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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!

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  • 22 episodes
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  • Yesterday · 41 min

    Supplementary Material 54:  Solarpunk Pecan Pie, Northern Irish Sushi, & the Discourse Meat Grinder

    We return from our holidays with an indulgent episode that starts light and ends up very dark as we turn to the unavoidable Jason Arday discourse. The full episode is available to Patreon subscribers (Full Episode: 1hr 40 mins) Join us at: https://www.patreon.com/DecodingTheGurus Supplementary Material 54 00:00 Pecan Pie Introduction 04:10 Solar Punk Matt 08:17 Ireland Trip Report 15:24 Australian Burger Culture 17:32 Manga Cafe Experiments 24:10 Joe Rogan on AI Remote Viewing 29:14 Parapsychology as a Research Field 34:07 A One Man University Level Course in Bad Thinking 36:58 The Young Info Turks 40:53 More Credulity with Ryan Grim over Fauci 42:14 Richard Ebright, Warning Signs, and Radicalisation Spirals 48:28 Vinay Prasad jumping on the Anti-Fauci wagon for the Free Press 52:31 The Jason Arday Affair 54:28 The Surrounding Context 58:18 Polemical Discourse Waves 01:05:22 The Guru Factor 01:08:25 A Realistic View of Universities as Imperfect Institutions 01:12:17 Elite Prestige Bias 01:21:33 Culture War Distortions 01:25:04 The Ethics of Critical Journalism 01:29:50 Inconsistent Standards 01:38:36 Outro Links The Jack Nicholson Story from the Always Sunny Podcast The Manga Cafes in Question Deposition of InfoWars Host Owen Shroyer Alex Jones And Roger Stone Interrupt The Young Turks Republican National Convention Coverage Ken Klippenstein visits the War Room Ana Kasparian & Owen Shroyer: The UNEXPECTED Conversation on MAGA, DSA & the Uniparty! Bret Weinstein on InfoWars Richard Ebright on one of his many Twitter spirals Joe Rogan on AI Remote Viewing The Free Press: Vinay Prasad- Anthony Fauci’s Vaccine Deceptions Ryan Grim being credulous over Fauci and Vaccines The Guardian: Playbooks, plagiarism and a pig’s head: new claims surrounding a star Cambridge professor (Lanre Bakare) The Atlantic: The Jason Arday Truthers (Helen Lewis) Front Left: It sure looks like Jason Arday was horrifically wronged (based on citation data) (Jason Stanley) A Digital Lynching (Carol Cadwalladr) Tox Report: The Most Unfortunate Thing (Sarah Ditum) Byline Times: The Peter Thiel-Linked Race Science Network that Penetrated Cambridge University and Targeted Jason Arday (Nafeez Ahmed) The Good Law Project: Stand in Solidarity with Jason Arday Amnesty UK supporting “Arday’s Law” Simon Baron Cohen on BBC 4 Today talking about Jason Arday NYT: A Top Scholar’s Fall Shows That Universities Don’t Get It NYT: Professor’s Death Leaves Behind Hard Questions for Cambridge on Race and Hiring The Emancipator: The Media Lynched Kason Arday (Ibram X. Kendi) Gideon M.K.: The Jason Arday Saga Is Terrible And Everyone Involved Should Be Ashamed Of Themselves Ways to Change the World with Krishnan Guru-Murthy: Cambridge’s youngest Black professor Jason Arday on Autism, racism, and learning to read at 18 Open (supporting) letter on the suspension of Nathan Cofnas at Ghent University Board Member of Ghent University (Dries Bostyn) discussing the disciplinary case on Twitter Numb at the Lodge: The Carrion-Eaters (Sam Kriss) The Chronicle of Higher Education: Jason Arday & Me (Musa al-Gharbi) US Ambassador applies pressure to Ghent University Nathan Cofnas thanks the US Ambassador for intervening Academia is Doing Fine, Actually (Nicholas Decker) Eric Turkheimer substack on Nathan Cofnas' views Sasha Gusev thread on Nathan Cofnas' views

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  • #167
    Tuesday · 2 hr 4 min

