2018-03-26 RRG Notes

One of the most alluring themes in HP Lovecraft's mythos is the concept of "knowledge that drives you insane"
People often think of this as "creepy brainwashing magic", but in reality indoctrination is a more fitting analogy
- People who read "red-pill" forums and start seeing everything in terms of sexuality and sexual conquest
- People who become heavily influenced by gender studies and start seeing everything in terms of intersectional oppression
- People who read too much Robin Hanson, and see everything in terms of signalling
However, even these are pretty weak in comparison to the power attributed to the Elder Gods and the Necronomicon in the Cthulhu mythos
People in the rationalist community have deified abstract forces, like Moloch, or Ra
While Moloch and Ra are actually referring to impersonal processes and their results, they sound what would happen if you give yourself over to some impersonal, greater, thing
- Is that how it works in the original mythos? I'm not sure
This project seeks to catalogue these Lovecraftian entities and the sorts of mind-consuming beliefs that make people swear allegiance to them

Made of fire
Seen imprisoned in a star
Worshipped by people who don't want a single story or intellect to be lost
Geeks, rationalists, singularitarians, Silicon Valley utopianists
Believe that there is a piece inside each person that is their essence
Don't want this essence to be lost
This is the god of the anti-deathism movement
People in this movement are avoidant of social interactions in real life but seek out social interactions mediated by technology
Want to meet other people as minds, not bodies
To Cthuga, the Internet and social media is a big positive step, but it's only a step
- Knowledge can still be lost
- Only captures what people choose to write down
View people as a collection of "memes and masks"

Seen as an endless mass of glowing orbs, eyes and tendrils
Yog Sothoth is the egregore of natural laws
Yog Sothoth is the miracle of "fine tuning" - that the laws of the universe are exactly those that allow complex intelligent life to evolve
Yog Sothoth is the promise that the mysteries of the universe can be known

Hastur is the god of Grand Narratives
Manifests as a character in a play, The King In Yellow
Symbol of stories that are more important than realities
People who worship Hastur are people who wish their lives would be part of some kind of epic story
The promise of Hastur is that your life can have the same amount of meaning that people's lives in stories do

Ithaqua is the egregore of isolation and introspection
It is the spirit of self-expression, of doing your own thing for the sake of doing that thing, not because of any social expectation
Ithaqua and Cthuga oppose each other - Cthuga pushes for many weak connections among people whereas Ithaqua pursues one or two strong connections, and prefers isolation to weak connections
Ithaqua is associated with trauma - something causes a break with society, a realization that one doesn't have the same values as everyone else
Ithaqua is about pursuing autonomy

Cthulhu is by far the most famous of HP Lovecraft's egregores
Cthulhu's worshippers have a faith that their god will one day awaken and set them over the rest of the world
This closely corresponds to tribalism and nationalism
The notion of a "silent majority" supporting conservatism is very close to the notion of Cthulhu being a sleeping but powerful God
Cthulhu is the egregore of chauvinism and sentimentality, and "my country right or wrong"

Shub Niggurath is the egregore of "animalistic" drives
Not just lust and hunger but also mercy and compassion
People devoted to Shub Niggurath see civilization as a veneer over animalistic desires
People who want to destroy civilization and return to a state of nature are devotees of Shub Niggurath
- Eco terrorists who want to destroy "alienating" technology
- Also Fight-Club/PUA types who want to turn the world into a Darwinian war of all against all

Nyarlythotep is the egregore of manipulation
Example:
- Sir Humphrey, in Yes, Prime Minister
- Petyr Baelish, in A Song of Ice and Fire
Not just book smart, but clever - can make people pay attention to him and convince them with words
Egregore of social engineering
Values sophistication over "crude" strength
Nyarlyothotep values manipulation for its own sake, for the fun and control it gives them

Worst and most powerful entity of the Lovecraft mythos
Azathoth is the knowledge that everything is an approximation, and thus, in some sense, is a lie
People who are aligned with Azathoth are people who've been let down by models
People who insist on dealing with the full complexity of the world, even when they would be happier or would perform better with a simplified model
People who have succumbed to nihilism are people who are disciples of Azathoth

Tshathoggua is the last and the least threatening of the ergregores
Tsathoggua represents the spirit of not caring
Ultimate disaffected hipster
The spirit of Tsathoggua is charming in small doses and addictive in large ones
Tsathoggua and Azathoth are both nihilst egregores, but whereas Azathoth is active nihilism, Tsathoggua is passive nihilism