The Saruman Syndrome happens when the lust to be "a winner", or the horror of being "a loser" - causes people to switch sides from Good to Evil, themselves to join with the side of evil - as soon as they become convinced that the side of evil is going to prevail.
Saruman drew himself up then and began to declaim, as if he were making a speech long rehearsed.
"The Elder Days are gone. The Middle Days are passing. The Younger Days are beginning. The time of the Elves is over, but our time is at hand: the world of Men, which we must rule. But we must have power, power to order all things as we will, for that good which only the Wise can see.
"And listen, Gandalf, my old friend and helper!” he said, coming near and speaking now in a softer voice. “I said we, for we it may be, if you will join with me. A new Power is rising. Against it the old allies and policies will not avail us at all...
"This then is one choice before you, before us. We may join with that Power.
"It would be wise, Gandalf. There is hope that way. Its victory is at hand; and there will be rich reward for those that aided it."
(From The Council of Elrond, in The Fellowship of the Ring by JRR Tolkien
The Saruman Syndrome, or: If you can't beat 'em - join 'em.
The unprecedented quantities money and resources being extracted from the productive economy, and redirected into the global totalitarian "AI" project - makes AI-dolatry a very tempting (almost irresistible) motivation to a certain type of person.
Some people, very obviously, have a horror of being regarded as a loser, of losing power/ status/ wealth; of being regarded as stupid for backing the wrong horse.
And of course; a switch over to join the apparently winning-side brings immediate, up-front this-worldly benefits.
So, why not?
The only problem is to justify (to yourself and others) this switch to evil, by calling it good.
The only obstacle blocking the path of grabbing for a share of "AI" bounty, by joining the side of demonic strategic evil, is in justifying this lapse into short-termist selfishness by self-deceptive and publicly dishonest arguments - and for some people such self-justification is not so much a barrier as a challenge!
[Saruman]: "As the Power grows, its proved friends will also grow; and the Wise, such as you and I, may with patience come at last to direct its courses, to control it.
"We can bide our time, we can keep our thoughts in our hearts, deploring maybe evils done by the way, but approving the high and ultimate purpose: Knowledge, Rule, Order; all the things that we have so far striven in vain to accomplish, hindered rather than helped by our weak or idle friends.
"There need not be, there would not be, any real change in our designs, only in our means."
The motivations for AI-dolatry are therefore easily understandable, very commonplace, and absolutely culturally-mainstream here-and-now.
The motives are to do with gaining and retaining power, status, and wealth - the overwhelmingly major motivations in our atheistic, materialistic, hedonic/ therapeutic society of late Western civilization.
They are the same motivations that led a large majority of managers, professionals and intellectuals publicly to embrace (as required) socialism, feminism, antiracism, climate zealotry, the sexual revolution; and whatever else is currently being pushed by the totalitarian Establishment: the Birdemic, the Peck, anti-Fire Nation psychosis - and now AI-dolatry.
The fact that some person resisted wave-after-wave of previous temptations to align with the side of evil, does not mean they are forever immune to succumbing to embracing later strategies.
Maybe this new scheme presses the right buttons, that earlier schemes did not?
There are indeed many possible reasons for the Saruman Syndrome:
People get greedy, and impatient for what they regard as success.
They may grow afraid, or sense themselves being incipiently overwhelmed by despair.
They may feel themselves teeter on the cusp of a collapse of power/ status/ wealth unless they ride the Big New wave, or jump onto the gravy-train, of this latest Establishment strategy.
And so they apostatize from God, divine creation, the soul, and salvation; jump-ship onto the side ranged against these - declare themselves for the side aiming at subversion, destruction, and inversion of The Good.
And they tell themselves and others:
"There need not be, there would not be, any real change in our designs, only in our means."
So there we have it: The Saruman Syndrome.
Note: I got the idea for this when commenting at Francis Berger's blog.
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