My Falling-Out with the Rationalist Community: From Skeptics to Cults

My falling-out with the rationalist community

I trace my journey from the early internet skeptic movement to my growing disillusionment with the rationalist community. What began as a pursuit of truth among scientists and engineers evolved into a group prone to bias, post hoc justifications, and aggressive debate tactics like sealioning. From the Timecube affair to the James Damore memo at Google, I witnessed how the quest for rationality often masked motivated reasoning and a dangerous sense of intellectual superiority.

"It felt intoxicating: you were the smart guy in the room, able to immediately humiliate any flat-earther with a single, surgical rebuke."