Rethinking AI: “Actual Ignorance!” with Charles Savage

If you are willing, might we use some “disruptioneering” to “flip” our foundational perception from SPACEtime to the TIMEspace?  Instead of trying to “fix” a possibly “broken” perceptual model, might this awaken our energy to co-create a wiser future for future generations?

Remember Einstein’s famous model: E = MC² For our efforts on Monday, might we think in terms of …

Co-Creative ENERGY = MEANING x (Collaboration x Community)

Here is a little background for our challenge:

Rethinking AI: “Actual Ignorance!”

We are all experiencing rapid emergence of Artificial Intelligence, the Internet of Things, Big Data Analytics, Machine Learning, Deep Learning, Neural Networking, Virtual and Augmented Reality, Blockchain, 3D Printing and so much more.  These have brought us to Industry (Farming, Learning, Governing, etc.) 4.0 and beyond (Japan is talking about Society 5.0 already).

Yet, so many of us may still be in the dark ages of the Industrial Era (i.e. Humans 1.0), knowing how machines and the machinery of organizations function, but hardly understanding how the IT based technologies are transforming so much around us.  Moreover, we hardly have an idea of the amazing capabilities with we have within and between ourselves.  Is it not time to strive for Humans 16.0?

Could it be that we have a bad case of AI: Actual Ignorance? 

As we know, Prof. Clayton Christensen of Harvard Business School has anchored the notion of “Disruptive Innovation” as a new constellation in our business heavens.  Now the DARPA in the US has a new program focusing on “Disruptioneering!”  See:

http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Disruptioneering_Streamlining_the_Process_of_Scientific_Discovery_999.html

Might it be time for a little “disruptioneering” regarding our framework of reflection?  Life occurs within two fundamental frameworks: Space and Time.

Earlier it was assumed that Space and Time were separate and absolute, but thanks to Einstein the two were woven together in the notion of SPACEtime (Special Relativity -1905) with Energy and Mater also brought together (General Relativity – 2015):

As you well know, in SPACEtime, we have three spatial dimensions: back/forward, right/left and up/down with TIME as the fourth dimension.  And so much of our modern thinking has been shaped by the SPACEtime notion.  It is understandable, as if focuses us on the “Objective” world around ourselves as seen by our five senses.  And we’ve also used the “SPACE” notion in understanding “TIME.”  We assume there is a spatial distance between us in the Present and that which occurred in the Past or which may occur in the Future.  In other words, our human perception is weighted down by the “SPACE” metaphor, is it not?

Using our disruptioneering powers, what if we added the notion of TIMEspace with three temporal dimensions: past, present and future with SPACE as the fourth dimension? As in the spirit of the Yin-Yang symbol, we notice that the one is already involved in the other.  If we are open for a bit of experimentation, we begin to see “SPACE” within the context of “TIME.”  [Note, we are not denying SPACEtime, but experimentally changing the context of understanding].

Might it be that perception within the context of TIMEspace is profoundly different from that of SPACEtime?  If so, in what ways?

We all know that our human sight only connect with a very small portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. 

Were we to use this as a metaphor, how is human sight with the time spectrum? Instead of our “Present” being a tiny dot on the Arrow of Time, we may well find a rich and abundant resource to energize and inspire our conversations, visions and efforts:

Thanks to my trips to India, I’ve become fascinated with the wisdom of the Rishis.  Gradually I discovered there is amazing wisdom captured in the simple OM symbol:

Simply put, A is our “Everyday life,” B is our dreaming,C is deeper than dreaming, the Turiya, or 4^th Point is our connecting with the deeper rhythm and dynamics of life.  The Maya is the illusion that causes us to focus on A and B.  Notice, SPACEtime is a factor of A and B, whereas TIMEspace is really the richness of the Turiya.

If we return for a minute to our question of “Actual Ignorance,” we might wonder about this dynamic.

What is this quotation really saying to us?

“Ignorant of their ignorance, yet wise

In their own esteem, these deluded men

Proud of their vain learning go round and round

Like the blind led by the blind.”  (Mundaka Upanishad I.2.8)

Here “ignorance” is not just about “not knowing,” but suggests a much deeper level of knowing.  We live with the KNOWN and the UNKNOWN, but might there also be the UNKNOWABLE?  This third category is something that perhaps can be known, but not by our everyday five senses.  Instead, it takes a much deeper sensing of the very dynamics of life itself.  And this is what has been fascinating me.

Perhaps things become clearer if we use two metaphors from color theory, the Additive (primary colors – Red, Green and Blue) and Subtractive Models (secondary colors – Yellow, Cyan and Magenta):

What can we combine in our understanding to bring out clear insights (the white in the middle)?  If we combine other themes (wants, desires, etc.) might we get the darkness of ignorance? Could it be that the various IT developments can both bring “clear insights” AND “confusing ignorance” and uncertainty into our world depending on whether we take a SPACEtime or a TIMEspace perspective?

Could we in our session place words in the Additive and Subtractive circles to discover which combinations might reveal inspiring and wise insights, and which could darken and confuse us in our interacting with one another?

What “average everyday ways of thinking” might we need to “disrupt” in order to again gain clarity and direction for again find the co-creative Energy to bring a more Meaningful future through our Collaboration in Community? Is this not an element in developing a Global Integral Competence?

Might we begin to discover the meaning of Humans 16.0?

Can we help turn Einstein’s E = MC2 into Co-Creative ENERGY = MEANING x (Collaboration x Community) in TIMEspace for a Regenerative Future? learning to live: Lightly, Lively and Wisely!

Thank you for reading this post. I’d value feedback and other perspectives, thoughts on the topic(s), so do not hesitate to drop me a line.

Charles M. Savage