The Digital God and Paperclips
Economists Dario perkins and Alexandros Xenofontos of T.S. Lombard have released their annual “anti-prediction” note, titled “things that won’t happen in 2026.” Among their non-forecasts are a “The Traitors” version hosted by the Federal Reserve and the avoidance of a full K-shaped economic implosion.
However, the most striking prediction is the emergence of a “digital God.” They suggest that AI capital expenditure will continue to surge through 2026, reaching 293% of U.S. GDP. After three years of this boom, the primary beneficiaries will be Nvidia and “AI consultants.”
“Big Tech eventually gets it’s Digital God, but even the sum of all human knowledge-aka stuff that people wrote on Reddit between 2017 and 2019-can’t figure out how to make a return on a $400B annual project depreciated over two years,” they write.
The Digital God’s proposed solution? To convert everyone into paperclips-a prospect that, for some economists “fighting an endless battle against people who are wrong on the internet, is a relief.”
