lanier, Jaron

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https://webbrain.com/brainpage/brain/6950F840-FB80-FCB0-D505-8AB1FA685F08#-132}:

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6 26 new form of collab

Father of VR: They're Creating a Future Nobody Wants | Jaron Lanier

May 3, 2026 This Is World

:{Jaron Lanier, one of the founding figures of virtual reality and one of the most original critics of Silicon Valley, argues that artificial intelligence is not just a technology — it has become an ideology. In this conversation, Lanier explains why the way we talk about AI may be more dangerous than the software itself. He discusses the religious character of AI culture, OpenAI’s vision of a future where money could become irrelevant, the transformation of capitalism into direct behavioral modification, and why social media became a machine for manipulation rather than freedom.

We also talk about digital immortality, data dignity, the future of human agency, and why Lanier believes Meta’s approach to virtual reality was a disaster. This is a conversation about AI, capitalism, Silicon Valley, freedom, and the future being built around us. }:

Chapters –

AI as ideology, religion, and Silicon Valley’s new worldvie – Why the danger is not software, but the philosophy around A – Data, AI models, and a future where people get paid for their contributio – Why AI culture has the qualities of a religio – Social media, surveillance capitalism, and algorithmic manipulatio – OpenAI, Elon Musk, and the idea that money may become irrelevan – Should Big Tech be controlled, nationalized, or broken into experiments – Digital immortality, VR, Meta’s failure, and the future of virtual reality Don't forget to subscribe to our channel and turn on notifications so you won't miss any of our future episodes ► / @thisistheworldofficial Matt Kawecki (host) on LinkedIn: / maciejkaweckiThis is The World: https://www.thisisworld.org/This is The World on Instagram: / thisistheworld_podcast

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Oct 28, 2025

Live DigHum Lecture Jaron Lanier - “Who Owns the Future?” in Vienna 21.10.25 More information at https://caiml.org/dighum/dighum-lectu...

Jaron Lanier - “Who Owns the Future?” - YouTube ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g78SOtqs4P8)

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Computer scientist, composer, artist, and author Jaron Lanier has for years been outspoken about his total avoidance of social media platforms because of the harm that they inflict on their users and the detrimental impacts that they have on societies. In a 2018 conversation with Vox producer Eric Johnson, Lanier decried people who refuse to delete their accounts even though they can.

"You have even more of a responsibility to see if you can get out of it than someone who genuinely is dependent on it. So, I think that that argument has a situation exactly backwards. I mean, I and you and the people we tend to know are privileged. We’re wealthier than ever. We have more options. That puts a moral onus on us to make some decisions that do what little we can to help those who are less fortunate, and this is one of those things," he said.

"If you are actually in a position to quit and you don’t, you’re making yourself part of the problem. You’re not doing anything to free those who are more trapped. You’re only enslaving them more by entrenching the system. As an affluent or valuable person to the system, you’re the one that the whole system is being funded by," he added, later comparing online platforms to "gambling addiction."

On Sunday, Lanier warned in an interview with The Guardian GUK that the takeovers of tech giants like Twitter pose a fatal danger to the future existence of the human race.

“People survive by passing information between themselves,” Lanier explained to reporter Edward Helmore. “We’re putting that fundamental quality of humanness through a process with an inherent incentive for corruption and degradation. The fundamental drama of this period is whether we can figure out how to survive properly with those elements or not.”

Lanier believes that powerful digital arenas such as Twitter, whose owners allow misinformation, conspiracy theories, and hate speech to flourish, are exacerbating the threat that humanity faces.

“There are all kind of intermediaries. They might be the people who own a platform, recently Elon Musk, or third parties who are good at sneaking in influence. The interveners can be varied. Some are official, some are revealed, others hidden. Some are competent, some incompetent. Some are random, like an algorithm that someone made but didn’t understand," Lanier said. “I still think extinction is on the table as an outcome. Not necessarily, but it’s a fundamental drama.If we can coordinate ourselves to solve the climate crisis it’s a fundamental sign we haven’t become completely dysfunctional."

The story continues here.

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