Robert Wright Casts AI as Evolution’s Next Stage in 'The God Test' After 300,000 Human Years
Updated
Updated · The New Republic · Aug 2
Robert Wright Casts AI as Evolution’s Next Stage in 'The God Test' After 300,000 Human Years
3 articles · Updated · The New Republic · Aug 2
Summary
Robert Wright’s new book argues emergent AI—especially AGI—is not just a tool but an evolutionary outcome that could supersede humanity and demands unprecedented global coordination.
Teilhard de Chardin’s ideas about a noosphere and Omega Point shape that case, with Wright framing AI as a potentially godlike intelligence that must be shepherded through international governance.
Large language models give the argument urgency by pushing once-speculative questions about machine intelligence, consciousness and control into mainstream policy and corporate debate.
The review challenges Wright’s teleological view of evolution and doubts AI will become the unifying threat he envisions, arguing current systems may be powerful probability machines rather than emergent minds.
That skepticism still leaves practical risks—surveillance, hacking, unemployment, bioweapons and autonomous weapons—while suggesting AI’s political impact may hinge more on human choices than on any cosmic destiny.