26. Cultivating the human in an era of intelligent machines // JEREMY NAYDLER

Forest of Thought episodes are back! And over the next few weeks I’ll be sharing three public conversations that were recorded 2023-2024 as part of a series of events exploring the concept of ‘life-force’. 

We begin with philosopher Jeremy Naydler, delving into the question of how we may cultivate the human in a time of intelligent machines: 

“Advanced technologies and artificial intelligence are rapidly growing more enmeshed in our lives. How does this affect the deeper realms of consciousness, spirituality and our relation to the living world? What are the unfolding human qualities that machines cannot acquire and how might we cultivate them?”

Jeremy Naydler is a gardener and philosopher based in Oxford, England. He has written several books on the experience of the sacred in ancient cultures. In his newer work he focuses on the fraught relationship between humans and technology as it has developed from ancient times until today, and explores how we cultivate the human in an era of intelligent machines. 

We recorded this with a wonderful audience at ⁠NAV Sweden⁠, Stockholm, in September 2023 with support from the Viriditas foundation. (There is also an unedited, filmed version available ⁠here⁠ on Youtube).

LINKS TO THINGS WE TALKED ABOUT:

• Unedited filmed version of this conversation is here.
• Jeremy’s books on the sacred in ancient traditions (e.g. The Future of the Ancient World, The and Temple of the Cosmos).

• Jeremy’s books on technology in relation to the human (In the Shadow of the Machine and The Struggle for a Human Future).

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Our wonderful theme music is by Christian Holtsteen at ⁠stoneproduction.no⁠.