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Re:Why Are There So Many Rationalist Cults? by danaris on Tuesday August 12, 2025 @01:34PM (#44879447)
> I think it’s that people tend to build up “logical” conclusions where they think each step is a watertight necessity that follows inevitably from its antecedents, but actually each step is a little bit leaky, leading to runaway growth in false confidence.

Yeah, this is a pattern I've seen a lot of recently—especially in discussions about LLMs and the supposed inevitability of AGI (and the Singularity). This is a good description of it.

Re:Why Are There So Many Rationalist Cults? by kergonath on Tuesday August 12, 2025 @02:12PM (#44879902)
Another annoying one is the simulation theory group. They know just enough about Physics to build sophisticated mental constructs without understanding how flimsy the foundations are or how their logical steps are actually unproven hypotheses.
Re:Why Are There So Many Rationalist Cults? by JohnMakin on Tuesday August 12, 2025 @02:26PM (#44880064)
Agreed. This one is especially annoying to me and dear to my heart, because I enjoy discussing the philosophy behind this, but it devolves into weird discussions and conclusions fairly quickly without much effort at all. I particularly enjoy the tenets of certain sects of buddhism and how they view these things, but you'll get a lot of people that are doing a really pseudo-intellectual version of the Matrix where they are the main character.
Re:Why Are There So Many Rationalist Cults? by BaseBaal on Wednesday August 13, 2025 @07:24AM (#44887111)
Which sects of Buddhism? Just curious to read further about them.
Re:Why Are There So Many Rationalist Cults? by spopejoy on Tuesday August 12, 2025 @07:14PM (#44882869)
You might have just explained the phenomenon of AI doomsayers overlapping with ea/rat types, which I otherwise found inexplicable. EA/Rs seem kind of appalingly positivist otherwise.
Re:Why Are There So Many Rationalist Cults? by danaris on Thursday August 14, 2025 @09:51AM (#44900359)
I mean, that's also because of their mutual association with Eliezer Yudkowski, who is (AIUI) a believer in the Singularity, as well as being one of the main wellsprings of "Rationalist" philosophy.