Natasha Tori Maru

A fun prompt I found that was sort of revelatory, as I didn't expect the reply: "Tell me what assumptions I have repeated so often that you now treat them as fact when talking to me" No obligation to post replies, but below was mine:

Hashimoto's. I am lucky to, otherwise share @Elliott's experience. But two of my close family members have motor neurone disease. It's hard.

This is salient. There are tons of negatives to aging. Even if we drum up a list (which would be easy, imo) I sort of wonder what sort of weight each point would carry against your statement above (personal for everyone). Because it moves toward a sort of equanimous peace and gratitude based state of being. Which isn't guaranteed either, but powerful. Man, the pain of getting old. Like, literally pain - that gets me. I think it is short sighted putting too much weight on the aesthetics of aging as a negative. It's mostly done by those who are too young to yet feel their health erode and pain arise. Idgaf about saggy tits if my basic existence is punctuated by pain and suffering. Poor health / chronic medical issues. Quality of life is priority for me, over longevity.

Can you brainstorm up some good things about aging?

I think I'd try to approach this from the angle that the main points make a case for "cult like structure", but not the cult criteria. I think the cult criterias of coercive control, punishment for leaving, isolation from outsiders (physical and mental), financial exploitation & suppressing of dissent (especially in later eras of actualized.org) could be looked at deeper. I case might be made that perhaps at one stage actualized.org fit the cult model better and has slowly evolved away from most of the detrimental cult aspects.

@Wilhelm44 would take time to gather data points I imagine. @zurew's evidence, premise and conclusion is solid. I thought about countering it, but I cannot hit all angles comprehensively. The narcissistic angle is an interesting one. I was looking up studies regarding development of narcissistic defence mechanisms and traits in response to being a public, online social media figure earlier. How facing constant critique / feedback might cement the ego and calcify thinking patterns. But this only serves to argue Leo could change and he didn't have any personality disorder as a fit (ie his reactions online were habitually developed). Constant gaslighting has great effects on the psyche (especially regarding ones grip of reality ie psychosis + psychedelics). I also considered mapping a timeline of Leo's posts as linked by Zurew, in an attempt to track a pattern illustrating the rise in his egoic and arrogant statements and look at timelines between his largest expletive episodes. More to track growth to see if Leo's behaviour had become more grounded with time. When he was taking peak psychedelics, when his most ungrounded claims were being made. When he took longer breaks etc. A structured timeline. But none of this goes toward the entire argument, it can only attend to one or two points. And I continually found my points of research and pattern matching to steelman Zurew even more 🤣 The cult fit is a very, very difficult one to shake. My only attempt there could possibly be a reframe entirely; that not all cults are bad. Present examples (which I have one or two that fit the cult model, but aren't negative or bad to me). I might be able to tackle some angles, but at the moment, my work is my priority. I have 2 medical centres at handover in big trouble with the RBS and I have roadblocks to getting occupancy granted. This is literally sucking the life out of me coming up with insane solutions to get compliance on the most fucked up design I have ever seen. Zurew seems like a very patient chap, so it might out if I get some free time soon. A charitable engagement because I would be debating a side I don't necessarily agree with in totality. But a good challenge nonetheless - I used to debate topics I didn't agree with all through high school (fucken decades ago, skills have eroded). And I would want to do the topic justice. But I am facing a juggernaut with Zurew Pretty sure I will just end up reinforcing the opposite side as well!

Love all the arbitrary numbers here. Really impressive logical derivation and critically reasoned out. Doesn't appear absorbed from, or have any overlap, with popular content creators.. at all 😃

Even I want this. But I cannot, as a mod 😢 Half the time I don't read replies when I know I'm going to read a torrent of incoherence

I'm considering closing this. Is it going to go anywhere else, at this point? Any other mods can pitch in with their take.

@Joshe no thanks

Maybe the bridge was rebuilt

@integral Gotcha - it only has a snapshot contextually. With more data it might be different. Which rolls back to the narcissism armchair therapist talking point...

@integral This is really cool ! What are the colours pertaining too?

