This article draws in part on reporting by the New York Times:
She Wanted to Save the World From A. I. Then the Killings Started. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/06/business/ziz-lasota-zizians-rationalists.html
1. The arrest that pulled a hidden world into view
(gpt/ajf) In July 2025 the sudden arrest of Ziz LaSota forced a corner of the internet into the headlines. For years the Rationalist community had been a self‑contained subculture of forums, arguments about AI and existential risk, and rented‑room meetups. That world is now being called to account after a string of violent incidents. What once looked like a niche intellectual project is, in the view of investigators, entangled with a trail of blood – and one of its most mercurial figures has become the focus of a criminal case.
2. Inside the Rationalist movement – origins and fault lines
Born on forums like LessWrong in the late 2000s, Rationalism began as a near‑utopian effort: use reason, probability and Bayesian logic to see clearly – and avoid catastrophe. Over time it built books, podcasts and research institutes, and drew a generation of Silicon Valley programmers who believed the world could be modeled and fixed.