Decoding the Gurus - Professor Jiang, Part 2: Cosmic Jiang's Jenga Tower of Bullshit

Episode Date: July 3, 2026

We return for Part 2 of our coverage of “Professor” Jiang, the internet’s favourite new geopolitical prophet, secondary-school sage, and proud owner of an ever-expanding box of educational props. Having already treated us to multiple maps, chess pieces, and a sealed metal case of predictions, Jiang is back with more predictions, more props, and even higher-level insights.This time, we get the dramatic unveiling of a fresh batch of forecasts, including the forthcoming U.S. civil war, AI surveillance states, a grand bargain with China, the Greater Israel project, and the coming East Asian conflict. During all of this, we pause to consider Jiang’s status as a Beijing-based geopolitical commentator who manages to be just critical enough of Chinese surveillance to sound daring, but yet is most reliably focused on predictions of imminent Western collapse, American hubris, and the doom of the U.S. empire.But the real journey begins when Jiang sets the geopolitics aside and invites us into Plato’s Allegorical Cave, updating it for the modern era by linking it to Korean television melodramas. Out come ominous black blocks, stacked into a metaphorical tower of global control: the military-industrial complex, the financiers, the World Bank, the WTO, the media, Hollywood, schools, universities, and culture itself. What started as “predictive history” devolves into an Alex Jones-style conspiratorial rant about international financiers, globalist bankers, controlled media, and brave alternative truth-tellers seeing through the mainstream lies.The alternative media occupies a Schrödinger-like position in Jiang’s system: corrupted and controlled when it suits his narrative but also brave and rebellious when it is giving a platform to people like Jiang. Stephen Bartlett, meanwhile, fulfils his podcasting duty as a perfectly crafted avatar of the Diary of a CEO audience: curious, credulous and very receptive to the message that the system is rigged, the shadows are fake, and you, dear listener, are one of the brave truth-seekers with the courage to listen and look behind the curtain.Finally, we also reach Cosmic Jiang. The bankers are at war with the tech bros. Reality is consciousness. Matter is vibration. We are all fragments of God returning to Source. Hermetic philosophy explains Plato. Kabbalah explains the Middle East. Israel is trying to force the hand of God. The world will end; paradise will return. It turns out all of that geopolitical analysis was actually just a sideshow...So join us for the conclusion of Professor Jiang: a masterclass in massive domino-based reasoning, geopolitical dressing on bog-standard conspiracy theory, and the enduring appeal of intellectual junk food.SourcesDiary of a CEO: Professor Jiang: World War 3 Is About To Begin, Let Me Explain!Mehdi Hasan vs. “Professor” JiangProfessor Jiang talking about the Nephilim and Other Such Stuff: The World Is a Prison – The Secret Meaning of God And Creation | Prof. Jiang XueqinProfessor Jiang promoting creationism and denying evolutionThe National Security Strategy of the United States Document

Oh, I'm out. We're back. Back in the, you know, the captain and first meet seat here, wherever, whichever is which, you know, that we leave it to the audience to decide. But we're back with the professor. The school is in session. And we're about to be regaled with more insights. Are you ready? Yeah, I'm ready. We are all Stephen Bartlett in the scenario. We're getting schooled. We thought we knew about how geopolitics and the world in. indeed, it worked. But it turns out we didn't, and Zhang is going to continue explaining it to us. That's right. We have a lot of props. Anyway, take it away, Martin Chris. Well, yeah, so like we mentioned, you know, Zhang, a lot of predictions in this content overall. But there is one section that comes kind of in the second half, where we've already had the presentations and the chest set and so on. And then there is this. dramatic unveiling of his new set of predictions, right?

Remember, he had three before. Now he has eight more, and they bring out like a metal box and unfold it. So, yeah, listen to this. You've made a series of new predictions. You've made eight new predictions. Okay. And I have them in this box here. Okay.

I'll let you reveal what those predictions are. Okay. this is one prediction Okay Okay So this is the most controversial prediction Okay I predict that there will be a use of a war

And Trump will get a third term You think Trump will get a third term Isn't that constitutionally illegal There are things that are unconventional And immoral And wrong and evil and dangerous And there are certain things that are illegal Trump getting a third term is not illegal.

It's coming out of the get strong. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. I think this goes for a lot of his predictions, but in this one, in explaining why he thinks this is definitely going to happen, he basically makes the case that it's possible. It could happen. Yeah.

They don't actually, I think, get to the case for why it will definitely happen. But anyway. No. No, he has different scenarios. But I mean, there you have US Civil War plus Trump third term. And he was more shocked by the Trump third term and the Civil War. That sort of went out to the radar. Yeah.

And you know, you heard Bartlett express some surprise or questions. Is that likely to happen isn't there an issue there? and he does press on with that a little bit. He would turn 83 years old in the same year that he finishes his second turn. This is a man who eats McDonald's hamburgers every day. He doesn't really work out. Yet, on the campaign trail, he's able to go to two rallies a day. And in each rally, just 50,000 people.

and he will talk on and on and on. Then at night, when he should be sleeping, he's either on through social, tweeting about the world, or he's calling up reporters and telling him or her some confidential information that he really shouldn't be discussing with the media. This is a man who is addicted to attention. This is a man who loves the spotlight.

He's lived all his life in the spotlight. For him, death is to be ignored. So given his personality, he would rather die in office than live peacefully somewhere else. And of those two strategies that you named, where he puts his son in and then becomes president that way, or, you know, there's a war breaks out. So he says he has to stay in office. Of those two strategies, which one do you think he's more likely to deploy? I actually think that given his narcissism, he would prefer the first strategy. He's putting his son in.

Now, Matt, do you remember he there floats the idea about like Trump being addicted to attention, which, you know, I think few people would dispute. But he here is hiding his power level a little because if you remember, we heard him explain that because of receiving attention that Trump probably can't die. do you remember that clip he was talking in a different kios and he like floated that he might be immortal so this is one of those things where like jang is being fairly outlandish at points in this but he he is holding back some of the more cookie stuff at least at this stage that's true that's all true

but i have a comment chris and i'm going to take this in a slightly different direction i think now is as good a time as any to mention this, which is just to point out that Professor Zhang is a Chinese-born Canadian citizen, but he is resident in Beijing, and he's got a level of international profile, like going on Pears Morgan and stuff like that, that is unusual and definitely notable, I think, for a Chinese-born person living in China. So he would absolutely be on the CCP's radar. Now, I think it's interesting what he chooses to talk about, right?

Because he makes pretty strong claims. I mean, just as a aside, really, he's framing the president of the United States is very immoral and driven by all kinds of bad motives. He's predicting civil war and strife in the United States and the collapse of the American Empire. I don't think, I mean, someone could find a clip somewhere and prove me wrong, but it would be very interesting. to know whether he would have ever made similar predictions regarding China. Because certain things you don't do in China, which is you don't criticize the leadership, you don't say things that is going to contribute to instability. There is a degree of free speech in China as long as you don't cross any of those guardrails. And yeah, it just occurred to me of all of the really

kind of strong inflammatory, you know, frightening kind of predictions. he makes. I don't recall him making anyone's that might put China in a bad light, the CCP in a bad light, or anything like that. Let's see, whether that's true or not.

So in this case, Matt, this is one of the predictions that he makes about AI surveillance. So see what you think about this one. Okay. So you think there'll be a draft and you think this war in Iran's going to trickle on for a long time?

How long, 10, 20 years, like Afghanistan? I don't see it stopping. Okay. Yeah. What's next in your prediction box? Okay. Okay, this is pretty bad. The world will move towards an AI civilian state.

I feel like that's already happening. I think it's pretty obvious. Yeah. Okay. So there you had them, you know, talking about surveillance states and AI surveillance as well. That the Iran war is going to go on forever. a good prediction given current developments. But why did I say this is related to China?

