Realtime Techpocalypse Has Its First Birthday!

This newsletter is now a 1-year-old. A look at some of the past year's highlights.

In July 2025, I had the honor of going to lunch with journalist Gil Duran and astrophysicist Adam Becker. I was living in San Francisco at the time, and Adam had recently launched his excellent book More Everything Forever — a powerful and comprehensive critique of Silicon Valley techno-utopianism. I told Gil that my postdoc contract with Case Western Reserve University would soon expire, and that I’m not sure I want to stay in academia (as the university system in the US is collapsing thanks to Trump and AI).

He suggested that I start a weekly newsletter. And so, on August 3, 2025, I published my first Realtime Techpocalypse article. Since then, I have published 107 articles, which amounts to slightly more than 2 per week. I am deeply indebted to Gil’s advice — if not for him, this newsletter wouldn’t exist! The least I can do in return is to implore those reading this to buy a pre-sale copy of Gil’s forthcoming book, The Nerd Reich. I haven’t read it yet, but I have absolutely no doubt that it’s amazing. Indeed, given the press that Gil has so far received, it looks like it will be a smash hit. If you have the money, please consider purchasing it asap! Pre-sales really help.

Thank you so much to everyone who’s subscribed to this newsletter. I am incredibly grateful for your interest in my thoughts about technology and, well, all-things-relating to the end of the world. Extra special thanks to those with the means and willingness to pay for this newsletter. It is not profitable opposing Silicon Valley and the TESCREAL ideologies. There are lots of anti-AI TESCREAL folks who are rolling in money from Open Philanthropy, Jaan Tallinn, and other funding entities. But there is almost zero funding for anti-AI folks who are also anti-TESCREAL.

Yet, in one year, I went from earning nothing from this newsletter to bringing in nearly half of the $20k that I need to pay all of my bills. I am deeply appreciative of your financial support, and if you have an extra $7 to spare each month, please consider becoming a paid subscriber. You can also support me on Patreon here, or on GoFundMe here. As I detail in “Why I Fled the US,” I spend virtually all of my money on three things: food (and I never eat out), accommodations (~$700/month or less), and a train ticket once a month to nomadically wander to a new city in Europe (~$60). I am basically an ascetic monk, lol.

Please note that I meet with paid subscribers, as a group, twice a month. “Founding members” who pay for the entire year have the opportunity to chat with me personally every other week — if that interests you!

Here’s a curated list of highlights from the last year, after which I’ve included a few poll questions about how you’d like to see this newsletter grow and evolve. Thanks again for making this possible, friends.

The TESCREAL Ideologies (Intellectual History of Silicon Valley):

1. Skeptical of the TESCREAL Acronym? Read This. Probably the most accessible introduction to the TESCREAL thesis that I’ve written (even more so than my original intro published in 2023). “TESCREAL” is a term of intellectual history. It names a constellation of overlapping and interrelated ideologies that have given rise to the Silicon Valley worldview. This worldview, in turn, has launched, sustained, and accelerated the ongoing race to build God-like superintelligence. Highly recommended.

2. Is Transhumanism a Religion? Yes. This article explores how transhumanism was originally introduced as a secular replacement for traditional Christianity. It discusses how the Singularity is analogous to the rapture, and how transhumanism has its own version of resurrection: cryonics. I discuss many more similarities. Transhumanism — the backbone of the TESCREAL bundle — has become the orthodox religion of Silicon Valley.

3. Three Lies Longtermists Like To Tell About Their Bizarre Beliefs. These three lies are: (1) Longtermists care about avoiding human extinction. In fact, they only care about avoiding final extinction (the failure to create posthumanity), not terminal extinction (the disappearance of our species). (2) Longtermist care about the long-term future. If maximizing value requires a shorter rather than longer future, they will choose the shorter future. And (3) longtermists think that future people matter. In fact, people do not matter for their own sake, on the utilitarian-longtermist view. They are mere means to an end — that’s it.

4. Effective Altruism Is a Dangerous Cult — Here’s Why. Even people in the EA community worry that it’s a cult. I believe it’s a cult because I spent many years as an EA, and saw first-hand how cultish it is. Some call it the “Scientology of Silicon Valley.”

5. How Effective Altruists Use Threats and Harassment to Silence Their Critics. This re-examines some of the threats of physical harm and online harassment I’ve received from the EA cult for daring to challenge their views.

6. TESCREALism and the Race to Build an AI God. This introduces my Oxford Research Encyclopedia article on “TESCREAL.” I also argue that “if TESCREALists were to successfully create [their version of] utopia, this itself would be utterly catastrophic for humanity.” The most likely outcome of “utopia” would be (terminal) human extinction.

7. Is AI Apocalypticism Really that Different from Believing in the Rapture? Examines the similarities between religious and AI apocalypticism, i.e., the belief that the world as we know it will soon end. Spoiler: they are very similar!

8. From Trump to TESCREAL, Eugenics Is Everywhere. Eugenics is an idea that just won’t die. This article explores how it’s alive and well within the MAGA movement, as well as Silicon Valley (via the TESCREAL worldview).

