In this Gurometer double bill, Matt and Chris break out the much-sought-after Gurometer™ to score Teal Swan and Scott Galloway across the 11 recurring guru traits. In one efficient episode, we compare cosmic-certified spirituality with secular man-talk (and a surprising amount of puffer-jacket merchandising). As a bonus, get ready to thrill at Matt's eternal puzzlement at his own simple binary question of 'guru-osity'.

Links

1. Gurometer scores to date

The full episode is available for Patreon subscribers (51 mins).

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

Gurometer: Teal Swan and Scott Galloway

00:00 Back to the Gurometer: Teal and Scott

02:33 Galaxy Brain-ness

04:18 Cultishness

05:25 Anti-Establishmentarianism

08:31 Grievance Mongering

10:55 Self Aggrandisement and Narcissism

14:30 Cassandra Complex

18:03 Revolutionary Theories

21:49 Pseudo-Profound Bullshit

26:07 Conspiracy Mongering

28:50 Excessive Profiteering

36:25 Moral Grandstanding

40:33 Overall Gurometer Score

41:27 Rapid Fire Bonus Guru Points

In our never-ending quest to alienate all potential online audiences, we finger-wag about rampant Epstein conspiracism and explain why we are, on balance, anti-murder.

The full episode is available to Patreon subscribers (2 hours, 42 minutes).

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

In our never-ending quest to alienate all potential online audiences, we finger-wag about rampant Epstein conspiracism and explain why we are, on balance, anti-murder.

00:00 Intro

03:39 Flooding Adventures

06:54 Eric's Troubles with his Silicon Friend

13:09 Peter Boghossian's Hardcore for Grok

17:16 A Promising Paper on reducing AI Hallucinations

22:17 Statistical Consults

23:12 Epstein Discourse Lollapalooza

27:24 Eric Weinstein thinks Epstein is connected to UFOs

29:09 Rogan Plays Apologist for Trump on Epstein

32:21 Emma Vigeland and Joshua Citarella engage in Conspiracy Hypothesising

35:07 Reasonable Conspiracy Theorising

42:24 The Real Conspiracy

44:26 Epstein and Ghislaine puppeting the culture wars

48:18 The Joy of Conspiracy Theories

53:29 Epstein and Bannon created QAnon as a Psyop

01:01:37 What about ritual child abuse, dissolving bodies and cannibalism?

01:09:05 Lurid Cannibal Fantasies

01:15:56 Emma's UFO theory

01:20:08 The Joe Roganification of Podcasts and some strategic disclaimers

01:24:14 A dichotomy in contemporary American attitudes to Wealth?

01:28:32 The Mainstream Media won't focus on Epstein's connections with Israel and Mossad

01:32:08 The REAL Epstein scandal that no one wants to talk about

01:34:36 Behind the Bastards coverage of Epstein

01:36:01 Epstein's alleged role in creating microtransactions in games

01:40:46 Epstein's cringey Edutainment ideas

01:50:53 What Robert Evans Got Wrong

01:54:08 There are No Coincidences

02:00:57 The Danger of Appealing Narratives and also... Michael Tracey

02:06:00 The Anti-Murder Podcast

02:07:47 Warren Smith highlights Violent Rhetoric aimed at Konstantin

02:14:12 Justifying Murder is Bad... M'Kay?

02:17:55 Experiences of Violence and Naivety

02:21:16 Levels of Political Violence

02:23:49 Destiny's Community and Edgy Political Violence Takes

02:27:56 Alienating online audiences 101

02:30:14 Eric talks wormholes with a UFO maniac

02:35:28 Lord of the Idiots

02:36:18 Does Matt know Snorlax?

