Death Spirals

Leveling up in rationality means encountering a lot of interesting and powerful new ideas. In many cases, it also means making friends who you can bounce ideas off of and finding communities that encourage you to better yourself. This sequence discusses some important hazards that can afflict groups united around common interests and amazing shiny ideas, which will need to be overcome if we’re to get the full benefits out of rationalist communities.

The Affect Heuristic

Evalua­bil­ity (And Cheap Holi­day Shop­ping)

Un­bounded Scales, Huge Jury Awards, & Futurism

The Halo Effect

Su­per­hero Bias

Affec­tive Death Spirals

Re­sist the Happy Death Spiral

Un­crit­i­cal Supercriticality

Eva­po­ra­tive Cool­ing of Group Beliefs

When None Dare Urge Restraint

Every Cause Wants To Be A Cult

Two Cult Koans

Asch’s Con­for­mity Experiment

On Ex­press­ing Your Concerns

Lonely Dissent

Cul­tish Countercultishness