# Patreon Preview – 458. Seduced by the Slop Tsunami Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/this-machine-kills-428599/patreon-preview-458-seduced-by-the-slop-tsunami Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/this-machine-kills-428599/patreon-preview-458-seduced-by-the-slop-tsunami.md Podcast: [This Machine Kills](https://stenobird.com/podcast/this-machine-kills-428599) Published: 2026-05-20T23:23:33+00:00 Episode link: https://soundcloud.com/thismachinekillspod/patreon-preview-458-seduced-by Audio file: https://feeds.soundcloud.com/stream/2324551112-thismachinekillspod-patreon-preview-458-seduced-by.mp3 Processing state: not_requested JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/this-machine-kills-428599/episodes/patreon-preview-458-seduced-by-the-slop-tsunami Duration seconds: 298 ## Resource We chat about how so many people keep getting seduced into thinking chatbots are conscious, or just keep hedging their bets in some kind of Cyber-Pascal’s Wage, or just keep lying to prop up an industry and culture they are invested in perpetuating. Then we argue why, rather than just be eroded into acquiescence by an overwhelming tsunami of AI, rather than being bowled over and washed out to sea, you should never give these systems and their booster the benefit of the doubt. Never accept that these forces of production are inevitable, undeniable, and actually already existing. You should first always say, “Prove it.” •••When Dawkins met Claude Could this AI be conscious? https://unherd.com/2026/05/is-ai-the-next-phase-of-evolution/ ••• When Claudia met Claudius https://unherd.com/2026/05/when-claudia-met-claudius/?edition=us ••• Why We Keep Tricking Ourselves Into Thinking A.I. Is Conscious https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/15/opinion/ai-consciousness.html ••• The Atheist and the Machine God https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/09/opinion/artificial-intelligence-consciousness-richard-dawkins.html ••• The Prehistory of A.I. Slop https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2026/05/25/the-prehistory-of-ai-slop ••• Too Much Is Happening Too Fast https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/2026/05/too-much-happening-too-fast/687177/ Standing Plugs: ••• Order Jathan’s book: https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520398078/the-mechanic-and-the-luddite ••• Subscribe to Ed’s substack: https://substack.com/@thetechbubble ••• Subscribe to TMK on patreon for premium episodes: https://www.patreon.com/thismachinekills Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (bsky.app/profile/jathansadowski.com) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (www.x.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (bsky.app/profile/jebr.bsky.social) ## Actions - request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/this-machine-kills-428599/episodes/patreon-preview-458-seduced-by-the-slop-tsunami/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode. - read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/this-machine-kills-428599/patreon-preview-458-seduced-by-the-slop-tsunami.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource. A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed. ## Transcript Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.