Ranking the Gurus

Decoding the Gurus is now a venerable institution and as such we have built up quite a menagerie of would-be gurus and even a handful of not-really gurus.

So like all the hip kids today, we decided to look back at our previous gurus and arrange them on a tier list of Secular Guruosity.

If you would like to play along we’ve made a version accessible online so you can provide your rankings (available here) or you can see ours.

Also, due to an image-importing hiccup, we missed Sam Harris (B), Robert Wright (D) and Richard Dawkins (D). All are now added to the template!

Hope you enjoy and we will be back soon with a full-length decoding of Gabor Maté before the concluding chapter of the Dr. K trilogy.

If you want to support the show, join us at: https://www.patreon.com/DecodingTheGurus

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About the Podcast

Decoding the Gurus

A psychologist and an anthropologist try to make sense of the world's greatest self-declared Gurus.

An exiled Northern Irish anthropologist and a hitchhiking Australian psychologist take a close look at the contemporary crop of 'secular gurus', iconoclasts, and other exiles from the mainstream, offering their own brands of unique takes and special insights.

Leveraging two of the most diverse accents in modern podcasting, Chris and Matt dig deep into the claims, peek behind the psychological curtains, and try to figure out once and for all... What's it all About?

Join us, as we try to puzzle our way through and talk some smart-sounding smack about the intellectual giants of our age, from Jordan Peterson to Robin DiAngelo. Are they revolutionary thinkers or just grifters with delusions of grandeur?

Join us and let's find out!

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About your hosts

Christopher Kavanagh

A Northern Irish cognitive anthropologist who occasionally moonlights as a social psychologist. Chris has long standing interests in the psychology of conspiracy theorists and pseudoscience. His academic research focuses on the Cognitive Science of Religion and ritual psychology. He lives happily in Japan with his family.

Matthew Browne

An Australian psychologist and numbers-guy. He does research on all kinds of stuff, but particularly enjoys looking into why people believe the things they do: religion, conspiracy theories, alternative medicine and stuff. He's into social media in the same way people slow down for car accidents.