New book 'Obsolete' says AI leaders' Culture-inspired vision is anti-democratic
zetalyrae · x · 2026-10-18
Garrison Lovely's new book Obsolete (OR Books) argues that Elon Musk, Dario Amodei, and Demis Hassabis have all cited Iain Banks' Culture novels as their guiding vision — a utopian society run by godlike AIs called Minds, where humans enjoy abundance but major decisions and values are ultimately set by machines, leaving humans "along for the ride." Quoting Anthropic RSP slides from mid-2023, the author calls this "an incredibly dangerous, anti-democratic vision" that AI industry leaders have functionally admitted to. The book has drawn praise from Publishers Weekly and others.
Related event: Garrison Lovely's New Book Obsolete Argues Against AI Replacing Workers(6 posts)→
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