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The Zizians and the rationalist death cult

What is the deal with Rationalism and cults?

Law-enforcement agents had put the pair under surveillance following a tip from an employee of their Vermont hotel, who reported that they “appeared to be dressed in all-black tactical style clothing with protective equipment, with [Youngblut] carrying an apparent firearm in an exposed-carry holster.” talk and focuses on holding workshops for businesses or interested would-be Rationalists “where we teach and train techniques for forming accurate beliefs, navigating intellectual disagreement, making better use of our internal advisors, developing non-self-deceptive motivation, and building the habit of getting things done.” But when you poke around a little bit--when you read about how “Rationalism” plays out in its communities in practice--the “movement” starts to feel a little less STEM and a lot more New Age: A suspect program for self-improvement, with existential stakes, a strong emphasis on self-experimentation, and a deleterious commitment to openness.

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