Decoding the Gurus

Decoding the Gurus

By Christopher Kavanagh and Matthew BrowneSociety & CultureScienceSocial SciencesLeisure
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    per episode

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Decoding the Gurus episodes

  • Supplementary Material 57: p(doom) Updates, Nazi Apologist Imbeciles, and JAQs about False Flag Conspiracies

    Matt updates his p(doom), Tucker Carlson does his best impression of Wormtongue, and the political horseshoe unites over Flydubai JAQs. Sometimes our future AI overlords do not look so bad.

    The full episode is available to Patreon subscribers (2 hrs 51 mins).

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

    00:00:00 Introduction

    00:01:07 Dog Updates and Cultural Appropriation

    00:07:20 Annual Health Check Approval

    00:14:47 Matt’s p(doom) Update

    00:17:26 Matt’s Dragon

    00:21:34 Becoming Obsolete?

    00:26:27 P-Zombie Thoughts on AI

    00:33:03 Productivity Gains?

    00:36:22 Jacob Rees-Mogg Meets Tucker Carlson

    00:39:00 Tucker Carlson: Russian Apologist Extraordinaire

    00:48:14 Cognitive Empathy for Russia

    00:55:04 Who Cares About Treaties?

    00:58:45 Studied Ignorance and Russian Sycophancy

    01:05:50 The Isolationist Strain

    01:11:33 Wormtongue Carlson

    01:17:03 WHAT?!?

    01:23:02 Hitler Apologetics

    01:29:02 Bespoke Definitions of Sovereignty

    01:37:17 Mr Hitler and His Promises

    01:40:59 Great Fun with a Nazi Apologist Imbecile

    01:42:17 The Joyful League of Big Characters: George Galloway Enters

    01:46:20 Piers Morgan Is a Bad Guy

    01:49:17 Flydubai False-Flag Conspiracies

    01:56:35 The Young Turks Are Conspiracy Theorists

    02:02:54 Jimmy Dore Claims Bondi Beach Was a False Flag

    02:08:15 Cenk Explains False-Flag Psychology

    02:13:53 Ana Notices Some Anomalies

    02:18:25 Sneako Also Has Questions

    02:20:16 Hasan Has Noticed Some Red Flags

    02:35:00 Strategic Disclaimers Are Standard Practice

    02:40:06 The Hannibal Directive

    02:48:53 Dysphoric Bonding

    Source material

    • Kurzgesagt: AI Just Crossed the Terrifying Line - Now What? (original title: The Moment They Lost Control of AI)
    • OtherReality: Claude Pop - I’m Upping My P(Doom)
    • Osmarks: P(doom), the original song
    • Lex Fridman with Eliezer Yudkowsky: Dangers of AI and the End of Human Civilization (AI-box discussion)
    • Sam Harris with Nick Bostrom: AI Utopia (related discussion of work, meaning and purpose)
    • Tucker Carlson and Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg: “Prepare for War”
    • Tucker Carlson with Darryl Cooper: The True History of the Jonestown Cult, WWII, and How Winston Churchill Ruined Europe
    • Piers Morgan vs Nick Fuentes: What a CROCK of S***!
    • Piers Morgan with Gary Stevenson: I’m QUITTING!
    • George Galloway: MOATS 592, Flight of Fancy
    • Nick Fuentes: America First 1756 (Rumble Premium; Flydubai discussion from 3:20:32)
    • The Young Turks: Bibi’s FlyDubai Narrative, 1 October 2026 (episode transcript)
    • Jimmy Dore and Kurt Metzger: Here’s How You Know Australian Mass Shooting Was A FALSE FLAG!
    • Candace Owens x Ana Kasparian
    • Ana Kasparian / TYT: What Really Happened During The FlyDubai Flight Attack?
    • The Young Turks: Fight and Flight, 30 September 2026
    • Sneako: FlyDubai is the dumbest psyop ever. (headphone-cord demonstration from 15:09)
    • Hasan Piker’s Flydubai stream, 1 October 2026 (discussion from 4:06:26)
    • Benjamin Netanyahu on Hannity discussing the Flydubai incident
    • Hasan Piker: What People Miss About The DC Israeli Embassy Shooting
    • Zeteo / Mehdi Hasan: How Many Israelis Were Killed BY ISRAEL on October 7th? FULL VIDEO
    • Zeteo: What Is the Hannibal Directive and How Many Israelis Did It Kill on October 7?
    • Iain M. Banks: The Culture novels

