A Stark Warning From a Former AI Doomer

The "TESCREL" ideology—a bundle of beliefs including transhumanism, effective altruism, and long-termism—serves as the primary, often overlooked, driver behind the development of artificial superintelligence at major frontier labs like OpenAI and Anthropic. Academic and former insider Emile Torres explains that these worldviews prioritize a cosmic, post-human utopia, viewing biological humanity as an obsolete transitional species that may need to be sacrificed to secure a digital future. This ideological framework, rooted in utilitarian expected-value calculations, justifies extreme risks and potential mass harm in pursuit of a "glorious" future. Rather than being prescient about AI dangers, these groups have actively accelerated the race toward superintelligence, creating a self-fulfilling prophecy where the pursuit of a hypothetical utopia threatens the survival and rights of the 8.3 billion people currently living on Earth.