02:39:43 A failed disclaimer outro

Links

1. Erik arguing with Grok
2. Boghossian’s hardcore rules for Grok
3. H-Neurons: On the Existence, Impact, and Origin of Hallucination-Associated Neurons in LLMs (Gao et al., 2025)
4. YouTube comment under our NXIVM video about Epstein
5. People article claiming Epstein was Putin’s Wealth Manager
6. Taylor Lorenz – Panic World: How Epstein Warped the Entire Internet
7. Garbage Day: “Here’s How Epstein Broke the Internet”
8. Eric Weinstein on Piers Morgan connecting Epstein to UFOs and his “research”
9. Triggernometry’s 7th appearance on Rogan
10. American Alchemy: Eric Weinstein & Eric Davis on Wormholes
11. BBC: Ex-police chief said Trump told him in 2006 “everyone” knew about Epstein’s behaviour
12. Joshua Citarella & Emma Vigeland – Epstein, Conspiracy & Right-wing Media | Doomscroll
13. Pew Research: Demographics of the Progressive Left in the United States
14. Debunking claims about Ghislaine Maxwell being a Reddit power mod
15. Obama did not say aliens are real – PBS NewsHour
16. NBC News: Epstein’s relationship with Ehud Barak
17. Al Jazeera: What were Jeffrey Epstein’s links to Israel?
18. Warren Smith’s post about threats from Digital Gnosis
19. Digital Gnosis Substack statement
20. Destiny’s Head Mod Confronts Him On His Rhetoric
21. Eric Weinstein Demands UFO Secrets From Pentagon Scientist

Epstein email documents

1. Email from Pablos Holman to Epstein (document 1)
2. Email from Pablos Holman to Epstein (document 2)
3. Email from Pablos Holman to Epstein (document 3)
4. Epstein forwarding Holman’s email to Bobby Kotick
5. Pablos Holman responding and dunking on Kotick

In Part 2, Matt and Chris return to Blindboy, now broadcasting from a solar-powered podcast and therefore morally unimpeachable. The darkness, however, remains. Having established in Part 1 that the global elite are a vampiric class of depraved blackmailers who traffic children and delight in cruelty, in Part 2, Blindboy offers us some welcome relief in the form of answering the question of what it looks like to be one of the good ones. You may be surprised to learn that it involves a missing dressing room, muddy socks, and a loyalty to small-time promoters that some might call heroic.

The episode also traces an ambitious historical arc: from street gangs in 1800s Limerick to the New York underworld, Meyer Lansky, Roy Cohn, CIA brothels and LSD interrogation programmes, and eventually to Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein. The connecting thread is a continuous tradition of sexual blackmail passed from master to apprentice that has, apparently, been quietly guiding Western (criminal) civilisation for the better part of two centuries.

Matt and Chris sift through the historical material, examine the leaps required to keep the chain intact, and consider whether a conspiracy hypothesis that explains quite so much, quite so neatly, might deserve a small dose of skepticism. As you might anticipate, the episode features discussions of many of our old friends, including strategic disclaimers, moral grandstanding, and layered preemptive defences. Finally, get ready to learn who the real villain is, when the mask is finally removed.... spoiler: it's neoliberal capitalism. A revelation that some listeners may have suspected from the very beginning.

Links

• Blindboy: A Deep Dive into Jeffrey Epstein
• The Rest is Classified: Was Epstein a Russian Spy?
• Epstein Files Declassified: Mossad, Israel, and Ghislaine Maxwell
• Epstein Files Declassified: Was he a Spy?
• The Saville Inquiry Report on Bloody Sunday (2010)
• BBC Panorama reporting on the British Army’s Military Reaction Force (MRF)
• Popular Mechanics article on Operation Midnight Climax
• US Senate Church Committee report on MK-Ultra and CIA covert experimentation and the archived report
• NY Times: What Donald Trump Learned From Joseph McCarthy’s Right-Hand Man
• A less conspiratorial but more sympathetic perspective on Epstein's influence by Taylor Lorenz and Ryan Broderick
• An in-depth critical review of Whitney Webb's book (by an academic who might be a little conspiracy-prone themselves)
• Webb, W. A. (2022). One Nation Under Blackmail-Vol. 1: The Sordid Union Between Intelligence and Crime That Gave Rise to Jeffrey Epstein, VOL. 1. Trine Day

In this episode, Matt and Chris turn their attention to Blindboy Boatclub, the Irish podcaster, satirist, and former member of the Rubberbandits. Blindboy is recognisable for his plastic-bag headwear, which has transitioned from a comedy prop into something a bit deeper and more philosophical. His podcast blends ASMR-style delivery, stream-of-consciousness storytelling, and cultural and political commentary, drifting between reflections on mental health, colonialism, Irish history, and the origins of the month of February. It is a distinctive format: whispered monologues over gentle piano where poetic association, personal reflection, and narrative intuition take precedence. For many listeners, that unique mixture of introspection, politics, and storytelling is exactly the appeal. As you might imagine, it is not entirely our bag, but to each their own.

