---
# System prepended metadata

title: A Guide to Modern Gurus
tags: [Templates, Book]

---

A Guide to Modern Gurus
===

Inspired and informed by the *Decoding the Gurus* podcast
---
The alternative media landscape is a treacherous one. 

Consumers of podcasts, Youtube videos, social media and other forms of online content are inundated with lectures and conversations covering topics that span the entire landscape of human interest and experience. From makeup tutorials, to historical discussions of World War 1, to deep dives into Coronavirus microbiology, there exists a content creator churning out content for your delight (or dismay). Often times, information and "experts" are thrust forth by algorithmic influence -- or curiosity -- with little context to gauge the quality of the information you are about to receive. 

In recent years, a particularly influential type of content creator has emerged: the secular guru. Traditionally, a guru was a spiritual guide to your moral and intellectual enlightenment. The modern online secular guru is also a teacher. But how do you know that what they are teaching is what you should be learning? If you take a math course at MIT, you can rest assured you are learning the correct math. What about a Youtube video? Well, we can usually discern the good from the bad, picking up subtle cues from the teacher that tell us whether they are the real deal. It gets harder when the curator controls all aspects of the content (sound, lighting, etc.) and when the information they relay has an emotional valence - for example, relating to politics, religion, cultural. 

*Decoding the Gurus* creators Matthew Browne and Christopher Kavanagh have thought long and hard about how to evaluate these online content creators... 


[Overview](/tJ373u1zTYWNArQiNhdkuw)

[TOC]

# Here is the new DtG unofficial Wiki

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###### tags: `Templates` `Book`
