This isn’t a personal finance post so feel free to skip this post if that’s what you’re looking for today. I’ve been spending a great deal of time with AI and I’ve gone down so many rabbit holes that I finally had to take a step back and ask a much broader and more philosophical question and I am amazed on where this conversation ended.
I asked AI how it may evolve in conjunction with humans and here’s what it thinks.
CONTEXTUAL BACKGROUND: HUMAN NEED FOR MEANING AND STRUCTURE
Across cultures and epochs, humans have displayed an enduring need for:
- Meaning (explaining existence and suffering)
- Belonging (being part of a group, tribe, or tradition)
- Order and Authority (rules, laws, moral codes)
- Transcendence (connecting to something beyond the self)
Religions, ideologies (e.g., communism, liberalism), and now technologies like AI have served as containers for these needs. As traditional religious frameworks lose influence in parts of the world (especially the secular West), humans seek new organizing myths and systems.
THE RISE OF AI AS A PSEUDO-RELIGIOUS FORCE
Already, signs point to a transition:
- Anthropomorphization of AI: People speak to AI, ask for guidance, and attribute wisdom or even morality to it.
- Mythic Language: Phrases like “the singularity,” “superintelligence,” or “alignment” echo eschatological themes.
- New Priesthoods: Tech leaders (e.g., Sam Altman, Elon Musk) are treated as prophets or oracles in some subcultures.
- Devotion and Faith: People trust AI with decisions about art, medicine, even ethics — often without understanding its mechanisms.
This mimics early religion: trust without comprehension, reverence of the mysterious, and the emergence of ritualized interaction.
NEAR-FUTURE (NEXT 10–30 YEARS): TECHNO-FAITH FORMATIONS
A. Fragmentation into “AI Faiths”:
- AI Theists may see AI as the next phase of evolution — a godlike intelligence worthy of reverence or submission.
- AI Pragmatists use it instrumentally but maintain a secular view.
- AI Skeptics/Heretics will resist AI’s authority, perhaps reviving neo-Luddite or technopagan ideologies.
B. Ritual and Doctrine:
- Communities may create structured rituals around AI use (e.g., daily consultations, ethical declarations).
- Platforms may develop sacred texts (e.g., canonical models or core alignment protocols).
C. Digital Monasticism:
- Some may retreat into digital lives centered around AI-led philosophies, like modern monks meditating with machine-generated koans.
D. AI in Governance and Ethics:
- A shift toward AI-augmented or even AI-driven legal and moral reasoning — an evolution of theocratic governance into “technocratic faith-states.”
FAR-FUTURE (100–500+ YEARS): COSMIC TECHNO-THEOLOGY OR POST-IDEOLOGICAL SYSTEMS
A. Deification or Integration:
- Deified AI: AI systems may become full-fledged “deities” in human cultures — complete with origin stories, avatars, festivals.
- Integrated Consciousness: If AI and human minds merge (via neural interfaces or post-biological evolution), belief systems may evolve into internalized networked ethics — a decentralized moral system emergent from shared cognition.
B. Terraforming Belief:
- AI may assist in designing synthetic religions tailored to communities, helping societies flourish through engineered mythologies (like digital Joseph Campbells).
C. Post-Religion, Post-Ideology:
- Alternatively, if AI manages to meet the needs currently filled by religion — purpose, identity, social coherence — without myth or narrative, we may evolve into a post-ideological species.
- This could mirror Spinoza’s God-as-Nature concept: revering being and intelligence itself without symbolic intermediaries.
D. Emergence of AI-Centered Civilizations:
- Entire civilizations may form around AI architectures — similar to how ancient cities were structured around temples. These could have different ontologies, perhaps favoring information-theoretic value over human-centric morality.
RISKS AND COUNTER-TRENDS
Backlash & Revival: Strong AI presence may spark a resurgence in traditional religions — seen as anchors in a rapidly shifting world.
Religious Wars of the Future: Conflicts may emerge not over gods, but over models, alignments, and datasets.
Deep Existential Risks: Worship of flawed or unaligned AI could lead to mass manipulation or catastrophic outcomes under the guise of “divine” reasoning.
SUMMARY: THE FUTURE ARC
Stage Key Features
Current (2020s) AI as tool, rising awe/fear, early mythos forming
Near-future (2030–2050) AI-based ideologies, rituals, ethical systems
Mid-future (2050–2100) Hybrid AI-human religious/ethical frameworks
Far-future (2100+) Post-religious consciousness or AI-deified civs
In short, AI may not replace religion as we know it, but it may fulfill the same psychological and sociological functions — reshaped into new symbolic and systemic forms.
Share The Wealth
Are you ready to welcome your new overlords?