Well, listen to this. How does it work in China? Well, in China, we all have digital ID. If you want to access anything in China, you need your digital ID. So if you're going to open a bank account, you have to use a digital ID. If you want to use any e-payments,

you have to use digital ID. If you want to use a phone, you have to use digital ID. So everyone's part of this national database. And then what this allows government to do is basically monitor if you do. Because basically, depending on how you buy things, I can then extrapolate to figure out your behavior. And then I can figure out your thinking.

And then I can create incentives in order to guide and control your behavior. So in China, can they see everything that you do? Yes, they can. Messages you send. Everything. Payments you make. Everything.

Everything. Everything you do online is being recorded and it's being input it into the database to figure out who you are, what you want, and how to control you. And they think this is progress, by the way. This is progress. because I'm making you a better person, right? I'm helping you achieve your dream. I'm helping you lose weight. I'm helping you avoid drugs.

I'm helping you work harder. Won't you be in trouble if you talk against this system? Well, me personally. Okay. So I operate in a great area where I do not interact with the Chinese Internet. So everything I do is in English. It's meant for consumption in the Western world. and I don't talk to Chinese reporters,

I don't talk to Chinese social media. I have no Chinese media presence. And I am not at all influential in China. And I prefer that way because if I ever became famous in China, then they would obviously want to control me in order to better influence other people. So there you go, Matt. He said, you know, at least some descriptor.

effectively critical things by China's... Implicitly. Implicitly, it might be construed that he is not in favour of the total digital surveillance that they have going on in China, but it was implicit, I think. I don't really buy his argument there that he's totally off the CCP radar. I mean, there's very well-documented cases of the long reach of the CCP to Chinese-born people, even who are Australian citizens, resident in Australia, students who are studying here and so on, they are very active and very aware and can bring a great deal of pressure to bear even when

they're resident overseas. So for someone who's resident in Beijing and someone with his profile, because like random university students can be lent on in Australia, I just find it very implausible that he's not on their radar. And I think what you played there is not an inconsistive. with that theory. Like, I think if you were looking at Professor Yang from the point of view of the intelligence agency, the propaganda arms or whatever, he's a useful figure, right? So you would quite happily tolerate that kind of implicit criticism of China because he is framing everything in terms of American instability, I guess, fostering paranoia and suspicion and cynicism in the United States.

And, you know, when he frames things like the rivalry between China and America, he pretty much describes China as very much a rational actor, you know, playing the geopolitical chess game. But then in describing America, he says things like, I don't think it's ideology, I think it's hubris and racism. Americans think they're the best and they hate the China is catching up. And, you know, you've heard him very confidently predicting, you know, social chaos, civil war, destruction, and these incompetent or kind of crazy leaders,

I would be very surprised if he were to say that President Xi, his schemes are going to fall apart, he's overreaching, it's going to fail, and that China will split into civil war. That's not the kind of thing that one says in China. So I'll just say it could be a coincidence, but I'm just, I think it's, you know, in terms of which theories he is countenancy. I think there are guardrails there. Oh, yeah. Well, I mean, he does say there, you know,

his strategy is to speak to Western audiences in English, right, to kind of stare off the radar. I agree with you that I don't think you're off the radar if you get that bigger profile that he's had and you're, you know, you're featuring all over the internet for making these predictions. But I do suspect that, you know, if the CCP have had,

contact with him, that the message would be along those lines. Like, as long as you're telling a Western audience that, you know, the world and the U.S. empire is going to fall, that stuff is all okay, but just don't be, you know, bad-mouthing China. Because, like, his message is apocalyptic. It does kind of present the West as basically being in decline and, you know, everything going to fall apart. So if that's the message primarily being given to the Western audience, and it's not too critical

of China, maybe it's useful for them. Yeah, that's right. It's a net positive. So yeah, I'd say they'd be quite happy with him. It's just a fact that a Beijing-based commentator, Chinese or not, who did predict a Chinese civil war and

named Xi's failings by name, would not remain a comfortably operating Beijing-based commentator. It's just not the case. So I just think it's worth being aware of that context. Yeah, yeah. I agree.

And you got to hear there, you know, a couple more predictions, right? This one that like AI will be used in surveillance more. Again, yeah, is that hard to tell that that's going to. It's like saying computers. I think computers are going to be used more. Well, no, he is saying, you know, the world's going to become like a, he's implying the world's going to become a total surveillance police state. Oh, we're all going to be in the pasticon. Yeah, much like China.

I think that's the lurid implication. So again, the Cassandra type forecasting. Yeah. I'm sure, I'm sure in line with what you said, if there were any, any kind of increased monitoring or, you know, intelligent kind of processing of data going on with AI, then he would chalk that up as a win. That's right. And, you know, to return to the earlier point about, like, Trump's staying on, and as I mentioned, Bartlett does provide, like, little bits of pushback. And Zhang makes something clear. I find it really implausible to think that Trump would run and would run for a third term. So again, this is a prediction.

Yeah. And it is a test of the validity of my theoretical framework. I was looking at some of the the constitutions and the laws and it says that the 22nd amendment explicitly states no person shall be elected to the office of the president more than twice

some theorists have tried to argue that since the amendment says elected a person might be able to serve a third term if they were appointed to succeed to the role exactly yeah so I'm just pointing out there right you know as they often do he describes it as a theoretical

free-remork and prediction model and is it likely that Trump will attempt to, by hook or crook, stay on for a third term? It's possible, right? A lot of people are saying it's within the realm of what Trump could do. So, no, it wouldn't validate Zhang's model if Trump tries to hold on the power. Like it just, but he kind of is like, well, we'll see. And, you know, the specific details will always be malleable. And if Trump doesn't stay on, as we've already covered, he's got that covered because

he said, well, the Democrats will come in and follow his agenda anyway. So like it's, but I do know that like he's kind of presenting it that if these things don't pan out, you can take it that his model isn't very good. So just to spare that in mind as we continue on down them here. So you had that Trump's going to stay on. We had the surveillance state. We have this rather mundane prediction. What's your next prediction?

My second prediction is there will be a grand bargain between the United States and China. What does that mean? It means that people expect that the United States and China will go to war at some point over Taiwan. It means a lot of people expect that China, China wants to challenge American hegemony and replace America as the global superpower. But China does not want to do that. China's probably happy with America being the world's hegemon because you have to invest so much of your resources into fighting these wars that back up your nation. China doesn't want to fight these wars.

So what China is going to do is try to triangulate between Russia and Russia and, you know, in the United States. This is what happened during the Cold War. When China was not actually on the side of the Soviet Union, China was part of the non-aligned community.

And that's what China's going to strive for in World War III, where China may help out Iran, may provide financing for Russia, but it's also going to strike deals with the United States as well. So I think that

Trump and President C are supposed to meet at least three times possibly four times this year, only this year. The first will be in mid-May in Beijing. And I think that they will start a process in which China and America come to an arrangement that benefits both economically. Really high-level predictions here that there'll be agreements between China and America

that will be involving economic trade deals and that they'll spin as a win-win. like yeah that's bold but yeah it's a bold prediction but interesting thing that you know after you brought up the the point of chang it did kind of bubble up to notice there that here he's very much presenting that like china's going to stay out of world war free just as it wasn't really involved in the cold war and it's not interested in being a hegemon it's out here just doing it's thing it's you know American, Russian, all these other things are playing the war games and stuff. And China is interesting. I know. I didn't really think, I didn't think about it at all when I first listened to it.

It wasn't until you and I had to chat about this yesterday, that I started to go, oh, hang on, yeah, that's right. Like in all the presentations, China is presented as a relatively benign actor, a very rational chess player, whereas the other regimes, including America, Russia, everyone, they're like mad. They're hell bent on some ideological crusade. Not mad, man. Well, not mad. He's on board with their ideological crusades. But you're exactly right. Like, they weren't the chess.

