Ralston College and Jonathan Pageau Jul 23, 2026 The Ralston College Podcast Generously sponsored by the Ben Delo Foundation. In this second lecture from our recent symposium, AI and the Battle for the Soul, theologian and iconographer Jonathan Pageau asks: Who, or what, does AI serve? By drawing on mythology, scripture, symbolism, and poetry, he argues that the questions raised by AI directly concern human purpose and meaning. Through the stories of Prometheus, the Holy Grail, Moloch, and the Tower of Babel, Pageau unpacks the deepest questions raised by AI, calling on us to recognize what technology reveals about ourselves and the civilization we are building. Recorded at Ralston College in May 2026, this event brought together leading thinkers including Iain McGilchrist, Jonathan Pageau, and Stephen Wolfram for a day-long engagement with some of the most pressing questions facing technological advancement, the meaning crisis, and ultimately, civilization itself. If you would like to support us in this work, please visit ralston.ac/donate. Authors and Works Mentioned in this Episode: Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy The Holy Grail (Arthurian Legend) Richard Dawkins’ The Selfish Gene Scott Alexander’s Meditations on Moloch Allen Ginsberg’s Howl Alfred North Whitehead Simone Weil Aeschylus’ Prometheus Bound Yuval Noah Harari Viktor Frankl: Man’s Search for Meaning – Chapters — 00:00:00 – Opening Remarks 00:01:06 – What AI Founders are Saying 00:08:12 – The Holy Grail 00:14:10 – What Ends is Technology Serving? 00:18:52 – AI is not Self-Organizing 00:21:04 – Moloch 00:29:37 – Why Does AI Have a Personality? 00:34:01 – Prometheus 00:40:20 – Closing Remarks: Sacrifice as Preparation 00:43:12 – Will AI Effectively Model the Right Hemisphere of the Brain? 00:45:44 – Should We Be Pessimists or Optimists? 00:49:06 – Can We Learn From Examples of De-escalation? 00:54:45 – Are There Uses of AI That Expand Our Humanity? 00:58:38 – The State of Non-Propositional Knowledge 01:06:04 – Concluding Remarks