Originally published at: AND JUST IN THE NICK OF TIME, PETER THIEL WEIGHS IN
You may have noticed that we’ve been focusing on 'Artificial Intelligence" this week, and on its looming implications, few of which, in my personal opinion, are good. Last Wednesday, for example, I argued that the data centers which we see being built all over the USSA may represent the biggest and most gigantic financial fraud…
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I’ve seen religion used by politicians to get support, but this attempt to co-opt (or mock?) Christianity by would-be tech overlords marks a new low in Western civilization. I’m still shocked by each new low . . . silly me. If I were Christian, I’d be revolted and indignant. I find it revolting anyhow. Imagine the hue and cry if some other major religion’s holy book were misused this way!
I can’t figure out what the motivation is here. Just mockery? Is it merely a ham-fisted marketing campaign? Or is it paving the way for “the fulfillment is the deception”?
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His audience is not conservative Christian Boomers (the past). It’s the future (young tech savvy agnostic/athiests). In that crowd, his message may be playing very well.
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Raising materialistic children in a materialistic world allows any sacred idea to be desecrated, even profitable. Think of the entertainer Madonna’s hit song “Material Girl” and other popular events like the half time shows for the Super Bowl football game.
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… BlakeC and I are creating an AI startup company called Urim and Thummim. The purpose of the company is to data mine “Gold Tablets”. If you wish to invest …
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I like it… good name for a company.
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I would like to invoke a re-characterization of the term “artificial intelligence” with my gloss of terming it: “unnatural intelligence”
Let me also ask one question. Is the accelerating level of such intelligence related to, or perhaps even at the expense of human intellection?
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For my 'druthers, I’d say it’s at the expense of.
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… there is no other way to think of AI except in terms of “unnatural intelligence” along with its “unnatural agency”.
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Absolutely at the expense of, and intentionally so.
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Sadly, Life is no longer that simple!!! What a shame!!! 
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Thiel actually imagines he knows something about Christianity, because he learned of Rene Girard’s philosophy. And because of his focus on Girard, I really believe that was why JD Vance became a Catholic, because Thiel is Vance’s guru, if I can twist the meaning of that term to fit (devoted follower who serves).
Last I checked, traditional Catholicism considers homosexuality to be - their words, not mine! - “a sin that cries out to Heaven for redress.”
Only liberal Catholics are cool with gay lifestyles. Not people who follow canon law.
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I had to look up who René Girard was . . . sounds like yet another nutty 20th-century “philosopher” to me. If that’s the kind of thing our elite actually believe, then we’re in even bigger trouble than I thought!
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… before running away from Girard one should have a look at a related notion … that of Mimesis. … for this see Mimesis: The Representation of Reality in Western Literature by Erich Auerbach.
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Thiel’s interpretation of Girard is incorrect. At best ignorant but more likely willfully misrepresenting Girard’s thought. For an interesting summary of Girard and his explorations of mimesis see “Against Identity” by Alexander Douglas
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I can’t remember whose article it was, but yes, I read a more nuanced interpretation of Girard and whoever it was said Thiel had co-opted Girard’s ideas to suit his own purposes - I suppose to imply that one is engaging in mimetic violence if one dares to disapprove of Thiel, and that that disapproval must be rooted in envy, because of course, he is righteous.
I find it very interesting (/s) that Thiel & Eric Schmidt act like old pals when they each attend the Bilderberg meetings. Reminds me of the old joke that the lawyer for the defense and the lawyer for the prosecution are only enemies in the courtroom - on the golf course or in the clubhouse, they get along fine.
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@Scarmoge @machaire @catsmeow23
Thanks for the tips! I admit I have only a very surface-level knowledge of philosophy. My default assumption is any well-known philosopher or sociologist out of 20th-century France is more likely whacko than not. I can buy that the tendency to imitate others’ views affects perceptions of reality, if that’s the idea. As far as literary criticism, it’s just not my cup of tea.
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Christianity, a diversity box you can put anything in. In the westerrn hemisphere does it mean more then a label like the thousand other labels?
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Christianity excludes diversity, discriminates and is very “set apart” from “anything” in common with the world and ALL bankrupt traditions of men. If you meant “judeo-churchian”, then yes such monstrosity is a “diversity box you can put anything into”
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