At least one cult originates from the Rationalist movement, the Zizians [1]. A cult that straight up murdered at least four people. And while the Zizian belief system is certainly more extreme then mainstream Rationalist beliefs, it's not that much more extreme.
For more info, the Behind the Bastards podcast [2] did a pretty good series on how the Zizians sprung up out of the Bay area Rationalist scene. I'd highly recommend giving it a listen if you want a non-rationalist perspective on the Rationalist movement.
There's a lot more than one of them. Leverage Research was the one before Zizians.
Those are only named cults though; they just love self-organizing into such patterns. Of course, living in group homes is a "rational" response to Bay Area rents.
Ziz did leave the rationalist movement, but to imply there's no link is simply dishonest. Ziz spent a lot of time in the Bay area Rationalist scene, and a lot of her belief system has clear Rationalist origins (such as timeless decision theory and the general obsession with an all-powerful AI). Ziz did not come up with this stuff in a vacuum, she got it from being a rationalist.
Also, I'm not sure if you did this intentionally, but Ziz is a trans woman. She may have done some awful shit, but that doesn't justify misgendering her.
Just because there is some weak relation to rationalism doesn't justify guilt-by-association. You could have pointed equally out that most of the Zizians identified as MtF transexuals and vegans, and then blamed the latter groups for being allegedly extreme. Which would be no less absurd.
> She may have done some awful shit
Murdering several people is slightly worse than "awful shit".
The Behind the Bastards podcast works by having the podcaster invite a guest on the show and tell the story of an individual (or movement, like the Zizians) to provide a live reaction. And in the discussion about the Zizians, the light-bulb moment for the guest, the point where they made the connection "oh, now I can see how this story is going to end up with dead people," happens well before Ziz breaks with the Rationalists.
She ultimately breaks with the Rationalists because they don't view animal welfare as important as a priority as she does. But it's from the Rationalists that she picks up on the notion that some people are net negatives to society... and that if you're a net negative to society, then perhaps you're better off dead. It's not that far a leap to go from there to "it's okay for me to kill people if they are a net negative to society [i.e., they disagree with me]."
> But it's from the Rationalists that she picks up on the notion that some people are net negatives to society
That belief has nothing to do specifically with rationalism. (In fact, I think most people believe that some people are net negative for society [otherwise, why prisons?], but there is no indication that this belief would be more prevalent for rationalists.)
The podcast Behind the Bastards described Rationalism not as a cult but as the fertile soil which is perfect for growing cults, leading to the development of cults like the Zizians (who both the Rationalists and Zizians are at pains to emphasize their mutual hostility to one another, but if you're not part of either movement, it's pretty clear how Rationalism can lead to something like the Zizians).
I don't think that podcast has very in-depth observations. It's just another iteration of east coast culture media people who used to be on Twitter a lot, isn't it?
> the fertile soil which is perfect for growing cults
This is true but it's not rationalism, it's just that they're from Berkeley. As far as I can tell if you live in Berkeley you just end up joining a cult.
I lived in Berkeley for a decade and there weren't many people I would say were in a cult. It's actually quite the opposite. There's way more willingness to be weird and do your own thing there.
Most of the rationalists I met in the Bay Area moved there specifically to be closer to the community.
I think i'm seeing it now. "This is it" implies Hank is actually looking for the cult in question, something that I guess seems odd to me without knowing the plot of the episode.
Thanks for clarifying though! Oh wait, you didn't.
Extreme eagerness to disavow accusations of cultishness ... doth the lady protest too much perhaps? My hobby is occasionally compared to a cult. The typical reaction of an adherent to this accusation is generally "Heh, yeah, totally a cult."
Edit: Oh, but you call him "Guru" ... so on reflection you were probably (?) making the same point... (whoosh, sorry).
> Extreme eagerness to disavow accusations of cultishness ... doth the lady protest too much perhaps?
You don't understand how anxious the rationalist community was around that time. We're not talking self-assured confident people here. These articles were written primarily to calm down people who were panickedly asking "we're not a cult, are we" approximately every five minutes.
> they gave off some (not all) of the vibes of a cult
...after describing his visit with an atmosphere that sounds extremely cult-like.