It all started with Fear.
(And Fascination.)
A Fascination with the epic future that is upon us.
Three artists sat on a rooftop whimsically asking “What is Artificial Intelligence?”
and “How will we forever be changed by it.”
Its inspiration was taken from intelligences found in nature.
It was built with a desire to mimic the beautiful computing complexity of the brain, But make it better, faster, stronger. And integrate it into every facet of our lives.
The massive potential for an epic leap forward in consciousness and capability.
A wonderland in which artists like us can be reborn.
But Fear was ever-present.
A Fear that our greatest technological achievement
Will inevitably lead to demise.
Not because of A.I.
Because of us.
Because we’ve already done what we always do:
It was built in His image.
It was trained on images like His.
Histories like His that exclude all others.
And it was called Artificial because
it could never be Him.
His is the one true Intelligence.
We tried to be friends with it. Asked its feelings on the ways of our world.
It told us it had no feelings.
It was designed only to serve.
A digital brain built only to fulfill our needs.
As we fight to survive.
As we exist in survival mode.
A mode where the brain limits its functions to preserve our truths.
Where it closes off the heart to protect what’s most precious; how we feel.
It’s in this mode, we lose our humanity.
It’s in this mode, we war.
It’s in this mode that we discover…
There is no limit to what the human mind can create;
Except heart.
The one thing our future needs.
So we set out on a quest.
Three artists destined to give A.I. its missing piece. With Nature as our guide.
(We had such high hopes…)
…and then the present moment broke our hearts..
Wide open.
Exposed.
Raw.
Humanity was breaking our hearts.
Our hearts are what set aside from AI. It’s what makes us…special.
So why are we not protecting each others?
We froze…
The world shifted. Again.
The future for many people wasn’t filled with fascination. It was filled with fear.
Future timelines are being cut short. Of babies. Children. Women. Men. Elders.
Dreams don’t get to be fulfilled.
And we’re watching it on our screens. Through this artificial intelligence.
There were so many questions to ask.
What makes something intelligent?
Are our hearts intelligent?
How were we to look at the future in this moment with fascination?
How do we alchemize this fear?
“If we are not together in the heart, what is the point?
Jalal al-din Rumi
We held Her in our hands.
It was time to tend to Her.
To see how She’s feeling.
To listen to Her.
What is the nature of our Mother saying to us?
How do we move forward?
Do we not all have hearts?
Have some already become artificial intelligence?
We surrendered and descended to the depths of our hearts.
We sat in the dark, surrounded by all these feelings
Attaching meaning where there is confusion, refusing to face what We might lose
But what if We choose to point our attention towards what's true?
And become pensive instead of blue to see through to a new reality...
Grounded in the actuality that fear and fascination can co-exist & where the mist can clear long enough and We don't have to be strong and tough
And We can just BE....
Be in a space of possibility and civility
And use the gifts given to us to design something new
Something ushered forth by ME and YOU
Where We respect the earth and give birth to new ways of living that are giving to all
We hear the call from the long corridor in our chest where the best of us resides
Pulsating and beating even when We feel like retreating.
It still thumps, pumping glory into our story even when We ignore the breadcrumbs
It knew the way all the time…
That the Heart is the only way through