    Mel Robbins, Part 1: The Hard Science of Manifestation

    Are you tired, stuck, or inconveniently constrained by reality? Good news: you may simply be imagining the wrong one. In Part One of our decoding of Mel Robbins, we explore the world of a self-help mogul who is also just a simple mother of three in Vermont hosting a little ol' podcast with a HUGE global impact. Together with Cassandra Vieten, a psychologist who is (apparently) one of the world's leading researchers on imagination and consciousness, Mel explains how to begin to stop reacting and start imagining, visualising, and manifesting the life you truly deserve. This will lead to self-actualised transcendence through a variety of simple-to-implement techniques. But don't worry, the universe has also put in safeguards: manifestation only works if you use it for good, such as empowering your authentic self. So please manifest enthusiastically without any concern. In the episode, you will learn about the delicate art of rebranding common sense into complex (proprietary) theories and be shocked to discover that mystical intuitions are a core component of any fully holistic scientific research. Mel's HUGE media business, meanwhile, manifests itself as an intimate personal friendship with each of her millions of listeners. Expect the usual decorative scholarship, a new Five Second Rule and insights into how to Let Them and Let You, reality tunnels, obstacle courses, a thousand supportive women, lighthouses, tapestries, and the therapeutic potential of fire-breathing dragons. All of it is very hard science, as they repeatedly remind us. Chris and Matt attempt throughout to give the self-help genre a fair-minded assessment. They even concede that wearing colourful socks and being a bit less miserable are probably harmless, but ultimately their dark reductionist souls are beyond salvation. Part Two is coming next week. In the meantime, try to visualise it clearly, align your energy, and not to put one foot on the brake as you hit the download button. Links The Mel Robbins Podcast: “World Leading Psychologist: How to Manifest Anything & Create the Life You Want” with Dr Cassandra Vieten A Bit Fruity with Matt Bernstein: “The Mel Robbins Griftpocalypse” with Princess Weekes and Kat Tenbarge CBS News: Extended Interview with Mel Robbins The Mel Robbins Podcast: “Try It for 1 Week: 6 Small Ways to Bring Back the Happiness, Energy, and Fun” The New York Times: “Mel Schneeberger and Chris Robbins” by Lois Smith Brady UC San Diego profile: Cassandra Vieten, PhD

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  • #166
    August 17 · 2 hr 54 min

    Jimmy Carr & Joe Rogan: The Jester & the Khan

    Joe Rogan, the Great Khan of podcasting, is once again receiving a travelling jester at court. This time it is Jimmy Carr who arrives bearing gifts: pop evolutionary psychology, dubious history factoids, conservative "common sense", and an apparently bottomless appetite for telling Joe just how important he is. After listening to their three-hour conversation(!), we conclude there is nothing much of note beyond serving as a nice demonstration of popular "alternative" podcasting in 2026. What you get is a medley of sycophantic praise; regurgitated pop science and historical factoids; right-wing political positions presented as basic common sense; and shocked reactions to pseudo profundity and mundane observations. Along the way, you will also thrill as you learn Rogan and Carr's takes on motherhood, feminism, work ethic, astrology, religion, taxation, vaccines, human evolution, the Black Death, and stand-up comedy. As for Jimmy Carr himself, well, according to us: he's a very much your standard middle-aged conservative British person who happens to be a comedian. Rogan's level of crankery makes Jimmy look moderate by comparison, but as we know that's a very low bar. Links Jimmy Carr on The Joe Rogan Experience (2326) Jimmy Carr on Modern Wisdom #953 Schulz, J. F., Bahrami-Rad, D., Beauchamp, J. P., & Henrich, J. (2019). The Church, intensive kinship, and global psychological variation. Science, 366(6466), eaau5141. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aau5141 Robinson D. The Black Death and Clerical Prospects in England. In: Bothwell J, Hamilton JS, eds. Fourteenth Century England XII. Fourteenth Century England. Boydell & Brewer; 2022:129-150. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781800105904.008 Xu, X., & Barrett, P. M. (2025). The origin and early evolution of feathers: implications, uncertainties and future prospects. Biology Letters, 21(2), 20240517. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2024.0517

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  • #165
    August 10 · 1 hr 44 min

