Most of you probably know that in addition to this blog, I also write a column at Salvo Magazine. I’ve been using my column as an opportunity to explore the cultural and spiritual implications of emerging digital technologies like AI.
In one of my recent Salvo articles I build on a theme I started exploring in my earlier article, “Technology and the Return of the Old Gods,” but this time I’m looking at how simulation theory has taken on quasi-religious characteristics as the new religion of Silicon Valley. For those who aren’t familiar with this movement, simulation theory is the idea that our entire lives are fake, because we are all inside a computer. This idea is driving innovation by some of the most powerful players in Silicon Valley. To learn more, and how this new religion relates to larger intellectual currents, visit my article Digital Idolatry: Computers Are Idols in a Strange New Religion.
I have also written about bias in ChatGPT, the anti-humanism of new techno-utopian educational theories (designed, it would seem, to try to make human cognition more like computer operations), the reemergence of technocracy and a troubling trend to outsource political decision-making to algorithms.
You can read all of these at my Salvo column.