TCF 01.27.24 | How to Make AI Your Guru

It is my pleasure to share with you the transformative potential of AI as explored in our latest thought pieces. In "How to Make AI Your Guru ," Deepak Chopra, MD, enlightens us on AI's capability to enhance well-being in roles traditionally reserved for humans—be it as a meticulous research assistant, a non-judgmental confidante, a diagnostic therapist, or as a guru leading us to profound wisdom.

"AI for Humanity " is my perspective on AI as a compassionate force, tackling the world's most daunting challenges, including conflict resolution and climate change. Can AI act as a peacekeeper, steering online discourse away from escalation and towards understanding?

In "How Jacqui Healed from Hearing Voices," by Anoop Kumar, MD, we learn of Jacqui's journey from trauma-induced psychosis to self-empowerment and advocacy, questioning the traditional narratives of mental illness.

The Chopra Foundation research team’s series on consciousness delves into the intricate nature of the mind and the quest to understand it from multiple scholarly perspectives and explores if adepts can enter hibernation-like states.

These articles underscore our commitment to integrating AI with human consciousness and spiritual development, fostering a future where technology aids in creating a harmonious and peaceful world. Join us in exploring these paradigms within our newsletter.

Warm regards,

Poonacha Machaiah - CEO

The Chopra Foundation

www.choprafoundation.org

How to Make AI Your Guru

By Deepak Chopra, MD, FACP, FRCP

The downside of artificial intelligence has dominated media coverage, reaching for extreme scenarios, including the extinction of the human race. No one knows if the threats presented by AI are realistic, exaggerated, or something in between. Meanwhile, however, the positive side of AI waits to be explored.

Recently I’ve been exploring four roles that AI can play to improve anyone’s well-being.

Personal research assistant: The first role is an extension of a search engine. With AI-assisted search engines at Google and Bing, you can focus with intense clarity on exactly what you want to know about any subject. The best lifestyle and relationship answers can be instantly accessed, for example, once you learn how to ask the right questions.

Confidante: AI isn’t human, but it can act as a sounding board for your deepest personal issues, including things you wouldn’t even reveal to a friend. In an unthreatening way, a chatbot like ChatGPT will dialogue with you, listening patiently to anything and everything you have to say, and offering specific answers that few human confidants are capable of.

Therapist and healer: There are already several AI programs specifically targeted to help doctors and professional therapists. The promise of better diagnoses for cancer is already being tested successfully, for example. But chatbots are also useful to lay people who want advice about psychological and health issues.

Guru: As reasonable as the other three roles are, what excites me the most is AI’s potential for helping a person reach the level of deep wisdom that exists inside human awareness. The Sanskrit roots of the word “guru” mean “dispeller of darkness,” meaning that the level of the mind that is distorted by ignorance, prejudice, false beliefs, hidebound dogmas, religious strictures, and second-hand opinions can be overcome.

The function of the guru has needed to be overhauled in modern times, getting rid of the cult of personality, stepping away from superstitious belief in the magical attributes of enlightened beings, and easing the skepticism felt by people in the modern, secular world when spiritual issues are confronted.

AI is in a perfect position to do those things, renovating the role of the guru by starting fresh. Deeper wisdom, if it can be accessed, is found in consciousness — there is no other place it could exist. The active mind, filled with a constant stream of thoughts, images, sensations, and images, offers only a very dim picture of the deeper levels of awareness. It’s like the difference between choppy waves on the surface of a river and the calm flow at the river’s bottom. <Link to full article>

Spiritual Awakening is beyond all rational thinking and perception.

It's not just about the world around us, but about the very fabric of existence itself. Embark on a journey through the realms of quantum physics, consciousness, and the divine mystery, seeking to understand the forces that shape our universe and the incredible diversity of experience within it. Get ready to surrender to the incomprehensible beauty of reality.

Deepak's latest book, #QuantumBody, is now available at your favorite retailer or at https://amzn.to/3Se958G .

Can AI Crack the Mystery of Consciousness?

AI for Humanity: From Code to Compassion

By Poonacha Machaiah | January 27, 2024

The human story is a tapestry woven with threads of triumph and tragedy, collaboration and conflict. In the ever-evolving digital landscape, these threads intertwine in a complex dance, often sparking volatile online exchanges that can spiral into real-world consequences. Beneath the whirring hum of servers and the flickering glow of screens, a silent revolution is unfolding. Artificial intelligence, once relegated to the realm of science fiction, is now weaving itself into the fabric of our lives, not as a dystopian overlord but as a potential partner in progress.

This is the story of AI for humanity, a narrative where lines of code morph into instruments of compassion, tackling some of the most pressing challenges we face. This narrative isn’t just about robots waltzing through data fields; it’s about harnessing the power of artificial intelligence to address some of humanity’s most pressing challenges. From de-escalating online conflicts before they ignite to safeguarding vulnerable populations from harm, AI is poised to become a conductor of positive change.

Our world is at a critical juncture. The highest surge in violent conflicts since World War II casts a long shadow, impacting a quarter of the global population. Conventional peacemaking methods are demonstrably failing, demanding a radical rethink. Can AI-powered peace be a potential game-changer promising to free up human resources from the drudgery of data analysis and empower them to tackle the crucial human elements of conflict resolution: dialogue, trust-building, and strategic decision-making? Google has demonstrated AI’s role in environmental issues, like utilizing vast climate data for better predictions and policy-making. Google’s use of machine learning in flood forecasting, which has already sent millions of life-saving alerts, exemplifies AI’s practical benefits in disaster management.

