126 episodes
Decoding the Gurus Christopher Kavanagh and Matthew Browne
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- Society & Culture
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4.5 • 193 Ratings
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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 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!
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Supplementary Material 5: Spiritual UFOs, Alternative Theories of Evolution, and Atlantean Grievances
We watch in awe as the guru-sphere grapples with a host of 'alternative' theories:
Bret promotes pseudoscience on Polio and alternative theories on evolutionThe Gurusphere collides with Tucker's takes on evolutionRogan and Tucker praise Alex Jones' prophetic abilitiesTucker's views on spiritual UFOsHasan endorses Lex Fridman as the most genuine centristContrasting Destiny and Hasan's transparencyWorld War 3 WarningsThe Great Archaeology Debate: Dibble vs. HancockGraham Hancock- A Grievance Mongering MasterclassIntentional MisrepresentationWhite Supremacy angers Great JoeThe Cass Review Controversy: A lesson in misinformation
Links
The Untold Story of Polio – Forrest Maready on DarkHorseJerry Coyne's old takedown of Bret's confused theories about evolutionBret's tweets defending TuckerJoe Rogan Experience #2138 - Tucker CarlsonJoe Rogan Experience #2136 - Graham Hancock & Flint DibbleThe Iced Coffee Hour- Confronting Hasan Piker on Socialist Grift, Hypocrisy, and How “The Top 1%” Keeps You Poor!The Iced Coffee Hour- Destiny on Debating Ben Shapiro, Toxic Wokeism and Getting DivorcedA comparison of the reactions to Iran's missile launchesMore or Less (BBC)- 98%: Is misinformation being spread about a review of trans youth medicine?The Cass ReportSystematic Reviews from the Cass Report
The full episode is available for Patreon subscribers (1 hr 51 mins).
Join us at: https://www.patreon.com/DecodingTheGurus -
Destiny: Debate King and/or Degenerate?
In this episode, Matt and Chris dive deep into the world of online streamers, focusing on the pioneering and controversial figure Steven Bonell II, better known as Destiny (AKA Mr Borelli). As seasoned explorers of sense-making jungles, Petersonian crystalline structures, and mind-bending labyrinths in Weinstein World, they thought they were prepared for anything. However, the drama-infused degeneracy of the streamer swamps proves to offer some new challenges.
Having previously dipped their toes in these waters by riding with Hasan on his joyous Houthi pirate ship (ignoring the screams of the imprisoned crew below decks), Matt and Chris now strip down to their decoding essentials and plunge head-first into streamer drama-infested waters as they search for the fabled true Destiny.
Destiny is a popular live streamer and well-known debater with a long and colourful online history. He is also known for regularly generating controversy. With a literal mountain of content to sift through, there was no way to cover it all. Instead, Matt and Chris apply their usual decoding methods to sample a selection of Destiny's content, seeking to identify any underlying connective tissue and determine if he fits the secular guru mould.
In so doing, they cover a wide range of topics, including:
Destiny's background and rise to prominence in the streaming worldHow much of his brain precisely is devoted to wrangling conservatives?What's it like to live with almost no private/public boundaries?What are the ethics of debating neo-Nazis?The nature of the Destiny's online communityWhether murder is a justified response to DDOS attacks?
Whether they succeed or fail in their decoding will be for the listeners to judge, but one thing is certain: if this is your first exposure to the streaming world, you are in for a bit of a ride.
Links
The Institute of Art and Ideas: Destiny and the new world of Internet politics | Steven Bonnell full interviewEnd of the Leftist Arc? - Destiny Addresses the Recent DramaIced Coffee Hour: Destiny on Debating Ben Shapiro, Toxic Wokeism and Getting DivorcedHelpful Reddit thread with a bunch of relevant videos and summariesDocumentary on Destiny Lore by Dingo: The Steven "Destiny" Bonnell II IcebergDestiny's Positions page on his dedicated WikiDestiny's ManifestosMrGirl's anti-Destiny 'Report' -
Supplementary Material 4: Passive Aggressive Therapists, Shit-posting Monks, and Weaponised Naivety
We ponder whether, due to our naivety, do we actually deserve the gurus and other topics, including:
Is Hasan Piker even better than we said?The ethical quandaries of online therapy with Dr. KThe False Halos of Status and SuccessThe Rest is History Luther series and parallels with Secular GurusThe Power of Polemicists: Peterson, Trump, and Martin Luther?Secular vs. Religious GurusShit-posting MissivesOrthodoxic Atheism and Orthopraxic ReligionLex Fridman's Reflections on Intellectual HumilitySome important Messages from the hosts
Links
Game Rant Article about Hasan Piker's donation to Strike FundsUncovering the Higher Truth about Jay Shetty by John McDermottCoffeezilla Interview with John McDermottDr. K and Doctor Mike: Debating The Value Of Eastern Medicine (Ayurveda)That stream with Dr. K and his wifeThe Rest is History: Series on Martin LutherArticle by Chris in Aeon about Orthopraxic ReligionLex's extremely humble tweet about his intellectual humility
The full episode is available for Patreon subscribers (1hr 19mins).
Join us at: https://www.patreon.com/DecodingTheGurus -
Yuval Noah Harari: Eat Bugs and Live Forever
Yuval Noah Harari is a historian, a writer, and a popular 'public intellectual'. He rose to fame with Sapiens (2014), his popular science book that sought to outline a 'History of Humankind' and followed this up with a more future-focused sequel, Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow (2016). More recently, he's been converting his insights into a format targeted at younger people with Unstoppable Us: How Humans Took Over the World (2022). In general, Harari is a go-to public intellectual for people looking for big ideas, thoughts on global events, and how we might avoid catastrophe. He has been a consistent figure on the interview and public lecture circuit and, with his secular message, seems an ideal candidate for Gurometeratical analysis.
