what the fuck
> 1. 2–6hr long group debugging sessions in which we as a sub-faction (Alignment Group) would attempt to articulate a “demon” which had infiltrated our psyches from one of the rival groups, its nature and effects, and get it out of our systems using debugging tools.
> 2. People in my group commenting on a rival group having done “magic” that weekend and clearly having “powered up,” and saying we needed to now go debug the effects of being around that powered-up group, which they said was attacking them or otherwise affecting their ability to trust their own perception
> 3. Accusations being thrown around about people leaving “objects” (similar to demons) in other people, and people trying to sort out where the bad “object” originated and if it had been left intentionally/malevolently or by accident/subconsciously.
"Debugging" and "objects" are clearly lifted directly from Scientology auditing practices and engrams.
Glad someone else caught it.
Bonus: “4. People doing séances seriously. I was under the impression the purpose was to call on demonic energies and use their power to affect the practitioners’ social standing.”
(Again this is ‘out of context’ according to Yud).
I'm using Cut Up Technique (which is basically an occult proto-type of ChatGPT) to recontextualize language into a dire sorcerous curse intended to invoke the demon K'sil Asab S'okor to make Yud smell Surströmming no matter where he goes or what he does.
Did Scott really not believe in gravity? (The man has so many weird beliefs I cannot keep up)
E: [nevermind](https://www.scienceforums.net/topic/2811-alternative-gravity-theory/) found it.
He keeps bringing it up as a hypothetical that he totally doesn't believe in but haha wouldn't it be funny and it really is so smart when you think about it, lol jk, unless
I am starting to believe this is a retirement funding document
intended to convince Leverage investors (specifically the whale funding
the “energy work”) that they should compensate former employees in
perpetuity, for the allegedly devastating psychological damage “silent
light touching for 60-90 minutes” has wrought.
Notables:
Page 7 is when the nonsense fully comes out, interesting (as much as
this can be) semantical dichotomy (intended??)
between “bodywork” and “energy work”.
Page ~11 is where it becomes clear this is people telling other
people that they should fuck/polycule them, for reasons.
Page ~13 we then learn that I can touch your shoulder and silently
realize you want to fuck me, so fucking hard. Think Buffalo Bill but you
can’t verbalize it as well.
Kind of a rambly deadzone/history of quackery, but then on Page 22 we
are finally told one of these myriad “negative effects”: Once you
#realize, with #real eyes, that everyone wants to fuck you, especially
once touching them, then well, you can never go back, it’s like the Ring
or something idk, jeez I might literally be dumber from reading
this.
Holy shit nevermind, this just got spicy, Page 26 concludes from
“multiple sources” that there is a powerful warlock present at Leverage.
Even worse, they could cause people to “loudly buzz” which presents
“difficulties in interacting with them”. I’m picturing a grown human
doing the “cant hear you lalalalalala” stuff as a learned and practical
defense against such. Again though, I feel my brain has turned to
mush….I’m going back to never reading the underlying posts; annnd second
sighting of “epistemic”.
Page 29: Morale is low, the “epistemic” count is up to 6, now with a
dedicated paragraph that posits telepathy is real, just you know, in a
real way that is real, not in a fake way that isn’t real? Anyway, you’d
be a telepath/warlock too, if “you really wanted to, otherwise it’s your
fault” and ~“let’s do an #Audit so you can be #Clear enough to realize
you want to fuck me.”
Summary: Final “epistemic” clocks us in at 8, everyone at Leverage is
now a warlock, their thrall, or broken permanently for daring to peer
into the void of “intention research”.
Energy work is straight up magic btw. Super common in Mormonland now.
They deny this stuff tooth and nail. Case point Yud the other day arguing this had all been taken out of context.
Thanks, I searched his feed for "psychic" and found [this one](https://twitter.com/ESYudkowsky/status/1662843404643090432) which was in response to [this tweet](https://twitter.com/machinegod/status/1662675789287161857) which linked to the [LessWrong post on how MIRI was similar to Leverage](https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/MnFqyPLqbiKL8nSR7/my-experience-at-and-around-miri-and-cfar-inspired-by-zoe).
This shit reminds me of the "research" SRI would put out when DARPA was throwing them millions of dollars to prove that they can weaponize psychics. Even down to the Scientology stuff, given how close those at SRI were to Scientology.
So, yeah, I get big "milking our benefactors for all they've got" vibes from this, too.
Downvote. Article takes too long to reach its thesis, does not match
accepted wiki standards, and has no impact. The final “twist” turns out
to just be a variation on “the power of positive thinking,” without
adding any kind of interesting take on the subject. I suggest shopping
it around the concrit forums in order to get some more feedback before
reposting. Referring to admin team for expedited removal.
It's a collaborative web fiction project about a secret organization that locks up weird and paranormal shit to Secure, Contain, and Protect it (or us from it. Or both. Or neither depending on the writer) The rabbit hole goes deep, but the overall quality is pretty good.
Edit to add [link](https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/).
Geoff estimated that there were roughly 10 “super weapons” or “super
theories.” He said we already had 1–2, one being we had solved
philosophy (but not completely, he admitted — all he had left to do was
prove that time exists and maybe a few other details, was what I
remember him saying).
ah yes, if only we could prove time exists, philosophy would be
completely solved
This is a little OT, but can I rant for a bit about how completely
the SCP literary aesthetic has penetrated online culture and creativity?
It’s like everyone who can knock-off a derivative, formulaic riff on
Lovecraftian Horror thinks that they’re a shining start of intelligent
creativity.