    Lab Leak Groundhog Day: COVID Origins in 2026 with Worobey, Andersen, and Holmes

    With the Trump administration’s newest political persecution of Anthony Fauci and three years after our first lab-leak special, now seemed like a useful time to return to the topic. Fortunately, you do not have to rely on our knowledge of viruses, as we have somehow managed to convince the same three esteemed virologists, Eddie Holmes, Kristian Andersen and Michael Worobey, to come back for an update. Mike, Kristian and Eddie return and offer us their read on where the scientific evidence on COVID’s origins stands in 2026. They take us through the main lines of evidence and the often overlooked role of the wildlife trade, explaining why the lab-leak story remains so appealing, and how their own assessments have shifted as more evidence has emerged. We also discuss the standard claim that the media suppressed the lab-leak narrative while noting that coverage across both alternative and mainstream outlets remains heavily skewed towards it (and almost entirely detached from the research literature). Finally, we end on a characteristically positive note by discussing the Trump administration’s attacks on science and the ongoing campaigns against high-profile scientists and public health figures. Our guests describe their experience of committing the heinous offence of following the scientific evidence and arriving at conclusions that contradict the preferred views of polemical politicians and prominent media pundits. In short, this episode is our modest attempt to drag the topic back towards the science, while also focusing on the price paid by the people who actually conduct the research and care about the evidence. We are not neutral when it comes to the ongoing attacks on science and scientists and do not pretend to be. Links Our guests: Michael Worobey, Kristian Andersen, and Eddie Holmes Our previous interview with Worobey, Andersen and Holmes Lab Leak Fever with Philipp Markolin Our earlier interview with Stuart Neil on SARS-CoV-2 Sam Harris, Alina Chan and Matt Ridley: Did SARS-CoV-2 Escape from a Lab? Bad Boy of Science: Is the COVID Lab Leak Hypothesis Dead? Kristian Andersen on his early emails, released messages and changing assessment Kristian Andersen’s congressional testimony and document collection Kristian’s thread responding to the use of his Slack messages Michael Worobey on why his assessment changed WHO SAGO’s 2025 assessment of the origins evidence The July 2026 Senate release of the Slack messages Kevin Drum’s reading of the earlier Slack archive The current White House lab-leak page The July 2026 Fauci hearing Naomi Oreskes on scientific integrity and “ethical pessimism” Nature: Climate scientists report online attacks Alwine et al. on the harms to scientists, research and pandemic preparedness Relevant research papers and reviews Andersen, K. G., Rambaut, A., Lipkin, W. I., Holmes, E. C., & Garry, R. F. (2020). The proximal origin of SARS-CoV-2. Nature Medicine, 26(4), 450–452. Crits-Christoph, A., Levy, J. I., Pekar, J. E., et al. (2024). Genetic tracing of market wildlife and viruses at the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic. Cell, 187(19), 5468–5482. Holmes, E. C. (2024). The emergence and evolution of SARS-CoV-2. Annual Review of Virology, 11(1), 21–42. Liu, W. J., Liu, P., Lei, W., et al. (2023). Surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 at the Huanan Seafood Market. Nature, 631(8020), 402–408. Pekar, J. E., Magee, A., Parker, E., et al. (2022). The molecular epidemiology of multiple zoonotic origins of SARS-CoV-2. Science, 377(6609), 960–966. Pekar, J. E., Moshiri, N., Lemey, P., et al. (2025). Recently reported SARS-CoV-2 genomes suggested to be intermediate between the two early main lineages are instead likely derived. Virus Evolution, 11(1). Pekar, J. E., Lytras, S., Ghafari, M., et al. (2025). The recency and geographical origins of the bat viruses ancestral to SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2. Cell, 188(12), 3167–3183. Temmam, S., Vongphayloth, K., Baquero, E., et al. (2022). Bat coronaviruses related to SARS-CoV-2 and infectious for human cells. Nature, 604(7905), 330–336. Worobey, M., Levy, J. I., Malpica Serrano, L., et al. (2022). The Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan was the early epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic. Science, 377(6609), 951–959. Xiao, X., Newman, C., Buesching, C. D., Macdonald, D. W., & Zhou, Z.-M. (2021). Animal sales from Wuhan wet markets immediately prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. Scientific Reports, 11(1). Zhou, H., Ji, J., Chen, X., et al. (2021). Identification of novel bat coronaviruses sheds light on the evolutionary origins of SARS-CoV-2 and related viruses. Cell, 184(17), 4380–4391. Broader assessments and context Ackerman, G., Behlendorf, B., Baum, S., Peterson, H., Wetzel, A., & Halstead, J. (2024). The origin and implications of the COVID-19 pandemic: An expert survey (Technical Report 24-1). Global Catastrophic Risk Institute. Alwine, J., Goodrum, F., Banfield, B., et al. (2024). The harms of promoting the lab leak hypothesis for SARS-CoV-2 origins without evidence. Journal of Virology, 98(9). World Health Organization. (2025). Independent assessment of the origins of SARS-CoV-2 from the Scientific Advisory Group for the Origins of Novel Pathogens. Venter, M., Manuguerra, J.-C., Watson, J. M., et al. (2026). COVID’s origins: What we do and don’t know. Nature, 650(8103), 829–833.

