This is a real thing Peter Thiel told a group of tech professionals recently.
In a four-part series of religious lectures in San Francisco, Peter Thiel — yes, that Peter Thiel — has argued that the End Times are nigh and that a biblical Antichrist — yes, that Antichrist — will come to Earth in the form of onerous government regulations placed on science, technology, and AI.
These are, incidentally, areas where the tech billionaire, venture capitalist, and cofounder of Palantir has a vested financial interest. […]
Note: source uses a two-headline system; the submission uses the shorter of the two
strict AI regulation will summon the Antichrist
That is a chance I am willing to take.
I want both these things!
According to the same mythos, we already have the antichrist
Funny thing is that most of the people who believe in the Rapture BS probably do want that to happen.
I don’t think this Thiel guy is as smart as he thinks he is.
Let’s goooooo
I mean isn’t he exactly wrong? Unrestrained AI development is what could lead to the creation of a malevolent daemon with the potential to destroy mankind.
He is f’ing crazy and has the ear of the highest levels of government
One of the richest people in the world is nuttier than squirrel shit. What could go wrong?
So I’m like 45 hours into the Rise and Fall of the Third Reich audiobook and it’s really amazing to see how much an obviously crazy person can get away with, even when everyone around him is like, yeah, that dude is totally batshit and probably going to get us all killed, but idk, I guess we should still do what he says?
You enjoying it? I’m on the lookout for some more historical goodness. My current podcast (Revolutions, which is whopper) is nearing it’s end.
I am enjoying it. It’s fascinating. Fascistnating…
I wish I were reading it because it’s so detail-rich and I really need to take my time in some spots. Were I studying it for school, I’d certainly be intending to pore through its pages while referencing maps and portraits of its main characters. As it is, it’s fairly decent for low-stress driving.
This guy’s YT review provides a pretty summary of why it’s a worthy read (or listen). But it is 57 hours long, so quite a heavy time commitment. But definitely a book that should be mandatory for everyone on earth to read at some point.
I also highly recommend watching HBO’s Conspiracy with Kenneth Branagh, Stanely Tucci, and Colin Firth. It complements the story in Schindler’s List incredibly well.
That is a great review. Thank you. Just got it with a spare credit I had and it’ll be next up after I finish Revolutions.
I really don’t mind the time commitment. If anything I prefer longer form, more in depth stuff. Both Revolutions and The History of Rome (same podcaster, Mike Duncan) were very long and I thoroughly enjoyed both.
I highly recommend them both if you’re looking for something in the future. The History of Rome is really excellent though he takes a few episodes to hit his stride as it was his first podcast. It’s 179 episodes long and I was bummed when it was over and have listened to it twice so far.
Edit: If you haven’t seen it, The World at War is absolutely incredible. It was made in the 70s so they got interviews with some of the surviving senior Nazis which is fascinating.
I couldn’t bring myself to watch the horrors of the holocaust episode though. Just couldn’t.
Thanks for the recommendations! Putting them on my list.
I just encountered another review of Rise and Fall that’s probably worth considering. While I think it’s probably still a good idea to read/listen to Shirer’s book for cultural literacy purposes, it apparently is severely dated in its retelling of events in Germany. https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/7kld0l/comment/drfa12x/
Thanks for the heads up. That’s disappointing. I was excited to start it but I’m still finishing up Revolutions.
I’ll have a read of the Reddit thread in advance though.
New comment in case you’ve seen the previous one… Has reading that thread changed your enjoyment of the book?
I haven’t read the thread yet.
The issue is humans are flawed from the start. We should have an instinct to, every time we hear this kind of person talk, strangle them on the spot.
Gen. Ripper: Clemenceau said war was too important to be left to the Generals. When he said that, fifty years ago, he might have been right. But today, war is too important to be left to politicians. They have neither the time, the training, nor the inclination for strategic thought. I can no longer sit back and allow Communist infiltration, Communist indoctrination, Communist subversion, and the international Communist conspiracy to sap and impurify all of our precious bodily fluids.
But… Peter, you’re already here, we can’t summon you while you’re here
The Antichrist is coming to take my free money! - Peter Theil (Obvious demon)
ignore him. Thiel lost his marbles from obvious mental illness issues and drug addiction. Going down the same route as John McAfee.
