AI and ways of knowing
David Abram is a philosopher and ecologist and in the book he argues that our shift toward alphabetic literacy fundamentally changed how we perceive the world. Before writing systems that could be divorced from place and season, oral cultures maintained what he calls “sensuous participation” with the animate earth. Knowledge isn’t something to... See more
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We teach about ecosystems, about weather patterns, about photosynthesis always at a level of removal from the actual sensuous participation in these acts that might help us understand them more fundamentally. What if this is backwards? What if sensuous participation in the world isn’t the thing we need to get past in order to reach real learning,... See more
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The right hemisphere knows what is good, true and beautiful. It is the cognitive processor of the awe, wonder, respect and deep sense of meaning found in the sacred.
Jay Livingstone • Just a moment...
[W]e have to be constantly vigilant to undermine language’s attempt to undermine our understanding.” Iain McGilchrist, The Master and His Emissary, p.150
Jay Livingstone • Just a moment...
Abram argues that before we can think conceptually about the world, we must first participate with it. The sensuous encounter is not a lesser form of knowing that gets upgraded to conceptual knowledge, it is the foundation from which concepts can meaningfully emerge.
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Our brains evolved primarily for action, not abstract thought:
https://anshadameenza.com/blog/human-development/embodied-learning-principle/
- YouTube
youtube.comThere’s much discussion about the apocalyptic risks of AI, ranging from human enslavement to extinction. Yet, a less frequently mentioned, but equally daunting, concern is AI’s role in potentially accelerating the ongoing erosion of meaning in our lives.
Jay Livingstone • Just a moment...
Without beauty, truth becomes blind and can be turned into a blunt and heartless imperative.
When we hold beauty and truth together, truth will always have a sense of compassion and gentleness.
Sometimes the so-called ‘facts of a situation’ actually tell us little or nothing about the heart of an experience.
Only in the light of beauty can we come
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