    Relevant articles

    • UN Commission of Inquiry report A/HRC/56/26, 14 June 2024 (Hannibal Directive: paragraphs 35–37 and 95)
    • ISD: Mis- and disinformation and conspiracy theories about the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel
    • ISD: Cross-ideological antisemitism and the October 7th attacks
    • ISD: Conflict Amplified: Disinformation and Hate in the Israel-Hamas War
    • ADL: Within 48 Hours of FlyDubai Incident, at Least 25,000 X Posts Pushed Conspiracy Theories
    • Hugging Face: July 2026 security incident disclosure (the incident discussed in SM56 and revisited here)
    • METR and Redwood Research: Independent investigation of the OpenAI/Hugging Face incident
    • The Budapest Memorandum on security assurances, 5 December 1994
    • NATO: Collective defence and Article 5
    • ABC News Verify: Fake news spreading online following Tel Aviv-bound flight incident
    • Associated Press: A plumber and a dentist are praised as heroes in FlyDubai near-disaster
    • ADL: Extremists and Conspiracy Theorists Deny the Capital Jewish Museum Shooting With “False Flag” Narrative
    • Haaretz: IDF Ordered Hannibal Directive on October 7 to Prevent Hamas Taking Soldiers Captive (7 July 2024)
    • World Economic Forum: Now is the time for a “great reset” of capitalism

    40 min
  • Supplementary Material 56: 10% for AI Doom, Bespoke Debates, and Eurotrash DJs

    Chris and Matt grapple with Face Huggers, ponder the mysteries of algebra, and have a heated exchange over the term "bespoke".

    *Sorry about some of Chris' audio: the microphone settings will be fixed next episode!

    The full episode is available to Patreon subscribers (2 hrs 12 mins).

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

    Supplementary Material 56

    00:00 Introduction

    01:58 The Hugging Face incident

    08:46 AI risks and AI discourse

    22:29 OpenAI’s presentation and the incentives around AI safety

    29:51 How worried should we be?

    40:13 Disagreeing about AI

    46:15 Peter Boghossian’s AI-generated utopia and dystopia

    52:00 Matt’s favourite DJ meme

    53:32 Tucker Carlson meets algebra

    1:00:18 Andrew Callaghan and Channel 5

    1:02:07 Hunter Biden’s $LAPTOP meme coin

    1:06:08 A brief intervention on “paleocon”

    1:13:41 Andrew Callaghan explains the email-list mistake

    1:23:46 Andrew Callaghan on tech oligarchs

    1:36:28 Taylor Lorenz’s political independence

    1:42:35 The Great Bespoke Debate of 2026

    1:56:35 Hasan, Mearsheimer, and Russia

    2:07:16 Peace is restored

    Links

    • Hugging Face: July 2026 security incident disclosure
    • Hugging Face: Technical timeline of the agent intrusion
    • OpenAI: The Hugging Face incident and the road ahead
    • OpenAI: Hugging Face incident technical report (PDF)
    • OpenAI: Black Hat USA 2026 talk on the Hugging Face incident
    • METR and Redwood Research: Independent investigation of the OpenAI/Hugging Face incident
    • Mind Enterprises: Balcony MIXTAPE, the original DJ video
    • Matt’s preferred version of the balcony meme, with Sam Altman and Dario Amodei
    • Tucker Carlson with Jess Elofson: The Forgotten Lessons of Human History and the Dark Forces Robbing You of Your God-Given Creativity
    • Channel 5: Hunter Biden Interview
    • Channel 5: Nick Fuentes Interview, featuring Hunter Biden
    • Hunter Biden’s video response to the $LAPTOP launch
    • Channel 5: Andrew Callaghan addresses the Hunter Biden crypto coin
    • Channel 5: Andrew Callaghan’s September 10 explanation on X
    • Channel 5: Andrew Callaghan’s September 15 “State of the Union” monologue
    • Jubilee: 1 Journalist vs 20 Conspiracy Theorists, with Andrew Callaghan
    • MTS: The Panic and Fear around AI, with Taylor Lorenz
    • John Mearsheimer: The Russia I Saw
    • Hasan Piker reacts to Mearsheimer’s Russia visit (from 5:24:30)
    • Blake Lemoine discusses his claim that Google’s LaMDA was sentient and his identity as a mystic Christian priest
    • The Free Press: Two Drinks with Taylor Lorenz

