Examining the links between the Rationalist community, with Slate Star Codex blog as its epicenter, and influential leaders in tech, including OpenAI's founders

Slate Star Codex was a window into the psyche of many tech leaders building our collective future. Then it disappeared.

New York Times 2021-02-14 Cade Metz

Context & Ripple Effects

Slate Star Codex had already become a focal point in a broader rift between prominent Silicon Valley figures and critical journalism. This coverage frames the blog’s disappearance as consequential because it had connected Rationalist discussion to influential technology leaders, including OpenAI’s founders.

The account was immediately contested: a subsequent response argued that the Times overstated the community’s influence on Silicon Valley and mischaracterized the industry’s politics. The dispute is therefore as much about who gets to define the community’s importance as about the blog itself.

First-order effects

The Times’ framing ties the Rationalist community and Slate Star Codex more visibly to OpenAI’s founders, making a niche intellectual network part of public scrutiny of influential tech leadership.
Slate Star Codex’s removal eliminates the public venue through which readers could directly observe the discussions that the story treats as a window into tech leaders’ thinking.

Second-order effects

The rebuttal from Noahpinion turns the story into a credibility dispute over the scale and political meaning of Rationalist influence, rather than leaving the Times’ characterization uncontested.
Tech figures associated with the community face a media environment in which informal online affiliations can be interpreted as evidence about the values shaping major technology organizations.

Third-order effects

If this pattern persists, the boundary between niche intellectual communities and institutional tech leadership becomes a recurring source of conflict over journalistic framing, reputational legitimacy, and access to primary online discourse.
The disappearance of influential discussion venues can concentrate interpretation of their role in retrospective reporting and competing accounts, rather than in the underlying conversations themselves.

The trend: As technology leaders emerge from online intellectual networks, the networks’ influence and political character are becoming contested questions of media framing and institutional legitimacy.