However, when Blindboy turns his attention to the recent Epstein document releases, the narrative becomes considerably darker and drifts into some familiar gurusphere territory. Blindboy describes this as a “phone call episode”, an unscripted stream-of-consciousness riff with minimal fact-checking, and then proceeds to expound for over an hour on a sprawling narrative connecting elite conspiracies to the hidden psychological forces shaping modern politics. Along the way we encounter a parade of lurid spectacles, including necrophilic Hell’s Angels, secret society members masturbating in coffins, murdered women buried on Trump’s golf course, potentially cannibalistic elites, and healthcare CEOs who delight in causing pain and misery. We also discover the crucial, if previously underappreciated, role that Jeffrey Epstein apparently played in the creation of the modern culture wars.

As usual, the goal is not to adjudicate the politics involved but to examine the rhetorical and epistemic patterns at play. What happens when a charismatic storyteller combines emotionally compelling narratives with speculative leaps? How do strategic disclaimers like “I’m not saying it’s true” interact with extended conjecture? And why do some conspiracy frameworks feel persuasive when wrapped in an appealing ideological package? Matt and Chris listen through Blindboy’s riff to see how well the arguments hold up once the plinky-plonk piano fades and the claims are examined in the cold light of day.

Links

• Blindboy: A Deep Dive into Jeffrey Epstein
• Blindboy: Butter Melting Down The Neck Of A Warm Horse
• The Guardian: ‘I have a bag on my head. Deal with it!’ Is Blindboy the perfect podcaster?
• The Rubberbandits: Horse Outside
• Bobby Fingers' performance art on YouTube
• Jake Tapper shared the removed DOJ documents that contain allegations against Trump
• A detailed debunking of the claim that Ghislaine Maxwell was a Reddit Mod
• 2013 article covering approval for Trump’s family cemetery
• 2016 New Yorker Article about Trump wanting to be buried at his golf course
• The Verge: Christopher Pool ‘moot’ rejects the claims about Epstein creating the 4chan
• Ron Rosenbaum’s 1977 article on the Skull and Bones society initiations
• America's Secret Establishment: An Introduction to the Order of Skull & Bones (Sutton, 1986)
• Atlantic Article from 2000 that mentions the coffin masturbation rumour
• Article from the NYT: How The Times Is Digging Into Millions of Pages of Epstein Files
• The Rest is Classified: Was Epstein a Russian Spy?
• Epstein Files Declassified: Mossad, Israel, and Ghislaine Maxwell
• Epstein Files Declassified: Was he a Spy?
• Le Monde: Some consequences for the Sultan who Epstein messaged about the torture video
• BBC: Luigi Mangione will not face the death penalty if convicted, judge rules
• An in-depth critical review of Whitney Webb's book (by an academic who might be a little conspiracy prone themselves)
• 2022 Podcast featuring Brian Thompson (United Healthcare CEO) discussing his views on healthcare
• Critical examination of the headline denial rate of UnitedHealthcare
• 2024 US Senate Report on Insurance Denials under Medicare Advantage Insurers

Another episode where the guest is not a sense-making prophet or a galaxy-brained guru, as we engage in academic dialogos with Oxford psychologist Andrew Przybylski. This is a preview of our Decoding Academia series on Patreon (now 30+ episodes deep), where we swap internet gurus and rhetoric for actual researchers and empirical debates.

Andrew’s work spans motivation, gaming, and digital technology. His most recent crime is that he studies the impact of technology and has not found evidence that it is destroying wellbeing and ushering in civilisational collapse. We discuss the ongoing moral panic around smartphones, social media, and teenagers’ allegedly pulverised minds and why much of the debate rests on statistical techniques roughly equivalent to staring deeply at Excel spreadsheets and hammering SPSS until the desired narrative appears.

We get into measurement problems around “screen time,” why trivially small correlations become front-page catastrophes, and how the discourse rewards confident storytelling far more than (boring) careful causal inference. Also covered: cross-cultural evidence, the policy implications of airport pop science bestsellers, and the potential civilisational threat posed by Warhammer 40k.

If you enjoy episodes where we analyse methods rather than metaphysics, the full Decoding Academia series lives on Patreon.

