Does AI represent a radically new direction for humanity? Or is it simply the latest iteration of a myth structuring our world into a hierarchy that glorifies the divine at the expense of the mundane?  

Primitive hunter-gatherers, given the broad range of tasks they had to carry out to survive, have a skill set more immune to the “cognitive” smarts of new AI technologies than a highly educated, highly specialized service worker! This reveals something about both the nature of AI and the nature of the division of labor in contemporary capitalism. It helps us understand that AI systems are best viewed as idiot savants, not Renaissance Men.

Heard of National Novel Generating Month? Algorithms are being used to create texts not written by humans that are hauntingly beautiful.

No, they shouldn't. At least according to Douglas Hofstadter, who holds Ph.D.s in Comp. Lit. as well as Physics and has published extensively on artificial intelligence. His reasoning? Does making swooshing sounds while holding a toy plane qualify you to be a pilot? (That's exactly how he put it to me in an impassioned message.)