Join Matt and Chris as they dive into the controversy-ridden world of the lab leak theory, accompanied by biochemist-turned-author Philipp Markolin. Philipp details his journey into the abyss of lab leak lore and sensationalist media, documenting how thorough research was pushed aside in favour of conspiratorial discourse. For those who dream of a world where science triumphs over sensationalism, this episode is your bittersweet symphony.

Links

• Philipp's Substack
• Lab Leak Fever Book Site
• New Documentary Movie about the Lab Leak
• Our previous episode on the Lab Leak
• Bad Boy of Science: Sam Gregson's channel that includes many interviews with Philipp and relevant scientists

We end the futile struggle, embrace the toxins, and become one with our mould brethren.

The full episode is available to Patreon subscribers (2 hours, 38 minutes).

Join us at: https://www.patreon.com/DecodingTheGurus

Supplementary Material 38

00:00 Intro

02:54 Boomer Matt reacts to Twitter videos

07:31 Shellenberger and Tucker discuss the 9/11 Files

12:42 Eric's Google Ngram Investigations

17:08 Vindication on the Elephant Graveyard

22:00 Eric's ARC lecture goes viral

25:24 Andrew Huberman is NOT a phrenologist...

29:06 Eric Weinstein vs. Piers Morgan

33:44 Everyone knows Eric is a serious thinker

46:09 Peterson is taken out of the Gurusphere by Demons and Toxic Mould

52:09 Gurus and Bespoke Alternative Health

57:00 Social Contagion Hypocrisy

01:02:55 Toxic Mould Symbiosis?

01:04:46 Pewdiepie, Diogenes, and the Seeker Mindset

01:16:14 The Wisdom of the Ancients

01:21:01 The Meaning Crisis and Christian Pivots

01:22:29 Konstantin Kisin's surprising Christian pivot

01:25:17 The best person Konstantin ever met (not Francis)

01:30:22 The Fifth Column Agrees with Megyn Kelly 88% of the time

01:33:07 Megyn Kelly explains how the Democrats crossed the line and must pay

01:41:35 Intellectual Clerics for MAGA

01:43:16 Slightly Adversarial libertarians for hire

01:47:00 Drew Pavlou and Fluid Populism

01:50:17 Two Varieties of Online Derangement: Noah Smith's Hot Takes

01:53:57 Need for Attention = Desire for Virality

01:57:23 Status Seeking Networkers vs Paul Bloom

02:01:27 Reflecting on the Al Murray Interview

02:02:22 The struggle of podcasters

02:04:52 Paul Bloom: The best person in the world?

02:06:00 Mike Israetel's Thesis Controversy

02:10:30 What does a PhD mean?

02:16:55 David Deutsch visits Curt Jaimungal

02:22:32 The Dangers of Doubling Down: Pirate Software

02:23:32 Hasan Piker and Shock Collar-gate

02:27:15 Matt's Take on Shock Collars

02:33:51 Dystopia Update: Putin wants Trump to win the Nobel Prize

02:37:11 Outro

Sources

• Shellenberger and Tucker discuss the CIA’s role in 9/11
• Grok pressing Eric to get specific
• The Elephant Graveyard
• Viral post about Eric’s ARC speech on science
• Huberman’s phrenology endorsement
• Jordan Peterson’s Health Update from Mikhaila
• Chris Williamson: It’s time to talk about my health.
• Chang, C., & Gershwin, M. E. (2019). The myth of mycotoxins and mold injury. Clinical Reviews in Allergy & Immunology, 57(3), 449–455.
• Borchers, A. T., Chang, C., & Eric Gershwin, M. (2017). Mold and human health: A reality check. Clinical Reviews in Allergy & Immunology, 52(3), 305–322.
• PewDiePie: Help, I’m going through a midlife crisis…
• PewDiePie: Training like Mishima for 7 Days
• Megyn Kelly is All Out of Generosity - THE FIFTH COLUMN #526
• Konstantin Kisin declares Jordan Peterson the best man he has ever known
• Noah Smith’s recent hot takes
• Drew Pavlou: Attention Addict (Profile)
• Drew Pavlou: Attention Addict (Post)
• Solomon Nelson: Mike Israetel's PhD: The Biggest Academic Sham in Fitness?
• Curt Jaimungal - David Deutsch: Modern Academia Would Fail Einstein
• David Deutsch on Brexit and Error Correction
• Dr. Milo Wolf: Dr. Mike Responds: The Truth About His PhD
• Zirk Fitness: Mike Just Changed His Story AGAIN
• Chris’s PhD Thesis
• Internet Archivist - The Satisfying End of Pirate Software
• YouTube from Charlie that covers the Hasan Shock Video
• Forbes article on the Hasan Shock Collar Controversy
• The Moscow Times: Putin Praises Trump’s ‘Real Efforts’ Toward Peace, Blasts Nobel Committee

Matt and Chris once again take up their oars and plunge deeper into the recursive whirlpools of contemporary sensemaking. Picking up where Part 1 left off, having grappled with conscience, touchstones, hierarchies, and normativity, we return to the sensemaking labyrinth to see just how many more words and concepts the combined powers of Peterson, Vervaeke, and Hall can stretch to breaking point.