1. Andrew's Academic Profile and Personal Website
2. Fassi, L., Ferguson, A. M., Przybylski, A. K., Ford, T. J., & Orben, A. (2025). Social media use in adolescents with and without mental health conditions. Nature human behaviour, 9(6), 1283-1299.
3. Vuorre, M., & Przybylski, A. K. (2023). Estimating the association between Facebook adoption and well-being in 72 countries. Royal Society open science, 10(8).
4. Vuorre, M., Orben, A., & Przybylski, A. K. (2021). There is no evidence that associations between adolescents’ digital technology engagement and mental health problems have increased. Clinical Psychological Science, 9(5), 823-835.
5. Orben, A., & Przybylski, A. K. (2019). The association between adolescent well-being and digital technology use. Nature human behaviour, 3(2), 173-182.
6. Orben, A., Dienlin, T., & Przybylski, A. K. (2019). Social media’s enduring effect on adolescent life satisfaction. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 116(21), 10226-10228.
7. Przybylski, A. K., & Weinstein, N. (2017). A large-scale test of the goldilocks hypothesis: quantifying the relations between digital-screen use and the mental well-being of adolescents. Psychological science, 28(2), 204-215.
8. Johannes, N., Vuorre, M., & Przybylski, A. K. (2021). Video game play is positively correlated with well-being. Royal Society open science, 8(2), 202049.
9. Przybylski, A. K., Rigby, C. S., & Ryan, R. M. (2010). A motivational model of video game engagement. Review of general psychology, 14(2), 154-166.

We return to some old friends, and almost immediately, we regret the decision. Also, get ready for some heady insights from history, a new conspiracy hypothesis, and Game Theory based insights.

The full episode is available to Patreon subscribers (1 hour, 37 minutes).

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

Supplementary Material 45

00:00 Introduction

01:15 Mick Drop

04:44 Scott Galloway's Favourite Conservative

06:37 Konstantin Kisin: Neither Right Nor Left

11:51 Insane Ad Reads in Podcastistan

17:08 Aella's insights on history

20:30 Bret's New Conspiracy Episode

22:10 Bret on Epstein, Pizzagate, and Ritual Murder

30:58 Heather, the personification of strategic disclaimers

31:49 Bret's New Conspiracy: Epstein is Alive

36:31 The Real Culprit is Game Theory

44:25 Bret is a Force of Nature who is always vindicated

46:36 The Grand Unification of Conspiracy Theories

48:25 Cenk Uygur promotes 9/11 Conspiracies

51:42 Peter Thiel in Ghoulish Pro-Nazi Form

55:15 The Descent of the Discourse

57:47 Eric visits Triggernometry (Again): Russian Woes

01:05:20 The Eric Squid Ink Manoeuvre

01:14:49 Eric is pro-Nuclear weapons tests

01:19:27 Weinstein drives can take us multiplanetary

01:28:28 The Weinstein Function: Justifying Enlightened Centrists Everywhere

01:30:37 Drew Pavlou's latest stunt backfires

• Is Epstein Alive? The 313th Evolutionary Lens (Bret Weinstein & Heather Heying podcast episode)
• DarkHorse clip discussing the Epstein theory (YouTube)
• Aella’s history insights thread
• Aella’s large thread about homeschooling
• Interview where Aella discusses the perceived benefits of homeschooling
• Bret Weinstein responding to critics saying he has lost his mind
• Bret Weinstein linking Epstein and COVID conspiracies
• Cenk Uygur promoting 9/11 conspiracy claims
• Cenk Uygur criticising media responses to his conspiracy theories
• Peter Thiel comments invoking Weimar-era parallels
• Drew Pavlou’s stunt backfires

Ever heard of cognitive dissonance? That thing a psychology lecturer might have explained to you once upon a time, likely using the same UFO cult example everyone else uses. Well, a new paper by Thomas Kelly suggests that the UFO cult example might have been ever so slightly oversold.

Kelly's archival work suggests that the researchers didn't just observe the cult as reported. Instead, they infiltrated it, faked supernatural experiences, assumed quasi-leadership roles, and then wrote up the results as if the group had spontaneously doubled down on their failed prophecy, which they had not. Because the leader recanted, and the group fell apart shortly after the failed prophecy. Minor details.

Matt and Chris discuss this paper, a 2024 multilab replication, and some other papers by Kelly, considering the ever-reliable tendency of researchers to find exactly what they are looking for.

It's cognitive dissonance all the way down, folks.

The full episode is available to Patreon subscribers (1 hour, 10 minutes).

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

Decoding Academia 34: When Prophecy Fails Debunked?