Johnn McAfee wasn’t any existential threat to everyone like Petie Thiel is.
Except for his neighbors down in Belize.
That’s the price for sending all to Belize. Overcrowding.
And whales
And those poor, poor hammocks (and cleaning people).
Give him an extra $10B and he might have been
These people are genuinely, certifiably insane, and they’re in charge.
People who believe in fairy tales, demons, and other childish nonsense as adults should be referred to mental health services, not be given the keys to the economy and governance.
How can so many grown adults think this is okay? It’s complete madness. They’re dooming us with their psychopathy and people are nodding along like this is normal. Fucking hell.
And they also want total control over us and know every single minute detail on us while keeping most things about themselves highly secretive.
Alright smartypants, what WILL summon the Antichrist, then?
Which antichrist?
I think manipulating an emperor into adopting your kid as an heir worked once. Another time, tricking people into thinking you’re socialist then backstabbing them worked. Or perhaps whitewashing your record of abject failure by becoming a reality television star.
When my BBW folder hits 12 TB.
Unrestricted capitalism.
Dripping a pentagram in blood over your keyboard and typing
Ctr+Alt+Delof course…
Just ask Scary Spice, he’ll know.
Nah all myths are abstract descriptions of systems and processes. They were never meant to be detailed.
The real madness is not updating these myths to today’s standards and taking everything that was written literally thousands of years ago as inarguably correct.
The Christofascist, but Zionazi first, Ted Cruz appeal to both this legislation and Israel supremacy for all actions is a ploy that has been working.
Just because it sounds non-sensical to you, the pastors on the payroll, will get MAGA to lobby congress to prevent summoning the anti-christ, and then, is successful corruption of America insane? Or is it Trump circling finger around forehead smart?
I don’t disagree that it works. That’s what I mean – a disturbing number of people buy this obvious bullshit, mostly because they were indoctrinated into it, so their critical thinking was compromised before they had the chance to discern fiction from reality.
It’s sad, and tantamount to child abuse, and now we all have to deal with the shitshow caused by people who believe in fairy tales and will make us all pay for it.
Very few human brains see a moral line between pride and supremacism. Religious adherence is a proud act. The appeal of christofacism means it is easy to deliver souls thinking they are given to god, to any and all demonic gaslighting that pays the religious order/pastor to gaslight their flock. The business of religion is to gaslight people into giving you their souls for your power and profit.
Okay, but no gods exist, so all belief, no matter how seemingly benign, is delusional and harmful.
It’s only a small step from seemingly benign belief to this dangerous delusion, and it only takes a charismatic leader saying the right words to turn that belief into violent fanaticism. Otherwise good people will commit or support atrocities based on these delusions.
People don’t support horrific things because they’re moustache-twirling villains – they think they’re good people supporting good things, and these beliefs convince people to do horrific things by twisting their minds.
That’s been the case for thousands of years.
no gods exist, so all belief, no matter how seemingly benign, is delusional and harmful.
I can’t prove god, but am sure that if there is one, it is humanist and idealist. It’s possible to see Jesus as trying to empahsize this, unlike Hasbara Moses declaring there is no god above insignificant minor Canaanite god, and commanding his followers to go kill everyone else and destroy their idols.
The point is not that humanism and idealism is delusional and harmful, whether or not it comes from God. It is that “idealism as a sales pitch” to steal your soul for megalomania profits is too easy. It’s not Jesus’s fault that fanaticism makes us want to go kill everyone who “doesn’t believe in thou shalt not murder” as much as our powerful in-group.
I strongly disagree. All incarnations of Abrahamic gods have been vengeful and cruel, including Jesus.
Believe it if you like, but a loving god is a retcon, and your own texts prove that.
Humanism is the absence of an authoritarian deity. The reason humanism exists is because we are a cooperative species that’s helped and fostered each other for millions of years. We have archaeological evidence of this that far predates any notion of modern gods.
Modern humans haven’t been around for millions of years, you seem to have replaced one faith with another.
Sounds just like something the Antichrist would say.
