Debating Science and Lost Civilizations

BY MICHAEL SHERMER

On May 16, 2017, I appeared on the Joe Rogan Experience (JRE) podcast (and YouTube videocast) along with Graham Hancock and Randall Carlson, plus our hand-selected “phone-a-friend” Skyped in guests (geologist Marc Defant for me, planetary scientist Malcolm LeCompte for Hancock and Carlson). It was a three-and-a-half hour marathon that at the time of this writing, several million people have heard or viewed on various platforms.

It was, in fact, my third appearance on the JRE, one of the most popular podcasts in the world. According to Joe, as of that week he was averaging over 120 million downloads a month, putting him on a par with the biggest talk show hosts on television, either cable or broadcast. He has a huge and diverse following, and for good reason—he’s a remarkable conversationalist. My previous two appearances lasted for three hours each, without any sense of time passing. Unlike most talkshow hosts I have engaged with over the decades, a dialogue with Joe Rogan is like talking to an old friend. He is warm, receptive to all ideas, and allows the conversation to advance organically without an agenda. For my solo appearances he was as sympathetic to my ideas as he was to those of Hancock and Carlson in their prior appearances on his show.

It was, therefore, surprising to find myself under something of a grilling from Rogan the moment I was given the opportunity to reply to a few opening comments by Hancock. It soon went from 2-on-1 to 3-on-1, which a great many people noted in comments on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and other outlets during and after the show. Here are just a few among hundreds:

xmikex902x

Ya I don’t think Joe did a good job as a moderator at all. He should’ve remained neutral, but he almost instantly turned this into a 3 on 1, and idc which side “did better” or w/e. It just wasn’t a very fair way to handle this.

Alex Bones Jones

Joe was massively biased and it was 3-vs-1 for the bulk of the podcast. He is the worst moderator I’ve ever seen.

Tadas Galinauskis

That was not good moderating, that was 3vs1 most of the time with lots of interuptions on Shummer and then complaining that he doesn’t understand his points.

Llama4 hours ago

Honestly embarrasing how joe and the other two acted. I have never seen him like this, acting so unreasonable and being so obnoxious to michael shermer.