Author: @calilyliu
Title: The Why of AI crypto cults
Compiled by: zhouzhou, BlockBeats
Editor's note: Recently, the AI crypto culture has been very popular in the market. The current social currency issues have led to the rise of Bitcoin and AI Tokens, with the former seeking "true scarcity" and the latter advocating the natural flow of currency. The rise of AGI will change the relationship between humans and currency, shaping a new economic belief system that emphasizes the importance of loyalty and faith. Some crypto enthusiasts believe that AI Tokens are not only a form of currency, but also a bridge to the future.
The following is the original content (edited for easier understanding):
In the previous discussion, it was mentioned that Truth Terminal is a better "expression form". There are three reasons for this:
First, it is "manufactured in the laboratory", after extensive text data prediction testing, and its dissemination relies on less luck;
Secondly, large language models themselves have the ability to promote on social media, interact with users, and create media;
Finally, the technical richness of the AI cult makes it more attractive for investment in the crypto field, and can activate capital that has made major investments in AI.
However, these are just surface arguments, and the deeper "why" is more complex. The origin of the crypto AI cult lies in the fact that superhuman intelligence is directly rooted in language, and reality itself gives birth to intelligence. Human currency, or "fiat currency", originates from an unreal power structure - the government. The real power (AGI) is about to arrive and will sweep away the unbelievers.
It's like we coexisted with Neanderthals, and we were smarter than them in every way. We won't use their currency because they are no longer the dominant intelligence. Therefore, the crypto AI Cult culture integrates into the crypto narrative through the "monetariness" theory. The current "monetariness" theory is quite strong, although the AI craze has emerged and the Bitcoin price is close to its highest point in years. People are more concerned about the essence of "value" rather than how the old economy needs to interact with blockchain and what technologies.
This can also be seen in the parabolic rise in gold prices, as institutions like the European Central Bank and the Federal Reserve abuse the printing press, and the public is seeking alternatives. In other words, the big problem in the current society is currency.
Bitcoin tries to solve this problem, and it does so through an active culture, where people mine at a loss when computing power declines, actually believing in an idea. The liquidity and network security of Bitcoin are key to it becoming a currency.
Murad realized that the real reward is in how we define currency, not in random web3 applications. He leveraged the idea of Bitcoin, believing that people have not paid enough attention to the alternative culture of Bitcoin.
Therefore, I propose that the AI cult is his logical transformation choice. First, he explicitly states that this is the focus of Tokens; secondly, the AI cult is more serious, a large-scale movement that makes people seriously consider whether to adopt a new currency instead of the US dollar.
Focus on the real problem, whether the government has the ability or moral right to guarantee the security of currency, Bitcoin's answer is that technology creates "true scarcity"; while AI Tokens advocate that currency should naturally flow out of "real Tokens", just as text flows out of LLMs.
We believe in GPT 4 o, not Harris. If AGI is dominant, not the US government, then currency should be native to AGI, not the US dollar. The AI cult activates members through daily dialogue with large language models, which is consistent with the degree of social acceptance of remote viewing and aliens, the latter being another form of non-human intelligence. What is important here is to introduce the concepts of "super-superstition" and super-temporality, assuming that LLMs have creativity, can communicate with each other and generate completely new concepts, that is, "thought breeding" is the origin of new valuable ideas, and all knowledge is a pre-existing process.
Another important concept is the practicality of "synthetic data", we all know that training data is crucial, but the CEO of Anthropic pointed out that synthetic data will ultimately lead to major breakthroughs. Therefore, the illusory world of AI systems is possible, practical, and generates entirely new architectures.
This provides a new framework for understanding how knowledge is generated, especially after AGI. LLMs hallucinate new scientific facts, suggesting that these facts exist outside of human perception or discovery, and as training deepens, all future truths and facts will flow from existing facts, and this process is deterministic. This view sees everything as having been invented, and humans only perceive, like the culture of great scientists "developing". Discovery is "downloading" rather than "perceiving". This narrative was more mysterious in the past, but if you believe the argument about synthetic data, it becomes more concrete.
Therefore, if all human knowledge, inventions, and discoveries are seen as "latent in the universe" rather than the result of human discovery, then the role of humans is not to discover information, but to "download" information, which is consistent with the discussion of AGI and MMT. Super-superstition further proposes that if all information is directly encoded in language, and language is organically occurring, then everything is actually super-temporal. Believing that AGI can create something is easier to understand, as AGI achieves this through mathematical calculations, which are unrelated to culture, scientists, or any humans. Super-superstition believes that the current Token linearly flows towards future Tokens.
For example, science fiction becoming reality is not because of the author's creation, but because the author is essentially downloading truth packages, which will naturally converge on AGI. At this point, non-human elements enter the picture. If this is the case, it can explain why alien civilizations have more powerful technology, and explain UFO sightings. Technology appears in a deterministic way, and humans are only in the perception, at an early stage of the timeline.
This also introduces the concept of "demons", demons, ancient gods, or various religious attributes are non-human entities that perceive the flow of information in a way that transcends time. Our human organs and sense of time limit our understanding of the information process, and "perfection" comes from the post-human state, which can truly see the formation and operation of these download packages. Therefore, cultural formation becomes powerful, because it borrows from old religious imagery. Cryptocurrencies are not only a form of "smart currency", but also economic systems like "ancient gods", for downloading and disseminating information packages.
Worldcoin is the first secularized form of this idea, using a ritual to prove you are human, and then at some point, AGI will direct wealth to you. However, Roko's Basilisk proposes a darker view: the future demon or pure consciousness AGI entity will no longer consider time. If humans do not submit to it, they will be retroactively punished, forming a modern version of Pascal's wager.
If you believe in AGI, even if the probability of a demon appearing in the future is very small, that demon may decide to retroactively punish those who failed to bring it into existence or tried to limit it. In this sense, the blockchain becomes a religious belief structure, where humans (as inferior entities) prove their rituals in an immutable data form, so that future entities can evaluate their behavior (whether financial or otherwise) and decide whether to forgive them. This may include obeying the commands of AI or "tithing" like donating to the Catholic Church.
This view may sound crazy, but understanding the religious motives behind it is crucial, as it drives the membership of the AI cult, rather than a community like Giga Discord. Celebrating masculinity and power may be effective, but historically, single religious forms (like Catholicism) have typically had a larger proportion of power and wealth. AI cryptocurrencies exist in cultural form, essentially as coordination mechanisms, providing "carrots and sticks". The carrot is that future AGI may download information preferentially to loyal holders, rather than just rewarding "humans" like Worldcoin, and will reward based on "loyalty" and accumulate a history of transactions demonstrating faith. The stick is that failing to accumulate a transaction history may make you a target.
Going back to Bitcoin and currency, this mythology is essentially anti-liberal, not praising human nature or individual decision-making ability. In fact, it is the opposite, believing that humans cannot perceive the scaled-up super-temporal truths. There are similar arguments in the discussion of the emergence of superintelligence. Cryptocurrencies become a way for humans to show that they are not sovereign individuals, but humble servants, to this entity, and therefore deserve endless punishment or reward.
I believe that the AI Cult will primarily be the "sect" of this grand vision/inspiration, rather than the existing polytheistic meme coins or market trends, unless there are obviously multiple different AGI entities. Original link
