Rationalist community (LessWrong / MIRI)
Rationalist community around Eliezer Yudkowsky's LessWrong (2009+) and the Machine Intelligence Research Institute. Documented sub-community concerns including the 2022–2025 Ziz cult-of-personality murders.
CLCI radar
BITE breakdown
0 — Rationalist community around LessWrong and MIRI; documented sub-community concerns including the 2023 Ziz cult-of-personality murders.
Profile facts
In context
The mainstream Rationalist community is a substantial intellectual community focused on epistemics and AI safety. Documented high-control sub-currents include Leverage Research (Geoff Anders), various 'Berkeley CFAR'-adjacent sub-circles, and most notoriously Ziz (Jack LaSota), whose followers committed multiple murders 2022–2025.
Recovery resources
- ICSA (International Cultic Studies Association) — General referral and cult-aware therapist directory.
- INFORM (Information Network on Religious Movements) — LSE-founded UK research-based information service covering new religious movements.
- Reclamation Collective — Religious-trauma-aware therapist network; relevant for post-exit identity-rebuilding.
- Freedom of Mind Resource Center — Steven Hassan's organisation; BITE-model resources and family-side exit guidance.
See the full curated list at /resources.
Legal cases & controversies
- 2022–2025 Ziz murder investigations
This profile is in progress — history, deeper BITE evidence and survivor voices are still being added. Contributions welcome via GitHub.
Timeline
- 2009LessWrong founded by Yudkowsky
- 2011Leverage Research founded
- 2022–2025Ziz cult-related murders documented
Sources
- Various press coverage including Bay Area News Group on Ziz murders search ↗
We cite sources by name and outlet rather than fabricating links. Where a source includes its own URL, the open ↗ link opens it directly; otherwise search ↗ runs a Google Scholar query for the cited title — useful for verifying academic sources. For news outlets, search the outlet's own archive.
Change history
Substantive edits logged per the score-updates policy.
- 2026-05-29Phase 1 Batch J: per-group recovery resources applied via programmatic palette (closest-fit by category + subCategory + score). Palette: Political cadre.
- 2026-05-20Score band scheme migrated from 4 bands to 5 (Minimal 0–5 / Low 6–12 / Moderate 13–20 / High 21–30 / Extreme 31–40). No CLCI value changed; the new Minimal band was carved out of the bottom of the previous Low band.
Relevant hubs
Curated entry points on CLCI Hub for situations connected to this group.
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Found something wrong on this profile?
We accept correction requests from anyone — current and former members, researchers, journalists, family members, and the listed organisation. Submissions are reviewed by an editor; we do not auto-publish.