Patreon Preview – 458. Seduced by the Slop Tsunami

Patreon Preview – 458. Seduced by the Slop Tsunami

From This Machine Kills by This Machine Kills

May 20, 2026 · 5 min

About this episode

The episode discusses the misconceptions surrounding AI consciousness and the cultural implications of accepting AI as inevitable.

We chat about how so many people keep getting seduced into thinking chatbots are conscious, or just keep hedging their bets in some kind of Cyber-Pascal’s Wage, or just keep lying to prop up an industry and culture they are invested in perpetuating. Then we argue why, rather than just be eroded into acquiescence by an overwhelming tsunami of AI, rather than being bowled over and washed out to sea, you should never give these systems and their booster the benefit of the doubt. Never accept that these forces of production are inevitable, undeniable, and actually already existing. You should first always say, “Prove it.” •••When Dawkins met Claude Could this AI be conscious? https://unherd.com/2026/05/is-ai-the-next-phase-of-evolution/ ••• When Claudia met Claudius https://unherd.com/2026/05/when-claudia-met-claudius/?edition=us ••• Why We Keep Tricking Ourselves Into Thinking A.I. Is Conscious https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/15/opinion/ai-consciousness.html ••• The Atheist and the Machine God https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/09/opinion/artificial-intelligence-consciousness-richard-dawkins.html ••• The Prehistory of A.I. Slop…

People in this episode

Host: This Machine Kills

Topics covered

  • AI consciousness
  • chatbots
  • technology skepticism
  • Cyborg ethics
  • Cultural critique

Keywords

  • AI
  • consciousness
  • chatbots
  • technology
  • Cyborg
  • ethics
  • Cultural critique

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: New York Times, The Atlantic, UnHerd, New Yorker

Products: Jathan’s book

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