Episode 2178: Bryan VanDyke on Humanist Nostalgia in our AI Age

Keen On

Bryan VanDyke’s new dystopian AI novel, In Our Likeness, only came out today, but it has already over 1,400 reviews on Amazon and is currently their bestselling science fiction book. So what does our seemingly infinite appetite for dystopian AI literature tell us about ourself, I asked VanDyke? Is the popularity of this type of dystopian literature because AI is about to replace humans with smart machines thereby making our species redundant? Or might it be a more persistent feature of modernity : our fear over the last couple of hundred years that any revolutionary new technology - railways, electricity, the computer or the Internet - is sabotaging our most “human” qualities?

Bryan VanDyke is a digital strategist and a regular contributor at The Millions. He holds an MFA from Columbia University and a BA from Northwestern. In addition to his debut novel, IN OUR LIKENESS, he is the author of a book-length essay, ONLY THE TRYING, which is a meditation on the nature of illness and recovery. For the last twenty-five years, he has advised and partnered with technologists, startup founders and venture capitalists with a passion for disruption. His debut novel draws on this experience and dramatizes many of the as-yet-unanswered questions about artificial intelligence. What happens with powerful tools when tech leaders seem fonder of disruption than they are of people and truth? Can we hold the line between the artificial and the real — and should we? He lives in New York City with his wife and two children.

Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children.

Keen On is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit keenon.substack.com/subscribe