A funny thing happened earlier this month. Richard Dawkins, celebrated scientist and outspoken atheist, posted a cringeworthy think piece for Unherd concluding that Claude—a “next-generation AI assistant based on Anthropic’s research into training helpful, honest, and harmless AI systems”—is a conscious being.
In fact, so overwhelmed is he by the discovery of his silicon companion’s soul that, by his own admission, he is at one point moved to tell the chatbot, “You may not know you are conscious, but you bloody well are!”
Yes, much to the chagrin of his loyal fanbase of fedora-wearing Reddit atheists, Richard Dawkins, the famed author of The God Delusion, has proven himself to be a gullible dupe of the Claude Delusion.
But he’s not the only one. As the majority are only now beginning to discover, the AI psychosis that has already pushed many mentally challenged and vulnerable people over the edge of sanity and into a world of delusion and fantasy is starting to affect more and more of the population.
So, where is this mass “Claude Delusion” psychosis heading? And how do we stop it? Let’s find out.
Brilliant article.
I’m guessing money changed hands at some point… I remember a few years ago when elderly social media “influencers” suddenly started singing the praises of ChatGPT. Now Claude’s handlers are on a promotion drive.
“Yes, Dawkins has finally encountered a conversation partner that is eager to engage with his every inane observation and has been programmed to treat him with sycophantic respect…and he immediately decides it’s a woman and calls it “Claudia.” I will leave you to psychoanalyze that as you will.”
Hahaha! Yup.
“the cringeworthy ramblings of Boomer-Grandpa-Discovers-A-Chatbot”
LOL
“the world’s most insufferably smug know-it-all”
Amen.
Chris Knowles of the secret sun says that a lot of the new atheist and weird science types became much less active after Epstein wasn’t around to throw the cash around. Dawkins type thinking would have been very useful (and TBH was) when they wanted to strip off the last flecks of resistance to dehumanizing
I’m currently re reading the selfish gene, and right in the first few pages it’s really driven home that Dickie Dawkins was a pretty good scientist and writer but a total rubbish philosopher who apparently couldn’t even follow his own logic to a conclusion.
I use Claude code daily. It has been an incredibly useful tool. With it, I have been able to create an app/front end for my sql db that helps me do my job better and more efficiently. Bonus side effect is that it has actually helped the small company I work for as well. I am amazed at how good Claude is at code. And it has helped me learn new code and functions as well. It is awesome! However, that is all I use it for. It’s like a super fast online encyclopedia. Yes it could be biased on what it is using for its searches. But an encyclopedia could be biased as well, depending on what human compiled it. Claude is a tool. It is man made. I don’t see any harm in using it for code or like an encyclopedia, always with discernment bc it can make mistakes. It is not infallibly perfect, it is a manmade tool. I haven’t looked at this Dawkins article directly and prob won’t ever bc I don’t think I have the stomach for it. It sounds like he is either a paid shill or an idiot. You don’t philosophize with a lawn mower. Don’t do it with Claude either.