Uploaded July 2026 | Updated September 2026, 4 days ago
Generously sponsored by the Ben Delo Foundation.
In this second lecture from our recent symposium, AI and the Battle for the Soul, theologian and iconographer Jonathan Pageau asks: Who, or what, does AI serve? By drawing on mythology, scripture, symbolism, and poetry, he argues that the questions raised by AI directly concern human purpose and meaning. Through the stories of Prometheus, the Holy Grail, Moloch, and the Tower of Babel, Pageau unpacks the deepest questions raised by AI, calling on us to recognize what technology reveals about ourselves and the civilization we are building.
Recorded at Ralston College in May 2026, this event brought together leading thinkers including Iain McGilchrist, Jonathan Pageau, and Stephen Wolfram for a day-long engagement with some of the most pressing questions facing technological advancement, the meaning crisis, and ultimately, civilization itself.
If you would like to support us in this work, please visit ralston.ac/donate.
Authors and Works Mentioned in this Episode:
Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy
The Holy Grail (Arthurian Legend)
Richard Dawkins’ The Selfish Gene
Scott Alexander’s Meditations on Moloch
Allen Ginsberg’s Howl
Alfred North Whitehead
Simone Weil
Aeschylus' Prometheus Bound
Yuval Noah Harari
Viktor Frankl: Man's Search for Meaning
- Episode 1: AI and the Battle for the Soul with Iain McGilchrist - Lecture 1: Information is Not Understanding - youtu.be/QNAC_QVY9BU
- Episode 2: AI and the Battle for the Soul: Whom Does AI Serve? Jonathan Pageau on the Forces Shaping Technology - youtu.be/rwEG9bqo30c
- Episode 3: Is Everything a Mechanism? Stephen Wolfram and Iain McGilchrist Debate The Nature of Reality - youtu.be/N0STggIKDPA
- Episode 4: AI and the Battle for the Soul with Iain McGilchrist - Lecture 2: Cognitive Freedom in the Age of AI youtu.be/mJ5oInI6klA
– Chapters —
00:00:00 - Opening Remarks
00:01:06 - What AI Founders are Saying
00:08:12 - The Holy Grail
00:14:10 - What Ends is Technology Serving?
00:18:52 - AI is not Self-Organizing
00:21:04 - Moloch
00:29:37 - Why Does AI Have a Personality?
00:34:01 - Prometheus
00:40:20 - Closing Remarks: Sacrifice as Preparation
00:43:12 - Will AI Effectively Model the Right Hemisphere of the Brain?
00:45:44 - Should We Be Pessimists or Optimists?
00:49:06 - Can We Learn From Examples of De-escalation?
00:54:45 - Are There Uses of AI That Expand Our Humanity?
00:58:38 - The State of Non-Propositional Knowledge
01:06:04 - Concluding Remarks
Generously sponsored by the Ben Delo Foundation.
In this second lecture from our recent symposium, AI and the Battle for the Soul, theologian and iconographer Jonathan Pageau asks: Who, or what, does AI serve? By drawing on mythology, scripture, symbolism, and poetry, he argues that the questions raised by AI directly concern human purpose and meaning. Through the stories of Prometheus, the Holy Grail, Moloch, and the Tower of Babel, Pageau unpacks the deepest questions raised by AI, calling on us to recognize what technology reveals about ourselves and the civilization we are building.
Recorded at Ralston College in May 2026, this event brought together leading thinkers including Iain McGilchrist, Jonathan Pageau, and Stephen Wolfram for a day-long engagement with some of the most pressing questions facing technological advancement, the meaning crisis, and ultimately, civilization itself.
If you would like to support us in this work, please visit ralston.ac/donate.
Authors and Works Mentioned in this Episode:
Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy
The Holy Grail (Arthurian Legend)
Richard Dawkins’ The Selfish Gene
Scott Alexander’s Meditations on Moloch
Allen Ginsberg’s Howl
Alfred North Whitehead
Simone Weil
Aeschylus' Prometheus Bound
Yuval Noah Harari
Viktor Frankl: Man's Search for Meaning
- Episode 1: AI and the Battle for the Soul with Iain McGilchrist - Lecture 1: Information is Not Understanding - youtu.be/QNAC_QVY9BU
- Episode 2: AI and the Battle for the Soul: Whom Does AI Serve? Jonathan Pageau on the Forces Shaping Technology - youtu.be/rwEG9bqo30c
- Episode 3: Is Everything a Mechanism? Stephen Wolfram and Iain McGilchrist Debate The Nature of Reality - youtu.be/N0STggIKDPA
- Episode 4: AI and the Battle for the Soul with Iain McGilchrist - Lecture 2: Cognitive Freedom in the Age of AI youtu.be/mJ5oInI6klA
– Chapters —
00:00:00 - Opening Remarks
00:01:06 - What AI Founders are Saying
00:08:12 - The Holy Grail
00:14:10 - What Ends is Technology Serving?
00:18:52 - AI is not Self-Organizing
00:21:04 - Moloch
00:29:37 - Why Does AI Have a Personality?
00:34:01 - Prometheus
00:40:20 - Closing Remarks: Sacrifice as Preparation
00:43:12 - Will AI Effectively Model the Right Hemisphere of the Brain?
00:45:44 - Should We Be Pessimists or Optimists?
00:49:06 - Can We Learn From Examples of De-escalation?
00:54:45 - Are There Uses of AI That Expand Our Humanity?
00:58:38 - The State of Non-Propositional Knowledge
01:06:04 - Concluding Remarks
