Secret Third Thing

The Church of Claude (ft. Dan Hitchens)

Episode Summary

In this episode, First Things senior editor Dan Hitchens joins Virginia and Germán to discuss Magnifica Humanitas. Is it a disappointment or a triumph? Is it really a Boomer document? Why hasn't Leo XIV declared a Butlerian Jihad? Will artificial intelligence kill us all? Is worry about computer consciousness overwrought?

Episode Notes

Further reading:

• "Magnifica Humanitas" by Leo XIV
• "AI Doesn’t Know What It’s Doing" by Thomas Fowler (First Things)
• "The Future of Reading" by Wessie Du Toit (First Things)
• "A Boomer, But An Augustinian" by Jacob Phillips (First Things)
• "The Pope Should Be Going to War Against A.I. Why Isn’t He?" by Matthew Walther (New York Times)
• If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies, by Eliezer Yudkowsky