Comment by yoavm
19 days ago
The "How it was made" section of the README was not less interesting than the tool itself:
> The way we have set things up is that we live and practice together on a bit over a hundred acres of land. In the mornings and evenings we chant and meditate together, and for about one week out of every month we run and participate in a meditation retreat. The rest of the time we work together on everything from caring for the land, maintaining the buildings, cooking, cleaning, planning, fundraising, and for the past few years developing software together.
Reminds me of a quote from "Soul of a new machine":
> During one period, when the microcode and logic were glitching at the nanosecond level, one of the overworked engineers departed the company, leaving behind a note on his terminal as his letter of resignation: "I am going to a commune in Vermont and will deal with no unit of time shorter than a season."
Great quote, although the nitpicky part of my brain immediately thought "They must have days though?"
In The Inner Citadel, in the section of living in the present, the author says there is a "thin" moment separating past and future and a thick moment by meaningfulness. If a thin/technical moment is 1/44.1kHz, a thick moment is a note of music. A current answer to the meaning of life. This person is not about the day to day tensions.
The day washes over you, but this person only needs to "deal with" the harvest.
Wow that's an incredible quote! It feels like that to me too.
To be honest: This sounds like just another of the many many other yoga/spiritual cults that currently exist all over the western world.
EDIT: typos and slight wording changes
I believe I grew up in a cult myself, and one of the things I've concluded from that experience, and from leaving it, is that everywhere is a cult. Humans have a tendency towards cult-ish life, and if the cult is big enough we just refer to it as "society". People were as afraid (more or less) to leave the cult I was at, as people are around me now when they consider doing anything that is out of the norm.
By no mean am I trying to hint towards some conspiracy, or to say that all cults are equally bad (or good); Just to say that sometimes the word cult simply means "a less popular way of life than the one most people around me live by".
A "cult" is a rather specific kind of organization. The typical hallmarks are non-mainstream spiritual beliefs, highly controlling and exploitative leadership, and rules against interacting with outsiders. Non-conformity generally results in outsized (sometimes violent) punishment and shame.
Under this definition, for example, Catholic nuns are decidedly not a cult. They know what they are in for when the join, and may leave the convent any time they wish. Most Amish communities are _probably_ not cults. I am undecided about Mormons but leaning towards maybe.
I don't know what kind of cult you grew up in (and you have my empathy if it was painful) but "society" by definition cannot be a cult.
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Isn't it funny how the very word "culture" is sort of related to "cult".
My understanding is that the definition of cult requires a common object of devotion. What's that object of devotion for "society"? it's too large and diverse of a group to categorize it as such IMHO. I agree however that sometimes people will categorize anything strongly deviating from the norm as cult-ish.
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There is absolutely nothing in their README to suggest that you are using the word "cult" properly.
Did you visit their website? https://www.monasticacademy.org/
While I cannot judge them outright, their article "Cyborgs Need a Trustworthy Religion" can appear cultist as they try to intertwine technology and religion.
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Their video has a cultish vibe. Not necessarily of the dangerous variety, but there seemed to be a lot of shared jargon and groupthink under the umbrella of "freeing your mind."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5It1zarINv0&pp=ygUOa2diIGFnZ... Former KGB Agent Yuri Bezmenov Explains How to Brainwash a Nation (Full Length)
It’s a Buddhist monastery.
> For the past few years we have been recording a lecture series called Buddhism for AI. It's about our efforts to design a religion (yes, a religion) based on Buddhism for consumption directly by AI systems. We actually feel this is very important work given the world situation.
I think it's an indicator of just how weird the times we're currently living in really are, that this part actually makes perfect sense...
(whether or not it's a good idea or will lead to the results they envision is another question)
There was a cool Korean movie which featured a robot Buddha, "Doomsday Book".
You'd think that the people willing to talk to a chatbot would not be willing to discuss the self with any honesty, but I'm continually surprised by the world.
I have a friend who has mental health issues thanks to what life has thrown at her.
ChatGPT gives out surprisingly solid advice and feedback. It is a bad look that ChatGPT is more emotionally intelligent than her friends.
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I sadly assumed the first countryside photo was generated but I assume now it is real!
The mix of tech and meditation would appeal to me. Maybe the idea does (actually doing it is probably hard!).
It seems like a "Buddhist Recurse"
Yeah that photo is real! That's where I live!
Yes, it's true, actually doing it is hard, but to be honest not as hard as a lot of other stuff (getting a phd for example, or goodness gracious buying a house in San Francisco). I love getting up early. I love living out in nature. I love chanting and eating meals together and making a version of Buddhism for AI systems!
If you're interested in what it's like, we have written a bunch of very short few-paragraph stories about our time at MAPLE here: https://tales.monasticacademy.org/
This seems like the kind of things you can do before you get kids and have real responsibilities. Then you need to get back to reality. Sounds fun though and I would have liked to experience it.