I do want to point out that you’re implicitly assuming monasteries are good and desirable, and not cults.
If I’m feeling blithe, I want to just be like, oh, monasteries are totally cults, and actually monasteries are often harmful. But also maybe this is fine anyway. Or, insofar as it’s bad, it’s not even because cults are bad. [But this is me being a bit schizo so shrug somewhat.]
Sure, maybe there’s some line here, but I think the kind of person who shows up to LessWrong is selected against the kind of person who would be happy and thrive in a traditional monastery.
My general take is that monasteries are good for some people, but for a bunch of reasons I’m not choosing to live in one, and that’s fine, I’m glad they exist for people with minds very different from mine, but also if I had reason to live in a monastery it would probably be fine, even if I wasn’t maximally happy about it.
I do want to point out that you’re implicitly assuming monasteries are good and desirable, and not cults.
If I’m feeling blithe, I want to just be like, oh, monasteries are totally cults, and actually monasteries are often harmful. But also maybe this is fine anyway. Or, insofar as it’s bad, it’s not even because cults are bad. [But this is me being a bit schizo so shrug somewhat.]
Sure, maybe there’s some line here, but I think the kind of person who shows up to LessWrong is selected against the kind of person who would be happy and thrive in a traditional monastery.
My general take is that monasteries are good for some people, but for a bunch of reasons I’m not choosing to live in one, and that’s fine, I’m glad they exist for people with minds very different from mine, but also if I had reason to live in a monastery it would probably be fine, even if I wasn’t maximally happy about it.