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Analects

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[article] Mob mentality is fine — 20 Dec 2024
You could think of a collection of group dynamics like ‘groupthink’ or ‘deindividuation’ or whatever are bad. Or you could consider that our social identity is formed by making the distinctions between in- and out- groups clear. Then it all makes sense.
[marginalium] We’re not death phobic, we’re death complacent — 20 Dec 2024
[marginalium] Japan’s “Evaporated People” — 20 Dec 2024
[marginalium] The Power Of Kitsch — 19 Dec 2024
[marginalium] Innovation Bends Towards Decadence — 19 Dec 2024
[marginalium] America is less polarised than it used to be — 19 Dec 2024
[marginalium] AIs Will Increasingly Attempt Shenanigans — 19 Dec 2024
[article] Catastrophic leadership is actually really hard — 13 Dec 2024
For group dynamics to produce really bad behaviour, you really need to work at it. You have to train your authority figures to be cruel, prevent dissent or disengagement, and intervene all the time to stop people fixing things. It’s hard.
[marginalium] The diminishing returns of research — 13 Dec 2024
[marginalium] DeepMind is training embodied agents — 13 Dec 2024
[marginalium] AI model efficiency improvements may make them tiny — 13 Dec 2024
[marginalium] The Vatican’s Secret Saint-Making Process — 13 Dec 2024
[marginalium] A taxonomy of modern ethical values — 6 Dec 2024
[article] Motivation pt. II: Stickytaping it all together — 6 Dec 2024
We can think of motivations in terms of three things. There is the content: what things motivate us. Then there is the process: how things motivate us. And lastly, we have those things that maintain our motivation.
[marginalium] Where Geniuses Hide Today — 6 Dec 2024

btrmt. (text-only version)

The full site with interactive features is available at btr.mt.

btrmt. (betterment) examines ideologies worth choosing. Created by Dorian Minors—Cambridge PhD in cognitive neuroscience, Associate Professor at Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. Core philosophy: humans are animals first, with automatic patterns shaped for us, not by us. Better to examine and choose.

Core concepts. Animals First: automatic patterns of thought and action, but our greatest capacity is nurture. Half Awake: deadened by systems that narrow rather than expand potential. Karstica: unexamined ideologies (hidden sinkholes beneath). Credenda: belief systems we should choose deliberately.

The manifesto. Cynosure (focus): betterment, gratification, connection. Architecture (support): inner (somatic, spiritual, thought) and outer (digital, collective, wealth).

Mission. Not answers but examination. Break academic gatekeeping. Make sciences of mind accessible. Question rather than prescribe.

Writing style. Scholarly without jargon barriers. Philosophical yet practical—grounded in neuroscience and lived experience. Reflective, discovery-oriented. Literary references and metaphor. Critical of systems that narrow human potential. Rejects "humans are flawed"—we're half awake, not broken.

Copyright. BTRMT LIMITED (England/Wales no. 13755561) 2026. Dorian Minors 2026.

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About Dorian Minors. Started btrmt. in 2013 to share sciences of mind with people who weren't studying them. Background: six years Australian Defence Force (Platoon Commander, Infantry); Gates Cambridge Scholar; PhD cognitive neuroscience, University of Cambridge (2018-2024); currently Associate Professor, Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. Research interests: neural basis of intelligent behaviour, decision intelligence, ritual formation/breakdown, ethical leadership, wellbeing.

External projects (links also available via Analects):

Lectures: Podcasts exploring ideologies

Neurotypica: Brain science guide for non-scientists

Black Cortex: Leadership consulting

Analects

btrmt. (text-only version)

Resources

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