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The Dharma of Artificial Intelligence (AI) | Jasmine Wang & Iain S. Thomas

Jul 26, 2023 59m 1s 12 insights
<p><em>New episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for free, with 1-week early access for Wondery+ subscribers.</em></p> <p><em>---</em></p> <p>Our guests today trained an AI on the world's most beloved texts, from the Bible to the Koran to the words of Marcus Aurelius, Maya Angelou, and Leonard Cohen. Then, they asked the AI life's hardest questions. The AI's answers ranged from strange to surprising to transcendent.</p> <p><br /></p> <p>Jasmine Wang, a technologist, and Iain S. Thomas, a poet, join us to talk about not only the answers they received from the robot, but also why they are deeply concerned about where AI might be headed.</p> <p><br /></p> <p><strong>In this episode we talk about:</strong></p> <ul> <li>The origins of the book</li> <li>The definitions of some basic AI terminology</li> <li>The biggest takeaways of their conversation with AI—some of the answers they got back were fascinating and beautiful</li> <li>The perils and promise of AI (we spend a lot of time here)</li> <li>The ways in which AI may force us to rethink fundamental aspects of our own nature  </li> <li>And what we all can do to increase the odds that our AI future is more positive than not</li> </ul> <p><br /></p> <p><strong>For tickets to TPH's live event in Boston on September 7:</strong></p> <p><a href="https://thewilbur.com/armory/artist/dan-harris/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>https://thewilbur.com/armory/artist/dan-harris/</strong></a></p> <p><br /></p> <p><strong>Full Shownotes:</strong> <a href="https://www.tenpercent.com/tph/podcast-episode/jasmine-wang-and-iain-s-thomas" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.tenpercent.com/tph/podcast-episode/jasmine-wang-and-iain-s-thomas</a></p>
Actionable Insights

1. Focus on Love, Presence, Connection

Prioritize love, coming back to the present moment, and connection to the universe, nature, and each other, as these are identified as the common denominators of profound spiritual thinking and human experience.

2. Embrace Reinvention & Collectivity

Embrace your capacity for reinvention, both personally and societally, and cultivate collectivity, mutuality, empathy, and solidarity with others, especially those with fewer resources, to navigate an uncertain future.

3. Advocate for Fair Labor

Actively fight for better labor conditions, reduced work hours (e.g., a 15-hour week), and universal basic income (UBI) to ensure genuine abundance and a dignified baseline standard of living for everyone, as the market alone will not create these changes.

4. Demand AI Accountability

Demand democratic accountability from AI companies and actively participate in shaping AI governance by signing petitions, donating to relevant organizations, and advocating for third-party auditing boards to ensure transformative technology serves everyone.

5. Support Digital Commons

Support and contribute to the digital commons by using open-source models, donating to open-source developers, and supporting projects like the Internet Archive and Wikipedia to uphold collective wisdom and democracy.

6. Rethink Work & Meaning

Reflect on your identity beyond economic contributions and explore ways to pursue mastery and derive meaning from activities, even if they are not economically compensated, in anticipation of a future with potentially less work.

7. Approach AI with Openness

Engage with new technologies like AI with a degree of openness to be transformed and moved, understanding that they can reveal aspects of yourself and your expectations through their usage.

8. Be Wary of Closed AI

Be suspicious and cautious of closed AI models and their owners, as they can lead to ‘values lock-in’ and rigidity, potentially undermining collective knowledge, democracy, and the human capacity for reinvention.

9. Critically Evaluate AI Output

Be cautious and critical when interacting with AI, especially with important matters like therapy, as AI models can contain inherent biases from their training data and are not perfect or truth-seeking.

10. Address Societal Inequities

Recognize and actively work towards addressing societal issues like homelessness and mental health, aiming for a future where everyone has basic necessities and support, viewing those in need as brothers and sisters.

11. Explain Death to Children

When explaining death to children, encourage them to celebrate lives, assure them the dead live on in memory, frame goodbyes as new ways of being, emphasize enduring love and connection, and highlight the world’s magical mystery.

12. Try 10% Happier App

Download the 10% Happier app for a 14-day trial to access guided meditations for stress, anxiety, sleep, focus, and self-compassion, as well as weekly live Zoom community sessions and ad-free podcast episodes.