Brilliant! These two words stand together as Two Tall columns that open the way into the wide creative space of an awakened and soulful life. Thank you for your warm, relevant, revelatory inspirations!
Truly the AI is only the remnants of what was once alive in thoughtful human consciousness now rearranged and spit out into narrowed algorithmic hyperbole.
The cold mesmerizing grip of this false god of imitation intelligence is increasing casting its shadow over our lives. Two divergent choices are seemingly emerging: surrender to the hypnotizing simulacra of a controlled mechanistic existence laced with sordid indulgence in gross passion, or develop our capacity for intelligent awareness and embody our divine gifts of freedom, selfhood, and agency.
Among other things, it’s comforting to know that in an age of ever-accelerating technology, we can turn to our own inner guidance, which is perfect. All we have to do is learn how to listen (I’m trying to get better at that 👍🏻😉✊🏻).
Simply brilliant. Not only is your coining of IA to complement AI clever, but it offers a profoundly (and dare I say intuitively?) useful model for understanding and working with these two distinct aspects of our experience. It maps right onto the well-worn pairings of creative mind versus critical mind, right brain versus left brain, and so on. And the fact that it incorporates and invokes all the connotations associated with LLMs -- not to mention the fact that it rests on a pretty canny framing of what LLMs are and do, and how they are essentially external technological mirrors of our own critical mind, which means they can't discover novelty but can only work with existing knowledge and information -- is all kinds of good. Seriously, thanks for this. It speaks right into matters that are presently (and also enduringly) of central fascination for me.
I'm glad this landed for you. I've been trying for some time to distill my intuitions about how the mind, heart, and will (actions) play together. All the pieces snapped into place for me earlier this year around the AI/IA framework as a reflection of the doing/being-ness of life.
This is truly lovely, Kevin! Thank you for sharing. I love how effortless it is to just follow our hearts, because our heart always knows. There is a beautiful symmetry in that. XO
I was alone enough as a kid that I was never taught that lesson, and I found an inner strength from deep within myself. Now that I'm older, I see it all a lot more clearly. I've been training for this since I was a kid! XO
Nicely said--you've clearly (and uniquely) delineated the distinction between intelligence and consciousness, the latter of which is very much oriented around feeling (calm feeling, not necessarily emotion), intuition, and awareness. Yes, AI technology is useful for many things, but there's much that it simply won't be able to do because, as you've identified, the piece that it attempts to replicate (and not always that well, it seems) represents only a fraction of the human totality.
I like to put it this way: if you changed one note or even a note duration in the Ode to Joy movement of Beethoven's 9th Symphony, the human ear would hardly detect it. But to a machine, that one change makes a distinct composition, and there are millions--billions--of such variations. How, then, would a machine know which was the "right" version if it lacks that intuitive feeling with which a composer says, "Yes, that's it!"
Oh, and you'll appreciate this. I was just now watching Star Trek: The Motion Picture again, and Spock, in the movie's thematic scene, having made contact with V-ger, describes V-ger as a living machine. Spock says, "V-ger has knowledge that spans this universe. And yet...with all its pure logic, V-ger is barren, cold...no mystery, no beauty." Then he grasps Kirk's hand and says, "This simple feeling is beyond V-ger's comprehension. No meaning. No hope. No answers. It's asking questions: 'Is this all that I am? Is there nothing more?" A pretty powerful theme that's certainly relevant to AI and your post!
Intelligent......... Awareness
Brilliant! These two words stand together as Two Tall columns that open the way into the wide creative space of an awakened and soulful life. Thank you for your warm, relevant, revelatory inspirations!
Truly the AI is only the remnants of what was once alive in thoughtful human consciousness now rearranged and spit out into narrowed algorithmic hyperbole.
The cold mesmerizing grip of this false god of imitation intelligence is increasing casting its shadow over our lives. Two divergent choices are seemingly emerging: surrender to the hypnotizing simulacra of a controlled mechanistic existence laced with sordid indulgence in gross passion, or develop our capacity for intelligent awareness and embody our divine gifts of freedom, selfhood, and agency.
