Naturally Artificial Chat #2: On Technology, Normalizing Indefensible Behavior, Algorithms, Attention, and Why Educating the Public About AI is Absolutely Necessary

I ask the vast repository of information about what happened to decency and why we have normalized indefensible behaviors. I ask about how we can change our patterns of behavior around how we absorb the news, hijacking our limbic systems through polluted information ecosystems. I ask if there's any hope for changing the incentive structures away from immediate profit and toward the collective common good. And more.

Thanks for listening.

An important conversation about how to take the ideal short nap.

For a transcript of this essay, via Google doc, click here:

Hello Good People,

I recently listened to Ezra Klein talking with Ta-Nehisi Coates about Israel, Palestine and democracy. Coates new book, “The Message”  is getting widespread attention. I’ve appreciated his writing in the past, at The Atlantic and “Between the World and Me.” I’ve been listening to Ezra Klein’s podcast for a few years, and it never fails to educate and broaden my thinking.

I've been thinking about how awful the situation is for a while. Writing this helped me gather my thoughts into a coherent view of the complicated mess that has been unraveling over the last year...but really...forever.

Too often in this conversation, compassion is lacking. Compassion for all people involved. Every human life. Ever peace-loving human being. Government influence and military influence are one aspect of this chaos. Seeing a broader picture is necessary.

Wrongs:

Democracy, the Middle East, Elections and the People

We're told two wrongs don't make a right, but what about three, four or five thousand wrongs?

Peace,

Jonah

We've been reading Shel Silverstein's classic children's book of poems and cartoons, Where the Sidewalk Ends.

We decided to record the first 34 pages of poems (most of them). Here it is.

Please enjoy these poems.

If you want to go to Shel's site:

https://www.shelsilverstein.com/9780060256678/where-the-sidewalk-ends/

Love,

Jonah and Rebelle

Self-compassion is complicated for me. I understand I must love my self before I can love anyone else. But that love is not simple and easy. Love for myself is complicated. I value certain aspects of who I am and what I bring to the relationships in my life, my work and my creative projects...but I also get stuck in negative thought cycles. I can spiral. I can ignore my own needs and then become irritable and irritating. In other words, I need more self-compassion. It's a practice. There are days I won't have enough compassion for my body, or my health, or my need for rest, or my desire for fun. There are days I will stumble through. But keeping in mind that self-compassion is a practice, I will keep reminding myself to practice it. Hope you enjoy this episode. Be kind to yourself.

The episode starts with a reading of Jack Kornfield's, called Awakening Self-Compassion.

In this episode, I read and reflect on the Buddhist concept of Equanimity. In short, equanimity is about finding balance and protecting yourself from attaching to external forces like praise and blame, fame and disrepute, pleasure and pain, or gain and loss.

Alongside the reading: sounds of a Tibetan singing bowl.

Though I will not attach to the results of putting this episode out, I will send out hopes that anyone who listens may find fleeting moments of peace, calm or balance.

For more on equanimity, check out: https://www.buddhistinquiry.org/article/cultivating-equanimity-2/

Thanks for listening,

Jonah

1. Cascading (instrumental - amplified acoustic guitar)

2. Sunday Morning (instrumental - amplified acoustic guitar)

3. We Turned Six (keyboards and vocals)

Walking Meditation (Being Sick, Watching NBA Playoffs With Young Child, Mother's Day, Political Fears)