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Published on:

7th Feb 2026

Supplementary Material 44: Peasant Archmages, Moral Panics, and LOTR Parenting Tips

We descend once more into the Gurusphere, encountering secret peasant archmages, decline narratives, Epstein emails, and endless moral panics.

The full episode is available to Patreon subscribers (1 hour, 37 minutes).

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

00:00 SM 44 PF

00:23 Introduction

01:30 Konstantin Kisin: Not Left Or Right, Just Right

05:20 Boghossian is shocked by pessimistic French people

08:50 Konstantin and Warren Smith as relics of the anti-SJW era

12:45 A PSA! Hyper Capitalism Tier Update!

18:36 Matt's AV Setup

20:01 Recommendation: Successville (British version)

21:40 My peasant farmer dad is secretly an Archmage!

28:14 Scott Galloway talks with Gwyneth Paltrow

40:18 American Capitalist Culture and the Gurus

48:54 Bryan Johnson vs AG1

51:45 Bryan Johnson & Epstein Schmoozing

58:09 Bari Weiss's Peter Attia Woes

59:14 Epstein and QAnon Conspiracies

01:03:23 Overinterpreting Epstein emails

01:09:04 Shermer promotes Dave Rubin to hawk his book on Truth

01:10:37 Conspiracy Theory prevalence on left and riht

01:17:44 Jonathan Haidt and his anti-social media crusade

01:23:15 Plato on the Corruption of the Youth

01:24:30 The Eternal Appeal of Decline Narratives

01:26:22 They won't let you enjoy things anymore...

01:30:24 Matt's laissez-faire parenting tips

01:31:45 Life lessons from Lord of the Rings

01:34:17 The Witch King of Angmar defeated by a Woke White Women

Sources

  1. Konstantin Kisin on not being left or right
  2. Boghossian and Kisin bemoan civilisational decline narratives
  3. The Guardian on Bari Weiss’s new CBS “Podcastistan” hires
  4. Niall Ferguson on how Trump “won Davos”
  5. The Guardian: Elon Musk had more extensive ties to Epstein than previously known
  6. My Farmer Dad Is Secretly an Archmage – viral short-form fantasy drama
  7. Behind the Scenes of My Farmer Dad Is Secretly an Archmage
  8. Original Chinese version of My Farmer Dad Is Secretly an Archmage (Destiny’s Keeper)
  9. Michael Shermer promoting Dave Rubin
  10. Michael Shermer previously promoted Stefan Molyneux
  11. Bryan Johnson criticising AG1 (sort of)
  12. Miami Herald’s early investigative coverage of Jeffrey Epstein
  13. Early New York Magazine profile of Jeffrey Epstein (2002)
  14. Vanity Fair on Jeffrey Epstein and elite power networks (2003)
  15. New York Magazine on Epstein before the non-prosecution deal (2007)
  16. Michael Shermer on conspiracies and truth-seeking on The Rubin Report
  17. Hong (2026) on the cognitive foundations of decline narratives
  18. New York Times on Jonathan Haidt and new evidence on social media
  19. Oliver Curry pushes back on Haidt’s claims
  20. Chris Ferguson responds critically to Haidt’s arguments
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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.