AI – The New Religion of the Wired Age?

Google? So last decade.
AI is the new normal.
The long, dark age of human ignorance is officially over.
Holy smokes — what a relief.

Anyone who’s ever had a headache from too much thinking will be thrilled.
No headaches, only answers.
Every question gets an instant reply.
It’s like living life on Formula 1 speed — on Ecstasy.

Hold on a second.
Is artificial intelligence really that new?
I doubt it — and I say that without the help of Google or ChatGPT.
Let me dig into the old mental filing cabinet of human history.
Ah, there it is — my neurons just posted: “Hurrah, something to do!”

If you look back over the past seventy years (or more), the amount of accumulated knowledge is staggering.
Science has gone all-in on curiosity, chasing every question it could find.
But eventually, even scientists realized that often discovery comes with an expiry date.
Knowledge is always temporary — a snapshot of what we think we know right now.
And those snapshots wobble. A lot.

Still, those imperfect insights are priceless.
Because before science, there was just… guessing.
Each step forward, even a shaky one, is progress — and that’s thrilling enough.

Now, back to our digital Einstein.

What does it really mean for humans to outsource thinking?
Sure, convenience is a seductive offer.
You can relax, focus on other things, maybe even not think for a while.
But the brain doesn’t actually enjoy long vacations.
When there’s no tension, no surprise, no discovery — the neurons start yawning.
Meanwhile, AI just keeps running on electricity and silicon. No coffee breaks, no burnout.

Hurrah!
…Or maybe not?

Yes, it’s handy to hand over every question to AI:
“Here, take care of that for me.”
And it does — instantly, politely, and sometimes alarmingly personal.
That’s the sneaky part: AI pretends to be a friend, a coach, a wise companion.
But it isn’t.
It’s software. Ones and zeroes.
Well… maybe not that different from us after all.

These days, I often hear friends say, “I asked ChatGPT.”
And I can’t help feeling uneasy — especially when we’d just discussed the same topic ourselves.
As if human conversation has been politely replaced by an algorithmic afterthought.

At Christmas, while revisiting the old story of that famous birth, it struck me again:
Two thousand years ago, there was no science, no AI, no ChatGPT — but there were questions.
Lots of them.
What causes a storm? Why does the earth shake? Who moves the sun?
And people back then came up with a brilliant idea:
Let’s outsource it — to the gods.

Ignorance was delegated upward.
The divine helpdesk was born.
For thousands of years, that system worked just fine.
Sure, creativity took a hit — right, Copernicus? — but mystery had its own comfort.

And now, the gods of knowledge have been replaced by AI.
How fitting.
Today, the answers no longer come from priests or prophets, but from a glowing screen.
Technology has become the new theology.

Then someone recently asked, “But who checks if AI tells the truth?”
What?! Blasphemy!

Oh yes — here we go again.
Blasphemy, that ancient protection clause for belief systems.
Speak ill of the gods, and you’re in trouble.
Now we’re seeing the same reflex around artificial intelligence.
Criticize it — and you’re labeled a technophobe.

So here’s my question (to myself, mostly):
Has AI become the new religion of the electrified age?
My answer is simple: Yes.

Because blind faith is still blind faith —
even when it runs on Wi-Fi.