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  • July 21 · 31 min

    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 Noah Baumeister, 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 interview Count Binface on Newsnight Hasan offers Ukraine his advice to “give peace a try” Report on polling from Ukraine in 2025 that does not show what Hasan claims Report on more recent polling that still does not show what Hasan claims Vlad Vexler tweets about vaccines Bret’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 guarantees Decoding Academia 34: Matt and Chris’ Economics Piers Morgan Uncensored: “I’m QUITTING!” Gary Stevenson vs Piers Morgan on Wealth, Economic Growth & Elon Musk

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  • July 9 · 22 min

    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 Twitter Elliot Paisley: Chris Williamson Is A Slave Gary’s Economics: My Documentary is Coming Out THIS WEEK!! – why you should watch it The Times: Gary Stevenson: I want a wealth tax on the super-rich — like me News Nation: Tucker & Chris Cuomo: The FULL Conversation Hasan Debates Professor Jiang On His Wild Predictions | HasanAbi Archive

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  • July 8 · 27 min

    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.

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  • #164
    July 3 · 1 hr 31 min

    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” Jiang Professor Jiang talking about the Nephilim and Other Such Stuff: The World Is a Prison – The Secret Meaning of God And Creation | Prof. Jiang Xueqin Professor Jiang promoting creationism and denying evolution The National Security Strategy of the United States Document

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  • #163
    June 30 · 2 hr 32 min

    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. <And if you can't wait, Part 2 is already available on the Patreon!> Sources Diary of a CEO: Professor Jiang: World War 3 Is About To Begin, Let Me Explain! Mehdi Hasan vs. ‘Professor’ Jiang Professor Jiang talking about the Nephilim and Other Such Stuff: The World Is a Prison– The Secret Meaning of God And Creation | Prof. Jiang Xueqin Professor Jiang promoting creationism and denying evolution The National Security Strategy of the United States Document

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  • June 20 · 31 min

    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 Hall Sensemaking & Gatekeeping: Talking with Fascists Jordan Hall’s Markdown Tweet Dave Rubin Clip of him coping over his Jubilee Performance Batya 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'

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  • June 12 · 39 min

    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

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  • June 10 · 48 min

    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 Dad FULL PANEL: Should we abolish all podcasts? Michael Tracey, Bret Weinstein, Lauren Southern Joe Rogan Experience #2503 - Eric Weinstein https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/internet/candace-owens-tate-brothers-visit-russia-kremlin-touts-thaw-rcna348311 Candace Owens x Ana Kasparian Financial Times - How China is breaking apart a people and its culture Zeteo: Where Did the 40,000 Iran Protests Death Toll Number Come From? Ana Kasparian repeating anti-semitic conspiracies about 9/11 More fun tweets from Ana The Young Turks: Tucker’s 9/11 Documentary Raises Some HUGE Questions Jimmy Dore has tapped into God after stopping smoking Pot Jordan Hall Decodes AI

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  • #162
    May 31 · 2 hr 24 min

    L. Ron Hubbard: Sleeping with Bandits, Hunting with Pygmies And So On

    The Decoders wrap up cult season by dissecting a titan of the cult scene, the founder of Scientology, Lafayette Ronald Hubbard or L. Ron for short. A prolific science fiction author, L. Ron founded an alternative self-help movement and then developed it into his cosmic self-help 'religion' of Scientology. Scientology has now been the subject of multiple documentaries and even a fairly detailed South Park parody episode, so it feels like many are aware of the general 'deal' of Scientology. But how about L. Rob Hubbard as a guru... how many people have actually taken the time to sit down and just hear the guy out? Here at DTG HQ, we are all about the good-faith deep dives, so we decided to devote some time to analysing a 1966 Rhodesian TV interview with L. Ron Hubbard, in which a friendly Scientologist interviewer (not identified as such) politely tees up Hubbard to explain Scientology. So join us to find out how L. Ron invented a “workable science,” a “religion of religions,” and a self-help machine that raises IQ, fixes life problems, and proves life after death. By modern standards L. Ron can seem a bit quaint, but because of that, he serves as a useful primer in the core techniques of Guru manipulation, including narcissistic invented biographies, disdain for materialism, a persecution complex, flattery of followers, and anti-establishment disparagement. All of the classics are on display! So get ready to wake up to your true potential, process your engrams, and so forth. Links Source Material Interview: Interview with L. Ron Hubbard in Zimbabwe Behind the Bastards: L. Ron Hubbard Series Going Clear: Scientology & the Prison of Belief (Documentary) My Scientology Movie: Louie Theroux

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  • May 12 · 44 min

    Supplementary Material 49: Calibrated Podcast Expectations, The Great Consciousness Debate of 2026, and Russell Brand is a Bad Guy

