IMO being accused of wanting to be a cult leader is a pure double bind. You either say “yes, I do” and then you’re a cult leader, or you say “what? that’s crazy because of X, Y, Z...” and then people point at your protestations as evidence that their arguments have some minimal credibility (I am sure someone will do this to EY at some point). It is, prima facie, evident to me that talking to people on the internet about rationality is a poor method of getting acolytes (and even if it were a good one for some people, the Objectivists already picked up those guys) so if you are, in fact, a prospective cult leader, Eliezer, it seems to me you’ve had a serious failure of rationality and no-one should join. Everyone else, please note that this is exactly what I would say if I were trying to recruit you into my own, competing cult. Including the previous sentence.
In answer to the end of your post, even though this site is very young, I can already think of occasions where I’ve hesitated to speak up on your behalf because I anticipated being branded a sycophant. I’ve now decided that I would rather let otherwise interesting people exclude themselves from LW by adopting these “it’s a cult!” beliefs than attempt to persuade them to stay or join in those circumstances.
Of course, being accused of being a cult is itself weak Bayesian evidence of being a cult (much like being accused of child abuse). Being accused would raise people’s estimates, and the only way to lower them is a good defense; that their estimates might not go all the way back to the originals is not enough for the choice to deny or not deny cultishness to be a double-bind, I think.
IMO being accused of wanting to be a cult leader is a pure double bind. You either say “yes, I do” and then you’re a cult leader, or you say “what? that’s crazy because of X, Y, Z...” and then people point at your protestations as evidence that their arguments have some minimal credibility (I am sure someone will do this to EY at some point). It is, prima facie, evident to me that talking to people on the internet about rationality is a poor method of getting acolytes (and even if it were a good one for some people, the Objectivists already picked up those guys) so if you are, in fact, a prospective cult leader, Eliezer, it seems to me you’ve had a serious failure of rationality and no-one should join. Everyone else, please note that this is exactly what I would say if I were trying to recruit you into my own, competing cult. Including the previous sentence.
In answer to the end of your post, even though this site is very young, I can already think of occasions where I’ve hesitated to speak up on your behalf because I anticipated being branded a sycophant. I’ve now decided that I would rather let otherwise interesting people exclude themselves from LW by adopting these “it’s a cult!” beliefs than attempt to persuade them to stay or join in those circumstances.
Of course, being accused of being a cult is itself weak Bayesian evidence of being a cult (much like being accused of child abuse). Being accused would raise people’s estimates, and the only way to lower them is a good defense; that their estimates might not go all the way back to the originals is not enough for the choice to deny or not deny cultishness to be a double-bind, I think.