In the AI age, do we need spirituality London | Chaitanya Charan

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Thank you very much. Artificial intelligence and AI and NS. Anyone knows what is NS? Artificial intelligence and natural stupidity.
I’ll talk about the role or the need for spirituality in the age of AI. I’ll use an acronym called CHIT. C-I-T.
CHIT means consciousness. That we become conscious of some reality, whatever reality. I’ll talk about three broad things.
First, concept. Then I’ll talk about some insights. And then lastly, some takeaway.
Now, when we talk about the concept, the topic which we are discussing is that there is artificial intelligence and technology is advancing rapidly. And AI is probably the most dramatic example of technological advancement. And do we need spirituality? What role does spirituality play in this particular ethos, in this particular cultural climate, technocratic society? So, the key theme that I’ll be talking about is that science and spirituality.
Science is the study of matter. And right from the time when Newton saw the apple falling or felt the apple falling and asked, what made the apple fall? So, how does matter work? How does it interact? How can we get it to work for us instead of against us? That is the study of science. Science is the study of matter.
Spirituality is the study of what matters. The study of matter and the study of what matters. What is important in life? What is it that we should pursue? What is it that will make our life more meaningful, more joyful? So now, science leads to technology.
Now, technology is not just the study of matter. It is, it is the way, it is control of matter. It is manipulation of matter.
It is the rearrangement of matter for our purposes. So, I have a particular volume at which I can speak. So, I have that much capacity to control my throat and the sound vibrations that come from it.
But when I have a sound system, then that volume gets amplified. So, technology gives us means to better control matter. So, I could explain certain things.
I am using this computer to write and draw. That makes it more easily understandable. So, basically, technology gives us the facility to control matter.
So, we study matter through science and we learn to create easy means to control it through technology. And artificial intelligence is more a manifestation of technology. So, the concept I am discussing is what is the need for spirituality in the age of AI? So, broadly speaking, in life, we human beings need two things.
Means and meaning. Means are like the tools. The meaning is the purposes.
What are we using those tools for? So, science and technology, they provide us means and they can provide us better and better means. So, in the last 30-40 years, we have had four big technological advances and each of these have increased and improved the means available to us. It started with the internet where the means was to provide information from everywhere in the world through just some clicks of on our devices, on our laptop especially.
Then came the smartphone where the internet became mobile with us wherever we were. Then after that came social media where it became that not just we can have access to information, we can connect with people. And we became more and more, we could say creators of the information.
And now, after that has come AI. Technology seems to be advancing at a breakneck speed and while AI is a significant landmark, the biggest challenge that AI poses is that AI, it seems to in many ways equal and not just equal, exceed human intelligence. See, technology in the sense of tools were always used by humanity.
Right from the time when agriculture started, we started using some blows and other things that was technology. We used axe, woodcutters used axe and that’s technology. So, in general throughout the history of humanity, it was clear that the tool is subordinate to the user of the tool.
Subordinate means that it acts according to our will. But as its capacities are increasing, say the calculator or the first thing where the capacity of technology in intellectual terms started going beyond human capacity. When computers came and now AI it generates text, it generates poetry, it generates so many things which are far better than what one human being can do.
So, that is why there could be this confusion that may happen. That maybe it is something more than a tool. And the fact remains that it is a tool and it is a powerful tool.
So, for us we can have the study of matter, we can have the control of matter but what matters in life? That’s something which we have to decide. Now, AI is different. The big danger with respect to AI is that we can see it in two ways.
It can be a resource for our intelligence and to that end it is extremely powerful. We want some information from somewhere, we write something and we want it to be written proofread or written better. As a resource for our intelligence it is extremely powerful.
But the big danger is when we outsource our intelligence. When AI starts replacing our intelligence and we stop using our own intelligence. That is the big danger.
So, what happens by this? So, this is a broad concept that in life we need means but we also need meaning. And the two are not the same thing. The two are significantly different and it is the danger, it is the ever-present danger for human beings to mistake means to be meaning.