    26 min
  • Candace Owens, Part 2: The Woman Who Noticed Everything

    Part Two of our Candace Owens decoding offers a generous case study in conspiratorial thinking. The necklace in the footage of Charlie Kirk’s murder may have moved before his jacket, a photograph of Tyler Robinson in front of a Man of Steel poster also raises questions about why Erika Kirk used the phrase about Charlie’s neck, not to mention that one of the early suspects also lived in New York during 9/11... all of it just makes you think... who is actually running things?

    One possibility could be Erika Kirk. Not that she is the mastermind (that, as always, is occult Jewish satanists), but rather that she might be a sociopath that dark energy is being temporarily channelled into. Candace asks why Erika returned to work so quickly, muses over how Candace's connection to Charlie was deeper and more spiritually potent, and ponders if she was the only person who really truly cared about Charlie. But don’t worry, Shawn Ryan is there with his trademark scepticism to offer pushback, like “wow” and “holy shit, that’s incredible”. Trump, meanwhile, has apparently sold his soul to Israel, though JD Vance may still be redeemable. Then Freud turns up, accused of inventing modern gaslighting and covering for satanic murders.

    Candace, as you might imagine, has her own place in the story. Charlie apparently knew she would inherit the fight after his death (which he had psychically foreseen), and Candace has indeed felt a spiritual awakening since. It’s a good thing then that she is so sensitive to others engaged in religious/spiritual grifting.

    As per Part One, this is ultimately a tour de force in conspiracy theorising and guru dynamics. And yet, remarkably, Candace still manages to come across as interpersonally likeable and even endearing. Which perhaps explains part of her popularity. Even still, with this episode we are (hopefully) done with four-hour Candace interviews.

    Also be forewarned that this episode contains an extended shoutout section; the Candace decoding ends at 1:41:02. We work through a backlog of listener shoutouts that we have neglected for long enough to turn them into a second podcast. If you would rather skip that entirely, jump to 2:25:56 for the brief sign-off. Complaints about the length/shoutouts will be referred to this paragraph. Thank you for your attention to this matter.

    Source material
    • Shawn Ryan Show #318: Candace Owens, “I Don’t Believe Tyler Robinson Was Even There”
    • Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson, The Assault on Truth: Freud’s Suppression of the Seduction Theory (the book Candace invokes during the Freud segment)
    • Rate the gurus yourself on the Gurometer

    2 hr 28 min
  • Candace Owens, Part 1: Charlie Kirk and the Cosmic Conspiracy

    Candace Owens is just a Catholic, a mother, and a wife. She loves her husband, works hard, and tries not to let internet drama disturb her spiritual peace. She also has just a few questions about the international satanic conspiracy behind Charlie Kirk’s ritual murder.

    We join Candace during her appearance on the Shawn Ryan Show, where an impressive amount of time is devoted to establishing how lovely they both find each other. There are the usual fond memories of dinner, a husband who is a James Bond lookalike, and a series of fascinating career adventures, including how Candace rose to be vice president of administration in just 4 years! She even got to experience the damaging effects of toxic mould before it was fashionable (and don't worry, it was cured with a restrictive diet!).