We elected someone for president who literally embodies ALL of the Seven Deadly Sins. I’d say the AntiChrist is already here.
Its actually amazing how the complete opposite of Christian he is and yet Christians love him… even when he says he isn’t Christian.
Not entirely surprising given how hypocritical Christians tend to be.
You put on one to two big performances a week, sometimes more depending on the time of year, and then the moment you walk out of the theater building all those supposed morals and values get forgotten.
Its actually amazing how the complete opposite of Christian he is
The thing that you’re missing is that christianity is a pretty brutal, cold-hearted thing. It was never meant to be about compassion and love. That’s just what they tell the children sothat they get onboard with it all.
It’s like, when you’re teaching maths to children and you present fractions using apples and pies, pretty harmless things. Years later, you can use more advanced maths (that are based on the basics of maths) to engineer weapons and heavy machinery, and it’s all based on the same maths. It’s not about being cute, it’s about maths, it’s more abstract than any of the applications.
Math and science are completely neutral things. You can use them for any numbernof purposes, good or bad. AI could be a tremendous force for good, even the ‘art generation’ stuff i am sure has SOME uses (my use for it is making furry porn and nothing more).
But as it stands… it is being directly applied to gathering every single thing about everyone, fooling them into thinking they are having private conversations when absolutely everything is being logged, and causing emotional dependencies on programs that aren’t people, and even killing others with military AI.
I remember in 2014 when the Robocop remake came out the whole point of that movie is talking about how AI law enforcement is a bad idea specifically because AI has absolutely no feelings whatsoever… and that trope of AI monsters killing people due to programming glitches, programming intent, or just utilitarian approaches has been around since the 1960s and 70s with 2001a space Odyssey and West World.
utilitarian approaches has been around since the 1960s and 70s
utilitarian approaches have been around for much longer than that, at least since 1500 when machiavelli wrote the influential book “the prince” where he argued utilitarism.
Correct. But I am referring to unfeeling computers writing off people like they were just assets and tools, like an unneeded screwdriver or empty soda can.
Didn’t Jesus walk the holy land convincing god’s chosen people to break their covenant with god? Sounds like Jesus was the Anti-Christ
The man is scared of Roko’s Basilisk and actually thinks that putting all of his money into predictive text and racial profiling algorithms will lead to AGI.
Does anyone need more evidence that religion is a mental illness?
Yes. Not us, but yes.
Not the most tractable tho
Peter Thiel who hung out with notorious pedophile Jeffrey Epstein and convicted child sex twice Ghislaine Maxwell? That Peter Thiel?
Ahh yes, the gay billionaire is definitely someone I should trust in regard to Christian religious doctrine, especially concerning what is and is not considered good in the Christian viewpoint. Dudes already got at probably two strikes, and I’m betting he’s checked off a few of the more minor of the 10 commandments, but like… on a major scale.
He’s saying it because he is trying to force a reaction from his evangelical republican pals. Either he wants to warn them off AI regulation because that would end the world or (the more likely option I think) he wants the accelerationist bastards to go full steam ahead and regulate because they want the end of the world and he wants to “pull up the ladder” on new emerging competing AI companies.
From what I know of him it’s in line with his beliefs - he was expecting total societal collapse in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis.
I dunno if it’s what he actually expects, but it’s definitely what he wants
Behind the Bastards did a few episodes on him, he made some big financial bets on the basis it would collapse and lost out big. He seemingly did predict the crash but totally took the wrong decisions.
Who’d have thunk eBay would’ve given us both him and Musk.
Eurgh I’m not sure whether it’s worse if he earnestly believes this crap or he’s cynically and smartly playing the game. The only loser here is the human race.
Plus any male models that hang out with him and his partner long enougn
But why male models?
Shellfish, mixed fabrics, swearing, and you know, not helping anyone but himself. But im sure thats minor compared to the shellfish.
