C.S. Lewis's The Abolition of Man anticipated the AI alignment dilemma in 1943
luke_drago_ · x · 2026-10-21
The author shares long passages from The Abolition of Man (1943), arguing Lewis foresaw concentrated technological power and alignment untethered from ordinary people.
- "Man's conquest of Nature" turns out to be the rule of a few hundred men over billions; each new power won by man is power over other men
- The "Conditioners," armed by an omnipotent state and irresistible scientific technique, decide what posterity shall be
- The key turn: past educators were themselves subject to the Tao — a shared norm they handed on; Conditioners stand outside it, producing conscience rather than obeying it
- But they find no ground for their own motives: stepping outside the Tao, they step into the void; the conditioned become artefacts. Man's final conquest is the abolition of Man
A classic text frequently cited in AI alignment debates, pinning the core problem: where do the aligners' values come from?
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