This was an excellent read. So much that resonates here. I was roughly ten years old when the first iPhone released, I remember that pre-2007 world. A sense of community was omnipresent, and despite it being harder to communicate (relative to today) people were certainly more connected. The late 1990s - early 2000s had this aura of hope about it. People were very friendly, generally speaking, and no one seemed to be in a great rush. It felt like an exciting new new world was right around the corner, or at least that's how I remember it.
When I think of the Machine I cannot help but think of Fr. Seraphim Rose's 'Nihilism: The Root of the Revolution of the Modern Age.' In my mind nowhere is the manifestation of nihilism in our society made manifest more evidently than in the slow and methodical development of the Machine and all that comes with it. Having lost faith in the truth, our society has by and large made a bargain with the Machine.
In this bargain we'll turn over everything we've ever needed (truth, genuine connection, intimacy, and community) for everything our darkest nature(s) have ever wanted (power, control, lust, wealth, etc.) - only most of us won't realize how deep into the dark forest we've walked until it's too late.
I believe it was Paul Kingsnorth whom stated at one point or another that this development of AI (and modern technology generally speaking) is the continuation of the apple in the garden. I agree.
Our Lord, Jesus Christ, Son of God - have mercy on us.
So we’re about the same age. An interesting pivot point to be born in the late 90s. Not quite as digitally saturated as later years but definitely onboarding all these new things with little foresight.
Yes, you just got a shout-out in a recent newsletter of Rod's!
You can pretty well predict where a lot of tech advance will end up by watching early episodes of Black Mirror. "Be Right Back" is from those early seasons that were actually disturbing (the recent stuff is weak).
Premise: Young husband dies and wife uploads, based on his online activity, his consciousness to a fleshy robot. Very unsettling stuff, but clearly a huge market if it works.
Black Mirror of course presents it with a critical eye. Now, techies celebrate it.
Lord help me. There is so much that happened today that is making me see things differently. I began the day reading part of this article, and then I had to visit family. My brother has been visiting the chapel everyday for lent and he feels the holy spirit so strongly. He was telling me this and about dreams of the devil trying to separate him from God on his journey. Then I came back to finish this article. I'm going to try to change my life to seek God first before anything else.
Excellent piece. I'm reading "Living in Wonder" now, and the occult chapters caused me to begin re-reading The Screwtape Letters. I came across the below quote (which caused me to write my own short substack article) that was frighteningly prescient:
"If once we can produce our perfect work the Materialist Magician, the man, not using, but veritably worshipping, what he vaguely calls "Forces" while denying the existence of "spirits" then the end of the war will be in sight."
I don't have much to comment except to say that I'll be disappointed if the billions of dollars in GPU required to run AI turn out to be a very expensive recreation of Captain Howdy.
The scariest part of Screwtape is the passage you quoted about the gradual road to Hell being wasting away time doing nothing at all—not even fun sins, but (in 2025) endless doom/boredom scrolling.
Thank you! Screwtape Letters is full of relevant nuggets, but yes, that section also struck me as a sadly accurate description of many people's lives today.
I tend to think that we've misnomered these things we call Smart Phones. They're not phones, and smart is the wrong descriptor. "Device" seems too neutral a term.
"Portal" seems apt. And it carries the connotation that your article is driving at.
Thanks. I always liked computers when they were toys. But with the rise of the internet etc. I'm beginning to feel more like this. They're almost like porn themselves: designed to entrap you, and might well be treated as demonic; at least so easily a tool of the demonic as to be best avoided.
Most excellent Sir. Thank you so much for putting these thoughts and analysis into your Substack. I am an Orthodox catechumen and writings like this bolster my understanding and journey. 🙏☦️
Have you read (nonfiction) American Cosmic by Diane Pasulka? Your essay reminds me of the real life character in the book Tyler who "downloads" creative tech innovations for NASA.....it also reminds me of a series of essays from around ten years ago by Christopher Knowles of The Secret Sun blog called Lucifer's Technologies that piece together the last 80 years of exponential tech growth and tie it to Alastair Crowley and Jack Parsons.
I'm on my third read of this essay and it's so prescient.
This was an excellent read. So much that resonates here. I was roughly ten years old when the first iPhone released, I remember that pre-2007 world. A sense of community was omnipresent, and despite it being harder to communicate (relative to today) people were certainly more connected. The late 1990s - early 2000s had this aura of hope about it. People were very friendly, generally speaking, and no one seemed to be in a great rush. It felt like an exciting new new world was right around the corner, or at least that's how I remember it.
When I think of the Machine I cannot help but think of Fr. Seraphim Rose's 'Nihilism: The Root of the Revolution of the Modern Age.' In my mind nowhere is the manifestation of nihilism in our society made manifest more evidently than in the slow and methodical development of the Machine and all that comes with it. Having lost faith in the truth, our society has by and large made a bargain with the Machine.
