Flynn
1k+⚡Milestone
- Reaction score
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It is my firm belief that the Zizians are behind the Charlie Kirk killing. For those of you that don't know who the Zizian's are, here's a little background:
"The Zizians are a cult-like group of radical rationalists, many of whom are trans and non-binary computer scientists, who have been linked to multiple violent deaths across the United States in recent years. The group is centered around its founder and alleged leader, Jack "Ziz" LaSota, and adheres to a unique and extreme ideology that has been compared to that of a doomsday cult."
"Ideology and beliefs
Rationalism and AI fears: Originating from the Silicon Valley rationalist movement, the group became estranged from mainstream adherents. The Zizians believe that artificial intelligence poses an existential threat and are fixated on apocalyptic scenarios like Roko's Basilisk, a thought experiment describing a hypothetical future where an all-powerful AI could torture those who did not help create it.
Extreme veganism: The group's radical veganism is related to its AI fears, based on the belief that if AI is trained by humans who eat meat, it could use the factory farm model to enslave and torture humanity for eternity.
Anarchism: Zizians subscribe to anarchist beliefs and have used their ideology to justify illegal behavior, such as refusing to pay rent.
Gender and consciousness theories: The group promotes the idea that the brain's hemispheres can have distinct genders and conflicting interests. Members are predominantly transgender and non-binary and believe that transgender women possess a unique cognitive profile beneficial to AI safety research.
'Jailbreaking' the mind: Members practice unihemispheric sleep (UHS)—a form of severe sleep deprivation—in an attempt to "jailbreak" their minds and enhance their commitment to their cause. LaSota has even publicly defended the practice after a group member's suicide in 2018 was allegedly connected to it."
"Activities and alleged crimes
Following their break with the mainstream rationalist movement, Zizian members formed an extremist cell that engaged in violent and criminal acts.
California killings: In 2022, after a dispute with their landlord, Curtis Lind, members attacked him. In the ensuing struggle, Lind shot and killed Zizian member Emma Borhanian. Lind was then stabbed to death in January 2025, allegedly by Zizian Maximilian Snyder, who was trying to prevent Lind from testifying.
Pennsylvania murders: The parents of Zizian member Michelle Zajko were murdered in late 2022. Zajko was later arrested along with LaSota and another member in Maryland in early 2025.
Vermont shootout: In January 2025, Zizians Teresa Youngblut and Felix Bauckholt were stopped by a U.S. Border Patrol agent near the Canadian border. Both Agent David Maland and Bauckholt were killed in a subsequent shootout.
Criminal charges: Several Zizians have been arrested and charged in connection with these events, facing charges that include murder, weapons violations, and trespassing."
"Profile of members
Highly intelligent: Members are typically young computer scientists, many in their 20s and 30s, who met online.
Isolated: They often become isolated from their families and previous social circles.
Nomadic existence: Members have been known to live in vehicles and on boats as they travel across the country."
"Ziz LaSota
Although the group members do not use this name or even consider themselves members of a group or to have a clearly identified leader, they are known as "Zizians", based on the name of their founder, Ziz LaSota,[6][2][3] commonly known mononymously as Ziz.[11] Like many other members of the group, LaSota is transgender. According to a CFAR employee, LaSota targeted "smart, mostly autistic-ish trans women who were extremely vulnerable and isolated" for recruitment.[2] Ziz LaSota religiously identifies as a Sith and is known for often wearing a black cape.[11][42] She was an avid reader of the rationalist forum LessWrong and Eliezer Yudkowsky's book Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality.[11]
LaSota, who was 34 years old as of 2025, earned a bachelor's degree in computer engineering in 2013 from the University of Alaska Fairbanks.[43][2] She had an internship at NASA[2] and pursued a master's degree at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign from 2013 to 2014 but did not graduate.[43] LaSota moved to the San Francisco Bay Area in hopes of becoming involved with the effective altruism (EA) and rationality movements.[6] Disaffected by high cost of housing, she and a group of fellow EA adherents sought to form a seasteading intentional community. Initially living on sailboats in the Berkeley Marina, they eventually bought an old tugboat and sailed it from Alaska to Pillar Point Harbor in San Mateo.[6]
