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professorgerm

a weird little beardo trying to understand what it's all about

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joined 2022 September 12 12:41:49 UTC 

				
User ID: 1157


				
				
				

			

		

	














	


		


			



	

		

			

			

				

					

						

							
						

						

							
							

								
professorgerm


								
								
									
								
								

								

								
								
								

								
							
					
 
				


				
a weird little beardo trying to understand what it's all about

				
				
				

				

					3 followers  

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					joined 2022 September 12 12:41:49 UTC
				


				
					

					
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User ID: 1157


					
					
					
				

			


					

						
					



		

	

 











			
			

			
			

			




	


		

			
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				Culture War Roundup for the week of October 5, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


Any form of evidence is fine




I don't think the below constitutes evidence that will satisfy you, but thank you for being specific, and hopefully the below provides a jumping-off point for anyone else that wants to try to draw all the connections.


I think "sex cult" is a convenient but somewhat exaggerated shorthand for the actual situation.




sufficient conditions around people involved in x-risk to describe it as a cult




Zizians were motivated in part by x-risk (and huge amounts of mental illness). Confirmed cult, but also fringe and defunct.


One catch to providing evidence is that there isn't one cult, there's more like half a dozen with varying degrees of evidence, intensity, and overlap.




these are the majority or at least plurality of people interested in x-risk




I strongly disagree that the majority or even plurality matters, because it's hierarchical and it's the small tight-knit social sphere at or near the top, that are friends/siblings/housemates/non-monogamous partners/polite ex-partners/orgy attendees with each other and with the people they want to regulate their industry.


Probably no more than 100 people total with various overlapping relationships because it's such a small yet important field, and certain people have substantially outsized influence therein.




any of the proposals around x-risk involve giving these people specifically more power.




That is inherently to the race dynamic that Anthropic pushes, that getting to AGI first means you set the morality of the future.




For example, will it involve them achieving more sexual goals?




Aella is the keystone of the sex accusations and complicating factor here, depending how charitably (or not) one wants to take her interactions with the field, with her likely-joking-but-hmm offers to provide reverse gangbangs as a reward for any researchers leaving top AI companies, doing that infamous couch photo with Yud and other AI researchers/whatever you want to call them, etc. I think she is ultimately net-negative for the rationalists, and their interest in circling the wagons when she gets critiqued is what causes people to say EAs/rats consider the weird sex stuff more important than AI safety.


Borrowing from Ian Duncan, important links in the original not reproduced here:




One of the most well-known, wish you could scrub your brain with soap incidents was a gangbang she organized for her birthday. In a sense, it was a ritual for the rationalist community: weeks of screening, an application process, a guest list vetted for doctrinal compliance, a published post-event analysis with a flowchart that went viral, outlining statistics about who came in who, and so forth. The gangbang came with a doctrinal test: adherents of “effective accelerationism,” the faction that wants AI development to go faster, were screened out, because of her views on AI risk. Even the orgy had an AI-governance position. This further reinforces, I think, the cultlike control aspect of this social group. Believe in the right things, and maybe you get to have sex with the community porn star. Supposedly, a number of startup founders recognized each other there and commented on their surprise at seeing each other. Small world indeed.




emphasis mine because lol




And in 2026 she entered the Yudkowsky’s clergy more directly, launching Plz Don’t Kill Us, a Berkeley residency that pays creators to produce viral AI-doom content, with Grimes attached as a mentor.




Plzdontkillus is co-run with Ronnie Fernandez, who is the ex-husband of Holly Elmore, president of Pause AI US. It was the application for this camp that had the infamous Cow Question, to select for a certain kind of person willing to answer obscene and gross hypotheticals. Further complications involving Aella would mean delving into SlutCon and RedMeansNo discourse, which I don't really have the time for currently. Continuing from Ian-




The professional overlap is less funny than the guest list. The New Yorker has mapped the romantic network at the top of the field: AI-forecasting researcher Katja Grace co-founded AI Impacts with her then-boyfriend Paul Christiano, a former OpenAI alignment lead, and later dated Alexander. Christiano is connected by friendship and past romance to Holden Karnofsky, the philanthropist whose Open Philanthropy steered hundreds of millions into AI safety, and Karnofsky married Daniela Amodei, co-founder and president of Anthropic. No wrongdoing necessarily follows from any of that, but it does raise significant questions around how AI safety concerns are in fact being handled or promoted with so many industry movers and shakers are entangled to this degree.




Daniela being, of course, the more famous Dario's sister. And this is only a fraction of the interconnections!


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of October 5, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
it was there but it didn't used to be consuming to Scott the way it was for EY.


