Hello, LessWrong. This is a personal introduction diary-ish post and it does not have a thesis. I apologise if this isn't a good fit for the website; I just needed to unload my brain somewhere and this seemed like the spiritually correct place.

I write to you from the Lighthaven campus in fabulous Berkeley, CA. It's my first time here and I am enchanted.

After one week of full-body immersion, I am completely fascinated with the Rationalist philosophy, culture, community. I do not know whether I 'belong' here, as such, and I am writing this post in the hopes of interrogating the feelings I'm experiencing.

After all, why do I feel so positively about the above when I've barely scratched the surface and know almost nothing of what it is I'm looking at? Do I just feel warm because of positive vibes and an ornately-decorated campus? Do I just feel alive because coming to Berkeley feels like an adventure compared to the monotonous university-working life that I've come from?

In other words: do I like the ideas, or do I just like the vibes?

Maybe. I think that's a bias worth challenging.

I do not know if this [...]

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Outline:

(01:33) Who am I?

(01:56) Why am I at Lighthaven?

(04:00) What have I seen?

(04:36) Ratspeak

(05:50) No Punishment for Bad Takes

(07:16) Eugenics

(08:01) Autism

(09:06) People Just Say and Do Shit

(10:19) AI-generated Images

(11:31) Children and Families

(12:21) Really Excellent Vibes

(13:13) What is the point of this post?

The original text contained 4 footnotes which were omitted from this narration.

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First published:
April 8th, 2026

Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/JAR8b9G4NpNM6seTn/one-week-in-the-rat-farm

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

“One Week in the Rat Farm” by Philip Harker

LessWrong (30+ Karma)