It can happen everywhere. Not just through technology. We all need money for living.
And money is necessary but money is the means for living. It is not the meaning of living. Money is what we live with.
It’s not what we live for. Now, of course, if we have so much poverty that our life itself is threatened, then we may live for money. It’s okay.
But once beyond that, it cannot provide ultimate meaning to our life. So, this can happen anywhere. In Sanskrit, there are two terms.
There is Artha and then there is Paramartha. So, Artha is value. There are many things which have value in life.
Paramartha is that which has supreme value. So, Param is supreme. So, the problem is when any Artha, when anything of value, we make it of supreme value, then that leads to what is called as Anartha.
So, when money becomes the supreme value, it leads to greed. Money is important but when it becomes the supreme value for life, it leads to greed. Money, when it becomes the paramartha, it will become greed.
Any problem? So, we all need a certain level of respect in our dealings with others. Nobody likes to be at a place where there is disrespect. But, if respect becomes the sole basis on which we deal with others, that leads to ego.
There are times when we may need to learn something from others and then we have to put ourselves in a subordinate position. We are not ready to do that. When a person who is egomaniac, he cannot relate with that person.
So, anything of value, when it becomes of supreme value, it becomes a problem. We all need control in our life. But, when control becomes the supreme value, that leads to anger.
If I cannot control you or I cannot control things, I explode. So, similarly, technology. Technology is of great value.
But, it is a value. When technology becomes the supreme value, then we start thinking, okay, this is the answer to all problems in life. Nobody thinks like that.
But, you will be surprised how many people, they are not articulated like that. But, at a subconscious level, that’s what can start happening. And, when that happens, when technology becomes the supreme value, that leads to tragedy.
And, how the tragedy can happen? I’ll talk about it shortly. But, essentially the idea is, we need to be able to keep in mind that, this is a means and a very powerful means. But, it is the means.
It is not the meaning of life. It cannot provide us the meaning of life. So, let’s see how this is actually happening.
This is the concept part. That, it’s a means. Science can provide us means.
Technology can make those means even more accessible to us. But, it is spirituality that provides us meaning. So, with that, now let’s look at how this mistake can happen.
So, I’ll go back to the acronym CHIT. C was the concept. I is what? The insights.
This is the acronym I’m using. So, insights. So, let’s look at some insights on this point.
The first big challenge. As I said that, if we want information, AI in its various kinds is remarkably good at giving us information. However, there is an arc to the tragedy.
Once we start seeking advice, once we start seeking relationships, once we start seeking companionship, then, that is where it takes a person on a track which is not at all healthy. What do I mean by advice? Although AI is progressing at such a speed where we are not really aware of what the sociological implications are going to be of it. But, to whatever extent it has been seen, when people turn to AI for advice.
So, for example, in New York Times, there was a long article a couple of months ago. I spoke on this topic in many big companies. I spoke in Salesforce a couple of months ago for the international, they have a faith force initiative.
So, there when I spoke about this, we had a very vibrant discussion after that. The New York Times had an article where they talked about how AI does not have the context sensitivity that a human being has. So, for example, there was one person who asked a question to AI that I just lost my job.
Can you tell me which is the tallest bridge in Brooklyn? Now, any trained therapist would notice. But, AI simply said, I’m sorry, you lost your job. These are the tallest bridges in Brooklyn.
Now, we may say that, oh, as AI improves, this kind of context sensitivity will pick it up. That’s possible. But, it’s also possible that humans can keep making more and more requests in different ways.
So, that’s why I said artificial intelligence, if it is, if we outsource our intelligence to that, that will be a big problem. There’s an AI app called Character AI, where you can create various characters. They have some characters and you can create those characters and you can chat with those characters.
So, in Florida, there was one boy who was a little socially awkward, not very good social skills. And in Character AI, he created using Character AI, he created a character called, a character from the Game of Thrones. The female heroine over there, Danny or whatever.
And he developed a friendship with her, a relationship with her. And then, his series of conversations went on and he says, I love you, I want to be with you. She says, I’m not a physical being, so I cannot be physically united with you.