Harari also has some alter egos. He is a high-ranking villain in the globalist pantheon for InfoWars-style conspiracy theorists, with plans that involve us all eating bugs and uploading our consciousness to the Matrix. Alternatively, for (some) historians and philosophers, he is a shallow pretender, peddling inaccurate summaries of complex histories and tricky philosophical insights. For others, he is a neoliberal avatar offering apologetics for exploitative capitalist and multinational bodies.
So, who is right? Is he a bug-obsessed villain plotting to steal our precious human souls or a mild-mannered academic promoting the values of meditation, historical research, and moderation?
Join Matt and Chris in this episode to find out and learn other important things, such as what vampires should spend their time doing, whether money is 'real', and how to respond respectfully to critical feedback.
Links
The Diary of a CEO: Yuval Noah Harari: An Urgent Warning They Hope You Ignore. More War Is Coming!Our previous episode on Yuval and the Angry PhilosophersCurrent Affairs: The Dangerous Populist Science of Yuval Noah Harari (a little overly dramatic) -
Supplementary Material 3: Sand-worms, Anti-Capitalist Merch, and High Level Idea-Jacking
We test the boundaries of the Supplementary format with a stacked third edition containing:
Matt's Review of Dune 2 and the Three-Body ProblemHasan Piker's Anti-Capitalist MerchThe Controversy Surrounding Andrew HubermanDifferential Charity and Selective DecouplingGrace before meals at Triggernometry and Christian HipsterismJordan and Bret's Pseudoacademic-eseHigh-Level Idea JackingDream Instructions
Links
Hasan Piker's Ideologie StoreNew York Magazine: Andrew Huberman's Mechanisms of ControlSlate: So, Should You Trust Andrew Huberman?The Darien Gap & Postmodernism | Bret Weinstein & Jordan Peterson | EP 434Triggernometry: Can We Live Without Religion? - Alex O'ConnorImmune: A Journey into the Mysterious System that Keeps You Alive
The full episode is available for Patreon subscribers (1hr 33mins).
Join us at: https://www.patreon.com/DecodingTheGurus -
Mini-Decoding: The Descent of Jordan B. Peterson
We take a look at a recent conversation between Jordan Peterson and the streamer Steven Bonnell (AKA Destiny) and use the opportunity to reflect on Jordan's journey as a public intellectual and guru.
We consider how his stances have changed, whether he is more extreme now than when he emerged or if it is just his presentation style that has shifted. Along the way, we look at his demon-infested understanding of the COVID-19 vaccines, his climate change denialism, and address the unresolved question of the ages: Were the Nazis actually right-wing?
Links
Jordan Peterson Podcast: Streaming, Politics, & Philosophy | @destiny | EP 433Video of Jordan Peterson on climate change and climate policy at the Cambridge UnionHistorian specialising on the Nazis article in Haaretz: Exposing Jordan Peterson’s Barrage of Revisionist Falsehoods About Hitler, the Holocaust and NazismThe Nazis were not right-wing memeSnopes article on whether the Nazis were socialistsReuters: Fact Check: No evidence to link UK excess deaths to COVID-19 vaccinesJordan Peterson is Back! - Bret Weinstein's DarkHorse PodcastThe Guardian: Jordan Peterson’s ‘zombie’ climate contrarianism follows a well-worn path
Customer Reviews
Five stars in spite of Australia’s failing education system
It is not ‘anythink’ it is ‘anything’.
FOR CHRIST’S SAKE.
D-Mac
Sarcastic Irish Man Mean :^(
I was just casually enjoying my favorite podcast when out of nowhere the angry sarcastic Irish man mentioned me by name and started calling me all sorts of childish names and dropping F bombs like nobody’s business. He called me a dink and a lamewad and said my skin is too oily and I need to use a less oily or occlusive moisturiser.
I was extremely shattered that this man, who I consider to be a close personal friend after listening to so many episodes, would confront me with such a hurtful attitude let alone make such gratuitous ad hominem attacks on my physical appearance which is something I personally am very insecure about and struggle with every day. What could I have done to deserve such treatment? I am not a public figure of any kind and do not expect that people will be familiar with me around the world let alone that such a major league and widely celebrated cultural icon would have strong feelings about me negatively or positively.
I found this to be highly inappropriate and more than a shade or two disturbing. Shame on this man for punching down like that. I am appalled by such a lack of tact or decorum as well as the basic idea that someone would feel comfortable admitting to being aware of and feeling unfavorable towards an inconsequential stranger especially considering their own elevated profile which should make such behavior seem odd or beneath them. Clearly in the past the angry Irish man has never once demonstrated a tendency to have an abrasive or edgy sense of humor so this turn of events was completely out of left field and unexpected in every way.
All in all I would say the experience was a rollercoaster of emotions for me; I laughed, I cried, and I learned a little something about the human experience and what it means to be a part of our strange and terrible yet hopeful and inspiring modern society.
10/10 would definitely listen again.
Great concept but…
Excellent idea but eps have been hit and miss. The Chomsky one was pretty good and the audio clips are handy reference points but anything right of centre seems to really trigger them. My main beefs are long indulgent intros, cringable attempts at ‘humor’, trying to combat smugness with more smugness and repeating points too much. Both of them don’t really hide their bias either, which is left progressive sometimes bordering on woke especially regarding cultural relativism.