Mindful AI

Mindful AI is a class that will be offered at Mars 2024

Mindful AI (Minor) - Mars College 2024

The Mindful AI program creates space for exploring challenging subjects at the intersection of artificial intelligence, humanity, and spirituality. It is a place to learn about, investigate, and discuss AI from a non-technical perspective, as well as to consider AIs broader impacts on humanity, society, ourselves, and our planet.

The program starts with a non-computational introduction to AI that requires no computer or software experience. We will spend the first three weeks developing a shared understanding and vocabulary for discussing AI, slowly progressing to more complex concepts. Once we have a common understanding of core AI concepts and language, we will open the floodgates to explore adjacent ethical, social, spiritual, political, and broadly human issues connected with AI.

Some examples of questions we will be considering include: 

• How does AI change the way we think, live, and act as humans?

• What can we learn about ourselves as humans by studying AI?

• To what extent do humans have free will? What about machines?

• Are we living in a simulation? How would we know?

• What does spirituality mean in the context of AI?

• How are mindfulness, meditation, and AI connected?

• How are yoga and AI connected?

• What are core ethical and social concerns about AI and how can we mitigate them?

• To what extent should governments and politicians be involved in regulating AI?

• Who owns artworks created with AI? Can/should they be copyrightable?

• Do androids dream of electric sheep?

This is an experimental program that will evolve as it is taught. The direction the class ends up taking will ultimately be driven by the interests of participants and the outcome of group conversations. The program is more about creating space for exploring the intersection of AI and humanity than it is about ensuring every adjacent topic is covered. We are operating in a space in which ideas and language are rapidly evolving, and even the language used to title this class is not established and can be interpreted in a variety of ways.

The Mindful AI program was originally born out of an attempt to meld together a traditional 8-week Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program with a modern class on machine learning. The result is an AI class that is as much about AI as it is self discovery. The class was originally taught as a workshop titled “Machine Learning Without Computers.” 

This program can be taken alone, or in conjunction with other AI studies at Mars College. No technical expertise is required and computers will generally not be used in the program.

Two hours of lecture/discussion once a week. Students are expected to propose and complete a project in this subject area to complete the minor.

Tentative schedule:

Week 1 - Introduction to dimensionality: What is artificial intelligence, and how does it relate to human intelligence?

Week 2 - Introduction to mindfulness: What can we learn about ourselves from AI?

Week 3 - The origins of creativity: How does what we learn influence what we create and how we see the world?

Week 4 - Seeing dimensionality in the world & applying it to common problems

Week 5 - Spirituality & AI

Week 6 - Discussion/debate: What is consciousness?

Week 7 - Ethical issues in AI

Week 8 - Discussion/debate: Should AI be regulated?

Week 9 - Discussion/debate: TBD