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Poll

Vote on Upcoming Episodes

  • Curtis Yarvin 283
  • Peter Thiel 659
  • Michael Hobbes 293
  • Naomi Klein 367
  • John Vervaeke & Jordan Peterson 238
  • Sabine Hossenfelder 320
  • Warren Smith 48
  • Peter Turchin 58
  • Matthew McConaughey 401
  • Flint Dibble returns 216
  • Very Bad Decoders 229
  • 2024-09-27
  • 3112 votes
{'title': 'Vote on Upcoming Episodes', 'choices': [{'text': 'Curtis Yarvin', 'votes': 283}, {'text': 'Peter Thiel', 'votes': 659}, {'text': 'Michael Hobbes', 'votes': 293}, {'text': 'Naomi Klein', 'votes': 367}, {'text': 'John Vervaeke & Jordan Peterson', 'votes': 238}, {'text': 'Sabine Hossenfelder', 'votes': 320}, {'text': 'Warren Smith', 'votes': 48}, {'text': 'Peter Turchin', 'votes': 58}, {'text': 'Matthew McConaughey', 'votes': 401}, {'text': 'Flint Dibble returns', 'votes': 216}, {'text': 'Very Bad Decoders', 'votes': 229}], 'closes_at': None, 'created_at': datetime.datetime(2024, 9, 27, 4, 21, 15, tzinfo=datetime.timezone.utc), 'description': None, 'allow_multiple': False, 'total_votes': 3112}

Content

Hey everyone,

We have developed a rather extended list of future episodes and thought that when informing you all on what’s coming, it might also be interesting to get feedback on what people are interested in.

Matt and I often adjust plans for episodes when we feel like a break or a vibe shift, something crazy comes out or we just really want to cover something. Some of our best episodes have been ones that not many people asked for. But we also don’t ignore feedback and people have made very good suggestions in the past.

So here is what we have coming up soon in no specific order. Your duty 😉 is to vote on which episodes you are most interested in or to provide alternative suggestions in the comments below.

1. Curtis Yarvin - Dark Enlightenment cringe lord.

2. Peter Thiel - Tech Libertarian / Rich idiot.  

3. Michael Hobbes - popular progressive anti-disinformation researcher (or is he?!?)

4. Naomi Klein - influential liberal critic of corporations and recent analyst of conspiracy theorists

5. John Vervaeke & Jordan Peterson - Sensemaking Boogaloo

6. Sabine Hossenfelder - Responsible scientific commentary vs YouTube clickbait contrarianism

7. Warren Smith - Viral teacher bringing back the 2016 culture war.

8. Peter Turchin - Academic with some grand theories about conflicts.

9. Matthew McConaughey - from Hollywood A lister to Multilevel Marketing and self improvement scammer.

Other stuff that isn’t decoding episodes that we need to arrange.

10. Flint Dibble returns to discuss online harassment from alternative archaeologists.

11. Very Bad Decoders- crossover with VBW hosts, covering a relevant movie. Perhaps Dream Scenario.

12. Moral Grandstanding special episode - we need to score all previous gurus on this new facet.

13. Gurometer scores revisited- Checking in on scores of some classic gurus and updating.

Comments

RipleyV

This is really just a joke suggestion, as she's probably way too small a figure for you guys to cover. But there's a very guru-like (though I think mostly harmless) youtuber called Brittany Simon, who has her own bespoke system called "The Levels" (there's 5) with which she ranks people based on how psychologically introspective she thinks they are (5 being from what I can tell basically akin to introspective enlightenment). Now it occurred to me that you both have now covered 2 out of 3 of the people that the infamous internet personality MrGirl (I know Chris at least is familiar with him) attempted to "take down" for being "unethical cult leaders": Destiny and Dr K. If you did cover Brittany Simon, this would complete the MrGirl trifecta. I'm not sure what that would achieve, but perhaps summon his vengeful spirit for showing him up or something? And yes this is also a vote for you guys one day covering MrGirl himself ;)

Yummee

I voted for Naomi Klein but it would be interesting to hear your take on Judith Butler. I’ve found them to be a very interesting and influential philosopher and public intellectual. My view is that a lot of people haven’t actually listened to their reasoning properly, and the gurometer score would be low. But who knows!

pitiful_n00b

DTG covering Dream Scenario is my dream scenario. Don’t snooze on the Brett biopic.

