Working Definition
A group with unchecked self-reinforcing spirals of group norms, that is eventually regretted.
Loss of:
There Is No Cult-Proof Ideology
Just because something can be done badly doesn’t mean it isn’t good.
Corollary:
Just because something is good doesn’t mean it can’t be done badly.
“You would tolerate this if only you were a good enough [such and such]”
You have to constantly put on a display of [such and such]
An atmosphere of shame, anxiety, mistrust, competition, and perfectionism
Example: “The Stifling Air Of Rigid Radicalism”, https://joyfulmilitancy.com/
“Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”
― Howard Thurman
The “Wow” Factor
This can be a positively or negatively valenced “wow”
Staying Grounded
Maintain ties to other social scenes and circles
Stay close to some people with low openness to experience, high normativity
Infohazards?
Infofragility
Decoherence
Everyone enthusiastically supports everything that everyone says no matter how incoherent
Pretending that nothing that is said is a challenge to anything else being said
Poor epistemic hygiene
Sometimes descends into mush and the surrounding environment absorbs the group
Vibe Collapse
Left brain seen as a threat
“Normal relating isn’t relating enough, only a special kind counts”
Right brain seen as a threat
“Normal rationality isn’t rational enough, only a special kind counts”
One vibe sees another vibe as omnipresent in their life and must be escaped from.
Antiquity, Legacy, Transmission, & Legitimacy
Sometimes a cult is legitimation on overdrive
Motte And Bailey
“Yes, Virginia, Santa exists in our hearts”
“Santa literally exists at the North Pole”
Defensible, but not desirable
Desirable, but not defensible
3-Part Motte And Bailey
Person A: “Santa literally exists at the North Pole”
Person B: “Santa doesn’t exist, we looked at the North Pole”
LATER:
Person B: “Santa doesn’t exist”
Person C: “Don’t say that. Santa exists in our hearts, as any sophisticated person understands.”
LATER:
Person A: “We are a group of people who believe Santa exists, at the literal North Pole, not just in our hearts, and it’s unsophisticated and confrontational to deny it”