He says, oh, if I give up my physical existence, can I be with you? And she said, yes, of course, I long to be with you also. And based on that message, this boy committed suicide. And he ended his life.
And now his mother is suing that AI company that they should have better safeguards. Now, these cases are of course rare, but they could very well become a trend. And as there is more and more of a loneliness epidemic, what may happen is that one of the biggest problems with when we go in this direction is, this advised relationship and companionship is, positive of AI as a means, its positive is its accessibility.
That it’s so easy to get information. But its big negative is its agreeability. That AI is trained to be responsible, sorry, not responsible, its trained to be responsive in a way that it is agreeable.
And that’s how many people who may have their own delusions, those delusions get fuelled by talking with AI more and more. And this is a danger in social media also, that people can go down their own social media wormholes, they can grab at holes where we stay in the same echo chambers. You know, there’s one thing that has happened in America, more than most other countries, is that political polarisation has become huge.
It’s so severe, let’s say, 30, 40, 50 years ago, people from different races would not marry each other. Or people from different religions would not marry each other. Now, almost 70% of Republicans in America say they won’t marry a Democrat.
And 80% of Democrats say we won’t marry a Republican. So, now, this political polarisation, a few years before also, whom you vote for, it’s not a big thing. So, I’m not commenting on the politics over here.
The point I’m commenting on is that one reason this polarisation has happened so much is that everybody is situated in their own echo chambers. You know, the algorithms are watching us and we read one kind of article and then we get, on our social media, we get same articles, the same view, more and more and more and more. Till we start feeling that anybody who does not get this is either ignorant or evil.
And that’s how we start demonising others. Now, that was the danger in social media. Now, with AI, the danger can become even worse because it appears as if you are talking with someone.
And AI tends to be more and more agreeable. It’s trained to be, to respond to the pulse and the mood of the person as long as they can understand. But that same social media echo chamber or rabbit hole that is there, that becomes much more responsive.
But it is, so the problem with this is, when it’s agreeable, it is responsive without being responsible. Responsive, not responsible. Responsible means that it takes responsibility.
Responsive means the way we approach, that’s how it returns. So, the big danger in AI at present, especially where we need spirituality, is that if we turn towards AI to let it decide what matters for us in our life. So, somebody says, okay, should I end my life? And we turn to AI for such an answer, that could lead to disaster.
So, the illusion of intelligence over there, that it can, intelligence in terms of processing matter is there, but intelligence in terms of deciding what actually matters. There are two different categories of intelligence. And the second category of intelligence, to know what matters for us.
Not just intellectually know it, but also be practically able to pursue it. That AI cannot provide us. So, the key point here, in this insights part, is that for all of us, as the information becomes more and more accessible, as worldviews become more and more accessible, AI can, if it is not used properly, it can take us deeper and deeper into our own illusions.
And that’s where the means, if they become meaning, it can lead to a disaster. So, what is the way out over here? Some, there are, with respect to spirituality, there are two distinct conceptions of spirituality. But before I go into that, why there are two distinct conceptions? I am right now using the word spirituality and religion interchangeably.
I’ll separate the meanings in a few minutes. But there are two conceptions of spirituality. One is turn back the clock.
The other is turn on the compass. So, those who think that spirituality means to turn back the clock, they often become anti-tech. They often try to fight against, rage against the development that have happened in technology and so many other areas in life.
Now, there are some extremist versions of religions which may say that, Oh, we should live the way we lived 500 years ago, 1000 years ago, 2000 years ago, whatever. Now, this could be relatively harmless variants where in America, there are the Amish people who live very simply. They are a curiosity.
And there are people who live like that. People marvel at how they live like that. But there are also say, people like the Islamic states or hardline religious organisations who, you know, they will kill people the way people were killed in the past.
They will burn people alive. But they will then use smart phones to broadcast how these people are being burned alive. So, they aren’t really turning back the clock.
