I am not concerned too much with EA turning into a cult, for one reason:
Cults/New Religious Movements are vastly less bad than most people think, and the literature on cults repudiates a lot of claims that the general population believes on cults, especially anything to do with harm.
Replying to this because I don’t think this is a rare view, and I’m concerned about it. Met someone this week who seemed to openly view cults as a template (flawed, but useful) and was in the process of building a large compound overseas where he could disseminate his beliefs to followers who lived onsite. By his own admission, he was using EA as a platform to launch multiple(?) new genuine religions.
In light of the Leverage Research incident, we should expect and keep an eye out for folks using the EA umbrella to actually start cults.
My point is that contra the narrative in this post, cults are vastly less bad than the general public believes, so much so that the post is responding to a straw problem. I don’t necessarily agree with the beliefs of the New Religious Movements/cults but the cult literature shows that they are vastly less bad then the general public thinks.
I know it’s a counterintuitive truth, but I want people to understand that the general public believing something is bad does not equal badness.
I skimmed the link and it seems to be mostly about brainwashing not being effective. But cults do a lot of damage besides brainwashing. The insight that cults do provide some value to their members (otherwise why would anyone join?) is true, but does not mean that they don’t do a lot of net harm.
I am not concerned too much with EA turning into a cult, for one reason:
Cults/New Religious Movements are vastly less bad than most people think, and the literature on cults repudiates a lot of claims that the general population believes on cults, especially anything to do with harm.
Link to it here:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/TiG8cLkBRW4QgsfrR/notes-on-brainwashing-and-cults
Replying to this because I don’t think this is a rare view, and I’m concerned about it. Met someone this week who seemed to openly view cults as a template (flawed, but useful) and was in the process of building a large compound overseas where he could disseminate his beliefs to followers who lived onsite. By his own admission, he was using EA as a platform to launch multiple(?) new genuine religions.
In light of the Leverage Research incident, we should expect and keep an eye out for folks using the EA umbrella to actually start cults.
My point is that contra the narrative in this post, cults are vastly less bad than the general public believes, so much so that the post is responding to a straw problem. I don’t necessarily agree with the beliefs of the New Religious Movements/cults but the cult literature shows that they are vastly less bad then the general public thinks.
I know it’s a counterintuitive truth, but I want people to understand that the general public believing something is bad does not equal badness.
I skimmed the link and it seems to be mostly about brainwashing not being effective. But cults do a lot of damage besides brainwashing. The insight that cults do provide some value to their members (otherwise why would anyone join?) is true, but does not mean that they don’t do a lot of net harm.