postgrok

tescreal

Properties3
tagsai, ideology, acronym
typeconcept
statusseedling

2 min read

TESCREAL

Definition: acronym for the ideological bundle animating the Doomer camp — Transhumanism, Extropianism, Singularitarianism, Cosmism, Rationalism, Effective Altruism, Longtermism.

Origin

Coined by Timnit Gebru and Émile Torres to name the interconnected belief system linking 1990s Extropians → Rationalists (Yudkowsky) → Effective Altruism (MacAskill/Ord) → Longtermism (Bostrom) → AI labs (Anthropic, OpenAI). Published form: Gebru & Torres, “The TESCREAL bundle: Eugenics and the promise of utopia through artificial general intelligence”, First Monday 29(4), April 14, 2024, doi:10.5210/fm.v29i4.13636, verified 2026-10-04. Record at ai-doom-paper-trail.

Components

  • Transhumanism: technology will enable radical human enhancement, life extension, post-human futures
  • Extropianism: 1990s SV futurist movement (nanotech + AI → utopia, immortality)
  • Singularitarianism: intelligence explosion / technological singularity is near and central
  • Cosmism: Russian-origin philosophy linking space expansion, resurrection, cosmic destiny
  • Rationalism: LessWrong/Yudkowsky community; Bayesian reasoning, bias correction, AI alignment
  • Effective Altruism: MacAskill/Ord; apply reason/evidence to maximize altruistic impact
  • Longtermism: Bostrom; future populations (trillions) morally dominate present; extinction risk is supreme priority

Significance

Explains why Doomer rhetoric sounds “weird” compared to standard corporate lobbying, not profit-driven but ideological, tracing from transhumanist futurism through a specific philosophical lineage. 2026-10-04-youtube-newport-ai-harm-taxonomy uses the acronym to label the Doomer bundle on camera; Cal Newport credits it to Timnit Gebru and collaborators at 21:47, and the coiner with Gebru is Émile Torres. The caption at that moment garbles a name as “Emad Mostaque”, very likely an ASR mangling of Émile Torres.

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