Decoding The Gurus patreon

Some forthcoming stuff

🕑 Added 2023-04-01 11:15:19 +0000 UTC

Comments

NIALL DAVISON

Please decode this tit, Aubrey Marcus 🙏

JustTheWorstEver

I'm such a fan of Christopher Hitchens writing and speaking throughout his career. Very excited to hear some decoding by Chris and Matt of a guy that many people either hold in too high a regard and seek to clumsily emulate or demand that we as a culture must completely write off and never reference, because at the end of his life he was in favor of invading Iraq and wrote a shitty sexist article about comedy. When it comes to him compared to Dennett, Dawkins and Harris, I always feel like there's no point in lumping them in together. His life and work were so much more influenced by literature and world travel and participation in left wing political movements than anyone in that sphere at the time, or since. The guy did some real living and loving that clearly influenced his work. But still, plenty there to criticize and I look forward to the episode!

Erin Dougherty

Amazing, thank you! Interested to discuss.

Suzan Lemont

Sent this on to my husband who is an organic chemist working at the department of Medicinal Chemistry/Pharmacy at Utrecht University. I'll try and take a gander later Erin. Thanks for posting it.

Suzan Lemont

Please do Ken Wilber at some point!

Suzan Lemont

Dr. Kirk Honda, a psychologist in Seattle analyzes The Deep End/Teal Swan https://open.spotify.com/episode/6AD70xC37tZC2BYCleuNVU?si=82677febe61f4bc6

ketracel-white

Eliezer Yudkowsky would be a fantastic subject!! They love him on r/SneerClub. Also the Red Scare girls would be great, Dasha I know for sure has gone way off the deep end in the past couple years.. might be funny to recount this series of incidents she had with this critic Mike Crumplar chronicled here https://mcrumps.substack.com/p/my-own-dimes-square-fascist-humiliation .. though it's probably straying a bit from the well-trodden path on DtG :D

Suzan Lemont

I think looked at through the lens of psychology that DtG could add some new layers - none of the Conspirituality guys come from psychology angles (though Mathew is married to one and all have a reasonable grasp of the field). There is a psychologist from Washington state whose podcast I stumbled on (can't think of the name just now but I'll look it up - he was also commenting on the whole Depp/Heard debacle) who covered Teal Swan a few times but I think y'all would do a better (and more entertaining) job!

Kyle Wilson

Would love Chomsky. The Great Man’s ideas are mostly simply mistaken, but his cultivated following of deluded leftists is a fascination

Maytree

How about doing at some point some of the longevity gurus, such as David Sinclair. Here is a relevant article today on how they moved lots of people to go on Metaformin probably all for nought. https://www.wsj.com/articles/longevity-metformin-anti-aging-biohacking-diabetes-16443b03

Jørgen

I wrote an essay about Wolfram a few years back. Definitely guru vibes. https://www.cantorsparadise.com/richard-feynmans-advice-to-a-young-stephen-wolfram-1985-d572dc360c18

Jim Murray

Great news, looking forward to listening to it!

Chris Snyder

Destiny would be very interesting. I have heard CK mention him in a couple pods here and there and his content is….. interesting / hit or miss. I really can’t put my finger on it.

Erin Dougherty

Hey everyone. My husband shared this article to highlight a familiar personality type we’ve recognized but don’t hear talked about often. Would love to discuss it with all the big brains here. https://english.elpais.com/science-tech/2023-04-02/one-of-the-worlds-most-cited-scientists-rafael-luque-suspended-without-pay-for-13-years.html

Joel H. Dinolt

Yes!!!

Christopher Kavanagh

We've done it but it needs a big lift in editing.

Ethan Milne

I think DTG usually likes having a piece of content that sort of functions standalone. A lot of other drama streams are so context-dependent, it would take too much effort to 1) explain, and 2) understand on DTG’s end. The Wolff debate is nice because you can get two gurus in one, and both show their style of talking a lil bit

Andy

Other than the fact that he makes Wolff look like a fool in this debate what’s the point of them watching it? I feel like it doesn’t really showcase the guru-ness of his content. Honestly, his drama streams and his Twitter probably showcase his guru-ness much more but those wouldn’t lend themselves very well to a decoding.

Colin Fardey

What ever happened to the Darkhorse and Info Wars episode? I was looking forward to that one.

Jim Murray

This all looks great, and some excellent suggestions for left wing and female gurus in the comments. At the risk of sounding ungrateful for the good content, are you still planning an episode with Gideon MK on Ivermectin?

Johnny Marengo

PLEASE do Yudkowsky

Robert Roots

Graham Hancock is my top vote though. He is seriously slippery

Robert Roots

Conspiratuality did pretty comprehensive coverage of Swan, but I can’t deny that a decoding would make a good listen

Robert Roots

Greta!

Samantha Rae

Lauren Southern! Camille Paglia!

Erin Dougherty

Good timing, too.

Erin Dougherty

Wow I'm pretty excited about all of these! Sweet!

Daniel Reed Miller

You’re thinking of Naomi Wolf, yes she’s gone wildly red pilled bonkers. Naomi Klein (Shock Doctrine, etc) is still sane as far as i know.

Ethan Milne

Destiny would be a fantastic person to both interview AND decide. Maybe check out his Richard Wolff debate?

