My falling-out with the rationalist community
An author reflects on their disillusionment with the rationalist community, tracing their departure from the movement back to its early internet roots. The piece critiques the community's ideological marketing and its association with controversial figures and scandals.
Why it matters
It provides a critical look at the evolution of niche intellectual subcultures and the potential risks of insular, high-conviction online communities.
4 2 Share This is an article I resisted writing for a long time. I didn’t pull the trigger in the mid-2010s, in the glory days of the SF Bay Area rationalist movement. I resisted the urge after the arrest of the rationalist-aligned financier, Sam Bankman-Fried. And I bit my tongue real hard in the wake of the early 2025 scandal involving the Zizians, an alleged sex / murder cult that originated from the same community.
Part of the reason why I hesitated for so long is that the rationalist movement has brilliant marketing: if you speak against the ideology, it sounds like you’re siding with irrationality . And is it really fair to condemn the entire community just because of the occasional murder cult? He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone…
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