All AI (algorithmic intelligence) companies claim they are pursuing the next logical step in digital—perhaps even human—evolution. But, the development of AI is clearly shaped by a wide range of untethered belief systems from obscure German philosophy to The Lord of the Rings. There is nothing logical about it. It is unreasonable to make AI the dominant industry in terms of investment and valuation when it has produced little profit, great social disruption, and a worsening of most aspects of today’s polycrisis, from climate change to military operations and genocide.

The forces trying to produce general purpose AI and super intelligence are multiple and almost all irrational, even fantastical. The most rational is the hunger for wealth and power, considered sacred by capitalist true believers, for even if AIs never wins a war or produce real value, they will make money and shape societies.

To explain today’s “Tech Lords” more than a simplistic “California Ideology” argument is needed. Accepting we now live under Surveillance Capitalism is only the context. Looking at the psychodynamics of Postmodern War is also helpful, for today’s AI complex shares the same genealogy as contemporary high-tech militaries. A close analysis of key parts of the actual beliefs of AI billionaires, from fantasy novels to fantasy altruism to dreams of immortality and divinity, is also very helpful.

Together, they might help begin to answer the real question—how do we transition from this clearly unsustainable socio-technological society into something better?

This event is presented by The Humanities Institute’s ± AI Initiative.