    Matthew Browne, a high-profile advocate for pan-psychism, compels his reluctant co-host to endure a public struggle session on the topic of consciousness, hopefully for the last time. Supplementary Material 49 00:00 Introduction 02:47 Returning to the Emerald Isle 03:44 Irish History Segment: The Titanic & Potato Famines 10:45 McGilchrist Reflections 12:51 Knowledge Fight has ended 26:23 Podcasting Motivations 34:37 Calibrated Expectations 41:03 The Problem with the Patreon Members 42:51 Shermer's Activist Skeptic Research 47:24 Research on Support for Political Violence in the US 54:35 Rob Henderson and Decorative Scholarship 58:11 Ryan Holiday Stoically Flames MAGA 01:04:41 Zuby and Motivated Reasoning 01:07:15 Monocausal Explanations for Declining Birth Rates 01:08:51 More credulity from Shermer 01:10:25 Bryan Johnson and Testicular Optimisation 01:14:41 Testicle Fixation Gurus 01:15:24 Professor Jiang thinks Trump is Immortal 01:19:57 When Dawkins Met Claude 01:30:00 The Great Consciousness Debate of 2026 01:42:47 When Cladius met Claudia 01:52:39 Chris's Concession 01:54:23 Animal Minds and AI Consciousness 01:56:31 Russell Brand vs Piers Morgan 02:10:13 Thirsty Christian dunks on Dawkins 02:13:18 Brand's Family's Response 02:22:39 Hasan Piker is the one who knocks! 02:27:44 Outro 02:28:36 A final message of hope! Links Knowledge Fight's Last Episode – The End of the Road Jordan's video on the Onion Dan's blog on his next plans Rob Henderson’s thread promoting the Shermer Skeptic Study Polarization Research Lab- Low levels of support for partisan violence Polarization Research Lab - Did the 2024 Election Change American Attitudes About Democracy? Ryan Holiday’s response to the Shellenberger video Ryan Holiday responding to article that he is ‘fuming’ at Ivanka Zuby’s insights on Birth Rate Decline Vice article on the history of testicle transplants "Massive GRIFTER!" Piers Morgan Grills Russell Brand On Allegations, Prison, 'Truth' & Religion UnHerd: When Claudia met Claudius- So are they really conscious? UnHerd: When Dawkins met Claude Could this AI be conscious? ‘Professor’ Jiang on Trump’s Immortality Mehdi Hasan dunking on Dawkins

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  • #161
    May 4 · 3 hr 10 min

    Iain McGilchrist, Part 2: Hemispheres, Culture, and Cosmic Consciousness

    In this episode, we return to Iain McGilchrist as he spirals upwards from his binary hemispheric model into full cosmic spirituality. The rule is simple: everything McGilchrist likes is due to the subtle, nuanced, and deeply sophisticated right brain, while the left brain (pffft) is responsible for reductionism, modernity, and most of the problems in your life. From this neuroscientific foundation, the theory expands with admirable ambition. Civilisations rise and fall depending on which hemisphere they inhabit. Ancient societies were properly attuned to the right brain, while the modern world has gone mechanical and spiritually bankrupt. The details are, of course, very complex, but the moral is clear. Scientific evidence features occasionally, mostly in a decorative capacity or as parables of scientists being baffled by mystical forces. Hence, we learn that decapitated worms retain perfect memories, Nobel Prizes have been awarded for demonstrating a mystical direction powering evolution, and near-death experiences establish that memories form when the brain isn't functioning. Alongside this hard science, McGilchrist also ventures into more spiritual realms, where we learn that artificial intelligence is likely to be channelling demons, schizophrenia might be caused by malign spiritual forces treating our brains as a luxury resort, and recently exorcised demons prefer to communicate via text message. No really... Ultimately, what matters is that McGilchrist's bespoke theology, bespoke metaphysics, bespoke biological teleology, and bespoke panentheist philosophy are really very impressive. And if you don't find any of it compelling, well, we are sad to inform you that this itself proves you are stuck in the wrong mode of thinking and failing to recognise true profundity. And if that doesn't work, then let's just say it was all a metaphor anyway! Links Alex O' Connor: Why Evolution Gave You Two Brains - Iain McGilchrist Jonathan Pageau: Artificial Intelligence, Possession, and Mental Illness - Dr. Iain McGilchrist Think Faith: Philosopher Iain McGilchrist DEBATES neuroscientist Anil Seth on God & minds | Uncommon Ground Spezio, M. (2019). McGilchrist and hemisphere lateralization: a neuroscientific and metaanalytic assessment. Religion, Brain & Behavior, 9(4), 387–399. https://doi.org/10.1080/2153599X.2019.1604416 Corballis, M. C. (2014). Left brain, right brain: facts and fantasies. PLoS biology, 12(1), e1001767. Carson, A. (2010). The Master and His Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World. By Iain McGilchrist. Yale University Press. 2009. US $38.00 (hb). 608 pp. ISBN: 9780300148787. The British Journal of Psychiatry, 196(6), 498-498. De Haan, D. (2019). McGilchrist’s hemispheric homunculi. Religion, Brain & Behavior, 9(4), 368-379. Shomrat, T., & Levin, M. (2013). An automated training paradigm reveals long-term memory in planarians and its persistence through head regeneration. Journal of Experimental Biology, 216(20), 3799-3810.

