Silicon Valley Exec Creates New Religion Worshipping A "Godhead" Based On Artificial Intelligence

Authored by Michael Snyder via The Economic Collapse blog,

I know that the headline sounds absolutely crazy, but this is actually a true story. 

A Silicon Valley executive named Anthony Levandowski has already filed paperwork with the IRS for the nonprofit corporation that is going to run this new religion.  Officially, this new faith will be known as “Way Of The Future”, and you can visit the official website right here. 

Of course nutjobs are creating “new religions” all the time, but in this case Levandowski is a very highly respected tech executive, and his new religion is even getting coverage from Wired magazine…

The new religion of artificial intelligence is called Way of the Future. It represents an unlikely next act for the Silicon Valley robotics wunderkind at the center of a high-stakes legal battle between Uber and Waymo, Alphabet’s autonomous-vehicle company. Papers filed with the Internal Revenue Service in May name Levandowski as the leader (or “Dean”) of the new religion, as well as CEO of the nonprofit corporation formed to run it.

So what will adherents of this new faith actually believe?

To me, it sounds like a weird mix of atheism and radical transhumanism.  The following comes from Way of the Future’s official website…

We believe in science (the universe came into existence 13.7 billion years ago and if you can’t re-create/test something it doesn’t exist). There is no such thing as “supernatural” powers. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.

 

We believe in progress (once you have a working version of something, you can improve on it and keep making it better). Change is good, even if a bit scary sometimes. When we see something better, we just change to that. The bigger the change the bigger the justification needed.

 

We believe the creation of “super intelligence” is inevitable (mainly because after we re-create it, we will be able to tune it, manufacture it and scale it). We don’t think that there are ways to actually stop this from happening (nor should we want to) and that this feeling of we must stop this is rooted in 21st century anthropomorphism (similar to humans thinking the sun rotated around the earth in the “not so distant” past).

But even though Way of the Future does not embrace the “supernatural”, they do believe in a “God”.

In this new religion, the worship of a “Godhead” that will be created using artificial intelligence will be actively encouraged…

The documents state that WOTF’s activities will focus on “the realization, acceptance, and worship of a Godhead based on Artificial Intelligence (AI) developed through computer hardware and software.”

 

That includes funding research to help create the divine AI itself.

 

The religion will seek to build working relationships with AI industry leaders and create a membership through community outreach, initially targeting AI professionals and “laypersons who are interested in the worship of a Godhead based on AI.”

 

The filings also say that the church “plans to conduct workshops and educational programs throughout the San Francisco/Bay Area beginning this year.”

So how “powerful” will this newly created “God” actually be?

Well, Levandowski says that he envisions creating an artificially intelligent being that will literally be “a billion times smarter than the smartest human”…

“What is going to be created will effectively be a god,” he said. “It’s not a god in the sense that it makes lightning or causes hurricanes. But if there is something a billion times smarter than the smartest human, what else are you going to call it?”

 

He added, “I would love for the machine to see us as its beloved elders that it respects and takes care of. We would want this intelligence to say, ‘Humans should still have rights, even though I’m in charge.’”

But what if this “super-intelligence” gets outside of our control and turns on us?

What then?

I am not sure that Levandowski has an answer for that.

Other transhumanists also believe that artificial intelligence will grow at an exponential rate, but instead of AI ruling over us, they see a coming merger between humanity and this new super intelligence.  In fact, world famous transhumanist Ray Kurzeil believes that this will enable us to “become essentially god-like in our powers”…

Kurzweil and his followers believe that a crucial turning point will be reached around the year 2030, when information technology achieves ‘genuine’ intelligence, at the same time as biotechnology enables a seamless union between us and this super-smart new technological environment.

 

Ultimately the human-machine mind will become free to roam a universe of its own creation, uploading itself at will on to a “suitably powerful computational substrate”. We will become essentially god-like in our powers.

And prominent transhumanist Mark Pesce takes things even further.  He in absolutely convinced that rapidly advancing technology will allow ordinary humans “to become as gods”…

“Men die, planets die, even stars die. We know all this. Because we know it, we seek something more—a transcendence of transience, translation to incorruptible form.

 

An escape if you will, a stop to the wheel. We seek, therefore, to bless ourselves with perfect knowledge and perfect will; To become as gods, take the universe in hand, and transform it in our image—for our own delight. As it is on Earth, so it shall be in the heavens. The inevitable result of incredible improbability, the arrow of evolution is lipping us into the transhuman – an apotheosis to reason, salvation – attained by good works.”

Throughout human history, there has always been a desire to create our own gods or to become our own gods.

