Greg M. Epstein
@gregmepstein.bsky.social
6.4K followers 670 following 860 posts
Humanist Chaplain @Harvard/@MIT. NYT bestseller Good Without God. New multi-award-winner TECH AGNOSTIC: How Technology Became the World's Most Powerful Religion, & Why it Desperately Needs a Reformation @MITPress @PenguinRandom https://tinyurl.com/282sze6v
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gregmepstein.bsky.social
No joke: The ill-considered, lightning fast adoption of these faulty technologies across different sectors of society is nothing less than a mass cult conversion. It's the Kool Aid at scale, and we're treating it like a nice calming cup of green tea
marawilson.bsky.social
An AI answering service took a message from me for my doctor the other day.

The medical receptionist called me the next day because the AI service wasn’t able to give them a coherent message.

This is at a CARDIOLOGIST’s office, by the way.
gregmepstein.bsky.social
I told you all, in painstaking detail, about how Silicon Valley had literally begun to treat AI like a Messiah. I really, really wish I'd been kidding or exaggerating.
justinhendrix.bsky.social
"The hundreds of billions of dollars companies are investing in AI now account for an astonishing 40 per cent share of US GDP growth this year... In a way, then, America has become one big bet on AI."
America is now one big bet on AI
It’s seen as the magic fix for every threat to the US economy
www.ft.com
Reposted by Greg M. Epstein
clancyny.bsky.social
Folks are looking for press covering ICE in Adelanto, CA. San Bernardino County.
rafil.bsky.social
I have approximately zero following on this app, sharing in the hopes it can get in front of the right person. A man I went to college with’s wife was kidnapped by ICE at a green card hearing, and he’s trying to find a reporter who will speak to him about the situation
gregmepstein.bsky.social
Wow cool to get a comment from you Renee! Yes he's so tedious & just bad—to those fortunate enough to be well-trained not just intellectually but also to have heart/compassion. BUT MANY aren't so lucky—they may have power/$ but struggle w/human connection. For them his dourness=rebellion & it sells
gregmepstein.bsky.social
I mean...I think he is an incredibly dangerous man. I hugely admire your courage, determination, skill to take him on. You're a force of nature. Obviously you won on so many levels. I also think this is just the beginning of what taking him on would need to mean. Would love to join the fray w/you
gregmepstein.bsky.social
Heading home I passed by tens of thousands of concertgoers parading out of MSG in Manhattan. What does the world's richest tech company, its fortune built on search, have to say about that? Absolutely nothing correct. AI worshippers: your God is fucking pathetic. (Tate McRae=the correct answer fwiw)
https://www.google.com/search?q=who+performed+at+msg+tonight&oq=who+per&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUqBggAEEUYOzIGCAAQRRg7MgYIARBFGDnSAQgyMDIyajBqOagCALACAQ&client=ms-android-att-us-rvc3&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8
gregmepstein.bsky.social
Nice, I am feeling like I don't feel like posting my reactions on this site just yet, but your class sounds fascinating and if helpful I'm always happy to talk through ideas with you
gregmepstein.bsky.social
Lol @davidfrye.bsky.social I've missed our chats but can't necessarily say I've missed this kind of social media! We should do a family reunion instead and kibbitz about politics and society in real time!
gregmepstein.bsky.social
This place was still hopping when I decided to take a 6-month social media break...six months ago. How's it going now?
gregmepstein.bsky.social
Glen says there is a need and a purpose to it, and I believe he has thought that through deeply. We shall see, and I am not involved in this event in the slightest, but I am prepared to potentially come away from this fully agreeing with you.
gregmepstein.bsky.social
Did I travel to NYC for 15 hours to see a debate between @glenweyl.bsky.social and Curtis Yarvin, a man known as "Mencius Moldbug" for his influence on people like Thiel, Vance, and Musk,
on whether the U.S. should be ruled by a CEO dictator? Why yes, it appears that I did. #OpenToDebate #Scared
Playbill for this event https://opentodebate.org/debate/should-the-u-s-be-ruled-by-a-ceo-dictator/ Open to Debate (non-profit organization sponsoring the event) Should the U.S. Be Ruled by a CEO Dictator?
gregmepstein.bsky.social
I'm in month 5 of a 6-month self-gifted sabbatical from social media posting—but allowed myself a LinkedIn life update—I'm in a NYT article on "Techno-Religion" as NYT's Cade Metz calls it. 🎯 what my 📔 #TechAgnostic is about! Check out my post on LI & @bcmerchant.bsky.social's great writeup here.
bcmerchant.bsky.social
Last year I went to an invite-only conference for AI researchers, rationalists, and doomers at Lighthaven, the hub of what the NYT described as a "new techno-religion" in a piece this week. It reminded me that I wrote up an account of the event but never pubbed it—better late than never, I figure:
AI disagreements
Inside a closed-door AI doomer conference with rationalists, tech executives, and the acolytes of Silicon Valley's "new religion"
www.bloodinthemachine.com
Reposted by Greg M. Epstein
markyarm.bsky.social
In January, I traveled to Panama to check out Ocean Builders, the startup behind “eco-forward housing solutions” called SeaPods. Here's the report, my first piece for the NYT Magazine. In print (it looks glorious!) on Sunday. www.nytimes.com/2025/04/15/m...