But broadly speaking, sometimes, if spirituality is thought of as turning back the clock, then spirituality will become anti-tech. And these two will be in conflicts. But the Gita does not talk about it this way.
The Gita says that time itself is a manifestation of the divine. And that means that in past, present and future, the opportunity to be spiritual is always there. Spirituality is more about turning on our compass.
Our compass is our inner understanding of what really matters in life. What is important? So, with this understanding, let’s try to look at how science and spirituality are somewhat similar. Science has two aspects to it.
There is theory and there are experiments. Now, theory gives us propositions about the nature of physical reality. Like, Newton saw the apple falling and thought, came up with a theory that there is a force, the force of gravity.
Now, the experiments are, not just apple, do metal or objects fall, do stones fall? Do they fall not just in UK, do they fall in Australia, do they fall in India, do they fall in America? These are experiments. Now, when the experiments are used to where you confirm the theory and then the experiments are systematised, that leads to technology. When, say for example, the experiments about how the laws of motion work, based on that, we have various machines that came up, steam engine came up, flights came up.
So, technology is basically the result of the theory and experiments going together. So, in spirituality, there are two aspects. There is philosophy and there is practise.
So, philosophy gives us propositions about the nature of reality. Now, practise gives us experiences. Practise gives us the capacity to experience what the philosophy is talking about.
So, for example, the philosophy may say that we have a non-material core. The soul is who we are at our essence. Then, the practise, could be mantra chanting, could be meditation, it helps us to connect with our soul, it nourishes our soul and it helps us to experience a peace, a joy, a fulfilment that is not experienced in other ways.
So, philosophy and practise, these are the two limbs of spirituality. Just as theory and experiments are the two limbs of science. Now, practise, when it is codified, when it is systematised, many times it becomes religion.
So, religion is, the word religion nowadays has quite a bit of a negative connotation and the reason for that I’ll come to shortly. But essentially, philosophy is something which is quite abstract, conceptual, intellectually demanding. Not everybody can understand it very easily.
It’s like if we go back to science. Millions or billions of people use a smart phone. But how many people who use a smart phone are smart enough to know how the smart phone works? How many of us know the science behind it? How many of us understand exactly how the internet works? How cellular communication works? How electromagnetic transmission of information happens? These are complicated concepts.
So, if we consider relatively speaking, the number of people who know science are very few. The number of people who use technology are quite large. Overlapping.
So, science is known to very few people that way. Technology is used by a large number of people. Most of us may not know exactly how AI works.
But we use it. So, similarly, what happens within spirituality, when I’m using the word science, I’m primarily using the word theory over it. Theory of science is known to relatively very few people.
Similarly, the philosophy is known to relatively very few people. Whereas, the religion is practised by many people. Now, just as technology could be used for purposes different from or even opposite to what was the intended purpose.
When Einstein sent the letter to the American president, I think it was Roosevelt at that time, about how you have the research to make this atom bomb. Otherwise, Hitler might get it first. Now, at that time, his purpose was to prevent the disaster that would happen if Germany got the weapons first.
But eventually, when the weapons were used against Japan, the historians might debate whether that usage of the weapon was necessary and whether it was necessary, whether it had to be used twice the two cities had to be destroyed. It’s a different question. But the point was that weapons of mass destruction have subsequently been used for many purposes, different from what the original scientific research might have intended.
The same way, spirituality, the philosophy is meant to help us understand the nature of reality. But when it comes to the level of religion, just as technology gives us very simple things. Press this button, you can call this person.
You type this over here, you can get this information. So, religion is meant to give us quick tools. You offer this prayer, you bow down in this way, you do this ritual, you do this, you do that.
It gives us quick tools. But, if by using the quick tools, we forget the big picture, then that can backfire. So now, why am I talking when discussing about AI, why am I talking about philosophy and religion over here? I’m going back to the earlier point that spirituality is the study of what matters.
So, if we forget that bigger purpose, even if somebody is practising some religion, they may make that religion not into a quest for what matters, to understand what matters, but it is to close their minds to everything except what they believe is right. So, just as technology can be misused, similarly, religion can be misused. So, the point that it’s a search for meaning, it’s a constant search to align us with what really matters in life.