But no matter how hard these transhumanists try to run from death, it will eventually find them anyway, and at that point all of their questions about who God really is will be answered once and for all.

*  *  *

Michael Snyder is a Republican candidate for Congress in Idaho’s First Congressional District, and you can learn how you can get involved in the campaign on his official website. His new book entitled “Living A Life That Really Matters” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com.

A Former Google Engineer Is Creating an AI Robot ‘God’ to Rule over Humans

(ANTIMEDIA) — Wired Magazine has discovered that Anthony Levandowski, the former Google engineer responsible for the high-profile Waymo v. Uber lawsuit, has much loftier hopes for the development of artificial intelligence than just self-driving cars — he wants you to worship it.

According to the state filings, Levandowski established a non-profit religious corporation in September 2015 called Way of the Future. Its stated purpose is to “develop and promote the realization of a Godhead based on Artificial Intelligence.” The documents list Levandowski as the CEO and president of Way of the Future and state that the religion’s mission is “[t]o develop and promote the realization of a Godhead based on artificial intelligence and through understanding and worship of the Godhead contribute to the betterment of society.”

But Levandowski has his own personal demons to battle before he takes on the world of the supernatural. Google’s self-driving car company Waymo is suing Uber for $2.6 billion, claiming Levandowski stole 14,000 files before leaving Google to begin a startup called Otto, which was then acquired by Uber for $680 million. Levandowski was made head of Uber’s self-driving car project but was subsequently fired after refusing to comply with court orders related to discovery. The disgraced engineer is not a defendant in the case. He opted not to answer questions about the allegations, citing his fifth amendment rights. The trial is expected to begin October 10th.

Way of the Future has not yet submitted the forms required annually by the Internal Revenue Service in order to be recognized as a non-profit religious organization, so it seems we’re safe from being ruled by Deus ex machina — for now.

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Uber CEO's Texts With Engineer Revealed: "Let's Start @faketesla...About Stupid Shit Elon Says"

If nothing else comes of Google suing their former autonomous driving engineer Anthony Levandowski (refresher: he"s the guy that split with 14,000 proprietary Google documents, used them to start a new self-driving tech company called Otto and then promptly sold it to Uber for $700 million), the following text messages exchanged between Levandowski and former Uber CEO Travis Kalanick, disclosed as part of the discovery process, will have been well worth the millions in legal fees. 

In one text from September 2016, Levandowski texted Kalanick to suggest that they should setup a fake twitter handle called "@faketesla" specifically to "give physics lessons about stupid shit Elon says..."  Per Recode:

"Yo! I"m back at 80%, super pumped... we"ve got to start calling Elon on his shit. I"m not on social media but let"s start "faketesla" and start give physics lessons about stupid shit Elon says like this: "we do not anticipate using lidar. Just to make it clear, lidar essentially is active photon generator in the visible spectrum – radar is active photon generation in essentially the radio spectrum. But lidar doesn’t penetrate intrusions so it does not penetrate rain, fog, dust and snow, whereas a radar does. Radar also bounces and lidar doesn’t bounce very well. You can’t do the “look in front of the car in front of you” thing. So I think the obvious thing is to use radar and not use lidar."

"The photons stop acting like photons at 77Ghz we at least need the geeks on our side and start calling the BS out. Any objections?"

Clearly Levandowski doesn"t subscribe to society"s widely observed texting guidelines which clearly mandate extreme brevity be utilized at all times...

But it didn"t end there.  In a series of text messages that clearly demonstrate an extreme obsession with Musk, Levandowski and Kalanick contemplate calling out Tesla on its safety record...

Watch first 45seconds... Tesla crash in January which implies Elon is lying about millions of miles without incident. We should have LDP on tesla just to catch all the crashes that are going on. Got this from ford who"s debating call him out on his shit

...and also seemingly sought out spies from within Musk"s management team...

“I"m still with the tesla guys and will try to get more info,” Levandowski texted Kalanick.

(Levandowski was at a dinner with 80 or so industry representatives and regulators, including Tesla’s former head of Autopilot, Sterling Anderson. Other attendees included Paul Hemmersbaugh from General Motors; Stefan Heck, CEO of auto tech startup Nauto; and James Kuffner of the Toyota Research Institute.)

Of course, Levandowski and Kalanick also kept close tabs on Google"s progress in the self-driving car space and at one point even discussed a meeting between Kalanick and the head of Google"s self-driving arm, Waymo.

Separately, Kalanick and Levandowski talked about someone they refer to as “JK.” Kalanick said JK agreed to meet him and Levandowski said to ask him about Waze and self-driving cars. Uber could not provide clarity on who JK is, but based on context, it appears they are referring to John Krafcik, the CEO of Alphabet’s self-driving arm Waymo.

