hitchhiking Australian psychologist take a close look at the contemporary crop of 'secular gurus', iconoclasts, and other exiles from the mainstream, offering their own brands of unique takes and special insights. Leveraging two of the most diverse accents in modern podcasting, Chris and Matt dig deep into the claims, peek behind the psychological curtains, and try to figure out once and for all... What's it all About? Join us, as we try to puzzl ...
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Decoding the Gurus
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Interview with Renée DiResta: Online Ecosystems, Disinformation, & Censorship Debates
2:20:43
2:20:43
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2:20:43
We are joined by Renée DiResta a writer and researcher at the Stanford Internet Observatory. Renée has done a lot of interesting work on disinformation and influence campaigns. Including leading an investigation into the Russian Internet Research Agency’s multi-year effort to manipulate American society in the lead-up to the 2016 election. More rec…
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Decoding the Gurus
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Christopher Hitchens: Rhetoric, Religion, and Ramadan
2:22:13
2:22:13
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2:22:13
Our short-lived Christopher Hitchens ends in our second episode and full-length decoding of the punchy Brit. This time we are examining one of his well-known religion-themed debates, debating the question 'Is Islam a Religion of Peace?' for The 92nd Street Y, New York with the academic and writer Tariq Ramadan. This one feels like a bit of a throwb…
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Decoding the Gurus
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Interview with Matt Johnson on Christopher Hitchens
2:19:31
2:19:31
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2:19:31
We are back for an interview with the author and independent writer Matt Johnson discussing the New Atheist hero and legendary debater, Christopher Hitchens. The other Matt recently published a book called "How Hitchens Can Save the Left: Rediscovering Fearless Liberalism in an Age of Counter-Enlightenment" and kindly agreed to come on and waffle w…
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Decoding the Gurus
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Oprah Winfrey: Self Actualising Your Destiny
2:11:23
2:11:23
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2:11:23
Oprah Winfrey is someone who truly needs no introduction. She's a legend of daytime television, a warm and charismatic juggernaut who steam-rolled her way to the very apex of media success. Now, an extraordinarily wealthy woman, she's busy with philanthropy and helping others manifest their inner light so as to truly Be in this world. Certainly, in…
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Decoding the Gurus
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"Mini" Decoding of Matthew Goodwin & Interview with Paul Bloom
2:47:36
2:47:36
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2:47:36
Apologies everyone, we've been compelled to break our 'golden rule' of interspersing decoding episodes with interview episodes. However, the opportunity to talk to the well-known psychologist, Professor Paul Bloom. There are so many reasons to talk to Paul: first, he's a walking, talking cornucopia of knowledge across so fields in psychology that f…
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Decoding the Gurus
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Interview with Travis View: QANon & Modern Conspiracies
1:48:48
1:48:48
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If you have managed to avoid the phenomenon of QAnon up until now, then congratulations! Your life is likely better for not knowing. Sadly many of us have been forced not only to learn about the 'enigmatic'(/idiotic) Q and his merry band of followers but also to witness the consequences of the movement during events like January 6th. Travis View (t…
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Decoding the Gurus
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Interview with Worobey, Andersen & Holmes: The Lab Leak
2:46:09
2:46:09
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The question of the SARS-CoV-2 origin: whether it was a zoonotic spillover from a wet market, or an engineered virus that escaped from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, is seemingly a debate that will never go away. Most interestingly, while scientists with specific domain expertise seem to be building a consensus towards the former, public opinion …
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Decoding the Gurus
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Dave Rubin: A Pointless Partisan Pundit
2:15:20
2:15:20
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Dave Rubin has always sought out a career in the spotlight, beginning with stand-up comedy and then becoming a pundit (of sorts) on shows like the Young Turks. From there he (in)famously came to present himself as one of those classical liberals forced to 'leave the left'. He was also one of the honorary members of the Intellectual Dark Web althoug…
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Decoding the Gurus
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Bill Maher: A boozy, stoned, liberal take on classic anti-vax tropes
2:10:13
2:10:13
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Bill Maher is an American comedian, political commentator, and television host from the tail end of the baby-boomer generation. He's principally a centrist liberal in terms of his political leanings, being well known for his anti-religious and pro-animal rights positions, as well as a supporter of things like cannabis legalisation. On the other han…
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Decoding the Gurus
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Daniel Dennett: It's Evolution Baby
2:34:21
2:34:21
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In this episode, we take a bit of a detour from current trends and examine a talk by the philosopher Daniel Dennett on evolution. Dennett rose to public prominence as one of the so-called four horsemen of the New Athiest movement but he always seemed slightly out of place with that cohort. Dennett's is most certainly a guru in the sense that he off…
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Decoding the Gurus
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"Mini" Decoding of Konstantin Kisin's Oxford Union speech
1:07:40
1:07:40
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Recently the Oxford Union (based in Oxford but distinct from the university) hosted a debate on "whether woke culture has gone too far". A very fresh question, and it's been good to see people finally discussing this important issue. Former guest, comedian, and host of the Triggernometry podcast Konstantin Kisin argued for the proposition, and his …
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Decoding the Gurus
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Interview with Coffeezilla on Cryptocurrencies, NFTs, and modern scammers
3:06:38
3:06:38
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In this episode we are joined by the irrepressible "Coffeezilla" (aka Stephen Findeisen), a man who is, it's fair to say, kind of a big deal on YouTube. And rightly so! His channel focuses on exposing "scams, fraudsters and fake gurus" and he has received a great deal of praise for the detail, depth, and quality of the research that he goes into fo…
