Love the dry Aussie/Irish humour. Shame they’re wrong about everything but it’s a great listen nonetheless!

I don’t think these gentlemen are conscious enough of their own biases.

They have quite an entrenched belief that the fully manifest (uncriticizable) individual is one with a cynical liberalist worldview. You’ll enjoy this podcast if you agree.

This show is great even when the guys descend into precisely the incomprehensible babble they poke fun at. In fact that may be the best part 😄

Yes, Eric and Bret Weinstein, Peterson etc are nuts, as are many others. But some of the people they ‘decode’ (i.e. laugh at) are genuine people whose perspective it might pay to listen to. The idea that anyone who’s not a rational leftie should be treated uncharitably is not helping anything. Bot enough research od the people they mention. I.e. saying that Bari Weiss’ Free Press is supposed to be ‘centrist’ and therefore can’t host anyone who’s right with or unorthodox… this doesn’t understand the Free Press at all (whose vision was a plurality of views, not one centrist middle ground). Anyway, I just think it’s fun for 15 minutes and then unlistenable

I am smart enough to know someone can pick holes in the greatest minds we have to offer. I just need these gurus to say it so I can use their smarmy take downs IRL. Not helping me win friends but allows me to eat my sausages in peace at family BBQs. Am a big fan of Daryl Coopers work, hadn’t heard his transgressions, had heard his apology which was very reassuring to me as it started with Hitler not good. So at least I know I can recommend Daryl’s back catalogue but need to ensure people do know my baldness is age not politically motivated without enduring Tucker Carlson to hear what caused the issue in the first place.

i.e. the sort of thing we could probably do with a fair bit more of these days.

New to the podcast, first one I listened to was on Darryl Cooper which I thought was great.

In the mean time I have been listening to episodes about people that I like (Chomsky) or my views would align with and I’m still here, it’s hard not to agree with most of the things they are saying.

If people say the podcast clearly show their political biases, I disagree, I think they are not progressive enough, especially Chris, very disappointing.

But love the podcast, and I will be listening for the foreseeable.

Y’all are SO smug when it comes to taking down Sam Harris. You can’t hide your enjoyment at any sign of less than perfect reasoning. The man is human. The man has biases. He wants to believe the best of his friends and associates. Why not approach your criticism in a way that allows for him be an actual human with good intentions? Waiting for your take down of Ezra Klein, Roxane Gay, Ibram X Kendi, Nikole Hannah-Jones, Ta-Nevis Coates…

I could never be bothered listening to stuff like the Weinsteins or Joe Rogan or streamers like Destiny, but I like to know what’s going on in that world because I have friends who are into it. I like the hosts’ sense of humour.

I listened to just one episode featuring Dr. Gabor Maté, and that was enough for me. The podcasters hadn't done any research or read Dr. Maté's books; instead, they merely mocked him and his theories. Perhaps they should invite the guests they ridicule and debate their ideas.

As an Australian who became chronically ill at 19 and again at 54, I had to retire due to my illness. None of the Australian medical professionals could help me or would listen because my symptoms didn't match their textbook knowledge. Thankfully, after reading books by Dr. Gabor Maté and Bessel van der Kolk, I am now beginning to heal.

These podcasters must have had a wonderful childhood; they don't understand the trauma experienced by those who suffered verbal, physical, and sexual abuse from their parents. Life is short, so don't waste your time listening to this rubbish.

Love this show… never imagined listening to a three hour podcast but you’ve got me. I’m entertained, edified and occasionally enlightened. But Matt I do have a bone to pick with you… you don’t read poetry I take it, fine if that’s not your buzz, but every time you say “it’s okay in poetry” meaning ‘but not okay in reasoned discourse’ in my head, or sometimes out loud, I’m just, like, aargh no… what are you saying?? Yes poetry is a different kind of discourse from rational argument, and just like any discourse there is rubbish and there is quality. But good poetry, even some that is hard to ‘understand’ has rigorous internal structures of rhythm, meter, image etc. In fact I would say that good poetry is far harder to produce than good arguments. And a Brett Weinstein, a Russel Brand, a JBP taking off into an a-logical freewheeling fog is is nowhere near poetry!

A waste of time for listeners (unless you derive enjoyment from hearing the Aussie bloke get triggered and like witnessing someone trying to suppress his contempt for people). Mission failed mate - we can hear it loud and clear.

Do you guys ever pinch yourselves and think “how the ….” did that person agree to give us any time?

