305 - Professor Jiang: They Want the AI Crash | On Altman, Zuckerberg, & Silicon Valley

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Robinson Erhardt (1:00)

I'm wondering what it is that you're trying to convince me of right now.

Jiang Xueqin (1:04)

These people who work in AI, they do involve their cult. They think AI is a god that will deem humanity. That's why they're so into it. Why are you so sympathetic towards these AI companies?

Robinson Erhardt (1:15)

But can you answer that? Do you believe that there are demons out there and they are summoning them?

Jiang Xueqin (1:21)

You're basically indoctrinated into a certain deference to these people.

Robinson Erhardt (1:26)

Before we continue, I just want to make sure that you don't feel that I'm being disrespectful to you in some way.

Jiang Xueqin (1:32)

Can you very quickly just Google this? Do you have your phone?

You have to do this. Otherwise, it's hard for us to have a conversation.

Robinson Erhardt (1:39)

Sure. Can you Google something for us?

Jiang Xueqin (1:41)

Just look at this, okay?

Robinson Erhardt (1:42)

Claims from an anonymous former OpenAI executive describing Sam Altman as building portals from which they are genuinely summoning aliens.

Jiang Xueqin (1:53)

These people are insane.

Robinson Erhardt (1:57)

Hello, this is Robinson Erhardt here with a brief introduction to the last of my three conversations with Jiang Xueqin, the first two of which are self-contained and linked in the pinned comment and the description. Jiang is a Chinese-Canadian educator. He's the host of Predictive History on YouTube. Then he is also the author of the Substack by the same name.

Jiang and I had been talking for seven hours when we started this one to end our marathon. We were both already at the ends of our nerves, but we really didn't agree on anything at all. So we ended the conversation a bit abruptly because it was really difficult to find any common ground on which to discuss AI at all. I had expected to talk about economics, cybersecurity, existential threats. But for Jiang, the AI executives' central goals are occult. And since I neither believe in the paranormal nor have any compelling evidence that people like Sam Altman hold those beliefs, it was hard for me to talk about, let alone to understand why someone would take this seriously. Anyway, you should check out Predictive History if you find Jiang's positions compelling and want to better understand how he's reached them. For my part, I shall return for an outro with some reflections, as I got a lot out of talking with Jiang, both in this episode alone and throughout these three conversations. One quick note, though, is that because I'm not an expert in how large language models work, I've included a couple of links to helpful videos in the description that could clarify Jiang's description that he gives at the beginning of the conversation. But that's that. I hope that you enjoy this conversation as much as I enjoyed having it with Jiang.

You've argued that the real purpose of AI is to enslave humanity, which is a very bold claim and I'm really looking forward to discussing it.

Jiang Xueqin (4:25)

But before we get there, sorry, sorry, I've argued in the past that AI is meant to transform humanity.

Robinson Erhardt (4:34)

Okay.

Jiang Xueqin (4:34)

Yeah, or redeem humanity.

Robinson Erhardt (4:36)

Redeem humanity. Okay. So not enslave humanity.

Jiang Xueqin (4:38)

Well, it's the same thing, but I mean like the correct phrase will be redeem.

Robinson Erhardt (4:42)

Okay. That's totally fair.

Before we get to that though, I think it makes most sense to begin maybe with where we are now and how we've gotten here. So, I know you mentioned wanting to talk about the AI bubble, but before we can even talk about what the AI bubble is, we need to get on the same page about what AI as it currently exists is, because there are very different beliefs about that.