• froztbyte@awful.systems
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    edit-2
    19 hours ago

    This is extremely confusing from the outside

    understandable! and it’s messy in the weeds, because the loons have been talking about and doing absolutely crazy shit for a long time

    And I don’t know where does this Lemmy community fit into all of this.

    so, before I answer, I’ll tell you upfront that you’ll probably hate what you learn. that said, see the sidebar for some links and descriptions

    the community (techtakes, sneerclub) can be loosely described as a collective of people who’ve, for some reason or another, found themselves caring- /having to care about/encountering/etc one or more of the loons in the subject groups, and then needing a place to vent about it

    partly this is because these loons are extremely influential in tech and related spheres, and have been becoming ever more so in recent political pushes in the US. much of yarvin’s thought is directly influencing current US government policy, and all the harms that is causing people. the current stock market bonfire? yeah, these fucking guys.

    Sounds good - being rational is obviously a good thing

    there’s a difference between “being rational” and capital-R Rationalism (which is what’s involved from yud/lesswrong/etc)

    nice reads about rational thought

    on paper, that’s the pitch. in practice, it’s cult shit. it’s also self-reinforced for years against any actual expertise - all the fuckers in this scene don’t want to learn from anyone “outside”, and they do an extreme amount of mental gymnastics to justify their various beliefs (which frequently include scientific racism, eugenics, etc)

    if you listen to podcasts, Behind The Bastards has featured episodes of (Curtis) Yarvin in the last 2y, as well as another (very recently) on Ziz. all these go into a fair amount of detail about these people. but, again, warning: you will hate what you learn.

      • scruiser@awful.systems
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        0
        ·
        10 hours ago

        Its the sort of stuff that makes great material for science fiction! It’s less fun when you see it in the NYT or quoted by mainstream politicians with plans that will wreck the country.

      • Soyweiser@awful.systems
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        0
        ·
        17 hours ago

        fascinating

        Nooo run! Beware the lure of the abyss that is learning more about this stuff. Remember you cannot unlearn things!