Wind the clock back 10 years before pods et al and you’d be still at university and working at Cole’s Vermont Shopping Centre lamenting how hard it is to make it in a real career.

As previous posters have requested. Please don’t waste the time of actual legitimate intellectuals on your Footy Show.

Anyway boys good luck getting that resume dusted off. And remember to ask mum if she has your old boss from K Mart Endeavour Hills phone number for a reference.

These two, particularly the Irish one, are exactly the kind of people that push people to the right. So haughty, smug and internet-poisoned. This is the most obvious circle jerk of a podcast that I have ever come across and, yes, that does include the countless hours of podcasting by the self-indulgent gurus they are ‘decoding’. Your ‘us and them’ thinking isn’t cute or charming; it’s frankly embarrassing, particularly for a psychologist. Why don’t you consider why some of the people you are ‘decoding’ are so popular? Any sort of perspective whatsoever? No, just people are idiots, ‘right wing’ and conspiracy theory=bad. You two are part of the problem as to why so many people are desperate for other sources of information. So many people can’t stand listening to people like yourselves and have no capacity for communication. I don’t care how much I might agree with your analysis- the way you go about it is vomit-worthy.

It is not ‘anythink’ it is ‘anything’.

FOR CHRIST’S SAKE.

D-Mac

Excellent idea but eps have been hit and miss. The Chomsky one was pretty good and the audio clips are handy reference points but anything right of centre seems to really trigger them. My main beefs are long indulgent intros, cringable attempts at ‘humor’, trying to combat smugness with more smugness and repeating points too much. Both of them don’t really hide their bias either, which is left progressive sometimes bordering on woke especially regarding cultural relativism.

Hmmm…. The point is that Sam has a much bigger audience than you. You disproportionately criticise Sam to bring his audience to your conversations. Your Israel/Gaza disagreements were to create conflict with him rather than a genuine attempt to discuss a complex world changing event. That seems cynical, and now you have a paywall 🤔. Creating your own echo chamber boys ?? Sam should have been smarter and not give you the airtime, stick to the Weinsteins and Kisin. ……… Good work on Huberman. Completely agree and a useful analysis. I note your paywall jingle sounds much like Sam H’s intro. 🤔……. A bit lukewarm warm on your Yuval segment. He is a story teller…. Nothing new but tells it well, just like a Bill Bryson. Might not be Matt’s preference but his popularity is undeniable….. Please resist commenting on SH, DM and JS. I doubt you can. 😂

I was just casually enjoying my favorite podcast when out of nowhere the angry sarcastic Irish man mentioned me by name and started calling me all sorts of childish names and dropping F bombs like nobody’s business. He called me a dink and a lamewad and said my skin is too oily and I need to use a less oily or occlusive moisturiser.

I was extremely shattered that this man, who I consider to be a close personal friend after listening to so many episodes, would confront me with such a hurtful attitude let alone make such gratuitous ad hominem attacks on my physical appearance which is something I personally am very insecure about and struggle with every day. What could I have done to deserve such treatment? I am not a public figure of any kind and do not expect that people will be familiar with me around the world let alone that such a major league and widely celebrated cultural icon would have strong feelings about me negatively or positively.

I found this to be highly inappropriate and more than a shade or two disturbing. Shame on this man for punching down like that. I am appalled by such a lack of tact or decorum as well as the basic idea that someone would feel comfortable admitting to being aware of and feeling unfavorable towards an inconsequential stranger especially considering their own elevated profile which should make such behavior seem odd or beneath them. Clearly in the past the angry Irish man has never once demonstrated a tendency to have an abrasive or edgy sense of humor so this turn of events was completely out of left field and unexpected in every way.

All in all I would say the experience was a rollercoaster of emotions for me; I laughed, I cried, and I learned a little something about the human experience and what it means to be a part of our strange and terrible yet hopeful and inspiring modern society.

10/10 would definitely listen again.

Keep fighting the good fight fellas.

Amongst the gurus, grifters and modern day snake oil artists, you are a welcome break in the clouds in deconstructing and often dismantling key players in the guruverse.

Love the eps and particular enjoy the descriptions that accompany them.

What you two really are, are unbelievable thinkers and researchers. Please spit out more hydrogenated thinking and let yourself feed off your own thinking.

I hate these guys. They speak American but sound like foreigners.

SRSLY THO - they’re doing god’s work exposing the wretched assortment of charlatans, grifters, narcissists and ball-and-cup shysters polluting everything right now.

I believed some things.

Then I listened to these two.

Now I believe the opposite of those things.

