Best Manvir Singh Podcasts (2025)

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Shamanism and the Art of Charismatic Otherness with Manvir Singh 1:21:34

10d ago1:21:34

1:21:34

The Decoders welcome back cognitive anthropologist Manvir Singh for a continued exploration into the social and cognitive dimensions of shamanism. Building upon their earlier conversation, this episode involves further discussion of the psychological mechanisms and cultural patterns that make shamanic practices a recurring feature across human soci…

1
Shamanism, witchcraft, and the power of narrative (with Manvir Singh) 1:32:43

13d ago1:32:43

1:32:43

Read the full transcript here. What do westerners misunderstand about "tribal" cultures? How does justice in very small communities differ from justice in large nation-states? Why do some cultures have bride prices (i.e., groom's family pays bride's family) and others have dowries (i.e., bride's family pays groom's family)? How do cultures differ w…

1
Manvir Singh: the shamanic roots of all religion

25d ago

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Today Razib talks to Manvir Singh about shamanism, religion and anthropology. Singh is an assistant professor of anthropology at the University of California, Davis. An artist and essayist, he is also now a regular contributor to The New Yorker. His academic interests lie in explaining why most human societies, from preliterate foragers to urbanite…

1
Trump as Messianic Prophet (w/ Manvir Singh) [TEASER] 2:10

26d ago2:10

2:10

Listen to the rest of this premium episode by subscribing at patreon.com/knowyourenemy. In a recent New Yorker essay, our guest, UC Davis anthropologist Manvir Singh, argues, "The Trumpian mystique echoes a dynamic that has occurred for centuries and across cultures. Its core ingredients—an alleged league of pedophiles, a godlike miracle worker, pr…

1
Decoding Academia 33: The Great Müller-Lyer Debate from Fish Tanks to Eye Operations Patreon Preview 1:02:48

3d ago1:02:48

1:02:48

Welcome to another enlightening episode of Decoding Academia. In this bonus preview of our highly secretive Patreon content, we are discussing a controversial paper by Dorsa Amir and Chaz Firestone that challenges the established notion of the Müller-Lyer illusion being a product of cultural environments. Prepare yourself for some high-level discus…

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Supplementary Material 31: Aquatic Nightmares, Strategic Obliviousness, & Race Realists 46:16

4d ago46:16

46:16

We venture into the darker corners of the gurusphere and marvel at some very, very brave individuals, their valiant efforts to play devil's advocate, and some world-class discourse surfing skills. Join us, won't you? Supplementary Material 31: Aquatic Nightmares, Strategic Obliviousness, & Race Realists 00:00 Introduction & Ol Squeaky Cameo 02:57 M…

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Steve Hsu: China’s inevitable rise and America’s confused response

4d ago

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Today Razib talks to repeat guest Steve Hsu about China, a topic with so many currently relevant dimensions gIven the PRC’s clear emergence as an economic, military and political rival to the US. Hsu is a Caltech‑trained theoretical physicist who migrated from black holes to big data, co‑invented privacy tech at SafeWeb, helped found the biotech co…

1
Steve Hsu: China's inevitable rise and America's confused response

4d ago

—

Today Razib talks to repeat guest Steve Hsu about China, a topic with so many currently relevant dimensions gIven the PRC’s clear emergence as an economic, military and political rival to the US. Hsu is a Caltech‑trained theoretical physicist who migrated from black holes to big data, co‑invented privacy tech at SafeWeb, helped found the biotech co…

1
Reagan, the Movie (w/ Jesse Brenneman) [UNLOCKED] 1:22:18

5d ago1:22:18

1:22:18

As the world falls apart — and we prep for our Buckley mega-episode with Sam Tanenhaus — we're unlocking this fun episode from late last year. Subscribe at Patreon.com/knowyourenemy to never miss an episode like this one. And please listen to Jesse's insane, hilarious, freakishly prescient (and fake) podcast Tech Talk. A palette cleanser for subscr…

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What can we all agree on? (with Bradley Tusk) 1:04:38

6d ago1:04:38

1:04:38

Read the full transcript here. In times of such extreme political polarization, where can we find common ground? Should we require disclosure of AI authorship? Should AI companies be required to provide fingerprinting tools that can identify when something has been generated by one of their models? Should movie theaters be required to report when m…

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Khanversation #43: Jane Smith on cargo cults and Curtis Yarvin in the New Yorker

8d ago

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Jane Smith on cargo cults Curtis Yarvin in the New Yorker Subscribe now Give a gift subscription Share Read moreBy Razib Khan

1
Joe Biden's Betrayal [TEASER] 3:23

10d ago3:23

3:23

Listen to the rest of this premium episode by subscribing at patreon.com/knowyourenemy. If you pay any attention at all to political news, it's been hard to avoid Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson's recent bombshell of a book, Original Sin: President Biden's Decline, Its Cover-up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again, which offers behind-the-scenes r…

1
Trump vs. Elon: The Gurusphere Reacts 25:32

11d ago25:32

25:32

There’s been a disturbance in the Gurusphere. Two of its central objects of worship are feuding. The guru’s guru, Elon Musk, and the MAGA God-King, Donald Trump, have finally turned on each other, trading blows on social media. In this mini supplementary episode, Matt and Chris survey the shockwaves rippling through the Gurusphere as these titanic …

1
David Gress: Plato and NATO 25 years later

11d ago

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Today Razib talks to David  Gress, a Danish historian. The son of an American literary scholar and a Danish writer, he grew up in Denmark, read Classics at Cambridge, and then earned a Ph.D. in medieval history from Bryn Mawr College in the US in 1981. During a fellowship form 1982-1992 at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution, he published on C…