Oh look, a “biblically accurate angel” that looks like a monster
because our minds can’t perceive higher-dimensional objects! And look,
nothing resolves or pays off because leaving the “mystery” is more
tantalizing (although you can always go the route of the Russian Sleep
Experiment and end with a self-indulgent monologue that I’m sure you
think sounds insightful but is actually just “Iamverysmart”
nihilistic gibberish).
Lean hard on some references to Abrahamic religions (mostly Judaism
and Christianity though), a little swirl of psychedelia and badly
misunderstood cognitive neuroscience (memetic kill agents: I choose
you!), and bam. You’ve got a derivative, self-indulgent stew going.
New Weird fiction can be done well (Jeff VanderMeer springs to mind),
but the are so many people who can’t do it well but really
think they can.
You're just seeing Sturgeon's Law in action. At least the SCP wiki itself tends towards escaping it, since it's whole purpose is to curate the good articles and tales people submit to it.
I wholeheartedly agree with this criticism. But I also feel similarly when tropes are described as recipes with pop culture references thrown in (e.g., “a little swirl of X… Y, I choose you!”, etc.). At the same time, I *also* feel similarly about the use of variables in ordinary language, so I guess I break even on this one.
I feel like it is my ***intention*** to get stupider by reading this, but:
>A person who intends to win might, for example, naturally notice ways to checkmate their opponent, whereas a person who intends not to lose might notice all the ways they can be checkmated.
This paper is silly, but "play to win, don't play to not lose" is actually fairly common advice in games. I've seen in the Magic: the Gathering community, for example.
That's because that saying is a short, pithy version of the heuristic which is something more like "It's better to sacrifice your position for a chance at winning now over prolonging a losing game in the hopes that you outdraw your opponent".
Yeah, it's mostly a mentality thing. It's about how you plan your moves, what you work towards, etc. I think it's a fairly big difference in a game with randomness like Magic, because you don't know your next card. So how you play can depend on if your planning/hoping to draw a wincon vs. a card that stalls your opponent.
You know how people here like to say Rationality is a cult? Leverage is an actual cult.
td;dr+tl;dr:
I am starting to believe this is a retirement funding document intended to convince Leverage investors (specifically the whale funding the “energy work”) that they should compensate former employees in perpetuity, for the allegedly devastating psychological damage “silent light touching for 60-90 minutes” has wrought.
Notables:
Page 7 is when the nonsense fully comes out, interesting (as much as this can be) semantical dichotomy (intended??) between “bodywork” and “energy work”.
Page ~11 is where it becomes clear this is people telling other people that they should fuck/polycule them, for reasons.
Page ~13 we then learn that I can touch your shoulder and silently realize you want to fuck me, so fucking hard. Think Buffalo Bill but you can’t verbalize it as well.
Kind of a rambly deadzone/history of quackery, but then on Page 22 we are finally told one of these myriad “negative effects”: Once you #realize, with #real eyes, that everyone wants to fuck you, especially once touching them, then well, you can never go back, it’s like the Ring or something idk, jeez I might literally be dumber from reading this.
Holy shit nevermind, this just got spicy, Page 26 concludes from “multiple sources” that there is a powerful warlock present at Leverage. Even worse, they could cause people to “loudly buzz” which presents “difficulties in interacting with them”. I’m picturing a grown human doing the “cant hear you lalalalalala” stuff as a learned and practical defense against such. Again though, I feel my brain has turned to mush….I’m going back to never reading the underlying posts; annnd second sighting of “epistemic”.
Page 29: Morale is low, the “epistemic” count is up to 6, now with a dedicated paragraph that posits telepathy is real, just you know, in a real way that is real, not in a fake way that isn’t real? Anyway, you’d be a telepath/warlock too, if “you really wanted to, otherwise it’s your fault” and ~“let’s do an #Audit so you can be #Clear enough to realize you want to fuck me.”
Summary: Final “epistemic” clocks us in at 8, everyone at Leverage is now a warlock, their thrall, or broken permanently for daring to peer into the void of “intention research”.
Downvote. Article takes too long to reach its thesis, does not match accepted wiki standards, and has no impact. The final “twist” turns out to just be a variation on “the power of positive thinking,” without adding any kind of interesting take on the subject. I suggest shopping it around the concrit forums in order to get some more feedback before reposting. Referring to admin team for expedited removal.
(I used to SCP :/)
One of the references is a link to the dictionary.
ah yes, if only we could prove time exists, philosophy would be completely solved
This is a little OT, but can I rant for a bit about how completely the SCP literary aesthetic has penetrated online culture and creativity? It’s like everyone who can knock-off a derivative, formulaic riff on Lovecraftian Horror thinks that they’re a shining start of intelligent creativity.
Oh look, a “biblically accurate angel” that looks like a monster because our minds can’t perceive higher-dimensional objects! And look, nothing resolves or pays off because leaving the “mystery” is more tantalizing (although you can always go the route of the Russian Sleep Experiment and end with a self-indulgent monologue that I’m sure you think sounds insightful but is actually just “Iamverysmart” nihilistic gibberish).
Lean hard on some references to Abrahamic religions (mostly Judaism and Christianity though), a little swirl of psychedelia and badly misunderstood cognitive neuroscience (memetic kill agents: I choose you!), and bam. You’ve got a derivative, self-indulgent stew going.
New Weird fiction can be done well (Jeff VanderMeer springs to mind), but the are so many people who can’t do it well but really think they can.
Holy shit good find!! Yud was denying this stuff the other day on twitter.
Leverage is a rationalist sub-cult of neoreactionary Trump fans
What’s great is that the same type of folks writing this stuff also complains about the concept of micro-aggressions.
For context: https://www.lesswrong.com/tag/leverage-research
My god… where even to start…
Incredible.
How is Anders not in prison?