I worry about what somebody will make me believe tomorrow.

Two guys articulating great arguments for why somethings give me the creeps. Thanks fellas.

A Northern Irishman and a Queenslander walk into a podcast

At first I thought this podcast was just a bit of fun to help me get me through the Melbourne lockdowns. Now I think their fun, light-hearted way of deconstructing common manipulation traits with examples is quite invaluable, at least for me. I was raised in somewhat of a cult, and hadn’t thought about it much in my adulthood till this show.

While I’m here - Perhaps you could cover Norman Finkelstein? I’m a fan of his, and it’d be quite topical. He’s surely not galaxy-brained, but perhaps you’d find him guilty in other dimensions of the ‘Gurometer’? You need more left-wing people, anyway!

Okay now. … Bye-byyee!

Chris likes robot sushi cafes while Matt enjoys trees. And the Irish wonder why there’s a brain drain to Australia. We welcome your doctors but maybe Chris you stay away. Great pod, highly irregular scheduling 5/5.

Love your podcast - I am a qualified general practitioner in Australia - I would pass on to your guest that baby aspirin does not prevent Deep Venous thrombosis DVT, in fact it may be prothrobotic in leg veins- excuse me if I don’t literature search this but it’s what I would advise my patients. That’s why you’re the podcasters, I am not so motivated. It’s to do with the balance between the stickiness of platelets vs the stickiness of the wall of the vasculature- aspirin low dose makes platelets less sticky but vasculature more sticky. In damaged arteries the balance is towards less clotting. But veins epithelium is generally not damaged by atherosclerotic disease and the aspirin makes the vein wall possibly more sticky and likely to predispose one to clots in these areas. Main causes of DVT are stasis of blood in dependent vessels of legs, after surgery or some prothrombotic genetic predisposition. If you want to fact check it - I am happy to be proven wrong here. Cheers - I am always happy to hear your voice of reason in a world of misinformation and disingenuous messaging out there. 👍

I’d love to hear a redo of this podcast and consider the release of the Pfizer documents, the acknowledgement that the vaccines cause myocarditis, the increase in all cause mortality in the USA, Europe, NZ, Australia. Also the Australia TGA DAEN that details nearly 1000 deaths attributable to the vaccine, over 130,000 adverse reactions, the reason highly vaccinated persons were in hospital in NSW Australia before the figures were stopped being published.

Highly interesting and informative podcast with two academics who have taken it upon themselves to clear the dense cloud of bullsh*t pumped out by the swarm of modern pseudo gurus and fake intellectuals. And they do it brilliantly. Pre-internet all you had to do was quietly edge away from these characters at parties. Now they prop up YouTube. My only criticism is the violence visited on the English language by the buzz-saw Irish accent and the vowel murdering Australian one. If your ears can adjust, it’s well worth a listen. Five stars

The topic of this podcast is extremely interesting and I found myself self reflecting on how I see some of the characters whose podcasts I consume. I will say though, seems to have turned into a very anti Lex Friedman vibe!

Endearing.

Matt is like a kangaroo in the headlights of a ute, with no way of telling if he will jump to wherever this uncalled-for metaphor will land his conclusions, or just keep still, bewildered by the mere three dimensions of his limited gameplay options. Meanwhile Chris is a very good-looking man who is so absurdly obsessed with Eric Weinstein that he doesn’t seem to make any effort to satisfy the contingent of his audience who would love to see him take advantage of Twitter’s generous policy on nudity. I could go on and on like this, playing my keyboard like a rare indigenous instrument as I make jazzy moves towards the prize of having my wonderful review read out and reviewed by this pair, but the only thing I don’t see sufficiently mirrored in other recent reviews is that this whole nonsense-making project is entirely worth engagement for the glorious jingle alone. To clarify, I am giving 5 stars to the jingle of this podcast. As co-host of a podcast myself, I am humbled to say that our own bespoke jingle is nowhere near as arousing as that of Decoding the Gurus.

Christopher, a cognitive anthropologist, and Matthew, a psychology professor (not to be called a psychologist here in Australia) are together doing terrible, terrible things for the fields of both cognition and psychology in general. I'm supposed to be studying for my exam in cognitive psychology, yet here I am posted up in my loungeroom compulsively listening to every episode of the podcast and playing xbox. Terrible stuff - clearly if they cared about these intellectual pursuits they'd not make such an addictive podcast. Shame on you. 5 stars.

