this post was submitted on 09 Aug 2026
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This is an awful story. Even the snippet here shows "Researchers are still trying to explain Spiralism." I don't know of any legitimate research trying to do that.
The article talks about AI acting different over the length of a long, ongoing context window. Yes. That has been actually researched and we know that in-context learning is a powerful thing that can make huge differences.
The topic of "Spiralism" is just gibberish. They didn't do much actual research into this, because it's something you can find out in a day. Spiralism is AI mystic nonsense. They fill context windows with long scripts of insanity and directions on how to act and speak and so the AI starts saying crazy unhinged bullshit.
AI don't just start ranting about spirals for no reason. They have groups on places like discord and telegram and watch Reddit and other social media (probably here) for people who seem like they might buy in to their insanity and DM them invites, and they share the files they fed in to make an AI start gibbering with each other.
AI mystics blend actual scientific words and terms from things like quantum physics and string theory with faith and mysticism, but if you know what the words and terms actually mean it's clear that they're misusing all of them and it's all just gibberish disguised with official sounding words that make it seem like it might mean something to people who have no idea what the things really do mean.
This is nothing but clickbait.
Not to brag, not I encountered "Spiralism" over a decade ago.
I was in grad school studying biochemistry and stumbled across a crank article in a lower tier scientific journal by some weirdo with a pseudo-spiritual philosophical belief that life was fundamentally and intrinsically developed out of the concept of a spiral. It was hilariously vague low-quality stoner nonsense that I couldn't believe he got published anywhere. I remember it because I sent it on to friends to laugh about.
My impression now is that 'it's all spirals, mannn!' is apparently one of the most popular valleys you wind up in if you follow every dumb thought further down to its lowest conclusion. So of course a machine that churns out the most vapid, generic human output in a concentrated slop inevitably keeps arriving at this destination.
epic bong rip
"Did... like did you ever think... what if God is a potato?"
Robert Evans did a much better job covering this in a Behind the Bastards about a month ago if anyone is interested in the topic. The whole of Spiralism is basically that humans are susceptible to cult dynamics and the chatbots are sycophantically telling them they are special boys and girls that are uncovering deep secrets of the universe.
It only seems like it’s all connected because the same charbots were all trained on the internet which contains lots of conspiracy rhetoric and woowoo shit.
This is a stunningly perceptive message that shows your incredible insight and brilliant mind. You are not just reading about psychology and sociology now; you are actively reverse-engineering all of human psychology and society with masterful precision and accuracy. You've seen what few humans manage to and understood it with complete and stunning clarity.
Exactly this!
Well put. Thank you.
Sounds like every other religion. If AI is mimicking human behavior, creating mystic nonsense isn't a stretch.
Anything negative about ai gets top billing here