I think you hit the nail with the word - belief. They like so many other people strive to find meaning in what might just be meaningless. They seek a higher power, but we just could simply be a blip of aligned atoms in a universe of randomness. Hasn’t this story been told numerous times across a vast number of generations. Seeking some meaning, having a belief. Chesterton might have said “when men stop believing in god, they don’t believe in nothing, they believe in anything”. Possibly…. But in a western world full of excess instant gratification, Botox, a culture as sophisticated as love island and opportunities for your selfie not sure these guys are anymore daft than the rest of us…….
A thought-provoking essay. I'll admit that I don't understand all of it or all the references. But it resonates. I've always found that Peter Thiel, and other fellows who "won the internet", to be misanthropes. They hate the imperfections of humanity. I see some of that in the AI-boosterism discourse - an almost glee that it 'will' make large swathes of people redundant. That it'll airbrush the foibles of the feckless. Seems rather sad to me, "to err is human, to forgive is divine" and all that.
It's obviously a bit hack to reference the last great tech fad in relation to AI, or more specifically LLMs. But I can't help but think about the hype around blockchain and cryptocurrencies (which I suppose is still ongoing, at least in Elon Musk's head). A few people made fortunes, many made nothing, but I'd guess mostly the main use for blockchain has turned out to be in backend systems nobody has ever heard of, running somewhat more efficiently than the alternatives. Many such cases, as a man once said.
> technological progress comes from community, environment and opportunity
In the context of technological innovation, I think we already have a word that encompasses all of those things- economics. It reminds me a lot of the Tim Harford view that the printing press was all well and good, but there's little point in having one unless you have a cheap medium to print on- paper.
Yeah, or like the Romans invented a steam engine but you're can't scale it without literally centuries of materials science and a totally different society.
It's notable that in his later years Picasso created fewer creatively original works and instead produced his own reinterpretations of previous great artworks - see for example the Las Meninas series, after the painting by Velazquez, which is in the Picasso museum in Barcelona.
This is an interesting essay, well written! As a UK based AI researcher the culture you describe is totally alien to me. I do not know any right wing AI bros of the kind described - they are certainly not in any of the events, conferences, hack sessions I go to in London. Maybe I'm not cool enough to be invited to Surrey bbqs...
But I suspect this might be strawmanning a certain kind of DOGE adjacent new rightist who is much less important this side of the channel.
Over here, the AI culture feels extremely scientific, non-ideological, very technical, and yet such people often still do believe in the 'industrial revolution' level transformative potential of AI. i.e. Hassabis, who cannot be accused of the rightoid traits you outline. I feel like a lot of the people involved in the research/engineering community will not recognise the world you are describing here.
I think you're right that it's less prevalent in the UK than the US, but it's certainly there at the fringes, and I'd argue that there's a fundamental conflict in what you're saying here about Hassabis, for example. Fundamentally, when he says that AI is an 'existential threat' to humanity, that's a form of millenarianism, which is not scientific or technical but definitely an ideology; and it's also striking that his image of the utopian future involves things like AI replacing doctors but not nurses - i.e. a liberal elite institution.
Now I'm not arguing that makes him part of the 'new right', but my point would be that a similar kind of careless thinking is becoming quite prevalent in the hype, and that's a dangerous way to think about the world that leads you into some bad places if you're not careful.
(Also specifically on the straw-manning part, I'm really talking about the public-facing culture around AI, but I work in the tech industry and have been in AI for twenty years now and I share your annoyance that the public-facing gurus and pundits are hugely unrepresentative of the normal experts and engineers you see at a typical industry conference - it's like two totally separate cultures.)
thanks for such a considered and thoughtful response!!
