Can you really be confident of that given that a lot of these groups seem to operate in secret
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If everyone knew about them, then the article I linked to wouldn’t have been written, no? It seems like it’s aimed at other rationalists, who presumably weren’t aware of the cultish practices described
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Many people knew about them existing as a group but didn’t know the details in the article.
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Oh yeah, I think there was a misunderstanding. She said that fewer rationalist groups have cult aspects than you’d expect, but my point is that you can’t know which groups have cult activity going on because a lot of them keep their activities secret
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Of the three situations I can think of that people have since described as cult like, there were external signs—a leader some people were adoring of that seemed highly polarising, a grand mission spoken about, people going off somewhere to do something vague and important—
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And maybe I am just out of the loop but I don’t see any more of those signals in the general area of those communities at the moment
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I don’t know; hasn’t given me bad vibes personally (aside from existential risk focus being anxiety producing for people more generally); seems to lack psychological control elements but I am not that close to it.
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How much would you be willing to bet that no former MIRI employee will come out in the next 5 years with allegations of cultish practices/goals inside the org
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I'd bet a ton. I am very close to some of the ppl at MIRI and don't consider it to be cultlike at all.
For contrast, I knew ppl at some of the other rat-adj groups that ended up being cults and it smelled weird for me at the time and I would have not have made that bet.