309 - Jacob Howland - Technological Cannibalism

I had an amazing discussion with Jacob Howland about the fundamental question of technology. We investigate from both the Biblical and ancient Greek perspectives what technology is and its effects on the human spirit.
We discuss the notion of memory and recollection, Plato’s Phaedrus, the Biblical notion of garments of skin, ChatGPT and AI, work and leisure, technology’s effects on human capabilities, paganism and idolatry, intelligence, and “the matrix”, the internet, intuition, and much more.

Jacob Howland is the Provost and Director of the Intellectual Foundations Program at UATX, commonly known as the University of Austin.
His latest book is Glaucon's Fate: History, Myth, and Character in Plato's Republic (Paul Dry Books, 2018): https://www.amazon.com/Glaucons-Fate-History-Character-Republic/dp/1589881346

Jacob Howland’s website: https://www.jacobhowland.com/
His articles on Unherd: https://unherd.com/author/jacob-howlandunherd-com/

YouTube version of this podcast: https://youtu.be/o468OtytbVQ

Timestamps:
00:00 - Coming up
01:02 - Intro music
01:28 - Introduction
01:59 - Different narratives about technology
04:09 - Technology from the Greek perspective
05:01 - Plato's Phaedra - and fixing words
08:16 - Egypt
09:29 - Suppressing recollection
11:13 - The garments of skin
15:02 - Work - sorting chaos
18:17 - Human capabilities diminishing
19:53 - ChatGPT cannibalizes itself
22:06 - A pagan god that feeds on humans
23:52 - Human batteries
26:03 - Intuition - direct access to reality
28:49 - What do we mean by intelligence?
30:47 - Understand AI as idolatry
32:19 - The gold of the golden calf
34:53 - The tabernacle
35:33 - A body of power
37:39 - card: Beasts in Revelation
39:16 - Work and leisure
47:45 - Monastic life and leisure
49:18 - Not anti-technology
50:54 - The Henry Adams curve
56:56 - The Beast kills the whore
1:00:17 - Plato's cave
1:01:19 - There is no "solution"
1:03:24 - Prometheus’ cycle of desire
1:05:58 - The flip side of all of this
1:10:15 - Paradise Lost
1:11:09 - The need for transcendence
1:12:26 - Re-engage at the human scale

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My intro was arranged and recorded by Matthew Wilkinson.