this thread is a great example of how even ai rationalists are being slowly pulled to the poles due to the societally existential nature of the moment
Every poster who is all in on AI being a supply-driven fad should be made to explain how ChatGPT is about to hit a billion weekly active users.
I worked on 3DTV at Discovery. I followed VR very closely for several years. I know a supply-driven phenomenon when I see one. This ain’t that.
I worked on 3DTV at Discovery. I followed VR very closely for several years. I know a supply-driven phenomenon when I see one. This ain’t that.
December 28, 2025 at 6:40 AM
this thread is a great example of how even ai rationalists are being slowly pulled to the poles due to the societally existential nature of the moment
I don't like rationalists
They're a lot more emotional than they think they are
And it's not that emotions are bad
It's that not being in touch with your own emotions, not being aware of how you feel and why really fucks up your understanding of yourself and the world around you
They're a lot more emotional than they think they are
And it's not that emotions are bad
It's that not being in touch with your own emotions, not being aware of how you feel and why really fucks up your understanding of yourself and the world around you
December 27, 2025 at 5:43 AM
I don't like rationalists
They're a lot more emotional than they think they are
And it's not that emotions are bad
It's that not being in touch with your own emotions, not being aware of how you feel and why really fucks up your understanding of yourself and the world around you
They're a lot more emotional than they think they are
And it's not that emotions are bad
It's that not being in touch with your own emotions, not being aware of how you feel and why really fucks up your understanding of yourself and the world around you
ur still 85% hitler!!! silicon valley "rationalists" can claim to be doing a bad thing to do a good thing but they'd be way more respectable if they just up about the bad thing and did the good thing. what they actually want is a pat on the back for doing the bad thing and that's disgusting!!
December 26, 2025 at 8:04 PM
ur still 85% hitler!!! silicon valley "rationalists" can claim to be doing a bad thing to do a good thing but they'd be way more respectable if they just up about the bad thing and did the good thing. what they actually want is a pat on the back for doing the bad thing and that's disgusting!!
Bring yourself some holiday cheer by listening to my conversation with @sjshancoxli.liberalcurrents.com about the rationalists, bad philosophy, cosmic horror, and the role of emotion in guiding what we believe.
096: The Irrationality of Rationalists (w/ Samantha Hancox-Li)
Listen to 096: The Irrationality of Rationalists (w/ Samantha Hancox-Li) from ReImagining Liberty wherever you get your podcasts!
pod.link
December 23, 2025 at 6:02 PM
Bring yourself some holiday cheer by listening to my conversation with @sjshancoxli.liberalcurrents.com about the rationalists, bad philosophy, cosmic horror, and the role of emotion in guiding what we believe.
it's a deeply silly and obviously fake made-up quote from a hilarious dawkins parody account from about a decade ago and i'm genuinely alarmed that all these committed rationalists keep asking me if it's real or not
December 26, 2025 at 6:19 PM
it's a deeply silly and obviously fake made-up quote from a hilarious dawkins parody account from about a decade ago and i'm genuinely alarmed that all these committed rationalists keep asking me if it's real or not
Rationalists are poorly named
December 22, 2025 at 5:32 PM
Rationalists are poorly named
i see the fucking bluesky openwashing is starting again
if bsky/atproto isn't fashtech, it works just like fashtech
(y'know apart from the bit where bsky corp is literally rationalists, coiners and neoreactionaries)
>>
if bsky/atproto isn't fashtech, it works just like fashtech
(y'know apart from the bit where bsky corp is literally rationalists, coiners and neoreactionaries)
>>
December 22, 2025 at 5:31 PM
i see the fucking bluesky openwashing is starting again
if bsky/atproto isn't fashtech, it works just like fashtech
(y'know apart from the bit where bsky corp is literally rationalists, coiners and neoreactionaries)
>>
if bsky/atproto isn't fashtech, it works just like fashtech
(y'know apart from the bit where bsky corp is literally rationalists, coiners and neoreactionaries)
>>
Who is 'we'? Doesn't 'we' include every citizen in Australia? The First Peoples? The Alliance of Australian Muslims? The Jewish Council of Australia? Women? The Rationalists Society? The Greens? Or do you mean only you & yours in the ECAJ?
