IlyaShpitser comments on Rationality Quotes December 2014 - Less Wrong

8 Post author: Salemicus 03 December 2014 10:33PM

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Comment author: IlyaShpitser 16 December 2014 09:25:33PM *  1 point [-]

Seriously, I've never been in a cult before and would love to have the experience.

You really don't want that.


edit: A concrete useful suggestion is to reorganize your life in such a way that you have better things to do with your time than be a tourist in other people's misery and ruin.

Comment author: ike 16 December 2014 09:44:17PM 0 points [-]

Are you speaking from experience or general knowledge?

If I go in knowing it's a cult, doesn't that change a lot? I'd be interested in a comparison of survival rates (of general sanity) between people depending on their mindset upon joining

Comment author: Bugmaster 16 December 2014 10:24:53PM 0 points [-]

If you join a cult, then even your physical survival will suddenly become a lot more perilous. You will likely have to conform, or die. Keep that in mind.

Comment author: dxu 17 December 2014 01:22:16AM *  2 points [-]

...Not that I know much about cults or their relationship to the law, but that seems kind of illegal.

Comment author: Nornagest 16 December 2014 10:24:10PM *  0 points [-]

The main problem with joining a cult isn't physical danger, or even the chance of having your mind permanently changed (retention rates for cult membership are very low). It's what they'll get out of you while you're in there. In most cases you can expect to see a lot of pressure to do things like handing over large sums of money, or donating large amounts of unpaid labor, or abandoning social links outside the organization, and those aren't necessarily things you can get back once you've burned them.

I'd expect going in with eyes open to mitigate this to some extent, but not perfectly.