The Battle to Protect Consciousness: How Meditation will save you from the dangers of Artificial Intelligence

There is a lot happening with technology that we should all be wary and vigilant of. Many of us are asking how do we protect ourselves in the digital and information age, when we hardly understand how things work. Much less who is controlling the stream of information and information collection.

Are we actually safe? Are our minds safe?

In the mid-2000’s, there was a lot of fear around our television being used as listening devices and was later confirmed through the CIA program called “Weeping Angel.” We also know that our smart phones are almost always listening to our conversations and that applications on our smart phones are given access to collected data and conversations.

So, one cannot be surprised when we open our social media apps and find advertisement or accounts that reflect our conversations or our browser history. That is the obvious part.

What about the things you haven’t said. The things you’ve kept quiet in your mind that you seem to run across on social media without ever having mentioned it to anyone? We have all wondered “is this a coincidence?”

In 2019, Vox published an article about Meta (Facebook at the time) developing technology to read your brain waves. Although the article itself tried to downplay its advancement, if our social media applications can and do read our minds, what would this mean for us as a species?

I myself, had so many questions.

Is this legal? Is this ethical? Why would they want to start reading our brain waves? To what end, would knowing the mind of someone benefit a social media company? Should our thoughts and brain waves be legally protected in some way?

Or was it a less sinister approach to data collection. To get me shop more, or to spend more time on the application to feed more useless advertising. Who knows. And that’s what’s scary.   

Let’s fast forward to present day on the topic of AI and algorithms.

Last November Elon Musk was invited to speak at the NY Times Deal Book Summit. There were a few things he said that went viral, but what wasn’t picked up by most major outlets was a warning he made about the impending dangers of AI and our consciousness.

When asked specifically, if Mr. Musk felt Tik Tok was a national security threat, his response was “I don’t personally use it. But for teenagers and people in their 20’s, they almost, and religiously are addicted to Tik Tok. Some people will watch Tik Tok for like 2 hours a day. I stopped using Tik Tok when I felt the AI probing my mind and it made me uncomfortable. So, I stopped using it.”

He went on to say “The Tik Tok algorithm is AI powered. So, it is really just trying to find the most viral thing possible that’s going to keep you glued to the screen.”

In terms of AI safety, Mr. Musk also said “I’m quite concerned there’s some dangerous element of AI that they have discovered.” In reference to the question of the direction that Open AI is headed.

If you’re freaked out stay with me, I want to offer an antidote to AI, algorithms, and brain wave readings: No-Mind, or Silent Meditation.

Meditation, we know from many scientific studies alters the mind and can provide mental and physical healing benefits. Almost everyone has heard of meditation, and I believe most of us have found pockets of un-realized meditation even if we were not actively seeking a practice or aware that we entered a state of meditation.

The reason I call out this un-realized meditation is to help you the reader, first to know that this is accessible to you. Even if you’ve never done meditation before, which can be a bit intimidating at first to most.

There are moments when we go into deep concentration even if for only a minute or less and our mind chatter is gone. Maybe you are looking at something beautiful, perhaps you caught a glimmer of light reflected in your beloved’s eyes, or maybe you’re on the golf course about to swing and everything just stops and goes silent.

This no-mind as a meditation is something that is useful to us now, without the big question about technology.

For me, silent meditation or no-mind meditation is my favorite form of practice.

I’ve relied on this practice for over two decades to give my mind and body respite from my daily mental load. I say my body here too, because when my mind is running, my body is not too far behind. Feeling all the pressure and creating literal tension in my body as run from meeting to meeting, and place to place. So, both my body and mind must be tended to, as well as my spirit.

I am one of those weird people who loves silence. Even before my spiritual journey began, years before I would step foot in my first ashram, I would find myself slipping into no-mind before I ever knew it was a practice or a thing.

What I learned from my spiritual teachers when I refined my no-mind meditation was; there is a place inside of us that is quiet all the time. That is just observing without words or mental images.

A place inside of us that is us, that just is.

I believe that cultivating a practice of no-mind is paramount in taking care of oneself. Building a meditation that allows you to find deep connection internally and with everything that is, through silence is an opportunity and an interesting protection mechanism against AI and algorithms.

It is in my opinion, silent meditation is the best and easiest way to seep into the present moment as a non-involved observer. It may very well be what we all need to protect ourselves from an uncertain future where the outcomes and evolution of technology and how it relates to our shared humanity, have not been adequately measured, researched, or even considered.