James Pulver

I am interested mostly in Sabine. Though if you go deep into the physics you might need a physicist to back you up. (can you crossover with Sean Carroll?). But the random content seems easy enough to do. And it seems overly contrarian but I can't point to obvious "wrongness". I have wanted a gut check on her for a while now. Hobbes is just an ass and wrong a lot while be smug. I read an impactful takedown somewhere a year ago or so. But digesting how his studies stuff is twisted (has to be lots of Maintenance Phase) would be instructive.

Tricia Scott

Hey everyone I hope you’re well. Curtis Yarvin would be interesting. Isn’t he connected to the Nerd Reich, which is more than just an insane physiological op. They may be up for getting physical to overthrow democracy and introduce- King Peter? Emperor Musk? Tbh I’m at the early stages of getting my head around their strand of lunacy…

Don

I probably didn't help much cuz I voted on everything

Linda Sears

I feel like I don’t know enough on all the figures to make an informed choice. Should I choose anyway?

Angelo Lillo

Michael Hobbes?? I enjoy his work on "If Books Could Kill" He is a potential guru?

Anna

I want to hear your analysis of Michael Hobbes! I love this multi-level debunking universe “well, actually…”

S Garvey

Peter thief is the source code for the SV far-right. he's the point of origination so the most important.

Billy Hansen

Very bad gurus! This comment counts as a second vote.

ji

do richard hanania as well.

Grignard Girlie

Pleeeeaaase do Michael Hobbes! I’m a big fan of his but also based on my field of study I’ve heard him make some pretty egregious errors over the years so I’m so interested in what y’all have to say. Also Peter Theil but I see he’s handily winning

Krista LePage

Naomi Klein - I’m so interested in the change in her thinking about social activism in Doppelgänger.

Jeanne H-B

Some of my choices are based on the folks I find the most annoying, ones I cannot bear to listen to. Lucky for me, your calloused ears and steely minds are a bulwark absorbing hours of their smug crap and parceling out excerpts wrapped in your commentary. My other choices are folks I admire. I am not worried about your critiques of them, since admiration is not adulation. (I have never been any kind of acolyte, to anyone. I have no capacity for it. I have never lost myself to ecstatic fandom or guru worship.)

Bernt

I vote Micheal hobbes. I have tried listening to him couple times and I can't understand his appeal. He seems like a fact checker he could really take or leaves depending on if it conforms to his ideology. Also i would be interested in a Matt taibbi decoding. I keep loose tabs on him and he seems he has descended in complete lunacy. Also his online fan base of paid subscribers are pretty awful

Benjamin Layton

Matthew McConaughey. I can't help but love the guy when he talks, there's a feeling of relatability and genuine humility he gives off. But then watch him in one of his Lincoln commercials, and it puts into perspective how easily he can pull off any vibe or personality.

Bernt

Also very curious about thiel and yarvin, given that they seem to have a lot of influence over the far right in American politics

Sam D.

I don't know all these people, but I'd like Yarvin and Thiels (for reasons of impact on US politics); Hobbes (for reasons I mention in a comment above), and McConaughey bc he gives me the creeps; and VERY MUCH both Moral Grandstanding and the Gurometer revisited (which I suggested in chat).

ketracel-white 🧁

Sabine would be interesting, but I'm not sure about guru. She seems more like a robot than a person sometimes LOL

Vee

Excited to hear your thoughts on Sabine. I'm very conflicted about her overall content. He good stuff is amazing. Which makes her bad stuff is so frustrating. Can you look at a guy named Steven greenstreet? Not that he's a guru, but he's been closely tracking this story of this ufo guy called lue elizondo. I think greenstreet would be a good interview. A greenstreet x mick west collab episode would be amazing.

Nancy Carrozza CaraDonna

Michael Hobbes and Peter Thiel on the same list ! Haha. Hobbes is Bilbo Baggins and Thiel is Sauron. He’s, quite literally, Sauron.

Nancy Hale

DtG x VBW + surrealist cinema = 💯

Charlie

Not sure why I don’t see dr k pt 4 as an option

Randy

Can you do 100 hours on how Bari Weiss is garbage? I'd enjoy that.

Dada de Broglie

A Thiel decoding would be interesting although it might not be worth the risk. Maybe I’m being naive but he’s a litigious bastard.

