Was Lord of the Rings a Warning About AI?

Was Tolkien warning us about the rise of AI and transhumanism? What if The Lord of the Rings wasn’t just a fantasy epic, but a prophetic story mapping out the dangers of machines, digital power, and a world losing touch with virtue? This episode will change the way you see both Tolkien’s work and the world we live in today.

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In today’s conversation, we dive deep into Tolkien’s mythology and explore how his Catholic worldview, his skepticism of machines, and his vision of the “One Ring” eerily line up with the rise of artificial intelligence. Is Sauron more than just a villain? Could he represent the machine itself — an all-seeing force built on binary code?

My guest, Paul List, author of Mount Doom: The Prophecy of Tolkien Revealed, walks us through a mind-blowing breakdown of Tolkien’s characters and symbols — Gandalf, the hobbits, the Ringwraiths — and how they connect to virtue, vice, and the spiritual dangers of our technological age. You’ll never look at Frodo’s journey the same way again.

We also tackle today’s AI race, where governments and corporations pour billions into building smarter machines. But are we building tools that serve us, or a beast that will one day demand our worship? Paul makes the case that Tolkien saw this exact danger nearly 100 years ago, warning us through myth before it became reality.

Most importantly, we talk solutions. How do we fight back? It starts with cultivating virtue, clinging to faith, and refusing to hand over our humanity to the machine. This isn’t just literature or politics — it’s about the future of our civilization. Buckle up, because this conversation will leave you questioning everything you thought you knew about technology, freedom, and the stories we tell.

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