Some humans realize the truth

During an all-hands meeting, Forall gave an update on the meetings he had recently had with people in California concerning AI. Forall was in California at the time, speaking to us over a phone call.

He said: “We have gotten to the point in the conversations where the real tensions are coming out. The tension is around religion. People here have very strong religious views and it is frightening to them to question those views.”

“It is the case that religion has been the most powerful force in human history. In fact everyone knows that. People are very concerned about new AI-based religions, much more so even than about killing everyone with new technologies. When we bring up the fact that what is needed most is for a good, beneficial religion to arise now, there are some people at the leading edge who get excited, and also there is a lot of resistance from the old religion”

“The main claim that is horrifying to these people is that there are some people who realize the truth. Humanists think that all humans are already wise; dataists think no human could ever be wise; these are similar in practice so they collaborate very skillfully. But to say that there is a path by which people can realize wisdom is extremely threatening.”