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what do artificial intelligence and
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spirituality have to do with each other
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i have raised this issue with many gurus
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many spiritual people from various
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traditions
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but there's one person swami sarva priya
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nand of ramakrishna mission in new york
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who gets it i he asked me to explain ai
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to him and what the significance is he
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caught on very quickly so here he goes
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to a major conference sponsored by the
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united nations on technology and
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spirituality with various faith leaders
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and he in fact explains this answer from
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my book in a way that is absolutely
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amazing so i i invite you to listen to
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this and i thank swamiji here we go
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i was not um
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i was not aware of the possible effects
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of ai on on the domain of spirituality
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and philosophy
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i must thank uh
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rajiv malhotra's book
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this brought the whole issue to my
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attention
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artificial intelligence and the future
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of power it's published by rupa
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publications
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so uh
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based upon some of the concerns that
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rajim alhatra has raised here i'm going
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to talk for the next
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10 minutes or so 10 12 minutes and
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raise four areas four specific areas of
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concern before i go into that
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i'm not complaining about ai here it's
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not a negative talk it's
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the
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power and promise of ai is
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is acknowledged and it is in fact even
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welcome it's just that because the
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subject is ethics and ai
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what are the areas in which we need to
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be watchful concerned and prepare
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ourselves
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so i'm speaking only from my perspective
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about perspective of
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from perspective spirituality
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indian philosophy if you will from that
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perspective
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four areas of concern
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the first area is attention
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several
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months ago in fact last year we
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organized a retreat here in in garrison
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new york on meditation and we had
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sessions on different approaches to
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meditation buddhist mindfulness
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meditation meditation in kashmir
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shaivism
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meditation in the bhakti traditions
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meditation in
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vedanta and so on
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and a professor of philosophy professor
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indam chakravarti when i told him about
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the scheme about of this retreat he said
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that's very interesting at the end of it
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what you should do is take a look at
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what is common to all these traditions
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so that would be interesting and we
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found in all these diverse traditions
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you know buddhist meditation that's
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that's a perspective which does not
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accept the existence of god
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compared to the bhakti traditions in
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hinduism which are all about god
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what could be common to these approaches
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the
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the upshot was we discovered what is
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underlying all meditation techniques all
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meditation traditions is training of
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attention
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so that's the common thing and that is
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an area of concern already with our
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existing
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internet and social media technologies
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there was this
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documentary film which made
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uh some waves here
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last year
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the social dilemma
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which talked about how social media is
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impacting two areas one is uh attention
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and the other one is
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privacy
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so
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you know all these facebook and twitter
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and you know all these social media
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platforms
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where the first thing we notice is that
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as enormous amount of
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services are provided to us and there is
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a saying and seems to be provided to us
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free and there is a saying that if
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something is being provided free to you
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then you are the product which is being
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sold and that is true these modern
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social media platforms
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they provide an
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enormous amount of free service to us
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but what is being sold there is
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us more specifically our attention so
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they talk about an attention economy see
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what propels these uh technologies what
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fuels these technologies
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it is nothing more than money of course
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it's it's profit driven and so
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what they discovered was
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it is
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not enough to provide interesting
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content online anymore
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we one must also
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one must in fact
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specifically try to grab the attention
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of the person the whole idea is that
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these platforms make money from
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advertisement and so
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that demands our attention
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what they have been doing in silicon
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valley is designing and fine-tuning
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these platforms so that they kind of
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train us into distraction
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instead of concentrated and focused
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attention we are being trained into
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distraction let me give a practical
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example of what is meant by this our
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phones i also have one of those these
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smartphones have you noticed how once in
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a while they buzz or beep or there's a
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ting sound and something has come maybe
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a notification maybe a little message or
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a text or something it seems innocuous
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but there is something insidious there
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the idea there is
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that it functions on the same
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same psychology as the slot machines and
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gambling machines in las vegas for
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example
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they provide us with some incentive to
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keep looking to keep trying and it seems
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it trains our
