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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 songLex 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 EuropePiers Morgan vs Nick Fuentes: What a CROCK of S***!Piers Morgan with Gary Stevenson: I’m QUITTING!George Galloway: MOATS 592, Flight of FancyNick 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 KasparianAna Kasparian / TYT: What Really Happened During The FlyDubai Flight Attack?The Young Turks: Fight and Flight, 30 September 2026Sneako: 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 incidentHasan Piker: What People Miss About The DC Israeli Embassy ShootingZeteo / Mehdi Hasan: How Many Israelis Were Killed BY ISRAEL on October 7th? FULL VIDEOZeteo: 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 IsraelISD: Cross-ideological antisemitism and the October 7th attacksISD: Conflict Amplified: Disinformation and Hate in the Israel-Hamas WarADL: Within 48 Hours of FlyDubai Incident, at Least 25,000 X Posts Pushed Conspiracy TheoriesHugging 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 incidentThe Budapest Memorandum on security assurances, 5 December 1994NATO: Collective defence and Article 5ABC News Verify: Fake news spreading online following Tel Aviv-bound flight incidentAssociated Press: A plumber and a dentist are praised as heroes in FlyDubai near-disasterADL: Extremists and Conspiracy Theorists Deny the Capital Jewish Museum Shooting With “False Flag” NarrativeHaaretz: 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

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 disclosureHugging Face: Technical timeline of the agent intrusionOpenAI: The Hugging Face incident and the road aheadOpenAI: Hugging Face incident technical report (PDF)OpenAI: Black Hat USA 2026 talk on the Hugging Face incidentMETR and Redwood Research: Independent investigation of the OpenAI/Hugging Face incidentMind Enterprises: Balcony MIXTAPE, the original DJ videoMatt’s preferred version of the balcony meme, with Sam Altman and Dario AmodeiTucker Carlson with Jess Elofson: The Forgotten Lessons of Human History and the Dark Forces Robbing You of Your God-Given CreativityChannel 5: Hunter Biden InterviewChannel 5: Nick Fuentes Interview, featuring Hunter BidenHunter Biden’s video response to the $LAPTOP launchChannel 5: Andrew Callaghan addresses the Hunter Biden crypto coinChannel 5: Andrew Callaghan’s September 10 explanation on XChannel 5: Andrew Callaghan’s September 15 “State of the Union” monologueJubilee: 1 Journalist vs 20 Conspiracy Theorists, with Andrew CallaghanMTS: The Panic and Fear around AI, with Taylor LorenzJohn Mearsheimer: The Russia I SawHasan 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 priestThe Free Press: Two Drinks with Taylor Lorenz

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 materialShawn 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

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 materialShawn Ryan Show #318: Candace Owens, “I Don’t Believe Tyler Robinson Was Even There”Candace Owens vs Andrew Wilson: The Great DebateShawn Ryan Show #254: Brian Harpole, Charlie Kirk’s head of security60 Minutes: The Pager PlotDarkHorse: “Was Charlie Kirk Killed With a Drone?” with Viva Frei and Jimmy DoreCandace, episode 349: Corey Comperatore, Mark Liti, and the PETN claimsBrian 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 GamergateMariel 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

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/

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 reflectionStuart Ritchie’s response to the Nature editorialMatthew Yglesias: Academia is cookedSasha Gusev’s response to Matthew YglesiasNature’s research and magazine editorial teamsDarkHorse: Was Charlie Kirk Killed With a Drone? Viva Frei and Jimmy DoreRobson, 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 TrussellChannel 5: Nick Fuentes Interview (Ft. Hunter Biden)I Think You Should Leave: Hot Dog Car SketchThe Rubin Report: If This Isn’t Stopped, UK’s Fall Is Irreversible | Andrew GoldZaid Jilani on Michael Tracey’s contrarianismZaid Jilani’s World War II follow-upAdam Tooze: The Wages of DestructionDarryl Cooper’s introduction and foreword to Thomas Cyr’s World War II revisionist bookNext on Decoding Academia: Your Brain Is Not an Onion With a Tiny Reptile Inside

