Decoding the Gurus

Christopher Kavanagh and Matthew Browne

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!

  1. 6 hr ago ·  Bonus

    Supplementary Material 53: Matthew the Succulent, Bin-faced Politicians, and Very Very Tired Economists

    We endure the ravages of time to deliver you this exhausted Supplementary Material. Bowed but never broken, the decoders persist. The full episode is available to Patreon subscribers (Full Episode: 2hr 20 mins) Join us at: https://www.patreon.com/DecodingTheGurus Supplementary Material 53 00:23 Introduction: Matthew the Succulent's Post-Holiday Report 02:15 Pickle Ball Injuries & Bouldering Curses 07:40 They Won't Let You Talk about Middle-Aged Sports Injuries 08:37 New AI Models 09:31 Cory Doctorow, Trevor Noah, and Confirmation Bias 23:45 The Glorious Past and the Terrible Present 28:28 The Horror of Tinned Asparagus 30:26 The Collapse of Industries & Stores 36:16 Negativity Bias 37:11 AI Prompting 101 44:30 AI and Research Applications 50:28 Nigel Farage vs Count Binface 59:10 Nigel Farage Knighted on Russia Today 01:02:53 Hasan's Advice for Ukrainians 01:07:51 Russian Apologetics 01:13:32 Vlad Vexler and soft Anti-Vaxx rhetoric 01:19:35 Guru Red Flags 01:23:48 Bret Weinstein in 2020 on Vaccines 01:28:53 Gary vs Piers Morgan 01:30:58 Piers Morgan being a blustering idiot about Elon Musk 01:36:55 Gary's Pitch 01:41:55 Alternative Tax Proposals 01:46:18 Matt and Chris' Economics 01:47:22 Gary's Wealth 01:52:07 Piers the sleazy liar 01:55:25 Gary is the best inequality economist in the UK 01:57:08 Gary's Predictions 02:00:40 Gary is Very Tired 02:07:14 A message from anyone else to finish? 02:14:25 Final Takeaways 02:16:55 Matt attempts to wrangle another holiday Links The Verge: China delivers a one-two punch to America’s AI dominance What Now? with Trevor Noah: Why Google, Apple & Big Tech Keep Making Everything Worse — Cory Doctorow and Trevor NoahBaumeister, R. F., Bratslavsky, E., Finkenauer, C., & Vohs, K. D. (2001). Bad is stronger than good. Review of general psychology, 5(4), 323-370.Count Binface on BBC Morning Live — full interviewCount Binface on NewsnightHasan offers Ukraine his advice to “give peace a try”Report on polling from Ukraine in 2025 that does not show what Hasan claimsReport on more recent polling that still does not show what Hasan claimsVlad Vexler tweets about vaccinesBret’s Tweets in 2020 on Vaccines (and here)Chris noting Bret’s anti-vaccine rhetoric in 2020 (see the comments under the tweet)Kyiv International Institute of Sociology: Ukrainian views on exchanging Donbas for security guaranteesDecoding Academia 34: Matt and Chris’ EconomicsPiers Morgan Uncensored: “I’m QUITTING!” Gary Stevenson vs Piers Morgan on Wealth, Economic Growth & Elon Musk

  2. 9 Jul ·  Bonus

    Supplementary Material 52: Under-Optimized Academics, Tired Economists, and Bailiwick Clarifications

    Two absolutely shattered academic heroes heroically drag themselves through yet another supplementary episode to bring you the important guru news in between their restorative breaks. The full episode is available to Patreon subscribers (Full Episode: 1hr 32 mins) Join us at: https://www.patreon.com/DecodingTheGurus 00:00 Introduction 02:13 Eliot Paisley's Anatomy of an Optimiser 08:52 Eric Weinstein wants a University Position and a Stipend 16:09 The Failure of the Anti-Woke Quasi Universities 19:19 Gary is Knackered Again 20:45 Gary is the best inequality economist in the world 24:36 How do I make a Documentary? 33:04 The End of the Year Approaches 37:44 Public Accountability 40:13 The Neurodivergent Trump Card 40:59 A clarification on bailiwicks 42:43 Tucker Carlson & Chris Cuomo discuss Russian Apologetics 48:53 Ukraine is selling weapons to Mexican Cartels 54:54 Civility Porn Judo 56:09 When Hasan met Prof. Jiang 01:01:37 Conspiracy Theory Buffet 01:07:24 Looking Good by Comparison 01:11:21 Comparing Epstein Conspiracies 01:24:03 Agreeable Conspiracism 01:27:13 Outro and Piers Morgan Invite Links Eric Weinstein appeals to billionaires on TwitterElliot Paisley: Chris Williamson Is A Slave Gary’s Economics: My Documentary is Coming Out THIS WEEK!! – why you should watch itThe Times: Gary Stevenson: I want a wealth tax on the super-rich — like meNews Nation: Tucker & Chris Cuomo: The FULL ConversationHasan Debates Professor Jiang On His Wild Predictions | HasanAbi Archive

