For someone familiar with Scientology, the similarities are quite funny. There is a unique genius who develops a new theory of human mind called [Dianetics | Connection Theory]. For people familiar with psychology, it’s mostly a restatement of some dubious existing theories, with huge simplifications and littleevidence. But many people have their minds blown.
The genius starts a group with the goal of providing almost-superpowers such as [perfect memory | becoming another Elon Musk] to his followers, with the ultimate goal of saving the planet. The followers believe this is the only organization capable of achieving such goal. They must regularly submit to having their thoughts checked at [auditing | debugging], where their sincerity is verified using [e-meter | Belief Reporting]. When the leaders runs out of useful or semi-useful ideas to teach, there is always the unending task of exorcising the [body thetans | demons].
The former members are afraid of consequences if they speak about their experience in the organization.
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Some people expressed epistemic frustration about situation that seems important to understand correctly, but information is scarce. Please note that from one party’s perspective, this is a feature, not a bug! The whole situation was intentionally designed to be difficult to figure out.
When you are provided filtered evidence, it makes sense to assume that your ignorance plays in favor of the party who censors the information. That means, that the actual reality is worse than you assume based on the information you already have. (Maybe even worse than when you take this into account. Because, that party still has an opportunity to stop the information embargo if public suspicion goes too far.. and yet they chose not to.)
When reading Geoff’s comment, please also notice the part that is missing: revoking the NDA, or promising not to take legal or other action against Zoe (or anyone else who talks about their experience at Leverage).
Also, it’s more of an excuse than an apology. “It’s terrible that you felt like [...]. I totally did not expect this”. Says the guy whose alleged superpower is modelling other people’s minds, about the one who regularly had to submit to having her thoughts inspected by a supervisor. (Also, notice that the terrible thing is how she felt, not what she was subjected to. It’s kinda her fault for being so irrationally sensitive, am I right? /s)
Some thoughts related to this topic:
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For someone familiar with Scientology, the similarities are quite funny. There is a unique genius who develops a new theory of human mind called [Dianetics | Connection Theory]. For people familiar with psychology, it’s mostly a restatement of some dubious existing theories, with huge simplifications and little evidence. But many people have their minds blown.
The genius starts a group with the goal of providing almost-superpowers such as [perfect memory | becoming another Elon Musk] to his followers, with the ultimate goal of saving the planet. The followers believe this is the only organization capable of achieving such goal. They must regularly submit to having their thoughts checked at [auditing | debugging], where their sincerity is verified using [e-meter | Belief Reporting]. When the leaders runs out of useful or semi-useful ideas to teach, there is always the unending task of exorcising the [body thetans | demons].
The former members are afraid of consequences if they speak about their experience in the organization.
*
Some people expressed epistemic frustration about situation that seems important to understand correctly, but information is scarce. Please note that from one party’s perspective, this is a feature, not a bug! The whole situation was intentionally designed to be difficult to figure out.
When you are provided filtered evidence, it makes sense to assume that your ignorance plays in favor of the party who censors the information. That means, that the actual reality is worse than you assume based on the information you already have. (Maybe even worse than when you take this into account. Because, that party still has an opportunity to stop the information embargo if public suspicion goes too far.. and yet they chose not to.)
When reading Geoff’s comment, please also notice the part that is missing: revoking the NDA, or promising not to take legal or other action against Zoe (or anyone else who talks about their experience at Leverage).
Also, it’s more of an excuse than an apology. “It’s terrible that you felt like [...]. I totally did not expect this”. Says the guy whose alleged superpower is modelling other people’s minds, about the one who regularly had to submit to having her thoughts inspected by a supervisor. (Also, notice that the terrible thing is how she felt, not what she was subjected to. It’s kinda her fault for being so irrationally sensitive, am I right? /s)