Benjamin Bratton Pushes Back on 'AI Ends Civilization' Narrative: Humans Co-Evolved With Tech for 3M Years
bratton · x · 2026-10-11
Philosopher Benjamin Bratton responds to criticism (from Dean Ball and others) that knowingly bringing about the end of human civilization is a sin, with two arguments:
- Human civilization is not and never will be purely human — we have co-evolved with technology for at least 3 million years. 7 of 8 people alive today wouldn't exist without the industrial revolution (population was stuck at one billion), so 'the machines grow us too.'
- He questions the critics' premise: is civilization's continuation really unthinkable unless humans remain the 'Big Protagonist'? To him, that stance is far more nihilistic than imagining humanity undergoing a grand metamorphosis.
A representative clash between existential-risk narratives and a techno-coevolution view of AI's future.
Related event: Scholars Clash Over Musk's 'Humanity as Bootloader' Remark(4 posts)→
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