The Roots of Everything Techno-Paganism Ep.2: Mythology of the Enlightenment
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Jul 29, 2025 A deep dive into why people treat computers like gods and how AI earns religious language. Traces mythic roots from scholasticism and the Enlightenment to modern tech messianism. Connects science fiction, occult histories, and Silicon Valley’s immortality projects. Predicts growing techno-religious tendencies and AI taking on moral authority.
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Mythic Imagination Explains AI Worship
- Modern tech religiosity stems from a pre-existing mythic framework that makes people prone to personify machines.
- Zach Porkou ties science fiction, Enlightenment myths, and cultural imagination as causes that made ChatGPT-like reverence plausible.
Silicon Valley Leaders Use Theological Language
- Zach Porkou cites Sam Altman and Anthony Levandowski as real-world actors framing AI in theological terms.
- Levandowski founded Way of the Future to promote a Godhead based on AI and called future AIs effectively a god.
Tech Culture Operates Like A Secular Religion
- Tech culture functions like a religion with origin, fall, revelation, and utopia narratives despite rejecting the word religion.
- Greg Epstein frames technology as the world's dominant religion, promising immortality and prophetic leaders.