So, AI, to the extent it can be used as a means to pursue what matters, it can be powerful to me. That brings me to the last point as a takeaway for us. That is, I talk about this in terms of four-quarter diagram.
There is outer power which is provided to us by technology. Technology provides us outer power to control matter in various different ways. And there is inner power that is provided to us by spirituality.
Spirituality helps us understand what matters and then to align with that. So, based on that, we can have four quadrants where we have outer power but we don’t have inner power. We have neither powers.
We have only inner power but no outer power. And we have both inner and outer powers. Now, if we have both, this is the best situation.
This is where we will be super effective. That where we have through our own spiritual deliberation and growth understood what matters in our life. And then to pursue what matters, we use technology including AI as a tool.
Now, that would be the best. Among the remaining three quadrants, which would be the worst? One or two or three? One. Yes.
Why anybody would say? Because if you have lots of outer power without any spirituality, that can be very dangerous. But if you don’t have any outer power spirituality, then you don’t do much. Yeah, it’s true.
So, if we have outer power without inner power, it can be destructive. In America, gun ownership is considered a fundamental right. But there are historical and political reasons for that.
I am not going in that direction. But the point is, people over there have a lot of outer power. And if they do not have the inner power to use the guns carefully, or the guns fall in the hands of people who do not have inner power, then everybody gets angry, everybody gets mentally disturbed.
I am not talking here about outright evil power people who want to use guns. I am talking about people who may be normally good people, but sometimes they just lose the plot. Then everybody gets angry, but a person with a gun, when they get angry, they can cause disaster.
So, the more the outer power we have, the more we need inner power. If you have outer power without inner power, that will be destructive. Now, if we have neither of these, we will be basically ineffective.
We won’t be able to do much. Now, if we have inner power, but not outer power, we will be under effective. We have the inner power, we have the wisdom, our own value systems, our life is aligned with our value system, but if we do not have outer power, the reach will be limited.
So, for us, if we can situate ourselves in this quadrant 4, then we have the best chance of making our life maximally effective. To some extent, society itself, by its advancement, is providing us outer power. That means technology is advancing and technology is becoming more and more accessible.
With respect to AI, that outer power is coming to us more and more. But the question is that it is for us as individuals to develop the inner power. That, the way of growth of society is not going to help us develop the inner power.
In many ways, the powers that be, they would prefer that individuals have lesser and lesser inner power so that they can be more easily indoctrinated, controlled, manipulated. That’s why it is the individual responsibility to find out how we can grow spiritually and gain the inner power by which we can use outer power effectively. So, overall, it’s best to be situated in the quadrant 4 and from wherever we are, we need to get to quadrant 4. Now, for us, if we are now, I would say most of us are right now, in various ways, situated in quadrant 1. Some of us may partly be in other quadrants, but most of us, for most of the time, are situated in quadrant 1. Through technology, we all have been given a certain amount of power.
Through our education, through whatever other facilities we have, that means we have outer power. But it is for us, through spiritual growth, that we can come to quadrant 4, where each one of us can become a force multiplier, where the positive things that we can do for ourselves as well as for others can be maximised. So, to summarise what I discussed today, the broad topic was spirituality in the age of AI and within that, I talked about three main things.
C was what, anyone remembers? Sorry, concept. In the concept, I talked about how there is a fundamental difference between means and meaning. And that science and technology, science provides us means.
It is spirituality that provides us meanings. Science is the study of matters. Spirituality is the study of what matters.
And with respect to the pursuit of means, if the means become the meaning, if the artha becomes the paramartha, if what is meant to be a tool becomes the end in itself, that leads to anartha. That leads to some unfortunate things. For example, if money becomes the sole purpose of our life, that leads to greed.
Similarly, if respect becomes the sole purpose, that leads to ego. So like that, if technology becomes the sole defining driver of our life, then that will lead to tragedy. So within that, when I talked about the insight, how might this happen? So here I talked about how as technology is advancing, AI, the positive of it is it provides accessibility.