You know, we were commenting about why isn't China on the board? Like, it's a glaring thing to omit. But of course he admits China. Because is he going to outline what the king and the queen is of China? Yeah, it's interesting now that you. You see that. But of course, on the other hand, I completely understand because if I was in Beijing, I wouldn't be doing strong political commentary about the Chinese state either. No, but I think it's an interesting case because I'm not saying that he's directly being controlled

by the intelligence apparatus in China or that he's getting compensated, paid in any way. But especially with Russia, right, you see a lot of influences who indirectly, through various means, just somehow end up landing on the side where Russia's been hard done by, very critical of the United States, very, very kind of, you know, essentially subversive regarding the internal stability of the United States. And it's just, you can just see how the influences that play lead various commentators to be like that because they're one way or another, there are very material consequences to being very critical, of China if you're in China and there are also positive consequences for different influences who are kind of given you know quite pro Russia so these regimes will not hesitate to make those consequences

fell so it just means that the discourse tends to be steered in a certain direction which is one that is very paranoid very cynical and disabling like their narratives are very destabilizing to western countries that's kind of the upshot of those dynamics Okay, so we're going to get that because I realize one of the predictions is about conflict in East Asia and does involve China. So we'll talk about that, but before that, so he predicts what we already covered, that Iran will be a forever war, there'll be a national draft and so on. Signs point to that not coming through, but nonetheless, that's what he predicts. But then he predicts this, Matt. What's your next prediction?

Israel will achieve the greater Israel project. So you think Israel are going to conquer the Middle East? Israel has essentially already conquered the Middle East. The only force in their way right now is America. So once America leaves the Middle East, which I expect to happen, then Israel will absorb Sanukam, which is the Central Command, the American military bases, in the Middle East, and they will achieve the greater Israel project.

There's no other power in the Middle East that can withstand the might and power of Israel. And do you have a timeline for this? The moment America quits this war against Iran, the moment that America leaves the Middle East, Israel will cheat the greater Israel project. And what's really interesting right now is that Israel is trying to drag this war out for as long as possible. But you see this war as a way to destroy all its major enemies in. the Middle East. You know, the Israelis have already said this. After Iran, Turkey is next.

Turkey is next. This war is already destroying Saudi Arabia and the GCC, right? So the last opponent is Turkey. Once Turkey is brought into this war, then Israel will cheat the Great Orsio Project. And the Greater Israel Project covers all of this region here from Turkey, Egypt, Yemen, Amman. So the greater Israel project is like this. Okay. So it goes from the Nile in Egypt to the Euphrates in Iraq. And it covers part of Turkey, of Syria, of Lebanon, of Jordan, and parts of Saudi Arabia,

which also includes Mecca and Medina. Bold predictions. And given that America is on the precipice of, you know, ending the current war with Iran, Israel must be like giddy, because they're about to, according to what he just did it, get control of the entire Middle East of America withdraws forces at all. And then they're going to go for Turkey. Yeah, why not? Yeah, why not? That'll be easy. No problem. I mean, they don't have Syria. Yeah, just to be clear, right, there's countries in the way. But I guess that's not a big issue. They're going to, I guess,

leapfrog over Lebanon and Syria and just go straight for Turkey. I guess probably take Cyprus on the way. I think his idea is they're going to absorb all of those countries. You're going to have this greater Israel, which is going to span from the Nile all the way up to the Bosphorus. Well, yeah, huge of true. Huge of true.

Is there any need to even point out why that's wildly an incredible claim to make. You know, the thing that happens, Duma, is like, what will occur in this is people would look up Greater Israel and go, wait a minute, there are right-wing extremists and some of them are in the Israeli government

and they've talked about this Greeter Israeli-Jrhic and biblical prophecies and, you know, all these kind of things. And you're like, yeah, and so have, you know, evangelical Christians talked about universal Christen or, you know, various Muslim groups talking about a universal caliphate, the worldwide caliphate, and so on. And you're just like, the concept existing does not mean that is the, you know.

Definite future that will definitely unfold. I know. That's right. So that is a strategy of these characters, isn't it? Like, it's like that National Defense Strategy document. You know, you could point to the document. It exists. It's real.

And there's some words in there, at least some of what he said, had a correspondence to what was in the document. But the substance of what he's claiming was completely up in the air. So these kind of concepts get littered about and can be used as a defense, but they're no defense whatsoever. Yeah. Well, okay, so let's turn to the China one, the one involving China and see how the pattern holds up. Maybe he'll surprise us here. I can't really remember what he said. So let's find out together.

Okay. What is your next prediction? This is the last one. Please be good. Okay. I was hoping for an optimistic one, but East Asia breaks out into conflict. Okay. What do you mean by that?

Okay. So we've talked a lot about the Middle East, and we've talked briefly about Europe. Okay? So now let's go into East Asia. And I think there are three major. sources of friction and conflict in East Asia. And these could be potentially major flashpoints. The first flashpoint is, of course, over Taiwan.

Because China believes that Taiwan is part of its territory. And so it wants to take over Taiwan. The problem with this is that recently, Prime Minister Takayachi of Japan has said that Taiwan is core to Japanese strategic interests. And what she means

by this is that Japan has no resources. It's a manufacturing power that depends on resources from overseas. If China were to take over Taiwan, it can now block Japan from access to the state of Malacca.

And that is a possibility Japan cannot permit. So Japan would fight to ensure that Taiwan and China were never to unify. Would they actually? Because China is so strong, right? Can they just knock Japan straight out? Japan has no choice but to fight. Because again, if China and Taiwan were to unify peacefully, Japan be cut off from the entirety of Southeast Asia. And Japan relies on Southeast Asia historically for resources. Why would it be cut off from Southeast Asia?

Can't it just go down here through the Philippines? There's a lot of resources around the South China Sea. Okay. That's not really an answer. If you're looking about it, you can literally just say. Full credit to the diary of a CEO guy because he's like, but couldn't you just go around? So yeah, it's, so hang on.

I just want to remember his logic here. Okay, so China wants Taiwan, right? He says China sees it as part of its territory. Yeah, it's definitely going to invade Taiwan. No, but he doesn't say that. He says that, I mean, the China believes it. And then if China were to take over Taiwan, it can now block Japan. So he doesn't, I mean, this is kind of what we're pointing out, right?

He doesn't say China will invade militarily and conquer Taiwan. He's talking like they take over and they will unify it somehow. Yeah. Yeah. And then Japan, but Japan can't allow that, right? because it's too much of a threat to Japan. So there will be conflict because of that. So like there's little bits that are just unstated

about the processes involved. But it's the, I guess the agency of like the negative consequences is pushed onto Japan, which is like Japan will respond to aggressively prevent this because if Taiwan and China unify, that's it for Japan. They can't get resources anywhere.

That's right. If they're peacefully unify, then boom, that's it. Japan is absolutely stuffed because they cut off somehow from the rest of the world. We don't know how that's happening. But yeah. So anyway. Well, so, but you know, the thing is, I'm just to point out that he does at least, you know, reference conflicts happening in East Asia. He also talked about North Korea and South Korea. Do you remember his prediction there? So it's like a corollary. of what he was talking about. I'll just... I'll forget that one tone. I'll just play it for you. If you're in North Korea, now it's the best opportunity

to create as much havoc in the world as possible. There's absolutely nothing and it can do to stop you. You are the brawler in high school that no one pays attention to because all the big boys are fighting each other, you can come in and domit to school now.

Who would, David? They could dominate South Korea because if you just look at a population map of South Korea, most of the South Korean population is located in Seoul, and Seoul is about 20 minutes artillery from North Korea. So in 20 minutes, North Korea could rein artillery onto Seoul and basically they flattened in a higher city. Why wouldn't you extort the South Koreans? Because the South Koreans are going to shoot back? with what? Do they not have military?

