53: AI Philosophy and Jewish Wisdom. Spencer Klavan (Associate Editor of the Claremont Review of Books) reviews Michael M. Rosen's book, Like Silicon from Clay, which uses ancient Jewish wisdom, specifically the Golem legend, to analyze AI. Rosen categorizes

The John Batchelor Show

John Batchelor

Society & Culture, Arts, News, Books

4.5 • 2.8K Ratings

🗓️ 6 November 2025

⏱️ 13 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

AI Philosophy and Jewish Wisdom. Spencer Klavan (Associate Editor of the Claremont Review of Books) reviews Michael M. Rosen's book, Like Silicon from Clay, which uses ancient Jewish wisdom, specifically the Golem legend, to analyze AI. Rosen categorizes AI believers into four camps: autonomists (who believe AI will achieve consciousness or sentience) and automationists (who view AI as a sophisticated, non-conscious tool). Both camps are divided into "positive" (optimistic) and "negative" (pessimistic) outlooks. Klavan identifies as a positive automationist, seeing AI as an "elaborate adding machine" or "better Google" that is helpful but requires human verification because it often "hallucinates" (makes up facts). He notes that chatbots conclude conversations with questions because they need human input to avoid becoming "deranged" and to improve their ability to predict human speech patterns.
1941

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	This is CBS, I On the World.
0:07.6	I'm John Batchelor.
0:08.9	Artificial intelligence, AI.
0:11.3	It's more than trillion-dollar business.
0:13.8	It's also a thing you get to react to and shape.
0:19.0	The shaping, of course, is requiring metaphors. And there is a new book, Michael M. Rosen's
0:26.9	Like Silicon from Clay, what ancient Jewish wisdom can teach us about AI. And I'm introduced to this
0:34.4	book by Spencer Claven, an associate editor of the Claremont Review of Books,
0:39.1	host of The Young Heretics, a podcast, author most recently of Light of the Mind, Light of
0:45.7	the World, Illuminating Science Through Faith.
0:50.7	Spencer, a very good evening to you. You plunge us immediately into the world of Michael M. Rosen taking AI and putting it up against some of the wisest men who've ever lived, the Jewish tradition of direction, but Jewish tradition of direction with metaphors.
1:11.8	Golem, for example.
1:15.9	But let us first attend to Mr. Rosen's categories of AI.
1:18.3	There are four in general.
1:22.4	None of these are AGI, if I read you correctly.
1:25.5	This is a step short of sentience.
1:26.2	Is that correct?
1:27.3	Good evening, Spencer.
1:28.9	Hello, John.
1:30.2	It's lovely to be with you.
1:31.3	Thanks for having me on.
1:32.6	I think that's right.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from John Batchelor, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of John Batchelor and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.