Skip Navigation
17 comments
  • We’re on to AI now, and when you let some secluded online communities of empirically smart but socially dumb people cook on this idea and you get the “rationalists” cult. You let that fester for a bit and you get zizzians and sexual assault/murder.

    Weird that this is a valid observation in a lighthearted space. Usually it’s just nonsense

    • i don't get what you're saying after reading it 2-3 times. can you explain more?

      what is the connection between AI and rationalists? i don't see it.

      and what does "zizzians" mean, and what does it have with sexual assault?

      • TLDR: rationalists are basically a cult that worships AI and have some practices that lead to abuse and sometimes suicide. Zizzians are an even more extremist branch of rationalists and their members killed a few people in recent years.

        Totally understandable because it’s a weird corner of the internet so the rundown is as follows:

        “rationalists” are a subculture which while not really a cult it has a ton of cult-like tendencies. They’re a group that likes to discuss AI (predating the LLM boom of recent years) and the possibility of humans creating a singularity - an all powerful ai that will effectively solve all our problems and run the earth in the most “net positive” and rational way. There is a good amount on the rationalist cult on the internet and it’s a fun but kinda sad rabbit hole to research (it involves a ton of smart people falling for some rather weird logical fallacies as well as a fan-fiction of Harry Potter they effectively treat as a holy text). Anyway…

        There are a lot beliefs rationalist discussions tend towards but generally it’s an agreement that the singularity is the most beneficial thing that could happen to humans and anyone trying to help the human race should work towards a singularity level AI with all their resources… this leads to more dark ideas such like pondering if it’s a “net positive” for some people to commit suicide as they do not contribute to society enough to justify the resources they take up. Pretty harmful and has lead to multiple suicides in their circles which they sort of just shrug off.

        This sort of environment is conducive to people who take advantage of their status. There have been plenty of allegations around the rationalist community leaders abusing younger women (they have an organization whose name escapes my memory atm).

        Now “zizzians” are a more radicalized group of people who broke out of the rationalist movement and started their own cult. They have wild beliefs like “to succeed in saving the planet one has to make themselves into a sociopath to not be burdened by sociatal expectations”. Through a bizarre chain of events zizzian cult members ended up killing multiple people around the end of 2018 including a border patrol agent on the border of Vermont. There is relatively little about zizzians out there as it’s a small group within an already small subculture.

        There is a fantastic 4 part episode about the zizzians on the behind the bastards podcast. It’s a wild ride and I highly recommend it.

  • Something, something, basilisk. You know, just some headcannon to excuse being a fascist.

    • is this a reference to Roko's Basilisk?

      or is it something else? because i know about more than one basilisk from mythology ...

      there's another story that goes like "the basilisk is a creature that is so intelligent that it can paralyze you with its gaze" but i'm not sure whether that's what you're talking about.


      also, i think the thing with AI isn't about Roko's Basilisk, at least not in most people's minds? It's about replacing human white collar workers with machinery, in order to "save cost". So, it's mainly being pushed for by people who think they're doing it "for the economy", not by some religious lunatics?

      • Yeah I was referencing Roko’s basilisk. Some of the accelerationist tech bro bent can be attributed to it, not sure how much though.

  • i'll help you with the last one:

    bro the whole world is made of information, it's all just variables; the world is a database and reality is the user interface; we're probably in a computer game & just don't know it (for better immersion) wake up neo you're in the matrix.

  • btw you image contains redundant information:

    it contains systems of organizing/structuring information twice (books and IT), and it also contains the idea of the wheel twice (consider a cog a wheel though).


    also both of these ideas aren't that far fetched. the above image is sometimes called "Dharma" (the wheel of dharma), and it represents householding: "whatever you want to protect" stands in the middle of it, with you always running in circles around it. consider you go to work in the morning, come home in the evening, just to repeat it the next day. i'd consider it "running in circles". so it's a useful image.

    also the thing with the information, especially the "book of life", has meaning to it if you consider DNA / genetic code is a scripture that contains the blueprint for life. So, it's literally "you are a scripture on some kind of writing material".

17 comments