A Discussion of Meghan O’Gieblyn’s God, Human, Animal, Machine

Zoom format.

All are welcome. Co-sponsored by Northern Light Health.

About God, Human, Animal, Machine

A strikingly original exploration of what it might mean to be authentically human in the age of artificial intelligence, from the author of the critically-acclaimed Interior States.

For most of human history the world was a magical and enchanted place ruled by forces beyond our understanding. The rise of science and Descartes’s division of mind from world made materialism our ruling paradigm, in the process asking whether our own consciousness—i.e., souls—might be illusions. Now the inexorable rise of technology, with artificial intelligences that surpass our comprehension and control, and the spread of digital metaphors for self-understanding, the core questions of existence—identity, knowledge, the very nature and purpose of life itself—urgently require rethinking. (Penguin Books)

Join Zoom Meeting

https://networkmaine.zoom.us/j/88962336961

Meeting ID: 889 6233 6961

Suggested Additional Reading/Listening

1          Meghan O’Gieblyn, “Routine Maintenance: Embracing Habit in an Automated Word”. Harper’s Magazine. January 2022. This article preceded the publication of God, Human, Animal, Machine and takes an historical look at routine and how it applies in the modern world.
https://harpers.org/archive/2022/01/routine-maintenance-embracing-habit-in-an-automated-world-meghan-ogieblyn/

2          Meghan O’Gieblyn discussing her article, “Routine Maintenance” with Harper’s Magazine.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0cFCZwgiCs

3          Moore’s Law for Everything, Blogpost, by Sam Altman (Open AI) · March 16, 2021. OpenAI CEO Altman offers a manifesto on how the world will change and how to succeed in it with ever more dominant AI.
https://moores.samaltman.com

4          Kevin Roose. Futureproof: 9 Rules for Humans in the Age of Automation.
New York Times technology columnist Kevin Roose lays out a hopeful, pragmatic vision of how humans can thrive in the machine age. Roose rejects the conventional wisdom that in order to succeed in the age of intelligent machines, we have to become more like computers—hyper-efficient, data-driven workhorses.