Pro-Extinctionism in Silicon Valley:

1. One Half a Pro-Human Manifesto. This is essentially chapter 4 of my forthcoming book, Will Humanity Survive? I consider it one of the most important essays I’ve written recently (insofar as anything I write is important). It adduces a plethora of shocking examples in arguing that pro-extinctionist sentiments are ubiquitous within Silicon Valley, even among those who report being on the side of “humanity.” It also argues (in more detail) that the most likely outcome of realizing the utopian world envisaged by TESCREALists is that our species will die out. This, along with #1 above, is essential reading in my opinion.

2. The Perplexing Rise of Antinatalism in Silicon Valley. This examines the strange coexistence of pronatalism and antinatalism within tech culture. It introduces the term “replacement antinatalism,” in contrast to “traditional antinatalism,” to describe the growing demographic of young people who believe it’s “fundamentally unethical” to have children because AI will soon rule the world. Keep your eye on this trend moving forward!

3. If Anyone Becomes Posthuman, Everyone Dies Out. Explores what I call the “coexistence” and “replacement” views, which concern our potential future relationship with posthumanity. I show that the replacement view (i.e., pro-extinctionism) is widely held within Silicon Valley, and argue that the coexistence view will almost unavoidably lead, in practice, to the extinction of our species. Hence, if we want to preserve Homo sapiens — and I claim that we should — we must oppose the creation of posthumanity in all its forms. If anyone becomes posthuman, every human being will perish soon after.

4. The Scariest People in the World: Maniacs, Misanthropes, and Silicon Valley Pro-Extinctionists. Discusses “agential risks,” i.e., the risks arising from agents who would willingly destroy the world if only they could. Building on my earlier academic work (here and here), I add a new category to the list of risky agents: TESCREAL pro-extinctionists who want to replace humanity with AI.

5. Sam Altman: Human Extinction Is Our “Best-Case Scenario.” Discusses my Truthdig article in which I point out that Altman argues our “best chance” of surviving the advent of superintelligence is to “merge” with AI. In other words, the only way to avoid (one type of) extinction is to undergo (another type of) extinction. (See, again, the difference between “terminal” and “final” extinction.)

6. Will Superintelligence “Usher in a Heavenly Golden Age”? Silicon Valley Thinks So. Examines, among other things, the fact that “many people at Anthropic believe that they might be making the next species to succeed us. That maybe humans don’t live after that, and so it’s really important to give Claude good values” — to quote Holly Elmore. Wild stuff!

7. Intro to Pro-Extinctionism (parts 1, 2, and 3). Part 1 examines the “worthy successor” ideology of Daniel Faggella. I show that this ideology is deeply nihilistic. (See this follow-up for reasons his ideology is incoherent and self-defeating.) Part 2 and 3 are less notable, as they’re essentially early drafts of “One Half a Pro-Human Manifesto.”

On Specific TESCREALists:

1. Nick Bostrom Took Many of His “Best” Ideas from Other People. It turns out that the TESCREAL luminary, Nick Bostrom, has habitually borrowed ideas from others without proper attribution. I provide 8 glaring examples, though there are many more than this. As the silly saying goes, “good artists copy; great artists steal.”

2. Eliezer Yudkowsky’s Long History of Bad Ideas. Yudkowsky is lauded by people in the cult he founded — Rationalism — as being a genius. He’s even repeatedly described himself as such. Yet he holds some incredibly stupid views: that almost all nonhuman animals have no conscious experience, and hence cannot feel pain; that it probably wouldn’t be a “bad thing” for a child under the age of 6 to die; that he’d be willing to sacrifice “all of humanity” to create “god-like superintelligences … having fun”; and so on. There are good reasons you should have zero respect for the guy.

3. The Political Power of Eschatological Thinking: This Is Why Peter Thiel Is Talking About the Antichrist. Argues that “a true dedication to and belief in eschatological narratives can mobilize people like no other ideology or worldview can, while ‘justifying’ virtually any act to protect, preserve, and accelerate the arrival of paradise — including extreme measures, violence, and even genocide.” Hence, “by tapping into a rich reservoir of powerful images embedded within our collective imagination, images that have played a crucial role in some of the most consequential events of human history, Thiel may hope to mobilize people to join his pro-libertarian fight against the unholy forces of ‘big government.’”

4. Is Sam Altman a Sociopath? — “Highly toxic.” “Psychologically abusive.” “A person of low integrity.” This is how Altman’s colleagues have described him. I also discuss the accusations of abuse made against Altman by his sister, Annie.

5. Preparing for the Singularity: An Ethnographic Survey of AGI Apocalypticists. A fascinating look at how people are preparing for the Singularity. Some have lost all motivation. Some are spending their retirement savings now because they don’t think money will have value in the near future. Others are working extra hard to improve their health based on the belief that if they live long enough to witness the Singularity, they will live forever. A good resource, I think, for historians 50 years from now.

