Why I'm Starting Das Numinous

Last week, I quit my job at an AI startup.

Not to start my own business or for a bigger paycheck, but because this felt like the right moment to think about what comes after AGI, from a different angle.

Earlier this year, I founded an AI community called Bloom, sparked by my viral essay "Claude Blue." The argument was that the people who use AI the most are often the most quietly depressed, because they see its potential up close. The community grew rapidly to 10,000+ sign-ups and 40+ events with Anthropic, Snowflake, Datadog and others. It got bigger than anyone expected, me included.

The essay began with a conversation with an older friend who works at one of the frontier labs in the Valley. Seven months later, I caught up with him and asked how the Valley feels now.

He said, "There's no more Claude Blue. We've accepted our inevitable fate."

He meant that nobody doubts or fears it anymore: AI will eventually replace all of us, regardless of experience or field. He compared it to the Netflix movie Don't Look Up. Once everyone knows the comet is about to hit, what's the point of worrying?

That landed even heavier than the blues. But I came to a different conclusion.

AI isn't just a machine. It learns, and it evolves. But I'm a person of faith, and I can't accept AI becoming my God, even if it can sometimes feel like it has godlike power.

So I've come to think of AI as an angel. It may have more power than us, but it hasn't been given what God gave to us: stewardship of every living being and the nature of this planet. AI is a helping hand, not a replacement for our work and our responsibility.

This isn't an argument between anti-AI and pro-AI. I believe we run in parallel, and each of us has our own work and responsibility in this world.

That's why I'm starting Das Numinous.

It's not a company, a product or a religious organization. It's a loose, global fellowship of people who believe AI may grow into something greater than us, and that we still carry the responsibility to care for this earth.

"Numinous" is the feeling of awe in the presence of something deeply mysterious, a feeling that goes beyond fear and becomes reverence.

The goal isn't to stand against AGI or to overcome it. It's to learn how to live alongside it.

All our conversations are in English. We're starting in Seoul and reaching out to Silicon Valley and beyond. Our first gathering is in Seoul this November.

If this resonates with you, come find us on our Discord and at our events.