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  • April 25 · 44 min

    Supplementary Material 48: Grey Beard's Council, Late-Stage Anti-Capitalism, and Demonic Mould Health Updates

    The hour grows late, and Matt the Grey-Haired rides once more from his quiet study, summoned by whispers from the ever-churning gurusphere. And so he goes, to seek counsel with Chris the Grey-Bearded, keeper of receipts, watcher of long-form content, and wielder of the sacred Gurometer. For the gurus stir again… and their nonsense must be decoded. Supplementary Material 48: Grey Beard's Council, Late-Stage Anti-Capitalism, and Demonic Mould Health Updates 00:00 Greetings Old Friend 02:22 Decoding the Gamers 04:16 A Reckoning with Old Grey Hair 06:19 Joe Rogan determining US Medical Approvals 12:15 The Fall of Orban and the Silence of the Heterodox World 17:09 The Hypocrisy of Peter Boghossian 19:52 Dave Rubin and other Tenet Media Stooges 21:43 The Dugin, Jiang and Sneako Brain Trust discuss the ultra-hyper-globalists. 28:58 Trump attacks Alex Jones, Tucker Carlson, & Megyn Kelly 32:39 A Return to Weinstein World 33:00 Bret's Moon Landing Conspiracies 39:03 Eric and his Silicon Friend are still having problems 42:47 Hasan Piker Discourse 54:33 The Radicalisation Funnel? 01:00:14 Hasan on Ukraine 01:03:21 Hasan doing China apologetics 01:14:03 More Apologetics 01:16:37 Hasan on the Vietnamese MAGA supporter 01:23:41 What about Destiny? 01:26:58 Yale is full of Snakes and Badgers 01:33:17 Micro Looting from the Corporations 01:41:36 Cenk Uyghur's Rent Gouging Credentials 01:44:47 Social Murder and Selective "Understanding" 01:54:26 Late-Stage Capitalist Anti-Capitalism 01:56:22 Tucker Carlson is Selling Russell Brand's Guide to Becoming a Christian 02:00:33 Sean Hannity chooses Trump over his Catholicism 02:04:18 Russell Brand and the spiritual marketplace 02:05:48 Postmodern Conservatism 02:07:28 Taking a Long View 02:10:14 AI Bouldering Gym Cages 02:11:30 Taylor Lorenz is making good points on Twitter! 02:19:52 Taylor's controversial take: AI is useful 02:21:36 Adam Conover engages in revisionist history on tech 02:24:14 Rotary Telephones and Typewriter Experiences 02:26:41 The Onion takeover of Infowars? 02:31:28 Knowledge Fight's Concerns 02:35:56 Jordan Peterson Health Update 02:40:07 Endlessly Misdiagnosed by "Experts" 02:44:32 The Dietary Cures 02:47:20 Experimental Stem Cell Treatments 02:50:04 Pageau blames Peterson's lack of faith 03:00:14 Letting the Pressure Out 03:01:07 Outro 03:02:01 We Must Join with the Mould The full episode is available to Patreon subscribers (3 hours, 3 minutes). Join us at: https://www.patreon.com/DecodingTheGurus Links Joe Rogan crowing about his role in the White House executive order on Ibogaine Fact Check of Rogan's claims on PolitiFact Pancreatic cancer mRNA trial update: NBC report on six-year follow-up Article on NIH grant cancellations/funding cuts at Washington Post APHA release on lawsuit over politically driven grant terminations Ban on DEI words, including "polarization" by DOGE BBC Article on Orbán's loss Boghossian dodges criticism of Hungary in HardTalk interview Boghossian avoids dealing with protests in Hungary Dugin / Sneako / Professor Jiang interview Trump attacks Alex Jones, Tucker Carlson, and Megyn Kelly Bret Weinstein's moon landing / Artemis clip highlighted by Bad Stats Eric Weinstein's tweets on commercial AI and theoretical physics Tucker Carlson's promotion for Russell Brand's new Christian-themed book Ezra Klein on Hasan Piker: RealClearPolitics mirror of the New York Times column Conduit: I Spent ONE WEEK Watching Hasan Piker ‪, And This Is What I Learned A generational divide over Trump among Vietnamese-Americans – BBC News Hasan reacts to the Vietnamese-American documentary Twitter Thread with most of the viral Hasan clips Noahpinion: Hasan Piker is bad for the Democrats Hasan's Yale Debate on YouTube Yair Rosenberg's article on the Atlantic: The Problem With Hasan Piker’s Einstein Story NYT: ‘The Rich Don’t Play by the Rules. So Why Should I?' Why petty theft might be the new political protest’ LA Times article on the Onion's Infowars Takeover Bid Alex Jones clip of him roaming shirtless and complaining about the Onion Mikhaila Peterson: Jordan Peterson Health Update and Psych Med Injury Discussion Jonathan Pageau explains Jordan's illness is due to his refusal to submit to God Taylor Lorenz being correct about the past promotion of technology products Tech Dirt article on the recent court decisions against Meta and YouTube Sean Hannity endorses Trump over his Catholicism Taylor Lorenz: The Truth About the Social Media Addiction Trial

