Many domains that people tend to conceptualize as “skill mastery, not cult indoctrination” also have some cult-like properties like having a charismatic teacher, not being able to question authority (or at least, not being encouraged to think for oneself), and a social environment where it seems like other students unquestioningly accept the teachings. I’ve personally experienced some of this stuff in martial arts practice, math culture, and music lessons, though I wouldn’t call any of those a cult.
Two points this comparison brings up for me:
EA seems unusually good compared to these “skill mastery” domains in repeatedly telling people “yes, you should think for yourself and come to your own conclusions”, even at the introductory levels, and also just generally being open to discussions like “is EA a cult?”.
I’m worried this post will be condensed into people’s minds as something like “just conceptualize EA as a skill instead of this cult-like thing”. But if even skill-like things have cult-like elements, maybe that condensed version won’t help people make EA less cult-like. Or maybe it’s actually okay for EA to have some cult-like elements!
Many domains that people tend to conceptualize as “skill mastery, not cult indoctrination” also have some cult-like properties like having a charismatic teacher, not being able to question authority (or at least, not being encouraged to think for oneself), and a social environment where it seems like other students unquestioningly accept the teachings. I’ve personally experienced some of this stuff in martial arts practice, math culture, and music lessons, though I wouldn’t call any of those a cult.
Two points this comparison brings up for me:
EA seems unusually good compared to these “skill mastery” domains in repeatedly telling people “yes, you should think for yourself and come to your own conclusions”, even at the introductory levels, and also just generally being open to discussions like “is EA a cult?”.
I’m worried this post will be condensed into people’s minds as something like “just conceptualize EA as a skill instead of this cult-like thing”. But if even skill-like things have cult-like elements, maybe that condensed version won’t help people make EA less cult-like. Or maybe it’s actually okay for EA to have some cult-like elements!