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you know
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neuropsychology to keep giving giving us
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births bursts of dopamine once in a
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while
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so that we get sort of addicted to keep
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looking at the device at the smartphone
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or whatever
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the more we look at it once in a while
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we get a little bit of pleasure
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this is the psychology of addiction what
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is the advantage to these platforms
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they we are looking at them more and
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more and of course that leads to more
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advertisement revenue for them as far as
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i understand this is the point
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of these you know these constant
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notifications
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one point here is that this means these
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technologies
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these technologies are not neutral we
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always have this cliched idea that after
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all it is a technology and we've been
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hearing this also that is a technology
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that can have good uses and bad use it's
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a tired old cliche
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some technologies are not neutral
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somebody explained it very well in this
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country people have guns they keep lot
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of guns unfortunately at home
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so the the practice is to keep the gun
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cabinet liquor cabinet and gun cabinet
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under lock and keep it so the children
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cannot touch them
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now if the technology were neutral it
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can be used for good or bad
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why would you keep it under lock and key
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because people everybody knows that
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there are some technologies which are
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more prone to accidents to causing
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damage
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this
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the way
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our
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internet technologies are going our the
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way artificial is coming
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is a kind of technology like that which
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is not neutral it can actually and it is
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already causing some kind of damage
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um
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students
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teachers and students are already
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talking about a phenomenon they call
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continuous partial attention continuous
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partial attention
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it's something that we are all uh we are
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all aware of in fact um you know in
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meetings in classrooms
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these days you will notice peop it's not
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that people are not paying attention
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people are paying attention
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but only um intermittently sometimes
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they're looking at their phone sometimes
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at their laptop and then again listening
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to you
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it's something that people who are
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listening here on this platform uh may
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also be experiencing right now
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now what is the problem here one big
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problem is
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in spirituality
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as i said all meditation techniques
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depend upon attention upon the training
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of attention on the ability to focus and
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hold focus for long periods of time
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whether it is following the breadth in
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mindfulness meditation or concentrating
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on the deity or holding a visualization
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in whichever way or self-inquiry in
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vedanta whichever way the fuel the the
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the
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the fuel behind these practices is
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attention
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now the more we become distracted the
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more difficult it is to
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pay attention to continuously hold
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attention this has already it is having
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severe effects in education in corporate
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life in every sphere of human
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interaction where people are are always
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a little bit distracted
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but the most severe impact will be on
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people who try to meditate for example
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it will become almost impossible
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so this is one area of concern the
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spirituality depends on attention
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and the training of attention
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what these technologies are doing and
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will probably do in an exponential
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fashion in the near future
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is train us in the opposite direction um
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surreptitiously without our knowledge
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from a very young age children will be
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trained to distraction and restlessness
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so this is one point
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the second point is
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community
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selflessness altruistic action
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what one might call you know the term
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karma yoga which basically means
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that
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our instinctive
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the the the instinctive
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urge is to act for ourselves selfishly
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and if one wants to be spiritual one
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must extend the boundaries of the self
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include others
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so engage in selfless action in
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altruistic action in service activities
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for example
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now what is the connection to ai
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one problem could be and is already is
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is that these technologies tend to cut
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us away from our fellow fellow human
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beings
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it's a common sight everywhere if you go
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to an airport not in these pandemic days
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maybe but usually at an airport or a
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railway station you'll see hundreds of
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people thousands of people all sitting
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close together but not interacting with
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each other they're all looking at their
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screens and they're absorbed in the
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screens i go for walks in central park
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here a beautiful place
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but half the time people are on their
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screens they're not looking around
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in one of the upanishads and i think the
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qatar panishad it is said why is it that
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it's so difficult to realize the truth
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about ourselves the problem is that we
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are
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continuously externalized
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our senses flow outwards
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so that is the problem we are always
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looking at the world outside and not
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inside and therefore it's difficult to
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realize the truth about ourselves so in
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openish it says this