Reminder: www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Reminder: www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Religions don't deserve special treatment
AC Grayling: It is time to reverse the prevailing notion that religious commitment is intrinsically deserving of respect.
www.theguardian.com
December 22, 2025 at 7:09 AM
Who is 'we'? Doesn't 'we' include every citizen in Australia? The First Peoples? The Alliance of Australian Muslims? The Jewish Council of Australia? Women? The Rationalists Society? The Greens? Or do you mean only you & yours in the ECAJ?
Reminder: www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Reminder: www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
made myself mad about rationalists again
December 21, 2025 at 5:24 AM
made myself mad about rationalists again
Postfurry and the Rationalists have officially established diplomatic relations.
THIS IS NOT A DRILL!!! :P :P :P
THIS IS NOT A DRILL!!! :P :P :P
December 21, 2025 at 9:43 AM
Postfurry and the Rationalists have officially established diplomatic relations.
THIS IS NOT A DRILL!!! :P :P :P
THIS IS NOT A DRILL!!! :P :P :P
Yes. Because they're all rationalists and the rationalists have been broiling their brains on less wrong for decades
December 18, 2025 at 11:25 PM
Yes. Because they're all rationalists and the rationalists have been broiling their brains on less wrong for decades
I will never forgive tech bros / Silicon Valley / rationalists / etc for transforming amazing recent progress in machine learning — Go solved, proteins folded, huge strides in natural language processing — into the simultaneous destruction of education and the economy.
December 17, 2025 at 7:20 PM
I will never forgive tech bros / Silicon Valley / rationalists / etc for transforming amazing recent progress in machine learning — Go solved, proteins folded, huge strides in natural language processing — into the simultaneous destruction of education and the economy.
weaver getting some Tufte-esque touches
and a few other cool new formatting features upcoming
and a few other cool new formatting features upcoming
![{.aside}
> **On Platform Decay**
>
> Through all of this I was never really satisfied with the options that were out there for long-form writing. Wordpress required too much setup. Tumblr's system for comments remains insane. Hosting my own seemed like too much money to burn on something nobody might read.
But at the same time, Substack's success proves that there is very much a desire for long-form writing, enough that people will pay for it, and that investors will back it. There are thoughts and forms of writing that you simply cannot fit into a post or even a thread of posts.
Plus, I'm loathe to enable a centralised platform like Substack where the owners are unfortunately friendly to fascists.[^substack]
[^substack]: I am very much a fan of freedom of expression. I'm not so much a fan of paying money to Nazis.
That's where the `at://` protocol and Weaver comes in.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:yfvwmnlztr4dwkb7hwz55r2g/bafkreicdsl3uorvig2dpljjcyiqoms5ojsg3z6d75lihpsb4wdojlhyo6y@jpeg)
December 19, 2025 at 4:51 AM
weaver getting some Tufte-esque touches
and a few other cool new formatting features upcoming
and a few other cool new formatting features upcoming
Cracking essay riffing off a book I've been very curious about.
The brother is on top form, ranging across the centuries on the myth of AI, religious fervor, magical thinking, and self-styled 'rationalists'.
The brother is on top form, ranging across the centuries on the myth of AI, religious fervor, magical thinking, and self-styled 'rationalists'.
My review for @lawfaremedia.org www.lawfaremedia.org/article/the-...
December 16, 2025 at 6:41 PM
Cracking essay riffing off a book I've been very curious about.
The brother is on top form, ranging across the centuries on the myth of AI, religious fervor, magical thinking, and self-styled 'rationalists'.
The brother is on top form, ranging across the centuries on the myth of AI, religious fervor, magical thinking, and self-styled 'rationalists'.
that’s always been true that’s why Anthropic split from OpenAI in the first place it’s the more devout rationalists
December 16, 2025 at 11:42 PM
that’s always been true that’s why Anthropic split from OpenAI in the first place it’s the more devout rationalists
Just recorded a conversation with @sjshancoxli.liberalcurrents.com for my ReImagining Liberty podcast based on this excellent thread about the rationalists.
finally getting around to NEOREACTION A BASILISK and (pardon me not yet finished with the titular essay) this is *really good* and also totally misunderstands rationalism / the yud et al
www.amazon.com/Neoreaction-...
www.amazon.com/Neoreaction-...