00:00 Introduction

02:04 Cognitive Dissonance Theory

06:41 Classic lab evidence: effort justification & the ‘severe initiation’ study

08:33 When Prophecy Fails: The Original Account

10:54 The debunking: archival evidence, misconduct claims, and ethical red flags

20:22 Replication reality check: multi-lab results and ‘strong vs weak’ dissonance

31:40 Beyond one case: survivorship bias, failed prophecies, and early Christianity parallels

35:51 Christianity as Historical Anomaly or Cognitive Dissonance Exemplar?

41:48 Thomas Kelly: Interesting biosafety takes and a possible Christian lens

45:43 The importance of seeking for disconfirming evidence

50:23 Conspiracy-theory dynamics & narrative elaboration

56:30 Classical Psychological Theories and Personal Motivations

01:03:07 Steps that can be taken to reduce biases

01:05:01 Stay tentative, check evidence, and don’t pick sides too fast

01:06:30 A lesson from Scott Alexander!

1. Festinger, L. (1957). A theory of cognitive dissonance. Stanford University Press.
2. Festinger, L., Riecken, H. W., & Schachter, S. (1956). When prophecy fails. University of Minnesota Press.
3. Festinger, L., & Carlsmith, J. M. (1959). Cognitive consequences of forced compliance. The Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 58(2), 203–210. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0041593 (The original induced-compliance/$1/$20 study)
4. Kelly, T. (2026). Debunking "When Prophecy Fails." Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences, 62(1), e70043. https://doi.org/10.1002/jhbs.70043
5. Kelly, T. (2025). Failed prophecies are fatal. International Journal for the Study of New Religions, 14(1), 48–71. https://doi.org/10.1558/ijsnr.33085
6. Aronson, E., & Mills, J. (1959). The effect of severity of initiation on liking for a group. The Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 59(2), 177–181. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0047195
7. Vaidis, D. C., Sleegers, W. W. A., van Leeuwen, F., DeMarree, K. G., Sætrevik, B., Ross, R. M., ... & Priolo, D. (2024). A multilab replication of the induced-compliance paradigm of cognitive dissonance. Advances in Methods and Practices in Psychological Science, 7(1), 1–26. https://doi.org/10.1177/25152459231213375
8. Croyle, R. T., & Cooper, J. (1983). Dissonance arousal: Physiological evidence. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 45(4), 782–791. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.45.4.782 (The study that the Vaidis et al. 2024 multilab replication was based on)

1. The Studies Show [formerly Science Fictions] podcast. Episode 90: Cognitive dissonance.
2. QAA Podcast. Episode 350: “When ‘When Prophecy Fails’ Fails.” Interview with Thomas Kelly.
3. Conspirituality podcast. Episode 284: “When Prophecy-Science Fails” (w/ Thomas Kelly), 20 Nov 2025.

1. Alexander, S. (2023, February 14). Contra Kavanagh on fideism. Astral Codex Ten. (Contains the PMDD / Slate vs. Vox example discussed near the end of the episode)
2. Kavanagh, C. (2023). Am I a fideist? Medium. (Chris’s response to Scott Alexander)
3. Alexander, S. (2023, February 15). Trying again on fideism. Astral Codex Ten.
4. Kelly, T. Open Science Framework repository containing scanned archival materials from the Festinger papers (Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan).
5. Kelly, T. (2025, March 18). Yet another White House says it won't fund engineered deadly viruses. Tablet Magazine.
6. Kelly, T. Christians for Impact. Politics and policy.

Cult Season rumbles on as Chris and Matt expand their minds in an attempt to absorb the cosmic insights of spiritual influencer and alleged cult leader Teal Swan (born Mary Teal Bosworth, 1984). Our intrepid hosts explore her recent appearance on the Just Tap In podcast with Emilio “starchild” Ortiz — a beanie-wearing vessel of pure credulity, lobbing softball metaphysical questions gently into the astral winds.

The topic covered is ostensibly “Major 2026 Predictions” but this is really just an entry point for discussion of the ancient origins of AI, multiversal astral contract negotiations, and, of course, the urgent need to discuss masculinity before we spiritually implode.

You will learn insights, such as: how AI will eliminate ageing, guide us to SOURCE, amplify our shadow, and corrupt and deceive us ... all at once. Aliens and other cosmic beings are deeply concerned with and also not really all that bothered with humanity. Also, pop stars are apparently set to receive divine instructions to stabilise the collective psyche in 2026. And how we are all trapped in a planetary pressure cooker that will run at least until 2030. Teal is trying not to scare us, but it doesn’t look great (though it might also be great and lead to utopia).