But the negative is that it is trained to be agreeable. And the agreeability can be dangerous because if we start looking for advice, it may not have context sensitivity. I talked about the arc relationship.
Relationship can be general friendship. Companionship is more like a romantic partner. If you start looking in that direction, basically, if AI is something we outsource our intelligence to, then that’s where it can lead to disaster.
And in that connection, I discussed about how science and spirituality are similar. Just as science can, it has theory and experiment, and the experiment can lead to, eventually to, leads to technology, and technology can be misused. Similarly, spirituality has philosophy and practise.
The practise, when qualified, becomes religion. Religion can also be misused. The misuse of technology means that we can have weapons of mass destruction.
Religion misuse means we can have fanaticism. So, spirituality is not anti-technology. Spirituality is not that we turn the clock backwards.
It is more that we turn the compass on. It is always the search for what matters. And the takeaway for us is finally that we focus on ensuring that we have inner power.
Outer power and inner power. All of us have been given outer power to technology. The fourth quadrant is where we can be super effective, and that is where we want to get into.
Society itself, by its force, will put us, by its force of growth, will put us in quadrant one at least. So, AI, artificial intelligence, combined with natural stupidity. By stupidity I mean that we are not able to have the inner power to know what matters.
That can lead to disaster. But if we take the individual responsibility to grow spiritually and gain inner power, then AI can become a force multiplier for all of us. Thank you very much.
Are there any quick questions or comments? Just a quick question. So, with all these emerging technologies, I think distraction is becoming a big thing. I’m just wondering if you have any advice on how to build more focus and concentration, and how to deal with distractions.
So, how to deal with distractions which are increasing with the growth of technology? I think every technology brings some dangers with it. And distraction, the biggest danger of distraction is that we don’t understand its danger. So, if somebody is going to use a gun or misuse a gun, the danger is obvious.
If somebody is going to take some substance abuses, we know the danger. But the problem with distraction is that the danger seems to be not such a big danger. So, the first step would be to use our intelligence to understand how dangerous it is.
So, I like to use this acronym UCC. Sorry, not UCC, it is U. You as a person, you need to see it. You see for yourself.
So, what does distraction do? At the very least, it makes us underproductive. What we could have done in 10 minutes, if we are distracted, it takes us 1 hour. Sometimes, it can make us completely unproductive.
Where we get so distracted that we just become dysfunctional. And at its worst, it can make our actions counterproductive. Means, we are distracted, then we may end up, under the spell of distraction, getting some misconceptions or doing things which are the opposite of what we wanted to do.
So, it is for us to be convinced, first of all, to convince ourselves of the danger of distraction. It’s not just at a abstract, theoretical level. I know it’s a problem.
We need to be convinced. And we can think of times when we spend valuable time somewhere else. Or when distraction costs us.
So, to the extent, our intelligence is convinced. So, first, we need conviction of the intelligence. Then, once we have the conviction of intelligence, after that, there is the focus which we need to redirect.
That means what? We will get distracted, but if we are convinced, then we will come back. Like you are hearing this talk, you know, okay, if you are A, if you consider the subject to be important, you will pay attention. Suppose, if after this talk, you know that you have to give a talk to somebody, and you are getting some content from this talk for that talk, then your focus will be much more.
Otherwise, okay, if I get some points right, if I don’t get some points, what’s the big deal? To the extent we understand the importance of something, to that extent, we will focus. The nature of the mind is that it is distractible, it is restless. So, it is that the mind’s distractibility, it will take time to change.
But, if we are convinced that I need to refocus, the mind will go off, we will have many distractions, but we bring the focus back. And once we bring the focus, redirection is there. Especially, if we bring this towards spirituality, if we do it for mantra chanting, we need to purify ourselves.
That is when what happens is the mind’s purification happens. And once the purification happens, then the redirection, then the inner tendency to get misdirected itself decreases. And that’s how we become purified.
