AI-generated memetic warfare uses the appeal of memes and the distributive power of social media to reach and influence a wide audience, a tactic seen widely used in the first few months of the 2026 conflict among Iran and Israel and the United States. By analyzing a series of viral videos generated in the same style as the Lego Movie franchise in support of Iran, this paper explores the implications of this new technology on the way we wage war as well as on global economies, the environment, and societal health. I examine the distinctions among propaganda, “slopaganda,” and legitimate protest as well as the relationship between propaganda and social media platforms. I suggest how the humanities may serve not only to resist the unwanted effects of propaganda but also to engender the more desirable empathetic identification and understanding of legitimate protesters, no matter the media they use to draw attention to their cause.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has become a significant influence on how we teach, how we communicate, and how we imagine the modern workplace. To understand what it means and how it will shape our lives, it is necessary to examine it from a humanities perspective with special attention to history, ethics, and literary representations of AI. Our science-fiction literary tradition provides ample material to work in works by Mary Shelley, Karl Capek, Isaac Asimov, Ridley Scott, and William Gibson. In these works, the iconic literary figures of the Luddite, the robot, and the console cowboy embody some of the most important tendencies in the advance-theorization of AI. They reveal anxieties about employee-obsolescence, a fixation on anthropomorphism, and a lingering hope for organized resistance to power-imbalances. A carefully considered humanities framework provides a check on exaggerated claims from both pro- and anti-AI constituencies.