Expect astral board meetings, sensemaking redefinitions of “power” and “love”, warnings about the painful sacrifices required to join Teal’s “conscious community”, and some distinctly uncomfortable talk about opening gates and reframing mother–son dynamics. As ever, Matt and Chris attempt to decode the elevated vagueness, semantic gliding, and cosmic scaling of very earthly anxieties.

All hail SOURCE!

Decoding Content

1. Just Tap In Podcast #260: "Teal Swan – Why 2026 Is a Psychological & Relational Tipping Point for Humanity"

Links

1. The Gateway (Gizmodo Podcast, 2018) - Six-part investigative series by Jennings Brown
2. The Deep End (Freeform/Hulu, 2022) - Four-part docuseries by Jon Kasbe
3. Mormon Stories #1607: Growing Up with Teal Swan - Diana Hansen Ribera - Interview with Teal's childhood best friend
4. Mormon Stories #1328-1331: Leaving Mormonism to Join Teal Swan's Cult - Jared Dobson
5. BBC- Teal Swan: The woman encouraging her followers to visualise death
6. Scam Goddess: The Culty Con of Teal Swan w/ Sarah Marshall
7. Conspirituality 111: Who's Afraid of Teal Swan (pt 2) (w/Jennings Brown)
8. Prosody's Gurudex Website

In this Decoding Academia episode, we take a look at a 2025 paper by Daria Ovsyannikova, Victoria Olden, and Mickey Inzlicht, asking a question that might make some people uncomfortable/angry, specifically, are AI-generated responses perceived as more empathetic than those written by actual humans?

We walk through the design in detail (including why this is a genuinely severe test), hand out deserved open-science brownie points, and discuss why AI seems to excel particularly when responding to negative or distress-laden prompts. Along the way, Chris reflects on his unsettlingly intense relationship with Google’s semi-sentient customer-service agent “Bubbles,” and we ask whether infinite patience, maximal effort, and zero social awkwardness might be doing most of the work here.

This is not a paper about replacing therapists, outsourcing friendship, or mass-producing compassion at scale. It is a careful demonstration that fluent, effortful, emotionally calibrated text is often enough to convince people they are being understood, which might explain some of the appeal of the Gurus.

Source

Ovsyannikova, D., de Mello, V. O., & Inzlicht, M. (2025). Third-party evaluators perceive AI as more compassionate than expert humans. Communications Psychology, 3(1), 4.

Decoding Academia 34: Empathetic AIs?

01:40 Introducing the Paper

10:29 Study Methodology

14:21 Chris's meaningful relationship with YouTube AI agent Bubbles

16:23 Open Science Brownie Points

17:50 Empathetic Prompt Engineering: Humans and AIs

21:17 Study 1 and 2

31:35 Study 3 and 4

37:00 Study Conclusions

42:27 Severe Hypothesis Testing

45:11 Seeking out Disconfirming Evidence

47:06 Why do AIs do better on negative prompts?

54:48 Final Thoughts

In this interview episode, we are joined by physicists Sam Gregson (Bad Boy of Science YouTube channel) and Tim Henke to examine the rise of science populism: a style of science communication that borrows the tactics of political populism, including grievance narratives, institutional distrust, and conspiratorial framing, while presenting its advocates as lone truth-tellers battling a corrupt academic elite.

We discuss how DTG favourites like Sabine Hossenfelder and Eric Weinstein, as well as fresh new faces Brian Keating and Avi Loeb, deploy selective truths about physics to fuel self-aggrandising, anti-expert narratives.

Along the way, we also cover stuff like why “physics hasn’t progressed in 50 years”, cranks are useful props for populist arguments, and the strange obsession with Nobel Prizes.

If you are interested in guru dynamics, science communication, and physics crankery, this might be an episode for you.

Links

1. Bad Boy of Science (Sam Gregson)
2. Tim's Profile Website
3. Bad Boy of Science – The Rise of Physics Populisers
4. Theories of Everything (Kurt Jaimungal)
5. Losing the Nobel Prize – Brian Keating
6. Into the Impossible (Brian Keating)
7. Sabine Hossenfelder’s YouTube Channel
8. The Portal (Eric Weinstein)
9. The Galileo Project (Avi Loeb)
10. Sean Carroll – Mindscape / Preposterous Universe
11. Not Even Wrong (Peter Woit)