Many but by no means all in the community share that concern. I’m finding it interesting to note my own reluctance to link to some of the material since even among those who do share that concern there is discussion of some techniques that might be considered objectionable. One of the cornerstones of much of the material is that people are so conditioned by conventional beliefs about what ‘should’ work that they are liable to find what actually does work highly counter-intuitive at first. Reactions to the challenging of strongly held beliefs can be equally strong and I’ve often observed this in comment threads on the material.
The most mainstream introduction to the community is probably “The Game” by Neil Strauss. I’m not sure it’s the best starting point from the point of view of connections to rationality but it’s an entertaining read if nothing else.
I certainly believe it’s possible to benefit from some of the ideas while maintaining your definition of ‘winning’ but equally there are some parts of the community which are less appealing.
Many but by no means all in the community share that concern. I’m finding it interesting to note my own reluctance to link to some of the material since even among those who do share that concern there is discussion of some techniques that might be considered objectionable. One of the cornerstones of much of the material is that people are so conditioned by conventional beliefs about what ‘should’ work that they are liable to find what actually does work highly counter-intuitive at first. Reactions to the challenging of strongly held beliefs can be equally strong and I’ve often observed this in comment threads on the material.
The most mainstream introduction to the community is probably “The Game” by Neil Strauss. I’m not sure it’s the best starting point from the point of view of connections to rationality but it’s an entertaining read if nothing else.
I certainly believe it’s possible to benefit from some of the ideas while maintaining your definition of ‘winning’ but equally there are some parts of the community which are less appealing.