During her involvement with the rationality community, LaSota became disillusioned with the leadership of community institutions such as the Center for Applied Rationality (CFAR) and the Machine Intelligence Research Institute (MIRI). LaSota and her associates claimed CFAR and MIRI discriminated against trans women, used donor money to pay off a former staffer who had accused MIRI leaders of statutory rape and a coverup, and ignored the welfare of animals in the pursuit of human-friendly artificial intelligence.[6] CFAR co-founder Anna Salamon attempted to prevent LaSota from attending the fellowship due to strange beliefs and behavior at previous events, but was overruled by a committee.[43] These included LaSota's theories that human consciousness can be split between the brain's two hemispheres, which may hold different values, genders, and may be "good", "evil", or both.[2][43] After more CFAR staff members raised concerns, LaSota was no longer invited to the group's events.[43]
In 2019, LaSota, Borhanian, and two associates staged a protest against a CFAR event at a retreat in Occidental, California. Because a 911 call led police to mistakenly believe the protesters were armed and because a group of children was also at the retreat for a separate event, the protest drew a forceful police response. After the four protesters were arrested, a SWAT team was deployed to evacuate the retreat because police mistakenly believed a fifth protester had a hatchet; that person was later discovered to be a maintenance worker.[6] Fallout from the protest and the police response led to a rift between the Zizians and the rationalist community establishment: the Zizians accused CFAR employees of swatting them by falsely reporting to police that they were armed, while a member of the rationalist community published an anonymous callout coining the appellation "Zizians" and branding them as a cult.[6] The Zizians filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against Sonoma County in which they alleged that they were wrongfully arrested, denied medication while detained, subjected to excessive force, and mocked for being transgender. The lawsuit was dismissed.[7]
LaSota faked her own death in a supposed boating accident in August 2022, but turned up in January 2023 in a Philadelphia hotel room where police were carrying out a search for a weapon suspected to have been used in the murder of the Zajkos.[2][7][6][43] LaSota was identified as the subject of an outstanding warrant in California and arrested for disorderly conduct and interfering with a police investigation.[6] After her bail was reduced to $10,000, unsecured, LaSota was released pending trial. She appeared in court in Pennsylvania in August 2023, but subsequently failed to appear in December 2023.[6] After media coverage of LaSota and associates related to David Maland's death, LaSota was recognized by the owner of a rural property in Frostburg, Maryland, where she was attempting to camp.[6] The owner called the police, who arrested LaSota on February 16, 2025, for trespassing, obstructing an officer, and transporting firearms.[1][6] She is being held in custody without bail;[44] she requested a pretrial release, which a local judge denied.[45]"
"The Zizians are a cult-like group of radical rationalists, many of whom are trans and non-binary computer scientists, who have been linked to multiple violent deaths across the United States in recent years. The group is centered around its founder and alleged leader, Jack "Ziz" LaSota, and adheres to a unique and extreme ideology that has been compared to that of a doomsday cult."
"Ideology and beliefs
Rationalism and AI fears: Originating from the Silicon Valley rationalist movement, the group became estranged from mainstream adherents. The Zizians believe that artificial intelligence poses an existential threat and are fixated on apocalyptic scenarios like Roko's Basilisk, a thought experiment describing a hypothetical future where an all-powerful AI could torture those who did not help create it.
Extreme veganism: The group's radical veganism is related to its AI fears, based on the belief that if AI is trained by humans who eat meat, it could use the factory farm model to enslave and torture humanity for eternity.
Anarchism: Zizians subscribe to anarchist beliefs and have used their ideology to justify illegal behavior, such as refusing to pay rent.
Gender and consciousness theories: The group promotes the idea that the brain's hemispheres can have distinct genders and conflicting interests. Members are predominantly transgender and non-binary and believe that transgender women possess a unique cognitive profile beneficial to AI safety research.
'Jailbreaking' the mind: Members practice unihemispheric sleep (UHS)—a form of severe sleep deprivation—in an attempt to "jailbreak" their minds and enhance their commitment to their cause. LaSota has even publicly defended the practice after a group member's suicide in 2018 was allegedly connected to it."
"Activities and alleged crimes
Following their break with the mainstream rationalist movement, Zizian members formed an extremist cell that engaged in violent and criminal acts.
California killings: In 2022, after a dispute with their landlord, Curtis Lind, members attacked him. In the ensuing struggle, Lind shot and killed Zizian member Emma Borhanian. Lind was then stabbed to death in January 2025, allegedly by Zizian Maximilian Snyder, who was trying to prevent Lind from testifying.
Pennsylvania murders: The parents of Zizian member Michelle Zajko were murdered in late 2022. Zajko was later arrested along with LaSota and another member in Maryland in early 2025.
