1399 THE TECH GODS: AI, IMMORTALITY & THE DEATH OF RELIGION

**Richard Syrett** (0:00)
Best thing that's ever happened to you financially.

**SPEAKER_2** (0:02)
Go.

**Steve McVey** (0:02)
Easy.

**SPEAKER_4** (0:03)
Sold my car on Carvana.

**Steve McVey** (0:04)
Amazing offer.

**Richard Syrett** (0:05)
Really? I hit 200 on a scratcher. Did the scratcher come to your house and hand you a check? No.

**SPEAKER_4** (0:11)
How many scratchers did you hit to get that?

**Steve McVey** (0:13)
I hit a button on carvana.com once.

**SPEAKER_2** (0:15)
Okay, that's fair.

**Steve McVey** (0:17)
It's like the lottery, except you always win.

**Richard Syrett** (0:20)
Not like the lottery at all, actually.

**Steve McVey** (0:22)
Exactly.

**SPEAKER_2** (0:23)
Inexplicably good.

**Richard Syrett** (0:25)
Offer's worth bragging about.

**SPEAKER_4** (0:27)
Sell your car today on Carvana.

**Steve McVey** (0:28)
Pick up VsMayApply.

**SPEAKER_2** (0:30)
Fears the virus is trending on TikTok.

**Richard Syrett** (0:33)
Vaccines are poison.

**SPEAKER_2** (0:35)
Then your yoga teacher says that sex-trafficked children are being sacrificed by satanic liberals.

**SPEAKER_4** (0:47)
Every week on Conspirituality Podcast, we explore the fever dreams that suck friends, family and wellness gurus down the right-wing cult spiral in a search for salvation.

**SPEAKER_2** (1:03)
Richard Syrett's Strange Planet, following the truth wherever it leads, exposing evil and corruption and the secret machinations of powerful elites, revealing the highest strangeness beneath the surface of our supposed reality. Coming to you from the great white north and his studio beneath the stairs.
Here's Richard.

**Richard Syrett** (1:30)
Silicon Valley used to promise us better computers, faster communication and a more connected world. Now, some of its most influential figures are talking about something far more radical. Defeating aging, uploading the human mind, merging with artificial intelligence, engineering new forms of consciousness, perhaps even escaping the biological limits of the human body altogether. That's right, immortality. People like Ray Kurzweil, Peter Thiel, Sam Altman, Elon Musk and the architects of transhumanism are no longer simply asking what technology could do for us. They're asking what technology can turn us into. And that's where this stops being merely a technological conversation and starts sounding strangely spiritual. Because for thousands of years, religion has wrestled with the great questions. What is a human being? What is consciousness? Is there something beyond the body? Can death be conquered? And what does it mean to live forever?
Now, some of the most powerful people, again, in Silicon Valley, are attempting to answer those questions with algorithms, artificial intelligence, biotechnology, brain implants and machines. Tonight, I want to begin with a provocative question. Is Silicon Valley building the future or building its own religion?
Dr. Steve McVey is a pioneering voice at the intersection of Spirituality, Neuroscience, Consciousness Studies, and Quantum Thought. A best-selling author of more than two dozen books, including Quantum Life, The Kingdom of God is Within You and Beyond an Angry God. He's known for challenging conventional religious paradigms, while exploring how ancient spiritual wisdom converges with modern discoveries in quantum physics, neuroplasticity, human consciousness, and transformational psychology.
Blending Christian mysticism, theology, neuroscience, and cutting-edge scientific ideas. Steve explores questions many are asking, but few are willing to discuss openly. Is consciousness fundamental to reality? How does belief reshape human experience? What if grace is not merely a doctrine, but the underlying operating system of existence itself? His work resonates with spiritually curious audiences who are drawn to conversations about awakening, identity, non-duality, mystical experience, healing, and the evolving relationship between science and faith.
Steve, welcome to Strange Planet. How are you?

**Steve McVey** (3:55)
Great. Thank you, Richard. I've looked forward to this conversation with you. I noticed your tagline on your site was, following truth wherever it leads. I thought that guy is a kindred spirit. If that is his mindset.

**Richard Syrett** (4:09)
So I mentioned Peter Thiel, who is anagram, coincidentally or not, is spells the reptile.
He wants to challenge death. Brian Johnson is trying to reverse his biological age, or occurs while I mentioned, predicts humans will merge with machines. Musk is wiring brains to computers. Sam Altman is helping build increasingly powerful artificial intelligence. What the hell is going on in Silicon Valley? I mean, why are the people building our technological future suddenly obsessed with immortality and consciousness and transcending the human condition?

**Steve McVey** (4:48)
You know, those guys are asking the same questions that people have asked all along. But every civilization has tried to transcend the limitations that we are aware of. Cultures before us did it through myth, through ritual, through philosophy, and even through religion.
In the last century, of course, we were all about matter. Scientific materialism was the king then. But in the 21st century, I think something is shifting. And now rather than the focus being about material things, it's about information. It's about deeper experiences of reality and understanding that.