How AI May Support Human Consciousness

Some off the cuff ideas I've been thinking about

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I will be the first to admit I don’t spend a whole lot of time learning and reading about A.I.

So these ideas are likely just a small sliver of the picture based on my acknowledged ignorance.

That being said, I have been thinking about why the rise of A.I. may support the expansion of human consciousness. 

I’m sure there are plenty of challenges it will create for humans and our collective awareness too.

I really don’t know.

These are just a few random ideas for how it may contribute to improving human’s ability to see themselves and True reality clearly.

LLMs Will Teach Us About Components of Human Consciousness

Most people have probably used ChatGPT. 

ChatGPT is an LLM (large language model). The way an LLM works is it intakes a bunch of data and then builds a schema. The schema is an internal knowledge structure that determines how it organizes and understands information.

As the LLM starts to have interactivity from the outside world, it uses this information to further refine the model which refines its output. An LLM’s model and output is limited to what it has been exposed to and the interactions from outside sources. These are its reference system (for now) and limiting factors.

Although there are some slightly different features, human consciousness has some similar components. 

Until we really focus on our awareness, our dataset that determines how we respond to the world. Our dataset is all the experiences, emotions, cultural concepts, and information we intake by simply existing. This creates our reference system that interplays with stimuli from the outside world.

Like an LLM, whether a response to life like a thought, emotion, or action is supportive or not, often has to do with the quality of the underlying dataset. Most of the human data set is unconscious. We experience a shard of it through an ingenuous filter called the ego whose primary objective is to protect us. The presence of the ego is a distinct difference between human consciousness and an LLM, though I believe they have their own filters. For example, some companies design them to be non-violent or offensive.

Seeing our dataset clearly is done through expanding our awareness. There are many ways to do this such as meditation, therapies, somatic experiencing, psychedelics etc.

I believe that the most reliable indicator of your inner material is your response to life. Like an LLM, it is a direct output of the underlying contents. So when we become disturbed, triggered, or taken out of peace, we can view it as something in the outer world is animating our underlying reference material. You can view this as a queue to improve your model!

I think LLMs becoming part of the fabric of our lives will be a subtle way for people to understand human consciousness and how they can shift it. I can’t help but think that their rise coinciding with a seeming expansion of human consciousness is just a big giant reflection. What a rich display of totality and cosmic humor!

Meaning Crises Usually Catalyze Inquiry and Transformation

It’s not exactly a fun topic to discuss, but I suspect many people’s current jobs will be replaced by A.I. 

In between losing job and reimagined work on the other side, they’re will likely be a lot of  wounded egos and crises of meaning. 

Many people who spent a good chunk of time building skills and an identity tied to their profession will be forced into a position of inquiry. If you aren’t some expert in your vocation, then who are you? 

Some may wonder if its possible to feel okay without the predictable validation from careers or societal roles?

I suspect on the other side of the turmoil, there will be lots of healing, transformation, and expansion of awareness. We often need to see all the external ways we tried to feel okay to break down in order to learn how to love ourselves without all the conditionality. Through this process we begin to see ourselves more clearly.

I just want to reiterate that I don’t A.I. means doomsday for people whose current skill becomes commoditized. I think a more likely scenario is people will adjust their vocation to be in harmony with A.I. or find new ones.

Augmented Awareness Technology

I know a lot of people who are excited about how A.I. can augment our own awareness and help us see more of ourselves. 

Some examples ideas I’ve seen:

• People uploading all their therapy and coaching notes and asking for trends or to see patterns they aren’t aware of

• Democratization of therapy and coaching support with an A.I.

• A bot joining a call and then determining based on tonality, facial expression and content when someone was triggered

• Responsive mindfulness technologies that dynamically guide someone based on bio-feedback

I hope many of these will be a net positive for human consciousness.

It seems like AI might make certain functions provided by professionals more accessible, and in some cases more precise. It also might help us see things in scenarios we otherwise would not be able too. I can see how this might expand the net of people interested in working on their consciousness.

At the same time, I haven’t really experienced anything very compelling here yet. It seems like amongst people that have been on the path for a long time, augmented awareness efforts so far are only lightly helpful (if at all) relative to the day in and day out exploration of the inner space using OG technologies like meditation, breath, intuition, etc. I know that many people are excited about how A.I. can make these better, but I’m yet to see anything that really delivers and appeals to adepts.

I am open to being wrong here and hoping those trying to harness AI for the greatest good will succeed.

One risk I see is that people outsource parts of their awareness to some external A.I. instead of learning how to work with sources of inner intelligence such as their interoception and intuition. This is probably less of a risk for people that have been at this for awhile, but for the newbies, I can see how all these new shiny objects might distract people rom the unbelievably powerful inner technologies that are right there waiting to be discovered.

Maybe I’m old school. I don’t know.

Big Picture

I believe A.I. will uplift human consciousness because I believe consciousness’s prerogative is to become more aware of itself and expand.

Implicitly, this means whatever is happening right now is in alignment with this law of life.

I think the big question is whether humans stay in the picture long term? 

Consciousness is inclusive of humans, but not limited to humans. As a humanist, father, husband and son, I certainly hope we stay in the picture! Generally, I have a lot of trust and see this all happening for life.  

That doesn’t mean there won’t be many hiccups and challenges as current systems break to make room for new ones. This seems to already be happening. What a time we picked to be alive!

How do you think A.I. will impact uplifting (or undermining) human consciousness?

I’m eager to get other perspectives

-Scott

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If you like my writing, feel free to click the ❤️ or 🔄 button on this post so more people can discover it on Substack 🙏