Decoding the Gurus

We return to podcast groundhog day where Jimmy Carr is eternally discovering that the AI is an all-knowing being that lives in the cloud and Sam Harris is constantly finding new wannabe gurus to engage in dialogos with. We also catch up with Bret’s latest plan to save America, the midterm fallout, and what happens when an actual adult goes on Diary of a CEO.The full episode is available to Patreon subscribers (2 hrs 3 mins).Join us at: https://www.patreon.com/DecodingTheGurusSupplementary Material 5800:00 Introduction01:34 Matt Is Coming to Tokyo!08:40 Niche AI Usage: Pingu-Themed Slide Decks10:57 Custom P-Value Lessons14:05 Midterm Madness in the US15:40 Prepare for the Worst and Hope for the Best20:53 Russell Brand Found Guilty of Rape24:56 The Religious Shield27:05 Michael Tracey is Batman for Accused Rapists29:34 Jimmy Savile Parallels31:51 Jensen and NVIDIA Follow-Up38:36 CEOs vs Gurus44:51 Drew Pavlou and Other Right-Wing Reactions to the Election48:06 Bret Weinstein's Unity 202857:25 The Childhood Delusions of Men01:02:03 More Drew Pavlou Schadenfreude01:05:29 Jimmy Carr Really Likes His Take on AI God01:10:25 The 4th Humiliation of Sam Harris01:11:56 The Horrific Smearing of Jimmy Carr as Right-Wing01:14:03 Making Sense Groundhog Day01:17:18 AI Is Left-Brain Activity: McGilchrist Enters!01:21:09 The asymmetrical threat from the far left01:28:16 History Podcasts and Tankie Selective Ignorance01:30:26 Communist Cosplay01:31:35 Lessons from the French Revolution?01:35:12 Twitch Politics, Ethan Klein, and Influencer Drama01:38:08 Learning About History Is Good, Actually!01:40:54 Sarah Paine on Diary of a CEO01:51:17 An Underserved Market in Podcastistan?01:52:12 Podcasters, Copyright Claims, and Removing Criticism01:57:35 Imperfect Systems01:58:49 Jordan Peterson's Halloween Surprise02:00:39 OutroSource materialChris’s interactive p-values lessonGeoff Cumming: Intro Statistics 9, Dance of the p ValuesThe Ezra Klein Show: Jensen Huang Thinks A.I. Alarmism Has Gone Too FarDrew Pavlou on committing “social suicide” to support right-wing politicsBret Weinstein’s Unity 2028 / Libertarian Party proposalAmerican Liberty PartyLibertarian Party Mises CaucusBad Stats: Jimmy Carr’s repeated AI and God routine on RoganThe Joe Rogan Experience #2571: Jimmy CarrThe Joe Rogan Experience #2326: Jimmy Carr, the earlier appearance discussed in our decodingMaking Sense #500: The Playing Animal, with Jimmy CarrDTG: Interview with Sam Harris on Gurus, Tribalism & the Culture WarThe Rest Is History #711: The Terror, Killing God (Part 5)The Diary of a CEO: Sarah Paine on Russia, Ukraine, and the risk of world warMikhaila Peterson: “Dr. Strange Returns”, Halloween photographMichael Tracey’s post about the Russell Brand verdictHila Klein’s statement about Ethan KleinThe H3 Podcast crew’s statementRelevant articlesNPR / WBUR: Democrats win full control of CongressVariety: Russell Brand found guilty of rape and sexual assault

Part Two of our Jensen Huang decoding gets to AI safety, where Jensen gives the labs some simple advice: if your products aren’t safe, don’t release them! There we go. Glad we got that sorted.Luckily Jensen knows a lot of CEOs and he’s confident they want to do the right thing. Good CEOs and good engineers, doing good work. Reassuring stuff, although Volkswagen presumably had a few of those too when it was cheating on emissions tests. We’re slightly less inclined to treat Jensen’s confidence in his rich friends as a safety mechanism, particularly when he does rather well out of selling them chips.Though to be fair, he seems a little more open to independent auditors and new regulations than some accounts of the interview suggest. Matt also offers some qualified reasons for optimism about AI safety research. So there are some things to discuss beyond whether we should trust all the nice billionaires.We also cover his "interesting" environmental argument. To save the planet, Jensen explains, we’ll first have to do it quite a lot of damage. It’s like surgery: an ENORMOUS amount of pain now, with the promise that things might possibly get better afterwards. In this case, perhaps some more solar plants. For operations usually they give you anaesthetics, but a lovely new park next to the data centre will maybe do the same job.In short, there’s plenty of out-of-touch billionaire optimism here, and a convenient overlap between what’s good for the future/planet and what’s good for Nvidia sales. But even with all that, Jensen remains a bit short on the guru flair we usually encounter. C'est la vie!Source materialThe Ezra Klein Show: Jensen Huang Thinks A.I. Alarmism Has Gone Too FarI Think You Should Leave: Hot Dog Car Sketch (Netflix Is A Joke)Piece of Shit Book Club: How to Become a Christian in Seven Days by Russell BrandRussell Brand: How to Become a Christian in Seven DaysYou Can See Everything: Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim's Elizabeth Holmes documentaryRelevant articlesPacing the Frontier: The AI employees' open letter quoted in the interviewNick Cammarata / Goodfire: Neural Networks Are Already CleanUS Environmental Protection Agency: Learn About Volkswagen Violations (Dieselgate)

