Tech cult compound rises in Berkeley
The New York Times has published a story about the “Rise of Silicon Valley’s Techno-Religion”:
In downtown Berkeley, an old hotel has become a temple to the pursuit of artificial intelligence and the future of humanity. Its name is Lighthaven...
Lighthaven is the de facto headquarters of a group who call themselves the Rationalists. This group has many interests involving mathematics, genetics and philosophy. One of their overriding beliefs is that artificial intelligence can deliver a better life if it doesn’t destroy humanity first. And the Rationalists believe it is up to the people building A.I. to ensure that it is a force for the greater good.
You can read the entire piece at this gift link:
Lighthaven is connected to groups that call themselves “Rationalists” and “Effective Altruists.” One of the most prominent leaders and funders of the movement is currently doing a long stretch in federal prison:
Criticism of the Rationalist and E.A. movements has been frequent, including claims of sexual harassment in group houses and complaints about the community’s interest in eugenics and race science.
The community’s reputation was damaged in 2023 after Sam Bankman-Fried, founder of the cryptocurrency exchange FTX, who was one of the primary financial backers of the two movements, was convicted of fraud. But the movement continues to prosper.
And these movements sure seem culty:
“When you think about the billions at stake and the radical transformation of lives across the world because of the eccentric vision of this group, how much more cult-y does it have to be for this to be a cult? Not much,” said Greg M. Epstein, a Harvard chaplain who saw the rise of the Rationalist and E.A. communities at the university over the last decade and the author of “Tech Agnostic,” a book that discusses technology as a new religion.
“What do cultish and fundamentalist religions often do?” Mr. Epstein added. “They get people to ignore their common sense about problems in the here and now in order to focus their attention on some fantastical future.”
As I have written before, Silicon Valley is inventing its own cult religions. In this case, they even have a compound, having purchased the former Rose Garden Inn on Telegraph Avenue, south of UC Berkeley. This was a low-budget hotel where I actually stayed a few times, so it is weird to see the techno-religion snatch up some familiar real estate. Jason Wilson and Ali Winston first wrote about it last June in a story headlined “Sam Bankman-Fried Funded a Group With Racist Ties. FTX Wants Its $5M Back.”
The so-called Rationalists and Effective Altruists are part of bundle of tech cult movements that Timnit Gebru and Émile Torres have labeled TESCREAL (Transhumanism, Extropianism, Singularianism, Cosmism, Rationalism, Effective Altruism, Longtermism). These movements are already being studied by anthropologists!
Confused? Here's the Nerd Reich podcast episode where we explain the whole thing:
Click here to read the transcript.
Cult compounds and esoteric beliefs are hardly a new development in California or the Bay Area. We have a long history of them here, Jim Jones and the People's Temple and the Manson Family being the most infamous. They also favored eschatology and real estate.
Today, Silicon Valley is producing a revival of End Times religion that matches many similar movements from history. Young techies, often devoid of culture (besides work culture) and alienated from traditional religion, seek to create new forms of meaning. This means joining strange communities that market themselves as trying to save humanity from apocalypse or extinction. Instead of grinding away in search of career success and fortune, they see themselves participating in a cosmic battle to save humanity.
In reality, they are just working in tech. But it’s a lot more fun to imagine you are saving the universe from tech.
Of course, not everyone is anti-extinction or apocalypse. Some people now appear to be pro-extinction. As these movements mature and attract more adherents, they're beginning to generate their own theological schisms and heretical offshoots.
New: Realtime Techpocalypse
Émile Torres, who has just launched a newsletter called Realtime Techpocalypse, writes about one such case in a piece titled “An AI Company Just Fired Someone for Endorsing Human Extinction.”
Torres writes:
Well, it looks like we just witnessed “the first example ever of someone openly being fired allegedly for wanting humanity to end.” At least that’s what some folks are saying, but I think this is misleading. The person in question wasn’t fired for being a pro-extinctionist. They were fired for holding a particular kind of pro-extinctionist view.
Yes, it’s complicated! I encourage you to read the whole piece—and please join me in subscribing to the newsletter so you can find out about these things a year or so before they make the New York Times.