  3. 8 Jul ·  Bonus

    Decoding Academia 36: Revenge of the Chimpanzees *Patreon Series*

    In this Decoding Academia episode, we venture into comparative psychology, focusing on a fascinating line of work by Fumihiro Kano and colleagues on social intelligence and theory of mind in great apes. By showing apes short videos and tracking where they look, researchers examine whether they expect others to act based on what they have seen, what they know, or what they falsely believe. This approach offers a remarkable window into the evolutionary roots of human social cognition or, alternatively, the most elaborate way yet devised to explore what a chimp thinks of a man in a chimpanzee costume. We discuss what this kind of research might reveal about social intelligence across species: whether apes understand intentions, knowledge, and false beliefs; how their abilities compare with humans, dogs, and other animals; and why studying minds without language requires ingenuity, caution, and tolerance for participants who may simply decide the whole enterprise is beneath them. There is also some discussion of the usual complications: small samples, difficult data, flexible analyses, replication, and the gap between a beautifully designed experiment and a result we should treat as settled fact. But the main story is the genuinely intriguing attempt to study Theory of Mind beyond humans. Along the way, we discuss chimpanzee costumes, zoo life, dogs, and the disturbing possibility that crocodiles may be running more sophisticated cooperative hunting operations than most university committees. *The full episode is available on Patreon (57 mins)* 00:00 Introduction 03:57 Chimpanzee Theory of Mind & Eye Tracking 13:03 Attention, Grabbing and Orientation 24:03 The Role of Memory in Anticipation 26:10 Revenge of the Researcher 31:21 Statistical Concerns 43:44 Comparative Psychology Thoughts 49:13 Non-climbing Tigers and Cooperative Crocodiles 51:20 Matt's New Friends and Outro Relevant papers for the episode: Kano, F., & Hirata, S. (2015). Great apes make anticipatory looks based on long-term memory of single events. Current Biology, 25(19), 2513-2517. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2015.08.004 Kano, F., & Call, J. (2017). Great ape social attention. In Evolution of the brain, cognition, and emotion in vertebrates (pp. 187-206). Tokyo: Springer Japan.

  4. 3 Jul

    Professor Jiang, Part 2: Cosmic Jiang's Jenga Tower of Bullshit

    We return for Part 2 of our coverage of “Professor” Jiang, the internet’s favourite new geopolitical prophet, secondary-school sage, and proud owner of an ever-expanding box of educational props. Having already treated us to multiple maps, chess pieces, and a sealed metal case of predictions, Jiang is back with more predictions, more props, and even higher-level insights. This time, we get the dramatic unveiling of a fresh batch of forecasts, including the forthcoming U.S. civil war, AI surveillance states, a grand bargain with China, the Greater Israel project, and the coming East Asian conflict. During all of this, we pause to consider Jiang’s status as a Beijing-based geopolitical commentator who manages to be just critical enough of Chinese surveillance to sound daring, but yet is most reliably focused on predictions of imminent Western collapse, American hubris, and the doom of the U.S. empire. But the real journey begins when Jiang sets the geopolitics aside and invites us into Plato’s Allegorical Cave, updating it for the modern era by linking it to Korean television melodramas. Out come ominous black blocks, stacked into a metaphorical tower of global control: the military-industrial complex, the financiers, the World Bank, the WTO, the media, Hollywood, schools, universities, and culture itself. What started as “predictive history” devolves into an Alex Jones-style conspiratorial rant about international financiers, globalist bankers, controlled media, and brave alternative truth-tellers seeing through the mainstream lies. The alternative media occupies a Schrödinger-like position in Jiang’s system: corrupted and controlled when it suits his narrative but also brave and rebellious when it is giving a platform to people like Jiang. Stephen Bartlett, meanwhile, fulfils his podcasting duty as a perfectly crafted avatar of the Diary of a CEO audience: curious, credulous and very receptive to the message that the system is rigged, the shadows are fake, and you, dear listener, are one of the brave truth-seekers with the courage to listen and look behind the curtain. Finally, we also reach Cosmic Jiang. The bankers are at war with the tech bros. Reality is consciousness. Matter is vibration. We are all fragments of God returning to Source. Hermetic philosophy explains Plato. Kabbalah explains the Middle East. Israel is trying to force the hand of God. The world will end; paradise will return. It turns out all of that geopolitical analysis was actually just a sideshow... So join us for the conclusion of Professor Jiang: a masterclass in massive domino-based reasoning, geopolitical dressing on bog-standard conspiracy theory, and the enduring appeal of intellectual junk food. Sources Diary of a CEO: Professor Jiang: World War 3 Is About To Begin, Let Me Explain!Mehdi Hasan vs. “Professor” JiangProfessor Jiang talking about the Nephilim and Other Such Stuff: The World Is a Prison – The Secret Meaning of God And Creation | Prof. Jiang XueqinProfessor Jiang promoting creationism and denying evolutionThe National Security Strategy of the United States Document

