It’s always so funny to me how Thiel and the other technocrats and trans humanists reference sci-fi and fantasy while taking all the wrong lessons from it 😂 like dude, don’t you know that the palantir were not good things in LOTR? Don’t yall remember all the warnings in the ai sci-fi books?
Thanks for sharing these ideas. I agree, AI is a snake tempting us to easily access something we can't deal with (yet). Ultimately it will leave us with more emptiness and less meaning.
Still, I don't know how to answer people that tell me it's simply a tool to make things more efficient. To do the assembly line work that doesn't give individual purpose anyways.
It still feels wrong, but I can't really argue for it (maybe its wrong because its wrong as a principle?).
I'd ask them: What are you gaining by using this "tool"? And what are you losing?
And when they immediately say something like: "Oh, I'm being more productive, getting new ideas, improving my results, saving time, etc..."
Stop them. Ask them again: "No...think about it slowly. What are you REALLY gaining? What is so important that you need to use AI rather than doing it yourself? And what are you REALLY losing?"
Make them think about it. Make them slow down.
What cognitive, creative and even social skills are they losing?
Thinking big-picture: what are all these little give-ins, all these tiny, seemingly insignificant battles lost for the sake of progress, efficiency, or output...when all those little moments add up, what do they amount to?
You're going to have to get them to think in terms not utilitarian, not materialist, but philosophical. Spiritual. Because ultimately it is a spiritual issue.
Try not to lecture them, because nobody likes that. Make THEM do the thinking. Ask them the questions. Put the onus on them to wrestle with the issue instead of blindly accepting the inevitability narrative.
It'll take time. But I think you might find it's worth it. Even if you only plant one small seed of thought in their minds...a seed is still a seed. And when properly watered, it will grow.
This is one of the greatest treatises on the topic that I've read up to now. I have thought deeply about this, and this is making me think more deeply. Thank you for incarnating your mind, your time, your life, and your effort into these words.
I don't know. Just feeling the weight of the Al apocalypse looming right over the horizon recently. And it's late. And I stayed up watching Sunshine. And maybe it was watching Cillian Murphy struggle to reignite the sun felt like an omen. Or something.
But yeah, this was what I needed to read tonight.
My fears mostly stem from the effect it will have on my kids, their careers, their creativity, critical thinking, life choices, faith, etc. But then 1 see my daughter teaching herself how to crochet, and one of my boys is playing a game he made up, and the other is asking me where Jesus' bedroom is, and I get to feeling like maybe we'll be ok. Maybe the kids are the answer. To help them stay like them. To learn to be like them.
I would much rather read original, informed thought than bot-speak. Great article from every angle. Taking the “easy” way out of writing, produces marginal, lackluster results-it’s like eating day old baloney when you could have fruits and vegetables fresh from a 100 year old farm.
a fulsome and foundational assessment of where we are now and how we ought to respond. I'm with you on all of this, thank you for taking the leap to write it.
This is excellent writing— proof that my attention span is longer than I thought. I read and relished every single word here, and am still thinking about it days later. Thank you so much for this.
Great text. We must not succumb to AI. That said, I wonder if increase and improve our tool (AI included) is part of being human. Maybe robotic arms and organs can be a good fruit of good dominion over creation.
Well said! I forwarded this to the high school senior class I lead... and to my husband, lol. It all reminds me so much of C.S. Lewis' That Hideous Strength. How forward-thinking Lewis was!
Thanks for this. Saw the Thiel clip and it’s had my mind on similar subjects, but this article puts it into better words than I could for myself. Amazing article
It’s always so funny to me how Thiel and the other technocrats and trans humanists reference sci-fi and fantasy while taking all the wrong lessons from it 😂 like dude, don’t you know that the palantir were not good things in LOTR? Don’t yall remember all the warnings in the ai sci-fi books?
Aaahahah Gov. I know. They all wanna be bad guys AHAH
Also - the Sun Eater series by Christopher Ruocchio has a lot of profound, great things to say to this conversation.
Thanks for sharing these ideas. I agree, AI is a snake tempting us to easily access something we can't deal with (yet). Ultimately it will leave us with more emptiness and less meaning.
Still, I don't know how to answer people that tell me it's simply a tool to make things more efficient. To do the assembly line work that doesn't give individual purpose anyways.
