Re: <nettime> At Doge, AI faith has fully fused with Christian Nationalism

[Felix Stalder via nettime-l <nettime-l@lists.nettime.org>]

On 3/30/25 12:52, Andreas Broeckmann via nettime-l wrote:
> What I'm suggesting is that the two phenomena, the two "faiths" perhaps 
> look similar, but they are significantly different on the theological/ 
> mythical level, and they probably also represent two quite different 
> forms of (potential) governance. (Moreover, the expression "faith in AI" 
> might in fact not be more than a metaphorical reference to the first, in 
> which case this 'comparison' would really be no more than a tautology.) 
> I think we should be careful not to jump to conclusions too easily, 
> conclusions based on such spurious comparisons which don't serve to 
> describe what drives the situation.


I think it's worth distinguishing at least two aspects here.

The first would be the strategic alignment between different social 
forces around a common goal: the destruction of the administrative 
state. And there are many more groups than just AI believers and CNs in 
the Trump camp. Let's not forget the old-school low-taxes, 
weak-labor-laws, and right-to-pollute fraction of the chamber of 
commerce types, or the grifters who want to access to the state's 
resources to prop up their schemes (say, bitcoin, military contracts, etc).

For such an alliance to work, you don't need deep alignment of 
foundations. All you need is a way to make contradictions acceptable, 
like the CNs calling Trump, in many ways the embodiment of unchristian 
values, an "imperfect vessel". Case solved. I think the fully-fused in 
the original thread referred to this kind of alignment.

And while I see Steve Kurtz's point about CN-types not being interested 
in AI, I think there are some deeper alignments nevertheless. Again, 
these are not alignments in foundations, more alignments in conclusions, 
arrived at on very different paths.

Just not just that the only model of a supra-human intelligence we have 
is god [1], but also the view that humanity is a fallen (DN), or failed 
(AI) species, where only a small number of righteous people will survive 
the great rupture. Both think survival is in heaven, though probably in 
quite different versions of it.

And if you have the idea of humans as fallen/failed, then the social 
welfare state is just prolonging the misery, and you just put all 
energies into preparing yourself for the inevitable rupture.

For the AI maximalists, the effective altruists, it's a crime against 
humanity not to accelerate AI development, a moral failure not to work 
towards the maximal happiness of the maximal number of future 
consciousnesses (most if them not flesh-based).

There is this clip from Hayao Miyazaki, founder of Ghibli Studio, making 
the rounds again, in which he calls AI an "insult to life itself" and 
remarks that this being end times in which "humans lost faith in their 
own abilities."

I think this view of humans as deficient is also a strong connection 
between the two view. Again, coming from very different perspectives, 
but arriving at the same conclusion: we life in end times, and we know 
how to survive it. And for a political coalition, that is more than enough.


[1] 
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2024/nov/21/deus-in-machina-swiss-church-installs-ai-powered-jesus



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