Discussion

@reckless Nilay Patel on x
The entire framing of “tech vs media” comes from tech, not media, and the core of it is online harassment that is utterly transparent to anyone who's ever been through it
@rmac18 @rmac18 on x
Luv to talk about doxing “vulnerable” people in emails with all my friends. https://www.nytimes.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@pmatzko Paul Matzko on x
The New York Times article about SlateStarCodex is finally out and it is...bad. There's a lot I could parse, but let me just walk you through one paragraph that is so misleading as to be deceptive. https://www.nytimes.com/...
@ranjanxroy Ranjan on x
That crazy email aside, had never known the origin story of DeepMind https://www.nytimes.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@williamturton William Turton on x
Yeeeeesh https://twitter.com/...
@justinkan Justin Kan on x
NYT's coverage on Slate Star Codex is depressing. This HN comment articulates it better than I can. https://news.ycombinator.com/ ... https://twitter.com/...
@taylorlorenz Taylor Lorenz on x
So important to remember that these bad faith attacks by Balaji etc are intentional. Their goal is to ruin your life w/ doxxing, online abuse and harassment, these men know what they're doing https://www.nytimes.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@daveyalba Davey Alba on x
“The voices also included white supremacists and neo-fascists. The only people who struggled to be heard, Dr. Friedman said, were ‘social justice warriors.’ They were considered a threat to one of the core beliefs driving the discussion: free speech.” https://www.nytimes.com/...
@andizeisler Andi Zeisler on x
Weird that so many groups devoted to an ideal of “rational” and “objective” dialogue mostly comprise white tech dudes chapped that they can't be more publicly racist and sexist https://www.nytimes.com/...
@esyudkowsky Eliezer Yudkowsky on x
This is an unremarkable level of dishonesty from the NYT and must be expected from their other articles too. This article was a Big Deal, and it represents the best work the NYT can put forth when their remaining editors are paying lots of attention. https://twitter.com/...
@elongreen Elon Green on x
This is one of those stories where the quality of its critics are really all you need to know. https://www.nytimes.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@mathewi Mathew Ingram on x
This piece on the Rationalist movement and the Slate Star Codex blog was written by Cade Metz, whose reporting caused the author of the Codex to take the entire blog off the internet (it's back now, known as Astral Codex Ten) https://www.nytimes.com/...
@klintron Klint Finley on x
That vulnerable reporter was me. Ultimately they stood down. Cade hasn't been so fortunate.
@sapinker Steven Pinker on x
National treasure Scott Alexander on the uncomprehending New York Times article about him. https://astralcodexten.substack.com/ ...
@mims Christopher Mims on x
Real talk: targeted harassment of people for doing their job is not OK, but it's shockingly common; can you guess the gender of the reporter(s) this sort of thing gets directed at? https://www.nytimes.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@angebassa Angela Bassa on x
The folks who like to think of themselves as “rationalists” may believe themselves above this, but I often relearn the lesson that humans are animals and that even the most seemingly (and self-styled) rational of us are just full of crap. https://www.nytimes.com/...
@prof_gabriele Matt Gabriele on x
was super cool to see him and Zeynep co-hosting an event on Clubhouse yesterday https://twitter.com/...
@pegobry Peg on x
“I have 1,557 other posts worth of material he could have used, and the sentence he chose to go with was the one that was crossed out and included a plea for people to stop taking it out of context.” https://astralcodexten.substack.com/ ...
@hemjhaveri Hemal Jhaveri on x
Guess which other online harrassers share this MO https://twitter.com/...
@johndurant John Durant on x
The hit piece on Scott Alexander was predictably pathetic garbage. His statement: https://astralcodexten.substack.com/ ...
@mattyglesias Matthew Yglesias on x
One of the oddities of Silicon Valley coverage is that in any other industry “many of the rich executives at these big companies have some conservative political views” would be an awfully dog bites man story, but somehow the tech/media dynamic has made it a huge drama.
@jason @jason on x
Interesting to see so many @nytimes reporters come out this strongly in support of one story 🤔 https://twitter.com/...
@nbashaw Nathan Baschez on x
This whole NYT / SSC thing is so depressing. I've been an avid SSC reader for years and the portrait @CadeMetz paints of his writing feels unrecognizable. I want nothing to do with a “dark enlightenment.” The connection Metz tries to make between it and SSC is deeply untrue.
@ericnewcomer Eric Newcomer on x
@mattyglesias @moskov I don't think this is a smart gloss. The difference is certain tech leaders want to be held up as philosopher kings and get treated as such by some online. reporters want to reckon with their views. Tech reporters know that these elites views don't represent…
@jessesingal Jesse Singal on x
Scott Alexander's response to the New York Times hit piece against him just went live: https://astralcodexten.substack.com/ ...
@moskov Dustin Moskovitz on x
@mattyglesias The unique thing about Silicon Valley is the public has collectively agreed it is allowed to pretend everyone has exactly the same views.
@charlespulliam Charles PM on x
“Rationalist” sounds marginally less silly than “phrenologist,” which is part of why these people chose to call themselves that https://twitter.com/...
