I certainly don’t feel that my ability for independent thought (weak as it is) would survive a switch to woo. What do others think?
I don’t feel like my capacity to think has been harmed by dabbling in woo (Tantra, bits and pieces of mythic mode) but I do think a certain level of epistemic strength is necessary to avoid being washed away by the tide, and I’ve met people dabbling in woo (not rationalists) who don’t have it and whose epistemics are compromised accordingly.
(But I think most people have this property, it’s just that their epistemics are usually being compromised in a more broadly socially acceptable direction. If you don’t also take ideas seriously this doesn’t matter much either way. So the only people at risk here are people who both take ideas seriously and worry that they’re epistemically weak.)
I don’t feel like my capacity to think has been harmed by dabbling in woo (Tantra, bits and pieces of mythic mode) but I do think a certain level of epistemic strength is necessary to avoid being washed away by the tide, and I’ve met people dabbling in woo (not rationalists) who don’t have it and whose epistemics are compromised accordingly.
(But I think most people have this property, it’s just that their epistemics are usually being compromised in a more broadly socially acceptable direction. If you don’t also take ideas seriously this doesn’t matter much either way. So the only people at risk here are people who both take ideas seriously and worry that they’re epistemically weak.)