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. LinksThe Mel Robbins Podcast: “World Leading Psychologist: How to Manifest Anything & Create the Life You Want” with Dr Cassandra VietenCassandra Vieten: Imagine That: Transform How You Think, Feel, and Live with the Science of ImaginationInstitute of Noetic Sciences: Origins StoryHershfield, 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

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 PodcastThe Manga Cafes in QuestionDeposition of InfoWars Host Owen ShroyerAlex Jones And Roger Stone Interrupt The Young Turks Republican National Convention CoverageKen Klippenstein visits the War RoomAna Kasparian & Owen Shroyer: The UNEXPECTED Conversation on MAGA, DSA & the Uniparty!Bret Weinstein on InfoWarsRichard Ebright on one of his many Twitter spiralsJoe Rogan on AI Remote ViewingThe Free Press: Vinay Prasad- Anthony Fauci’s Vaccine DeceptionsRyan Grim being credulous over Fauci and VaccinesThe 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 ArdayAmnesty UK supporting “Arday’s Law”Simon Baron Cohen on BBC 4 Today talking about Jason ArdayNYT: A Top Scholar’s Fall Shows That Universities Don’t Get ItNYT: Professor’s Death Leaves Behind Hard Questions for Cambridge on Race and HiringThe 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 ThemselvesWays to Change the World with Krishnan Guru-Murthy: Cambridge’s youngest Black professor Jason Arday on Autism, racism, and learning to read at 18Open (supporting) letter on the suspension of Nathan Cofnas at Ghent UniversityBoard Member of Ghent University (Dries Bostyn) discussing the disciplinary case on TwitterNumb 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 UniversityNathan Cofnas thanks the US Ambassador for interveningAcademia is Doing Fine, Actually (Nicholas Decker)Eric Turkheimer substack on Nathan Cofnas' viewsSasha Gusev thread on Nathan Cofnas' views

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 VietenA Bit Fruity with Matt Bernstein: “The Mel Robbins Griftpocalypse” with Princess Weekes and Kat TenbargeCBS News: Extended Interview with Mel RobbinsThe 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 BradyUC San Diego profile: Cassandra Vieten, PhD

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 #953Schulz, 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.aau5141Robinson 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/10.1017/9781800105904.008Xu, 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

