Pope Leo taught Tech Bros on Tolkien

No one was surprised by this Pope Leo XIV He cited famous saints and former popes in his book First encyclicalOr the Pontifical Letter for Spiritual Guidance,”Great humanity“, released on Monday.

But the name that immediately jumped out at many readers is synonymous with high fantasy literature: JRR TolkienCatholic author Lord of the Rings.

Liu’s message concerns “human protection in times of… artificial intelligence“, was a major theme of his first year as leader of the Catholic Church. Drawing on his predecessor, Pope Francis, he warns against “the growing dominance of the technocratic model,” a model capable of “turning creation into an object of exploitation and human beings into mere cogs in a system driven toward ever greater efficiency.” He again compares the rise of artificial intelligence to the industrial revolution that spanned from the mid-eighteenth century to the beginning of the twentieth century, referring to the teachings of his namesake Pope Leo 1891 on the importance of workers’ rights and dignity during a time of technological upheaval and a burgeoning capitalist empire.

The lengthy text reinforces Liu’s position as an AI skeptic. But Tolkien’s nod is particularly notable given some of the reactionary interpretations of Middle-earth mythology by right-wing billionaires like Peter Thiel and Elon Musk, which have long been mocked by others. Lord of the Rings Fans. One would think Leo as well Phishing. (The Vatican did not immediately respond to a request for comment.)

The Pope is clearly somewhat concerned about the motivations of oligarchs in technology who are racing to develop artificial general intelligence beyond human capabilities. Do they really dream of using this tool to cure diseases and solve climate change, or are they building engines for unlimited profit and cultural dominance? When he addresses our personal responsibility in defying such dark forces, Leo borrows an insight from Tolkien’s famous wizard, Gandalf: “It is not our part to master all the tides of the world, but to do what is in us to succor those years we have passed, and root out evil from the fields we know, so that those who live afterward may have clean ground to till.”

This lesson is miles away from what Musk and Thiel seem to see in Tolkien’s masterpiece.

Thiel named his data analysis company Palantir, after the crystal ball used by the traitorous wizard Saruman as a spy device in the saga. He reportedly calls his venture capital firm, Founders Fund, “Precious“, what the twisted and greedy character Gollum calls the One Ring, a magical vehicle for totalitarian power. Almost anyone who has met Tolkien (or adaptations of his work) can see that he was writing about the corrupting influence of this power – in the novels, the lure of rule inevitably invalidates anyone who succumbs to it – and yet Thel seems to have the same potential for tyrannical control and absolute knowledge as the villains.

For his part, Musk suggested that Tolkien’s epic could be read as an anti-immigration, anti-wall-building tale: “When Tolkien wrote about hobbits, he was referring to gentlemen in the English counties, who are unaware of the atrocities happening far away.” to publish On X in October. “They were able to live their lives in peace and quiet, but only because they were protected by the hard men of Gondor.” View this Simply inaccurate to remember Lord of the Rings In defense of UK far-right instigator Tommy Robinson.