Greg M. Epstein

I read Zuckerberg's new Encyclical. MZ gets more grandiose each time he morphs (HotOrNot—Community—Bringing 🌎 Together—Metaverse—to now Building God+Angels). My takeaway: At the end 👇 he bites MLK's "arc of the moral universe." But MLK's arc bent towards JUSTICE. Zuck's bends toward more AI forever

"AI is the most revolutionary technology in human history." LMFAO no. Pop Quiz: What'd make a bigger difference in your life: Going from no AI to AI, or from no clean, safe, reliable hot/cold running water on demand to...having that? How 'bout flush toilets, flyboy? Ever pooped in a communal ditch?

Had a dream about sentient dirigibles. And honestly I'm not sure what my subconscious was Hindenburging at. I mean hinting at.

This thread, wow, the replies are so good. Better than the books or the yachts or the yachts' yachts.

Humanist chaplain @gregmepstein.bsky.social reminds us that AI is a quasi-religious story with heaven and hell, all-powerful beings and vulnerable humans, and the people selling it are trying to con us into giving up our power. But our community can fight back, together. Interfaith alliance crucial.

Your film chat, gaming group, or RPG club=actually a secular Bible Study. It's all scripture in its own way. No religion required to connect and share life. You think ancient people reading the book of Genesis only talked about Genesis? Hell no, they were on to the latest ancient drama in 5 minutes.

That feeling when you're super late to a book talk wondering if the author will remember you from a brief interaction 15 years ago and when she sees you at the signing she immediately says, "you're quoted in the book!" Go check out Why We Ask Why, by Tania Lombrozo @portersqbooks.bsky.social

"Surveil the World" to the tune of Michael Jackson's "Heal the World" is actually the creepiest Weird Al song ever. Not Yankovic btw, just really fucking weird Artificial Intelligence

The moral is, always judge individual religious leaders by what they DO, not just what they profess to believe. The former can at times be much better than the latter, and when so, my fellow humanists and nonreligious people would do best to learn from the good even while critiquing the bad.

My dad had part of a lung removed due to lung cancer, so Pope Leo's surgery feels personal. And even if not: fascinating, as an atheist, to feel so personally invested in the health and well-being of the Pope. But his voice is important, and I'm very glad he's here. www.nytimes.com/2026/10/13/w...

What @emilymbender.bsky.social said. And also f/the journalists in the back: when reps of big powerful organizations tell themselves fictional fantasy stories they not only insist are true, but also insist everyone must believe them, follow them, or give them $$$...that sounds like a religious cult.

Catcalling is so disgusting and in the context below, truly tragic. I always think, I don't know any men who would ever catcall anyone?! But then I was the high school senior who gave my fellow senior guys a lecture about not hitting on freshmen girls. So maybe I just give "don't talk to me" vibes?

It’s notable to me that TWO of the most recent women who have won a NoBel Prize were denied tenure from their institutions: Anne Carson and Katalin Karikó

Anthropic banning “abusive or cruel behavior” toward Claude in its new usage policies is proof to me that tech companies are going to moderate violence against AI before they ever moderate violence against women and minorities

My October 7 post: The attacks of 3 years ago were a horrific, devastating crime, a tragedy that must never occur again. And the best way to prevent such things would be to invest heavily into creating a prosperous, democratic, free Palestine. Immediately. Felt this way my whole life, not stopping.

This paragraph builds and builds the insane comedy but you're not ready for the kicker.

C'mon Carl, everybody knows Speak-n-Spell isn't conscious but if you just talk to Teddy Ruxpin

I'd rather have an economy that makes 1,000 millionaires than 1 billionaire.

Come on people. This is where we gotta rally round the family, with a pocket fulla' shells

If you want the three-word summary of my 2024 book Tech Agnostic: How Technology Became the World's Most Powerful Religion, and Why it Desperately Needs a Reformation ( @mitpress.bsky.social! @penguinrandomhouse.bsky.social! Won a few awards 😳) here it is, 👇👇👇. "This. Is. Insane."

