Zizians linked to four murders in three states, January 2025

[Muddy K]

Catching up on this case, I'm not sure whether this article has been linked (I was able to read it before paywall kicked in).

It's about suicides that preceeded the murders (since, I assume, no one is talking about the murders).

JMO: People messing with their own minds...

https://www.sfchronicle.com/crime/article/ziz-rationalism-lasota-pasek-20323332.php

@Cedars thank you so much for linking to this article. I thought I'd read all of the SF Chronicle pieces about the Zizians, but I missed this one.

Any piece of in-depth reporting helps. I keep thinking about these young people and struggling to find the words to describe what I think I understand about them. (Though it may be a losing cause, since every one of them, dead or alive, were/are more intelligent than myself.)

Following: JMO

I just feel they were born out of a moment (decade) that presented academic/philosophical challenges that vastly outmatched/stressed their own personal challenges and left them profoundly anxious, grasping at straws, desperately world building, but nearly blind to their vulnerabilities and struggling to handle even ordinary problems like food and shelter.

Add to that the feeling like you're one of the ones who "know" and have finally find the others who also "know." That can create an iron bond, powerful sense of belonging.

I think there can be a fine line between tribes and cults. Between tribes and chosen famiy.

 

[Cedars]

( every one of them, dead or alive, were/are more intelligent than myself.)

I would say they appear to have an extreme lack of emotional intelligence and verbal intelligence - the ability to express meaningful ideas concisely. They have no understanding about how to get along with members of their own species or empathize with others, or even if it were ever 'smart' to kill people, they don't have most basic kind of intelligence that would help them get away with it (which Manson did have, though not all his followers).

JMO

 

[Serononin]

I would say they appear to have an extreme lack of emotional intelligence and verbal intelligence - the ability to express meaningful ideas concisely. They have no understanding about how to get along with members of their own species or empathize with others, or even if it were ever 'smart' to kill people, they don't have most basic kind of intelligence that would help them get away with it (which Manson did have, though not all his followers).

JMO

BBM

Ziz definitely lacked that ability when it came to her blog

 

[cujenn81]

I’m not entirely sure - but in the link to the Zizians site, Ziz expresses *becoming* a basilisk and dictating what is good and evil - she literally said she believed her interpretation of good and evil was the closest to ‘rational’ good and evil that anyone was going to get. They seemed to definitely follow Ziz, not what a futuristic AI would want - for example, i can’t imagine a benefit to AI to punish humans who ate meat. I would imagine ‘it’ wouldn’t care… but that’s my fantasy, not theirs!

More than a year late and slightly off topic, but I highly recommend the podcast The End of the World with Josh Clark [Episode 5: Artificial Intelligence]. He talks to top experts in the field about how an out of control, super intelligent AI might realistically become an existential threat. Spoiler Alert: I don’t remember hearing anything about killing off carnivores.

[I actually recommend all ten episodes of the series. Each episode is about a different threat—aliens, nuclear war, extreme climate change, natural disasters, biotechnology, physics experiments, etc.]

 

[angelainwi]

More than a year late and slightly off topic, but I highly recommend the podcast The End of the World with Josh Clark [Episode 5: Artificial Intelligence]. He talks to top experts in the field about how an out of control, super intelligent AI might realistically become an existential threat. Spoiler Alert: I don’t remember hearing anything about killing off carnivores.

[I actually recommend all ten episodes of the series. Each episode is about a different threat—aliens, nuclear war, extreme climate change, natural disasters, biotechnology, physics experiments, etc.]

Damn, that is a scary thought to think about an out of control, super intelligent AI that becomes a threat. Have we built non-AI fail-safes in case things goes sideways and out of our control.

 

[acutename]

As a vegetarian of more than 35 years I have to protest, a vegan, or a vegetarian diet doesn't automatically lead to becoming anemic. It's possible to follow a ve*an (vegan/vegetarian) diet, and get enough of iron, and all other necessary vitamins and minerals, you just have to know what to eat/combine. (The same as if following a low-salt/diabetic/or any other specific diet regime.)
I'd say becoming anemic, or getting other deficiencies, has more to do with only eating pre-prepared and/or microwave meals, and junk food, than eating a well-balanced ve*an diet based on fresh produce.
(A group of people that risk to become anemic are elderly people, doesn't they also get those consequences mentioned, and there are very few ve*gans among them.)

I just do not think when you read about the Zizians living in a rusty tug boat or camping in a box truck, that they had the $ or the mental focus to structure their eating, IMO. As far as deliberately consciously trying to separate your brain into two halves....well, does not sound harmonious- IMO.

 

[cujenn81]

Damn, that is a scary thought to think about an out of control, super intelligent AI that becomes a threat. Have we built non-AI fail-safes in case things goes sideways and out of our control.

I don’t think AI has reached the level where it can create better versions of itself on its own — without human input (which is when it could become an existential threat) — but I don’t think experts have figured out how to create such fail-safes yet either.

 

[imstilla.grandma]

LaSota, a transgender woman who identifies as 'Ziz,' was scheduled for a two-day federal court hearing regarding the suppression of evidence related to her arrest in Frostburg, Maryland, last year. However, U.S. District Court Judge James Bredar approved a late motion for a competency evaluation.

Attorney Gary Proctor stated, 'Counsel believes there is reasonable cause to believe that the defendant is presently suffering from a mental disease or defect rendering her mentally incompetent to the extent that she is unable to understand the nature and consequences of the proceedings.'

As the hearing commenced, Proctor noted that LaSota has shown an inability to follow court proceedings, equating her status as a fugitive with her transgender identity and accusing a judge of involvement in organized crime. LaSota expressed a desire to represent herself in court.

MSN

 

[Lalalacasbah]

March 22, 2026 article

https://www.ozarksfirst.com/news/national-news/ap-lawyers-for-jack-ziz-lasota-seek-competency-review-while-rejecting-zizian-and-cult-labels/

[…]

A lawyer representing the leader of the cultlike Zizians group that has been linked to six deaths told a judge Thursday that there is reason to believe his client is mentally incompetent to stand trial on a federal gun charge.

[…]

I have to wonder, is this a trick? Can this be faked to save one's self?

I know we've seen it in the movies where criminals fake 'insanity' or NCR... could Ziz be faking? I wouldn't put it past her/him.

 

[StarryStarryNight]

I have to wonder, is this a trick? Can this be faked to save one's self?

I know we've seen it in the movies where criminals fake 'insanity' or NCR... could Ziz be faking? I wouldn't put it past her/him.

More likely that Ziz is a pompous a$$ and a four-alarm-fire narcissist than incompetent in my opinion.

 

[Cedars]

More likely that Ziz is a pompous a$$ and a four-alarm-fire narcissist than incompetent in my opinion.

Asking the landowner for permission to camp seems like an extremely competent thing to do.

Also, pretending incompetence for a charge like murder or abduction is one thing...but for the relatively minor weapons charge he's facing? Seems to me maybe they don't want to get out of jail...

JMO