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EST

                                             March 10, 2021

I know very little about EST from the
inside, but much about it from the
behavior of self-professed acolytes       EST="Earhardt
around the close of the 1970s.            Sensitivity Training"

The Science Fiction club at Stony         Werner Earhardt
Brook (the "Science Fiction Forum")       was one of those    Englebart was
that I was involved in had a big          "geniuses at        unfortunately
clique of EST people hanging              convincing other    among the ranks
around-- I mostly remember them for       people he was a     of the conned.
their capability of putting you on        genius" that
the defensive about things you            Martin Gardner      ENGLEBARTS_BARD
didn't actually want to defend.           complained about.

One guy in particular I remember for      There's a quote from Leonard Susskind
playing some interesting moves where      floating around about how Earhardt was
he would sometimes do some suprising      "a very smart man".  I believe
attacks (essentially accusing me of       Susskind introduced Feynman to
being lame and undiscipled) but he        Earhardt.  One suspects that Feynman
would alternate those with more           just regarded him with some of his
flattering treatment, acting as           characteristic Brooklyn skepticism.
though I was one of the smart,
creative insiders on his team.  I             LEONARD_SUSSKIND
could kind of see what that game was
about--inflating his own importance--         Later I met someone who told me
and didn't take the attacks or the            about their experiences with a
praise very seriously.                        family member going over to EST,
                                              after which everyone was
     I never bothered to read up on           constantly under assault: their
     Werner Earhardt's schtick in             supposed faults were continually
     any detail, but I gathered it            being hammered on.  And the proud
     was basic inspirational                  recipient of "Sensitivity
     "self-help" stuff-- you create           Training" was, of course, always
     your own reality!-- but instead          above criticism.
     of "I'm Okay, You're Okay" it
     was more like "I'm an asshole,
     you're an asshole".               DOUBLE_THE_NEGATIVE

     A big selling point was the
     appeal of being an Insider
     ("do you *get it*?).
     Famously the introductory          The Burt Reynolds movie
     EST meeting involved what          "Semi-Tough" actually
     amounted to a hazing ritual        did an excellent job of
     where they would prevent you       satirizing this kind of
     from leaving the room for          stuff, though I realize
     hours, demanding that you          Burt Reynolds and social
     wet your pants if necessary.       satire go together about
                                        as well as presidential
                                        politics and, uh--
     Since those days the EST
     people seem to have calmed
     down quite a bit.  This               A friend of mine was once dating an
     happened after it became clear        ESTey. After they scored an unlikely
     that Earhardt wasn't kidding          parking space near the center of
     about being an asshole (there         campus, she commented "I *created*
     were some accusations of tax          that parking space." 
     evasion-- of which he was             
     supposedly later acquitted--          
     and also some accusations of
     spouse abuse, about which
     Earhardt seems more quiet).

     The EST people have rebranded
     themselves as members of the         One hopes there's no
     "Landmark Forum", and they           connection between
     no longer come off as the most       "The Landmark Forum"
     annoying people on the face of       and the "Science
     the planet.                          Fiction Forum", but I
                                          have my suspicions.


          This is the lesson here, I think:

          The Fire that emerged from Silicon
          Valley was originally ignited by the       GRACE_MACHINES
          dreams of 60s rebels: they wanted to
          get computing power into the hands of
          the people, and that's what they did.

          But lurking in the background, always
          threatening to overwhelm and undercut
          that achievement has been the drive to
          surrender your will to a guru, to
          submerge your identity in a cult.


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