The author reflects on their disillusionment with the rationalist community, tracing its origins from the quirky internet of the 1990s to its modern iteration in the SF Bay Area. Initially drawn to the "skeptic" movement, characterized by figures like James Randi and Richard Dawkins, the author found intellectual empowerment in debunking pseudoscience. However, this pastime sometimes devolved into mockery, as seen in the Timecube affair.

As the community rebranded as "rationalists" around platforms like Slate Star Codex and Less Wrong in the late 2000s, the focus shifted from reactive skepticism to proactively seeking "correct" answers. The author notes that this group, despite its emphasis on reason, remains susceptible to biases, citing the effective altruism movement and its justifications for controversial actions, such as working for unethical companies or the idea of buying a castle. The phenomenon of "sealioning"—using rationalist discourse to force unwanted debates—is also highlighted.

A key turning point was the James Damore memo incident at Google in 2017. The author, a member of the [email protected] mailing list, saw the memo as a personal belief disguised as a rational inquiry. This, combined with prior experiences and later events like the Sam Bankman-Fried arrest and the alleged Zizians cult scandal, solidified the author's wariness of the community, long before these major controversies surfaced.