Can we all agree to be one hundred percent vegan WRT AI music. Look I get it you might have some use for other AI stuff. But ZERO AI music. How about that as a starting point? FFS.

I'm going to need someone to do a wellness check on Chris Olah of Anthropic. He does not come across well -- in either sense of the word -- in this new article. Then again, neither does any theologian or religious leader who attended these meetings without irony. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/29/u...

It's about goddamn time

We talk a lot about being good bystanders but are we actually teaching our children what that means? My piece on the horrific faiture of the fraternity members in the group chat and a local high school’s missed opportunity to teach youth how to take action. dot-connecting.ghost.io/the-silent-p...

Really moved by this piece by @katemanne.bsky.social. Honestly the whole Cornell situation leaves me with few words fit for social media and I'm grateful for her eloquence and courage.

This is *the* piece. Kate Manne, professor of philosophy at Cornell, speaks truth to the totality of failures at the university — and why students protesting the war in Gaza have faced far harsher consequences than any of the Cornell 7: www.thecut.com/article/what...

My campus chaplain colleagues and I have to sign a non-proselytizing agreement, because certain religious leaders want to do little more than preach at people and try to convert them. But you'll rarely see proselytizing as fanatical as this AI cult stuff.

taps sign again

AI is definitely not a cult, everyone involved here is just exceptionally reasonable and rational

AI is definitely not a cult, everyone involved here is just exceptionally reasonable and rational

look, you can't just punish trump when dems are in power. that might make republicans do something crazy, like stage a coup, illegally shred the federal bureaucracy, or even vstart abducting people off the street and extraditing them to torture sites all over the world

"When I'm critical of human rights abuses of Russia, that does not mean I am critical of people who believe in the Russian Orthodox Church...when I’m critical of the human rights abuses of Israel, that does not mean anything against anyone of any religion." Well said, @tommorelloofficial.bsky.social

"I have heard your name as someone that I must speak to from at least 5 people so far, and I’ve only been here [at Harvard] for two weeks." -- about as good of an email as a campus humanist chaplain like me can get. And also, a sign of a busy year ahead!

Sleater Kinney has a three-decade catalog and not one single song that doesn't kick ass. That's the skeet.

I don't believe AI is going to kill us all, ever. But I'm always shocked when smart people seem to think that means I'm not taking it seriously enough. I sure as shit believe it is going to get SOME of us killed. It already is.

If your boss is God and His Work Orders are crucial for Salvation, then yeah, your little pipsqueak complaints about hazardous working conditions or break time aren't going very far. #AITheology

Soraya is right. Honestly her ten word skeet below is a pretty decent summary of my 100,000-word book on the topic.

I would like media to care more about the reality that tech tycoons want to kill people than what they’re imagining about AI wanting to kill people. We have multi-millionaires (with support from billionaires!) calling for ethnic cleansing, a thing that has happened in living memory. Not theoretical!

OUTRAGEOUS.

"Girl, you know I want your love Your love was handmade for somebody like me Well, come on now, follow my lead I may be crazy, don't mind me Say, "Boy, let's not talk too much" Grab on my waist and put that body on me Well, come on now, follow my lead, mm" ...But, but how could we cancel THIS?? 🖼️🎼

Yes, and also, back in the day artists wrote songs that were about absolutely nothing, it was more understandable because the musical genre was still being invented. But now when artists like Ed Sheeran build careers on vapidity and platitudes, that is on them. Buh bye

Tech broligarch sweaters, the priestly garments of the AI doomsday cult. A topic I never thought I'd find myself discussing with the BBC but here we are.

Granted it's a technology that is still not nearly as accessible or affordable as it should be. But if you are weighing the *possibility* of going electric...damn it feels good on days like this.

Speaking as someone who was there in the early 2000s, blogs weren't slop. Some of them were CRAP, but it was all HUMAN-MADE. The equivalent of "A.i." slop back then was the SPAM in blog COMMENTS. That was industrialized, automated, scammy bullshit -- just like generative "A.i." now.

...And the winner of th Ultrashort Humanist Fiction Contest that nobody knew existed is @carlbergstrom.com