Are AI Doomers “Calling for Violence”? Debate with Steven Balik

About this episode

The episode debates whether AI safety advocates are responsible for inciting violence against tech figures.

Are AI safety advocates like Eliezer Yudkowsky at fault for the recent attacks on Sam Altman because they are “calling for violence”? I invited Steven Balik to join me on this emergency episode to hash it out. Steven is an activist short seller and data engineering professional whose Substack is popular among Silicon Valley VCs and hedge funds. Links Steven Balik on X (Twitter) — https://x.com/laurenbalik Steven Balik, “The Talmudic Stock Bubble, AI Psychosis, & Esoterrorism” (Substack, October 2025) — https://laurenbaliksalmanacandrevue.substack.com/p/the-talmudic-stock-bubble-ai-psychosis Eliezer Yudkowsky, “Pausing AI Developments Isn’t Enough. We Need to Shut It All Down” (Time, March 2023) — https://time.com/6266923/ai-eliezer-yudkowsky-open-letter-not-enough/ Timestamps 00:00:00 — Cold Open 00:00:52 — Introducing Steven Balik 00:01:24 — Setting the Stage: Molotov Cocktail Incident 00:03:31 — Steven’s Opening Position 00:06:10 — Is Eliezer Yudkowsky “Calling for Violence”? 00:07:25 — Steven on AI, Yudkowsky, the Zizians & Escalating Rhetoric 00:12:16 — Focusing on the Time Article 00:18:51 — Who’s Responsible for the Violence? 00:25:33 — Debating the Key Quote in Yudkowsky’s…

People in this episode

Host: Liron Shapira

Guest: Steven Balik

Topics covered

• AI safety
• violence in rhetoric
• activism
• debate
• technology ethics

Keywords

• AI Doomers
• Eliezer Yudkowsky
• Steven Balik
• violence
• activism
• technology

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Time

Books & works: The Talmudic Stock Bubble, AI Psychosis, & Esoterrorism, Pausing AI Developments Isn’t Enough. We Need to Shut It All Down

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