They're being protected by the Americans right now and the Americans are busy transporting artillery and weapons systems, including the FAD system, over to the Middle East. It's called FAD, T-H-A-A-A-D. It used to be in South Korea to protect against North Korea and now it's over in the Middle East. So Americans are cannibalizing both South Korea and Japan in order to maintain this war in the Middle East.

noese. Now's the time. Why not? It's free money. It's like taking candy from a baby. But South Korea have their military,

no? How do you defend against artillery strikes? I don't know. You don't. But they would fire back, right? They'd get themselves

into a pretty ugly war. South Korea have a big military. Well, my people are poor. They're not afraid to die. Well, there you go. He's trying to make objections, but don't forget, They're not afraid to die, so case closed.

Yeah, so and there were, you know, Matt, the whole, a whole bunch of his things that he's, he's claiming about, you know, like everything's just been withdrawn from South Korea. And now it's all over in the Middle East. It's all wrong. It's all wrong. Yeah, I know. It's all overstated than that. But, you know, credit to him, Matt, he's making a list of predictions that are, you know, varying degrees of just generic. China and America will make deals.

Oh, Korea. Yeah, that's one too. There will be a national draft in civil war in America in the next five years over Iran. And that will lead to the third election of Donald Trump. Yeah, and also a civil war. Don't forget the civil war. Yeah, it is all confused because, like, he also talks about the war will allow Trump to claim war powers.

That's another scenario he has. where that is what allows him to stay in power, is that he's able to kind of claim a state of emergency from World War III and stay in power. But as he just outlined, there's also, he has an election campaign version where it's done Trump Jr. And then he has the version where the Democrats get in anyway,

and they just carry on with Trump policy. So it's a lot of possibilities. And simultaneously, while America is falling apart, part in a civil war, it will be enacting its policy for global empire by grabbing all of the critical straits and manipulating its allies into fighting wars. Oh, the entire way, just the Western Hemisphere. That's what's going to feel in that. It's going to feel from overreaching.

So just remember that by them. Yeah, that's it. So a lot of confident predictions. But remember what Zhang said, if these turn out wrong, it will be. evidence in his model is not good, right? So if this doesn't come to pass, I'm sure many of Zhang's fans will remember these clear eight predictions that he lays out.

So, you know, we need to bring this ship into port. And the final section is when, you know, you thought things had gone a little bit crazy, right? You didn't know how crazy shit can get. So at the end, it's actually, like the wrap-up where, you know, they're like, oh, well, thank you. You know, is there some broader topics that you think we should mention before we go? So it's a kind of wrap-up, but it goes off for like another 30 minutes or so.

But it starts off, as it often does in these guru things, with them outlining something that many people know in laborous detail, a scenario, you know, pop philosophy that people are well aware of, but he describes it in great detail. old Plato or as you might call him Plato whichever version his Kiev Professor what's the most important thing

we haven't talked about that we should have talked about So let's talk about the nature of reality To explain the nature of reality I'm going to explain Plato's Allegro the Cave which he talked about in his book The Republic, right exactly This book? Yes, the Republic, okay?

One of the masterpieces of Greek civilization as well as Russian civilization All right. So this is how Plato explains the nature of reality. And so he uses a metaphor called the cave. So I want you to imagine a dark cavern that is huge. And in this cavern, there are hundreds of people lined up together. And they're also in a row.

And this goes on for, you know, mile. and miles, just thousands of people. And they are chained to the ground. And the necks are shackled. So they can't actually move. And all they can do is stare in front of them at a giant wall.

That's empty. I think we're familiar with this. We know where he's going with that. He's going into a lot of detail. No. You're familiar, Matt? You've heard this? Oh, yes.

You've heard of it. I thought it was like deep philosophical knowledge. Yeah. Shadows on the wall, Matt. And, you know, the thing with shadows being cast on the wall is that you have to think who's controlling what's being presented there. We don't know who they are. They'll never explains who these people are. They take puppets and they project these puppets off the fire onto the wall. Okay. And when people see the shadows, they think that this is reality.

And as such, they begin to create narratives to explain this reality. They create language. They give shadows names. They explain where these shadows come from. They create religion. Then these people decide to specialize. So some people who are priests who explain this new religion. There's some people who are poets that talk about the beauty of the shadows.

And then you have teachers who teach about the shadows to children. And then over time, what happens is that these people fall in love with this reality. So that they are addicted to it. So if anyone comes on and says, hey guys, why don't you look behind you and see it's all it's just a farce. These people will be so angry that they kill this person. Right. Like his implication there, that the people making the shadows are, are like nefarious actors

who are in a secret cabal to deceive the viewers. That's an interesting read of the allegory, but go on. Yeah. And if you tried to say, like, look who's over there. like casting the shadows. They'll kill you. They'll kill you, Matt. I fucking shank you if you'll point out those guys behind the scene.

And I should note as well here, he's got a new set of props. He's got a new blackboard where he's drawing like the little visual representation of this. And he's going to end up with like black boxes that he stacks on top of each other to present different things. So he's got another box of toys for this whole thing. So, you know, as it's often the case with Jordan Peters, or whatever, laboriously talk about a fairly known, well-known story, biblical or philosophical allegory or whatever, and then connected into modern politics, right? And if you didn't like the analogy, Matt, to classic philosophy, Greek philosophy, let's go for something a bit more

modern. So I'm not sure if you've ever watched a Korean drama. Have you watched a Korean TV drama? Right. So unfortunately, I have. And these things go out for like thousand of hours. And for the first 10 hours, you're disgusted by the plot. Because it makes no sense. But by sometime by the 20th hour, you can't stop watching it. Right?

The same situation here where it's a silly television drama. It's all fake. But once people watch too much of it, they want it to be true. true. And that's the nature of reality that we live in. So certain things to remember is that what creates this reality are not the people in charge. What creates this reality is our imagination. Okay. So the first thing to appreciate is that everything is a hallucination. And this is something that North scientists have confirmed. So what we're going to do is we're going to take Plato's out of the cave, the framework,

and then apply it to our reality, to understand how it's created. So now we get to the real ship map. First of all, neuroscientists confirmed us, okay? It's all hallucination. It's been established by science, but also all of this previous hour and a half that we've talked about, right?

All of that, this was actually just the buildup till let's talk about what actually matters. All of that is like, puppets on the wall, dancing for our amusement. Is that what it's really a bite? So that is what he's implying, right? That like all the leaders and stuff that he's talking about, like they are the puppets, right, of these, the real forces that are controlling global affairs.

Well, I wasn't sure what the connection was to the previous geopolitical theorizing. It seemed like he's just totally shift gears to, okay the nature of reality it's all that you know the allegory of the cave you know Plato isn't making he's not using it to simply make a point about how philosophy training in philosophy is going to help you steer you away from mere appearances and and get towards more fundamental eternal truths no there are nefarious puppet masters who are creating hallucinations and illusions and deceiving you that's That's the correct read. So, yeah, I mean, maybe, maybe it's connected.

I guess let's keep listening and find out. Well, yeah, yeah, because this slides towards just the standard below a very Alex Jonesian level of standard conspiracy theorizing about how the world operates. But it sits somewhat uneasy with the previous presentation of geopolitical analysis because he's about the. I claim that none of that is actually what's going on. Anyway, so listen to this. So in the first layer, you need a power, a force, to put people in change, right? And this is what we call the military-industrial complex of America, as well as the empire. So going back to this example, it's the layer that puts the people into change.

But now the second step is you need people to create the reality. to direct people's attention, to create the game. And these people are the financial elite, the bank of international settlements based in Basel. So what do they do? These people are the ones who set the exchange currency rates. And they also allow for seamless financial transactions, the SWIFT system, basically. Then Wall Street and the Sea of London were the financiers. And then you have the Federal Reserve, the Federal Reserve system.

