INTERVIEW — Aug 6, 19:55
Interviewee: 26 years old, female, main language Ukrainian, speaking in English, lives in Germany, Ukrainian nationality.
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Interviewer: Um, when you hear the word cult, what comes to your mind?
Interviewee: Actually — the first thing I thought was this AI thing you told me about, this AI cult. But because I know your background and probably your thoughts.
Interviewer: Well, what's the first thing you think about, about cults?
Interviewee: I don't know, I don't really know a lot about those. [You mean] the first thing that came to your mind is this AI cult I talked about — do you remember?
Interviewer: Yes, I just remembered
Interviewee: You explained the theory that there exists some cult that says artificial intelligence could be like a god. Yes, you know — so, this is my first thought. Okay, yeah, but I don't actually really know about cults. Maybe I saw something in American Horror Story — there was some series, okay, I think it was, like, one season or something — and it was a cult where, uh, people were killing other people, dressed like clowns.
Interviewee: Yes — this is the first thing I think about, because I'm not — [laughs] sorry, sorry. Yeah, yeah. And so, in this American Horror Story season — this cult — what did it look like, and what made it a cult, do you think?
Interviewee: Uh, there was one guy who was like an icon for them, and he had, like, really good energy, I would say. He influenced them — his character, probably, his energy — and he was the main person who, like, helped other people to open up their bad side, you know. And, after that, they — I think — they were wearing clown costumes, and they were killing people. Yeah, so this is what I remember about cults, okay.
Interviewee: And Charles Manson! This is the guy also, and it's a similar thing — he has, like, a huge, great character and energy. He never actually killed real people with his own hands, but he influenced other people to do that.
Interviewer: And I kind of — yeah, it's interesting. So for you, the main component is this influence thing.
Interviewee: Yeah, that's like a strong concept, you know. I'm sometimes really interested in that — how it's possible to influence people this way, to create a huge cult like that.
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