So as someone who grew up very much immersed in “end times” focused Christianity I have never really understood something- why do so many end times Christians view end times prophecies like the Antichrist or the Mark of the Beast as things to be prevented or avoided? Even growing up I didn’t understand this because in the Bible it’s very clear that all that stuff will happen (or is happening, depending on whether you believe Revelation was meant to be a metaphor for current events at the time of writing) because God is explicitly allowing it to, and that these things are necessary for Christ’s ultimate victory over Death and Evil. So why would you try to prevent the rise of the Antichrist? In the “best case” you’re just kicking the can down the road and delaying the Return of Jesus a little. In New Testament apocalyptic writing, believers are described as resisting the Antichrist’s persecution, but not in having anything to do with its arrival one way or another. If humans are able to prevent, delay, or hinder the rise of the Antichrist, then God is not in charge and the whole point of these prophecies is kind of invalidated. The whole point of apocalyptic literature is that these bad things are happening and it seems like evil is winning over good, but in reality God is still all powerful and is still in control of all of it, and wins in the end.
I’m guessing it’s all down to sports. “I’m a Christian, so that means I’m on Christ’s team. Obviously Christ’s biggest rival is Antichrist, so I have to be against him too. Booooo Antichrist!”
So Anti/Christ is like Heel/Face in pro wrestling
I think a little more like Yankees/Red Sox in baseball. Two things that basically seem the same to outsiders but which have their own devoted/crazy followings.
I understand that distinction, thus proving your point ig
in the Bible it’s very clear that all that stuff will happen… and that these things are necessary for Christ’s ultimate victory over Death and Evil. So why would you try to prevent the rise of the Antichrist? In the “best case” you’re just kicking the can down the road and delaying the Return of Jesus a little.
You’ve put a lot more thought and consideration into it than these folks. That’s why they’re all “this bad, that bad, oh no Anti-Christ!”
To be fair, the end times isn’t likely to be good for most. God’s people for salvation number only a few:
Revelation 7:4 - Then I heard the number of those who were sealed: 144,000 from all the tribes of Israel.
That ain’t much. There are billions of people on the planet. At the end, the Christian God will only protect a small number from the events of the end times. The rest of us will have to just suck it up and live and suffer through the apocalypse, as it were.
I’m not a believer so I can only guess. But my guess is, despite being “Christian” (in really big finger quotes), I think deep down, a lot of these folks know they are Hell-bound (according to their own system of belief), or at the very least, hell-on-Earth-bound. They’re far from Christ-like in their behavior and existence, and I can’t see why they’d be among the chosen few of God’s protection in the end days. Especially since many of them aren’t Jewish, and actively despise Jews (despite also supporting Israel? I dunno, these people confuse the hell out of me). So postponing the end serves to postpone their own damnation.
That is a pretty specific number. Any chance they reconsidered it at some point within the last 2000-ish years though? Like at some point, was god like “We gotta update those
abductionrapture numbers guys. They’re super outdated”.Maybe they had a total capacity of 150.000 at the time, due to fire regulations and stuff, and then you have the staff and a bit of headroom in case a few people sneak in. But who knows, maybe the counsel has reconsidered fire code? Or did they at any point consider building an extension to heaven?
Any chance they reconsidered it at some point within the last 2000-ish years though?
You’re right, these numbers should be updated.
Since the world population increased from roughly 200 million people on earth at the time these texts were written to closely 8 billion today, that’s a roughly 40x increase in total population. So if we assume the same relative percentage, that’s gonna be 6 million people to be saved in total. xD
666,000,000 to be precise.
/s ^that is not precise at all.
why do so many end times Christians view end times prophecies like the Antichrist or the Mark of the Beast as things to be prevented or avoided?
wasn’t raised Christian, but this kind of dissonance is what made me 1) question the faith of so-called believers around me, and 2) question the validity of my own faith / the teachings.
When it comes to most hardline religious people, If they really believed the teachings they claimed are true, they would behave in a completely different manner.
To live in literal accordance with most conservative religious teachings you basically have to act like an unhinged crazy person.
Any biblical scholar will tell you Revelations was never meant to be a prophecy.
I’m used to “religious” wackos being wackos, but HUH?
Agnostic or atheist or Scientologist techbro grasping at straws to clumsily influence Christians to do what he wants them to do.
Another reason why billionaires shouldn’t exist.
Having unrestricted power drives people crazy. Every single time. I really don’t understand why people keep defending these narcissistic assholes.