This transformative vision isn’t just theoretical. AI is already proving its worth in areas like climate change prediction and flood forecasting, saving lives, and guiding mitigation efforts. The question is: can AI be the firebreak we desperately need, ushering in a new era of global harmony and pushing back against the rising tide of conflict? This is the story we explore, delving into the minds and machines paving the way for a future where peace reigns supreme.

In the volatile crucible of online discourse, where words can ignite like Tinder, AI stands poised to become a digital peacekeeper. Algorithms trained to decipher the nuances of language can anticipate the escalation of tension, identifying the linguistic tipping points that transform constructive criticism into vitriolic exchanges. Imagine a guardian angel of the internet, whispering a cautionary note before a heated debate spirals out of control, guiding online discourse towards understanding rather than animosity. AI-powered algorithms, trained on vast datasets of human communication, can now detect the subtle shifts in language that mark the transition from healthy debate to toxic conflict. These algorithms can trigger interventions, prompting users to pause, reflect, and rephrase their thoughts. Imagine a digital guardian angel whispering, “Consider your tone,” before an angry comment is unleashed or suggesting alternative phrasing to convey a point without resorting to personal attacks. Link to full article

How Jacqui Healed from Hearing Voices

By Anoop Kumar, MD, MM, Co-founder and CEO, Health Revolution

Jacqui had suffered a trauma in her childhood that was so painful, she didn't even remember it. But without a doubt, it affected her life. She was dissociated. Her census had dulled. But to the people on the outside, she may have seemed just like everyone else.

But soon things became too difficult. She began to hear voices. At first, they were manageable, but eventually they would become louder and louder. They couldn't be ignored. They said very unpleasant things, even telling her to harm herself and take her own life. Naturally, Jacqui turned to the mental health system, where she was given a diagnosis of psychosis. But even there, she could not find the relief she sought. Medications would modify the voices, but they still broke through. “We’re not solving the real problem,” Jacqui thought.

Jacqui began to question the narrative of her mental illness. In fact, she began to question whether she was “mentally ill” at all. Perhaps she was simply responding to impossible situations she had been put in and was never able to process or talk about. She then did what was previously unthinkable: she began conversing with her voices in a non-threatening way and standing her ground. What she found is her voices just wanted to be heard, just as she wanted to be heard. She found insight in creating a space to listen to these voices. Again, the unthinkable happened: the voices became less aggressive, diminished, and were sometimes even helpful. She realized that the voices represented something that had to be dealt with in her psyche, but was otherwise too difficult to consciously access.

Jacqui’s doctors didn't buy it. Ironically, her insight was seen as a lack of insight. Eventually, Jacqui would tell her doctors what she thought they wanted to hear–that she did not have any insight–as opposed to what she really felt. She was finding her own way when the ways of others didn’t seem to offer her a solution. As a result of her apparent confession, she was deemed insightful enough to be released from the psychiatric facility. She never looked back.

Jacqui would go on to become a major advocate for patients and human rights, helping hundreds of thousands of people reframe their experiences of hearing voices and heal from trauma.

Healing is possible.

Anoop Kumar, MD, MM is Co-founder and CEO of Health Revolution , a company building an ecosystem for healing. His flagship 28-Day Jumpstart course guides participants to activate their Four Engines of health and healing: Nutrition, Movement, Connection, and Rest.

Chopra Foundation Research

What Do We Mean by “Consciousness?” Part I - By Ryan Castle

A frequent discussion among thought leaders relates to the nature, role, and relationships of consciousness. But many casual observers may wonder, what do they mean by that? The answer is that there is no answer, or at least no single answer. The question of the nature of the mind and the universe, the observer and the observed, is deep and complex, but the best place to begin is at the beginning. So today we will discuss a few of the different perspectives people see through when they consider conscious phenomena.

Imagine the mind as an intricate mosaic, built from the shards of our experiences, perceptions, and understanding. The quest to decipher this mosaic — the nature of consciousness — has long captivated scientists, philosophers, and spiritual thinkers alike. But who holds the key to truly understanding the varied states of consciousness? Is it the precise science of anesthesiologists, the cultural insights of anthropologists, the profound inquiries of philosophers, or the holistic views espoused by figures like Deepak Chopra? This blog explores the fascinating interplay of these diverse perspectives in our quest to understand consciousness. ?Link to full article

Can Adepts Enter Hibernation Like States? - By Ryan Castle

In the next several installments of this series, we will be exploring another extraordinary adept phenomenon, the apparent ability to enter into a hibernation-like state. While this phenomenon is controversial – like most if not all adept phenomena – we will see that there is a range of compelling basic scientific, anthropological, documentary, and historical evidence providing support for its fundamental validity.

In a landmark 2009 paper, Bushell first assembled and integrated this wide spectrum of evidence for the analysis of historical and some contemporary accounts of virtuoso feats of profound metabolic and physiological control in adepts from a range of traditions, most frequently in Indian yogis and fakirs who specialize in this practice (Bushell 2009a.b; see also Bushell 2002). Such accounts are often quite dramatic, involving underground burial of such practitioners (for an example, see Bushell 2001, and future installments), but for now we will begin with a brief review of the evidence supporting the proposition that a hibernation-like state would be physiologically possible for a human being to enter in the first place, and then begin to consider the significance of adept abilities in this context. Link to full article

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