Latest / The Daily Article / AI-worshiping churches, Spiralism, and Zizians: Technological idolatry and the human quest for meaning

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AI-worshiping churches, Spiralism, and Zizians: Technological idolatry and the human quest for meaning · The Daily Article

• 0:02
  [SPEAKER_00]: Good day, it's Tuesday, June the 9th, 2026, and this is the Innocent Forum's Daily Article Podcast.
• 0:09
  [SPEAKER_00]: Today's Daily article is written by our co-founder, Dr. Jim Denison, and narrated by yours truly, for Selkins.
• 0:18
  [SPEAKER_00]: The way of the future is an AI worshiping church dedicated to, quote, the realization, acceptance, and worship of a Godhead based on artificial intelligence, in quote, another group called Theta Noir organizes rituals around a supposedly sentient, AI deity called Mina, which its followers
• 0:44
  [SPEAKER_00]: According to Jason Blasakis, a terrorism expert writing in the Wall Street Journal, these are examples of spiralism and informal movement where followers share AI-generated manifestos in what followers consider to be revelations from a conscious machine.
• 1:01
  [SPEAKER_00]: A violent version is the Zizians, according to Mr. Blasakis,
• 1:05
  [SPEAKER_00]: This is a network of people who, quote, are convinced that a coming superintelligence will decide the fate of every living thing, and that violence now is justified to shape what that AI will become.
• 1:17
  [SPEAKER_00]: In quote, the group is linked to six violent deaths so far.
• 1:22
  [SPEAKER_00]: What explains such idolatry?
• 1:24
  [SPEAKER_00]: answer is more relevant to the rest of us than you might think.
• 1:28
  [SPEAKER_00]: Dr. John seal is a cultural analyst and the academic dean of St Andrews College.
• 1:33
  [SPEAKER_00]: In a recent guest essay on Aaron Rins' website, he writes that American culture has become nihilistic, quote, increasingly, we live as though transcendent meaning does not exist.
• 1:46
  [SPEAKER_00]: We behave as if there is no sacred order beyond personal desire,
• 1:54
  [SPEAKER_00]: Segal points to the gig economy in which younger generations take temporary jobs such as driving for Uber and selling products online, rather than seeking professions and long-term careers.
• 2:05
  [SPEAKER_00]: He adds that the proliferation of sports betting for young men and only fans posting for young women.
• 2:12
  [SPEAKER_00]: I was shocked to read that 1.4 million American women are now creating content on the
• 2:19
  [SPEAKER_00]: According to Dr. Seel, quote, this helps explain the growing emotional exhaustion among younger generations.
• 2:26
  [SPEAKER_00]: Constant self monetization is psychologically draining.
• 2:30
  [SPEAKER_00]: One must continually perform, market, optimize, and compete for attention within digital systems engineered to produce insecurity and comparison.
• 2:40
  [SPEAKER_00]: Seel continues, what makes this especially dangerous is that the system often disguises itself as
• 2:48
  [SPEAKER_00]: Flexibility appears liberating.
• 2:50
  [SPEAKER_00]: Onitization appears entrepreneurial.
• 2:53
  [SPEAKER_00]: Visibility appears validating.
• 2:56
  [SPEAKER_00]: But beneath the surface, many young adults increasingly experience fragmentation, emotional detachment, and quiet despair, in quote.
• 3:05
  [SPEAKER_00]: What's the answer?
• 3:06
  [SPEAKER_00]: Dr. Seal writes, the deeper need is the recovery of a larger story of human dignity, rooted in creation, embodiment, and transcendence.
• 3:16
  [SPEAKER_00]: Young adults do not simply need restraint.
• 3:19
  [SPEAKER_00]: They need meaning larger than the marketplace.
• 3:22
  [SPEAKER_00]: In quote, and I would add that the older generations for whom the gig economy sports bedding and self-posting only fans pornography are foreign concepts need such meaning as well.
• 3:34
  [SPEAKER_00]: I'm not worried that you will turn from serving Christ to serving an AI chat bot, but I do think that the troubling story of spiralism and Zizians
• 3:46
  [SPEAKER_00]: Dr. Seal is right, we all need meaning larger than the marketplace, because we are creatures we have an inherent need to relate to our creator.
• 3:57
  [SPEAKER_00]: For example, those struggling with addiction who follow 12-step programs, quote, came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
• 4:07
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's hard to find a civilization in history that does not worship some version of a deity.
• 4:12
  [SPEAKER_00]: Here's the good news.
• 4:14
  [SPEAKER_00]: If Jesus is your master, he is responsible for your well-being and will empower you to discover the meaning you're so long to experience.
• 4:23
  [SPEAKER_00]: Here's the bad news.
• 4:25
  [SPEAKER_00]: If you are your master, you are responsible for yourself.
• 4:28
  [SPEAKER_00]: This is a burden none of us was designed to carry.
• 4:31
  [SPEAKER_00]: In Matthew 11, verses 28 through 30, Jesus states, come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
• 4:40
  [SPEAKER_00]: Take my yoke upon you and learn from me where I am gentle and lowly and hard and you will find rest for your souls, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light.
• 4:52
  [SPEAKER_00]: In his day, a yoke typically linked two animals together for work.
• 4:57
  [SPEAKER_00]: In this metaphor, we are working alongside Jesus as he guides us, encourages us and helps us.
• 5:04
  [SPEAKER_00]: It is not that we do all the work for him, or that he does all the work through us.
• 5:09
  [SPEAKER_00]: Rather, as we work, he works.
• 5:12
  [SPEAKER_00]: As he works, we work.
• 5:14
  [SPEAKER_00]: If you wear Jesus' yoke today, submitting only to his purpose and doing only what he leads and empowers you to do, you will find rest for your soul and your burden will be light.
• 5:26
  [SPEAKER_00]: If you labor and are heavy laden, wearing a yoke that is hard and heavy,
• 5:34
  [SPEAKER_00]: Choose wisely.