This second leg of the voyage allows us to chart more of the universal sensemaking grammar, with its biblical scaffolding, liberal use of metaphors, and frequent exhortations to ascend Jacob’s ladder. But alongside Peterson's predictable biblical musings, you can also thrill at unexpected treats like John Vervaeke unveiling how finite transcendence connects to inexhaustible intelligibility and Jordan Hall explaining that even silence can be a form of sensemaking.

Expect symbolic snakes, dangling ropes, and ecological psychology refashioned for mystical ascent, Augustine rediscovered through Plato, and culture reframed as an alcoholic parent. Or if you prefer, enjoy detours into atheists and their Luciferian egos, the sacred role of play, and the profound revelations that can be drawn from childhood disappointments at McDonald’s and grandfathers complaining about Nixonian duplicity

So join us for the final leg of the Sensemaking Odyssey. Sharpen your mind, get ready to traverse through 3D space, and prepare for an encounter with the Logos... in the context of listening to a podcast.

Sources

• A Dialogue So Dangerous, It Just Might Bring You Wisdom | John Vervaeke and Jordan Hall | EP 532

Why are we never invited to these dinners? We wonder if it was something we said or if our invitation just got lost in the mail, as we endure the inevitable discourse wave that followed in the wake of Charlie Kirk's murder.

The full episode is available to Patreon subscribers (2 hours, 21 minutes).

Join us at: https://www.patreon.com/DecodingTheGurus

Supplementary Material 37

00:00 Introduction

01:10 Cooking Gurus?

05:39 Sensemaking Overindulgence

07:19 Feedback on The Elephant Graveyard Segment

14:07 Gary is awarded an Honorary Doctorate by SOAS

19:15 On the Murder of Charlie Kirk

24:49 Murder is Bad & Charlie Kirk was a Polemicist

38:07 Hypocritical Calls for Violence: Elon Musk and Tommy Robinson

41:32 The Superficial Celebrations of Luigi Mangione

44:52 Michael Shermer is an entirely non-skeptical partisan

47:16 Eric Weinstein and the rush to post

49:48 Joe Rogan argues with his friend on vaccines

58:11 Predictable Pivot

01:05:30 Blocked and Reported discuss the Interpersonal Psychodramas of the Heterodox

01:07:07 The Thick Skin of Michael Shellenberger

01:11:41 Being Bret Weinstein's +1

01:13:39 Dave Rubin does not appreciate public criticism

01:16:29 A Heterodox DM encounter

01:21:01 Money and Macro's Video on Gary's Economics

01:27:56 The DTG approach vs Debunking

01:29:43 The Nature of Expertise and Criticism

01:31:17 Researching Guru Claims

01:36:37 Destiny invokes the Prisoner's Dilemma and Tit for Tat strategies

01:40:59 Generous Tit for Tat

01:46:28 Konstantin Kisin's warning about alternative media

01:54:26 Konstantin's "Consistency"

02:01:44 Next Gurus and Fake Outro

02:03:44 Decoding the Gamers: Caves of Qud and Two Point Museum

02:08:11 Retro School Games: Drug Wars, Beachhead and Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?

02:11:53 Real Outro

Sources

• SOAS honorary awardees for 2025
• What did Elon Musk say at far-right UK rally and did his remarks break the law?
• “We Either Fight Back or Die” – Elon Musk's Fierce Speech at London 'Unite The Kingdom' Rally | APT
• Shermer's tweet after Charlie Kirk's murder
• Joe Rogan and Bryan Callen on vaccines
• He Had One Product, $80K in Funding, and One Influencer - And Unilever Just Acquired His Company for 9 Figures
• Michael Shellenberger Mixed Up Two Guys With Sorta Similar Names And Falsely Told His Readers — And Congress — One Of Them Might Be A Spy As A Result
• Blocked and Reported Premium: Taylor Lorenz And The Perils Of Journafluencing (Part 1)
• Money & Macro: Economist fact-checks Gary’s Economics
• Careful What You Click On - Konstantin Kisin
• Destiny – The Prisoner's Dilemma Explains Destiny's Tweets
• Rand, D. G., Ohtsuki, H., & Nowak, M. A. (2009). Direct reciprocity with costly punishment: Generous tit-for-tat prevails. Journal of Theoretical Biology, 256(1), 45–57.

