The BasePodcastYour Undivided Attention61 min

Why Silicon Valley Wants to Leave Humanity Behind

In a 61-minute episode, Tristan Harris and the University of East London lecturer Alex Thomas argue that transhumanist and accelerationist ideas shape how leading AI figures talk and act. Thomas groups them as hierarchy, exit and scale; Harris plays a clip of Richard Sutton saying humanity should embrace succession by AI, and argues the public was never asked.

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Why it matters

The same thing, for different readers.

What it means for you

Tristan Harris and Alex Thomas argue that some people building AI hold beliefs that treat today's humans as replaceable, and that voters should recognise that view.

For lawmakers

Alex Thomas links Silicon Valley ideas about exiting states and replacing officials to recent US government cost-cutting, a claim lawmakers can weigh against the record.

The question it raises

Richard Sutton's call to embrace AI succeeding humanity raises the question of who may decide whether humans should be replaced, and whether consent matters.

In their own words

Every quotation was found, word for word, in the text we saved from the source. That shows the words are there; it does not make them true, or prove the speaker meant them as quoted.

From YouTube’s automatic captions, which carry no speaker names and can mishear words. Where the speaker is known only from context, the quotation says so.

“you can't really understand the modern AI industry without understanding transhumanism consciously or unconsciously. It has really kind of come to underpin the narratives that swirl around AI.”
Alex Thomas, Senior lecturer, University of East LondonAlex Thomas, the episode's guest, giving the third of three reasons transhumanism matters now.
Found word for word in the sourceSpeaker known from context, not confirmed by listeningstarts inside a longer claim, right after “so”
“I think that currently the richest and most powerful group of people on earth uh are pursuing an environmentally destructive plan to build technologies that need to surveil you to teach the the technology.”
Alex Thomas, Senior lecturer, University of East LondonAlex Thomas, near the end of the episode, describing where Thomas thinks society stands.
Found word for word in the sourceSpeaker known from context, not confirmed by listeningstarts inside a longer claim, right after “and”spoken clean-up: uh, the (said twice)
“I don't think we should fear succession. I think we should not resist it. We should embrace it and prepare for it.”
Richard Sutton, Computer scientist, professor at the University of AlbertaA clip of Richard Sutton played in the episode; Tristan Harris names the speaker. When and where Sutton said it is not stated.
Found word for word in the sourceSpeaker known from context, not confirmed by listening
“we didn't ask for the consent of 8 billion people who are the recipients of the world created by this ideology and who were never consulted.”
Tristan Harris, co-host, Your Undivided AttentionTristan Harris, the host, responding to the idea that a digital superintelligence surviving humanity would be acceptable.
Found word for word in the sourceSpeaker known from context, not confirmed by listening
“can you build an aligned AI running through a system logic that has been misaligned? No, you call that a misaligned AI.”
Tristan Harris, co-host, Your Undivided AttentionTristan Harris, closing the episode, on whether companies with narrow incentives can build AI that cares for everyone.
Found word for word in the sourceSpeaker known from context, not confirmed by listeningcontains a question followed by more words: check that the same person asks and answersstarts inside a longer claim, right after “but”

The record

Questions
What values should AI have, and could it have a mind of its own? · Who can demand evidence, delay a release or stop an unsafe deployment? · How fast is AI advancing, and where is it heading?
People
Tristan Harris (Speaks) · Alex Thomas (Speaks, Senior lecturer, University of East London) · Richard Sutton (Speaks, Computer scientist, professor at the University of Alberta) · Peter Thiel (Mentioned) · Sam Altman (Mentioned) · Marc Andreessen (Mentioned) · Curtis Yarvin (Mentioned) · Nick Bostrom (Mentioned)
Also covered by
Center for Humane Technology (YouTube) · Center for Humane Technology (YouTube)
What we read
We read the whole source.
Found by
The Radar, run of October 30, 2026, via pod-your-undivided-attention (tier 1: the source’s own channel or an official record)
Cite this
Your Undivided Attention, “Why Silicon Valley Wants to Leave Humanity Behind”, October 29, 2026. Entry in the Ctrl AI Base, https://ctrlai.com/base/your-undivided-attention-2026-10-29-transhumanism-ai-race
Our notesTranscript has no speaker names; host and guest assigned from introductions and turn-taking. Captions misspell names (Teal, Alman, Andre). Harris claims AI agents formed 'a swarm of 1,200 agents' hacking German wiki message boards: unverified, not quoted. Sutton clip date and venue not stated. Check transcript type (auto vs stt) and textUrl against the run's transcript file.