Greg Epstein
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Humanist Chaplain @Harvard/@MIT. NYTbestseller @GoodWithoutGod. 📝@TechCrunch @techreview
@CNN @GlobeIdeas. 📘 10/29—TECH AGNOSTIC @MITPress via @penguinrandom
Articles by Greg Epstein
Expand your horizons with MIT’s summer 2025 reading list
Enjoy recent titles from Institute faculty and staff, including three books from the MIT Open Learning community. Zoom image will be displayed Summer is the perfect time to curl up with a good book — and MIT authors have had much to offer in the past year.
Expand your horizons with MIT’s summer 2025 reading list
Enjoy recent titles from Institute faculty and staff, including three books from the MIT Open Learning community. Summer is the perfect time to curl up with a good book — and MIT authors have had much to offer in the past year.
Tech Agnostic (with Greg Epstein)
Jason Howell and Jeff Jarvis break down Greg Epstein’s thoughts on tech worship culture in Tech Agnostic, OpenAI’s legal battles with publishers over copyright infringement claims, Amazon Alexa’s generative AI struggles with hallucinations, Google Notebook LM’s friendliness tuning updates, and more! 🔔 Support the show: http://www.patreon.com/aiinsideshow Note: Time codes subject to change depending on dynamic ad insertion by the distributor.
The cult of tech Original
“THE CULT OF THE FOUNDER.” “THE CULT OF THE TECH GENIUS.” “Beware: Silicon Valley’s cultists want to turn you into a disruptive deviant.” “Tech’s cult of the founder bounces back.” “Silicon Valley’s Strange, Apocalyptic Cults.” “How the cult of personality and tech-bro culture is killing technology.” “Company or cult?” “Is your corporate culture cultish?” “The Cult of Company Culture Is Back.
Silicon Valley’s obsession with AI looks a lot like religion
A weekly newsletter featuring the biggest ideas from the smartest people While I was studying toward ordination as secular humanist clergy two decades ago, I had the fortune of meeting the late rabbi Sherwin Wine, a brilliant philosopher whom TIME magazine profiled as “the atheist rabbi” in 1967. He became my favorite teacher and mentor as I trained to serve communities of atheists and agnostics in ways that parallel how religious leaders typically minister to their congregations.
Harvard and MIT humanist Chaplain Greg M. Epstein on Writing Tech Agnostic.
1 Tech Has Become the Most Dominant Faith of Our Time Nautilus Members enjoy an ad-free experience. Log in or Join now . Though I am an atheist, I have built my life and career around religion. First I spent five years pursuing ordination as a secular humanist rabbi, including 18 months living in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, studying ancient and modern Jewish sacred texts I believed—and continue to believe—are human creations, reflective not of divine inspiration but our own projections and needs.
Book Excerpt: Tech Agnostic: How Technology Became the World’s Most Powerful Religion, and Why It Desperately Needs a Reformation
Excerpted from Tech Agnostic: How Technology Became the World’s Most Powerful Religion, and Why It Desperately Needs a Reformation by Greg M. Epstein. Reprinted with permission from The MIT Press. Copyright 2024. One could write a book about what humanism even is, and indeed I already have.
Why a Technocracy Fails Young People Original
Ideas By Greg M. Epstein November 14, 2024 12:03 PM EST Epstein serves as the Humanist Chaplain at Harvard and MIT. His new book is Tech Agnostic: How Technology Became the World’s Most Powerful Religion, and Why it Desperately Needs a Reformation As a chaplain at Harvard and MIT, I have been particularly concerned when talking to young people, who hope to be the next generation of American leaders. What moral lessons should they draw from the 2024 election?
How Money Became Our Maker: An Economic History of the World
Andrew Leigh serves as an MP in the Australian House of Representatives, where he is Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities and Treasury. He was formerly a professor of economics at the Australian National University. His papers have appeared in the American Economic Review, Journal of Public Economics, and Economic Journal.
The Weird Worship of Tech That Demands Serious Questioning
Nabokov, ‘Lolita’ and the question of morally offensive art If you’re looking for an escape from reality these days, I have some good news: John Banville has a new book out. The Drowning is one of Banville’s …
The Weird Worship of Tech That Demands Serious Questioning
Greg Epstein is the Humanist Chaplain at Harvard University and at MIT, where he advises students, faculty, and staff members on ethical and existential concerns from a humanist perspective. He has served for over twenty years in elected and appointed interfaith leadership roles as an advisor for the non-religious. He himself is an atheist, agnostic, Humanist. Tech has changed roles. It used to be a mere tool that people could use for bettering and strengthening humanity.
