Transcript Spiritual Computing

Spiritual
Computing
Craig Warren Smith
[email protected]
Chulalongkorn University
November 2 2007
My Talk
• What is Spiritual Computing?
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What is “spiritual?”
Spirituality and religion
Why SC is emerging now?
Why does SC matter?
Examples
Methods
Where
Connections to philosophy
Why Now?
• Spiritual Computing is possible now due to
– Changes in technology:
• “UX” as competitive factor
• Emergence of HCI
– Changes in spirituality:
• Buddhism’s new role
• Secularization of spirituality in advanced markets
• Post-modern “kick-back” in Asia
What is “Spiritual?”
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Spirituality, in this case, refers to:
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“a learning process through which, over time,
one gains the ability to enhance the
meaningfulness of one’s own experience.”
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This process has four phases:
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3.
4.
Stop/start
Renunciation/letting go
Purification/clarification
Transformative action
What does spirituality have to do
with religion?
• Spirituality constitutes the experiential core of religions as
well as secular philosophic traditions.
• Religions claim to transmit the spiritual innovations of
their founders.
• Over time, religious authorities are frequently disrupted by
reformers offering new ways to transmit these
innovations.
What is Spiritual Computing?
• “the ideas, methods, and practice needed
to bring ‘spirituality’ into the design of nextgeneration technologies.”
Examples?
• Educational
Serious Games
(Wild Divine)
• Health care
• Computer Search
• Home design
• Biofeedback for stress
reduction (Intel)
Meaningful search
(Google)
Sacred space in
homes (Microsoft)
Methods?
• Humanistic critique of AI
• Weiser’s response: center/periphery
• Varela’s innovations:
– Seeing phenomenology with Buddhist eyes
• Innovation in scientific method
– First, second and third person science
– From neuroscience to tech labs
The Geopolitics of SC
• The World Tour
• USA: Cambridge, SF, Seattle
• India: Gandhi in the tech sector
• Thailand: Towards an ecoystem of
“happiness technologies”
What SC could mean to
philosophy
• Bringing the tech sector “kicking and screaming”
to first principles?
• New practical application for philosophy?
• Catalyst for Western/Asian philosophic
convergence?
How you can help
• Join the global web community
(spiritualcomputing.com)
• Keep abreast of developments in Thailand
– Center for Ethics of Science and Technology
• Give us your best thinking