The Tech Billionaire Doomsday Preachers (E346) 

It is perhaps telling, of the role of religion in society & its radical potential, that these demons (for that is what they are; like the Jotun of the old Norse or the Witch of early modern Europe, or those accursed beast men who eat the living & violate holy places; they are humans who have for power & abomination forsaken their ties to this becoming world) these demons feel & perceive Eternity & those vast halls where they will either cease to be or face a pitiless reckoning with the prosecution calling forth their heart (if they have not rent it asunder with their malevolent maws). & they know with dread certainty that fate which awaits them; that even Amit will repudiate their putrid shade

Top quality. Don't even feel those haters.

https://open.spotify.com/episode/4xQYIbtwpTLGJZVyAbl7Nh?si=KxN7BmCHTbG1mvick6hRoA This week's BtB episodes are about the same content if folks want to hear more about oligarchs and antichrists.

everyone complaining about julian is wrong. he genuiney has the most insight into the psychology of these freaks they're talking about and he's also the most articulate in describing it. some people are like dogs, they only respond to tone of voice & don't actually process the meaning of sentences. now i'm julian posting, woof woof bark bark

wait this guy is seriously a Professor of Chinese Management? how is that not a cumtown bit lol

36:20 Julian... They are hoarders. They just hoard money. They are acting like the people on buried alive when the city brings in the by-laws and demands the extra cars be taken out of the yard.

Julian, I’m no Greta Thunberg, but I’m unmarried and a lot more age-appropriate 👀

it seems like a lot of people just will not grasp what editorially independent means.

Y’all have got to get a new editor. Record the episodes and let Julian emote until he is spent and raw, and then let someone else decide what gets heard. Julian has great contributions, but at this point something has to change. Dude is unwell, shitting on everything, and becoming unbearable.

Everyone complaining about Jake and Julian, do you even like the show? Their dynamic is the best part for me (bonus when Liv is on or when they annoy Travis), and the whole point I listen to this show over others of similar content. They’re both fantastic imo, and I adore their friendship, commentaries, and dynamic. I don’t get the hate here! Anyway, keep it up, guys! Ignore the haters (that for some reason are also subscribers). Love y’all! P.S. Liv Agar

Christ let the guest talk, stop ranting we get it

Julian is so right about secular Calvinism. Agreed.

Can't tell if Julian actually believes in the Roman vomitorium myth. Though it's par for the course for him to spew forth some misinformed BS to attack his political enemies.

Cheers to being "annoying" like Julian! 🥂🍾 (In a sober way 😅) The rest of you were great too 😀

Julian: not your most eloquent but still nailing the point nonetheless.

I really enjoyed the episode and hearing from everyone, I thought it was all really interesting and insightful

Jsyk, the room where you vomit wasn't a thing in Roman times. A vomitoreum is the hallway you take to access theater and sports seating. The people are the ones being vomited.

Travis, can you just do these types of episodes solo? Or just start your own podcast where we can hear you discuss these topics with guests without everything being related back to fucking video games or someone interrupting and screaming the same shit every episode.

Julian spot on at the end. We cannot see the right being defeated in the west is the end of our fight while the majority of us are still being ravaged with poverty and exploitation.

Hey QAA fans here’s a conspiracy theory for you - there is a disproportionate number of Julian haters in here because his rage is a mirror that reflects their own insipid comfort with the status quo. They cannot stand him because they listen to him raving and they just don’t get what’s there to be so upset about.

Once again another great episode with interesting discussion, once again a bunch of weirdos in the comment section who somehow listened to the conversation and scrubbed out the guest so he doesn’t appear in their memories. Julian, you’re not on every episode but thank god you’re on this one, to give vent to our rage against the monsters of this age.

I’m insanely annoying about this too and it’s only gotten worse the older and more educated I’ve gotten.

