[rwallace]

Yes. None of these fantasies bears any resemblance whatsoever to anything in real AI research. What's going on is that the predisposition of the human brain to believe in shadowy figures and apocalyptic futures is as pronounced as it ever was, but belief in Fenrir, Fair Folk and flying saucers is unfashionable among today's intellectuals, so they look for something else to glom onto.

There was a time when I'd never have thought I'd say this, but I actually think it would be better if people just went back to openly letting their demons be of the admittedly supernatural variety, because that sort of belief is relatively harmless. When people start projecting their demons onto real-world phenomena, they start making policy decisions on that basis, and that could very well turn out to be the final step in the Great Filter. Technological progress is slowing. The peak is approaching. The easily accessed fossil fuel deposits are gone. There will be no second industrial revolution. If we fail to make adequate progress before we hit this peak, it will be the all-time one.