@moskov Dustin Moskovitz on x
@mattyglesias And to clarify not just “everyone has the majority beliefs” but rather “everyone has the worst belief for which I can find at least one example”. In the case of the article the beliefs are not even owned by the people implied, which is a slightly newer trick.
@tomchivers Tom Chivers on x
Given that 1) the @nytimes has published its long-awaited story about @slatestarcodex and the rationalist community, and 2) it's kind of weak and uninformative and mean-spirited, perhaps now is the time to read my book on the subject! https://twitter.com/...
@nachristakis Nicholas A. Christakis on x
“I don't want to accuse NYT of lying, exactly, but if they were truthful, it was in same way as Wizard of Oz review: ‘Transported to a surreal landscape, a young girl kills the first person she meets and then teams up with three strangers to kill again.’ https://astralcodexten.su…
@timodc Tim Miller on x
The Times letting these types of smears get through fact checking in a piece they've been working on for ages is just crazy. https://twitter.com/...
@jessienyc @jessienyc on x
[a researcher said] “He was worried that Slate Star Codex, like other communities, was allowing extremist views to trickle into the influential tech world.” @cademetz via @NYTimes https://www.nytimes.com/...
@adavies47 Alex Davies on x
Thank you @CadeMetz for the terrific reporting, not so much for adding to my list of things to shudder and yell about https://twitter.com/...
@chimeracoder Aditya Mukerjee on x
My friend (who doesn't work in tech) asked me to explain this article to him. I described it as “G*merG*te goes professional”. https://www.nytimes.com/...
@asymmetricinfo Megan McArdle on x
I assume it wasn't deliberate, but that paragraph is extremely misleading, and should be corrected. https://twitter.com/...
@bostonjoan Joan Donovan, PhD on x
When networked harassment is targeted at woman journalists, it is to send a message to those in a similar position: criticize the powerful and you will be next. And yet, these people keep climbing the social ladder. https://twitter.com/...
@bariawilliams @bariawilliams on x
So, being on the right side of civil rights and history is a threat to “free speech?” Interesting concept if one is used to spouting racist, xenophobic, and/or homophobic hot takes with no ramifications... That isn't a threat to free speech, but wanting to not face consequences. …
@erratarob @erratarob on x
This hit piece by the NYTimes against the “Slate Star Codex” is strangely self-unaware, exactly the demonstration why people don't trust mainstream media outlets like the NYTimes. https://twitter.com/...
@gaberivera Gabe Rivera on x
Ok, this post is a more effective and measured response than relying on the old sic-dark-enlightenment-on-vulnerable- reporter-and-dox move: https://twitter.com/...
@binarybits Timothy B. Lee on x
This is a remarkable level of dishonesty from the Times. Scott Alexander once expressed agreement with Charles Murray on a topic unrelated to race and IQ. The Times wrote a paragraph strongly implying Alexander endorsed Murray's views on race and IQ. https://astralcodexten.substa…
@edmundlee Edmund Lee on x
not just Trump and his ilk who think journalists are the enemy https://twitter.com/...
@teddyschleifer Teddy Schleifer on x
I don't have much unique to say about today's Star Slate Codex story, but this quote finally speaks the quiet part out loud. https://twitter.com/...
@gbbranstetter Gillian Branstetter on x
Many of these same people will then start a Substack where they rail against “cancel culture” https://twitter.com/...
@beejoli Beejoli Shah on x
Still waiting to see even one major tech or VC exec speak up and disavow this behavior. Have I missed any? https://twitter.com/...
@gaberivera Gabe Rivera on x
I guess stuff like this might be why Margit Wennmachers was pretty adamant about this guy having no current role at the firm nowadays (as related in the one Cl*bhouse room I listened to for more than a minute) https://twitter.com/...
@brandyzadrozny Brandy Zadrozny on x
This should be a huge scandal. But it won't be because they have no shame and the targeted harassment of “vulnerable” journalists and their families by rich and powerful men is just accepted—even inside newsrooms. This is depraved. https://twitter.com/...
@reckless Nilay Patel on x
This is straight GamerGate tactics, used by wealthy and connected tech investors https://twitter.com/...
@robinhanson Robin Hanson on x
“The ideas they exchanged were often controversial — connected to gender, race and inherent ability, for example — and voices who might push back were kept at bay.” The article insinuates that maybe those voices shouldn't have been kept at bay. https://www.nytimes.com/...
@lkanies Luke Kanies on x
Silicon Valley? Iconoclastic? The land of Jobs and Musk and Andreesson and Zuck? Not even a little bit. Disrespectful to other sources of power, yes. But obsessed with their own icons, no matter how poisonous. Silicon Valley's Safe Space https://www.nytimes.com/... https://twitte…
@lenazun Evil Maid on x
billions of dollars and your digital future in the hands of men who have the philosophical depth of suburban 14 year olds. https://twitter.com/...
@the_moviebob MovieBob Productions on x
Never stop being funny that these Slate Star weirdos whose ENTIRE gonzo worldview is built around imagining that “literally the plot of Terminator” is about to happen IRL but, somehow, never internalized that the solution to defeating Rogue A.I. there was “Listen to your mom” 🤣 h…
@buzz Buzz Andersen on x
“They were ‘easily persuaded by weird, contrarian things...Because they decided they were more rational than other people, they trusted their own internal judgment.’” https://www.nytimes.com/...
