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Published on:

16th May 2025

Supplementary Material 28: The Ultimate Geometric Unifying Cognitive-Theoretic Iceberg

We exercise our ethnographic muscles as we revel in the esoteric dynamics of Australian Pool Culture, the mysteries of Eric Weinstein's theories as revealed by Curt Jaimungal, and the contradictions of MAGA cultists.

Supplementary Material 28

00:00 Matt's Ethnography of Australian Swimming Culture

06:19 Pool Etiquette and Social Dynamics

08:46 Mutual Humiliation and Blackmail

08:51 Reciprocal Humiliation

12:01 Patreon Question of the Week

13:37 Curt Jaimungal explores Geometric Unity

19:12 The Weinsteinian Iceberg

26:38 Eric's Response to Curt

28:40 A potential doomsday device?

29:55 The wisdom of genuine seekers

35:00 The Pseudo Profundity Mask

38:19 Pandering to anti-'mainstream' science audiences

40:37 Earnest Fans

43:54 Passive consumption at YouTube University

46:21 Independent Learning and  the Pitfalls of Self-Taught Knowledge

49:53 The Illusion of Easy Learning

56:00 Credentials vs. Actual Knowledge

59:46 Media Criticism & the Fifth Column

01:02:47 Priorities in the Media Business

01:04:29 Why is strong criticism so taboo?

01:08:25 Brand Building in the Alternative Media

01:12:02 Batya joins the Fifth Column

01:16:37 Debating Tariffs

01:22:46 A rare instance of REAL disagreement in alternative media!

01:25:58 Sensitive MAGA Cultist Sycophancy

01:32:10 The Working Class don't want iPhones

01:41:06 Outro

The full episode is available for Patreon subscribers (1hr 43 mins).

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

Sources

- The Fifth Column #502 - The Second Battle of Batya (w/ Batya Ungar-Sargon)

- The Fifth Column #503 - Mea Minima Culpa

- The Fifth Column Members Only #258 - We Don't Talk About Fight Club (Mostly)

- Curt Jaimungal - Eric Weinstein's Theory of Everything "Geometric Unity" Explained

- Curt Jaimungal - Chris Langan: The Most In-Depth Interview with the World's Smartest Man

- Eric's Twitter response to Curt

- Josh Rogin's (mild) criticism of Bill Maher

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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

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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

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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.