With the Trump administration’s newest political persecution of Anthony Fauci and three years after our first lab-leak special, now seemed like a useful time to return to the topic. Fortunately, you do not have to rely on our knowledge of viruses, as we have somehow managed to convince the same three esteemed virologists, Eddie Holmes, Kristian Andersen and Michael Worobey, to come back for an update. Mike, Kristian and Eddie return and offer us their read on where the scientific evidence on COVID’s origins stands in 2026. They take us through the main lines of evidence and the often overlooked role of the wildlife trade, explaining why the lab-leak story remains so appealing, and how their own assessments have shifted as more evidence has emerged. We also discuss the standard claim that the media suppressed the lab-leak narrative while noting that coverage across both alternative and mainstream outlets remains heavily skewed towards it (and almost entirely detached from the research literature). Finally, we end on a characteristically positive note by discussing the Trump administration’s attacks on science and the ongoing campaigns against high-profile scientists and public health figures. Our guests describe their experience of committing the heinous offence of following the scientific evidence and arriving at conclusions that contradict the preferred views of polemical politicians and prominent media pundits. In short, this episode is our modest attempt to drag the topic back towards the science, while also focusing on the price paid by the people who actually conduct the research and care about the evidence. We are not neutral when it comes to the ongoing attacks on science and scientists and do not pretend to be. LinksOur guests: Michael Worobey, Kristian Andersen, and Eddie HolmesOur previous interview with Worobey, Andersen and HolmesLab Leak Fever with Philipp MarkolinOur earlier interview with Stuart Neil on SARS-CoV-2Sam Harris, Alina Chan and Matt Ridley: Did SARS-CoV-2 Escape from a Lab?Bad Boy of Science: Is the COVID Lab Leak Hypothesis Dead?Kristian Andersen on his early emails, released messages and changing assessmentKristian Andersen’s congressional testimony and document collectionKristian’s thread responding to the use of his Slack messagesMichael Worobey on why his assessment changedWHO SAGO’s 2025 assessment of the origins evidenceThe July 2026 Senate release of the Slack messagesKevin Drum’s reading of the earlier Slack archiveThe current White House lab-leak pageThe July 2026 Fauci hearingNaomi Oreskes on scientific integrity and “ethical pessimism”Nature: Climate scientists report online attacksAlwine et al. on the harms to scientists, research and pandemic preparedness Relevant research papers and reviewsAndersen, K. G., Rambaut, A., Lipkin, W. I., Holmes, E. C., & Garry, R. F. (2020). The proximal origin of SARS-CoV-2. Nature Medicine, 26(4), 450–452.Crits-Christoph, A., Levy, J. I., Pekar, J. E., et al. (2024). Genetic tracing of market wildlife and viruses at the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic. Cell, 187(19), 5468–5482.Holmes, E. C. (2024). The emergence and evolution of SARS-CoV-2. Annual Review of Virology, 11(1), 21–42.Liu, W. J., Liu, P., Lei, W., et al. (2023). Surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 at the Huanan Seafood Market. Nature, 631(8020), 402–408.Pekar, J. E., Magee, A., Parker, E., et al. (2022). The molecular epidemiology of multiple zoonotic origins of SARS-CoV-2. Science, 377(6609), 960–966.Pekar, J. E., Moshiri, N., Lemey, P., et al. (2025). Recently reported SARS-CoV-2 genomes suggested to be intermediate between the two early main lineages are instead likely derived. Virus Evolution, 11(1).Pekar, J. E., Lytras, S., Ghafari, M., et al. (2025). The recency and geographical origins of the bat viruses ancestral to SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2. Cell, 188(12), 3167–3183.Temmam, S., Vongphayloth, K., Baquero, E., et al. (2022). Bat coronaviruses related to SARS-CoV-2 and infectious for human cells. Nature, 604a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-04532-4" rel="noopener noreferrer"...

We endure the ravages of time to deliver you this exhausted Supplementary Material. Bowed but never broken, the decoders persist. The full episode is available to Patreon subscribers (Full Episode: 2hr 20 mins) Join us at: https://www.patreon.com/DecodingTheGurus Supplementary Material 53 00:23 Introduction: Matthew the Succulent's Post-Holiday Report 02:15 Pickle Ball Injuries & Bouldering Curses 07:40 They Won't Let You Talk about Middle-Aged Sports Injuries 08:37 New AI Models 09:31 Cory Doctorow, Trevor Noah, and Confirmation Bias 23:45 The Glorious Past and the Terrible Present 28:28 The Horror of Tinned Asparagus 30:26 The Collapse of Industries & Stores 36:16 Negativity Bias 37:11 AI Prompting 101 44:30 AI and Research Applications 50:28 Nigel Farage vs Count Binface 59:10 Nigel Farage Knighted on Russia Today 01:02:53 Hasan's Advice for Ukrainians 01:07:51 Russian Apologetics 01:13:32 Vlad Vexler and soft Anti-Vaxx rhetoric 01:19:35 Guru Red Flags 01:23:48 Bret Weinstein in 2020 on Vaccines 01:28:53 Gary vs Piers Morgan 01:30:58 Piers Morgan being a blustering idiot about Elon Musk 01:36:55 Gary's Pitch 01:41:55 Alternative Tax Proposals 01:46:18 Matt and Chris' Economics 01:47:22 Gary's Wealth 01:52:07 Piers the sleazy liar 01:55:25 Gary is the best inequality economist in the UK 01:57:08 Gary's Predictions 02:00:40 Gary is Very Tired 02:07:14 A message from anyone else to finish? 02:14:25 Final Takeaways 02:16:55 Matt attempts to wrangle another holiday Links The Verge: China delivers a one-two punch to America’s AI dominance What Now? with Trevor Noah: Why Google, Apple & Big Tech Keep Making Everything Worse — Cory Doctorow and Trevor NoahBaumeister, R. F., Bratslavsky, E., Finkenauer, C., & Vohs, K. D. (2001). Bad is stronger than good. Review of general psychology, 5(4), 323-370.Count Binface on BBC Morning Live — full interviewCount Binface on NewsnightHasan offers Ukraine his advice to “give peace a try”Report on polling from Ukraine in 2025 that does not show what Hasan claimsReport on more recent polling that still does not show what Hasan claimsVlad Vexler tweets about vaccinesBret’s Tweets in 2020 on Vaccines (and here)Chris noting Bret’s anti-vaccine rhetoric in 2020 (see the comments under the tweet)Kyiv International Institute of Sociology: Ukrainian views on exchanging Donbas for security guaranteesDecoding Academia 34: Matt and Chris’ EconomicsPiers Morgan Uncensored: “I’m QUITTING!” Gary Stevenson vs Piers Morgan on Wealth, Economic Growth & Elon Musk