It still feels wrong, but I can't really argue for it (maybe its wrong because its wrong as a principle?).
Maybe some of you have a better answer to this.
Have a blessed day
i think there are a lot of ways to answer this, one of them being :
who says efficiency is always good ?
and who says the assembly line doesn't give purpose ?
and who says progress for progress sake is worth it ?
especially if it costs humanity ?
great question, my friend
I'd ask them: What are you gaining by using this "tool"? And what are you losing?
And when they immediately say something like: "Oh, I'm being more productive, getting new ideas, improving my results, saving time, etc..."
Stop them. Ask them again: "No...think about it slowly. What are you REALLY gaining? What is so important that you need to use AI rather than doing it yourself? And what are you REALLY losing?"
Make them think about it. Make them slow down.
What cognitive, creative and even social skills are they losing?
Thinking big-picture: what are all these little give-ins, all these tiny, seemingly insignificant battles lost for the sake of progress, efficiency, or output...when all those little moments add up, what do they amount to?
You're going to have to get them to think in terms not utilitarian, not materialist, but philosophical. Spiritual. Because ultimately it is a spiritual issue.
Try not to lecture them, because nobody likes that. Make THEM do the thinking. Ask them the questions. Put the onus on them to wrestle with the issue instead of blindly accepting the inevitability narrative.
It'll take time. But I think you might find it's worth it. Even if you only plant one small seed of thought in their minds...a seed is still a seed. And when properly watered, it will grow.
This is one of the greatest treatises on the topic that I've read up to now. I have thought deeply about this, and this is making me think more deeply. Thank you for incarnating your mind, your time, your life, and your effort into these words.
Appreciate it, Johnny !
Whoa. Just what I needed.
I don't know. Just feeling the weight of the Al apocalypse looming right over the horizon recently. And it's late. And I stayed up watching Sunshine. And maybe it was watching Cillian Murphy struggle to reignite the sun felt like an omen. Or something.
But yeah, this was what I needed to read tonight.
My fears mostly stem from the effect it will have on my kids, their careers, their creativity, critical thinking, life choices, faith, etc. But then 1 see my daughter teaching herself how to crochet, and one of my boys is playing a game he made up, and the other is asking me where Jesus' bedroom is, and I get to feeling like maybe we'll be ok. Maybe the kids are the answer. To help them stay like them. To learn to be like them.
Isn’t it amazing how human kids are ? Millions of lessons — for such as these belong the Kingdom.
I would much rather read original, informed thought than bot-speak. Great article from every angle. Taking the “easy” way out of writing, produces marginal, lackluster results-it’s like eating day old baloney when you could have fruits and vegetables fresh from a 100 year old farm.
There’s just something about us weak bags of skin, bones, and soul that I can’t get enough of.
a fulsome and foundational assessment of where we are now and how we ought to respond. I'm with you on all of this, thank you for taking the leap to write it.
I love your surprising ending that children are the antidote. Yes, yes, yes. Talk more about this!
This is excellent writing— proof that my attention span is longer than I thought. I read and relished every single word here, and am still thinking about it days later. Thank you so much for this.
I’m so glad to hear that ! I try hard to make things enjoyably readable
Great text. We must not succumb to AI. That said, I wonder if increase and improve our tool (AI included) is part of being human. Maybe robotic arms and organs can be a good fruit of good dominion over creation.
I do think we’ve been given the desire to develop and produce and enhance. Some tools are extensions of humans, and some tools seek to replace us.
Brilliant 🫡
My man. Thank you.
How did you land on the name Cassian?
I love John Cassian and it has an echo of Caspian.
Well said! I forwarded this to the high school senior class I lead... and to my husband, lol. It all reminds me so much of C.S. Lewis' That Hideous Strength. How forward-thinking Lewis was!
one of my fave books of all time !
This. You put words to a litany of questions rolling through my mind lately. A lot to consider. As always, thanks Josh.
Thanks for this. Saw the Thiel clip and it’s had my mind on similar subjects, but this article puts it into better words than I could for myself. Amazing article
Thanks, Will. It really did blow my mind to hear it, again, so clearly. But they’ve all been saying this for so long.
Absolutely brilliant.
Well written Josh.