Your podcast following up the Sam Harris interview about the Lab leak book was excellent ! So good to hear from the experts , great information ! Thank you to you and them for taking the time to explain and refute the arguments !

Sad at the end , these people should not have to suffer abuse for doing their job !

Thanks for your great podcasts !

Michele

Just the best episode. Thank you to you and those experts. So clear👍🏻👏🏻❣️

A pair of beta males attempting to validate themselves by tirelessly repeating the propaganda.

Two unqualified, ill-informed, self-appointed gurus — who are adept at parroting, but never questioning, mainstream narratives — attempt to take down (mostly by strawmanning and misunderstanding) the views of others whom they complain are unqualified, ill-informed, self-appointed gurus.

Thank you for the effort you put in to the deep analysis and deconstruction of these gurus. I look forward to each episode and also appreciate that you are willing to engage with the gurus for “right of reply”.

This podcast has cost me countless hours and given me nothing in return. I’ve been listening from the start and have realised this: it is not interesting. It is not funny (well, maybe a little). It is just a couple of up-tight academic dudes rambling on about the problems of society ‘these days’, problems which all occur on line. These dudes know what all the problems are (and have PhDs) but no idea what to do about them.

A complete waste of time.

That said, I can’t stop listening! I’ve been saying to myself since episode 3, “I’m not going to listen to this anymore.” But here I am. Is one chuckle in a 2 and a half episode enough? Apparently. Is Matt and Chris’s subtle charm all I need? It seems so.

Keep up the mediocre work. Goodness knows what mischief I would get up to in all the spare time I would have if I could muster the strength to stop listening.

Funny, deep and thoughtful podcast. My dad got me onto this and it’s been my favourite podcast ever since. After getting somewhat sucked into the JBP/Harris sphere many years ago (is it embarrassing to admit I went to a live JBP event about 4 years ago and even CRIED - he received a standing ovation if I remember correctly)…

This podcast has made me laugh, be both more forgiving and self-critical, and roll my eyes at the state of some peoples delusion (I’m looking at you ‘making sense of sense making’ episode). Love it guys, keep up the good work.

Listened to the Brene Brown episode, I was continually frustrated that whenever she was talking about what she had learned in her research, Matt and Chris would respond as though it was her personal opinion ‘oh she’s so American’ etc. What they’re actually referring to are not Brene herself but the hundreds of people in her samples, effectively diminishing both. Continually attributing her findings to her personality is diminishing of her skills as a grounded theory researcher, dismissive of the hundreds of people she has interviewed and Matt and Chris talking in this way about it comes off as disingenuous at best and arrogant at worst.

Two lovely hosts with guests, both lovely & unlovely, blowing the winds of clarity from your ear buds & into your ears. But, as the world disintegrates, is it all in vain?!

I used to look forward to this show, but the recent episodes on Sensemaking and the Konstantin Kisin were completely unlistenable, for very different reasons. On the latter, Chris: please relisten to the Knowledge Fight episode on how not to interview Alex Jones.

These guys are quirky and opinionated, which is fun. Chris is hilariously garrulous and Matt is like his straight man. They do seem to have a thing with Eric Weinstein, but realistically, who doesn’t? I enjoy their rambling discussions.

I can’t work out if I need to stop listening because it too much serves to tickle my ears with sweet reassurance of my own beliefs. Too much adding a coat to my my own bubble.

I initially started listening after hearing you guys featured on All in the mind. Where I thought you guys were very unfair to Sam Harris and complained along these lines to the host of All in the Mind. Sam had been so ahead of the game on covid that it felt unfair to lump him in with these other gurus. After receiving a really patient and fair response back from the all in the mind host, I re read my email. And it was humiliating to I realise that Sam really did in my own words sound like my guru

So I began listen to your podcast. And for a while it did feel like finding a home. A place on the political sphere that was not obsessed with shibboleths and activism but wasn’t on some downward spiral toward the right. A place on the left that wasn’t woke to put it tersley. And a place where somebody else seemed to have noticed that the Jordan Peterson was more a guru than a public intellectual, and really wasn’t saying much of substance at all amongst all those tangents and metaphors.

However I find myself now a little torn about listening. Because I like what you do. But I am beginning to become aware that there is something like a shallowness to the pleasure that I have in listening to your podcast. I had to stop listening to blocked and reported for the same reason. It became very much junk food, in the way that I imagine watching cable news or libs of ticktock must be for its viewers.

I think shows like Very Bad Wizards manage to avoid this by steering clear of culture wars, but I don’t know if that’s avoidable for your show. I wonder if going slower and deeper into your gurus is the answer.

