Nicholas Andresen

and now we're building new ones.

The question is, will we be able to understand them?

Quote.

End quote.

Blessed is the man who can see the clear fountain of the highest good.

Alfred was talking about God, the divine fountain from which all goodness flows.

We found a different fountain.

the thoughts of a strange new kind of mind, bubbling up in clear English.

It was a blessing that the architecture which worked best also happened to be one where you could see the reasoning.

The fountain won't stay clear forever.

Eventually these minds will be too fast, too complex, too far beyond us, and we'll be back to praying they are benevolent.

But not yet.

Every day the fountain is clear is another day to build something trustworthy before we have to trust it, another day to see.

For now, we still can.

This article was narrated by Type 3 Audio for Less Wrong.

It was published on January 6, 2026.

The original text contained three footnotes which were omitted from the narration.

Images are included in the podcast episode description.