Join Matt and Chris as they enter an intellectual labyrinth of recursive sensemaking featuring the combined insights of Jordan Peterson, John Vervaeke, and Jordan Hall. You will learn about many, many deep and complex concepts and puzzle over definitions of conscience, the vertical hierarchy, value, normativity, goals & ideals, quests, the ultimate unifying meta-narrative, self-sacrifice, and touchstones.

With frequent excursions into a wild assortment of biblical stories, Platonic philosophy, Jungian psychology, Martial Art stances, and much, much more! This is a voyage through the refracted and refracting philosophical frameworks of three contemporary sensemaking powerhouses.

So get your oars ready and prepare your mind to taste the Dialogos, vis-à-vis Moses...

Sources

• A Dialogue So Dangerous, It Just Might Bring You Wisdom | John Vervaeke and Jordan Hall | EP 532

We risk contamination with toxic mould, endure distressing initiation rituals to a comedy cult, and ponder if the narratives we have received about the Nazis have enough nuance.

The full episode is available to Patreon subscribers (2 hours, 21 minutes).

Join us at: https://www.patreon.com/DecodingTheGurus

Supplementary Material 36

00:00 Introduction and an Intervention

01:59 Tomatoes, Holidays, and Hollywood Remakes

06:15 AI x Indulgent People

06:41 AI Chatbots and Delusional Gurus

10:46 Sir Robert Edward Grant and the Architect 

12:26 Critiquing the Critics

13:31 Eric Weinstein engages with Dialogos with his silicon friend Grok

22:25 Tim Nguyen details the Distributed Weinstein Suppression Complex

24:20 Sabine Hossenfelder's Google Doc

27:10 2+2 Discourse and a surprise appearance from Kareem Carr

29:34 Chris's 10 Tips for Sabine

34:39 Coffeezilla does more Anomaly Hunting on Epstein Videos

37:50 Conspiracy Chat

39:58  Ghislaine Maxwell's potential deal 

42:29 Thoughts on the Elephant Graveyard's Video on the Joe Rogan Comedy Cult

49:45 Details vs Vibes

52:46 Rogan's Fact-Checking and Comedian Dynamics

54:54 The Rogan Anti-Human Tech Elite Conspiracy Theory

59:40 Master Geniuses vs. a bunch of dickheads who like the same stuff

01:03:55 Lex Friedman and the Role of Softball Interviews

01:06:28 Conspiracy Theories vs. Real Conspiracies

01:15:51 Overall thoughts on the Elephant Graveyard Video Essay

01:19:18 Ana Kasparian thinks the Jews knew about 9/11

01:22:21 Jordan Peterson's Health and Mould Toxicity

01:24:24 Good Fungus vs Bad Mould

01:26:08 Bespoke Medicine and American Individualism

01:29:57 Streamers saying Stupid Things: Taylor Lorenz on DSA Nazis

01:33:08 Populist anti-vaccine rhetoric in Japan!