Vermont shootout: In January 2025, Zizians Teresa Youngblut and Felix Bauckholt were stopped by a U.S. Border Patrol agent near the Canadian border. Both Agent David Maland and Bauckholt were killed in a subsequent shootout.
Criminal charges: Several Zizians have been arrested and charged in connection with these events, facing charges that include murder, weapons violations, and trespassing."
"Profile of members
Highly intelligent: Members are typically young computer scientists, many in their 20s and 30s, who met online.
Isolated: They often become isolated from their families and previous social circles.
Nomadic existence: Members have been known to live in vehicles and on boats as they travel across the country."
"Ziz LaSota
Although the group members do not use this name or even consider themselves members of a group or to have a clearly identified leader, they are known as "Zizians", based on the name of their founder, Ziz LaSota,[6][2][3] commonly known mononymously as Ziz.[11] Like many other members of the group, LaSota is transgender. According to a CFAR employee, LaSota targeted "smart, mostly autistic-ish trans women who were extremely vulnerable and isolated" for recruitment.[2] Ziz LaSota religiously identifies as a Sith and is known for often wearing a black cape.[11][42] She was an avid reader of the rationalist forum LessWrong and Eliezer Yudkowsky's book Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality.[11]
LaSota, who was 34 years old as of 2025, earned a bachelor's degree in computer engineering in 2013 from the University of Alaska Fairbanks.[43][2] She had an internship at NASA[2] and pursued a master's degree at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign from 2013 to 2014 but did not graduate.[43] LaSota moved to the San Francisco Bay Area in hopes of becoming involved with the effective altruism (EA) and rationality movements.[6] Disaffected by high cost of housing, she and a group of fellow EA adherents sought to form a seasteading intentional community. Initially living on sailboats in the Berkeley Marina, they eventually bought an old tugboat and sailed it from Alaska to Pillar Point Harbor in San Mateo.[6]
During her involvement with the rationality community, LaSota became disillusioned with the leadership of community institutions such as the Center for Applied Rationality (CFAR) and the Machine Intelligence Research Institute (MIRI). LaSota and her associates claimed CFAR and MIRI discriminated against trans women, used donor money to pay off a former staffer who had accused MIRI leaders of statutory rape and a coverup, and ignored the welfare of animals in the pursuit of human-friendly artificial intelligence.[6] CFAR co-founder Anna Salamon attempted to prevent LaSota from attending the fellowship due to strange beliefs and behavior at previous events, but was overruled by a committee.[43] These included LaSota's theories that human consciousness can be split between the brain's two hemispheres, which may hold different values, genders, and may be "good", "evil", or both.[2][43] After more CFAR staff members raised concerns, LaSota was no longer invited to the group's events.[43]
In 2019, LaSota, Borhanian, and two associates staged a protest against a CFAR event at a retreat in Occidental, California. Because a 911 call led police to mistakenly believe the protesters were armed and because a group of children was also at the retreat for a separate event, the protest drew a forceful police response. After the four protesters were arrested, a SWAT team was deployed to evacuate the retreat because police mistakenly believed a fifth protester had a hatchet; that person was later discovered to be a maintenance worker.[6] Fallout from the protest and the police response led to a rift between the Zizians and the rationalist community establishment: the Zizians accused CFAR employees of swatting them by falsely reporting to police that they were armed, while a member of the rationalist community published an anonymous callout coining the appellation "Zizians" and branding them as a cult.[6] The Zizians filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against Sonoma County in which they alleged that they were wrongfully arrested, denied medication while detained, subjected to excessive force, and mocked for being transgender. The lawsuit was dismissed.[7]
LaSota faked her own death in a supposed boating accident in August 2022, but turned up in January 2023 in a Philadelphia hotel room where police were carrying out a search for a weapon suspected to have been used in the murder of the Zajkos.[2][7][6][43] LaSota was identified as the subject of an outstanding warrant in California and arrested for disorderly conduct and interfering with a police investigation.[6] After her bail was reduced to $10,000, unsecured, LaSota was released pending trial. She appeared in court in Pennsylvania in August 2023, but subsequently failed to appear in December 2023.[6] After media coverage of LaSota and associates related to David Maland's death, LaSota was recognized by the owner of a rural property in Frostburg, Maryland, where she was attempting to camp.[6] The owner called the police, who arrested LaSota on February 16, 2025, for trespassing, obstructing an officer, and transporting firearms.[1][6] She is being held in custody without bail;[44] she requested a pretrial release, which a local judge denied.[45]"