I agree 100%. This is why AI will never become conscious like many fear (or hope).
Awesome. Thanks so much for sharing this.
Among other things, it’s comforting to know that in an age of ever-accelerating technology, we can turn to our own inner guidance, which is perfect. All we have to do is learn how to listen (I’m trying to get better at that 👍🏻😉✊🏻).
Agreed. I'm learning to get better at it, too.
Thanks. Very enlightening. A streetlight on a dark night in the suburbs.
Thanks, Daniel!
Simply brilliant. Not only is your coining of IA to complement AI clever, but it offers a profoundly (and dare I say intuitively?) useful model for understanding and working with these two distinct aspects of our experience. It maps right onto the well-worn pairings of creative mind versus critical mind, right brain versus left brain, and so on. And the fact that it incorporates and invokes all the connotations associated with LLMs -- not to mention the fact that it rests on a pretty canny framing of what LLMs are and do, and how they are essentially external technological mirrors of our own critical mind, which means they can't discover novelty but can only work with existing knowledge and information -- is all kinds of good. Seriously, thanks for this. It speaks right into matters that are presently (and also enduringly) of central fascination for me.
I'm glad this landed for you. I've been trying for some time to distill my intuitions about how the mind, heart, and will (actions) play together. All the pieces snapped into place for me earlier this year around the AI/IA framework as a reflection of the doing/being-ness of life.
I think you've struck gold.
This is well written, Kelvin! I will now begin to see things in the light that you've shown. Thank you
Thanks, sir!
This is truly lovely, Kevin! Thank you for sharing. I love how effortless it is to just follow our hearts, because our heart always knows. There is a beautiful symmetry in that. XO
Thanks Danielle! Isn't it crazy how we're taught to question our intuition and look to the mind for life's answers?
I was alone enough as a kid that I was never taught that lesson, and I found an inner strength from deep within myself. Now that I'm older, I see it all a lot more clearly. I've been training for this since I was a kid! XO
This feels so right. I especially love that inspired is “that which comes from being in-spirited.”
In- spirited is the way I choose to live. Not always easy, but worth it.
Ps… I’m not sure why, but this required me to create an account to log in (again) despite the fact that I’m subscribed.. 🤪
Living in-spirited = totally worth it. : )
That's strange about it requiring you to create an account. Substack can be buggy sometimes.
Totally worth it indeed!
Nicely said--you've clearly (and uniquely) delineated the distinction between intelligence and consciousness, the latter of which is very much oriented around feeling (calm feeling, not necessarily emotion), intuition, and awareness. Yes, AI technology is useful for many things, but there's much that it simply won't be able to do because, as you've identified, the piece that it attempts to replicate (and not always that well, it seems) represents only a fraction of the human totality.
I like to put it this way: if you changed one note or even a note duration in the Ode to Joy movement of Beethoven's 9th Symphony, the human ear would hardly detect it. But to a machine, that one change makes a distinct composition, and there are millions--billions--of such variations. How, then, would a machine know which was the "right" version if it lacks that intuitive feeling with which a composer says, "Yes, that's it!"
That's an insightful point you make about music! I couldn't agree more.
Oh, and you'll appreciate this. I was just now watching Star Trek: The Motion Picture again, and Spock, in the movie's thematic scene, having made contact with V-ger, describes V-ger as a living machine. Spock says, "V-ger has knowledge that spans this universe. And yet...with all its pure logic, V-ger is barren, cold...no mystery, no beauty." Then he grasps Kirk's hand and says, "This simple feeling is beyond V-ger's comprehension. No meaning. No hope. No answers. It's asking questions: 'Is this all that I am? Is there nothing more?" A pretty powerful theme that's certainly relevant to AI and your post!
Wow. I'll have to go back and watch that again. Thanks for passing it along.