Plus 10 years ago is just after his Golden Age where he was much more sympathetic to less-than-maximally-progressives and all of a month before You Are Still Crying Wolf, which he later edited and walked back some but was a "even this guy gets it" piece for a fair number of Motte-types, I suspect


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of October 5, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


Yudkowsky has indeed made long-term plans fairly recently, such as having kids.




not as far as gemini can find evidence for.


Scott did, Altman has a surrogate cooking, and Aella's tweeted about how many eggs she has frozen and plans to have kids 'soon.'


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of October 5, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


weird sexual practices aren't a defining trait of their culture




I disagree, on "see what you can't critique" grounds. Complaining about the weird sexual practices generates more outrage and more circling of the wagons than critiquing mosquito nets. Everything else is thought experiments; this is personal. Ergo, it is a defining trait.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of October 5, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


higher intelligence is associated with a better understanding of nuance and open mindedness




My favorite example is Kary Mullis, who invented PCR. Absolute genius. Also believe tons of completely batshit things.




The genius is also way better at self regulation and has less need for strict community based rules to apply to them, hence they can engage in stuff like polyamorism/drugs/etc other hedonistic activities with less risk




And thus they have absolutely no business trying to convince other people what they should do with their lives, or be trying to set the morality of the light cone, etc etc, because it will be a disaster.




Elite human capital is pretty much always liberal




Imagine citing Dicky Banania and thinking that's going to convince anyone.




it doesn't change that most opposition in the group is from the low IQ reason of "ew that's gross" or "my fantasy religion book said that's bad"




Funny, most of the support is equally poorly reasoned.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of October 5, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


The less charitable explanation is that the Bay Area has become an ideological echo chamber, and that this is bad




Has been for ages. Zvi and Sarah Constantin were complaining about that a decade ago, and I would imagine it's only gotten worse. Zvi even called it "unbelievably, world-doomingly bad."


I think he was wrong about the extent to which The Community would lose The Mission, but right that The Community ate The Mission, and the echo chamber would get worse. AFAIK Zvi's still in New York area though, and it's been a long time since he's written about this particular angle of issue.




surely Scott would agree that for people in this space who live in the Bay Area, there is a catechism, right?




he might have once, but would he still recognize that now? Or consider it a bad thing?


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of October 5, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


The raw silicon mining isn't.




Yeah that was the most interesting thing reported after Hurricane Helene; supposedly most ultra-high-quality quartz comes from one town.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of October 5, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


No, we can't just "pull the plug" if it's running our whole economy




that's why you stop now and nuke (metaphorically, probably, but i could be convinced otherwise) Silicon Valley and Seattle.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of October 5, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
How about "X's thoughts on AI risk should be downgraded because they put [a certain set of sexual practices] above all reproach and thus [apocalyptic AI risk] rank less important to them than [continuing a certain set of sexual practices]."


Also depending on the exact nature of those sexual practices, it can be a pretty good argument for keeping them as far away from the levers of power as humanly possible. I think AI poses severe but not existential risks. Either way letting the EA/rat group set AI morality will be net-negative for the majority of humanity.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of October 5, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
what part are you objecting to and what evidence will you accept


would you prefer the arrangement "apocalyptic cult that happens to put an incredible emphasis on certain kinds of sex, but that is not technically the focus of the cult"


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of October 5, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


North Carolina




That's a gimme. Pretty much no one would have a chance at beating Cooper.


I have been amused by the "Criminals for Coop" signs. Interesting that both sides have run almost entirely negative campaigns afaict.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of September 28, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
fascinating! til


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of September 28, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


As far as I know Aella is just a normal prostitute/internet-celebrity who happens to also be interested in LessWrong stuff and do internet surveys.




She also runs Plzdontkillus, an experimental creator camp on AI risk hosted at Lighthaven (man, EAs/Rats have a bad track record with actually owning locations playing poorly for them), funded by MIRI (another Yud connection) and co-run with Ronnie Fernandez, ex-husband of Holly Elmore of Pause AI US (who went a bit crazy during/after the divorce and deeply hates Aella).


She's very interconnected with the Bay Arean EA/Rat community, and the long-termers of the community circle the wagons when she comes under scrutiny.




"Are you under the impression Eliezer is sleeping with Aella?"




I mean... Not really, but they'll make overtly sexual memes for donations, so it's easy to see how someone gets that idea.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of September 28, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Also the least-central person on that list, and not in the Bay Area.


"View you less" might be a little strong. "Consider you less open-minded and thus less trustworthy on certain dimensions" is more plausible, though I think very few would be explicit about that like John Wentworth was




Also I personally absolutely do upgrade my assessment of someone's AI alignment qualifications if I find out they go to RMN.




