Draft talk:Zizians
Some links[edit]
The first mentioLessWrong has had growing concern about Jack Amadeus LaSota's ("Ziz") behavior since around 2023.[1]
The first mention and description of Zizians on LessWrong is from 5 years ago.[2] There's brief summary of some of the other LW subcults here.[3][4]
One of LessWrong's contributors claimed that Scott Alexander made claims related to "rationalism" (including Zizians) being a risk for psychosis (point 12)![5]
Growing concern about Zizians on LessWrong started in 2023.[6]
Ziz himself seems to have had only a few posts there 7 years ago.[7]
Since the recent alleged Zizian crime spree, there has been increased media coverage, including connect Zizians to LessWrong: Yahoo,[8] San Francisco Chronicle (LessWrong not named but clearly identified as a Berkeley rationalist subcultrue)[9] and NewsWeek[10] Bongolian (talk) 18:51, 6 February 2025 (UTC)
The headline, "'Rationalist Fleet…'"above a partially-sunken rustbucket tugboat is PriceLess. Bongolian (talk) 18:54, 6 February 2025 (UTC)
- Ziz does not appear to be cis, btw. Some sources (such as this one) have referred to them using she/her pronouns, so I would be careful not to misgender them. Carthage (talk) 16:17, 7 February 2025 (UTC)
- Here's an archive snapshot of the paywalled tugboat article. —cosmikdebris talk stalk 17:58, 7 February 2025 (UTC)
- There's another article on the Zizians today. Maximilian Snyder, charged with killing a landlord in California, acknowledged loyal Yudkowsky and is a vegan and animal rights activist; he also denied being a friend of Ziz. Snyder's rather pretentious letter to Yudkowsky is also reprinted. [11] It's been claimed on LessWrong that Snyder was user Audere,[12] who posted sporadically over several years.[13] Bongolian (talk) 18:09, 8 February 2025 (UTC)
- Here's an archive snapshot of the paywalled tugboat article. —cosmikdebris talk stalk 17:58, 7 February 2025 (UTC)
Ziz and fellow cult members Michelle Zajko, and Daniel Blank were arrested in Maryland for trespassing and other crimes on February 16. News sources include:
—cosmikdebris talk stalk 17:33, 18 February 2025 (UTC)
The Basilisk rears its ugly head[edit]
There's an almost immediate conclusion that outside observers of LessWrong would seem to jump to: LessWrong affiliated person + crime = must have been rationalized by the Roko's Basilisk mindfuck. This post on LessWrong seems to confirm that for Zizians (and the other.[15] Bongolian (talk) 00:53, 18 February 2025 (UTC)
More links[edit]
The main Ziz blog is at Voidgoddess,[16] which appears to be full-up blatherskite. The "rationalist" was into magick, tarot, pseudo-Hinduism and other nuttery. There's another article on them that came out today.[17] There appears to be endless online text written by the Zizians according to that article. I pity the reporters that have to read through all of this nonsense, though one 2019 blog post by Ziz appears to be rather self-incriminating.[18] Bongolian (talk) 19:34, 26 February 2025 (UTC)