1
David Gress: Plato and NATO 25 years later

11d ago

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Today Razib talks to David  Gress, a Danish historian. The son of an American literary scholar and a Danish writer, he grew up in Denmark, read Classics at Cambridge, and then earned a Ph.D. in medieval history from Bryn Mawr College in the US in 1981. During a fellowship form 1982-1992 at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution, he published on C…

1
Christopher Caldwell's Case Against Civil Rights 1:28:24

15d ago1:28:24

1:28:24

Attentive listeners will notice that this episode is about a book but isn't an author interview. That's because it's the first in a new occasional series of episodes that will be dedicated to books by conservative writers that we think are important — whether because a book articulates the right's approach to an issue or problem in an especially re…

1
Supplementary Material 30: Decoding Irish Stew, Owl Hate, and Hypothetical Avoidance 44:41

16d ago44:41

44:41

Prepare for a hearty mix of culinary tips, avoidance of hypothetical scenarios, and the usual guru grievances. Will Jordan Peterson ever admit he's a Christian? Is it ever truly possible to understand Sam Harris AND still disagree with him? And where does Joe Rogan's primal hate for owls come in? Tune in for at least some of the answers to these pr…

1
Ethan Strauss: sports and the end of the culture wars

18d ago

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On this episode of the Unsupervised Learning podcast, Razib welcomes back Ethan Strauss, a writer who has covered sports and culture for the past decade, including in the book The Victory Machine: The Making and Unmaking of the Warriors Dynasty. More recently his writing is to be found at his Substack, House of Strauss, which is notable for offerin…

1
Ethan Strauss: sports and the end of the culture wars

18d ago

—

On this episode of the Unsupervised Learning podcast, Razib welcomes back Ethan Strauss, a writer who has covered sports and culture for the past decade, including in the book The Victory Machine: The Making and Unmaking of the Warriors Dynasty. More recently his writing is to be found at his Substack, House of Strauss, which is notable for offerin…

1
Eric Weinstein vs. Sean Carroll: Pomp & Fury 2:08:22

18d ago2:08:22

2:08:22

In this medium-decoding episode, Matt and Chris turn their attention to an unlikely venue for cutting-edge theoretical physics: Piers Morgan Uncensored. There, Eric Weinstein, renegade genius and uber guru, squares off with Sean Carroll, an actual physicist and popular science communicator, in what might generously be called a “debate.” Eric brings…

1
Noah Carl and Bo Winegard: probing the intellectual darker web

18d ago

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On this episode of Unsupervised Learning, Razib talks to Bo Winegard and Noah Carl, the editors behind the online publication Aporia Magazine, founded in 2022. Winegard and Carl are both former academics. Winegard has a social psychology Ph.D. from Florida State University, and was an assistant professor at Marietta College. He was an editor at Qui…

1
Which Spencer is real? Spencer vs. his AI clone 39:56

20d ago39:56

39:56

Read the full transcript here. Can you tell which is the real Spencer and which is his AI clone? How irrational are people really? What do most people misunderstand about psychology? What are the best tools to use to accomplish various societal goals? How good are we at predicting the future? Why do we have such a hard time overcoming our tribal in…

1
Khanversation #42: Memorial Day, the end of reading and Glenn Loury’s Israel about-face

21d ago

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Memorial Day The end of reading Glenn Loury's Israel about-face Read moreBy Razib Khan

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Supplementary Material 29: Sensemaking Evolved Relationship Constellations, Woke Lucifer, and Cancerous Outrage 37:07

24d ago37:07

37:07

We enter the ontological in-between to try and spin up our paradigms to understand the next stage in relationship technology, the horrific damage of modern medicine, how Lucifer connects with wokeness, and the joys of bonding over outgroup hate. This one is a doozy... Supplementary Material 28 00:00 Introduction - On Dogs and Dough 04:37 Next Requi…

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The All-In Podcast: How Tech Titans Besties Saved the World 3:00:53

24d ago3:00:53

3:00:53

Fresh from unbuckling their seatbelts on the Gliding Guru luxury jet and mooring the show’s mega-yacht, our decoders are feeling an unexpected surge of empathy for their last decoding subject, Gary Stevenson. It turns out that a bit of jet-lagged decadence really hones one's sensitivity to wealth inequality. Or maybe it’s just the natural response …

1
Tim Lee: 2025 and the driverless car revolution

24d ago

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Today Razib talks to Tim Lee, a previous guest on Unsupervised Learning. Lee hosts Understanding AI. Lee covered tech more generally for a decade for Washington Post, Ars Technica, and Vox.com. He has a master's degree in computer science from Princeton. Lee writes extensively about general AI issues, from Deep Research’s capabilities to the state …

1
Manvir Singh: the shamanic roots of all religion

25d ago

—

Today Razib talks to Manvir Singh about shamanism, religion and anthropology. Singh is an assistant professor of anthropology at the University of California, Davis. An artist and essayist, he is also now a regular contributor to The New Yorker. His academic interests lie in explaining why most human societies, from preliterate foragers to urbanite…

1
Too many mental health challenges and not enough psychiatrists (with Jacob Appel) 1:18:35

27d ago1:18:35

1:18:35

Read the full transcript here. How big is the current mental health crisis? What's causing it? What do we know about the age distribution of people suffering from mental health issues right now? Is the crisis just that more people are suffering from anxiety and depression, or is there an increase in other disorders as well? Why are psychiatrists se…

1
Bonus monologue: Finland as Germania

27d ago

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This podcast accompanies my post Germans are from Finland, Finns are from Yakutia. The two preprints at the heart of this post are, Postglacial genomes from foragers across Northern Eurasia reveal prehistoric mobility associated with the spread of the Uralic and Yeniseian languages and Steppe Ancestry in Western Eurasia and the Spread of the German…