  5. 30 Jun

    Professor Jiang, Part 1: Geopolitical Pantomime

    On Decoding the Gurus, we regularly get to hear a lot of truly “high-level” ideas, but the much-requested subject of this episode’s decoding is up there with the best of them. We are talking, of course, about “Professor” Jiang, the internet’s favourite new overly confident online guru, now that Jordan Peterson is indisposed. Jiang Xueqin is a secondary school teacher who has found an online audience thirsty for his particular style of confident bullshit, and he is more than ready to roll out his “predictive history” analyses on command. Be prepared for some serious professorial cosplay as Stephen Bartlett, from Diary of a CEO, spares no expense in his endless quest to indulge every modern online crank, offering a grab bag of props as well as his usual thoughtful pauses and awe-inspiring requests for definitions. Thrill as the honorary professor performs as a grand seer and geopolitical strategist, complete with a tabletop world map, wargame prop pieces, whiteboard flowcharts, coloured chess sets, and a dramatic metal briefcase full of sealed predictions. So get ready to experience his hit-parade of forecasts (Trump's 3rd term, endless war with Iran, eventual U.S. “loss”) along with his trademark conspiratorial mélange of real-ish facts, misstatements, and domino-chain inevitabilities. The end of Part 1 is a sign of things to come, featuring Jiang's post-apocalyptic advice on how the good people can rebuild society with the help of prophets and visionaries (AKA gurus) and soothe yourself with the knowledge that we are all ultimately just a God-derived fractal consciousness anyway. Sources Diary of a CEO: Professor Jiang: World War 3 Is About To Begin, Let Me Explain!Mehdi Hasan vs. ‘Professor’ JiangProfessor Jiang talking about the Nephilim and Other Such Stuff: The World Is a Prison– The Secret Meaning of God And Creation | Prof. Jiang XueqinProfessor Jiang promoting creationism and denying evolutionThe National Security Strategy of the United States Document

  6. 20 Jun ·  Bonus

    Supplementary Material 51: Parasitic Palate Cleansers, Selective Understanding, and the "Context"

    We exercise good faith and grapple with the ever-versatile context window in this unintentionally thematic episode. Supplementary Material 51 The full episode is available to Patreon subscribers (Full Episode: 1hr 18 mins) Join us at: https://www.patreon.com/DecodingTheGurus 00:00 Introduction 01:40 Jordan Hall's Suspicious Semiotic Parasites 08:52 A New Covenant for the American Republic 14:33 Dave Rubin's support group after Jubilee 14:52 Dr. K vs 20 Depressed People 20:05 The Fifth Column Welcomes Batya Ungar Sargon (Again) 21:18 Anti-Semitism isn't really an issue on the Right 25:39 Moynihan agrees that Tucker Carlson is a Leftist 30:40 I don't really know what he has said... 37:38 When Taylor Lorenz met Brad Palumbo 41:24 Taylor is a Good Faith Person who is often misrepresented 44:32 Was Taylor cheering on the killing of healthcare CEOs? 51:16 Suggesting Targets or Providing "Context" 57:48 The Victimhood Pose 01:01:01 Selective "Understanding" 01:06:41 The Moral Grandstanding Escape Hatch 01:12:10 Strategic Ambiguity across the Spectrum 01:15:22 The Connecting Theme! Links Jordan Hall discussing his neo-Nazi interview with David Fuller: Sensemaking, Gatekeeping & the Propertarians, Jordan HallSensemaking & Gatekeeping: Talking with FascistsJordan Hall’s Markdown TweetDave Rubin Clip of him coping over his Jubilee PerformanceBatya Ungar-Sargon and the Status Revolution (Members Only #328)Brad CONFRONTS left-wing star journalist Taylor Lorenz!!DTG- Jordan Hall: Sensemaking, or the superficial pitter-patter on the neocortex?Taylor Lorenz: 'Somebody needs to do it'

