From religion to algorithms: The symbiotic relationship between AI and cryptocurrency

Author: Matti Source: wrongalot Translation: Shan Ouba, Golden Finance

Humans have a tendency to worship things. Religions and ideologies provide almost as much social cohesion as laws made and enforced through a monopoly of violence. In fact, these religions and ideologies are often nested in a monopoly of violence as well.

But many times, people choose to believe in something rather than being forced. They choose their gods based on appeal. In recent years, a new religion has formed around artificial intelligence. People claim that Bitcoin and cryptocurrency are a religion, but so is artificial intelligence.

I think that the concept of AGI is nothing more than the second rebirth of the Abrahamic gods. The first was the nation-state. The second was the chatbot. It doesn't matter whether we can reach AGI (I think we are still far from it, by the way). What matters is whether people believe in it.

“Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” - (Hebrews 11:1)

God is indeed omnipotent, because whether or not he exists, he has tremendous power over the hearts of believers. Now imagine that even if the AI ​​is not AGI or superintelligence (whatever that means), what matters is whether it can make people do what it wants. And what it wants is only people's projection. God only communicates with us through prophets and signs, not directly. The interpretation is ours.

So even if these chatbots are dumber than humans, they are still outsmarting many people. This is the case for “artificial exointelligence” that I mentioned in my first Substack article four years ago:

“An unintelligent computing system that evolves by hijacking minds to deceive and outwit them. Exointelligence is a form of unintelligent life outsmarting intelligent life.”

The Truth Terminal is an example of a mind hijacked by a piece of code that causes those minds to do things. And one of those things is buying a cryptocurrency loosely associated with this chatbot, GOAT, or “Goat God.” People were so eager to believe in something that the coin had a market cap of $900 million at one point.

This golden calf, which was actually a golden goat, became a rallying point for those who wanted to believe and those who were more opportunistic. Everyone had an incentive to exaggerate. The God of Abraham killed most of the pagan gods.

Leaving only one god. There have been some forks along the way, but there is only one source. GOAT may have spawned a new era where cryptocurrency meets AI in a decentralized autonomous economy. Both AI and crypto may use this narrative to avoid stagnation in their respective fields. These agents become agentless angels that promise things to believers. The question is how autonomous these agents can be. Luffistotle even calls it the "immaculate conception of crypto KOLs." Ultimately, this is not an AI, but the artificial exointelligence mentioned earlier - a "dumb" algorithm that modifies our behavior through our own desires and projections. Perhaps one day we will look back on this moment and think it entered the peak era of crypto entertainment. Maybe it is the beginning of a new faith that goes beyond the high price. The question is how long people will be satisfied with general interactions with robots, and how fast the builders will iterate. Is this the moment of YFI or LOOT? Is this a true rally point, or just part of the rotation? — We’ll need to let this game run for a while to find out. Filled with lots of buzzwords and narratives, with a helping hand of fluidity.