The Techno-Utopian Seasteaders Who Want to Colonize the Ocean (Gift Article)
Libertarians have long looked at ocean living as the next frontier. Some wealthy men are testing the waters.
www.nytimes.com
Reposted by Greg M. Epstein
polrightsrev.bsky.social
A must-read: Greg M. Epstein ( @gregmepstein.bsky.social ) explores how technology has taken on the role of religion. In this excerpt from "Tech Agnostic" (The MIT Press), he examines belief, awe, and meaning in the digital age. Available in 3 languages
The History of Tech-As-Religion - Politics and Rights Review
Excerpt from Tech Agnostic: How Technology Became the World’s Most Powerful Religion, and Why It Desperately Needs a Reformation (MITPress)
politicsrights.com
Reposted by Greg M. Epstein
hypervisible.blacksky.app
Weird that he can’t recognize that only a villain would say “cure cancer or whatever.”
cwarzel.bsky.social
this is the core of the aggrieved tech billionaire archetype. Sam says it aloud. the way many of them see the techlash is that, one day they were Great Men of History and the next, with zero warning, they were inexplicably villains. everything that comes after stems from an inability to examine this
gregmepstein.bsky.social
Everyone give a follow to the great @sturkle.bsky.social, who juuuuust joined BkueSky! Make it feel like the olden days of November '24! Sherry's work is one of the bigger reasons I started researching tech and writing what became my book Tech Agnostic. I know many have similar stories.
gregmepstein.bsky.social
If anything Trump's stories about little DJ, who has survived cancer and wants to be a police officer, or Jason Hartley who was informed he got into West Point, etc., should confirm him as a master manipulator. He expertly plays on emotion, winning praise for deeply immoral acts. What a fight ahead.
pennye.bsky.social
I agree. Also, we have to stop saying that his speeches are ineffective. He told stories tonight. Powerful human stories. Some of them were built on lies. But stories move people and he gets that.
Reposted by Greg M. Epstein
gregmepstein.bsky.social
Watching Trump's speech. This may not be my most popular post, but: So much time and energy attacking him for cognitive decline or being unintelligent, wasted. He's duplicitous, immoral, and often traitorous. But cognitively OK. We must change our line of attack or be stuck with him for a long time.
gregmepstein.bsky.social
Watching Trump's speech. This may not be my most popular post, but: So much time and energy attacking him for cognitive decline or being unintelligent, wasted. He's duplicitous, immoral, and often traitorous. But cognitively OK. We must change our line of attack or be stuck with him for a long time.
gregmepstein.bsky.social
I'm guest preaching at a church today, on my book Tech Agnostic: How Technology Became the World's Most Powerful Religion and Why it Desperately Needs a Reformation. Before the service the tech guy pointed out to the minister that some members have been DMing prayers and he needs to check them. 👨‍🍳😘
Reposted by Greg M. Epstein
donmoyn.bsky.social
New, from me: Musk is not just destroying core government functions, he is also destroying the tech capacity of government.
The people with serious tech skills who care about fixing govt have been fired. Both 18F and the US Digital Service are gone.
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/skilled-te...
Skilled technologists are being forced out of government
18F and USDS are gutted by DOGE
donmoynihan.substack.com
gregmepstein.bsky.social
Are there better experiences in life than having tomorrow's speech printed, timed, and successfully rehearsed before tonight's bedtime? Sure. But not many!
gregmepstein.bsky.social
A lot of Americans of vague white Christian backgrounds (never anyone else, really) have told me they regret that unlike others, they don't really have "a culture." Oh no you very much do
faineg.bsky.social
At an uncannily authentic-looking American barbecue place in Hua Lien, Taiwan right now. (It’s called The Salt Lick).
Hua Lien Taiwan restaurant and bar called the Salt Lick
gregmepstein.bsky.social
I changed my schedule around so that on certain weeks I'm not available at all, but on other weeks I once again, is if it were pre-tech days, have time to linger in conversation and drop by people's offices and discover new possibilities. So far it's the best thing I've done at work in MONTHS