Or should that be JD Vance follows his leader? Thiel just had to get in on the “try to diss the Pope” act, and it was way, way, way out there. It’s also the first time that anything had been shown but the name, and eww. Thiel is a real piece of work. How he got to his level is puzzling. Must be due to the money. He *really* needs to go away. From CNN:
Billionaire tech investor Peter Thiel delivered a series of provocative warnings and predictions about the future of artificial intelligence and the West on Tuesday, accusing Pope Leo XIV of inadvertently serving as a “Chinese communist agent” by calling for AI regulation. In his remarks at the Aspen Ideas Festival in Colorado, he also warned of a “democratic-socialist takeover” of the United States’ Democratic Party.
Good grief. He’s off his rocker. Pope Leo is a Chinese communist agent? Really? He needs to pass along some of what he’s on because that’s a serious delusion. Pope Leo is not the only one who thinks there should be AI regulation. That field is moving too far too fast, and it needs brakes. It needs to be controlled, especially when we hear the rumors of how it’s being used to track American citizens, on top of supposed immigrants. We don’t want to think about adding AI to those damn full-body scanners at airports. Hate those things. They’re clunky and slow. But supposedly they’ve made tweaks to cover people’s personal parts. That vs an invasive patdown? No contest. But now, back to our regularly scheduled insane arse.
During the event, Thiel took direct aim at the Vatican, accusing Pope Leo XIV — the first pope from the United States — of unintentionally advancing Chinese interests by pushing for stronger international oversight of artificial intelligence. In May, Leo used his first encyclical, “Magnifica Humanitas” (“Magnificent Humanity”), to declare that artificial intelligence “must be disarmed” and call for greater international regulation of the technology. In his own view, Thiel said, that means Leo is “working for the Chinese Communists.” The Aspen audience received his characterization of the pope as a Chinese agent with laughter.
Laughter is about all that illusion is worth. A Chinese agent. Wat? AI *does* need to be brought under control. No, we can’t expect a “Terminator”, but there are far too many ways it could be misused. Look at the fight Anthropic had with the Pentagon over using their AI with no boundaries! Thiel is worrying about stupid things. China is probably already ahead of us. Look at how many computer parts we already get from them. But Thiel thinks Pope Leo is an agent.
The Vatican did not respond to a request for comment. Friction between the tech billionaire and the Vatican is not new. In March, Thiel gave an invitation-only lecture series on the Antichrist in Rome, just blocks away from the Holy See. The lectures reportedly unnerved the Vatican and prompted two Catholic universities to publicly state that they were not involved in hosting the events. Thiel has argued that the Antichrist could manifest not as an individual but as a world government that seizes power by promising to protect humanity against existential threats such as AI or global warming.
Oh, yes, way out there. It’s impossible to comprehend how these people get such way-out ideas, ones that can easily be overturned with facts. Even now, people are coming up with the most outrageous suggestions. We’re never going to understand because they don’t make sense. There is no common ground to use to try to understand. All we can do is say what the hell and go on from there.
See you soon!
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