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Analects

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Filter by anthology: All · Betterment · Gratification · Connection · Somatic Architecture · Spiritual Architecture · Thought Architecture · Wealth Architecture · Digital Architecture · Collective Architecture

[marginalium] The Messiah Of Zooming Out — 13 Mar 2023
[marginalium] Intuition is to listening as analysis is to reading — 12 Mar 2023
[marginalium] Is performative populism is over — 11 Mar 2023
[marginalium] Chomsky & Hermann’s five filters in the modern era — 10 Mar 2023
[marginalium] A nice overview of audience capture — 9 Mar 2023
[marginalium] On honesty as the aspiration of true science — 8 Mar 2023
[marginalium] How the Jesuits charted the world — 7 Mar 2023
[marginalium] How to care less about work — 6 Mar 2023
[marginalium] Weeks don’t make sense — 5 Mar 2023
[marginalium] Placebo effect getting stronger — 4 Mar 2023
[marginalium] Tool use and language share brain regions — 3 Mar 2023
[marginalium] How to function in an increasingly polarized society — 2 Mar 2023
[marginalium] Are we on the verge of talking to whales — 1 Mar 2023
[marginalium] Imagination as key to human specialness — 28 Feb 2023
[article] Mundane Cults — 27 Feb 2023
We’ve been taught that cults are dark and scary things. But we have been fooled. The cult is a prominent building block of modern community. If you’re not in one, you’re probably doing something wrong. The question is, is the cult you’re in a cult you chose?

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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