In this bargain we'll turn over everything we've ever needed (truth, genuine connection, intimacy, and community) for everything our darkest nature(s) have ever wanted (power, control, lust, wealth, etc.) - only most of us won't realize how deep into the dark forest we've walked until it's too late.
I believe it was Paul Kingsnorth whom stated at one point or another that this development of AI (and modern technology generally speaking) is the continuation of the apple in the garden. I agree.
Our Lord, Jesus Christ, Son of God - have mercy on us.
So we’re about the same age. An interesting pivot point to be born in the late 90s. Not quite as digitally saturated as later years but definitely onboarding all these new things with little foresight.
There’s a reason for Apple’s name and logo (the Apple with a bite taken out of it), after all!
Hi. You might find this article on AI and necromancy also interesting (Daniel .. a friend of Rod Dreher) https://open.substack.com/pub/undergroundchurch/p/the-megabucks-of-ai-necromancy?r=bgzv3&utm_medium=ios
Also, keep up the good work as an Anglican vicar. You are needed!
I didn’t notice the shout out. Must have a look. Many thanks for your kind words
Yes, you just got a shout-out in a recent newsletter of Rod's!
You can pretty well predict where a lot of tech advance will end up by watching early episodes of Black Mirror. "Be Right Back" is from those early seasons that were actually disturbing (the recent stuff is weak).
Premise: Young husband dies and wife uploads, based on his online activity, his consciousness to a fleshy robot. Very unsettling stuff, but clearly a huge market if it works.
Black Mirror of course presents it with a critical eye. Now, techies celebrate it.
Hi. Do you know which letter Rod gave me a shout out, can’t find it as yet. Many thanks 😀
Halfway down — he called your essay “powerful.” I agree!
https://open.substack.com/pub/roddreher/p/trump-in-the-real-world?r=97q07&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
Lord help me. There is so much that happened today that is making me see things differently. I began the day reading part of this article, and then I had to visit family. My brother has been visiting the chapel everyday for lent and he feels the holy spirit so strongly. He was telling me this and about dreams of the devil trying to separate him from God on his journey. Then I came back to finish this article. I'm going to try to change my life to seek God first before anything else.
Excellent piece. I'm reading "Living in Wonder" now, and the occult chapters caused me to begin re-reading The Screwtape Letters. I came across the below quote (which caused me to write my own short substack article) that was frighteningly prescient:
"If once we can produce our perfect work the Materialist Magician, the man, not using, but veritably worshipping, what he vaguely calls "Forces" while denying the existence of "spirits" then the end of the war will be in sight."
The Screwtape Letters is one of my favorites. Very worth the reread.
Sad fact though is that it’s difficult to find this content or have these conversations without engaging with the beast. 🤷
This is so good. Thank you!
When I saw this article, I was reminded of this: https://damagemag.com/2022/04/21/the-internet-is-made-of-demons/ In finding the URL for it, I also found another seemingly similar article that I haven't read yet: https://www.thebulwark.com/p/the-internet-of-demonic-things
I don't have much to comment except to say that I'll be disappointed if the billions of dollars in GPU required to run AI turn out to be a very expensive recreation of Captain Howdy.
Thanks for sharing!
F—— gold!
The scariest part of Screwtape is the passage you quoted about the gradual road to Hell being wasting away time doing nothing at all—not even fun sins, but (in 2025) endless doom/boredom scrolling.
Thank you! Screwtape Letters is full of relevant nuggets, but yes, that section also struck me as a sadly accurate description of many people's lives today.
I tend to think that we've misnomered these things we call Smart Phones. They're not phones, and smart is the wrong descriptor. "Device" seems too neutral a term.
"Portal" seems apt. And it carries the connotation that your article is driving at.
Thanks. I always liked computers when they were toys. But with the rise of the internet etc. I'm beginning to feel more like this. They're almost like porn themselves: designed to entrap you, and might well be treated as demonic; at least so easily a tool of the demonic as to be best avoided.
Most excellent Sir. Thank you so much for putting these thoughts and analysis into your Substack. I am an Orthodox catechumen and writings like this bolster my understanding and journey. 🙏☦️
God bless you!
The daemon has always been the misuse of technology.
The past had technology (hidden) just as the present does.
Spiritualty and knowing oneself has always been the revelation of the misuse of technology, throughout the ages....
I listened to a priest discuss a certain exorcism and he referenced demons texting. They can use technology.
Have you read (nonfiction) American Cosmic by Diane Pasulka? Your essay reminds me of the real life character in the book Tyler who "downloads" creative tech innovations for NASA.....it also reminds me of a series of essays from around ten years ago by Christopher Knowles of The Secret Sun blog called Lucifer's Technologies that piece together the last 80 years of exponential tech growth and tie it to Alastair Crowley and Jack Parsons.
I'm on my third read of this essay and it's so prescient.
Wonderful read, thank you for writing and sharing. May light and love be with you!
This feels so accurate