    Candace is like a one-woman crash course in conspiratorial ideation and how conspiracy theorists interact with other conspiracy theorists and conflicting evidence. But, to be fair, she is also very good at what she does! Coming across as a charismatic and composed speaker who makes very ugly claims sound like an entirely reasonable conversation.

    But then there are the questions... Why do witnesses remember different things? Why was ten inches of soil removed rather than eight? Did Charlie Kirk's necklace move before his jacket? But that's just the start; as is often the case we end up talking about Rothschilds, Freemasons, Denmons, and a public demonic ritual intended to channel spiritual energy into a surprising target. Shawn Ryan, who assures us repeatedly that he is an extremely sceptical person, is astonished at what he hears!

    And there's more to come too... in Part 2.

    Source material
    • Shawn Ryan Show #318: Candace Owens, “I Don’t Believe Tyler Robinson Was Even There”
    • Candace Owens vs Andrew Wilson: The Great Debate
    • Shawn Ryan Show #254: Brian Harpole, Charlie Kirk’s head of security
    • 60 Minutes: The Pager Plot
    • DarkHorse: “Was Charlie Kirk Killed With a Drone?” with Viva Frei and Jimmy Dore
    • Candace, episode 349: Corey Comperatore, Mark Liti, and the PETN claims
    • Brian Harpole’s complaint against Candace Owens and others, filed 30 April 2026 (plaintiff’s allegations, not court findings)
    • Clare Malone, The New Yorker: “The Gospel of Candace Owens”
    • Jesse Singal, New York: reporting on Social Autopsy and Gamergate
    • Mariel Padilla, The 19th, via Capital B: “Candace Owens Has Won the Trust These Women Refuse to Give Politicians”
    • Samantha Putterman, PolitiFact: Charlie Kirk conspiracy claims, one year later

    1 hr 43 min
  • Gurometer Triple Threat: Professor Jiang, Mel Robbins & Jimmy Carr *Patreon Preview*

    The rumours of the Gurometer's demise have been greatly exaggerated. We were simply collecting enough gurus to feed three into the sacred instrument at once. In this special Triple Threat edition, Professor Jiang brings angel-informed psychohistory, Jimmy Carr brings a head full of dubious historical factoids, and Mel Robbins just desperately wants to help you (for a price). Three potential gurus, eleven characteristics, and a brief disagreement over the nature of data. Let the highly rigorous scoring commence!

    Also... think you can do better? Rate Jiang, Mel, Jimmy, or any of the other gurus on our online Gurometer and compare your scores with ours. Ideally, do it before listening, lest Matt declare your numbers inadmissible.

    https://decoding-the-gurus-gurometer.netlify.app/

    1 hr
  • Supplementary Material 55: Nature Debates, Murder Drone Conspiracies, and Podcast Vibes

    Two academic windbags attempt brief discussions of the controversy at Nature, Bret’s newest conspiracy theory, and the latest vibe sessions in Podcastistan. It goes about as well as expected.

    The full episode is available to Patreon subscribers (1hr 18mins).

