Good point that SlateScott commented on accusations of abuse in rationalist and adjacent organizations. Would the Goldwater Rule have applied? At least there has been some reporting on those accusations but I don't know if it was on the ground or just phoning and emailing people from NYC, Chicago, or LA.

Someone with biochem, pharmacy, or psychology training could comment on some things SlateScott has written.

Amanda Marcotte remembers that but I don't see examples in her link https://www.salon.com/2025/02/24/what-elon-musks-on-workers-owes-to-gamergate/ It looks like the Wikipedia page was written by someone who noticed the slur on Twitter in 2018 or later, and its focused on the meme graphic not the slur "you are just a mindless machine that exists for my pleasure or as an obstacle to overcome." I think Marcotte served in the Internet Feminism Wars on the feminist side.

The reporting on Gamergate that I can find focuses on the death threats and doxing not insults but "NPC" sounds like the kind of slur that the anti-feminists would have used.

Seems like it only makes sense if you played CRPGS but not TTRPGS, LARP, or participatory fiction online? Yud is in to sex games but maybe he does not see it as playing a role?

I think Hallquist had a short-lived blog with criticisms of LessWrong and EA between his time on FreethoughtBlogs/Pantheos and his run for office and Medium blog. Possibly https://topherhallquist.wordpress.com/2015/08/17/reply-to-scott-alexander/ In the original Twitter post, Hallquist described Alexander as "a vague internet acquaintance at the time (when he sent the emails)" and it sounds like after 2014 Hallquist explored LW and EA and decided they were messed up. (Hallquist's post also suggests that if you want to sound like a bold contrarian, see what a median expert at a university think about a topic rather than reading blogs).

I like to remind myself that I see what happens online, but the offers of money and the sexual propositions probably mostly happen in person or between people who have met in person. So I don't know as much about the LessWrong or EA communities as I think.

Making general statements about the risks and benefits of medication is different from proscribing them. The George K. Lerner, MD who was FTX's resident pill-pusher seems to be based in San Francisco and wants potential patients to know that inter alia "Dr. Lerner specializes in the treatment of Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD/ADHD) in adults. He has extensive experience in treating adults who have been successful in their professional endeavors but have found attention deficit symptoms to be an impediment to achieving their full potential." (nudge nudge)

His website does not mention a connection with the hospital in Michigan which is the only one where I know Alexander worked. I would like to know more about possible connections other than their mutual connections to the FTX gang. I have not done shoe-leather reporting in SoCal and almost all of the things we know about Alexander are things he posted voluntarily under his main handle.

Lerner's site shows what Alexander's site might look like if he were focused on psychiatry rather than writing and peddling racist lies.

Yes, Scott Alexander is an unusual rationalist blogger who had a credentialed professional career as a psychiatrist. After Substack became his patron, he opened his own medical practice, but the website has said "not accepting new patients at this time" since 2022. So he seems to live off gifts from fellow travelers with a side hustle in psychiatry.

incel

Some guys had to learn that most sex and dating advice on the Internet should be ignored, but many women have to learn that magazines like Cosmo are not written to help them. I wish we did not live in a world where so much culture tries to hurt so many people in an important area of life, but introverted men are not the only victims.

Bringing up his individual struggles when two million people are being starved to death, shot, and forced into the desert is gross.

Wish the microblogger had archived the old text for verification but I can believe that Piper believes that marrying a femme and having many children while working a full-time, high-prestige job counts as a traditional gender role.