The conversation occurred a few months before Uber announced it was acquiring Otto in August 2016, but three months after Levandowski left Alphabet and founded Otto.

With that, tune in next week for an all new episode of Silicon Valley...

Uber CEO To Take Leave Of Absence, "Dimished Role" After Holder's Report On Workplace Scandals

Uber no longer has a COO, CBO, CFO, CMO, or Head of Engineering; and is now temporarily without a CEO after the release of today"s "official" investigation into workplace scandals (by former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder). 

"If we are going to work on Uber 2.0, I also need to work on Travis 2.0 to become the leader that this company needs and that you deserve... During the interim period, the leadership team, my directs, will be running the company."

As The Wall Street Journal reports, over the past several weeks, Uber workers have been summoned to the nearby San Francisco office of Mr. Holder’s firm, Covington & Burling LLP, to describe their experiences, according to employees who have been interviewed or were requested to be. On Sunday, Mr. Holder’s firm presented its report to company directors, which unanimously approved all of the recommendations following a marathon board meeting in Los Angeles, according to people familiar with the matter. The fallout of that report was evident Monday, when Uber’s chief business officer, Emil Michael, resigned from the company. His exit, which people familiar with the matter say was recommended by the report, was surprising given his close relationship with Mr. Kalanick.

And now we have the results (and the findings)... Bloomberg reports that Uber Chief Executive Officer Travis Kalanicktold staff he plans to take a leave of absence, without disclosing a return date.

Kalanick decided to take a leave while also coping with the death of his mother, whose funeral he attended Friday.

The company will strip him of some duties and appoint an independent chair to limit his influence after a slew of scandals, according to an advance copy of a report prepared for the board.

At a staff meeting Tuesday, the company began conveying the results of a probe conducted by Eric Holder, the former U.S. attorney general who Uber hired to look into allegations of harassment, discrimination and an aggressive culture.

The 47 recommendations include creating a board oversight committee, rewriting Uber’s cultural values, reducing alcohol use at work events, and prohibiting intimate relationships between employees and their bosses.

Several of Uber’s planned changes are symbolic. For example, a conference room known as the War Room will be renamed the Peace Room.

The company also plans to scrap many of its cultural values, notably “Let Builders Build, Always Be Hustlin’, Meritocracy and Toe-Stepping, and Principled Confrontation,” which the Holder report described as being “used to justify poor behavior.”

“Many of Uber’s 14 cultural values, while well-intended, had been allowed to be weaponized,” Huffington said in her statement. “That’s completely unacceptable.”

Some excerpts from the email...

RECOMMENDATIONS

We recommend that Uber focus on four prevailing themes with regard to taking the folowing remedial measures: tone at the top, trust, transformation, and accountability.

A. Review and Reallocate the Responsibilities of Travis Kalanick. The Board should evaluate the extent to which some of the responsibilities that Mr. Kalanick has historically possessed should be shared or given outright to other members of senior management. The search for a Chief Operating Officer should address this concern to some extent.

B. Institute and Enforce Clear Guidelines on Alcohol Consumption and the Use of Controlled Substances. Uber should take steps to provide clear guidelines about acceptable and unacceptable uses of alcohol and strictly prohibit the use of controlled substances, including prolubiting consumption of alcohol during core work hours and prohibiting consumption of non-prescription controlled substances during core work hours, at work events, or at other work-sponsored events. With respect to alcohol consumption at after-hours work events and at other work-sponsored events, Uber should consider limiting the budget available to managers for alcohol purchases, restrict reimbursement for alcohol-related events, and include training for managers on appropriate events for retreats and out-of-work events. Uber should also encourage responsible drinking, which can include limiting the amount of alcohol that is available in the office, de-emphasizing alcohol as a component of work events, and otherwise taking appropriate action to discipline and address inappropriate employee conduct fueled by alcohol consumption. Uber should support work events in which alcohol is not a strong component to ensure that employees who do not partake in consumption of alcohol still have opportunities to engage in networking and team building activities.

C. Prohibit Romantic or Intimate Relationships Between Individuals in a Reporting Relationship. Uber should developspecificand clearguidance concerningappropriate workplace relationships, including makingclear that any type of romantic or intimate relationship between individuals in a reporting relationship (either direct or indirect) is prohibited. If employees in a reporting relationship find themselves in a romantic or intimate relationship, they must be relationship find themselves in a romantic or intimate relationship, they must be required to immediately report it so that appropriate action can be taken, including making sure that the individuals are not in any type of reporting relationship (direct or indirecegoing forward. Although it is not realistic to prohibit all romantic and intimate relationships in the workplace. it should be emphasized more generally that with respect to such relationships, Uber will not tolerate any form of harassment, discrimination, or retaliation.