Book Excerpt: Tech Agnostic: How Technology Became the World’s Most Powerful Religion, and Why It Desperately Needs a Reformation
Excerpted from Tech Agnostic: How Technology Became the World’s Most Powerful Religion, and Why It Desperately Needs a Reformation by Greg M. Epstein. Reprinted with permission from The MIT Press. Copyright 2024. One could write a book about what humanism even is, and indeed I already have.
TECH AGNOSTIC | Kirkus Reviews
A wide-ranging, provocative, and energetic deep dive into the role that technology plays in our lives. We live in the church of the Wi-Fi connection, avows this interesting investigation. The ubiquity of the screen, the pervasiveness of the net, the omnipresent power of the tech corporations: these are the elements that drive our civilization, according to Harvard/MIT “humanist chaplain” Epstein. Technology has become a modern religion, reaching into every corner of our lives.
It's Not AI That I Fear, It's Us.
(I recorded myself reading this article to you! - Click above) Disclaimer: I’m way out of my league talking about this stuff, and I apologize for the following thoughts not being particularly comforting, but here’s what has been in my head the last few days since attending the Aspen Ideas Festival and I need to just get it out so I can move on and think about something else.
We need to see each other's humanity
(RNS) — War comes in waves, and if you stand close enough to the ocean, eventually the sea foam touches you, too.
The rise of the tech ethics congregation [MIT Tech Review]
Just before Christmas last year, a pastor preached a gospel of morals over money to several hundred members of his flock. Wearing a sport coat, angular glasses, and wired earbuds, he spoke animatedly into his laptop from his tiny glass office inside a co-working space, surrounded by six whiteboards filled with his feverish brainstorming. Sharing… View Article on MIT Tech Review Just before Christmas last year, a pastor preached a gospel of morals over money to several hundred members of his flock.
The rise of the tech ethics congregation
Just before Christmas last year, a pastor preached a gospel of morals over money to several hundred members of his flock. Wearing a sport coat, angular glasses, and wired earbuds, he spoke animatedly into his laptop from his tiny glass office inside a co-working space, surrounded by six whiteboards filled with his feverish brainstorming.
NEW for 2/11: On Gateway 85, Michelle Childs and superstition
GwinnettForum | Number 21.12 | Feb. 11, 2022 MANY GWINNETT COMMUNITIES are sporting Little Free Libraries, where you can pick out a book to read (and keep) if you like. Here’s the Little Free Library in Auburn, right in the middle of town. You’re doing your neighborhood service when you contribute books to these libraries for your neighbors to enjoy.
Tech Agnostic
Description Praise An urgently needed exploration of global technology worship, and a measured case for skepticism and agnosticism as a way of life, from the New York Times–bestselling author of Good without God. Today's technology has overtaken religion as the chief influence on twenty-first century life and community. In Tech Agnostic, Harvard and MIT's influential humanist chaplain Greg Epstein explores what it means to be a critical thinker with respect to this new faith.
Humanists for Biden-Harris: Voting our Values
A government of, by, and for the people At a time when the fastest growing “faith” group in the United States is people with no religious affiliation, we are delighted to announce an initiative of nonreligious people — humanists, atheists, agnostics, and others — proud to stand with the Biden-Harris campaign.
So you want to talk about race in tech with Ijeoma Oluo – TechCrunch Original
“A lot of people denigrate the value of talking about race and racism in technological spaces,” said Ijeoma Oluo, author of So You Want to Talk About Race, which has surged to the top of the New York Times best sellers list in paperback nonfiction, two and a half years after its initial January 2018 publication.
Is tech socialism really on the rise? – TechCrunch
Part 2 of our interview with writer/ethicist Ben Tarnoff Greg M.
‘Capitalism generates a lot of wealth depending on the situation’ – TechCrunch
In an extended interview, writer Ben Tarnoff weighs the ethics of technology Greg M.
Justin Kan opens up (Part 2) – TechCrunch
'I like to talk about things that I'm learning that I think are applicable to other people' Greg M.
