something that's scary.
You should know that "cult" is obviously loaded language. Carries associations with murder and things, with mass suicides; hell, even the dictionary definition says they're "regarded by others as strange or sinister or as imposing excessive control over members." thanks, oxford languages.
zizians, merveilles, bell labs.
where is the inherent difference between these three?
the zizians are a rationalist group that have been linked to murder!! obviously! big difference from merveilles & one hundred rabbits and then bell labs, which are maybe better characterized as similarly-philosophically-oriented hacker groups. i have yet to read enough cat-v about bell labs to pretend to be an expert but there really do seem to be some similarities.
god i mean actually the merveilles town page has some shit about not allowing pictures of animal products. i really do hope the rationalists haven't gotten to them.
the zizians are a natural response to rationalism---something like that was always going to happen. i will make no attempt to hide that I Do Not Know Everything about rationalism;
i think rationalism is sacreligious and maybe that's stupid; you are never going to be truly rational, there is no Truly Rational. check baudrillard's shit about human value systems.
from tumblr:
smoke-in-the-wind: it's fun that Mormonism is based off pseudo-archaeology and Scientology is based off pseudo-psychiatry. By that logic the big American New Religious Movement of the 21st century is gonna be based on... pseudo-computer science?
filthburger: Roko's basilisk
although maybe AI is more accurate.
There is always of course the inherent religiosity of the word cult. Internet calls it a derivative of cultus meaning worship (latin) and god man people who throw around the word referring to legitimate religion (although of course who is to say what a legitimate religion is --- walter benjamin, can you help us by describing the aura of an act of worship) --- piss me off. In this vein it is important to be as clear with your words as possible even though in my typing I am not. So many people do not tell the difference between Catholic and Christian and aaaaaagggghh as a church fan this is an important difference (to theorize: What is an important difference?). There are criticisms that are levelable at a certain group that are not at a broader standpoint and those that are broader and not more specifically. So