Two absolutely shattered academic heroes heroically drag themselves through yet another supplementary episode to bring you the important guru news in between their restorative breaks. The full episode is available to Patreon subscribers (Full Episode: 1hr 32 mins) Join us at: https://www.patreon.com/DecodingTheGurus 00:00 Introduction 02:13 Eliot Paisley's Anatomy of an Optimiser 08:52 Eric Weinstein wants a University Position and a Stipend 16:09 The Failure of the Anti-Woke Quasi Universities 19:19 Gary is Knackered Again 20:45 Gary is the best inequality economist in the world 24:36 How do I make a Documentary? 33:04 The End of the Year Approaches 37:44 Public Accountability 40:13 The Neurodivergent Trump Card 40:59 A clarification on bailiwicks 42:43 Tucker Carlson & Chris Cuomo discuss Russian Apologetics 48:53 Ukraine is selling weapons to Mexican Cartels 54:54 Civility Porn Judo 56:09 When Hasan met Prof. Jiang 01:01:37 Conspiracy Theory Buffet 01:07:24 Looking Good by Comparison 01:11:21 Comparing Epstein Conspiracies 01:24:03 Agreeable Conspiracism 01:27:13 Outro and Piers Morgan Invite Links Eric Weinstein appeals to billionaires on TwitterElliot Paisley: Chris Williamson Is A Slave Gary’s Economics: My Documentary is Coming Out THIS WEEK!! – why you should watch itThe Times: Gary Stevenson: I want a wealth tax on the super-rich — like meNews Nation: Tucker & Chris Cuomo: The FULL ConversationHasan Debates Professor Jiang On His Wild Predictions | HasanAbi Archive