Justin Kan opens up (Part 1) – TechCrunch
'I've always liked engaging in social media for my own entertainment' Greg M.
Will the future of work be ethical? Founder perspectives – TechCrunch
Greg M. Epstein is the Humanist Chaplain at Harvard and MIT, and the author of the New York Times bestselling book Good Without God.
Will the future of work be ethical? Future leader perspectives – TechCrunch
Greg M. Epstein is the Humanist Chaplain at Harvard and MIT, and the author of the New York Times bestselling book Good Without God.
Will the future of work be ethical? Perspectives from MIT Technology Review – TechCrunch
Greg M. Epstein is the Humanist Chaplain at Harvard and MIT, and the author of the New York Times bestselling book Good Without God.
Will the future of work be ethical? Academic perspectives – TechCrunch
Greg M. Epstein is the Humanist Chaplain at Harvard and MIT, and the author of the New York Times bestselling book Good Without God.
‘People fix things. Tech doesn’t fix things.’ – TechCrunch
Veena Dubal is an unlikely star in the tech world. A scholar of labor practices regarding the taxi and ride-hailing industries and an Associate Professor at San Francisco’s U.C. Hastings College of the Law, her work on the ethics of the gig economy has been covered by the New York Times, NBC News, New York Magazine, and other publications.
Silicon Valley’s competing philosophies on tech ethics with The New Yorker’s Andrew Marantz – TechCrunch
“If Silicon Valley is going to keep telling itself the story that the only uses of their technology will be the most optimistic, the most hopeful, the most salubrious, the most prosocial,” New Yorker staff writer Andrew Marantz told me in Part 1 of this recent conversation for Extra Crunch, “you can try to rebut that logically, or you can just disprove it by showing a very glaring counterexample.
How ‘the Internet broke America’ with The New Yorker’s Andrew Marantz – TechCrunch
When Elizabeth Warren took on Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook earlier this week, it was a low moment for what New Yorker writer Andrew Marantz calls “techno-utopianism.” That the progressive, populist Massachusetts Senator and leading Democratic Presidential candidate wants to #BreakUpBigTech is not surprising. But Warren’s choice to spotlight regulating and trust-busting Facebook was nonetheless noteworthy, because of what it represents on a philosophical level.
TC’s Greg Epstein and Kate Clark talk mental health startups and the ‘Cult of the Founder’ – TechCrunch
TechCrunch ethics columnist and its VC reporter dive into this week’s tech ethics news Greg Epstein Kate Clark 7 hours Some weeks, tech ethics is in the news. And some weeks, it IS the news. This week was one of the latter, There were so many ethically fraught news stories about technology companies over these past few days, I had trouble keeping track of them all.
‘Am I as brave as I think I am?’ MIT Media Lab student Arwa Mboya on the aftermath of a scandal – TechCrunch
It’s been another hard week at MIT. Our campus has been divided by revelations of inappropriate fundraising, coverups, and the harboring of far too many tech geniuses who seemingly put their own interests and careers over the safety of women, among other marginalized groups.
The MIT Media Lab controversy and getting back to ‘radical courage’, with Media Lab student Arwa Mboya – TechCrunch
People win prestigious prizes in tech all the time, but there is something different about The Bold Prize. Unless you’ve been living under a literal or proverbial rock, you’ve probably heard something about the late Jeffrey Epstein, a notorious child molester and human trafficker who also happened to be a billionaire philanthropist and managed to become a ubiquitous figure in certain elite science and tech circles.
Teaching ethics in computer science the right way with Georgia Tech’s Charles Isbell – TechCrunch
The new fall semester is upon us, and at elite private colleges and universities, it’s hard to find a trendier major than Computer Science. It’s also becoming more common for such institutions to prioritize integrating ethics into their CS studies, so students don’t just learn about how to build software, but whether or not they should build it in the first place.
Hundreds of Uber and Lyft drivers to launch a protest caravan across California – TechCrunch
If you’re like me, chances are good you just distractedly clicked on this article while scrolling through your feed in, or while waiting for, a Lyft. Maybe, like me, you need that app to get to back-to-back meetings in different locations today, as you’re well on your way to at least a 60-hour workweek between the various things you do. Maybe you’re exhausted. Maybe the ride you just took, zoning out on your phone in an Uber on Quiet Mode, was actually a lifesaver.
