The truth should be rewarded. Even if it’s obvious. Everyday this post is more blatantly correct.
sapphire
Karma: 2,502
I don’t think he is directly responsible. But recent events are imo further evidence his methods are bad. If I said some dangerous teacher was Buddhist I would not be implicating the Buddha directly. Though it would be some evidence for the Buddha failing as a teacher.
Is the hoody gonna be good? Hoodies are often really shitty quality and texture. If you make a good one I will pay the 1K.
The Local Vasserite has directly stated “i purposefully induce mania in people, as taught by Michael Vassar”. Seems like the connection to michael Vassar is not very tenuous. At least that is my judgement. Others can disagree. Vassar does not have to personally administer the method or be currently supportive of his former student.
I honestly have no idea what you mean. I am not even sure why “(self) statements you hear while on psychedelics are just like normal statements” would be a counterpoint to someone being in a very credulous state. Normal statements can also be accepted credulously.
Perhaps you are right but the sense of self required is rare. Practical most people are empirically credulous on psychedellics.
When you take psychedelics you are in an extremely vulnerable and credulous position. It is absolutely unsafe to take psychedelics in the presence of anyone who is going to confidently expound in the nature of truth and society. Michael Vassar, Jessica Taylor and other are extremely confident and aggressive about asserting their point of view. It is debatable how ok that is under normal circumstances. It is absolutely dangerous if someone is on psychedelics.
Even a single trip can be quite damaging.
I consulted multiple people to make sure my impression was accurate .Every person, except you, agree you are much more schizophrenic than before the events. My personal opinion is you currently fit the diagnosis criteria. I do not accept that people are the unique authority on whether they have developed schizophrenia.
Yes you are the second person observed to have a schizophrenic event. In your case I doubt long lasting.
Events are recent and to some extent ongoing. Though the ‘now they are literally schizophrenic’ event occurred some months ago. Pacific northwest. This incident has not been written up in public afaik.
A second person has now had a schizophrenic episode. This occurred a few days ago. Though I do not think the second person will end up persistently schizophrenic.
I am not talking about any of the more well known cases.
The idea that people would do these things in the ‘rationalist’ community is truly horrifying to me. I am a believer in doing somewhat innovative or risky things. But you are supposed to do them somewhat safely.
Don’t Induce psychosis intentionally. Don’t take psychedelics while someone probes your beliefs. Don’t let anyone associated with Michael Vasser anywhere near you during an altered state.
Edit: here is a different report from three years ago with the same person administering the methods:
Mike Vasser followers practice intentionally inducing psychosis via psychedelic drugs. Inducing psychosis is a verbatim self report of what they are doing. I would say they practice drug induced brain washing. TBC they would dispute the term brain washing and probably would not like the term ‘followers’ but I think the terms are accurate and they are certainly his intellectual descendants.
Several people have had quite severe adverse reactions (as observed by me). For example rapidly developing serious literal schizophrenia. Schizophrenia in the very literal sense of paranoid delusions and conspiratorial interpretations of other people’s behavior. The local Vasserite who did the ‘therapy’/‘brainwashing’ seems completely unbothered by this literal schizophrenia.
As you can imagine this behavior can cause substantial social disruption. Especially since the Vasserite’s don’t exactly believe in social harmony. This has all precipitated serious mental health events in many other parties. Though they are less obviously serious than “they are clinically schizophrenic now”.But that is a high bar.
I have been very critical of cover ups in lesswrong. I’m not going to name names and maybe you don’t trust me. But I have observed this all directly. If you are let people toy with your brain while you are under the influence of psychedelics you should expect high odds of severe consequences. And your friends mental health might suffer as well.Edit: these are recent events. To my knowledge never referenced on lesswrong.
edit: For anyone who feels the connection to Michael Vassar is too tenuous. The Local Vasserite in question has directly stated “i purposefully induce mania in people, as taught by Michael Vassar” to multiple people.
The market isnt efficient. Which isn’t to say it is easy to beat. Your friends strategies don’t sound promising. It also seems strange to me he is obsessed with crypto and thinks it will do well but isn’t a crypto investor. Sounds pretty inconsistent with his beliefs.
It’s worth remembering many versions of ‘,,the market is efficient’ are almost or totally unfalsifiable.
I was a miserable child. When I was nine years old I remember watching one and thinking “I have almost a decade left to serve. This is a long sentence for an adult and im just a kid. But at least I will get out one day”.
I was eventually set free. But until my freedom came all I could really do was bide my time and try to cope with the torture. And I most certainly consider it torture in retrospect. I was physically assaulted by my dad and I was horribly, horribly sleep deprived. But I managed to keep some of my sanity and pick up some MTG cards I later sold at a large profit. It could have been a lot worse for future me.
Love is true if you will fight for it. Not destroy yourself, not commit suicide but fight bravely.
The ‘Food’ and the ‘Drug’ parts behave very differently. By default food products are allowed. There may be purity requirements or restaurant regulations but you don’t need to run studies or get approvals to serve an edible product or a new combination. By default drugs are banned.
I think the FDA is under zealous about heavy metals and other contaminants. But the FDA does a decent job of regulating food. However the ‘drug’ side is a nightmare. But the two situations are de facto handled in very, very different ways. So its not obvious why an argument would cover both of them.
I’m sending my funds/votes to lighthaven. It’s a very well run venue and afaik needs funding. It should eventually be profitable or break even but needs some help getting started. Really useful and important to support well executed projects.
Most of the republican party wants to outright ban pornography. Full ban in project 2025. And they consider lots of LBGT representation fundamentally pornographic.
You can make make people/entities actually equal. You can also remove the need for the weaker entity to get the stronger entities permission. Either go more egalitarian or less authoritarian or both. Its worth noting that if you dont want to be authoritarian its important to blin yourself to information about the weaker party. The ebst way to not be overbearing is to not know what behavior they are getting up to. This is why children’s privacy is so important. Its much easier to never known than to resist your urge to meddle.
I have previously bet large sums on elections. Im not currently placing any bets on who will win the election. Seems too unclear to me (note I had a huge bet on biden in 2020, seemed clear then). However there are TONS of mispricings on polymarket and other sites. Things like ‘biden will withdraw or lose the nomination @ 23%’ is a good example.
Leadership is supposed to be about service not personal gain.
I recovered from surgery alone.
I had extensive facial feminization surgery. My jaw was drilled down. Same with brow ridge. Nose broken, reshaped packed. No solid go d for months.
Recovery was challenging alone but I was certain I could manage it myself. I spared myself begging for help. The horror of noticing I was pissing off my friend by needing help.
No regrets. I’m quite recovered now. That was very interesting month alone.