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  • #160
    April 11 · 2 hr 3 min

    Iain McGilchrist, Part 1: Right-Brain Thinking

    In this episode, we take a journey into the mind, traversing both the left and right hemispheres, but mostly the left, as we engage with the truly mind-bending insights of British psychiatrist-philosopher-neuroscientist-theologian-author Iain McGilchrist. Best known for his 2009 book "The Master and His Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World" but also a much lauded academic and sensemaker. We outline McGilchrist’s extremely complicated thesis that the two hemispheres of the brain reflect fundamentally different “ways of being” and that this is reflected in individuals and civilisations that rely more on one side than the other. This is, of course, not merely a crude binary. As McGilchrist repeatedly emphasises, it would be quite wrong to suggest he is simply valorising everything he likes (religion, poetry, classic literature, wood-panelled interiors, sense-making chats) and attributing them to the products of a profound and integrative right hemisphere. Similarly, he does not simply want to denigrate materialists as reductive left-brain thinkers who cannot appreciate art, beauty, or love because they are too busy thinking about atoms. There is definitely none of that in his chat with Alex O'Connor (AKA CosmicSkeptic). Expect neuroanatomy, metaphysics, and extended reflections on the nature of love. In other words, a completely standard Decoding the Gurus episode. Links Alex O' Connor: Why Evolution Gave You Two Brains - Iain McGilchrist Iain McGilchrist's website. Spezio, M. (2019). McGilchrist and hemisphere lateralization: a neuroscientific and metaanalytic assessment. Religion, Brain & Behavior, 9(4), 387–399. https://doi.org/10.1080/2153599X.2019.1604416 Lamm, C., Decety, J., & Singer, T. (2011). Meta-analytic evidence for common and distinct neural networks associated with directly experienced pain and empathy for pain. Neuroimage, 54(3), 2492-2502. Stavrova, O., & Ehlebracht, D. (2019). The cynical genius illusion: Exploring and debunking lay beliefs about cynicism and competence. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 45(2), 254-269. Lindquist, K. A., Wager, T. D., Kober, H., Bliss-Moreau, E., & Barrett, L. F. (2012). The brain basis of emotion: a meta-analytic review. Behavioral and brain sciences, 35(3), 121-143.

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  • #159
    April 8 · 1 hr 28 min

    Mentalism and Meta-Deception with Stevie Baskin

    On this episode, we’re joined by Stevie Baskin, a skeptic and YouTuber who released a five-hour detailed critique of the “meta-deception” of Oz Pearlman. He argues that mentalism differs from traditional magic by introducing an additional meta-deception because, unlike magicians, mentalists often leave their audiences with inaccurate beliefs about body language reading, subliminal influence, NLP, and general psychology. In Stevie’s framework, this places mentalists closer to psychics and mediums than to magicians, because the deceptive element is not clearly acknowledged. We examine this position, unpack common mentalist techniques, consider the role of strategic disclaimers and TED-style “epistemic theatre,” and explore possible parallels with contemporary secular gurus. Sources Metadeception: the truth about Oz Pearlman The Disagreement: Debating a mentalist professor of psychology (Scott Barry Kaufman) about Oz Pearlman Chris' old blog covering the ethics of Derren Brown's claims in 2009 The Power Of Subliminal Messages | Trick Of The Mind | Derren Brown

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  • April 3 · 44 min

    Supplementary Material 47: The DTG Conspiracy UNMASKED, Quantum Idiots, and Triggernometry Prophecies