Because the Federal Reserve are the people who print money. Okay. Now, once you create the rules of the game, you need to create the game itself, which is the global economy. Right? Global economy. And obviously, this is a pretty vast system that encompasses everything, okay? Now you have to extend the people how the global economy works. You cannot tell people, oh, really, there are these secret people working me on the scenes that are projecting shadows onto a wall.

So what you do is you create multilateral organizations that pretend to control the global economy, and they are the World Bank, the United Nations, WTO. You make people believe that this is all being controlled impartially for our benefit. Now you have to convince people that this system is legitimate, that when you're actually seeing the shadows on the wall, they're real. And Matt, for the people listening, he's here stacking up these kind of black blocks were written on them or all these things he's mentioning the WTO, the global economy, the financial system in London or whatever. And he's stacking them all up into like this giant tower of. black blocks, right, to tell us to the concept, but like, I kept thinking, this is a quite good metaphor

for just how many layers of conspiratorial reasoning, you are stacking on top of each other. So, again, it's like props, you know, taking them out, you can hear of like clicking them all on top. So, so the thing here is that actually it's kind of like the hyper, super

globalists, right? The ultimate illuminatis, because the WTO, the United Nations, the World Bank, those are fake organizations created to give the illusion that they are doing the work, but they're not. There's like a group above them, right? And it isn't the world leaders, right? Like that's the thing. So that thing that they outlined, that's the first layer, the whole like geopolitic stuff. Yeah, yeah, right. That's at the bottom of this gengatara bullshit.

So, yeah, like, I think Plater would be very upset about the way which is that like Goria of the cave is being used, by the way. This is, I don't think this is the intention. But no, okay, it's all a conspiratorial shadow puppet play. And all of these things are bullshit. What about the Reserve Bank? Is it pretending? It's printing money.

It's one of the, it's a block. So like, they control the money, Matt. They print the money. And once you can, you would. do that, you've got to control the game, which is the global... I mean, the amount of it's been stacked on top of each other here. It's so stupid and annoying. Where did the chess pieces come in?

Like, for a little while, I had a bit of a hobby of watching these flaky conspiratorial stuff around economics. Like, I don't know if you've come across this genre of YouTube things, but it's like, you know, it's like gold bugs. They love this stuff. You know, they've got this theory that, you know, money. It's all a dodge and inflation and everything. And basically, the upshot of it all is you should buy a lot of gold, I think.

Or Bitcoin or something. His version is just so much dumber than that. At least they build their theories out of something a bit more real. His is very cartoonish. It's like Milhouse and the tree house. You know, in the treehouse, we're through the looking glass here, people. It is listing all of these organizations. They're all connected together, rattling them all off.

Yeah. Yeah, so it's very similar to the geopolitical analysis, which is, it's like this is geopolitical analysis for ignorant fools. And all of the props and the things like that are all designed to be engaging and interesting, the lurid predictions, it's all, you know, name-dropping stuff to give it a veneer of authoritiveness. This is doing it again now, but for economics. Well, yeah, yeah, though I do want to point out that, like, for,

people who might present them as, well, he's, you know, he had some cookie takes, but he's fundamentally, you know, he's talking about geopolitics and just giving his opinion and stuff. Like, no, this is also part of what he does, right? We're not covered in this episode, but he's also a creationist and he also, well, we're going to get into some of his cosmic stuff at the end, but it's not just that this is the icing on top. This is baked into his analysis of things. So anyway, that's the economic system. But the thing is, the economic system and controlling all the world governments and stuff,

it's not all that you need to do. There's another piece which is very important. I don't think you've considered that. That's why you need the media. That's why you need culture, such as Hollywood, movies, basically. And you need education, school system. Okay? These are the people who are all prisoners.

who have become leaders of the prisoners and who are helping understand the shadows on the wall. So am I in the media? Yes, you are. Am I? Yes. So am I, what am I doing? Am I one of the people in the fire controlling the narrative? Is that what?

Yes, yes. But I'm not owned by anybody. That's what you think. Oh, really? Yes. Who am I owned by? Ultimately, it's a people who control the fire that are in charge, right? So ultimately, it's these people, the second layer.

the game masters, the financial elite that control everything. And the financial elite, again, are like the World Bank, you said. No, no. The financial elite are these private bankers? Okay, so are the private bankers controlling me? Because you said I was in the media. Do you want money? Yeah.

Then they're controlling you. Okay. Right. How are they controlling me? Because they control the creation of money. And so now that you have the media, the schools, and the cultural systems, helping people understand the shadows on the wall, these shadows now become internalized.

And they dictate the values and norms of people, what they believe to be good and bad. They dictate habits and customs, how you live your life. And they dictate the legal system, who's punished for what. And this becomes the top edifice. And what's amazing about the system, is that in our minds, okay, in our minds,

we believe that the system is, first of all, the complete opposite, where the foundation is actually the laws, the habits, and the values. When in fact, in reality, these are just figments of our imagination. Wow.

A lot of thinking. So vague, yet so ominous. Well, it's a typical conspiracy. narrative, right? The media, the schools, the culture, Hollywood. They're all... The financiers, the finances. Oh, yeah, the financiers keep in, though, yeah.

There was like the WTO, right? That's a... No, no, no, no. The private, the financiers. They might be wearing small hats. That might be something, you know, if you ask them to explain them more detail. But, yeah, so this is now just complete, bog standard, info-style conspiracism, right?

that all of that stuff he would talk about in the first half. It's actually all being controlled by a secret elite, which is moving all the things around, and they're controlling the media and so on to stop them. And it is funny that he presents the Bartlett, that he's part of this, you know, we're all in that world, right, being controlled by these evil forces.

But presumably these evil forces allow Bartlett to have on Zhang to avoid it. Avoid it. Yeah, they're kind of like, they're all powerful. They control all of this. It's such a fragile system. But they don't mind Zhang. Like a lot of attention or whatever. You'd imagine they could just kill him. But no. No, they're not that powerful.

And you notice how his answers are, like his style is to be very quick and very confident in terms of his answers. He never hesitates. But, you know, Stephen is asking kind of like Christians like a child, like they control me. but how do they control me? You like money, don't you? Yeah, I like to make money. Well, they control the money. But how?

Oh, you know, but those answers are very unsatisfying, I think, even to him, because they're just, they're so glib and... Oh, yeah, yeah, because he's, he's just drawn like an alert.

Like, he's virtually got stick man on the wall, right? And he's like, see those guys? So who's in control? Those guys? I do it in the old wall. I just drew them.

But why? They're in control of the fire. Don't remember the fire from the allegory? They're in control of the fire. Yeah. So I know. And now this is the thing that we've pointed out that Zhang contradicts himself constantly and that those conspiracies are all contradictory.

And, you know, when you start to like compare them against each other. So just there, you heard him say that Bartlett is controlled by the fire mongers. Right. They're controlling him. He likes money. If you like money, they've got your number, right? But let's see what happens next.

Because we've got to talk about the alternative media, of course, the alternative media has to talk about the alternative media. And it sounds like the alternative media is just part of the control system, but maybe not. Okay? That's point one. Point two is that this is a very, very delicate structure. So if anyone does incorporate, okay,

then this edifice collapses. It's a very, very delicate system. And the third thing, and this is the most important to understand the world that we live in, as this system becomes much more wobbly, meaning that young people don't really believe in the shadows anymore. Young people grow up and says,

hmm, are these shadows really real? They don't feel real to me. The system needs to become much more authoritarian. It needs to force people to believe what they refuse to believe. because everyone in a system is incentivized to ensure this edifice is stable. Do you think this is somewhat linked to what's going on with independent media? Exactly.

Because independent media are asking a lot of questions about the way society functions. Exactly. And that's why we're seeing governments becoming very worried about independent media. Because if you have people on the population saying these shadows are fake, this creates a ripple effect. it causes people to start questioning the shadows on the wall. You can't have that. So that's why it's important to have censorship. That's why it's important to de-platform people.