Ryan Goss

Thank god Warren Smith isn't getting many votes, he deserves as little attention as possible

A History of Rock n' Roll in Film and Rock n' Roll BONUS MATERIAL

I just listened to the "Behind the Bastards" episode on Curtis Yarvin, so I'm not thrilled to go over similar ground right away. I'm curious about Michael Hobbes having guru tendencies since I'm a fan of "If Books Could Kill". I'd like to hear what I think is a long-needed review of what the hell happened to Matthew McCaunaghey if we aren't going to get a Dawkins episode any time soon. I believe there was a recent post about "Selfish Gene" being an upcoming topic, right?

Laura

I honestly don’t understand how Michael Hobbes makes it onto a list with Peter Theil. Like or loathe him he has considerably less impact on anything than everyone else on the list. Unless you consider what mass market self help or diet books you might impulse buy at the grocery store or airport a potential Earth changing event. Peter Thiel is actually potentially dangerous, and has the money to create things like JD Vance who NO ONE likes. Also I’m pissed about him naming every damn thing after Tolkien stuff. I like Tolkien stories, but just as stories. And movies. And the one TV series so far.

elcid

I vote for Tim and Eric’s Zone Theory. Could be a fun decoding.

James Keaveney

Hi all, how about an episode or series on "Everyday Gurus" where patrons submit tales of guruesque behaviour from people in their lives. I find your analyses of the typical rhetorical and manipulative techniques so helpful in understanding the behaviour of characters I interact with in the academic sphere and I'm betting many other listeners feel the same resonance in their circles. Cheers! Keep up the great work.

Sam

Vaush please

Sam

Balaji Srinivasan

TraderinNYC

How about Matt Dillahunty?

Linda Sears

Whatever you decide to do, I am interested in learning more about the alternate academic universe of Peterson Academy and the University of Austin, for example, in a future Supplemental Material episode. You mentioned Bad Stats had become a student of Peterson Academy. It might be fun to interview him on that experience. This also gives you two a little break from the decoding grind. 😉

Alexander Tronstad

Looking forward to Flint Dibble. Would hope Dr. Drew was decoded soon too!

Kyle Ferriter

I don't think I could take a John Vervaeke & Jordan Peterson episode now. It's mind numbingly dumb content and has already been decoded extensively. Maybe a mini episode on a specific bit of content like their recent youtube video but I'd rather hear about something new. Peter Thiel and MIchael Hobbes are good options. Michael Hobbes would be good to cover in the interest of being "fair and balanced". I'm sure Jesse Singal would be available to give input, or commentary on it after the fact. While another Dibble episode would be great, maybe first it would be good to do a whole episode on Graham Hancock (maybe also covering Randall Carlson), getting a deeper look at that content, so when Dibble returns there's more context and he can also comment on that.

Carl

I am genuinely curious what could be going on with Michael Hobbes. Thiel and Yarvin for sure.

Geraldine Kawabe

Moral grandstanding. It's everywhere! The horse world is full of it, and it's even invading gardening in subtle ways. Gurus, Gurus everywhere.

Elliot Nial

Is there any chance we can do a decoding academia on the Stanford Prison Experiment? It shocks me how much people still hold this up as 'science' as opposed to an art installation.

Paul Bowman

I voted for a number of the popular ones, like Thiel, Yarvin, etc, because they're politically impactful. But I'm not sure how well they fit the guru mould for a decoding exercise (as distinct from a political influence, networking and Ideological analysis). So I also put a vote in for Turchin bc even tho he's much lower profile (and less ideologically poisonous from my vantage) I think there's a strong element of secular guru gurudom from his revolutionary new science of history (TM). Also that Costello, Pennycock & Rand paper "Durably reducing conspiracy beliefs through dialogues with AI" has to be in your wheelhouse for a Decoding Academia, surely?

Barrett

Hobbes or Hossenfelder! I watch both but both make me say 'oh, come on' now and again.

Beigeian

I've hoted Hossenfelder, because she's had an interesting trajecotry. What do people think of the Dark Mountain founder people (Dougald Hine or Paul Kingsnorth).

Boyo

Michael Hobbes AND Michael Malice. C’mon, left and right, a tale of two Michaels.

Talent Pun

Thiel is the poster boy of technocratic aristocracy that has been fetishized by Silicon Valley brogrammers and venture capitalists. He genuinely believes the richest people are the most qualified to make the most important decisions. Definitely the most relevant, now that he’s becoming more and more of a household name.

Bill

Scott Galloway would be interesting

Josh B

Very bad decoders would be awesome! I’d love to hear y’all’s reactions to Dream Scenario