Nick Bostrom's Superintelligence

Topics Discussed: Nick Bostrom, Ray Kurzweil, Dario Amodei, Demis Hassabis, Sam Altman, Elon Musk, Eliazer Yudkowski Why we're still having the same debate True believers and prophets Our new God, Calculation Sections: • Intro (00:00:50) • History of AI and AI safety (00:11:30) • Paths to AI, the form they could take, and controling them (00:36:30) • Baptism for the Dead (00:54:00) Content Referenced: The Pope’s Encyclical NYTimes: Religious Leaders Met with Anthropic Concrete Problems in AI Safety The Off-switch Game AI as Positive and Negative Factor in Global Risk (2008) Apple Feed: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-religious-studies-podcast/id1662229557 Spotify Feed: https://open.spotify.com/show/7q5yKNBCRWqrCOqsN9K6h5 RSS Feed: https://media.zencast.fm/the-religious-studies-podcast/rss Substack Page: The Religious Studies Podcast | aj | Substack Twitter Page: TheReligiousStudiesPodcast (@therspod) / Twitter Email: [email protected] This podcast is hosted by ZenCast.fm

In this episode we discuss a few sections in Ricoeur's collection of essays titled "The Conflict of Interpretation". We discuss why Ricoeur sees Marx, Nietzsche, and Freud as masters of suspicion and how that should help us think about religion, ourselves, and our modern world. Intro (00:00:45) From Descartes to Marx, Nietzsche, and Freud (00:04:45) The Function of Religion in Marx, Nietzsche, and Freud (00:19:19) We are All Armchair Psychologists (00:38:05)

We begin this episode going over Stirner’s critique of philosophers and the Enlightenment. It’s important to keep in mind that whatever problem he has with religion, he also has that problem with people too focused on thinking or capital T truth. As he says, a shout or a jump is as good at relieving anxiety as studying any book. We also look at the overlap in thought between Stirner and Foucault, Gabriel Marcel, Freud, and Girard. For example, both Stirner and Marcel think you should not ask what are humans? You should ask: who am I? And regarding connections between Girard and Stirner, we look at the human propensity to always create a sacred and always let our desires overtake us. We end the episode reflecting on what is sacred today? What do we let dominate us? And what is our scapegoat? 00:04:10 Stirner’s Critique of Philosophy and the Enlightenment 00:28:25 Connections between Stirner and Foucault, Marcel, Freud, and Girard. 01:30:45 Stirner’s Stoicism and our Contemporary World

Topics Discussed: The relationship between particulars and universals Demon posession and god possession The religious discontent with the present The Sacred and when ideas overtake us When our future self overtakes us Sections: Intro (00:00:34) Basic Overview of Stirner's Arguments (00:05:55) Stirner's Critique of Religion (00:38:20) Twitter Page: TheReligiousStudiesPodcast (@therspod) / Twitter Email: [email protected] Music by The IMG, accessed 12/22 at https://archive.org/details/Kaleidoscope_1819-19494

Topics Discussed: Gabriel Marcel Martin Heidegger Phenomenology Psychology Sections: Intro: 00:00:55 1 Marcel's Philosophical Framework: 00:06:45 2 Realworld Examples from Marcel: 00:47:25

Topics Discussed: Jesus Satan Philosophy Peter Thiel Curtis Yarvin Psychology Desire Sections: (00:01:20) Intro I. (00:06:05) Overview of Girard's theory and his interpretation of two bible myths II. (00:46:32) Satan as the representation of the mimetic cycle of desire III. (01:10:33) Demonology and Psychology, plus our modern fixation on victims Episode References: Technology, Communisim, and the Brown Scare - Mencius Moldbug Tyler Cowen Interview of Peter Thiel Twitter Page: TheReligiousStudiesPodcast (@therspod) / Twitter Email: [email protected] Music by The IMG, accessed 12/22 at https://archive.org/details/Kaleidoscope_1819-19494

Topics Discussed: The Bible John the Baptist Rene Girard Freud Psychology Sections: Intro (00:01:05) Girard's General Theory and the story of Caiaphas (00:05:20) The Beheading of John the Baptist (00:34:05) Peter's Denial (01:02:03) Demons of Gerasa (01:18:09) The Supernatural Inspiration of the Bible (01:48:45) Twitter Page: TheReligiousStudiesPodcast (@therspod) / Twitter Email: [email protected] Music by The IMG, accessed 12/22 at https://archive.org/details/Kaleidoscope_1819-19494

Topics Discussed: God Psychoanalysis Moses Judaism Religion Freud Atheism Darwin Sections: Intro (00:00:55) I. Moses the Egyptian (00:05:24) II. Psychoanalyzing Human History (00:24:56) III. Why Freud Wrote about Moses (00:57:53) Twitter Page: TheReligiousStudiesPodcast (@therspod) / Twitter Email: [email protected] Music by The IMG, accessed 12/22 at https://archive.org/details/Kaleidoscope_1819-19494

Topics Discussed: Psychoanalysis Freud Girard Moses Judaism Sections: Intro: 00:00:53 Freud's Method: 00:03:34 Twitter Page: TheReligiousStudiesPodcast (@therspod) / Twitter Email: [email protected] Music by The IMG, accessed 12/22 at https://archive.org/details/Kaleidoscope_1819-19494

Topics Discussed: Barbie movie Identity Girard Feminism Sections: intro (00:00:20) Girard and Identity (00:16:15) Jokes reveal the truth (00:31:30) The Daughter (00:46:50) Motherhood (00:54:20) Twitter Page: TheReligiousStudiesPodcast (@therspod) / Twitter Email: [email protected] Music by The IMG, accessed 12/22 at https://archive.org/details/Kaleidoscope_1819-19494