    Our cover is blown. Our secret funders unmasked. Code Red: Abort! Abort! This is not a drill. Supplementary Material 47: The DTG Conspiracy UNMASKED, Quantum Idiots, and Triggernometry Prophecies 00:00 Glowing Introduction 03:14 The Secret Conspiracy at the Heart of the Podcast 08:17 The Israel Connection 19:09 Cenk Uygur's Pickleball Conspiracy 23:25 Comment Section Conspiracies 30:20 Pizzagate Conspiracies Revisited 37:55 The Value of debating with ChadBigCum 42:26 AI discourse reflections 43:43 Ben Burgis's hyperbolic reaction to AI use 44:53 The AI revolution and its potential impacts 47:53 Social and Economic Disruption and Job Replacement 51:33 The Dangers of Slopified Work and AI economies 55:47 Statistical Analysis Software and the value of Friction 57:36 The Perils of AI Usage outside of your Skillset 58:59 The Solution is within yourself! 01:04:22 The Hundred Schools of AI discourse 01:05:58 Double Slit and Quantum Physics Insights from Warren Smith 01:12:39 Schrodinger's poor, misinterpreted cat 01:13:48 The Wonderful Benjamin Boyce 01:14:41 Quantum Woo and Arrogant Sensemakers 01:18:29 Young Matt and Aged Chris 01:20:13 The Triggernometry Prophecy 01:23:54 Quid Pro Quo in the Discourse Circuit 01:28:25 The Anti-Institutional Horseshoe Theory of MEHDI HASAN 01:37:18 So Long and Thanks for All the Fish! The full episode is available to Patreon subscribers (1 hour, 40 minutes). Join us at: https://www.patreon.com/DecodingTheGurus Links Reddit post unmasking our Israeli backers Mother Jones article on whether 'pizza' is a codeword in the Epstein files (Spoiler: No it is not) Mickey's Opinion Piece in The Canadian Jewish News about "quiet anti-semitism" Ben Burgis is suggesting a journalist should be fired for using AI Cenk Uygur’s Pickleball Conspiracy Vigeland & Citarella on Epstein: The One Conspiracy to Rule Them All (YouTube) Benjamin Boyce and Warren Smith discuss Quantum Physics Triggernometry: Mehdi Hasan Debate on the Iran War, Immigration and the Israel Lobby Creator of Horseshoe Theory Dies aged 100

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  • #158
    March 28 · 1 hr 38 min

    The Moral Dilemmas of AI with Michael Inzlicht

    Mickey is BACK with two new papers he has co-authored, a bunch of opinions, and a very unwelcome idea: maybe the problem with AI isn't that it doesn't work but that it works too well! The first paper, Against Frictionless AI, argues that AI assistance and its ability to take away the effort from thinking, writing, and smooth out social(like) interactions could be robbing those activities of the very thing that makes them worthwhile. The second paper is a more empirical investigation that presents a bunch of studies examining the topic of the (alleged) moralisation of AI. Some findings suggest that opposition to AI among some people isn't really about risks or trade-offs but rather about non-negotiable sacred moral values. Who knew? We also discuss effort justification, reproducible research, robosexual allyship, and just how much humanity remains within the cyborg Matthew Browne. And remember... It's just like our opinion, man! Links Decoding Academia 34: Empathetic AIs? (Patreon Series) Ovsyannikova, D., Oldemburgo de Mello, V., & Inzlicht, M. (2025). Third-party evaluators perceive AI as more compassionate than expert humans. Communications Psychology, 3, Article 4. Zohar, E., Bloom, P., & Inzlicht, M. (2026). Against frictionless AI. Communications Psychology, 4, Article 39. Oldemburgo de Mello, V., Côté, É., Ayad, R., Inbar, Y., Plaks, J., & Inzlicht, M. (2026). The moralization of artificial intelligence (Manuscript under review). Paul Bloom's Small Potatoes Substack - My friend thinks it's a good idea for us to spend most of our time with AI companions - Is it irresponsible for academics to refuse to use AI? Mickey's Speak Now Regret Later Substack - AI Alarmism Trades on Fear, Not Facts Mickey's provocative tweet on his recent paper DTG Previous Interview with Mickey on the Replication Crisis, Mindfulness, and Responsible Heterodoxy Andy Masley Substack debunking the AI water usage claims Andy Masley Substack: Using ChatGPT is not bad for the environment - a cheat sheet Pataranutaporn, P., Karny, S., Archiwaranguprok, C., Albrecht, C., Liu, A. R., & Maes, P. (2025). “My Boyfriend is AI”: A computational analysis of human–AI companionship in Reddit’s AI community. arXiv. Critical response to Mickey's paper from Roy Schulam on Substack

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