I’m confused by the claim that those four are “the most prominent themes in terms of short-term behavioral advice” around here.
When I think of advice given here, “use drugs!” doesn’t seem to be in my top seven. Most of the advice I’ve heard around here, both from the Sequences and others, seems to be in what might be considered “epistemic hygiene” or good practices with regards to discovering and recognizing truth. This would include being aware of cognitive biases, noticing confusion, and so on. And many of these are indeed “short-term” advice, at least in the sense that some of them can be implemented very quickly.
(They’re certainly more “short-term” than dropping out of a religious group would be, for a person who’s actually involved in religion.)
What I think you might have in your list of four, there, is not a list of the most prominent themes here, but rather a list of some themes that worry you. And, as you note, they’re worth worrying about — to a certain extent, these are themes that, if taken in the wrong direction, might participate in a cult attractor.
Avoiding becoming a cult is a recurring theme here. And as we know, you don’t avoid being a cult by merely declaring “we’re not a cult”, or by declaring your group to be too smart, too moral, or too practical to possibly become a cult. In order to avoid being a cult (if you’re at any risk of it), you have to notice what kinds of behavior count as “cultish” and avoid doing them.
I’m confused by the claim that those four are “the most prominent themes in terms of short-term behavioral advice” around here.
When I think of advice given here, “use drugs!” doesn’t seem to be in my top seven. Most of the advice I’ve heard around here, both from the Sequences and others, seems to be in what might be considered “epistemic hygiene” or good practices with regards to discovering and recognizing truth. This would include being aware of cognitive biases, noticing confusion, and so on. And many of these are indeed “short-term” advice, at least in the sense that some of them can be implemented very quickly.
(They’re certainly more “short-term” than dropping out of a religious group would be, for a person who’s actually involved in religion.)
What I think you might have in your list of four, there, is not a list of the most prominent themes here, but rather a list of some themes that worry you. And, as you note, they’re worth worrying about — to a certain extent, these are themes that, if taken in the wrong direction, might participate in a cult attractor.
Avoiding becoming a cult is a recurring theme here. And as we know, you don’t avoid being a cult by merely declaring “we’re not a cult”, or by declaring your group to be too smart, too moral, or too practical to possibly become a cult. In order to avoid being a cult (if you’re at any risk of it), you have to notice what kinds of behavior count as “cultish” and avoid doing them.
I agree that “use drugs!” didn’t seem to be on the list. For a little while, “be a vegetarian!” seemed to be in play, but it faded.