Meetup: Cults and Gandhis

[Vadim Kosoy]

WHEN: Tuesday, April 12 at 7 PM

WHERE: Cluster: Yigal Alon 118, Tel Aviv

Facebook event

Another evening of fascinating talks and discussions in LessWrong Tel Aviv, the Israeli hub of rationality in the style of Eliezer Yudkowsky and Scott Alexander.

This time we have two talks: a 40 minute talk "How to Start a Cult" by Assaf Lavie and a 15 minute talk "Gandhi's pharmacy and precommitments" by Meni Rosenfeld (followed by plentiful disucssion, of course).

Assaf's abstact:

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Three very different stories of modern day cults: The Jonestown Cult (and massacre), The Democratic People's Republic of Korea, and Scientology.

Different stories, but with strong similarities running through them.

After a brief recounting of each cult's history, we'll try to answer:

A. How do I start a cult?

B. Once I have a cult, how do I keep it going?

Meni's abstract:

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The talk is inspired by "The Legend of Murder-Gandhi" from LessWrong.com. I will present situations where various mind-altering pills are offered to Gandhi, use these scenarios to explain the power of precommitments, and discuss ways they can be harnessed.