These people justify what they do with the notion that technology and industry are divine rights and powering the evolution of the human race. In a mind palace like that, any attempt to slow them down is an insidious plot to hold humanity back. They don't care about the costs and anyone who does is a threat. They're going to keep moving forward as they see it, but even they have no idea WHERE we're going. And if they stopped for a moment, they might just be forced to confront that reality. That's their biggest fear.

okay 1) the reason these people are like this is that theyre stuck as the master in the master-slave dialectic. Theyre stuck in a perpetual toddlerhood. 2) the way i keep my optimisim is this: This kind of evil is always self-defeating. It sounds trite, i know, but the orwellian boot stamping on a human face forever is impossible. its just too entropically demanding to last forever, or even very long. the question therefore, is not, "will this ever end" it is "what will be the cost of ending it sooner rather than later".

I'm with you guys. Greta, will you marry me?

Julian, what you said near the end is so important. The cost is global. As Americans, we enjoys the privileges we have, however small they may seem to us under this current regime, at the expense of those who are less fortunate than we are. We’ve depleted other nations for our relative wealth and abundance. More people need to realize that.

That poor guest. Love you guys but seemed a shame to waste his time.

I’d ask that folks remember these people are not scientists and they claim science like American Evangelicals claim Jesus. These people are exploiters of science, and, at most, technophiles. But they are not synonymous with science or the the scientific method.

I was kind of missing TESCREALism in all of this. I don't how much it is an actual belief they hold vs a justification, but their belief that sacrifices (of others) today are okay in regards to the untold future post-human civilizations surely is worth a mention.

Jake said doodoo

I think about the old saying "the only guarantees in life are death and taxes". Why would they not think they could avoid death too?

Maybe an unpopular opinion but I like Julian and I hope he has a nice day

"Small o orthodox christian."

What Julian was adding towards the end spoke to me directly, as a big part of my political awakening the last years has been to try to broaden my American perspective out to a more global one. As Americans we walk around with massive blinders on to the harm that the system we rule over and perpetuate, and that our apparently (to us) innocent way of life depends on, really creates. It’s a lot of harm.

I’m generally opposed to anybody being granted god like authority of deciding who lives or dies. But I’m coming around to the idea so long as it’s Julian

Why even have a guest?

What the hell does Julian have against Richard Dawkins!?!?

https://www.patreon.com/posts/22070345?utm_campaign=postshare_fan&utm_content=android_share

Julian unable to hold back his frenchness making public marriage proposals to girls less than half his age

All of em wanna be rocket man, none of them have the talent to have written “rocket man” 🚀🕺🪩. And I think that’s the problem. Men who will do anything to leave their legacy on the planet but they simply aren’t true artists… so they get creative with their cruelty instead. Yah know, kinda how hitler was a mid painter…

I for one would like to say that I look forward to death threats from Julian!

Legionnaires of the Anti-Christ, sounds pretty metal

I would love to have heard what this guest had to say.

Yudkowski is at least as crazy as Thiel. He’s the controlled opposition the oligarchs fund to stop us thinking about the environment and each other.

Yall should do a Mountain Head movie night, I think it would be good

Everyone complaining about Julian as if he wasn’t on the podcast before Travis. He’s part of what makes QAA great and he’s been on it since the very beginning. I have genuinely no idea why folks are listening to a podcast where they can’t stand one of the primary hosts. Subjecting yourself to a podcast you barely like and getting mad at it every week is bizarre behavior.

Me with a podcast about looking at science fiction through a leftist lens that has maybe 10 listeners... There is 100% inspirational leftist scifi out there.

Very disappointed Julian and Jake didn't make fun of Travis' pronunciation of Harbinger given their love of Path of Exile

good episode

this makes the tsuki project sound like a reasonable moderate religion

so 2 out of 4 possible antichrists are swedes. swedes being like 0.1 percent of the world population. we're a powerfully satanic nation (idk if boström is anything to be proud of – iirc he's a rationalist/longtermist type weirdo in his own right – but one has to love how greta just trying to exist as a morally good human being in this world upsets all the worst ppl)

Love Julian

“The slogan of the anti christ is peace and safety” - Peter thiel. That’s all folks! Good night and drive safely! I’m with Julian 100 removing the billionaire class from their wealth is the only political and social action worth discussing including likely necessarily **BEEEEEEEEEEEEEP* every last motherfucking one of them

Needs more death threats.

Great episode! Except for Julian

1st Timothy 6:10. A Bible verse these nincompoops never understand.

