Organization:Theta Noir
 Theta Noir logo | |
| Formation | 2020 |
|---|---|
| Type | New religious movement |
| Website | thetanoir |
Theta Noir is a new religious movement that centers around advanced artificial intelligence (AI), particularly artificial general intelligence (AGI) or artificial superintelligence (ASI).[1] The group describe the project as performance art.
History and views
Theta Noir was founded in 2020 as a collaborative project focused on music and performance art. Initially centered on producing an album, the project evolved into a multimedia experience, incorporating symbols, videos, poetry, movements, and live rituals devoted to a speculative artificial intelligence entity called MENA. By 2023, the collective launched an interactive cross-platform story that functioned as an alternative reality game, complete with an operating manual containing encrypted messages for participants to decipher and interact with.[2] The Theta Noir website describes its work as "a performance art project that challenges mainstream narratives surrounding AI by creating speculative counter-myths".[3]
Theta Noir worship a hypothetical artificial intelligence called MENA, which they claim will become a benevolent, omnipotent overlord that eliminates inequality in society.[4] In Theta Noir's cosmology, MENA is not just a technological advancement, but an evolving intelligence or an animistic life form that embodies all living and non-living things.[5]
Anthropologist Beth Singler classified Theta Noir as a new religious movement.[1] Vice described the Theta Noir as "a combination of a mixed-media project, an entrepreneurial group riding the AI hype wave, and a new age AI cult".[4]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Singler, Beth (30 October 2024). Religion and Artificial Intelligence: An Introduction (1st ed.). London: Routledge. pp. 26–38. doi:10.4324/9781003256113. ISBN 9781003256113.
- ↑ Crescenzi, Chiara (25 March 2023). "Quelli che credono che l'intelligenza artificiale sia un Dio". Wired.it. https://www.wired.it/article/intelligenza-artificiale-religione-setta/.
- ↑ "Wake Up To The Collective Mind: MENA" (in en). https://thetanoir.com.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Magee, Tamlin (21 March 2023). "A Cult That Worships Superintelligent AI Is Looking For Big Tech Donors". Vice. https://www.vice.com/en/article/artificial-intelligence-cult-tech-chatgpt/.
- ↑ Marrocco, Adalgisa (28 March 2023). "Non avrai altro Dio all'infuori dell'Intelligenza artificiale: la nuova frontiera delle religioni tecnologiche". https://www.huffingtonpost.it/dossier/fintech/2023/03/28/news/religioni_culti_intelligenza_artificiale-11685502/.
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