The Killing Spree Tied to a Silicon Valley Intellectual Movement

The Journal.

The Wall Street Journal

Daily News, Business News, News

4.2 • 5.3K Ratings

🗓️ 3 March 2025

⏱️ 19 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The Zizians, a cult-like group of militant vegans, has been connected to six killings across the country. The violence has sent shockwaves throughout Silicon Valley. WSJ’s Zusha Elinson explains how the Zizians splintered from a Bay Area intellectual movement concerned with AI safety. Further Reading: -A Silicon Valley Intellectual Society Kicked Them Out. Now They’re Tied to a Killing Spree. -How a Fervent Belief Split Silicon Valley—and Fueled the Blowup at OpenAI Further Listening: -The Fall of Crypto’s Golden Boy -The Story Behind the Stabbing of a San Francisco Tech Exec -The Biotech Founder Facing Murder Charges Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	In January, near the Canadian border with Vermont, a border patrol agent pulled over a suspicious
0:11.4	vehicle with two passengers inside.
0:15.1	This border patrol agent in Vermont was stopping a car because there had been suspicions
0:20.0	about these two people.
0:21.6	They're wearing all black, they're armed to the teeth.
0:23.6	That's our colleague Zusha Ellenson.
0:25.6	It was a shooting and they got into a gunfight.
0:29.6	Breaking news out of Vermont for you tonight.
0:31.6	A U.S. Border Patrol agent, we have learned has died along with another person.
0:34.6	The Border Patrol agent was killed in the shootout, as was one of the suspicious
0:39.3	passengers.
0:40.3	Meanwhile, thousands of miles away, in California.
0:45.5	There was a landlord in Vallejo, California, a little working-class city north of San
0:50.2	Francisco that was stabbed to death.
0:53.2	New attend, Vallejo police are investigating the city's first homicide of the year.
0:58.0	Officers say they found one man who had been stabbed.
1:04.7	The killing of the Border Patrol agent and the landlord occurred within three days of one another.
1:11.9	On the face of these two murders, you'd think they'd have nothing in common.
1:15.7	And then the authorities revealed the suspects.
1:19.1	And they were both young.
1:21.1	They were both computer scientists.
1:23.9	They were both vegans.
	...

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