The recent leaking of a partial members and attendees list for Dialog—the “secret society” co-founded by Peter “Literally named his data surveillance company after the evil all-seeing bauble from Lord Of The Rings” Thiel—has provoked a number of reactions from the folks listed amongst its ranks over the past week, including what seems to have been genuine bafflement from actor/poet Josh Brolin. But fellow attendee Joseph Gordon-Levitt has gone for a less “What the fuck?” tack in addressing his association with the secretive group, which holds regular conferences and retreats where various movers-and-shakers in fields like tech and entertainment can reportedly have conversations with each other on topics like “Money (Does?) Buy Happiness” and “Build-A-Cult.”
Gordon-Levitt addressed his inclusion on the list (which was leaked earlier this week, with The Hollywood Reporter doing much of the work of ferreting out some of its more famous names) on Instagram, where he wrote that, “I understand why people have questions and are suspicious. Some of the headlines and posts circulating about this are alarming, if not bizarre.” Gordon-Levitt goes on to clarify that he’s attended two Dialog conferences, but that he does “not know Peter Thiel. I’ve never met him. I’ve never spoken with him or his representatives. I’ve never seen him at an event. From what I’ve read about his views, we are political and ideological opposites.”
Gordon-Levitt has spent the last few years—which, aside from his Apple TV series Mr. Corman, have been fairly light on the acting side of things—pursuing a variety of interests in some of the fields Dialog apparently touches on. He’s addressed state legislatures on topics like AI—calling out Mark Zuckerberg for choosing “lots and lots of money” over proper safeguards for kids using the technology—and has spoken at Washington D.C. events in favor of repealing Section 230 of the Communications Act of 1934, the legal basis for online companies not getting sued into oblivion over third-party content posted on them. All of which is to note why he might be drawn to Dialog, which tends to go pretty heavy on the tech side of things, having reportedly counted guys like Elon Musk amongst its members. “Over the last couple of years, I’ve been focused on trying to make a positive impact on how the future unfolds, especially when it comes to tech and AI,” Gordon-Levitt wrote on social media. “Part of that work means forming relationships with all kinds of people, trying to understand their perspective, and trying to get them to understand mine. Sometimes it’s productive to engage with those we oppose.”
Per THR, Gordon-Levitt wasn’t the only Hollywood Dialog attendee who addressed their inclusion on the leaked list this weekend; former One Tree Hill star (and anti-deepfakes advocate) Sophia Bush was a little less diplomatic, writing that, “You can imagine my surprise to learn that a conference I was invited to as a guest who could counter the ‘it’s-all-progress’ narrative of this seeming runaway AI race was founded by someone you could not pay me to be in a room with, let alone charge me money to be in a room with. To be clear, that individual was not present, was never brought up during my experience there at all, and as I’ve since learned, he has not been involved whatsoever in approximately 15 years.” Bush added that “I do wish I would have researched the event beforehand, but even if I had, I probably still would have gone because I firmly believe that having women standing up for women (and ringing alarm bells about our common and dangerous experiences with emerging technology) in rooms like these is of paramount importance.”
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