  7. 12 Jun ·  Bonus

    Gurometer: Iain McGilchrist *Patreon Preview*

    In this Gurometer edition, Matt and Chris feed Iain McGilchrist into the sacred instrument to see where exactly refined country-parish-minister vibes land when combined with galaxy-brained hemispheres, civilisational decline narratives, decorative scholarship, and the other features of guruosity. Iain McGilchrist Gurometer 00:27 Introduction 01:00 Iain McGilchrist Reactions 04:40 Galaxy Brain-ness 06:39 Cultishness 08:28 Anti-Establishmentarianism 11:39 Grievance Mongering 14:30 Self-Aggrandizement and Narcissism 17:21 Cassandra Complex 19:54 Revolutionary Theories 20:48 Pseudo-Profound Bullshit 24:10 Conspiracy Mongering 25:08 Excessive Profiteering 26:10 Moral Grandstanding 27:15 Overall Score 28:47 Bonus Round 33:04 Guru Binary Scores 37:18 Outro

  8. 10 Jun ·  Bonus

    Supplementary Material 50: The String Theory Mafia, Shameless Propagandists, and The Topography of Semantic Space

    We become highly effective at exploiting the gap between salience and relevance as we universalise semiotic capability and listen to more brave renegades talking about how amazing they are. Join us, won't you? Supplementary Material 50 (Full Episode: 2hrs 23 mins) 00:24 Introduction 02:07 British People Struggling with Compliments 04:53 Matt loves SOME episode titles 08:42 Nachos Pronunciation 10:13 Brett Weinstein vs Michael Tracey 29:08 Brett pivots to his Anti-Vaxx Hits 42:32 The Hug Box World of Podcasting 45:55 When Eric met Joe (again) 47:29 Eric and Rogan re-litigate Sean Carroll's criticisms 55:55 Eric's insatiable desire to be linked with Epstein 01:14:36 Eric Weinstein is a Construct 01:16:36 When Ana met Candace 01:18:18 Useful Idiots and Shameless Propagandists 01:19:59 Ryan Grim's reaction to being in Iranian Propaganda Videos 01:26:22 Zeteo gets to the bottom of the Iranian Casualty Figures 01:30:24 Ana and Candace's Hug Session 01:36:31 A horse named shoe? 01:47:26 The Holocaust Media Industry 01:53:48 Jimmy Dore makes the Religious Pivot 02:01:39 The Brave Renegade Narrative that Never Gets Old 02:12:57 Horseshoe Populism 02:16:23 Jordan Hall x AI Instructions 02:21:46 Agent Hall infecting your Mattrix Links The Romesh Ranganathan Show: Tom Davis On Success, Setbacks & Being a DadFULL PANEL: Should we abolish all podcasts? Michael Tracey, Bret Weinstein, Lauren SouthernJoe Rogan Experience #2503 - Eric Weinsteinhttps://www.nbcnews.com/tech/internet/candace-owens-tate-brothers-visit-russia-kremlin-touts-thaw-rcna348311Candace Owens x Ana KasparianFinancial Times - How China is breaking apart a people and its cultureZeteo: Where Did the 40,000 Iran Protests Death Toll Number Come From?Ana Kasparian repeating anti-semitic conspiracies about 9/11More fun tweets from AnaThe Young Turks: Tucker’s 9/11 Documentary Raises Some HUGE QuestionsJimmy Dore has tapped into God after stopping smoking PotJordan Hall Decodes AI

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Hosts & Guests

About

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!

Information

  • Creator
    Christopher Kavanagh and Matthew Browne
  • Years Active
    2020 - 2026
  • Episodes
    256
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2026 Christopher Kavanagh and Matthew Browne
  • Show Website
    Decoding the Gurus

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