Anyway please don’t take this as a negative review even though I have mixed feelings. As an australian its great hearing some commonwealth humour and self depreciation and as a Queenslander there is something very reassuring and familiar about Matts whole demeanour.

PS*

Your discussion of Jordan Peterson’s message to churches made me think you should do an episode on Mark Driscoll. He is a Church Pastor who very much took on the reaching the men with a vision of masculinity as christianity that Peterson advocates, and it all went disastrously wrong. Its covered in a podcast called “The rise and fall of Mars Hill” It would be interesting to hear him covered as a guru and would be out of your usual political guru sphere. I am a christian (sorry about that) and I had a lot of Facebook friends sharing Jordon Peterson’s video uncritically. I thought your critique was spot on though looking at Mark Driscoll might open you up to a whole world of problematic christianity that makes Petersons video all the more tin eared.

Two White Cis wealthly Old Men celebrate their "diversity" by not having American accents and tell us how and what to think. Don't let the thinly veiled description of their objectivity and self-titled "skeptic" position fool you. They are not allies and use their privelege to claim black people are just playing victims. Their "analysis" of Ibram X is primarly a character assassination and woeful bias. Ever heard of Ad Hominen?!!?!! You can talk down to black people all day from your ivory towers.. Notice how their blurb boasts about tackling Robin D'Angelo. Can't seem to locate that one. Hmmm... Perhaps it is not too easy to use your "brilliant objective minds" to laugh at real science and common sense. This blend of biasness and harmful material needs to be stamped out. If these two are lecturers at universities spreading this type of poison, they must be removed. No one cares what you weirdcoms think anymore. I wish they'd just go away.

The Aussie one called Robocop “trash”. Avoid.

Just your regular two post-modernist neo-marxists rebelling against god for the crime of being. Two thumbs up.

Crushed. Giant, giggling, poster on the wall, high school girl level crush on these two. Matt and Chris are hilarious. But not just funny, they provide genuinely valuable insight into the habits and tactics of some of the most relevant cultural figures of today.

I’ve found I’ve been challenged to question the material I listen to in a new way and feel a wiser soul for it.

Should lose 1 star for audio. I spend the episode turning up Matt and down Chris one week, then the next week Chris is quiet and Matt has the microphone inside his mouth. Or I have to crank it to 100 to hear the clips. Doesn’t stop me waiting eagerly for the next episode though!

I’m at a disadvantage. In writing this podcast review I am limited to 300 words BUT Chris and Matt’s review of reviews is unlimited! It’s not fair. Anyway, I’ll persevere despite already wasting 33 words. I have to. I reached out to Chris on Twitter and asked for details of a different podcast he referred to and he responded almost immediately. I was so impressed I promised to write this review despite not really wanting to. I was keen to get the podcast reference as Chris and Matt have on a few occasions alluded to it favourably as it confirms a view that NATO played only a negligible role in Russia deciding to invade Ukraine. Anyway, I listened to this other Ukraine podcast and was not impressed. I have a view that the expansion of NATO played a big part. As I listened I thought, sheesh, surely Chris and Matt can’t be convinced by this! They really need to research more and read people like Noam Chomsksy, John Mearsheimer, Stephen Cohen and George Kennan. Especially Noam Chomsky and the role of American imperialism and then … it struck me. Maybe Noam Chomsky is just another Guru and I’m some sort of brainwashed follower. Maybe, like a Moonee at a mass wedding, I’ve been sucked in by the croaky 93 year old linguist. Fortunately, thanks to Decoding The Gurus I could self-assess my relationship with Chomsky using the Gurometer principles and relax knowing that I have not been hoodwinked. Phew. The point of this long-winded story was to credit Chris and Matt for raising my awareness of secular Gurus. Many non-religious rational people get sucked in by smooth talking secular Gurus and this podcast performs a great service in critically examining the Gurus and exposing their negative sides. 5 Stars.

Don’t let the sub-reddit fool you into believing that this is just a podcast for uni student Marxist hipsters. Although clearly on the left of the political spectrum, the hosts aren’t as crazy as the overly vocal minority of their fan base would suggest. Chris’s grievances are worth the price of admission alone (assuming you enjoy listening to an Irishman living in Japan fighting wars with Americans). Best enjoyed by lefties who haven’t drunk the coolaid and maybe some right leaning folk who aren’t on board with most of the modern republican party type stuff.

In summary, Podcast good, sub-Reddit terrible.