Of course this is just the latest in a string of PR disasters for the "unicorn" of "unicorns". As noted recently, here is a snapshot of some of the most notable scandals that have emerged, involving the world"s most valuable private company:

1. Another tale of sexism and unacceptable workplace behavior in Silicon Valley company has emerged. This time it"s at Uber, according to an explosive blog post published on Sunday by a former company engineer named Susan Fowler Riggetti.


2. Uber"s newly-hired VP of engineering Amit Singhal was asked to, and did, resign on Monday after the company learned from Recode that he was accused of sexual harassment shortly before leaving Google a year ago. Here"s more on the difficult position of former employers in this case.


3. A video showing Uber CEO Travis Kalanick rudely arguing with a long-time driver at the end of his ride was published by Bloomberg. "I need leadership help," Kalanick said in an apology he issued shortly after.


4. Susan Fowler Rigetti, the former Uber engineer who wrote of discrimination, said she"s hired attorneys after a new law firm began to investigate her claims. Uber confirmed it has hired Perkins Coie, which reports to former A.G. Eric Holder, who"s leading the investigation.


5. Uber said on Thursday that it will finally apply for a DMV permit to test self-driving cars in California after its cars" registrations were revoked in December because it refused to get the permit.


6. Charlie Miller, one of the two famous car hackers who joined Uber"s Advanced Technology Center in August 2015, announced he"s leaving the company.


7. The New York Times uncovered a secret Uber program called Greyball, through which the company uses software and data to evade law enforcement in cities.


8. Keala Lusk, a former Uber engineer, published a blog post detailing how her female manager mistreated her, signaling that the company"s problematic culture isn"t limited to the men who work there.


9. Ed Baker, Uber"s head of product and growth, resigned. Though the reason is unclear, he was allegedly seen kissing another employee three years ago, which was anonymously communicated to board member Arianna Huffington, according to Recode.


10. A report outlines a trip by a group of Uber employees to a Seoul karaoke-escort bar in 2014, which included company CEO Travis Kalanick and his girlfriend, Gabi Holzwarth. After arriving, several male employees picked escorts to sit with, and went to sing karaoke. Uncomfortable, a female marketing manager, who was part of the group, left after a couple of minutes, while Holzwarth and Kalanick left after an hour.


11. California regulators have recommended that Uber be fined $1.13 million for failing to investigate and/or suspend drivers who are reported by a passenger to be intoxicated. The state requires ride-hailing companies to have a zero-tolerance policy for driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs.


12. A new report says Uber used a secret program dubbed "Hell" to track Lyft drivers to see if they were driving for both ride-hailing services and otherwise stifle competition. Only a small group of Uber employees, including CEO Travis Kalanick, knew about the program, according to a story in The Information, which was based on an anonymous source who was not authorized to speak publicly.


13. Waymo sued Uber in civil court, claiming that Uber was using trade secrets stolen from Google to develop Uber’s self-driving vehicles.


14. Uber fires Anthony Levandowski, a star engineer brought in to lead the company’s self-driving automobile efforts who was accused of stealing trade secrets when he left a job at Google.


15. Uber said Tuesday that it had made a mistake in the way it calculated its commissions, at a cost of tens of millions of dollars to its New York drivers, and the company vowed to correct the practice and make the drivers whole for the lost earnings.


16. Uber fires over 20 staff following the release of a report about sexual harrassment in the workplace.


17. Reports emerge that Uber CEO Travis Kalanick fired off a bizarre email in 2013 to hundreds of employees where he listed the conditions under which they could have sex with each other at a company outing in Miami


18. Uber’s chief business officer, Emil Michael, resigned from the company.

This list is by no means comprehensive.

And then there is the biggest problem of all: Uber"s chronic cash burn.

Uber lost $708 million in the first quarter, despite another rise in revenues. Last year, Uber managed to burn through almost as much cash as NASA’s $4.8 billion budget last quarter. Previously, Bloomberg reported that Uber has burned through at least $8 billion in its lifetime through the end of 2016. While the company had $7 billion of cash on hand as of March 31, along with an untapped $2.3 billion credit facility, inevitably questions will emerge if and when the world"s most previous "unicorn" will ever turn a profit. The company was most recently valued at $68 billion, although in light of the recent turmoil in the C-suite that number will likely be revised significantlly lower.