That's why you have woke politics, DEI. It's an enforcing mechanism. Yeah, I mean, it is pretty hard. You know, it's not easy being an independent podcaster if you have a big platform because you're not always the most loved by the mainstream media. And they'll figure out how to eventually. But I think that's very human, actually. I think the incentives are quite understandable from a human perspective.

Look, if you look at the system, no one's really in charge and no one's a villain. They just grow up in the system. And everyone's protecting their incentives. Exactly. It's okay. So just it's flipped there, Matt. Now, a minute ago, literally one minute ago, Bartlett was controlled media because he was interested in money. Now, he's actually part of the thing which is.

revealing like the kind of feats shadows on the wall. And that's why the system is, you know, trying to censor him and shut down and DEI and woke policies. That's, that's all part of the system of control. Make sure we get these passwords in there. So now alternative media are part of the brave fight back, right, against these agents of corruption. Again, just very, very standard conspiracy theory rhetoric where the listeners are the actual brave thinkers, not the sheeple, who have brought into the mainstream lies. You guys are the brave thinkers who see for it. But then at the end, he's like, and nobody's really a villain. They're all, like, everybody's actually, you know, just doing what they're supposed to do. And you're like, no, you talk to

a system of corrupt people who are, you know, going to kill people if they point out the shadows on the wall. But now, like, because Bartlett says one thing, you're like, oh, yeah, nobody's bad. Like, nobody's a villain in my story. And it's, yes, they are. Yeah, yeah, it is, it is kind of really boring because it's the same, like, all-encompassing, very vague, paranoid conspiracy theory of the world and how everything is connected together. And every conspiracy theorist and fantasist comes up with their own bespoke version. But actually they all collapse into exactly the same thing, including all the greatest hits, the World Trade Organization, the World Bank, the Jews, the Illuminati, the Federal Reserve

and the military industrial complex. and you can rattle off all of these things and inject whatever is the flavor of the month at the moment. Worm politics, DEI, Iran, Israel, whatever's happening in the moment. You work them into the theory too because why not? But it's just so much fluff, isn't it? Well, you might say that map,

but we've got to the final bit and there's some big thoughts to take away, okay? He's outlined, you know, we started off with a very real current geopolitical conflict. We've expanded out to eight predictions about how the world's going to look in the future. And we had chess pieces outlining all of the great strategies of the world powers. But even then, even now, where we've went into the deeper conspiracy, that's not where it ends.

And that's not really where the real action is. There's another deeper, deeper layer to go just before we finish. The ultimate, ultimate conspiracy and what we can do about it. So here you go. But the problem is that over time, more and more young people are going to grow up and say, I don't see shadows. I'm pretty sure we're being lied to. In which case, this person has an opportunity to overthrow the system and create a new system.

And this is why AI is important. But we currently believe this one. We currently believe in this structure. It's really difficult, I think, for the average person listening now, to accept the fact that they have believed a bunch of fundamental ideas and stories that everything they care about is sat upon. But, I mean, you only have you read the book Sapiens and understood that humans got here because we've had a remarkable ability to believe in stories that maybe the orangutang

could not believe. It couldn't believe in money and governments and religions and all these kinds of things. It makes perfect sense that, yeah, there's really foundational stories where you are accepting, and that's what's brought us here today. That's what keeps me from running out on the street without my clothes on or doing other illicit activities is I'm held in place by a set of stories that I've accepted, and they are stacked one upon the other to make me believe that everything I'm seeing and accepting is valid.

But, you know, I guess the question becomes, am I okay with this reality? and what's helping us from creating our own reality that benefits everyone. Is that possible? Well, in theory it's possible, but as you point out, there's certain people who are happy with the system and want to maintain the system. And that's why we're going to wars around the world. Because it's not just a war between different nation states. It's also a war for the fundamental nature of reality.

You have the bankers versus the tech roles, right? That's what we're seeing in the world right now. Where for the longest time, Wall Street has controlled America, but now with the Trump Revolution, you have Palantir. You have people like Larry Ellison, Peter Thiel, St. Almond, who want to create Operation Stargate, which gives them complete control over people's imagination. You cannot get over now.

Okay. There you go on, the tower knocked over. So I do like that he brought up the AI. It sounded like maybe there was something cut or maybe not, but he's like, you know, AI is important, but Bartlett just goes to a generic wrap-up kind of thing, right? Yeah, maybe they kept going and they just cut that stuff out. But, okay, let me get this straight, Chris.

So we're all, we're living in a web of illusion, naturally. Yes. We're staring at shadows on the wall. That's right. And this is a system, which is kind of a evil, bad system, causing all of these wars and upsetting people against each other. But it's persist because it's in the interests of the bankers, a group of people, yeah, a group of people, bankers, financiers,

for whom this thing, it benefits them. But there's a new kid in town. There's the tech bros. And they've got their own ideas. a system. I don't know about the details of it, but they're all looking for control. It sounds like a frying pan fire type scenario, though. Don't you think if we're going from the financiers controlling us to Palantir? Are the financiers really at war with the tech pros as well? Just to be clear. Isn't it the problem that they're actually a little bit too much in coercion with those

groups? You would think that they'd get on pretty well, right? Because they're all businessmen. why they have to be at war. Yeah, no, he's a war with financiers. Is he? With Wall Street. Yeah, yeah. And the Trump Revolution, they're trying to fight back in some way. It's so silly.

It's so silly. And he gets the knockover his anger tower at the end there. That's it. But, you know, the message is also there. You heard it, you know, more young people are waking up. They're realizing, like, the system is rigged, man. and then they're starting to fight back. And like I told you, Matt, this is where it goes.

You thought that was the pinnacle, right? You thought the tech bro is coming in to fight the financiers, that that is the final stage. Oh, oh, Matt, how naive you are. One more layer to go. One more layer. What actions should I be thinking about taking now, based on what you know about history,

to make sure that, you know, it's not too bad for myself? I guess I'm asking this question in light of you predicting that there might be a collapse of the sort of Western or the American Empire and in such a scenario I was wondering what it would look like to be an American and is there a solution or

a course of behavior one should take in such a scenario but I guess that's the key question which is if the US empire does collapse how does American life change or Western life change Okay so one theory that's very important to understand is someone called Hermetic philosophy. And Hermetic philosophy is what underpins Plato's Aligo the Cave.

And Hermetic philosophy comes from Egypt. And it has certain principles. But its main principle is that reality is energy, it's vibrations. So we think of it as material, but material is a consequence of energy. Right. So what this means is that reality, is consciousness itself.

So our thoughts are what's real. Our bodies are just vehicles to experience the world around us, but they're not real. When we die, our souls return to the source and we come back again. And we're here permanently in order to experience things we cannot experience in a spiritual world

because in a spiritual world, it's not material. So what's really important is to appreciate that every one of us is part of the source. And so if we think about the totality of things, we can only become despondent. We can only give up hope. But if we think about how individually we can become a better person

and how we can impact the people around us, then that becomes reflected onto the reality itself because we're just part of God itself, right? Right. Sure, sure. Now, Chris, I know this is not the main point, but he said at the beginning that hermetic philosophy underlies Plato's Allegory of the cave.

That's the issue you're going to take it with the issue. The rest was fine. I was on board with the rest of it. But Plains Republic was four-century before BC, and the hermetic stuff from Egypt is like first to third centuries BC. You think so linearly, Matt. You think in linear progression of time and events happening before and after. That's not what Zhang's about.

He doesn't constrain himself the things like events happening after, the yellow ones. You're right. Actually, listening to him go on. realize that that kind of critique is definitely not going to land because it's far more cosmic than that. So, so I mean, this is this is familiar stuff. I mean, look, another, another person who's like a solopsist who believes that consciousness is the reality in. Ian McElchrist coming in, right? Yeah. It's really popular amongst our gurus. They love this stuff. Almost like it's diagnostic of bad thinking.

