politics
Anthropic is battling Uncle Sam for control of superpowered AI
THE PARADOX of religious authority is that, to believers, there is nothing more important, yet spiritual leaders typically wield little practical power. Indeed, it is often the refusal to sully themselves with the quandaries and compromises of everyday life that confers moral authority on holy men. That, in turn, makes it both easy for worldly leaders to subdue them in the short run (they have no weapons) and difficult in the longer term (their persecution only increases their moral standing).
TL;DR
- Believers consider spiritual leaders supremely important.
- Spiritual leaders typically possess little practical power.
- Refusal to engage in everyday compromises grants moral authority.
- Secular leaders can easily subdue spiritual leaders in the short term.
- Persecution of spiritual leaders increases their moral standing in the long term.