AI Empires and the Soul Sickness of Silicon Valley

Why is Mark Zuckerberg so obsessed with the Roman Empire?

Why is Peter Thiel so obsessed with the Antichrist?

Why does Sam Altman want $7 trillion dollars for an uncharted course to an unknown destination? 

And how can be build AI models and an AI company based on principles of kinship and reciprocity? 

In my ongoing exploration of what's rotten in Silicon Valley tech innovation and the ideologies driving it, last time I talked about the pandemic of what I called the Apollonian Mind Virus, a tendency throughout the modern world to favor cold, disembodied hyperrationality and cognitive intelligence over all other ways of knowing and being, over intuition, emotional intelligence, embodiment, and wisdom. This Apollonian orientation toward nature has ushered in what Sam Altman has dubbed the Intelligence Age. "Apollonian" describes the worldview and theories of intelligence behind current approaches to AI. 

Today, inspired by Native American thinkers like Jack D. Forbes and Robin Wall Kimmerer, as well as Karen Hao’s work, I explore an adjacent pandemic of the mind or sickness of spirit that is insatiable, extractive, and exploitative: The hungry ghost of the Windigo. I argue that current approaches to AI are largely the result of these two features of the modern, Western ethos—the interwoven helix of the Apollonian Mind and the Windigo soul sickness. I then close this post by beginning to explore whether there is a better way to innovate and evolve, collectively. 

Substack version here.

Support the show

Join Chad's newsletter to learn about all new offerings, courses, trainings, and retreats.

Finally, you can support the podcast here.