I think your point about Hassabis still being millenarian but with a different emphasis is fair enough. His personal style is very down to earth and calm but that doesn't mean he isn't trying to evangelise and convert people to his way also.
ps big fan of ur substack, keep up the good work 🙏🙏
I think you hit the nail with the word - belief. They like so many other people strive to find meaning in what might just be meaningless. They seek a higher power, but we just could simply be a blip of aligned atoms in a universe of randomness. Hasn’t this story been told numerous times across a vast number of generations. Seeking some meaning, having a belief. Chesterton might have said “when men stop believing in god, they don’t believe in nothing, they believe in anything”. Possibly…. But in a western world full of excess instant gratification, Botox, a culture as sophisticated as love island and opportunities for your selfie not sure these guys are anymore daft than the rest of us…….
A thought-provoking essay. I'll admit that I don't understand all of it or all the references. But it resonates. I've always found that Peter Thiel, and other fellows who "won the internet", to be misanthropes. They hate the imperfections of humanity. I see some of that in the AI-boosterism discourse - an almost glee that it 'will' make large swathes of people redundant. That it'll airbrush the foibles of the feckless. Seems rather sad to me, "to err is human, to forgive is divine" and all that.
It's obviously a bit hack to reference the last great tech fad in relation to AI, or more specifically LLMs. But I can't help but think about the hype around blockchain and cryptocurrencies (which I suppose is still ongoing, at least in Elon Musk's head). A few people made fortunes, many made nothing, but I'd guess mostly the main use for blockchain has turned out to be in backend systems nobody has ever heard of, running somewhat more efficiently than the alternatives. Many such cases, as a man once said.
Superb. Thank you.
> technological progress comes from community, environment and opportunity
In the context of technological innovation, I think we already have a word that encompasses all of those things- economics. It reminds me a lot of the Tim Harford view that the printing press was all well and good, but there's little point in having one unless you have a cheap medium to print on- paper.
Yeah, or like the Romans invented a steam engine but you're can't scale it without literally centuries of materials science and a totally different society.
The electric car was invented in the Victorian era, from the 1830s onwards. I particularly like this one: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-england-birmingham-40302072
It's notable that in his later years Picasso created fewer creatively original works and instead produced his own reinterpretations of previous great artworks - see for example the Las Meninas series, after the painting by Velazquez, which is in the Picasso museum in Barcelona.
There's an ancient term for these men and those like them: wankers.
This is an interesting essay, well written! As a UK based AI researcher the culture you describe is totally alien to me. I do not know any right wing AI bros of the kind described - they are certainly not in any of the events, conferences, hack sessions I go to in London. Maybe I'm not cool enough to be invited to Surrey bbqs...
But I suspect this might be strawmanning a certain kind of DOGE adjacent new rightist who is much less important this side of the channel.
Over here, the AI culture feels extremely scientific, non-ideological, very technical, and yet such people often still do believe in the 'industrial revolution' level transformative potential of AI. i.e. Hassabis, who cannot be accused of the rightoid traits you outline. I feel like a lot of the people involved in the research/engineering community will not recognise the world you are describing here.
I think you're right that it's less prevalent in the UK than the US, but it's certainly there at the fringes, and I'd argue that there's a fundamental conflict in what you're saying here about Hassabis, for example. Fundamentally, when he says that AI is an 'existential threat' to humanity, that's a form of millenarianism, which is not scientific or technical but definitely an ideology; and it's also striking that his image of the utopian future involves things like AI replacing doctors but not nurses - i.e. a liberal elite institution.
Now I'm not arguing that makes him part of the 'new right', but my point would be that a similar kind of careless thinking is becoming quite prevalent in the hype, and that's a dangerous way to think about the world that leads you into some bad places if you're not careful.
(Also specifically on the straw-manning part, I'm really talking about the public-facing culture around AI, but I work in the tech industry and have been in AI for twenty years now and I share your annoyance that the public-facing gurus and pundits are hugely unrepresentative of the normal experts and engineers you see at a typical industry conference - it's like two totally separate cultures.)
thanks for such a considered and thoughtful response!!
I think your point about Hassabis still being millenarian but with a different emphasis is fair enough. His personal style is very down to earth and calm but that doesn't mean he isn't trying to evangelise and convert people to his way also.
ps big fan of ur substack, keep up the good work 🙏🙏