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So here we are rounding off 2022 with a Guru of the moment, Elon Musk. Trust us, we want to stop hearing about him as much as you do but we have long had him scheduled as the finale for the tech season. Unfortunately, the Decoding the Gurus curse (most of the people we cover quickly become worse and spiral into conspiracism) seems to have become mo…
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Decoding the Gurus
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Gurus Christmas Special with Helen Lewis
2:16:59
2:16:59
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Join us for this special festive episode in which we initiate the fledgling Gurologist (and occasional journalist and author) Helen Lewis into the deeper and more esoteric levels of Gurology. Helen may have produced an excellent new multi-part series on the New Gurus for the BBC but just how many nut or shark-based anecdotes can you fit into a 30-m…
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Decoding the Gurus
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Guru Right to Reply with Jamie Wheal
2:34:33
2:34:33
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Today we are joined by Jamie Wheal, who comprised a full one-third of the subjects covered on our prior "Sensemaking Cubed" episode also featuring Daniel Schmachtenberger and Jordan Hall. Jamie has kindly taken advantage of our standing offer of a right to reply to all podcast subjects and here is our conversation in its entirety. As well as being …
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Decoding the Gurus
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Interview with Manvir Singh on Gurus & Shamans
2:25:37
2:25:37
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2:25:37
We are back with another academic-themed interview with the evolutionary/cultural/cognitive anthropologist Manvir Singh. That's right two anthropologists from the same relatively obscure field on the same podcast but don't hold that against Manvir, we promise he's much more insightful than Chris! Indeed, Manvir joins us to share his expertise on Sh…
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Decoding the Gurus
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Robin DiAngelo: Matt and Chris struggle with their fragility
3:07:41
3:07:41
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Racism is all around. It surrounds us and penetrates us; it binds white people together. And if you try to deny it, it only makes it stronger. That's Robin DiAngelo's thesis, anyway, and she calls this dark force (and the book that made her famous) White Fragility. You know you've got white fragility if you refuse to accept the truth of white fragi…
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Decoding the Gurus
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Interview with Konstantin Kisin from Triggernometry on Heterodoxy, Biases, and the Media
2:05:58
2:05:58
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An interesting one today with an extended interview/discussion with Konstantin Kisin co-host of the Triggernometry YouTube channel and Podcast and author of An Immigrant's Love Letter to the West. Topics covered include potential biases in the mainstream and heterodox spheres, media coverage in the covid era, debate within the heterodox sphere, the…
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Decoding the Gurus
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Peterson, Murray & Pageau: Transcendent Tableware
1:00:38
1:00:38
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In this bitesize decoding, a conservative columnist, a religious icon carver, and a tortured ex-psychologist walk into a Daily Wire studio and try to hash out some solution of the meta-meaning-crisis. In an astounding twist it turns out it involves embracing traditional Christianity. Who could have guessed? Join us on Jordan’s religious powered roc…
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Decoding the Gurus
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Interview with Neil Levy on Intellectual Virtue Signalling
1:56:42
1:56:42
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1:56:42
Fellow decoders: a few weeks ago Chris and Matt were invited to virtually attend a lecture at Macquarie University that promised to be of interest for the podcast. And that lecture was presented by the philosophy professor Neil Levy on the intriguing topic of 'Intellectual Virtue Signalling'. That is the status-seeking advertising of what is common…
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Decoding the Gurus
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Daniel Schmachtenberger, Jamie Wheal & Jordan Hall: Making Sense about Making Sense of Sensemaking
3:37:05
3:37:05
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3:37:05
It's finally here! In what has to be our most meta episode to date, Matt and Chris tackle the meta-philosophy / meta-spirituality / meta-science that is Sensemaking. You might say sensemaking is sense to the power of 2. But what is sensemaking, really? Well, that's a tricky question because as Jordan Hall says; no one can simply be told what sensem…
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Decoding the Gurus
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Interview with Helen Lewis on culture wars and religion, that Jordan Peterson interview, and gurus generally
2:16:58
2:16:58
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Today Chris and Matt are visited by Helen Lewis, a journalist, editor, and writer with what could very fairly be described as a rather distinguished career in those fields. Helen has previously worked at the New Statesman and is currently with The Atlantic. She has also served as a Women in the Humanities Honorary Writing Fellow at Oxford Universit…
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Decoding the Gurus
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Interview with Dan Friesen from Knowledge Fight on Alex Jones, the Sandy Hook Trial, and conspiracy ecosystems
2:14:51
2:14:51
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2:14:51
A special crossover episode (long anticipated- at least by us) with one-half of the Knowledge Fight podcast. Specifically, we have Dan Friesen on to enlighten us about all things Alex Jones, the recent trial with the Sandy Hook parents, and to compare notes regarding gurus and conspiracy theorists. Not to mention to give Chris the chance to demonst…
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Decoding the Gurus
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John Vervaeke & Jonathan Pageau: Decoding the Demons
47:05
47:05
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47:05
Ahead of the forthcoming sense-making full course decoding of Jordan Hall, Daniel Schmactenberger, and Jamie Wheal (see here!), we offer a bite-sized morsel of sense-making to whet your episode. Here Matt and Chris engage in a 'short' session of gurunalysis, or guruology (if you prefer the original Latin). The subject of the gurunalysis is a conver…
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Decoding the Gurus
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Interview with Elgen Strait on the Unification Church and the assassination of Shinzo Abe
1:40:53
1:40:53
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1:40:53
This episode is a little bit of this and a little bit of that. The main portion of the episode features an interview with returning guest, Elgen Strait, host of the Falling Out podcast. Previously we've had Elgen on to talk about his life growing up as a second-generation member of Reverend Moon's Unification Church (the Moonies) and also to help u…
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