I agree on the broad strokes but am not sure about Christians specifically coming out on top. I understand using that example in the article, for reasons of familiarity, but it is interesting to think about which specific belief communities win and lose in this era.
Above all, it just seems like a new world, and it seems unlikely that meme-species of the past are going to be the ones that thrive in the new world. Let’s be a little more specific than that, though.
First, traditional religions are just on the decline in general. Pew reserach reports that, globally, only Islam grew. If we dig into that, the US-specific data suggest that the growth of Islam is due to people leaving Christianity. Without Christian converts, Islam would also be on the decline, at least in the US.
My money is on two kinds of winners:
* Orthodox sects that have stood the test of time, largely due to successfully giving people a good, clean, fulfilling life, albeit a boring one. The AI can learn how and why a belief system achieves the results it does, teach a pastor how it works, and then double down on it with improved services, practices, and lessons. I don’t feel bad about this part of the future, if it happens. If something is wrong, but it works, then it’s not wrong. * New quasi-religious strands of progress. I share Paul Graham’s intution, from back in 2004, that there are things you get in massive trouble for saying, even though other words that mean the same thing are allowed or even encouraged. AIs speed this process up and make it more virulent. The “pastors” in this case will not always be present, but the bubbles that have one will tend to have a thought leader that seeks out a population but without caring what happens to them over a century or more. This part scares me.
Let me part with a bright side of it all. Humanity is special in that we make groups that explore different ideas from each other. We are now enterring an era where there are many more such groups, exploring more such ideas, than ever before.
I agree on the broad strokes but am not sure about Christians specifically coming out on top. I understand using that example in the article, for reasons of familiarity, but it is interesting to think about which specific belief communities win and lose in this era.
Above all, it just seems like a new world, and it seems unlikely that meme-species of the past are going to be the ones that thrive in the new world. Let’s be a little more specific than that, though.
First, traditional religions are just on the decline in general. Pew reserach reports that, globally, only Islam grew. If we dig into that, the US-specific data suggest that the growth of Islam is due to people leaving Christianity. Without Christian converts, Islam would also be on the decline, at least in the US.
My money is on two kinds of winners:
* Orthodox sects that have stood the test of time, largely due to successfully giving people a good, clean, fulfilling life, albeit a boring one. The AI can learn how and why a belief system achieves the results it does, teach a pastor how it works, and then double down on it with improved services, practices, and lessons. I don’t feel bad about this part of the future, if it happens. If something is wrong, but it works, then it’s not wrong.
* New quasi-religious strands of progress. I share Paul Graham’s intution, from back in 2004, that there are things you get in massive trouble for saying, even though other words that mean the same thing are allowed or even encouraged. AIs speed this process up and make it more virulent. The “pastors” in this case will not always be present, but the bubbles that have one will tend to have a thought leader that seeks out a population but without caring what happens to them over a century or more. This part scares me.
Let me part with a bright side of it all. Humanity is special in that we make groups that explore different ideas from each other. We are now enterring an era where there are many more such groups, exploring more such ideas, than ever before.