By "these guys" I meant the Zizians specifically, but I learned it as a fact about a broader, disunified post-Vassar branch of the LessWrong/Extropian movement that included them, Jess Taylor, and Ziz's mentor Alice M. (all mentioned and/or linked above in Max's piece). And yes, the Korzybski and Van Vogt influences seem very important for Yudkowsky. Thanks for the link to Nevala-Lee, that's a nice article!
Thanks, did any of that group ever write about Cordwainer Smith or what they got out of his writing, or more like something you heard about through friends-of-friends etc.? Also when you talk about the post-Vassar branch, is that all people who had been working with Vassar either at MIRI/CFAR or at Leverage, with Jessica Taylor talking about cultishness in both at https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/MnFqyPLqbiKL8nSR7/my-experience-at-and-around-miri-and-cfar-inspired-by-zoe and with Scott Alexander blaming it on the "Vassarites" in a comment?
I heard about it directly in person at events and I haven't read enough of their online stuff to know if they wrote about it or not. This wasn't all the people who had worked with Vassar, just "a" post-Vassar branch among at least a couple different ones. Another was more "magick" with strong Crowleyan influences, sort of a The Invisibles LARP. There was some overlap of branches and it would probably be hard to describe exact boundaries between them even for insiders. Leverage wasn't particularly influenced by Vassar so I'd consider them a separate thing.
By "these guys" I meant the Zizians specifically, but I learned it as a fact about a broader, disunified post-Vassar branch of the LessWrong/Extropian movement that included them, Jess Taylor, and Ziz's mentor Alice M. (all mentioned and/or linked above in Max's piece). And yes, the Korzybski and Van Vogt influences seem very important for Yudkowsky. Thanks for the link to Nevala-Lee, that's a nice article!
Thanks, did any of that group ever write about Cordwainer Smith or what they got out of his writing, or more like something you heard about through friends-of-friends etc.? Also when you talk about the post-Vassar branch, is that all people who had been working with Vassar either at MIRI/CFAR or at Leverage, with Jessica Taylor talking about cultishness in both at https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/MnFqyPLqbiKL8nSR7/my-experience-at-and-around-miri-and-cfar-inspired-by-zoe and with Scott Alexander blaming it on the "Vassarites" in a comment?
I heard about it directly in person at events and I haven't read enough of their online stuff to know if they wrote about it or not. This wasn't all the people who had worked with Vassar, just "a" post-Vassar branch among at least a couple different ones. Another was more "magick" with strong Crowleyan influences, sort of a The Invisibles LARP. There was some overlap of branches and it would probably be hard to describe exact boundaries between them even for insiders. Leverage wasn't particularly influenced by Vassar so I'd consider them a separate thing.