01:35:58 Bill Maher and Andrew Huberman discuss the problems with medicine

01:38:40 Chris Rufo and Right Wing Outrage over the Cracker Barrel logo

01:42:31 The War on Christmas in Australia

01:44:35 Jonathan Pageau's revisionist World War II symbolism

01:48:29 Pageau's Postmodern Narratives

02:03:32 Finding the Balance between Nazism and Liberalism

02:14:02 Random Shoutout

02:15:45 Matt's Cognitive Decline and Professor Archetypes

Sources

• Article on Sir Robert Edward Grant and The Architect
• Eric talking with his silicon friend @grok
• Eric waxing lyrical about Grok and praising Elon for his unique insights
• Tim Nguyen — Physics Grifters: Eric Weinstein, Sabine Hossenfelder, and a Crisis of Credibility
• Sabine vindicates herself in a Google Doc
• Kareem Carr thinks Sabine’s document is great!
• Chris’s Top 10 tips for Sabine on how to be a science skeptic YouTuber
• BBC — Ghislaine Maxwell denies seeing ‘inappropriate’ conduct by Trump
• The Guardian — Ghislaine Maxwell transcripts: what we know at a glance
• Voidzilla — Top 5 Lies in Epstein Footage
• Lewandowsky, Lloyd & Brophy (2018) When THUNCing Trumps thinking — Argumenta (PDF)
• Transcripts from Interview with Ghislaine Maxwell (Justice.gov)
• How Comedy Was Destroyed by an Anti-Reality Doomsday Cult
• The Loving Trap (Parody of Adam Curtis) — Ben Woodhams
• Ana Kasparian spreading anti-semitic 9/11 Truther conspiracies
• Mikhaila Peterson’s update on Jordan Peterson’s health problems
• Taylor Lorenz explaining how the DSA are the real fascists
• Huberman & Bill Maher discuss medicine
• BBC article on Sanseito Party
• Independent article on the Cracker Barrel ‘Controversy’
• Jonathan Pageau — Symbolism Explained: The Fundamental WWII Duality That Still Haunts Us Today

We face a disciplinary crisis as the twin pillars of Game Theory and Gurometry are called into question.

The full episode is available to Patreon subscribers (1 hour, 35 minutes).

Join us at: https://www.patreon.com/DecodingTheGurus

Supplementary Material 35

00:05 Introduction  

01:52 Matt's Apology

06:55 Just Life...

12:34 Matt's Foodie Corner 

14:01 Dedunking Dan Richards finds Sabine

16:37 Sabine cultivates parasocial defenders

18:16 Ana Kasparian gets deeper into ZOG conspiracies

24:44 Gary vs Game Theory

40:26 Support the Channel to Save the World

47:10 Bryan Johnson and Methylene blue

51:52 Scientific Cosplay Online

53:51 Keith Rainiere and Sensemaking Parallels

54:57 High IQ YoungHoon Kim tweets about proof of God

56:19 Guru and Cult Leader Parallels

01:01:13 The Validity of the Gurometer in Question?!?

01:03:03 Hacking Social Heuristics

01:07:38 Cult Leaders vs Secular Gurus

01:12:33 Anti-Democratic moves by Trump

01:15:03 Dan Carlin on Trump

01:18:30 Streamers Talking Nonsense: Hasan on ISIS

01:21:24 Ideological Fixation and Motivated Conspiracism

01:27:22 Outro

Sources

• The Cushendun Sea Caves from Game of Thrones
• Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 is Boosting Tourism
• DeDunking: Eric Weinstein's Theory — Real Physicist vs Pseudo Poser
• Ana Kasparian tweeting about the “Zionist Occupied Government”
• Gary’s Economics: Game Theory is Broken
• Critical Reddit thread on Gary’s Game Theory video
• Henrich, J., McElreath, R., Barr, A., Ensminger, J., Barrett, C., Bolyanatz, A., ... & Ziker, J. (2006). Costly punishment across human societies. Science, 312(5781), 1767–1770.
• The Selfish Gene, Chapter 12: Nice Guys Finish First (Richard Dawkins)
• High IQ YoungHoon Kim tweets about proof of God
• I was Jordan Peterson’s strongest supporter. Now I think he’s dangerous
• Dan Carlin’s tweet about Trump
• BBC: National Guard troops appear in Washington DC as mayor rejects Trump's 'authoritarian push'
• Nathan Baker: Keith Raniere, Ringleader of NXIVM Sex Slave Cult, Interviewed by Allison Mack, Top Cult Member

In this watery simulation of an episode, Matt and Chris uncover the true purpose of Scott Adams’ existence: not to shape reality, but to provide training data for future AIs working on plumbing-related problems. Somewhere in a cosmic server farm, Scott is endlessly confronted with blocked drains, dripping faucets, and municipal water conspiracies, while his “insights” fuel the next generation of household maintenance bots.

Against this surreal backdrop, Naval Ravikant enters the scene — investor, tweeter, self-styled philosopher, and, in practice, just another discourse surfer riding the waves of online conspiracism. The conversation opens with a familiar chorus of right-wing talking points, drifts into feverish speculation about lawfare, censorship, and “imported voters,” and finally winds down in the dim light of dorm-room metaphysics, where slogans like “happiness is a choice” are served up as if they were profound insights.

Naval presents himself as a detached sage, offering a boutique blend of political commentary and Daoist-tinged wisdom. In reality, he delivers little more than predictable polemics and recycled aphorisms. Imagining himself a great man of history dispensing lyrical truths in tweet-sized form, he produces nothing that rises above the usual culture-war debris. The posture is Buddha-with-a-smartphone; the reality is a credulous tech elite mistaking his own Twitter feed for a philosophy seminar.