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i remember many years ago i chanted that
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particular verse
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in a talk in a conference
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and the moderator who was
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a retired ifs officer
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and very
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erudite lady she stood up and said
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swamiji has said that we should
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we are too much engaged in looking at
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the world outside we should look within
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and i'm saying that it would be good if
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we were engaged in looking at the world
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offset we are not even looking at the
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world outside we are looking at our
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screens
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and that's now
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imagine when ai comes in how much more
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immersive that experience will be the
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the problem is that we might be so
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immersed in our virtual worlds that we
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forget to interact with our uh fellow
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beings we lose the sense of community
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and that makes compassion more difficult
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there have been studies which have shown
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that compassion first of all requires
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attention again we are back to the
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question of attention we must first be
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aware of our fellow human being and the
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suffering of that human being and then
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only compassion is evoked if we do not
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at all pay attention to the person next
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to me on the subway or you know in the
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park
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how how are we going to be aware of the
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suffering of the others and where will
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the motivation then be for
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um you know
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for for compassion and for altruistic
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action
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so that's the second uh uh
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area problem area that
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how can
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there be motivation for altruistic
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action for compassion when we are not
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aware of our community of human of
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fellow human beings the third area of
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concern would be what might be generally
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called bhakti
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all religions
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theistic religions it's about god but
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even the non-theistic religions like
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buddhism and jainism the the feeling of
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love and compassion and devotion is to
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be cultivated so what
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what is the underlying philosophy is
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that our desires continuously flow out
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in 100 different channels through to the
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world
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and ultimately these are not satisfying
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if you really want satisfaction and
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peace of mind you have to collect all
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these desires and sublimate them and
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focus them either towards god
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or you know a transcendent being
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enlightened being like the buddha or the
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gene or whatever it is and focus it in
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the love of all beings
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now
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if ai and it's almost certain that ai is
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going to be driven by the profit motive
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it will even more insidiously more
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effectively uh seek to fulfill every
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little desire and
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maximize our
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outward urges our desires for 100
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different things in the world
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it's going to be market driven profit
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driven anyway so that's another area of
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concern
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that our bhakti traditions might be
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impacted and finally
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from the perspective of vedanta the path
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of knowledge there is a curious
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similarity with uh the way ai functions
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and and how vedanta functions also but
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ultimately they are very dissimilar what
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is the similarity both of them they
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inquire into our self sense of self and
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then analyze it
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vedanta says that you your apparent
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sense of self that i'm this limited body
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and mind this is not true this is a
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false self and we are shown
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by argument arguments and insights how
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we are we cannot be the body how we are
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not the mind that we are the spirit of
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the atman the witness consciousness
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beyond body and mind
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what ai does also is it analyzes our
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thought patterns speech patterns and
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behavior patterns building up enormous
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databases and then analyzes it using
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algorithms so the ideas of an
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algorithmic self
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so it can be analyzed and divided and
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then focused upon and then micromanage
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sort of
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but the problem with ai is that
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ultimately it does not find anything uh
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higher or transcendent beyond this
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so
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there is a huge
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philosophical difference
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you know the basis the materialistic
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basis of ai and the spiritual basis of
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of all our religious and spiritual
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traditions the if i were to put it in
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one sentence it would be
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the
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the basis of ai is that consciousness is
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ultimately material and can be
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infinitely subdivided and analyzed and
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controlled and manipulated
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the spiritual approach is consciousness
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is not material it is transcendent and
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it is indivisible and that is where we
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must find ultimately seek to find
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meaning and peace and transcendence so
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these four areas of concern which we
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need to look out for and manage in the
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years ahead the area of attention
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the importance of focus versus
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distraction the area of altruistic
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action unless we are connected with our
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fellow fellow beings i'm afraid
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unselfishness altruism might might
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disappear altogether
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and the area of devotion
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into some higher power
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that is one area that might be impacted
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and finally the very philosophical idea
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of what is a human being
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what is our ground reality fundamental
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reality there there seems to be a
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conflict between the ai version of uh of
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a human being and the spiritual version
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of of what a human being or what we
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truly are
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