I don’t think the communities in the bay area are cults, for the most part, but there have been serious attempts at getting them to be by the likes of dill, ziz, etc. I would definitely label some features of the community “cult risk, but not yet a tight cult”; most features of the community I’d label “a bunch of spiritual nerds who don’t trust each other that much”. I absolutely have no objection to being hesitant about the risk of it, though, because Extreme Doomerism Vibes and/or Intense Spiritual Vision Of The Future are both religious-leaning-cultish mental patterns, even if they are not actually tied to a specific instance of cult authoritarianism. Secular solstice is cool, but it’s important, if participating, to not accept anyone involved as an authority.
How many online cults are there? Those would be the best reference group for Less Wrong.
(Then again, it would be possible that Less Wrong the website is not a cult, but let’s say the rationality community in Bay Area is.)
I don’t think the communities in the bay area are cults, for the most part, but there have been serious attempts at getting them to be by the likes of dill, ziz, etc. I would definitely label some features of the community “cult risk, but not yet a tight cult”; most features of the community I’d label “a bunch of spiritual nerds who don’t trust each other that much”. I absolutely have no objection to being hesitant about the risk of it, though, because Extreme Doomerism Vibes and/or Intense Spiritual Vision Of The Future are both religious-leaning-cultish mental patterns, even if they are not actually tied to a specific instance of cult authoritarianism. Secular solstice is cool, but it’s important, if participating, to not accept anyone involved as an authority.