“It worked out for us that we’re all now in the midst of discovery, fear, confusion and glory”: It’s Rush, King Crimson, Sgt Pepper, Tom Waits and more. It’s the The Claypool Lennon Delirium’s personal AI hallucination

Les Claypool, Sean Ono Lennon and a horse in 2026.

Never ones to shy away from outlandish ideas, The Claypool Lennon Delirium are back with an extravagant new concept album. The Great Parrot-Ox And The Golden Egg Of Empathy finds Primus bassist Les Claypool and Sean Ono Lennon reconnecting over a whimsical tale that’s inspired by a thought experiment on AI. Prog caught up with the pair to learn more about their latest prog opera and their ambitious plans for touring it.

In 2003 Swedish philosopher Nick Bostrom devised a thought experiment centred on the programming of an AI whose sole objective was to produce paperclips. Given its advanced rate of learning, the AI’s survivalist approach would eventually lead it to compete with humans for appropriate resources; and given its super-intelligenc, likely win the battle. Known as the Paperclip Maximizer, the theory essentially suggested that AI may well render all human endeavour obsolete. Cheery stuff.