The human mind is truly amazing. Its history of innovative achievement stretches back far further in time than we imagined. The colossal and intricate megalithic structures excavated at Göbeklitepe in Turkey, and associated sites covering an entire region, were built 12,000 years ago, predating the earliest imagined beginning of complex social cooperation and agriculture. A 59,000 year old neanderthal tooth found in a Siberian cave shows evidence of dentistry. 400,000 year old fire pits found in Suffolk, UK predate the supposed emergence of modern humans from Africa. Genetic research on ancient human remains has found that the human genes thought to be most associated with the development of speech and tool use are at least 1 million years old and probably more than 5 million years.
Throughout this long history, cultural ideas, social patterns and spiritual practices have been honoured which we should be anxious to protect as we rush headlong into the age of technology. Last week Jack Clark, co-founder the A.I. giant Anthropic, told a gathering at Oxford University “He wanted to encourage humanity to prepare for a technology that would soon be more capable than all of us collectively”. We politely disagree, in this article we take a deep dive and explain how we should be doing more to nourish and develop our greatest resource—our consciousness.
Sadly, modern times abound with those who like to scoff at tradition and spiritual wisdom. Luxury beliefs are toxic ideas that some leading elites are trying to force upon us, when they themselves are so rich that they are insulated from any consequences of what they urge us to believe. The term has been coined by Rob Henderson working at Yale University who has defined them as ideas and opinions that confer status and cede control to the leading classes but often inflict real costs on the mass of those less privileged. For example the idea that we should all be living in little boxes crowded together in cities when those developing them live in country mansions. An idea that makes little sense in beautiful NZ with an abundance of space and opportunity, but one that seems to have been embraced by those planning our future.
I had a little chuckle yesterday when I read an article in the Washington Post entitled The next Darwin moment has arrived, the author, John MacCormick, who is a professor of computer science educated at the Universities of Auckland, Cambridge and Oxford, echoes many of the absurd claims of the leading billionaire gurus of A.I. who are dreaming that computer programs can now emulate the entire range of human thought including creativity and intuition.
I laughed not just because Google A.I. once again failed to correctly tell me when the next full moon occurs, but because of the blinkered nature of a statement in the article:
“Life itself was once thought to have a unique quality that distinguishes it from inanimate matter. This theory, known as vitalism, died out in the early 20th century and today has no scientific credibility: Modern biochemistry has revealed that all life can be explained in terms of physics and chemistry.”
Actually I am afraid that A.I. might lead us to neglect our brains thus draining the last drop of vitality out of life. Moreover, contrary to MacCormick’s claim, no biotechnologist, physicist or chemist working today knows exactly or even roughly how our DNA supports the expression of human consciousness.
At this point, the rapid roll out of A.I seems inevitable, it is already happening. So what can we do to counter machines that seem set to control our lives? There is a lot of talk about protecting children from the effects of A.I. driven social media. The UK Telegraph reports the terrifying rise of schoolboys as young as 12 making A.I. girlfriends that are driven by chatbots. You can ask just how they will view girls as they grow up? We can also ask, is it just possible that adults need protecting too? The sad truth is that computers are so pervasive and easily adapted, while people themselves are of so many opinions that no legislation has a chance of working.
The answer lies in the full development of our human potential. In our recent Substack articles The Sacred Cell and Conscious Genes and The Structure of Consciousness we explain how our nervous system supports the expression of a connected, self-referral property which lies at the heart of the universe. Through the exploration of our consciousness we can tap into the cosmic power that drives the process of evolution. We have latent abilities that are not yet developed, just waiting to be unfolded. Meditation can unfold a super coherence that is evident in EEG brain wave measurements which suggest an increasing harmony with coherent quantum states that characterise the laws of nature. Meditation can harness these laws to support our life. The measured result is more intelligence, creativity and well being. In other words, the brain has abilities that are more powerful than any imagined super computer or A.I. programme, because it can interface directly with the natural law that governs the universe.
The human brain is a remarkable organ, its trillion cells support the expression of human consciousness. These cells have more interconnections than there are atoms in the universe, yet it is all contained within a space roughly the size of a litre of milk. In contrast, to begin to mimic some of the most basic thinking properties of humans, even one modern A.I. data processing centre covers the size of 3,800 football pitches. These processing centres are so energy hungry that they are pushing the price of electricity up all over the world and they run so hot they need millions of gallons of water every day for cooling. This is depleting the planet’s supply and competing with basic human needs.
This week, following similar closures around the country, two sawmills are threatened with closure in Kaitaia, largely because of the rising cost of power. Both our NZ electricity producers and the saw mills themselves are owned by overseas interests which gives a lie to the luxury belief that free trade and the global economy are always going to benefit NZ. Fiscal projections calculated at overseas computer terminals are dictating closure and the loss of Kaitaia’s employment lifeline because A.I. doesn’t have a Kiwi soul. Essential NZ infrastructure needs to be owned by Kiwis, overseas interests don’t care about us and probably never will.
Whilst A.I. can carry out some repetitive calculations and investigate complex permutations, which might be a good thing, it is also replacing rewarding creative professions including graphic designers, animators, video producers, fashion photographers, and many other skilled jobs. Too many of the new jobs being created by A.I. will increasingly revolve around maintaining data centres. These are filled with endless banks of computer machines that as they grow older will need a lot of technicians to keep them ‘alive’ through painstaking and crushingly boring repetitive repair work. In this way, A.I. is not all roses, it threatens to turn humans into slaves of machines.
Contrast this with the human brain, each of its trillion cells is automatically repairing itself tens of thousands of times a day without the need of a technician, just three meals a day is sufficient. Each day, our consciousness naturally cycles though rhythms of waking, dreaming and sleeping without which it would fall apart. Unknown to John MacCormick, science has verified the existence of a fourth major state of consciousness —transcendence— which has long been recognised by many cultural and spiritual traditions around the world. This is an expanded state of consciousness, in which the mind is completely awake but silent, like an arrow drawn back on a bow full of potential but unmoving, about to zoom forth. In this cosmic ground state of consciousness, the essential truth of life is realised and future boundless achievement unfolds.
We are suggesting that our education system add this fourth state of consciousness to the daily routine which can be achieved through a short period of meditation. Studies show the results can be outstanding including increased academic achievement and improved well being.
The luxury belief that A.I. is the new Darwin is drawing the wool over our eyes. Sadly, A.I. is stuck with the process of data mining of stored information. Given the ever evolving nature of the universe, this can amount to leafing through yesterday’s trash of failed ideas. Contrast the burgeoning destructive military applications of A.I. systems with the tireless work of Gandhi or Mandela who peacefully brought freedom to their nations, or the deep compassion for all creation exhibited by St Francis of Assisi. No computer could replace their timeless wisdom.
So don’t give up on your brain, it is our best friend and most powerful computer, the fountainhead of joy and accomplishment and crucially it has a vast reserve of untapped potential. An article in the UK Times headlines “Universities ‘are surrendering’ in the fight against AI cheating”. It reports universities are giving up and waving the white flag—students can now write an essay without reading a book and get an A grade. So is A.I. preparing a generation to swallow an illusion of knowledge? The UK Telegraph echoes this fear with an article demanding An AI ‘kill switch’ to defend against ‘catastrophe’. It imagines a time when A.I. takes over and makes a terrible mistake. Don’t be fooled, if an A.I. kill switch is needed, it will already be too late. The first real crisis that today’s graduates face will sink them as they search in vain for the right button to press. We need to start developing the amazing resource we already have—our own unbounded consciousness.
