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 puzzle our way through and talk some smart-sounding smack about the intellectual giants of our age, from Jordan Peterson to Robin DiAngelo. Are they revolutionary thinkers or just grifters with delusions of grandeur? Join us and let's find out!
https://decoding-the-gurus.captivate.fm
Gesamtlänge aller Episoden: 10 days 15 hours 9 minutes
episode 8: Contrapoints: Making Philosophy Fabulous Again
Natalie Wynn is kind of a big deal. Her YouTube channel Contrapoints explores not only philosophy, but also politics and social issues. Praised by august publications such as the New Yorker and the Atlantic, there's little doubt that she has her finger on the pulse of contemporary internet culture (and its wars). The production values, costumes, and set dressings are all a sight to behold... and completely invisible on this podcast...
Special Episode: Entering the Portal
Chris and Matt take a peak behind the curtain at Guru Community dynamics in the Web 2.0 era in an extended interview with Dan Gilbert, a self described 'Discord creature'...
episode 7: Scott Adams: Chris and Matt Go to Hell
Scott Adams, creator of Dilbert, has since written self-help books like 'Win Bigly' & 'Loserthink' and now hosts his own podcast "Coffee with Scott Adams".
In mild-mannered, folksy, and avuncular style, he has a 'simultaneous sip' of coffee, a little chuckle with his listeners, and then they chat about the events of the day and how democracy is a farce and maybe a benevolent dictatorship would be preferable...
episode 6: Russell Brand: Spiritual Transcendence and Anarchic Revolution is Praxis
Russell Brand is a hip bohemian Englishman on the path to enlightenment. And he likes the ineffable. Like, a lot. The decoders kinda like him too, despite the fact they really struggle to eff him at all. Really, Matt has no effing idea what he is babbling about most of the time, but Chris, being 'English-adjacent', seems to make a better job of it.
Imagine smoking pot and talking big ideas with your precocious college room-mate at 2am in the morning...
episode 5: Rutger Bregman: Piglets vs. Toddlers
Rutger Bregman is a Dutch Historian who wants to tell the world that humans are actually fundamentally kind, hunter gatherer societies contain important wisdom about how to live well, and that collectively we need to cooperate to do something about climate change and economic inequality...
Special Episode: Is Eric Weinstein Feynman-Negative?
Eric Weinstein has a habit of inserting mini conspiracy laden "audio-essays" at the beginning of his podcast The Portal. The one released this week was impressive even by Eric's standards. So, the duo took took a break from preparing for their next episode on Rutger Bregman to release a Special Bonus Episode, Hot off the press! In the episode you will learn about Seberging, Milgram-negative people, and obscure Russian Penal Codes...
episode 4: JP Sears: Get Ultra Spiritual, Resist the Government, and Promote Coronavirus Conspiracies
JP Sears is quite the contradictory figure. He's well known for his YouTube videos mocking alternative health and spirituality, but he also sells natural supplements, and is a life coach / spiritual mentor. He's all about positive thinking and natural supplements, but he's spending most of his time now railing against the mainstream media, the Deep State, and COVID restrictions...
episode 3: Jordan Peterson: The Alchemical Lemon explains the Crystalline Structure of Logos
Chris and Matt finally discuss the big kahuna Jordan Peterson by taking a deep dive into his extended 2017 interview on the Transliminal YouTube Channel titled 'Ideology, Logos & Belief'. They learn about the alchemical nature of lemons, whether a professional footballer is playing a game or living life, and Jordan Peterson's crystal clear views on the nature of Jesus & his resurrection. Some people will say this episode is too cynical, but it's like... No...
episode 2: James Lindsay: The monkey is out of the box and it HATES liberalism
Chris and Matt discuss James Lindsay's talk at the Speaking Truth to Social Justice conference held at the ostentatious National Liberal Club, in an episode that will disappoint Lindsay fanboys and haters alike. Blindingly hot takes include, "He's a bit hyperbolic" and "Critical Theory is complicated". They discuss some pretty strong metaphors (or are they analogies?) of Critical Social Justice involving monkeys, viruses, and boxes...
episode 1: Eric and Bret Weinstein: A Dark Horse Gallops through the Portal
Matt and Chris introduce themselves and the overall concept for the podcast then take a deep dive into an infamous episode of Eric Weinstein's podcast 'The Portal', featuring his brother Bret Weinstein (Episode 19). They cast a critical eye over Eric and Bret's claims that they are fighting back against the 'Distributed Idea Suppression Complex' and alerting the world to one of the greatest untold scientific scandals of the modern era.