Emma

Same with some of the other high profile feminists from that era. I think it was Germaine Greer who caused a stir a few years ago by saying that younger women need to toughen up and stop making such a big deal about rape. It reminds me of what Helen Lewis said about how narcassists often make the best activists because they tie their own ego to the cause. And in my experience narcassists do seem to get nuttier as they get older.

Emma

Fair enough. To me she actually manages to be more abrasive than her own father. Which is a high bar!

Sue Sutton

I don't know if she is all that popular now, but she's certainly gone a bit bonkers in the 30 years since The Beauty Myth came out.

Sue Sutton

For sure. I wonder if there are differences when it comes to things like blame and anger? One side directs it more outwards, one inwards? I have no idea, this just popped into my head.

Ryan Nesselrodt

Nice. Feel like Naomi Klein might ding some boxes but not sure, and dunno if she does much audio content

Kat

Teal Swan seems like the epitome of a guru, whereas I suspect Chomsky won't come out that high on the gurometer. Maybe Chomsky should decode you guys! Isn't "Manufacturing Consent" a kind of decoding of mass media & its effects (with a particular point of view)? I'll be interested nevertheless, especially if you decode a talk about that book (even though I haven't actually read it).

Christopher Kavanagh

Then I need to listen to more Mikhaila...

Christopher Kavanagh

Yeah, the Sam Altman interview was indicative of Lex's weaknesses. Lots of discussion about Elon and love. Otherwise mostly softball questions. Altman seemed like someone who was naturally not inclined to be a guru but was becoming one due to the success and eagerness for him to have BIG ideas.

Christopher Kavanagh

Destiny seems fairly left wing but Hasan is another candidate. The streamer ecosystem is intriguing.

Christopher Kavanagh

Not seeking balance but think there might be interesting somewhat distinctive dynamics at play.

Christopher Kavanagh

No idea but never actually consumed any of her content.

Christopher Kavanagh

Ya, am vaguely aware of his content and recognise that spicy takes aside he is not that far from us politically.

lun

In what world is Destiny not left wing?

Emma

All looks excellent. My only suggestion. Can we have more of the 'Wisdom of Mikhaila' segment?

Oliver Bostridge

Haha I think you might have missed a lot. That must have been ages ago though.

Joel H. Dinolt

Last I watched him his was calling himself an anarcho-capitalist and saying he had more in common with fascists than anyone on the left. But that space is fluid so maybe I missed a transition.

Oliver Bostridge

I believe he identifies as a social democrat(?)

Joel H. Dinolt

I wouldn’t recommend anyone actually watch Piker, just saying he’s an avowed lefty operating in the same social media space as Destiny (who does not consider himself a leftist, center or otherwise).

Oliver Bostridge

Destiny is most definitely centre-left and Hasan is both incredibly boring and not a guru. Also Destiny does have a girl's name.

Artemis Green

For female gurus: - Ayaan Hirsi Ali - Germaine Greer - Camille Paglia - Naomi Wolf - Lauren Southern - Ann Coulter...

Artemis Green

Oooh - looking forward to the AI epsiode! Will you give it a guru-y twist - I see that Lex Fridman has been discussing AI with Sam Altman and... some other guy who knows about poker. Interested in your thoughts.

Joel H. Dinolt

Destiny is neither female nor left-wing. Would suggest Hasan Piker, an avowed communist, if you’re looking for a lefty guru in the twitch streamer space.

Sue Sutton

I'm not sure there's a need to find any kind of balance re left/right, mostly because I increasingly believe left/right is too simplistic a way of looking at the world.

Red Balloon

Do you think you can add something to Teal Swan to what the guys from Conspirituality did on her? I would much prefer you tackling Chomsky.

Normal Name

I'd love to see you tackle Matt Yglesias. I think he's a really interesting character that has some guru aspects. For lefty content, PhilosophyTube (Abigail Thorn) would be interesting to hear just because I like her content. (Though maybe she's a bit too similar to Contrapoints)

Ben Mitchell

I vote Redscare for your female/leftie decoding

Allan Malcolm McPherson

That's interesting...I still enjoy their show but I definitely have gotten a vibe of them really reaching for content in the last year. Like they maybe should consider going monthly or something. I definitely have felt they've been really leaning into too cute by half wordplay.

Rodi

Please do Red Scare/the evolution of the dirtbag left.

Oliver Bostridge

Destiny sounds interesting. He's certainly a guru in one sense - he's created a sort of cult of personality with legions of people who will agree with him about everything - but he's also strongly anti-populist/conspiricism and is probably relatively close to you guys politically (centre-left). His thing is basically giving pro-establishment hot takes and that's pretty unique in both the guru-sphere and the internet in general - he's sort of turned basic Democratic liberalism into galaxybrained-ness. Also there is *plenty* to criticise even though I'm sympathetic to his broad outlook.

Maruša MaaBee

Awesome!! 🤗 I'd love to hear your opinion (or better yet, a decoding ;)) of the Conspirituality Podcast crew as well. I know you hosted them, but in the last year they got undigestable, at least for me. Sooo guruish on being antiguru, while constantly pushing everything "woke" without any critical distance. I recommend listening to their episodes on fatphobia, their interview with Steve Hassan and all the other on transgenderism. They talk like angry activists, take themselves way too seriously and mock evreyone they disagree with. Also, they delete comments on their FB page they don't like.