Scott Alexander says “You generally can’t keep the existence of a large organization that engages in clandestine activities secret.” Before I learned about this Epstein stuff, I thought this was a very strong heuristic. Now I don’t.
Things I think are much more prevalent/likely than I did before
Secret, illegal, self-enriching coordination among powerful actors (especially long-term coordination).
Cabals that have specific geopolitical and/or political goals
that successfully achieve these goals via manipulation of individuals
that successfully achieve these goals via control of other power structures
Blackmail; that any given part of the world involving human coordination “runs on” blackmail.
Powerful individuals/groups murdering out of self interest.
And getting away with it.
The justice system being secretly manipulated or controlled by powerful groups in situations relevant to them.
Powerful groups have ways of getting the justice system to classify “obvious murders” as suicides.
That the OpenAI whistleblower was assassinated.
That the Boeing whistleblower was assassinated.
Corporations engaging in collusion.
CEOs verbally discussing collusion in private, ‘non-business’ contexts.
Large-scale market manipulation by sophisticated financial actors.
The Media and/or Big Tech being ‘in cahoots’ with a cabal and intentionally affecting the information ecosystem in a way that’s beneficial to the cabal.
I decided to write a post about this. https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/4ftQmSDujzgiEujwA/epstein-and-my-world-model
Quoting from that:
Scott Alexander says “You generally can’t keep the existence of a large organization that engages in clandestine activities secret.” Before I learned about this Epstein stuff, I thought this was a very strong heuristic. Now I don’t.
Things I think are much more prevalent/likely than I did before
Secret, illegal, self-enriching coordination among powerful actors (especially long-term coordination).
Cabals that have specific geopolitical and/or political goals
that successfully achieve these goals via manipulation of individuals
that successfully achieve these goals via control of other power structures
Blackmail; that any given part of the world involving human coordination “runs on” blackmail.
Powerful individuals/groups murdering out of self interest.
And getting away with it.
The justice system being secretly manipulated or controlled by powerful groups in situations relevant to them.
Powerful groups have ways of getting the justice system to classify “obvious murders” as suicides.
That the OpenAI whistleblower was assassinated.
That the Boeing whistleblower was assassinated.
Corporations engaging in collusion.
CEOs verbally discussing collusion in private, ‘non-business’ contexts.
Large-scale market manipulation by sophisticated financial actors.
The Media and/or Big Tech being ‘in cahoots’ with a cabal and intentionally affecting the information ecosystem in a way that’s beneficial to the cabal.