Hello friends,
We will resume our Wednesday night meetings this week, Nov 4, 5:30 at the Quilt Museum.
One of the more fraught questions we are faced with right now as a species is the role of AI in the world. Even if we don’t use AI ourselves, we still have to think about it – whether it’s the future of our work, the impact on our environment (and possibly our own neighborhood), and the safety of our society and its infrastructures, as well as many other concerns.
I’ve been keeping up with the thinking of a project called the Buddhism and AI Initiative, formed by four people who are Buddhist practitioners and also have, or have had, careers in high tech, academic philosophy, and business. While acknowledging AI’s existential threats and exciting possibilities, they think that the creation of AI also creates an opportunity for the blossoming of the dharma (Buddhist teachings) in the world, and they believe that the dharma can be uniquely helpful to the human species as it grapples with this new technology.
I thought it might be interesting to discuss our individual thinking on AI this week, and I can share some of the ideas of this initiative.
Looking forward to being back with you again on Wednesday the 4th.