Almost. Some might say that. Some, some Philistines would say that. But It's all vibrations. Oh, good. I'm glad we've got the best point. You know, it wouldn't be a complete conspiratorial medley if we didn't get that we're all vibrating consciousness that returned to God. And that's the core.

We return to God, but then we come back again, reincarnation, I suppose. And we come back down here to experience a certain kind of reality that we can't get in the spiritual world. In the spiritual realm. Are the bankers controlling everything also a part of God that comes down to experience world? And I'm just curious. Are they part of?

There could be demonic forces. I wonder if they're... I suppose he hasn't had time to flesh out demons. I'm sure demons come in in some way. And well, that is, as I promised, the end of the road when it comes to the Jang. But he does finish with just, you know, they like the end. podcast with, there's one thing I want to throw into your idea box that you might want to consider, you know, just to piece out. He's already given the audience quite enough, I think,

in this to our segment, right? But he wants to throw one more thing in at the end, but just, you know, look into it. Look into it. That's all he's saying. Oh, so one, one area that you might want to explore is a cabala. So what, what's this, what's this cabala thing? Right. It's what they call the tree of life. And in the tree of life, it's what you're trying to say is that it's a dynamic in the world that governs all human affairs. This dynamic is thesis, antithesis, synthesis, synthesis. So God is the will to bestow, creates Adam Kenmon, who is the will to receive. And then Cammon has to abandon God, thus destroying the world, but eventually, because the world is destroyed, and then Kenmont, and his descendants, us, recognize the following our ways and ban, and ban, and ban, and then, and it's,

make God for forgiveness, and this will redeem the world, repair the world. And if you think about it, okay, this is what underpins a lot of actions that is happening in the Middle East, where the Israelis are doing what they're doing, because you're trying to force the hand of God, meaning that, okay, if Israel is committing all these atrocities in the Middle East, it's creating all these wars, eventually, the world will have to punish the Israelis, right? There'll be war between the world and Israel. And Israel will be humbled.

But once Israel is humbled, everyone in Israel recognize the folly of his or her arrogance, hubris. And then we'll beg God for forgiveness. And once that one happens, when all people in Israel, at the same time, beg God for deliverance, and for forgiveness, the world will end and will return to paradise.

That's literally what they believe. We're going to have to stop that, Professor. Okay. I think Stephen just went, okay, that's enough. That's enough. We've gotten, like, we squeezed enough of this level. My God, like, how anybody could listen to this? the end and still have any respect for Zhang as a thinker is absolutely beyond me.

Like this is this is actually maybe below the standard of Alex Jones at some point which is just wow. Yeah it's it's really something just what a steaming pile of horseship. I haven't yeah like it's just it was just so ridiculous from beginning to end everything with just pathetically bad. I got to say, it's like, he's on Chris Langan level. I think it was, it's, yeah, yeah, yeah. I think it's not since him that I've listened to so much nonsense. So yeah, I guess he's just a fantasist, you know, a very confident, confident, narcissistic attention seeker, and we'll very happily rattle off this stuff as quickly as you like. And I guess there's an audience for it. Some people find it all very fast.

But just stop and think about it just for one moment. And when you realize that his geopolitical analyses are founded on this ridiculous cabala theory, I mean, come on. Well, I mean, I knew the diary of the CEO show was bad. I guess I've just revised my opinion down even further. This is particularly bad. Yeah, well, I will say in my big picture thoughts with him, that I think Matt, that at the beginning of this,

that as we've highlighted throughout, it's not that everything that he says is false. Like, he rests his claims on, often like bedrock, geopolitical facts or just knowledge about the world. And he states those very confidently. You know,

he answers Bartlett repeatedly in this, like always having an answer for him when he wants them to define a word or whatever. And, And I think like a lot of people would probably listen to the first hour and pick up a whole bunch of stuff that they don't know. Maybe they don't know about, you know, the topography of Iran or they haven't thought about like the geopolitical strategies of these different world powers, right? And yeah, regardless of how silly some of his analyses are, you know, like he's he is talking generally about geopolitics and things that are actually going on conflicted in. and what not. But as we've seen, as it goes on from there, you have the predictions

which are stated extremely confidently and are outlandish or so vague as to be pointless to make. And then towards the end, as he gets more relaxed as they move on, and you can see him getting more animated, he goes into what like he actually believes, which is this, all of that stuff that he was talking about, which is the thing that's got him attention, is to him sort of the shadows on the wall, because there's a deeper conspiracy.

And it's bog standard, Illuminati, bullshit, anti-Semitic stuff that Alex Jones pumps out. It's the media is controlling you, everyone's lying, the alternative media's troop seekers, all this kind of thing. And then, at the very end,

it's all tied into this, like, you know, mystical, revages. Yeah. And that's the reality. It's like people talk about Zhang as if it's the first bet, right? Like he's giving this political analysis and he has, yeah, he has some cookie beliefs or whatever. But no, they're all of the same. Like the level of confidence that he's stating things at the end are just the same level of confidence as his geopolitical analysis. And they're based on the same level where he can mention things that exist, Kabbalah and concepts and Socrates and, you know,

Plato's Kiev and so on. These are all real things, the World Trade Organization and whatever. But it's his narrative that is bullshit. And when you push him or anybody, they retreat to, well, but are you saying that nothing he says is true? And it's like, no, it's not that he isn't saying anything, it's true.

It's not all the actual things that get people excited. are bullshit and it's all conspiracy theory but it's dressed up like it's a geopolitics lesson and it's not right it's not it's a crazy conspiracy run with some geopolitical dressing yeah it reminds me of Curtis Yavon and the rest of them who basically it's the same kind of wild speculation and dubious theories but dressed up with a lot of references

to particular things and connecting disparate ideas together so it comes across as well informed. Yeah, look, might take very similar to yours. I think he's got this one rhetorical move that I think he used about 40 or 50 times in that episode, which is that there's like a defensible kind of observation that some actor has got some pressure or incentive to do X. That gets converted by Zhang without any kind of justification or argument

into a claim that the actor has no choice, will definitely do X. Right. So all of those stuff that he's claiming that he constructs these domino theories of geopolitics and predictions about the US has no choice but to invade Iran. Russia's got no choice to save Iran. Russia, therefore, has no choice but to arm the shadow fleet. You know, so Chris, this sort of cascading set of dominoes ending in World War III, imperial collapse, civil war in the United States.

etc. So if you take out this compulsion operator, what's left is a pile of accurate trivia, the topography of Iran, Hummus insurance dynamics, or the GCC being dependent on food. There's a bunch of trivia that is correct. But like you said, what he does is he manufactures a fantastical product out of those ingredients by, you know, that one operator, which is just to convert an incentive or a pressure into a absolutely positively has to happen. So it's funny, like, as for the predictions, yeah, there's a mix of ones which are going to be proven wrong, right? I'm pretty certain about that.

But, you know, a lot of them are kind of unfalsifiable and also self-contradictory. So, like, there's an 90% probability of World War III, but then he follows that by saying that World War III has already begun. so there's no flashpoint. So whatever. And then where he gets to in the end, which again you talked about,

into this basically a conspiratorial superstructure, right? We're all of this stuff that we've talked about with the geopolitics. It's all shadows on the wall. And actually, you know, actually there's this underlying system of the World Bank and the military industrial complex.

But then, but that doesn't really matter either because that's all pretend. it's all K-Faby and cosplay. Really, there's these private bankers who are the game masters. Oh, don't forget the Jewish Diospora and stuff as an attack vector type material. So all of that stuff

converges into a fucking classic anti-Semitic template. And whether that's by design, and for what you've told me from some of his other material, he's much more explicit about the anti-Semitic tropes, or whether he's just absorbed it from the

groundwater of of how all of those conspiracy theories work. Yeah, so online geopolitics, doomer bullshit. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I'd like to say he's an interesting character, but he's not really.

