Are we on the brink of a golden age of AI technology or do we see disaster on the horizon? I’ve said for years that human wisdom is meant to be the balance for artificial intelligence and, yet, technologists are now designing AI for wisdom. In my opinion, AI can’t be wise unless it suffers a little. Our painful life lessons are the raw material for our future wisdom.
I don’t think our institutions are ready for this. Yes, there’s been a call for creating a World Wise Web and for 10,000 wisdom schools for innovators, but I still get blank looks from strangers when I tell them I run a midlife wisdom school…”what’s that?”
I’m encouraged by new schools like the Monastic Academy in Vermont which is designing a religion for the age of AI. I like the way they characterize the need for a new institution like this at a time of existential risk coming from AI:
“We often think that it is technology, markets, or policies that most influence a civilization, but there is a deeper force upon which these are built. This force is called religion. The most important task of our age is to design a trustworthy religion that teaches wisdom and compassion for the age of AI. It is on the basis of this religion, scaled through the intelligence systems of our time, that we can build a world beyond belief for the benefit of all beings.”
Andrew Murray Dunn says, “Wisdom is the best predictor of life satisfaction in both men and women and can offset the influence of negative age on life satisfaction. Wisdom has a greater influence on life satisfaction in older adulthood than health, socioeconomic status, financial situation, environment, or social engagement” based upon this recent study of wisdom in the general population.
In a world that is increasingly complicated, wisdom distills what’s essential. This isn’t just good for dealing with AI. This is good for connecting us as humans. Here’s to more wisdom schools in the world!
-Chip