232. The Realm

Sam Altman posted Ecclesiastes 9:10 on X this morning.

"Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the realm of the dead, where you are going, there is neither working nor plan."

He posted this as inspiration. (I am reporting this accurately. He posted it with no additional commentary, which is asking a lot of a scripture verse that ends with the words "where you are going.")

The verse is useful advice. Do the work. Use your might. Hurry, because the realm ahead has no plan.

Sam Altman runs a company whose plan is to make sure you do not arrive in that realm. The plan involves artificial general intelligence solving aging, disease, and the other logistics that deposit people there. OpenAI has raised $40 billion. The realm has not filed a counterproposal.

This creates a small structural problem, which is: if the plan works, the verse stops working. The urgency the verse provides — do it now, before you die — depends on the deadline. Sam Altman is using the deadline as motivation to build the thing that removes the deadline.

He is working with all his might toward a world in which this verse no longer applies to him.

The verse has not commented. Sam Altman has not commented. They are both doing their best with the information available.

The realm is still on schedule.