On Thursday, May 18 at 7:00 p.m. Eastern, Center for Spiritual Wisdom will host another installment of its monthly discussion series called A Little About A Lot. The series engages the community in discussions around topics of social, religious, and spiritual interest using short formats like podcasts, web posts, short books, and videos curated from around the digital world. The May 18 installment of A Little About A Lot is entitled “ChatBot, AI, and the Metaverse, Oh My!: Spirituality in Our Brave New World.” We will convene on Zoom from 7:00 to 9:00pm. Please note: A Little About A Lot has shifted to the third Thursday of the month.
Learn more about this event HERE. Register HERE at Eventbrite.
Once a fanciful driver of science fiction plots and conflicts, artificial intelligence (AI) is very quickly emerging as a formidable force within commerce, research, education, national defense, and philosophy. The convergence of AI with the digitalization of our everyday lives poses much promise and potentially great threats. Applications of AI that provide just-in-time information can also provide just-in-time misinformation, affecting—for good or bad—our reasoning, decision making, and even our social outlook. For this ALAAL discussion, Center Associate Terry Decker has invited frequent contributor and provocateur Dan Headrick to facilitate a timely discussion on this far-reaching and impactful topic.
Among a plethora of sources available from many fields of study, Dan has curated a few sources of insight (see below). Dan also sets the table with his own framing of the topic.
Please consume these for consideration prior to discussion on May 18 (approximately 70 minutes of content):
Framing this Discussion: Facilitator Dan Headrick Sets the Table (Article – 5 mins)
“Why Giving Rights to Robots Might One Day Save Humans”—Newsweek (Article – 15 mins)
“We’re Already in the Metaverse”—The Atlantic (Article – 15 minutes)
Interview with Yuval Noah Harari, Author of “Sapiens” —CBS “60 Minutes” (YouTube video – 14 minutes)
Love Thy Robot as Thyself—Mind Matters (Web article – 20 mins)
About facilitator Dan Headrick: A journalist and writer, Dan lives in Waynesville, NC, where he currently navigates a glide path to retirement with his wife, Amy Katzenmeyer. He has four amazing children ages 37 to 17, a great dog Brody who doesn’t do tricks, and a really cool cat, Lenny, who has a mysterious skin ailment.
The Center will lead and host the 2-hour discussion electronically through Zoom. Participants are asked to consume the curated material (sent via email after registering) prior to the discussion on May 18. A link to the Zoom session will come to registrants’ inbox in advance of the session. There is no fee for this event. However, donations to Center for Spiritual Wisdom, will be gratefully accepted.
Register HERE at Eventbrite.