@patrickqmason Patrick Mason on x
I can't wait for someone to write an awesome Religious Studies book about Silicon Valley. This is a good start. https://www.nytimes.com/...
@edzitron Ed Zitron on x
Sounds like it sucked ass https://www.nytimes.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@kctolliver Kevin C. Tolliver on x
If I had not read Slate Star Codex, I would think it was an alt-right Breitbart-y thing after reading this NYT piece. Pretty bad look. https://www.nytimes.com/...
@noahpinion @noahpinion on x
I read the NYT article about Slate Star Codex, and I don't like it. It traffics in a certain inaccurate, worn-out stereotype of Silicon Valley and the tech industry, and doesn't do a good job of describing the Rationalist subculture. https://www.nytimes.com/...
@byjoelanderson Joel D. Anderson on x
With few exceptions, people who describe themselves as “rational” tend to be bigot-curious assholes. https://www.nytimes.com/...
@taylorlorenz Taylor Lorenz on x
In case anyone thinks for a moment that this playbook ☝🏻 isn't intentional https://www.nytimes.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@rmac18 @rmac18 on x
Imagining this email thread, with Thiel being like “Whoa hold on guys, going after reporters and news outlets is a bridge too far.”
@samthielman @samthielman on x
I'm embarrassed that I believed the SlateStarCodex guy when he said Metz was threatening to de-pseudonymize him. This is a really good piece about his awful pretentious blog and its disciples. https://twitter.com/...
@mattdpearce Matt Pearce on x
I'm not sold on the sincerity of a “rational inquiry” space that would reach so easily for brutal enforcement against inquiry it doesn't like. https://www.nytimes.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@hshaban Hamza Shaban on x
What's striking about the strain of Silicon Valley thinking detailed here, of “rational” innovators just exploring ideas, is its tolerance for bigotry and a rejection of the practice of journalism and public criticism https://www.nytimes.com/...
@alibreland Ali Breland on x
incredible that a bunch of libertarian silicon valley guys named themselves the “rationalists,” an already existing intellectual movement, and then just assumed they were always correct. gonna name my friend crew “the smart guys with the best ideas” https://www.nytimes.com/...
@jennifer_jserra @jennifer_jserra on x
These are the same “rational” people who are certain that their leaving SF will doom it to...I'm not sure what, actually. To fewer extremely rich men with extremely bad ideas? I take it as a point of pride racist billionaires aren't comfortable here. https://twitter.com/...
@mgsiegler M.G. Siegler on x
Well, now is probably a good time to sign off of Twitter for the next few days. Or weeks. Or years. https://www.nytimes.com/...
@taylorlorenz Taylor Lorenz on x
I hope the “dark enlightenment” folks recognize how they're being used. Even if you disagree with this piece, stuff like this should be completely unacceptable. https://www.nytimes.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@taylorlorenz Taylor Lorenz on x
I have been on the receiving end of this exact campaign by Balaji etc several times in the past year alone. It's so much more vicious, cruel, and overwhelming than you can imagine. The worst part is watching peers in media & tech buy into/contribute to it https://www.nytimes.com/…
@alex @alex on x
Well Balaji sounds charming https://www.nytimes.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@ericajoy Erica Joy on x
“Mr. Altman thought the essay nailed a big problem: In the face of the ‘internet mob’ that guarded against sexism and racism, entrepreneurs had less room to explore new ideas.” 🤔 https://twitter.com/...
@dbrauer David Brauer on x
“No surprise that this has caught on among the tech industry. The tech industry loves disrupters & disruptive thought. But this can lead to real problems. The contrarian nature of these ideas makes them appealing to people who maybe don't think enough about the consequences.” htt…
@jbouie B-Boy Bouiebaisse on x
every generation a new group of elites and self-styled “rational men” discovers the same old, trash ideas about the natural inferiority of their social lessers. it's a cliche https://www.nytimes.com/...
@williamturton William Turton on x
Pretty easy to see why tons of people in Silicon Valley did not want this story to be published https://www.nytimes.com/...
@ericnewcomer Eric Newcomer on x
I thought the NYT article threaded the needle fine on who it thought the article reflected on. besides that Noah makes fair points. But isn't it well understood by everyone that Silicon Valley is mostly Democrats. Media wrote stories of masses of Bernie donors https://twitter.com…
@delong @delong on x
@karaswisher @nbashaw @CadeMetz Since the _New York Times_ does not have an ombudsman to ask about this, I am going to go with my friend Noah Smith's judgment on @CadeMetz: strongly negative: **Noah Smith**: _Silicon Valley Isn't Full of Fascists_ <https://noahpinion.substack.com…
@rezendi Jon Evans on x
“There's a small, lonely-looking lump of conservatives over on the right. That undoubtedly includes Peter Thiel and a few other prominent conservatives. But they are iconoclasts within an industry that leans very strongly to the left.” https://noahpinion.substack.com/ ...
@noahpinion @noahpinion on x
My response to the Times article about Slate Star Codex: 1. There's no evidence it was very popular or influential in the tech world 2. Techies (including founders) are OVERWHELMINGLY liberals 3. Rationalists care mostly about esoterica, not politics https://noahpinion.substack.c…

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