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Egregores

TagLast edit: Oct 2, 2023, 5:13 AM by gilch

Adapted by the rationalists from an older esoteric term for a spirit made of a group’s thoughts, an egregore is a collective (of persons) that seems to act like a being in its own right, like “America” or “Microsoft”, although one need not be legally recognized to qualify. They often don’t act in the best interest of individual persons, including their own members, analogous to predators or parasites.

It’s unclear to what extent these entities can be called “minds” (or “conscious”), but your own mind is also made up of a collective (of neurons). “In truth, there are only atoms and the void,” and yet we give names to higher-order structures, like individuals or countries.

See also: memetics, reductionism, eldrich analogies, moral mazes.

Ra­tion­al­ism in an Age of Egregores

David UdellJun 1, 2022, 7:29 AM
14 points
11 comments2 min readLW link

We’re already in AI takeoff

ValentineMar 8, 2022, 11:09 PM
144 points
119 comments7 min readLW link

Blan­chard’s Danger­ous Idea and the Plight of the Lu­cid Crossdreamer

Zack_M_DavisJul 8, 2023, 6:03 PM
38 points
135 comments72 min readLW link
(unremediatedgender.space)

Please don’t throw your mind away

TsviBTFeb 15, 2023, 9:41 PM
359 points
48 comments18 min readLW link1 review

Who is this MSRayne per­son any­way?

MSRayneJul 1, 2022, 5:32 PM
32 points
30 comments11 min readLW link

Frame Bridg­ing v0.8 - an in­quiry and a technique

UnrealJun 20, 2023, 7:46 PM
11 points
9 comments6 min readLW link

Crys­tal Heal­ing — or the Ori­gins of Ex­pected Utility Maximizers

Jun 25, 2023, 3:18 AM
50 points
11 comments5 min readLW link

On Con­text And People

JanMar 19, 2022, 11:38 PM
7 points
0 comments10 min readLW link
(universalprior.substack.com)

Ra­tional Feed

sapphireAug 27, 2017, 3:49 AM
18 points
1 comment14 min readLW link

Is Progress Real?

rogersbaconJan 10, 2023, 5:42 PM
5 points
14 comments14 min readLW link
(www.secretorum.life)

Car­ry­ing the Torch: A Re­sponse to Anna Sala­mon by the Guild of the Rose

moridinamaelJul 6, 2022, 2:20 PM
136 points
16 comments6 min readLW link