Jensen Huang is so hot right now; not only did he make some statements that were widely derided, but he also featured in a glitzy "collab" episode with our favourite lone wolf, Lex Fridman. Sensing guru vibes, we turned to take a deep dive into his recent interview with Ezra Klein. Huang is the co-founder and CEO of Nvidia; he also really likes Lex Fridman and the All-In Besties. Trump even called him while he was on the All-In stage! So it's fair to say we went into this one expecting yet another bloviating tech CEO and were ready to join the dunking. We do not do guilt by association, of course, but bad vibes were in the air.Huang thinks AI will transform the economy, take over tedious tasks, and leave us free to do more interesting things. Some jobs will disappear, but new industries will emerge to replace them, like wellness spas... It's okay for those whose jobs are disappearing, though Jensen has a solution: they should become systems thinkers!Alongside such high-level insights, Matt and Chris do find some points of agreement, including his impatience with apocalyptic predictions being presented as scientific findings. The discussion also highlights a difference between our dear hosts: Huang's irritation with people talking about software like little human minds makes Chris increasingly sympathetic to him. Matt, as a committed pan-psychic, is less impressed by the reassurance that engineers understand what they are building, and thinks understanding the components is rather different from knowing what the whole system will do. Inevitably, this leads to a discussion of dogs, ants, and what "unpredictable" means, because apparently we are sensemakers now.We will get to the fuller discussion of AI safety in Part Two. Until then, listeners can enjoy the experience of us listening to one of the less terrible tech billionaires and disagreeing with each other over minor points!Source materialThe Ezra Klein Show: Jensen Huang Thinks A.I. Alarmism Has Gone Too FarThe New York Times: Episode page and transcriptLex Fridman: Taiwan: The Most Epic Night Market Experience w/ Jensen Huang (the Taiwan visit mentioned in the introduction)All-In Summit: Jensen Huang: The Doomer Hoax, Superintelligence is Here, and The Future of AI (ft. President Trump)Creative Destruction Lab: Geoff Hinton: On Radiology (2016)Kurzgesagt: AI Just Crossed the Terrifying Line - Now What? (previously titled The Moment They Lost Control of AI)Relevant articlesVaswani et al. (2017): Attention Is All You NeedAnthropic: When AI builds itselfMETR: Brief independent investigation of agents’ behavior, reasoning and collaboration in the OpenAI / Hugging Face hacking incidentAnthropic: 2026 Usage Policy update (including its policy on abusive treatment of models)

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/DecodingTheGurus00:00:00 Introduction00:01:07 Dog Updates and Cultural Appropriation00:07:20 Annual Health Check Approval00:14:47 Matt’s p(doom) Update00:17:26 Matt’s Dragon00:21:34 Becoming Obsolete?00:26:27 P-Zombie Thoughts on AI00:33:03 Productivity Gains?00:36:22 Jacob Rees-Mogg Meets Tucker Carlson00:39:00 Tucker Carlson: Russian Apologist Extraordinaire00:48:14 Cognitive Empathy for Russia00:55:04 Who Cares About Treaties?00:58:45 Studied Ignorance and Russian Sycophancy01:05:50 The Isolationist Strain01:11:33 Wormtongue Carlson01:17:03 WHAT?!?01:23:02 Hitler Apologetics01:29:02 Bespoke Definitions of Sovereignty01:37:17 Mr Hitler and His Promises01:40:59 Great Fun with a Nazi Apologist Imbecile01:42:17 The Joyful League of Big Characters: George Galloway Enters01:46:20 Piers Morgan Is a Bad Guy01:49:17 Flydubai False-Flag Conspiracies01:56:35 The Young Turks Are Conspiracy Theorists02:02:54 Jimmy Dore Claims Bondi Beach Was a False Flag02:08:15 Cenk Explains False-Flag Psychology02:13:53 Ana Notices Some Anomalies02:18:25 Sneako Also Has Questions02:20:16 Hasan Has Noticed Some Red Flags02:35:00 Strategic Disclaimers Are Standard Practice02:40:06 The Hannibal Directive02:48:53 Dysphoric BondingSource materialKurzgesagt: 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 novelsRelevant articlesUN 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/DecodingTheGurusSupplementary Material 5600:00 Introduction01:58 The Hugging Face incident08:46 AI risks and AI discourse22:29 OpenAI’s presentation and the incentives around AI safety29:51 How worried should we be?40:13 Disagreeing about AI46:15 Peter Boghossian’s AI-generated utopia and dystopia52:00 Matt’s favourite DJ meme53:32 Tucker Carlson meets algebra1:00:18 Andrew Callaghan and Channel 51:02:07 Hunter Biden’s $LAPTOP meme coin1:06:08 A brief intervention on “paleocon”1:13:41 Andrew Callaghan explains the email-list mistake1:23:46 Andrew Callaghan on tech oligarchs1:36:28 Taylor Lorenz’s political independence1:42:35 The Great Bespoke Debate of 20261:56:35 Hasan, Mearsheimer, and Russia2:07:16 Peace is restoredLinksHugging 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