Artificial Intelligence is no longer just a technical project. It’s increasingly becoming central to the story we tell about ourselves, our future, and what ultimately gives human life meaning. I recently invited Jaron Lanier, E. Glen Weyl, and Taylor Black to join us on the podcast to explore not only the promises and perils of AI, but the deeper aesthetic and spiritual questions that surround it. What happens when emerging technologies are treated as either sources of salvation or harbingers of our obsolescence? And what it would mean instead to shape them toward genuine human flourishing?
Jaron Lanier coined the terms Virtual Reality and Mixed Reality and is widely regarded as a founding figure of the field. He has served as a leading critic of digital culture and social media, and his books include You Are Not a Gadget and Who Owns the Future? In 2018, Wired Magazine named him one of the 25 most influential people in technology of the previous 25 years. Time Magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world. Jaron is currently the Prime Unifying Scientist at Microsoft’s Office of the Chief Technology Officer, which spells out “Octopus”, in reference to his fascination with cephalopod neurology. He is also a musician and composer who has recently performed or recorded with Sara Bareilles, T Bone Burnett, Jon Batiste, Philip Glass, and others.
E. Glen Weyl is Founder and Research Lead at Microsoft Research’s Plural Technology Collaboratory and Co-Founder of the Plurality Institute and RadicalxChange Foundation. He is the co-author of Radical Markets and Plurality and works at the intersection of economics, technology, democracy, and social institutions.
Taylor Black is Director of AI & Venture Ecosystems in the Office of the Chief Technology Officer at Microsoft and the founding director of the Leonum Institute on Emerging Technologies and AI at The Catholic University of America. His background spans philosophy, law, and technology leadership.
In this first part of our conversation, we discuss:
1. How aesthetic experience shapes worldview, imagination, and intellectual vocation
2. The historical rivalry between artificial intelligence and cybernetics
3. The danger of treating AI as an object of faith or a replacement for human meaning
4. The psychological and spiritual costs of assuming people will become obsolete
5. A tension between two different modalities of beauty
To learn more about Jaron, Glen and Taylor’s work, you can find them at:
Jaron Lanier - https://www.jaronlanier.com/
Glen Weyl - https://glenweyl.com/
Taylor Black - https://www.linkedin.com/in/blacktaylor/, https://substack.com/@pourbrew
Books and Resources mentioned:
You Are Not a Gadget (Jaron Lanier)
Who Owns the Future? (Jaron Lanier)
Radical Markets (Eric Posner & E. Glen Weyl)
Plurality (Audrey Tang & E. Glen Weyl)
The Human Use of Human Beings (Norbert Wiener)
The Fellowship of the Ring (J.R.R. Tolkien)
This season of the podcast is sponsored by Templeton Religion Trust.