In this Decoding Academia episode, we venture into comparative psychology, focusing on a fascinating line of work by Fumihiro Kano and colleagues on social intelligence and theory of mind in great apes. By showing apes short videos and tracking where they look, researchers examine whether they expect others to act based on what they have seen, what they know, or what they falsely believe. This approach offers a remarkable window into the evolutionary roots of human social cognition or, alternatively, the most elaborate way yet devised to explore what a chimp thinks of a man in a chimpanzee costume. We discuss what this kind of research might reveal about social intelligence across species: whether apes understand intentions, knowledge, and false beliefs; how their abilities compare with humans, dogs, and other animals; and why studying minds without language requires ingenuity, caution, and tolerance for participants who may simply decide the whole enterprise is beneath them. There is also some discussion of the usual complications: small samples, difficult data, flexible analyses, replication, and the gap between a beautifully designed experiment and a result we should treat as settled fact. But the main story is the genuinely intriguing attempt to study Theory of Mind beyond humans. Along the way, we discuss chimpanzee costumes, zoo life, dogs, and the disturbing possibility that crocodiles may be running more sophisticated cooperative hunting operations than most university committees. *The full episode is available on Patreon (57 mins)* 00:00 Introduction 03:57 Chimpanzee Theory of Mind & Eye Tracking 13:03 Attention, Grabbing and Orientation 24:03 The Role of Memory in Anticipation 26:10 Revenge of the Researcher 31:21 Statistical Concerns 43:44 Comparative Psychology Thoughts 49:13 Non-climbing Tigers and Cooperative Crocodiles 51:20 Matt's New Friends and Outro Relevant papers for the episode: Kano, F., & Hirata, S. (2015). Great apes make anticipatory looks based on long-term memory of single events. Current Biology, 25(19), 2513-2517. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2015.08.004 Kano, F., & Call, J. (2017). Great ape social attention. In Evolution of the brain, cognition, and emotion in vertebrates (pp. 187-206). Tokyo: Springer Japan.

We return for Part 2 of our coverage of “Professor” Jiang, the internet’s favourite new geopolitical prophet, secondary-school sage, and proud owner of an ever-expanding box of educational props. Having already treated us to multiple maps, chess pieces, and a sealed metal case of predictions, Jiang is back with more predictions, more props, and even higher-level insights. This time, we get the dramatic unveiling of a fresh batch of forecasts, including the forthcoming U.S. civil war, AI surveillance states, a grand bargain with China, the Greater Israel project, and the coming East Asian conflict. During all of this, we pause to consider Jiang’s status as a Beijing-based geopolitical commentator who manages to be just critical enough of Chinese surveillance to sound daring, but yet is most reliably focused on predictions of imminent Western collapse, American hubris, and the doom of the U.S. empire. But the real journey begins when Jiang sets the geopolitics aside and invites us into Plato’s Allegorical Cave, updating it for the modern era by linking it to Korean television melodramas. Out come ominous black blocks, stacked into a metaphorical tower of global control: the military-industrial complex, the financiers, the World Bank, the WTO, the media, Hollywood, schools, universities, and culture itself. What started as “predictive history” devolves into an Alex Jones-style conspiratorial rant about international financiers, globalist bankers, controlled media, and brave alternative truth-tellers seeing through the mainstream lies. The alternative media occupies a Schrödinger-like position in Jiang’s system: corrupted and controlled when it suits his narrative but also brave and rebellious when it is giving a platform to people like Jiang. Stephen Bartlett, meanwhile, fulfils his podcasting duty as a perfectly crafted avatar of the Diary of a CEO audience: curious, credulous and very receptive to the message that the system is rigged, the shadows are fake, and you, dear listener, are one of the brave truth-seekers with the courage to listen and look behind the curtain. Finally, we also reach Cosmic Jiang. The bankers are at war with the tech bros. Reality is consciousness. Matter is vibration. We are all fragments of God returning to Source. Hermetic philosophy explains Plato. Kabbalah explains the Middle East. Israel is trying to force the hand of God. The world will end; paradise will return. It turns out all of that geopolitical analysis was actually just a sideshow... So join us for the conclusion of Professor Jiang: a masterclass in massive domino-based reasoning, geopolitical dressing on bog-standard conspiracy theory, and the enduring appeal of intellectual junk food. Sources Diary of a CEO: Professor Jiang: World War 3 Is About To Begin, Let Me Explain!Mehdi Hasan vs. “Professor” JiangProfessor Jiang talking about the Nephilim and Other Such Stuff: The World Is a Prison – The Secret Meaning of God And Creation | Prof. Jiang XueqinProfessor Jiang promoting creationism and denying evolutionThe National Security Strategy of the United States Document