How ‘ghost work’ in Silicon Valley pressures the workforce, with Mary Gray – TechCrunch
The phrase “pull yourself up by your own bootstraps” was originally meant sarcastically. It’s not actually physically possible to do — especially while wearing Allbirds and having just fallen off a Bird scooter in downtown San Francisco, but I should get to my point.
Why AI needs more social workers, with Columbia University’s Desmond Patton – TechCrunch
Sometimes it does seem the entire tech industry could use someone to talk to, like a good therapist or social worker.
Inside the history of Silicon Valley labor, with Louis Hyman – TechCrunch
As I wrote for TechCrunch recently, immigration is not an issue always associated with tech — not even when thinking about the ethics of technology, as I do here.
How Carl Pope helped drive a $500 million pledge to push the U.S. “Beyond Carbon” (Part 2) – TechCrunch
Billionaire businessman and philanthropist Michael Bloomberg recently pledged to rapidly spend $500 million in a bid to push the U.S. “Beyond Carbon,” aiming to end this country’s use of coal and natural gas power in a generation or less. In another recent piece, I featured an in-depth interview with Carl Pope, the veteran environmental leader who has essentially been the inspirational force behind Bloomberg’s evolution.
The climate is our biggest threat. Carl Pope is fighting to change our fate – TechCrunch
Michael Bloomberg is an unrepentant capitalist who, as he says in his 2017 book A Climate of Hope, is “not exactly your stereotypical environmentalist.” Yet over the past decade, Bloomberg has become arguably the biggest environmental philanthropist in the world — especially given the $500 million investment Bloomberg announced last month that he would soon make in rapidly moving the U.S. “Beyond Carbon,” off both coal and natural gas and to a “100% clean energy economy.” How did this happen?
Extra Crunch Membership: Student Discounts – TechCrunch
Students can enjoy the benefits of Extra Crunch for a discounted rate of $50 per year (plus tax). To get the discounted rate, students should send an email to extracrunch@techcrunch.com from a college or university email address and request a student discount code. Customer service typically responds with the discount code within 24 hours. Not a student? Head here to learn more about our non-student rates.
Unraveling immigration politics and Silicon Valley ethics with Jaclyn Friedman – TechCrunch
Immigration may not seem to be a tech issue. But for Americans with some personal or family experience with the idea of separated families and/or concentration camps, it can be hard to see what is currently going on in our names thanks to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (better known as “ICE”) as anything less than the single most urgent moral or ethical issue in this country today.
Climate change, AI and ethical leadership in ‘big tech’, with Amazon principal UX design lead Maren Costa – TechCrunch
“I just want to be proud of the company that I work for,” Maren Costa told me recently. Costa is a Principal UX Design Lead at Amazon, for which she has worked since 2002. I was referred to her because of her leadership in the Amazon Employees for Climate Justice group I covered earlier this week for my series on the ethics of technology.
Climate justice and environmental ethics in tech, with Amazon engineer Rajit Iftikhar – TechCrunch
Nearly 8,000 Amazon employees, many in prestigious engineering and design roles, have recently signed a petition calling on Jeff Bezos and the Amazon Board of Directors to dramatically shift the giant company’s approach to climate change.
Dissecting value systems and exclusion in ‘big tech’, with Jessica Powell (Part Two) – TechCrunch
In this second of my two-part conversation on the ethics of technology with Jessica Powell, the former head of PR at Google turned author of the wonderful satirical novel, The Big Disruption: A Totally Fictional But Essentially True Silicon Valley Story, we discuss the meaning of “genius” in the tech world; why Silicon Valley multi-millionaires vote for socialists; and whether it is possible to use the master’s code to destroy his app.
Tackling ‘big tech’ issues through storytelling, with Jessica Powell – TechCrunch
Jessica Powell, Google’s former head of PR from 2012-2018 (years in which Google required a not-insignificant amount of PR leadership), is now a rock star writer whose 2018 debut book, The Big Disruption: A Totally Fictional But Essentially True Silicon Valley Story, was the first novel published by Medium.
Gender, race and social change in tech; Moira Weigel on the Internet of Women, Part Two – TechCrunch
Tech ethics can mean a lot of different things, but surely one of the most critical, unavoidable, and yet somehow still controversial propositions in the emerging field of ethics in technology is that tech should promote gender equality. But does it? And to the extent it does not, what (and who) needs to change?
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