				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of September 28, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


By now Brent is well-known as a sex pest, and while I unfortunately expect future abuser revelations, they seem less common.




Brent, and Worst Boyfriend Ever, edit: John Wenworth is on the outs though that seems to be more for writing than behavior /endedit, and how many others that are less famous and just kept on a member's-only list of missing stairs?




The EA leaders are parodying themselves by maintaining Caroline Ellison




Felons have fewer options so she can be paid less, ergo, more effective per dollar. Classic EA!




I think they've stopped associating with their people.




Isn't Scott still housemates with Kelsey, EA journalist extraordinaire?


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of September 28, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


But a liberal stance on sexuality (roughly "what consenting adults do in their bedrooms is their business")




That is a liberal stance on sexuality; it is not the predominant sexual stance of American liberals. Edit: to clarify, "consent" is a godforsaken shitshow and what people are allowed to do in their bedrooms depends heavily on the identity, age (gap), specific behaviors, whether the woman changes her mind weeks or months later, whether the behavior affects the treatment of other women (this here is why SlutCon and the CNC thing generated so much outrage, despite all being theoretically- ha- consenting adults), etc etc.




the top 1000 rationalists all had had sex with each other (gender attraction permitting).




I find it fascinating that everyone reaches for big numbers here, or say things like "the vast majority of EAs aren't (sexual weirdos)." 950 of the top 1000 don't matter, and that remaining 50 are all married, in poly relationships, work together, live together, hire each other or their family members' for each others' boards, etc.




Instead, I would assume that some of them are asexual, monogamous or even celibate.




Scott used to identify as asexual but he has two kids. I don't think it's accidental though that there likely is disproportionate numbers of asexual and poly.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of September 28, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


Aella using her area of exertise to try to help on AI alignment




lol. lmao even. what a polite turn of phrase. you win.


edit:




Nor do I think that the lifestyle choices of the center of LW matter much




"this group has insane and bad moral preferences" does not mesh well with "this group believes they are likely to be setting the morality of the light cone."


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of September 28, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
tb"f" i would assume that's the standard jewish view, and while yud isn't the most orthodox now iirc he was raised more Orthodox than 95+% of secular jews in this social orbit.


that is, of all the people i'd expect to wave that flag, this one should be suprising.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of September 28, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


Being a polycule member who occasionally partakes in orgies is not mentioned as a problem, because the original target audience didn't really care.




Scott also thinks, or thought at some point back when we were still on reddit- 2018ish, maybe?- that other meaningful audiences wouldn't care.


It was one of my few direct interactions with him, after one of the many rounds of Poly Discourse in the community, where I suggested something along the lines of "if you want to influence public morality more broadly re: EA/AI, reducing the visibility of this will save you weirdness points with a lot of the public." His response- this is paraphrase is probably slightly more negative than the original, colored by time as it is- was something like "no, it's the people that suggest that are a worse expense of weirdness among populations we want to reach."


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of September 28, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


I think the demand for stories of male rapists outstrips the supply.




The demand for degenerate tales of upper-class white-passing male rapists where one can feed the Narrative about sexual assault at college outstrips supply.


Degenerate tales of poor rapists with poor victims are a dime a dozen but "woman gets wrecked with her dealer who then assaults her" isn't as fun for thinkpiece generators.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of September 28, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


YMMV, I just want to make sure @FiveHourMarathon doesn't have expectations falsely raised and then shattered. ;-)




Haha definitely fair.


I was surprised by my ability to operate on very little sleep and short naps (even at 31) and I shouldn't overgeneralize from that!


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of September 28, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Congratulations! The newborn stage was way more fun than I expected.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of September 28, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


I have to admit that this is a pretty weird verse to cite. It's not particularly relevent to anything mentioned in the announcement




Thanks to Schindler's List, the edited version that doesn't specify Jews is possibly the most famous verse that isn't one of the commandments. Could just be part of him playing the media game and knowing what's popular.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of September 28, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
UK diesel prices at all-time high, I'd imagine easy enough to fence if you're in the right communities.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of September 21, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


the rootclaim debate and Scott Alexander pointed out, an accidental release just happening to point to the wet market is incredibly odd too.




The drunkard and the stoplight come to mind, (edit:) in addition to the other explanations others provided.




lack of proof doesn't matter




Any proof is filtered through a hostile state actor, so my real preference is that the whole debate is stupid, from all given knowledge it might as well be a coinflip, and it's much more concerning that all of Western media went anti-free-speech batshit (ha) over it.