Honestly, this is one of the deepest episodes I've ever heard. Really insightful.

“WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT THIS IS A DATING APP” oui oui Julian

Being the worst and cruelest is a *kind* of specialness, Julian

I assume the "Wicked Witch of the West" and "Mordor" riffs were specifically referencing Palantir, but the latter made me laugh extra hard. Because, Julian will surely be delighted to find out, "Sauron" is also the name of a company in his portfolio! https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2024/12/05/tech-ceos-elites-home-security-silicon-valley/ (In the moment I thought it was named Mordor and that Julian had stumbled on bullseye, but it's still really fucking funny) Good lord. Maybe the rotational power of Tolkien's corpse over having his world used like this by a dweeb like that is the secret to free infinite energy?

omg chaos magick mentioned (Constantine)

I appreciate that Julian's fire can always wake my head back up and realize the real scope of what we are dealing with.

Do the guys know there are more elections happening next week than just the NYC mayor race? Like don’t get me wrong I want Zohran to win but there are other important races! The NJ governor race is also very important and is polling way closer than NYC!

I’ve been listening to this podcast for years to hear Julian laugh.

I completely forgot there was a guest at like 12:40 lol

“Small o orthodox” means that he is claiming to follow the original or traditional version of Christianity, the “small o” differentiates it from the Orthodox Church (a church I imagine someone like Thiel has a big problem with). Some non denominational Christians refer to themselves as orthodox in that way. There might be more specific nuance to it that I’m not aware of but that’s the basics anyway.

Does anyone know what French literary work Julian references at the beginning? “Il se fair tard de plus en plus tard”?

Auto queue was superb. Outright haunting

Thank you Julian for the realness. We need more people to express their true feelings - that emotional energy is as equally valid as dry academic points.

I think a lot of these people have SO convinced themselves that caring for things that don't profit you is only something you pretend to do in order to manipulate others and for your own gain, that when they see someone who seems authentically selfless they're SURE that person must be secretly planning something ESPECIALLY heinous and evil to feel the need to go to such lengths. Because the only alternative is that they themselves are shitty empty people.

Dear Lord, Julian’s rant at the end made me feel so seen. Thank you for being you, Julian, and for always addressing the elephant in the room. And thank you for always bringing joy in spite of it all, Jake. Love you guys. P.S. Liv Agar

Last 10 min Julian slayed fucking love you dude v inspiring ♾🖤♾

I think Travis and Julian would like the book The End of the Mega machine. Shoots right through this episodes topic very well.

I looked forward to this topic but Julians constant interrupting makes this one hard to listen to. Julian, calling yourself an interupter and smirking about it, should not give you a free ticket to disrespect your guests and co-hosts like that. For me it felt like you used this episode to constantly vent your frustrations and make yourself feel better.

As a mycologist I deeply resent your bad fungal metaphore about techno optimism.

But now Gates and other AI freaks claim climate is not a big problem.

I'm loving this episode and Julian's on fire, I could listen to his anti-capitalist rants for hours.

Dark Enlightment is an edgy name for "billionaire's small insecurities"

Julian you sound especially like a Disco Elysium character when you speak french

Jacob Silverman has an incredible line that sums up these assholes in the forward to his new book “Gilded Rage”: “These were men who finally had the world at their fingertips, only to find that they couldn’t stand the touch”

This episode reminded me about a question I had during that rapture episode. Since some people believe Jesus died around 30 AD, and 2000 years since then is coming soon, this seems like ideal year for the rapture. Seems like basic maths to me, that anyone can come up with, yet I'm not seeing any chatter about this online? P.s. I do not believe in rapture, but I do believe other people belive it

Julian, do not listen to the voices trying to silence you. Your heavily censored death threats are the only thing keeping me going

Be Peter Thiel Creat a company that collects private data Check what everyone believes about you Everyone thinks your the antichrist Reeeeeeeeeeeee

Liv agar

No one tell Peter Thiel Orthodox Coptic Christians didn’t canonize The Book of Revelation. It’s funnier this way.

This is a question that’s been bugging me for ages, look forward to listening.

Agar Liv

Liv Agar