What if we don't actually want enlightenment?

Every now and again I'll think I've got things nicely dialled in—a firm enough stance on something, that I can talk about it with a degree of certainty—and then one simple observation from someone else blows it all out of the water.

🤣

So it was with this little comic:

Firstly, I love the attention to detail:

• Human slouched on sofa
• Robot contentedly cleaning (maybe with a nod to the film Perfect Days)

And the reason this comic strip grabbed me by the scruff of the neck is because right here, in the Daily Reminders, I have already explored the notion of AI, and how:

1. it's the perfect metaphor for the left brain – soulless, analytical, contained, disconnected
2. it's only really capable of generative content, not creative content
3. seeking solace in technology (e.g. when grieving) is a very slippery slope indeed, akin to being in denial of our humanity.

So you can see, I'm building quite the argument there for being wary of blindly adopting the ways of AI. Indeed, you could summarise those three previous Daily Reminders as:

I'm bigging up our spiritual essence and denigrating the shallow, disconnected AI.

And then along comes this comic, turning it all on its head.

😂🤣

It's just a bit of fun, but goes to show that nothing is black and white, eh?

😉

Giles

p.s. So you don't have to, I looked up what ‘Namu Amida Butsu’ means. It's a Japanese mantra – the chanting of the Buddha's name, as spiritual practice. What an enlightened little service robot! 🤖

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