Greg M. Epstein
@gregmepstein.bsky.social
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
Pinned
Greg M. Epstein
@gregmepstein.bsky.social
· Dec 12
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.
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.
Nope. Absolutely the fuck not. www.reuters.com/legal/transa...
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
Just got really excited about how new writing is coming along for the first time since I finished working on #TechAgnostic. The new (related! but *also* a totally new direction for me!) book proposal is getting good...
November 7, 2025 at 1:54 AM
Just got really excited about how new writing is coming along for the first time since I finished working on #TechAgnostic. The new (related! but *also* a totally new direction for me!) book proposal is getting good...
Reposted by Greg M. Epstein
Note: This is me — I asked this question.
You’ll hear me say “yes you have” here — because Johnson was already *directly asked* about one of these instances (when the Presbyterian minister was shot in the head with a pepper ball) in one of earlier shutdown press conferences.
You’ll hear me say “yes you have” here — because Johnson was already *directly asked* about one of these instances (when the Presbyterian minister was shot in the head with a pepper ball) in one of earlier shutdown press conferences.
Q: Just last week a minister was shot directly in the face with a pepper round by a DHS agent that left his face bloodied. Are you concerned that this is a religious freedom issue?
MIKE JOHNSON: I can't comment on any of those instances. I haven't seen or heard any of those videos
MIKE JOHNSON: I can't comment on any of those instances. I haven't seen or heard any of those videos
October 29, 2025 at 2:45 PM
Note: This is me — I asked this question.
You’ll hear me say “yes you have” here — because Johnson was already *directly asked* about one of these instances (when the Presbyterian minister was shot in the head with a pepper ball) in one of earlier shutdown press conferences.
You’ll hear me say “yes you have” here — because Johnson was already *directly asked* about one of these instances (when the Presbyterian minister was shot in the head with a pepper ball) in one of earlier shutdown press conferences.
This=the endgame of what I call Tech Religion. As a kid I joined a chorus that sang "From a Distance" for big, idealistic crowds—because when Bette Midler first crooned "God is watching us," it sounded so uplifting. I don't think cyborg spy cockroach armies were what she had in mind, but here we are
We are being pushed into a future where surveillance is constant, dissent is dangerous, and the line between civilian and combatant is blurred — a world where military logic dominates public life, writes Ilia Siatitsa of Privacy International.
The Tech Arms Race is Reshaping Our Lives — and Threatening Democracy | TechPolicy.Press
We’re seeing not just an arms race but a tech dependency race, where civil and military systems merge and the battlefield comes home, writes Ilia Siatitsa.
buff.ly
October 23, 2025 at 11:56 AM
This=the endgame of what I call Tech Religion. As a kid I joined a chorus that sang "From a Distance" for big, idealistic crowds—because when Bette Midler first crooned "God is watching us," it sounded so uplifting. I don't think cyborg spy cockroach armies were what she had in mind, but here we are
Reposted by Greg M. Epstein
Is it good when your product is reviewed by everyone but they all say it sucks.
‘I’m suddenly so angry!’ My strange, unnerving week with an AI ‘friend’
The ad campaign for the wearable AI chatbot Friend has been raising hackles for months in New York. But has this companion been unfairly maligned – and could it help end loneliness?
www.theguardian.com
October 22, 2025 at 11:51 AM
Is it good when your product is reviewed by everyone but they all say it sucks.
Reposted by Greg M. Epstein
MSNBC captured the crowd from the Boston "No Kings" rally:
October 18, 2025 at 6:49 PM
MSNBC captured the crowd from the Boston "No Kings" rally:
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.
"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
October 7, 2025 at 8:38 PM
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.
Reposted by Greg M. Epstein
Folks are looking for press covering ICE in Adelanto, CA. San Bernardino County.
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
September 28, 2025 at 1:53 AM
Folks are looking for press covering ICE in Adelanto, CA. San Bernardino County.
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)
September 5, 2025 at 2:46 AM
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)
This place was still hopping when I decided to take a 6-month social media break...six months ago. How's it going now?
September 4, 2025 at 11:04 PM
This place was still hopping when I decided to take a 6-month social media break...six months ago. How's it going now?
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
on whether the U.S. should be ruled by a CEO dictator? Why yes, it appears that I did. #OpenToDebate #Scared
September 4, 2025 at 10:28 PM
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
on whether the U.S. should be ruled by a CEO dictator? Why yes, it appears that I did. #OpenToDebate #Scared
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.
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
August 8, 2025 at 2:27 AM
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.
Reposted by Greg M. Epstein
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
April 15, 2025 at 1:52 PM
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...
Reposted by Greg M. Epstein
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
April 14, 2025 at 12:01 PM
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
Reposted by Greg M. Epstein
Weird that he can’t recognize that only a villain would say “cure cancer or whatever.”
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
March 26, 2025 at 8:16 PM
Weird that he can’t recognize that only a villain would say “cure cancer or whatever.”
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.
March 7, 2025 at 2:41 AM
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.
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.
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.
March 5, 2025 at 4:06 AM
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.
Reposted by Greg M. Epstein
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.
March 5, 2025 at 3:11 AM
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.
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.
March 5, 2025 at 3:11 AM
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.
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. 👨🍳😘
March 2, 2025 at 2:55 PM
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
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...
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
March 2, 2025 at 1:01 AM
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...
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...
Are there better experiences in life than having tomorrow's speech printed, timed, and successfully rehearsed before tonight's bedtime? Sure. But not many!
March 2, 2025 at 3:22 AM
Are there better experiences in life than having tomorrow's speech printed, timed, and successfully rehearsed before tonight's bedtime? Sure. But not many!
Excited to head to this #TeslaTakedown rally in downtown Boston! Told the kids we're going to say "No!" to the frustrated space car badguy, per @hypervisible.bsky.social's Silicon Valley Supervillains thesis 🦹. #BoycottTesla
www.mobilize.us/teslatakedow...
www.mobilize.us/teslatakedow...
Tesla Takedown Rally · Tesla Takedown Boston
## Take action at the downtown Boston Tesla showroom this Saturday!
⚡ Sell your Teslas, dump your stock, join the picket lines.
⚡ Hurting Tesla is stopping Musk.
⚡ Stopping Musk will help save lives ...
www.mobilize.us
March 1, 2025 at 5:15 PM
Excited to head to this #TeslaTakedown rally in downtown Boston! Told the kids we're going to say "No!" to the frustrated space car badguy, per @hypervisible.bsky.social's Silicon Valley Supervillains thesis 🦹. #BoycottTesla
www.mobilize.us/teslatakedow...
www.mobilize.us/teslatakedow...
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
At an uncannily authentic-looking American barbecue place in Hua Lien, Taiwan right now. (It’s called The Salt Lick).
February 28, 2025 at 11:45 PM
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
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
February 27, 2025 at 9:55 PM
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