Based Camp | Simone & Malcolm Collins
Based Camp | Simone & Malcolm Collins
Based Camp is a podcast focused on how humans process the world around them and the future of our species. That means we go into everything from human sexuality, to weird sub-cultures, dating markets, philosophy, and politics.
Malcolm and Simone are a husband wife team of a neuroscientist and marketer turned entrepreneurs and authors. With graduate degrees from Stanford and Cambridge under their belts as well as five bestselling books, one of which topped out the WSJs nonfiction list, they are widely known (if infamous) intellectuals / provocateurs.
If you want to dig into their ideas further or check citations on points they bring up check out their book series. Note: They all sell for a dollar or so and the money made from them goes to charity. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08FMWMFTG basedcamppodcast.substack.com
Malcolm and Simone are a husband wife team of a neuroscientist and marketer turned entrepreneurs and authors. With graduate degrees from Stanford and Cambridge under their belts as well as five bestselling books, one of which topped out the WSJs nonfiction list, they are widely known (if infamous) intellectuals / provocateurs.
If you want to dig into their ideas further or check citations on points they bring up check out their book series. Note: They all sell for a dollar or so and the money made from them goes to charity. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08FMWMFTG basedcamppodcast.substack.com
Episodes
Mentioned books
4 snips
Mar 27, 2026 • 1h 18min
How Tucker Carlson Came to Hate Western Civilization
They dissect surprising praise for Moscow, Dubai, and Maduro-era Venezuela and why curated elite tours can mislead. They unpack conflating urban monoculture with Western civilization and the human costs behind manufactured luxury. They explore how agreeableness, elite socializing, and controversy-seeking shape a skewed foreign outlook. They contrast coherent authoritarian agendas with performative culture-war posturing.
Mar 26, 2026 • 1h 4min
Exorcisms Up 10X Over Decade: We’re Thrilled
A deep dive into the recent surge in Catholic exorcisms and why demand is spiking. They unpack formal major rites, simple deliverance prayers, and house blessings. They compare regulated Catholic practices with riskier charismatic approaches. They explore how ritual, placebo effects, and dramatic “before-and-after” moments can reframe identity, change behavior, and sometimes outperform clinical interventions.
Mar 25, 2026 • 1h
Cuckmaxing: If Better Men Exist Shouldn't You Raise Their Kids?
A heated debate about choosing donor genes instead of one’s own and whether that avoids passing on harm. They unpack polygenic selection, embryo editing, and the limits of measuring “better” genes. The conversation covers instinctive disgust at raising non-biological children, family-level regression to the mean, and the cultural risks of normalizing donor parenting.
Mar 24, 2026 • 51min
T Pills Make Dems Vote Right?! (The Conservative Chemical)
They unpack a 2025 study where testosterone shifted weakly affiliated Democrats toward conservative choices. The conversation covers testosterone’s role in dominance, punishment, risk-taking, and social vigilance. They debate declines in male T, strategic versus reckless aggression, links to pro-AI attitudes, and whether society should consider supplementation.
5 snips
Mar 23, 2026 • 1h 8min
Iran Gov Broke & Everyone Is Missing the Signs
A fast-paced breakdown of Iran’s puzzling wartime choices and whether centralized control has collapsed into regional fiefdoms. Discussion of a strike on the shared South Pars gas field and its ripple effects on Qatar and regional energy. Analysis of rival IRGC factions hitting expensive targets for headlines and a new Saudi–UAE Cold War driven by competing state and maritime models.
Mar 20, 2026 • 49min
Rope! The Latest Teen Girl Fad
They unpack alarming CDC teen mental-health and suicide‑ideation trends from 2021–2023. They explore pandemic effects, social contagion, and how school and peer culture amplify risk. They link higher ideation to affluent leisure, examine gender differences in ideation versus completion, and probe nihilism and dystopian cravings. They propose cultural remedies like hardship, larger families, rites, and countercultural practices.
Mar 19, 2026 • 1h 7min
The Genetic Reason Europe Keeps Failing
They discuss new research linking World War I deaths to long-term drops in local innovation and high-impact inventions. They explore how lost networks and selective migration shaped risk-taking cultures and compare European and American immigrant filters. They debate cultural and regulatory reasons for Europe’s technological lag and practical responses like pro-natalism, selective networks, and building resilient innovation hubs.
Mar 18, 2026 • 1h 5min
The Trap of the Beautiful Ones: The "Mouse Utopia" Hits Gen Z
A provocative look at how obsessive self‑optimization mirrors Calhoun’s mouse utopia. They trace looksmaxxing, status‑hoarding, performative altruism, and online pickup culture as modern traps. The conversation links algorithmic attention, cosmetic extremes, and sterile validation loops. Practical ideas for escaping hollow optimization rounds out the talk.
Mar 17, 2026 • 1h 1min
Why Did Culture Stop Evolving? (2025=2015 But 1995≠1985)
They debate whether the internet and algorithms have flattened cultural time and stalled new movements. They use ball-pit and archive metaphors to explain why recent decades feel indistinguishable. They map pockets of genuine innovation like anime, Korean webtoons, VTubers, Roblox, SCP lore, and liminal-space micro-movements. They argue constrained communities, AI saturation, and family culture shape where new culture can still form.
Mar 16, 2026 • 54min
Gen Z Dating Behavior: This Is Crazy?!
A lively dive into Gen Z pickup culture, from viral cold-approach clips and Ray-Ban recording glasses to creators who perform masculinity for views. They unpack friction-maxxing, honest cold-approach scripts, and why some tactics are more about status than romance. Stories include viral meet-cute tricks like buying drinks or stealing salads, plus thoughts on where real connections still happen.
