theguardian.com
Don’t believe everything you see: why Buddhist scepticism is vital in the age of generative AI | Bertin Huynh
Because our senses are so limited and the nature of all things so transient, what we know to be objective reality is a momentary snapshot of the whole picture
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Making sense of it is a column about spirituality and how it can be used to navigate everyday life
The latest iteration of OpenAI’s video generator, Sora 2, spells troubling times for objective reality. Even before the introduction of generative AI, an increasingly polarised political atmosphere meant we could barely agree on the same set of facts.
But for Buddhists, reality has always been something to be sceptical about.
Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva,
while contemplating profoundly the Prajna Paramita,
Realised that the Five Skandhas are empty,
and thus he was able to overcome all suffering.
Form, all the things our sensory organs can smell, taste, see, feel and hear.
Feelings that arise when we perceive things.
Perception is the lens through which we label things and assign value or worth like bananas are delicious or this article is boring.
Mental forces, or volition, are the actions and reactions to things and the feelings and perceptions that come from them.
Consciousness is the last because it its the aggregate or heap of the rest together. It is our memories and the human hard drive from which we draw from to inform how we will respond to new forms, feelings and sensations. Continue reading...