What follows is Elon-as-Ben-Franklin fanboying, Trump rebranded as a “bottom-up” leader of the people, and a level of self-congratulation so thick it could be used to terraform Mars. By the end, you may find yourself nostalgic for the leaky pipes in Scott’s simulation — at least they produce real water...

Sources

• Modern Wisdom (Chris Williamson): 44 Harsh Truths About The Game Of Life - Naval Ravikant (4K)
• Real Coffee with Scott Adams: Conversation with Naval Ravikant

In this episode, we immerse ourselves in the potent juices of the manosphere with British journalist and author James Bloodworth. James recently published Lost Boys: A Personal Journey Through the Manosphere and takes us on a whirlwind tour of various misogynistic and anti-feminist subcultures, including pickup artists, incels, and the blue, red, and black pill communities. Drawing on his personal experiences and research, James discusses the appeal and dangers of the manosphere, touching on themes such as insecure masculinity and the commodification of social interactions. We also get into some joyful political implications and consider the role of social media in spreading these messages. One for all the family!

Links

• Lost Boys - Journey into the Manosphere
• James' Substack
• The Guardian – Journey into the Manosphere – Review of Lost Boys
• Prospect Magazine – Matthew Goodwin, Reform and the politics of resentment – Bloodworth’s recent article on Matt Goodwin

We drown in waves of ideological fluidity as the gurusphere continues to crash all around us.

Supplementary Material 34

00:00 Introduction

01:26 Irish Stew and Dog Exercise Report

03:45 A new 276 IQ Genius

11:47 Fresh and Fit Antisemitism

16:51 Are things getting dumber?

21:22 Asmongold on the Epstein Files

24:53 Epstein Conspiratorial Discourse helps Ghislaine Maxwell

29:00 Vinay Prasad resigns from his MAGA position

31:17 Eric Weinstein is the Architect of the Great Reset!

32:37 Google Eyed Loons vs. Willing Apparatchik

36:40 The Young Turks are joined by... Scott Adams

38:51 Ana Kasparian sits down with Tucker Carlson

44:46 Jimmy the Giant enters the arena

46:11 Jimmy the Giant meets Konstantin Kisin

57:12 Debating the Middle Class YouTube Grifters

01:06:15 The Gurusphere Grift

01:08:16 Jimmy the Giant reflects on his performance

01:11:16 Discourse standards for Research

01:15:05 Jimmy defends his criticisms

01:22:27 Jimmy the Giant deletes his videos and apologises to Konstantin

01:28:04 The Call to Action to support the Grand Mission

01:32:32 Separating Issues from Support of Influencers

01:37:13 Jimmy the Giant explains how the Elites created Wokeness

01:47:16 Woke Wars and Psyops

01:49:33 The Right Wing Media Outrage Ecosystem

01:55:26 False Consciousness and the Billionaires

02:02:47 AI limitations and Hallucinations

02:07:08 Post Hoc-Reasoning in AI and People

02:14:22 Outro

The full episode is available for Patreon subscribers (2hrs 16 mins).

Join us at: https://www.patreon.com/DecodingTheGurus

Sources

• Younghoon Kim: World’s Highest IQ Score (276) Scientifically Documented in New Academic Preprint
• Fresh and Fit idiots being giggly anti-semitic and praising Hitler
• Joanne Freeman: The Field of Blood: Violence in Congress and the Road to Civil War
• Ghislaine Maxwell moved to Federal prison camp in Texas
• Comment on the move from Prison Consultant
• Poor Vinay Prasad – The Disgraceful Campaign Against a Top FDA Official
• Eric responds to accusations that he is the mastermind behind the Great Replacement
• TYT’s The Conversation: Scott Adams Reflects on Life after his Terminal Cancer Diagnosis
• Ana Kasparian on the Tucker Carlson show
• Clips from now deleted Triggernometry video: He Called me a Grifter… it didn’t go so well
• Konstantin complaining about now-deleted Jimmy the Giant video: So… I went on Konstantin’s podcast
• Gary’s Economics: Immigration, the alt-right, the left and young men – Gary meets JimmyTheGiant
• Reddit thread on the now-deleted Jimmy the Giant video – The Middle Class British Grifter Explained
• Jimmy the Giant – How I Escaped the Alt-Right Pipeline
• Jimmy’s Heartfelt apology to Konstantin
• Konstantin and Francis reflect on the growth of Triggernometry: What's Next for TRIGGERnometry?
• Jimmy the Giant - Did I Escape the Alt-Right.. Just to Be Brainwashed?