6. The Moral Cowardice of Leading Effective Altruists (and How EA Has Probably Made the World Worse). Argues this: “Claim: EAs are exceptionally ethical people. Prediction: Leading EAs will, therefore, be the loudest voices on the vanguard of speaking out against atrocities like the Gaza genocide, ICE’s brutalization of immigrants, the rise of American fascism, etc. Observation: Crickets from the EA leadership.” Sigh.

7. Eliezer Yudkowsky and the Unabomber Have a Lot in Common. Discusses an interesting chapter of intellectual history: Kaczynski’s manifesto, Bill Joy’s 2000 “Why the Future Doesn’t Need Us,” the transhumanist opposition to Joy’s position (exemplified by Ray Kurzweil), and the way Yudkowsky’s views have shifted over time from aligning with Kurzweil’s to aligning with Joy’s — the latter of whom was partly inspired by the manifesto of Kaczynski.

8. Nick Bostrom’s Pro-Superintelligence Paper Is an Embarrassment. Discusses Bostrom’s hilariously absurd argument that we should plow ahead with building god-like ASI even if there’s up to a 97% chance of total annihilation.

9. Sam Altman Can’t Stop Lying. Altman lied about the Molotov cocktail thrown at his house. He lies about his views on AI and democracy. He lies about virtually everything. I provide a number of egregious examples.

Human Extinction (Ethics and History):

1. Making Sense of the “Human Extinction” Debate. This provides a comprehensive but highly accessible introduction to the ethics of human extinction. It introduces a crucial ethical distinction between Going Extinct and Being Extinct, disambiguates the surprisingly polysemous term “human extinction,” and delineates the three major positions one could take on the ethics of our extinction: equivalence views, further-loss views, and pro-extinctionist views.

2. A Revolutionary Paradigm Shift, on Par with the Copernican and Darwinian Revolutions, Is Happening Right Now and No One Is Talking About It. Argues that the realization that human extinction is possible, which has slowly unfolded over the past two centuries, constitutes a profound revolution in our thinking about the nature of humanity and our place in the cosmos on par with the Copernican and Darwinian revolutions. For the entirety of Western history — even when some Ancient Greeks believed that demographic extinction is possible (i.e., the disappearance of our species, which could be permanent or temporary) — virtually everyone accepted the fundamental indestructibility of our species. Recognizing the mortality of our species is a massive paradigm shift, which is still ongoing.

3. Human Extinction: A Brief Guided Tour. This was published before the newsletter was officially born. But I’m including it here because it condenses my 200,000-word book into a “mere” 20,000 words. It’s the tl;dr of my tome.

Other Topics:

1. Chomsky’s Connection to Jeffrey Epstein and Other Sexual Predators. I report on Chomsky’s links to Epstein, as well as Lawrence Krauss. One of the most disheartening to write, as Chomsky was (past tense) a moral hero of mine. I also discussed the issue on Briahna Joy Gray’s podcast.

2. Here’s Why SpaceX’s Mission Is Bullshit. Argues that to achieve its mission of extending the “light of consciousness” to Mars and beyond, SpaceX will have to solve one of the following monumental — perhaps even insurmountable — problems: (1) terraform Mars, despite the fact that we can’t even terraform Earth. Or (2) build machines that are conscious, and devise a highly reliable and accurate “test” for determining whether particular machines are in fact conscious. Those are SpaceX’s two options, and neither appears feasible.

3. A Philosopher Explains Quantum Computers. Provides a roughly 9,000-word introduction to quantum mechanics. If you’re looking for a highly accessible introduction to superposition, entanglement, interference, non-locality, qubits, and computational complexity theory, check this out!

4. Pursuing a Good Life in a Bad World. Explains how I maintain a cheerful disposition despite holding perhaps the most pessimistic view of the world possible, namely, that the “world is a living hell, a disaster zone, a waking nightmare, a horror show overflowing with unfathomable amounts of sorrow, anguish, and heartache.” Relatedly:

5. Are You Suffering from Crisis Fatigue? Why yes, yes we are! Examines the psycho-emotional toll of dealing with the polycrisis.

AI Bullshit:

1. Why You Should Never Use AI Under Any Circumstances for Any Reason No Matter What. It’s funny how the articles (and tweets) I’ve spent the least time on sometimes end up becoming the most popular. With 3,608 likes as of this writing, this is by far my most read article. It compiles a number of “AI bloopers,” which people apparently enjoy chuckling at. :-)

2. GPT-5 Should Be Ashamed of Itself. A companion piece to the article above, published a few weeks prior.

Climate Change:

1. Covering the Alps in Giant Tarps and Other Climate-Related News. Provides an alarming snapshot of the climate crisis. It’s one of several articles I’ve written on the topic, though it hasn’t been a primary subject of this newsletter thus far.

Questions for Readers:

I’d love to know more about what you like — and don’t like — about this newsletter (please feel free to comment candidly below). Which topics should I cover more? Would you like me to include short commentary videos in my posts? Are my articles, in general, too long or too short? And so on.

Any other thoughts on how I could make this newsletter better? Any suggestions on what I can do to grow my audience? I’m all ears. :-)

As always:

Thanks for reading and I’ll see you on the other side!