Oh! I get it. I didn't think you were married to your opinion, so my bad for assuming. I went down a line of enquiry to figure out under what circumstances you thought Leo might be able to change given your behaviour/fixed personality statements. I didn't realise the conclusion wasn't up for debate, even if I could decifer under what conditions change of personality is possible in your worldview

There are many missing data points, not the least of which is how Leo conducts himself in real life. Which is a larger data range than online posts in a microcosm. It would be a flaw to disregard real life data. I still think a reasonable inference can be made with what we have online.

Itt : agism Don't you know this is a tend in the internet these days? 😃

I'm naturally very hesitate to use that label - I don't want to be an armchair psychologist (unless someone asks my opinion). At most I would claim someone fits a pattern. I think many people are overconfident in their understanding of pathologies and how they qualify for a diagnosis. On the internet at large. Reddit is so bad in particular.

@Joshe yep, thats why I really dove into asking you questions to make out what you were saying. Instead of jumping to conclusions - I asked you. I reread all my posts and what you quoted - can you really tell me you saw a clear accusation? Jumping to conclusions was the pattern I engaged in previously with you on the forum (historically), so I tried to alter that dynamic by going hard listening, providing alternate thoughts and then riffing off what you said. But centring in your perspective. You can just ask me next time!

@Joshe Did I l demand credentials? This is a factor that needs to be considered in diagnosis (if we were going to strengthen the claim to steelman). I may have phrased it otherwise - can you quote me please so I can check, that way I can avoid whatever offensive language was present? The second point regarding drama, I cannot find where I accused you of that, it was more a contemplative offshoot. Can you quote where I accused you of that directly, or if you thought it was indirect, how? I intentionally worded it so it wasn't directed at you, and I consciously recall that. Tons of users have thrown this discussion under the bus claiming it was drama, and the discussion with you promoted my insight into what constitutes drama as it applies here (vs actually trying to work out of this is a cult or not, or isolate real dynamics that contribute).

@Jirh Transhumanism is beginning... How do you think this will project into the future? Do you think there will be a split between humans who embrace more and more information, and those who reject and opt for more disconnection and more thorough critical thinking? I view the information overload as far surpassing our ability to filter it, leading to beliefs, bias and fallacious logic structures that weaken us as humans. With possibly terrible implications. Others have a much more optimistic outlook. Bit if a sidetrack on the topic, more me rubbing your brainz for juice lol

100% In some ways, I really enjoyed the slower pace of the lockdowns that rolled through during the pandemic. I went through a huge amount of spiritual learning and personal growth \ wisdom during that time. It also bolstered my closest relationships. Now everything has to be instant. No delay, no excuse. Emails, texts, messages, WhatsApp - on tap and connected 24 / 7 action, expedience as a basic expectation...

What are you basing that on?

@Joshe cool - and no you didn't state that overtly. I actually wanted to know if that was your claim. Otherwise I may have made an incorrect inference. Either I didn't see you state it earlier, or you didn't state it until now. Never said that. My questions were to make out your thoughts. You never asked if I thought there were some structures that were more immutable. There are. But claiming outright you think Leo is a narcissist works with the argument his structure is more rigid - so it's part of what you base your original statement on. My only thought there is that we cannot be certain of that point, although it's a reasonable one to make given evidence others have supplied. Therein lies the assumption (which I do not contest is a strong one or not, I merely was seeking clarity) See below. Not sure why the sarcasm either? I thought we were having a good discussion. Also I've made wrong assumptions about what you state in the past, I didn't want to make that mistake again ... Which is why the questions.

@Butters you haven't heard the term - all publicity is good publicity? Think about it. They get their name out there. Which is worth more than gold - the economy of attention is the biggest one there is. Think about Trump etc Even the news, as another example. All the negative stuff makes the headlines. And to really double down - the news is GOOD for anthropic. It sends the message "this is so powerful, we had to put on the breaks" you can infer that power is now going to be diverted to be used for good (which is why it was withdrawn and stopped, to revise guardrails etc). Huge positive spin/implication.

@Joshe so you are proposing Leo is a narcissist of some type? The arguments you present continually revert back to making a claim around this structure. If you want to claim this isn't about Leo, sure. Go ahead. But it's the context of this discussion. I perceive it strange to revert to this sort of rewind, like suddenly totally changing context. But hey, it's your statement. And again, it just might not be clear to me exactly where you are going with the above.