How A.I. Can Improve Self Awareness With Maverick Kuhn (Thyself.ai)
A refreshing take on how we can use technology to see ourselves more clearly
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Let’s face it. There’ a lot of A.I. doom and gloom right now.
This is especially the case in some spiritual circles.
On Youtube, I see all these people talk about how we are entering a man vs. machine war, or other types of metaphysical warfare.
I haven’t really spent much time looking into these things and I’m sure there’s degrees of truth to the concerns.
My immediate reaction when I see this type of rhetoric is that it reflects the pattern of polarized thinking.
Polarizing thinking is when you look at things from a black vs. white, good vs. bad, or right vs. wrong perspective. This constrains your vision from seeing a more complete, big-picture perspective and keeps you in separation.
I am excited to learn about what A.I. is enabling that seems supportive for humanity, alongside the legitimate concerns that warrant action.
I recently got a chance to sit down with Maverick Kuhn, one of the co-founders of Thyself.ai. Thyself.ai is an AI voice assistant that guides you through emotional work like internal family systems (IFS). Instead of having to wait to talk to a therapist every other week, you can use the app to guide you through IFS on demand.
I think this is a great example of how innovations in technology can support the human awareness journey and deepening the relationship with ourselves. Relative to the constant narratives around technology being a distraction (which are warranted), I found this to be a very refreshing perspective.
In this conversion, we explore how technology can be used to support healing and human consciousness. Ultimately, technology is a tool. How we use it is up to us humans. Based on some ways the world is moving, it seems like the application of technology has exceeded human wisdom. This is a reflection of the level of consciousness on the planet right now. It’s not a tech problem, it’s a human consciousness problem. We will change the relationship with technology, when we change ourselves.
One insight I love from this conversation is that ultimately you are the technology that is doing your healing. YOU are the one that is actually feeling things and discovering the information in your subconscious. Therapists and other guides are there to enable this internal process.
The way I look at it is that these type of technologies aren’t going to replace the role of humans in the healing container. If anything, they’ll support it by providing greater access to similar experiences on-demand outside of 1:1 sessions and democratizing exposure & access.
An iphone will never be able to replicate human nervous system co-regulation or the experience of being seen by another person. But they can help people work through things in between sessions, or provide access to these experiences to people who may not be able to afford it. We should embrace this potential and explore it instead of being afraid to expand the delivery method of inner technology.
One thing Maverick and I talk a lot about is the external reliance paradigm we’ve been conditioned into. We’ve been told we need to see Dr.’s to heal our bodies and therapists to improve our mental state. Anything else could be dangerous!
Obviously there is immense nuance here and external help is incredibly valuable. It just feels like we’ve over-tilted away from the deeper truth that we all possess the natural ability to heal ourselves. The power is inside ourselves, not out there. The ultimate role of the practitioner is to help us come back to this deeper truth. Though that’s largely not the perspective that we’ve been indoctrinated into.
I’ve been fortunate to have an amazing teacher(s) to guide me on my consciousness journey. We’ve met every other week for over 5 years. From the very beginning, she was teaching me tools I could apply to make constant progress every moment of every day with or without her. If I had limited the scope of my work to our meetings, I’d have missed a tremendous amount of opportunities to see myself and reality more clearly.
I think as humans we continue to need to move in this direction. There simply isn’t enough supply to help all the people who need help and if human consciousness is going to evolve as rapidly as I think it needs to, we can’t have all these artificial gates that prevent people from making progress on their journey. Scaling to aid supply problems is also where I think tech can play a valuable role. Okay, I’m done with my rant.
Other interesting points in this conversation:
The therapy industry’s perception on AI-powered emotional work tools. Hint: it’s polarizing
How the current use of technology like constantly playing with our phones predominantly reflects a coping mechanism for emotional discomfort
Why creating awareness technology requires a heart-centered and harmonious approach
The funding and business models for awareness technology companies may need to align with a different set of expectations and values than simply maximizing returns
Additional opportunities we both see and are excited about for tech to accelerate consciousness
If you haven’t checked out Thyself.ai, it’s pretty sweet. I think it paints a window into ways we can start to use technology more productively and where things might be going.
Happy 4th (and 5th) of July ya’ll!
- ❤️ Scott
If you liked reading or listening to this, feel free to click the ❤️ or 🔄 button on this post so more people can discover it on Substack 🙏
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Episode Transcript
Show notes:
00:00 - The Development of Thyself: An AI-Powered Emotional Work Guide
03:03 - Empowerment Through Technology: Complementing Traditional Therapy
07:28 - The Future of Guided Emotional Work: Personalized Modalities and Emotional Work Gym
15:24 - Reactions of the Therapy Industry: Support and Hesitation
32:13 - Challenges and Opportunities of Creating Awareness Technology
35:41 - The Impact of Current Technology on Human Behavior
46:37 - The Need for a Harmonious and Heart-Centered Approach to Technology Development