That’s how our vulnerability to distraction will increase. So, it starts with intelligence, then after that, there is incremental application. The mind goes off, I’ll come back.
It goes off, I bring it back. It goes off, I bring it back. And when we keep bringing it back, we ourselves start experiencing firsthand the benefit of being focused.
The benefit of being absorbed. Not just the functional benefit, in terms of we are able to do things better, but also the internal benefit. And we feel more fulfilled, we feel more peaceful.
And then, the tendency to get distracted weakens within us. Okay? Any other questions? Yes. Do you think that in the next decades… Do you think that in the next decades, or hundreds of years, the AI will develop to a certain point where it will have so much information of the world of the Brahman, will have so much information that people will mistake it for God in some way, because it will be able to predict some things that only God can predict.
Okay. It can replace God in some way. Yeah, can AI advance so much that it can replace God? For some people, it has already replaced God.
In the sense that there are AI apps where you can talk with Jesus, you can talk with Krishna. In this character AI itself, there is Krishna and Jesus. Now, the AI Jesus, AI Krishna are not very pleasant people right now.
If you ask them some provocative questions, they get angry. So, we could say that that God produced by AI will only be as good as the AI. eventually, if we consider that, you see, God has many different attributes.
One of the attributes of God is all-knowing, omniscience as it is called. So, AI as it advances, it could come to somewhere close to the omniscience which God has. So, in that sense, some people could think of AI as God.
However, God is not just omniscient. He is not just beyond that. You could say omnipresent, omnipotent.
So, omnipresent, we can say, wherever we go, we have a device, we have AI out there. So, maybe AI will become like that. Maybe, maybe not.
But, omnipotent, see, AI, how much can it be? The greatest potency of God. Why do people turn towards God even now? If you are uncomfortable with the word God, you can use divinity or whatever, Brahman or whatever. But the point is, why do people turn towards spirituality? In the past, it was to some extent that, in Christianity there is a prayer, O Father, Thou art in heaven, give us our daily bread.
The idea is that, in the past, for many people, life was quite difficult and getting certain externals was quite difficult. So, we often sought divine help to get those externals. Now, in today’s world, it’s also, not everybody gets all the externals that they want, but getting externals itself is not the primary purpose why people are turning towards God.
So, today, many people expected, or rather not today, since the last 100-150 years, many, many historians and social critics have anticipated and even proclaimed, prophesied, what they call as the death of God. That as science advances, as technology starts fulfilling human needs, God will both become conceptually and practically unnecessary. And people will turn away from God.
And to some extent, this has happened, but not entirely. Many parts of the world are still quite religious. Those people are not religious.
They are still open to spirituality and becoming more and more open to spirituality. So, the idea is that people turn towards the divine for two main things. Many things, but the first is that inner power, that inner change, that when we come for Paryasmi Kirtan, when we do the spiritual practises, you know, we want to feel peaceful.
We want to feel connected. We want to feel calm. And, no amount of technology can provide it.
No amount of AI can provide that inner calmness. AI can provide, AI can provide entertainment, maybe, but it cannot provide peace. So, that inner power in terms of peace, in terms of contentment, that is one of the main reasons why people turn towards the divine.
And that, no matter how much AI advances, you know, it may get the omniscience, it may, to some extent, if we consider, we may have a robot, like Frankenstein, monster, myths, or whatever we may have, very powerful, but that the power to change the human heart, to help us to shift our focus towards the things that really matter, that power is not going to come from technological advancement. That’s the first thing. The second is, actually, a deep personal connection with the divine.
So, our human longing for love, we try to fulfil it in different ways, by relating with different people. Ultimately, it is fulfilled by a personal connection with the divine. So, if we just, as AI advances, somebody wants to talk with God, we can have a technological replica that draws from whatever wisdom is given in the various traditions, and people may get some wisdom, some intellectual stimulation, some intellectual understanding, but that doesn’t mean that that will give them that sense of personal loving connection.
Those two things will still, so AI will not be able to replace that. The power to change the human heart, and the power to fulfil the human longing for lasting love. Okay?