Kevin Simler

i am .so. on this wavelength right now, but it sounds like you’ve thought many more steps ahead... got some questions for you:

1. have you played avalon or the resistance? those are my models. they’re similar to werewolf but i wonder if you note any important differences

2. which public figures, if any, do you think are attempting to play/refine the villager strategy? (is this a useful question to ask?)

put another way: who are some of the highest-profile people who seem to be playing villager (with the caveat that of course it’s impossible to tell for sure)?

3. i fear that playing villager beyond a very small high-trust group could go badly. do you have any practical tips for widening your circle and/or finding and bringing others into the fold?

The people to start with are the ones already motivated enough to be displaying at least some small amount of courage to try to get informed or inform others. The kinds of people the Nazis were afraid of seem to find it easier. Also easier with people with local concrete trust.

This stuff can be dangerous for the same reason psychedelics and philosophy are dangerous. Pay attention to people's ability to cope and support structures if you start talking about how power and social control work. Balance model-building with local coordination to be safe.

People in normal jobs that require certain kinds of performativity (which is nearly all white-collar jobs now) will get less receptive over time by default, so past performance is not indicative of future results in those cases.