After typing this, I realized that there's a great movie that captures this exactly: _Dr. Strangelove: Or I how I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb_.

The eponymous character's boner-like n*zi salute, irrepressible when discussing nukes, reminds me of the irrepressible boner-like response that the most brilliant minds I know have to GPT-4.

Me included.

The other cultural touchstone the current vibe reminds me of is Saruman telling Gandalf about the inevitability of Sauron's reign. That same glitter in the eye: "We have work to do."