{"podcast":{"title":"Decoding the Gurus","slug":"decoding-the-gurus-1328110","podcast_index_feed_id":1328110,"rss_url":"https://feeds.captivate.fm/decoding-the-gurus/","website_url":"https://decoding-the-gurus.captivate.fm","image_url":"https://artwork.captivate.fm/ca36b15f-e9a3-44d0-b341-cb03f96046e3/aj9LitB3bvW15m3-LL0fusjp.jpg","author":"Christopher Kavanagh and Matthew Browne","episode_count":247,"summary":"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!","last_synced_at":null,"page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/decoding-the-gurus-1328110"},"episode":{"title":"The Rise of the Science Populists with Sam Gregson and Tim Henke","slug":"the-rise-of-the-science-populists-with-sam-gregson-and-tim-henke","published_at":"2026-02-09T10:20:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/decoding-the-gurus-1328110/the-rise-of-the-science-populists-with-sam-gregson-and-tim-henke","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/decoding-the-gurus-1328110","url":"https://decoding-the-gurus.captivate.fm/episode/the-rise-of-the-science-populists-with-sam-gregson-and-tim-henke","audio_url":"https://episodes.captivate.fm/episode/81d77647-8d84-4094-8144-8d442d26bd3b.mp3","summary":"In this interview episode, we are joined by physicists Sam Gregson ( Bad Boy of Science YouTube channel) and Tim Henke to examine the rise of science populism : a style of science communication that borrows the tactics of political populism, including grievance narratives, institutional distrust, and conspiratorial framing, while presenting its advocates as lone truth-tellers battling a corrupt academic elite. We discuss how DTG favourites like Sabine Hossenfelder and Eric Weinstein, as well as fresh new faces Brian Keating and Avi Loeb, deploy selective truths about physics to fuel self-aggrandising, anti-expert narratives. Along the way, we also cover stuff like why “physics hasn’t progressed in 50 years”, cranks are useful props for populist arguments, and the strange obsession with Nobel Prizes. If you are interested in guru dynamics, science communication, and physics crankery, this might be an episode for you. Links Bad Boy of Science (Sam Gregson) Tim's Profile Website Bad Boy of Science – The Rise of Physics Populisers Theories of Everything (Kurt Jaimungal) Losing the Nobel Prize – Brian Keating Into the Impossible (Brian Keating) Sabine Hossenfelder’s YouTube Channel The Portal (Eric Weinstein) The Galileo Project (Avi Loeb) Sean Carroll – Mindscape / Preposterous Universe Not Even Wrong (Peter Woit)","meta_description":"In this interview episode, we are joined by physicists Sam Gregson ( Bad Boy of Science YouTube channel) and Tim Henke to examine the rise of science popu…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":5722,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/decoding-the-gurus-1328110/episodes/the-rise-of-the-science-populists-with-sam-gregson-and-tim-henke/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/decoding-the-gurus-1328110/the-rise-of-the-science-populists-with-sam-gregson-and-tim-henke.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}