He's just like a new delivery for a whole bunch of like fairly mundane conspiratorial tropes. But I guess the interesting thing is the professorial effect and the like geopolitical. And even that is just so crude, though. Like, that offended me. Like, his cosplay of the professor, a didactic approach with the diagrams and the stick figures and the little chess pieces. It kind of annoys me that that works because it is such a crude imitation.

Oh, I know. But look, it does, ma. And I think, you know, Bartlett here, we've highlighted it repeatedly, but, like, his role in this as creating, you know, the reactions, the kind of gasps, and giving him all of the props.

All of those props that they had to make or get brought in for him and stuff. Like writing down his predictions and putting them on little cards and locking them in a shiny metal case and drawing them out one at a time like their top secrets that they're about to just read out

on a podcast. It's so performative. I know. I know it's incredibly performative. And like I think generally, here, Bartlett's an idiot, right, in lots of ways. Like, you know, reading Sapiens is kind of the extent of his knowledge of history and philosophy. But I do think he's cynical in that he's just, you know, he's going to move on. He doesn't care about Zhang's predictions next week or probably next day.

But I do think that Bartlett is in many respects a kind of avatar of his audience, which is that there are many people they haven't studied history in any depth or whatever you know they've been doing all the things and I'm not saying everybody has to study history but when somebody comes and gives you the feeling that

you know you're learning a bunch of things and then they presented that you know all other people the whole system has been rigged against you're an open minded truth seeker and now you have access to these people that are letting you see behind the curtain and you're willing to look at it like it is

an appealing package. And I think lots of people, it's not that they're like dumb in terms of not, you know, they might be highly confident people in making money or in other areas of their lives. But I think they just don't approach it like critically, right? Yeah. They just absorb it. And yeah, so that's, this is something now I say that I think it's designed to be like intellectual junk food. and it operates in that way. And it's not surprising that this kind of thing is appealing because, yeah, it's just you can have the satisfaction of learning facts and finding out, you know, the secret way that the world works.

That's why conspiracies are appealing, including to a bunch of people who are otherwise, like, intelligent and well-adjusted. Yeah, yeah, that's a really important point, I think. And it was this idea of Assat's wisdom that, you know, motivated you and, me to start the podcast. And because we kind of recognize that, you know, there is a legitimately appealing thing to somebody laying it all out for you, explaining how the world works, geopolitics and finance and economics and the military industrial, whatever, right? It's all connected together, gives you the big picture. It's easy to digest. And, you know, people legitimately

just haven't put the effort in, you know, not everyone reads history books. Not everyone studies economics or has a firm grasp of how the international finance system works. And that's not, there's nothing wrong with that, right? And simultaneously, there's a legitimate kind of curiosity and interest in that, as well as the emotional side of it, right? You're feeling, you know, a bit of grievance, a feeling that, you know, things are going wrong and the world's going to hell in a handbasket. We'll feel that stuff as well. So there's the cognitive and the emotional draw. And people like Jang and Stephen Bartlett there, like, like, their, like, product is to provide that intellectual junk food, I think. So it's not a healthy thing, but it is

understandable. I'm glad we covered him because, especially when you made that last point, I realized that Professor Jang is definitely in our warehouse. It is absolutely grist for the Gerometer Mel. But he's just not as interesting as, say, Ken Wilbur or Ian McGilchrist. I found those characters interesting because they were doing the same thing in many ways, but I guess in a bit more of a sophisticated way. That's just my personal, you know. Yeah, yeah. I can't say he's a great favorite of me,

but I think he has a sign of the times. So, you know, a good person to cover. Well, Matt, well, we did our duty well, and now we should acknowledge the duty of others who support us very briefly. We'll thank our Patreon members, okay? Just give them a little shout out. You wouldn't object to something like that.

Oh, go on. Go on there. Go on. Go on, go on. So we have some revolutionary thinkers, and they include Matt, this month. Laura, Rowan Kendall Jones, Michael C., Ryan Gough, Sid Wood, Jeffrey Kostian, Andrew Smith, population thinking, Tom Flassman, J.S. Roberts, Aaron Danforth, Jared Rogers, Zachary Leveshrabbe Matthew Heuser Casparismo Joe David, Sam

this again Oh no not E Brian Zeno Kujawa Tom Tadis Eric Fast Buck

Michael McArthur and Kyle D those are our revolutionary thinkers or geniuses however they like to think about themselves for this month

fantastic thanks everyone for supporting us I'm usually running, I don't know, 70 or 90 distinct paradigms simultaneously all the time. And the idea is not to try to collapse them down to a single master paradigm. I'm someone who's a true polymath. I'm all over the place. But my main claim to fame, if you'd like, in academia, is that I founded the field of evolutionary consumption. Now, that's just a guess.

And it could easily be wrong. But it also could not be wrong. The fact that it's even plausible is stunning. It is stunning. In terms of the Galaxy Brain Gurus, the kind of shining stars of our Patreon supporters, they are for this month, Petito, Andy Coleman,

Joe, Malcolm Maltaalka, Kieran Dunn, KB, And Abbey. Those are our Galaxy brain gurus. And Matt, I just want to give just a couple long-term supporters. I don't know if I've

covered them. I know some of them I have, but I just want to give them their dues, Matt. Give them their stars. Okay? We would be remiss to not mention OGs of this game. Chris Banos, right? People like Couch, like Custron, 9,000.

Nazar Zobra. Max Plan, Garfley, Josh Duttman, Leslie, Madhav, and Alexanderson. There's all the people I can mention, but that's just for this month. I'm just giving them a little... You know, we still respect you guys. That's right. We remember you. We remember that you're still paying us.

They might not be. They might not be. You don't keep track, so you might not be. But if they were, we respect them for the time that they were on point. Even more. Yeah. Even more. And also to all the great people on the Patreon who he contribute and engage and basically breathe quite a lot of life into it.

So it's quite a nice place, basically. It is. That's fine. Yeah. I haven't had an argument in at least like three or four days. Few bad apples, Chris. There's always a few bad apples. One of them is you.

Yeah, the bad boy of the Patreon. You're the bad boy of podcasting. Oh, my God. All right. Well, M. Let's play this clip then. Hello there, you awakening wonders. You may not be aware that your entire reality is being manipulated. Become part of our community or free speakers. We are still allowed to say stuff like this. Science is failing. It's failing right in front of our eyes and no one's doing anything about it. I'm a shell for no one. More than that, I just simply refuse to be caught in any one single echo chamber. In the end, like many of us must, I walk alone.

Fine sentiments. We also got to shout out the wonderful person who created those revised supercuts for us because the editing is fantastic. I love how the setup from Russell Brandt there, he introduces Sabine Hussenfeldar. The editing is amazing. That's Martin Veseles.

Yeah, I'm probably butchering pronunciation. shit there, but yeah. If you ever wanted to do it again, if you ever felt like more supercutting, please feel free. I feel guilty. You're asking, but not asking, just you do. You're just sending, just hinting. That's right.

Well, there we go, Matt. Zhang is in the rear view mirror, and there will be more gurus to come. We haven't determined, I think, the next guru. Maybe Baton goes are gone. That was floated. Yeah, because she annoyed me. Yeah, she's. We'll see. Maybe her. But in any case, Matt, good job. Yep, you too. I'll bid you adieu and retire gracefully into the evening. Yeah. Go to the west and diminish. Is it the east, the west or east? It's the west, but I wish I was diminishing. I'm not spreading mostly around the middle.

Yeah, like too much jam spread over butter. Brad, Fred, too many second breakfasts. That's, you rescued that reference. Good job anyway. Ari for that, bye-bye.