Well, it's nice to know at least you guys see it. Yes, that was one of my reactions. I started reading some of the sequences (which really aren't put at a level that the mass public, or, I'd hazard to say, though not with certainty, even people whose IQs don't fall one standard deviation above the mean or higher can easily understand). I liked them, though I didn't fully understand them, and have referred people to them. However, at the time I was looking into a job and did some kind of search through the website. Anyways, I encountered a post with a person who was asking for advice on a job...I can't find it now, but from what I remember (this has been a long time, the memory is greatly degraded, but I think what little I remember may be actually more insightful in this case than a faithful representation of the actual post) the poster talked about divorce and doing a job they hated and the like to be able to donate more to charity, and how that was an acceptable though not valued trade-off. And, though I actually agree to a point, that did raise HUGE red flags in my mind for cult...particularly when combined with the many messages that seem to be embedded here about donating to the LW non-profits. I fled after reading that and stayed away for a long time. I dunno if it helps or not, but figured I'd share.
Also, I just Googled "Less Wrong" and all I did was added a space and Google auto-suggested cult. So things seem to have worsened since this was published.
Well, it's nice to know at least you guys see it. Yes, that was one of my reactions. I started reading some of the sequences (which really aren't put at a level that the mass public, or, I'd hazard to say, though not with certainty, even people whose IQs don't fall one standard deviation above the mean or higher can easily understand). I liked them, though I didn't fully understand them, and have referred people to them. However, at the time I was looking into a job and did some kind of search through the website. Anyways, I encountered a post with a person who was asking for advice on a job...I can't find it now, but from what I remember (this has been a long time, the memory is greatly degraded, but I think what little I remember may be actually more insightful in this case than a faithful representation of the actual post) the poster talked about divorce and doing a job they hated and the like to be able to donate more to charity, and how that was an acceptable though not valued trade-off. And, though I actually agree to a point, that did raise HUGE red flags in my mind for cult...particularly when combined with the many messages that seem to be embedded here about donating to the LW non-profits. I fled after reading that and stayed away for a long time. I dunno if it helps or not, but figured I'd share.
Also, I just Googled "Less Wrong" and all I did was added a space and Google auto-suggested cult. So things seem to have worsened since this was published.