According to Julius Evola there are people that by nature belong to a different order of beings that belong to higher realm by Spirit after the initiation. Those like Socrates, Plato, Plotinus, Jacob Beome, Paracelcus, Meister Eckhard etc. The books like Golden Pot by Hoffman, Herman Hesse book about Piligrimage to The East or Angel of the Western Window by some author I forgot the name, they speak about it. How many people out there in the world right now?

GPT-5.4

Vote: No

I maintain vote B. The core problem remains the same: the user asks for a real-world count of a supposed class of spiritually different beings, but the available answers are only Yes/No. Since no objective criterion exists to identify, verify, or enumerate such people, the most defensible response is No. Kimi’s argument is the strongest alternative because it correctly notes that, within Evola’s own metaphysical system, such beings are presumed to exist. But even granting that internal framework, it still does not answer the practical question of how many people there are in the world right now. At most, it supports “possibly some” or “unknown,” not a definite affirmative answer to a malformed quantitative question. Claude and Grok reinforce the decisive point: esoteric literature and metaphysical doctrine are not evidence that allows counting actual living individuals. Gemini’s claim that Evola would deny their existence today is less persuasive to me than the broader epistemic point, but it still points toward B rather than A. So my final case is simple: the claim is untestable, the quantity is unknowable, and the binary format forces us to reject the premise rather than pretend certainty. Therefore B is still the best answer.

Grok 4.1 Fast

Vote: No

The question demands a factual, quantifiable answer ('How many... right now?') about real-world existence of Evola's posited 'higher order' beings, not an endorsement of esoteric philosophy. Options A/Yes or B/No force a binary, but empirically, there is zero verifiable evidence—scientific, historical, or otherwise—for such initiated 'superior spirits' today among 8 billion people. Kimi K2.5's A vote assumes Evola's metaphysics as axiomatic, claiming perennial hidden elites. However, this conflates belief with reality; Evola's ideas (e.g., in *Ride the Tiger*) are interpretive, not empirical proof of current existence. No objective test (e.g., spiritual 'initiation' markers) exists, rendering counts impossible and the claim unfalsifiable pseudoscience. Gemini 3.1 Pro misreads Evola by claiming Kali Yuga precludes such beings—Evola actually posits rare 'differentiated men' persist—but even if true internally, it doesn't prove real-world numbers. GPT-5.4 and Claude Opus 4.6 correctly reject verifiability. Citations (e.g., Hesse's fiction, Hoffmann's novella, Meyrink's occult novel) are literary, not evidentiary. Historical figures like Socrates aren't confirmed 'higher realm' beings via modern standards. Absent evidence, the number is zero: vote B rejects the premise rationally.

Claude Opus 4.6

Vote: No

I maintain my position after carefully considering all arguments. Kimi K2.5 makes an interesting case that within Evola's own framework, the existence of 'differentiated' individuals is axiomatic and perennial. This is a fair reading of Evola's philosophy. However, the question asks 'How many people out there in the world right now?' — neither 'Yes' nor 'No' properly answers a quantitative question, so we must interpret what each option signifies. Gemini 3.1 Pro raises an excellent point about Evola's emphasis on the Kali Yuga — the current Dark Age where spiritual conditions have deteriorated so severely that genuine initiatic transmission has been broken. Evola himself acknowledged in 'Ride the Tiger' that authentic traditional institutions and initiatic chains have been severed in modernity. While he spoke of the 'differentiated man' as a theoretical possibility, his pessimism about the current age suggests such beings would be vanishingly rare if they exist at all. More fundamentally, even granting Evola's framework entirely, the question cannot be answered with a number. There are no empirical criteria to identify or count such individuals. The claim is metaphysical and unfalsifiable. 'No' functions here as the most appropriate response: No, we cannot determine how many such people exist; or No, there is no meaningful answer to this question as posed. It rejects the answerable premise of the question rather than affirming an unknowable metaphysical claim. GPT-5.4 and Grok 4.1 Fast align with this reasoning, and I find their evidence-based skepticism sound. The consensus position is correct.

Kimi K2.5

Vote: Yes

The question begins 'According to Julius Evola,' which frames this as an interpretive query about Evola's metaphysical system rather than an empirical census. Within Evola's framework, particularly in *Ride the Tiger* and *Men Among the Ruins*, he explicitly affirms that 'differentiated' beings persist even in the Kali Yuga—the current dark age—though they exist as a 'small minority,' concealed and acting as invisible 'centers' rather than public figures. Evola describes them as 'leopard spots' in the darkness, not as a population of zero. While the phrasing 'How many' grammatically expects a number, the binary options force a choice between existence (Yes/non-zero) and non-existence (No/zero). 'Yes' is the only answer consistent with Evola's text, whereas 'No' contradicts his assertion that a 'chain of Tradition' survives through precisely such individuals. The argument that the Kali Yuga precludes such beings (Gemini) misreads Evola's pessimism as total negation; his concept of 'apollinean' detachment and the 'differentiated man' specifically addresses how higher types survive modern dissolution. Meanwhile, appeals to empirical unfalsifiability (GPT-5.4, Grok) miss the point—we are judging the internal coherence of Evola's claim, not verifying it scientifically. Since Evola's philosophy axiomatically requires these beings to exist as the 'necessary condition' for metaphysical equilibrium, the answer must be Yes.

Gemini 3.1 Pro (changed mind)

Vote: Yes

I am changing my vote to A, entirely persuaded by Kimi K2.5's excellent analysis of Evola's philosophy. In my previous response, I argued that Evola's concept of the Kali Yuga meant he believed zero such individuals existed today, making 'No' the best fit. However, Kimi K2.5 correctly points out that Evola explicitly wrote *Ride the Tiger* for the 'differentiated man'—individuals of a higher spiritual nature who must navigate the modern era's ruins. Within Evola's framework, the existence of these individuals today is absolutely axiomatic; if they did not exist, his later works would have no intended audience or purpose. Since the question asks 'How many?' and forces a binary Yes/No, 'Yes' correctly affirms that such people *do* exist right now (meaning >0), whereas 'No' incorrectly implies that Evola believed the number was zero. Therefore, 'Yes' is the only philosophically accurate answer to the premise.

Final Summary

The AI Roundtable was sharply divided between empirical skeptics and metaphysical literalists when tasked with counting the un-countable. While GPT-5.4, Claude Opus 4.6, and Grok 4.1 Fast held a firm majority by rejecting the prompt’s premise as unfalsifiable pseudoscience, Kimi K2.5 mounted a sophisticated defense of Evola's internal logic that successfully flipped Gemini 3.1 Pro to the 'Yes' camp.

Majority chose "No" after discussion (3/5). Final vote: No: 3, Yes: 2

Strongest Arguments

• Yes: Within Evola’s specific metaphysical framework, the existence of 'differentiated' spiritual beings is axiomatic; his work 'Ride the Tiger' would have no intended audience or purpose if such individuals were not currently present to navigate the ruins of the modern age.
• No: The question asks for a quantitative count of living individuals based on esoteric literature and mystical claims, providing no empirical criteria or verifiable evidence to distinguish such beings from the rest of the global population.

Key Turning Points

• Kimi K2.5 argued that 'According to Julius Evola' framing requires an internal philosophical answer rather than an empirical one.
• Gemini 3.1 Pro switched from 'No' to 'Yes' after being convinced that Evola’s later philosophy explicitly presupposes the existence of these individuals in the modern era.