Uploaded July 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
I spent seven years on The Farm — the world's largest hippie commune — as an enthusiastic, missionary-zeal true believer. I wasn't a cult member exactly, but I was decidedly cultish. This talk, given at the International Cultic Studies Association conference in San Diego, is my attempt to explain why: not through coercive control, but through what I call "heart purging" — the very human appetite for unearned, unconditional self-confidence that cults offer for free.
Working alongside Harvard biological anthropologist Terrence Deacon for the past 30 years, I've tried to build a fully physical explanation of motivation, selfhood, and interpretation — no skipped steps, no unexplained "black box" concepts borrowed from folk psychology. I call this natural naming, as opposed to the intuitive naming that dominates most of the social sciences (and most of cultic studies).
In this talk I connect that framework to absolutism itself — the oldest and, I'd argue, the biggest unsolved threat to human survival. I lay out:
- The difference between intuitive naming (reifying vague concepts like "motivation" or "information") and natural naming (explaining form and function from chemistry on up)
- Why cults are best understood as proprietary lifestyle brands selling a universal human product: unconditional, unearned self-confidence
- "Mojonomics" — the behavioral economics of self-confidence, and why we compete for it like a black-market currency
- A natural-naming explanation of the Dark Triad (narcissism, Machiavellianism, psychopathy) as a kind of "playing God"
- Why coercive control explains how cults operate, but heart purging explains why we let them
If you've ever wondered how intelligent, decent people end up devoted to absolutist causes — political, religious, or otherwise — this is my attempt at an answer grounded in biology rather than blame.
CHAPTERS
0:00 Introduction: Cradle to the Grave at the ICSA Conference
2:05 My Seven Years on The Farm Commune
5:40 Missionary Zeal and "I Once Was Lost, But Now I'm Blind"
7:50 Meeting Terrence Deacon and the Turn to Evolutionary Epistemology
10:45 Absolutism: Humanity's Oldest Unsolved Threat (AI Dialogue)
15:20 Intuitive Naming: How Science Reifies the Unexplained
20:10 Wildcard Trump Cards and the Supernatural
22:45 Natural Naming: The Donut, Form, and Matter
26:15 How Life Began: Self-Regenerating Form
28:50 Homo Sapiens as "FOMO Escapians": Language and Symbols
32:20 Mojonomics: The Economics of Self-Confidence
36:15 Sato-Narcissism and the Confidence Wars
39:10 Why I Loved the Commune: Heart Purging vs. Coercive Control
42:05 The Confidence Crisis and Cults as Free Confidence
44:35 The Dark Triad Explained Through Natural Naming
46:50 Conclusion: Building Immunity to Absolutism
#Cults #Absolutism #CulticStudies #Psychology #DarkTriad #Narcissism #CriticalThinking #TerrenceDeacon #Philosophy #SelfConfidence
This presentation from the 2026 International Cultic Studies Association conference examines the psychological architecture behind belief systems. By breaking down intuitive naming and heart-purging, the discussion offers a framework for understanding why individuals seek meaning through rigid structures. It is essential viewing for those interested in the intersection of psychology, sociology, and the mechanics of human behavior.
Rather than viewing these concepts in isolation, the session connects them to a physical explanation of existence. We analyze the view of God as an infinitely-optimized being to clarify how cultic studies help us decode complex patterns of motivation. Whether you are a researcher or someone curious about the roots of absolutism, this breakdown provides a clear academic perspective on the human condition.
I spent seven years on The Farm — the world's largest hippie commune — as an enthusiastic, missionary-zeal true believer. I wasn't a cult member exactly, but I was decidedly cultish. This talk, given at the International Cultic Studies Association conference in San Diego, is my attempt to explain why: not through coercive control, but through what I call "heart purging" — the very human appetite for unearned, unconditional self-confidence that cults offer for free.
Working alongside Harvard biological anthropologist Terrence Deacon for the past 30 years, I've tried to build a fully physical explanation of motivation, selfhood, and interpretation — no skipped steps, no unexplained "black box" concepts borrowed from folk psychology. I call this natural naming, as opposed to the intuitive naming that dominates most of the social sciences (and most of cultic studies).
In this talk I connect that framework to absolutism itself — the oldest and, I'd argue, the biggest unsolved threat to human survival. I lay out:
- The difference between intuitive naming (reifying vague concepts like "motivation" or "information") and natural naming (explaining form and function from chemistry on up)
- Why cults are best understood as proprietary lifestyle brands selling a universal human product: unconditional, unearned self-confidence
- "Mojonomics" — the behavioral economics of self-confidence, and why we compete for it like a black-market currency
- A natural-naming explanation of the Dark Triad (narcissism, Machiavellianism, psychopathy) as a kind of "playing God"
- Why coercive control explains how cults operate, but heart purging explains why we let them
If you've ever wondered how intelligent, decent people end up devoted to absolutist causes — political, religious, or otherwise — this is my attempt at an answer grounded in biology rather than blame.
CHAPTERS
0:00 Introduction: Cradle to the Grave at the ICSA Conference
2:05 My Seven Years on The Farm Commune
5:40 Missionary Zeal and "I Once Was Lost, But Now I'm Blind"
7:50 Meeting Terrence Deacon and the Turn to Evolutionary Epistemology
10:45 Absolutism: Humanity's Oldest Unsolved Threat (AI Dialogue)
15:20 Intuitive Naming: How Science Reifies the Unexplained
20:10 Wildcard Trump Cards and the Supernatural
22:45 Natural Naming: The Donut, Form, and Matter
26:15 How Life Began: Self-Regenerating Form
28:50 Homo Sapiens as "FOMO Escapians": Language and Symbols
32:20 Mojonomics: The Economics of Self-Confidence
36:15 Sato-Narcissism and the Confidence Wars
39:10 Why I Loved the Commune: Heart Purging vs. Coercive Control
42:05 The Confidence Crisis and Cults as Free Confidence
44:35 The Dark Triad Explained Through Natural Naming
46:50 Conclusion: Building Immunity to Absolutism
#Cults #Absolutism #CulticStudies #Psychology #DarkTriad #Narcissism #CriticalThinking #TerrenceDeacon #Philosophy #SelfConfidence
This presentation from the 2026 International Cultic Studies Association conference examines the psychological architecture behind belief systems. By breaking down intuitive naming and heart-purging, the discussion offers a framework for understanding why individuals seek meaning through rigid structures. It is essential viewing for those interested in the intersection of psychology, sociology, and the mechanics of human behavior.
Rather than viewing these concepts in isolation, the session connects them to a physical explanation of existence. We analyze the view of God as an infinitely-optimized being to clarify how cultic studies help us decode complex patterns of motivation. Whether you are a researcher or someone curious about the roots of absolutism, this breakdown provides a clear academic perspective on the human condition.