Neoreaction a Basilisk: Essays on and Around the Alt-Right
Neoreaction a Basilisk: Essays on and Around the Alt-Right - Kindle edition by Sandifer, Elizabeth, Graham, Jack. Download it once and read it on your Kindle device, PC, phones or tablets. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading Neoreaction a Basilisk: Essays on and Around the Alt-Right.
www.amazon.com
December 15, 2025 at 10:19 PM
Just recorded a conversation with @sjshancoxli.liberalcurrents.com for my ReImagining Liberty podcast based on this excellent thread about the rationalists.
* steelmanning is called "reconstructing arguments" and was called "steelmanning" because rationalists accidentally reinvented analytic philosophy without ever talking to a philosopher
December 15, 2025 at 9:26 PM
* steelmanning is called "reconstructing arguments" and was called "steelmanning" because rationalists accidentally reinvented analytic philosophy without ever talking to a philosopher
Presumably because that community of self-declared realists and rationalists is incapable of academically critiquing themselves.
December 15, 2025 at 11:35 AM
Presumably because that community of self-declared realists and rationalists is incapable of academically critiquing themselves.
I don't know how @rianjohnson.bsky.social did it, but that was as authentic a telling of faith, mystery, and clergy as I have seen in some time.
Just like before he has balanced perspectives and rationale, even giving the rationalists response in Blanc.
My thanks to you good sir.
Just like before he has balanced perspectives and rationale, even giving the rationalists response in Blanc.
My thanks to you good sir.
a man with a mustache wearing a hat and tie
Alt: Sam Elliott, wearing a Stetson, gives a serious look and a hat tip.
media.tenor.com
December 13, 2025 at 4:06 PM
I don't know how @rianjohnson.bsky.social did it, but that was as authentic a telling of faith, mystery, and clergy as I have seen in some time.
Just like before he has balanced perspectives and rationale, even giving the rationalists response in Blanc.
My thanks to you good sir.
Just like before he has balanced perspectives and rationale, even giving the rationalists response in Blanc.
My thanks to you good sir.
rationalists came from New Atheism which came from obsessive argument with american protestantism. this trojan-horsed in the idea that mastery of textual exegesis (a) is the only purpose that matters to which the human soul can be pressed & (b) should be able to predict the future or it's worthless
this is what rationalists actually believe in even though they talk around it to make it sound less bad
the computer exists to suck my dick and predict the future. if it can't do either it goes in the garbage. People are worse versions of computer and they can't do either, they go in the garbage
December 9, 2025 at 11:23 PM
rationalists came from New Atheism which came from obsessive argument with american protestantism. this trojan-horsed in the idea that mastery of textual exegesis (a) is the only purpose that matters to which the human soul can be pressed & (b) should be able to predict the future or it's worthless
this is what rationalists actually believe in even though they talk around it to make it sound less bad
the computer exists to suck my dick and predict the future. if it can't do either it goes in the garbage. People are worse versions of computer and they can't do either, they go in the garbage
December 9, 2025 at 11:19 PM
this is what rationalists actually believe in even though they talk around it to make it sound less bad
yeah i think ultimately the rationalists were right to be afraid of reason, because they swam optimistically into the dark and promptly got devoured by an eldritch horror called scientific racism
December 8, 2025 at 11:26 PM
yeah i think ultimately the rationalists were right to be afraid of reason, because they swam optimistically into the dark and promptly got devoured by an eldritch horror called scientific racism
and so i concluded not so much that emotion must be disciplined by reason--which is true!--but rather that reason itself is impossible without emotional self-awareness, which the rationalists mostly seemed to ostentatiously lack
December 8, 2025 at 11:33 PM
and so i concluded not so much that emotion must be disciplined by reason--which is true!--but rather that reason itself is impossible without emotional self-awareness, which the rationalists mostly seemed to ostentatiously lack
and rationalists want to be “thinking machines” as a way to drown out all the *feeling* and *perceptions* and *hopes* that humans have. and I think Theobros and rationalists desperately and adolescently wish we could *only think*, but…it’s a recipe to miss reality. Feelings are fundamental elements
December 8, 2025 at 11:57 PM
and rationalists want to be “thinking machines” as a way to drown out all the *feeling* and *perceptions* and *hopes* that humans have. and I think Theobros and rationalists desperately and adolescently wish we could *only think*, but…it’s a recipe to miss reality. Feelings are fundamental elements