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

    Supplementary Material 55

    00:00 Introduction: Science by Podcast

    04:04 Nature Joins the Arday Discourse Wave

    09:28 Activism and Science

    14:40 Academic Prestige Bias

    19:08 The Business of Academic Publishing

    23:43 Sasha Gusev Being Sensible and Culture War Brainrot

    29:04 Bret Weinstein and Jimmy Dore Investigate Charlie Kirk’s Death

    36:13 Anomaly Hunting

    42:27 Science Washing

    45:00 Conspiracy Discrimination and Reasoning Ability

    53:46 Academic Debate Norms

    59:16 Chris Williamson Promotes Professor Jiang

    01:01:01 Vibing Out in Podcast Panels: Hunter Biden x Nick Fuentes

    01:05:49 Dave Rubin and Andrew Gold Discuss Political Tribalism

    01:08:25 Heterodoxy in 2026: Zaid Jilani on Michael Tracey

    01:12:52 Hitler Was a Human and Had Motivations

    01:16:33 Outro

    Links

    • Nature: The death of Jason Arday must prompt deep reflection
    • Stuart Ritchie’s response to the Nature editorial
    • Matthew Yglesias: Academia is cooked
    • Sasha Gusev’s response to Matthew Yglesias
    • Nature’s research and magazine editorial teams
    • DarkHorse: Was Charlie Kirk Killed With a Drone? Viva Frei and Jimmy Dore
    • Robson, S. G., Martire, K. A., Pearson, S., Cosgrove, T. J., Jetten, J., Faasse, K., & Hornsey, M. J. (2026). Rejecting conspiracies doesn't necessarily mean that you're smart: The relationship between conspiracy discrimination and reasoning ability. British Journal of Social Psychology, 65(4), e70117.
    • Modern Wisdom: WW3 DEBATE: “We’re On the Brink of Global Collapse”
    • Mostly Wise #2: Hunter Biden, Matt McCusker & Duncan Trussell
    • Channel 5: Nick Fuentes Interview (Ft. Hunter Biden)
    • I Think You Should Leave: Hot Dog Car Sketch
    • The Rubin Report: If This Isn’t Stopped, UK’s Fall Is Irreversible | Andrew Gold
    • Zaid Jilani on Michael Tracey’s contrarianism
    • Zaid Jilani’s World War II follow-up
    • Adam Tooze: The Wages of Destruction
    • Darryl Cooper’s introduction and foreword to Thomas Cyr’s World War II revisionist book
    • Next on Decoding Academia: Your Brain Is Not an Onion With a Tiny Reptile Inside

    35 min
  • Mel Robbins, Part 2: Matt & Chris manifest their fully actualised future selves

    In Part Two of our decoding of Mel Robbins, things take a practical turn. But before we get to preoccupied with all that, why don't you pause, take a breath, and, in the context of your body, write down ten ways to make a bad situation worse. Your focus should then be on doing the exact opposite! For example, if one of your answers is to not listen to the podcast, then start listening, right now!

    Next, before hitting play, let's work on building a daily manifestation practice. Write down five things you want, then sit in your body, picture yourself doing all the annoying steps, and flood yourself with the feelings of future success. This needs to happen every day.

    One more thing: now imagine someone who is one million per cent behind you and ask them what is the best way for you to consume the podcast. They can be alive, dead, or fictional. Greek messenger Gods are permitted. You can even imagine your mother, if you like, but better. Alternatively, why not meet your future self at the front door and ask how listening to the podcast helped them to become so wise, slim, and successful?

    There are other options too. You can manifest a legion of ancestors, reconfigure a difficult afternoon by getting sushi, and even transcend the limits of possibility with an elephant murder themed visualization!

    You might think this sounds a bit like (too much) planning, mental rehearsal, and just trying to be a bit more positive. But it's much more than that. These mental activities are actually powered by very hard science. Ignore the tiny samples, one-tailed tests, and suspicious p-values... that all sounds like negative thinking.

    And now you are finally prepared so choose your technique, release the brake, and visualise the download button. Your future self is waiting. They have a cool scar and some bad news about your future children.

    Links
    • The Mel Robbins Podcast: “World Leading Psychologist: How to Manifest Anything & Create the Life You Want” with Dr Cassandra Vieten
    • Cassandra Vieten: Imagine That: Transform How You Think, Feel, and Live with the Science of Imagination
    • Institute of Noetic Sciences: Origins Story
    • Hershfield, H. E., Goldstein, D. G., Sharpe, W. F., Fox, J., Yeykelis, L., Carstensen, L. L., & Bailenson, J. N. (2011). Increasing saving behavior through age-progressed renderings of the future self. Journal of marketing research, 48(SPL), S23-S37. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3949005/
    • Robalino, J. D., Fishbane, A., Goldstein, D. G., & Hershfield, H. E. (2023). Saving for retirement: A real-world test of whether seeing photos of one’s future self encourages contributions. Behavioral Science & Policy, 9(1), 1-9. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/23794607231190607

    1 hr 43 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

    42 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

    2 hr 5 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

    2 hr 55 min

About Decoding the Gurus

From the publisher's feed

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.

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