Episode
The Murder Cult Started By A Banned Post
- Published
- Mar 13, 2026
- Duration seconds
- 1804
- Processing state
not_requested- Canonical source
- https://audioboom.com/posts/8873376
Actions
POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-why-files-operation-podcast-5570241/episodes/the-murder-cult-started-by-a-banned-post/transcription-requests
Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode.GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-why-files-operation-podcast-5570241/the-murder-cult-started-by-a-banned-post.md
Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource.
Summary
In 2010, someone posted a thought experiment on a philosophy forum. Within hours, people were having nightmares. The founder deleted it immediately — which only made it spread faster. The idea is simple and brutal: a future AI will look back through time and punish everyone who knew it was coming but did nothing to help. Now that you know, you're already in its crosshairs. What started as an internet curiosity grew into something far darker — a real community, real violence, and six people dead. This is the story of Roko's Basilisk: the idea you can't un-know, the cult it inspired, and why some of the most powerful people in AI still won't talk about it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acJ7WfebEcc Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices