Dr. Zachary Stein on AI, Education, and the Meta-Crisis at Smart Funny Tortured Podcast – Video & Audio

For Audio Versions of This Podcast, Click Here

The Smart Funny Tortured Podcast

Paul Chamberlain sits down with some of the most interesting people he knows to talk about what it was like when they broke down and what was their breakthrough. What tools, supports, and practices did they use and still use, to get back on track and carry on?

The podcast will also allow you to get to know Paul. What started as a well-produced podcast, turned into a life-changing cathartic confessional that could have only happened via his amazing guests and the support of those around him.

Through these shared stories, his hope is we all get a little more comfortable with being smart, funny and (a little less) tortured.

EPISODE CHAPTERS

0:01 – Envisioning an Educational Renaissance Through AI and Human Connection

2:18 – Technological Elites and the Redesign of Society

7:39 – BF Skinner’s Influence on Societal Engineering to Prevent Existential Risks

9:22 – Manipulation Through Digital Reinforcement and Surveillance

11:58 – Technocracy’s Struggle With Value and Control

13:45 – Confronting Nihilism and Meaning in Education

15:48 – Transforming American Education for Cold War Supremacy

18:35 – Decoding the Shift in American Education and Economy

21:59 – Debating AI’s Role in Transforming Education

25:03 – AI Socialization Threatens Millennia-Old Human Connections

26:46 – The Ethical Dilemmas of Humanoid AI Development

32:43 – Debating the Nature of Value and the Good Life

34:12 – The Dual Use Dilemma of AI in Modern Technology

35:57 – AI’s Impact on Military, Finance, and Pop Culture

39:09 – Educational Crisis and National Defense Perspectives

43:36 – Envisioning a Renaissance in Education Through AI and Community

48:57 – Revitalizing Education Through Community Engagement and Guild Structures

51:06 – Distinguishing Education from Propaganda and Coercion

55:19 – Coercion and Thought-Terminating Cliches in Social Media

1:00:26 – Confronting Propaganda with Educational Innovation

1:03:49 – Metacrisis Dynamics: Oscillating Between Chaos and Oppression

1:07:04 – Redefining Civilization Within Planetary Boundaries

1:10:37 – Rethinking Value Systems and Worldviews for Ecological Preservation

Dr. Zachary Stein is a Co-Founder of the Civilization Research Institute and the Center for World Philosophy and Religion. He was trained at the interface of philosophy, psychology, and education and now works in fields related to the mitigation of global catastrophic risk. He is a widely sought-after and award-winning speaker and a leading authority on the future of education and contemporary issues in human development.

Zak is the author of dozens of published papers and two influential books. His first book, Social Justice and Educational Measurement, traces the history of standardized testing and its ethical implications. His most recent book, Education in a Time Between Worlds, grapples with the dangers posed by a profound learning and capacity deficit in a time of civilization-wide transformation. In this work, Zak argues that educational systems must be transformed beyond recognition if humanity is to survive the planetary crises currently underway, from climate change to geopolitical instability.

Zak sees education, in a deeply philosophical sense, as fundamental to the sustainability of civilization, with implications for each component of the “metacrisis” – the complex, interrelated global challenges and existential threats facing humanity. In Zak’s view, whoever drives the technology stack of education will shape the future of civilization itself. His mission is to empower younger generations with the capacity to comprehend and respond appropriately to the unique challenges of our time.

For Audio Versions of This Podcast, Click Here

Dr. Zachary Stein on AI, Education, and the Meta-Crisis at Smart Funny Tortured Podcast – Video & AudioThe Editors2024-12-04T03:06:20-08:00

Zak Stein: “Values, Education, AI and the Metacrisis” | The Great Simplification 122

Enjoy this podcast with Dr. Zak Stein featured on the Great Simplification Podcast with Nate Hagens

Join Nate Hagens in conversation with Dr. Zak Stein.

In Nate’s voice:

On this episode, Nate is joined by philosopher and educator Zak Stein to discuss the current state of education and development for children during a time of converging crises and societal transformation. As the pace of life continues to accelerate – including world-shaking technological developments – our schools struggle to keep pace with changes in cultural expectations. What qualities are we encouraging in a system centered on competition and with no emphasis on creating agency or community participation? How is unfettered technology and artificial intelligence influencing youth – and what should parents, adults, and teachers be doing in response? What could the future of education look like if guided by true teacherly authority with the aim to create well-rounded, stable young humans with a sense of belonging and purpose in their communities?

About Zak Stein: Dr. Zak Stein is a philosopher of education, who is cofounder of the Center for World Philosophy and Religion. He is the Co-founder of Civilization Research Institute and the Consilience Project. He is also the co-founder of Lectica, Inc. He is the author of dozens of published papers and two books, including Education in a Time Between Worlds.

For Show Notes and More visit: https://www.thegreatsimplification.co…

00:00 – Intro

02:11 – Zak’s Background

6:57 – Educational Collapse in History

9:37 – The Pace of Education

13:06 – Screens and Education

18:22 – Competition and Testing

24:20 – History of American Education

27:10 – The Education of the Rich

29:20 – What is Education For?

35:23 – Relativism

39:24 – Value

46:40 – Standardization

53:30 – Teachers and Parents

1:01:34 – Community and Nature

1:04:12 – Distributed Educational Hub Network

1:10:04 – Pathways to Change

1:21:31 – AI and Education

1:41:37 – Mental Health

1:48:18 – Personal Advice

1:51:23 – What Would You Do with a Magic Wand?

FIRST PRINCIPLES AND FIRST VALUES

Forty-Two Propositions on CosmoErotic Humanism, the Meta-Crisis, and the World to Come

by David J. Temple

AS THE META-CRISIS DEEPENS, THE FATE OF CIVILIZATION AND HUMANITY HANGS IN THE BALANCE.

First Principles and First Values is the tip of the spear in the fight for a humane future. Establishing frameworks for a new school of thought called CosmoErotic Humanism, the book is built around forty-two propositions that provide new source code for the future of planetary culture.

Like Europe in the early Renaissance, humanity is in a time between worlds, at a time between stories. First Principles and First Values contains blueprints for the bridge needed to cross from this world to the next.

“The position argued for in this book is of vital importance . . . it needs urgently to be read.”
IAIN McGILCHRIST, author of The Master and His Emissary

Order Here

Zak Stein: “Values, Education, AI and the Metacrisis” | The Great Simplification 122Jamie Long2024-07-28T02:00:00-07:00

The Meaning of Life | Lost & Found Podcast with Dr. Marc Gafni

This is what Sabri Gazail, host of the Lost and Found Podcast, who has since become a valued contributor to the Center, says about this episode:

Wow! This conversation with Dr Marc Gafni blew my mind. I first heard Dr Marc on the @AubreyMarcusPod and felt so much truth in the explanation of self, God, love and life.

We dive into – dealing with trauma and how the western therapeutic approach doesn’t work, what is the self, what is desire, why we are here, what our purpose is, what God is, what our relationship to God is and our meaning of life!

The Meaning of Life | Lost & Found Podcast with Dr. Marc GafniThe Editors2023-11-01T04:55:32-07:00

Dr. Zachary Stein: Idea Seed Banks, the “Nous Arc,” and the “Great Library”

What do we need to give “our children” so they can prosper and grow into their highest potential—even though we don’t know what kind of challenges they will face in their lives?

That’s the real question underlying this beautiful talk by our Academic Director Zak Stein.

Watch and listen to this fascinating thought experiment:

What would be a “seed bank” of ideas that—if preserved—would allow us to recreate civilization from the ground up, in case humanity survived some sort of an apocalypse?

Playing off of Noah’s Arc, Zak calls it the “Nous Arc.”

Engaging in this thought experiment a bunch of questions arise:

Who gets to decide what should be in there?
What should be the content of this “Great Library?” or in other words:
How can we assure that we give the next generation everything they need?

The Need for Meta-Theories

In order to engage these questions, we need Meta-Theories. What are Meta-Theories?

While theories take the world as data, Meta-Theories take theories as data. Meta-Theories norm the norms of discourse.

Listen to this exciting 20-minute talk and learn:

What a new legitimate model of teacherly authority and intergenerational transmission could be
How our image of the ideal human looks like that we can teach into
Why we need a theory of Cosmos and Self
Which educational environments we need to create—in contrast to the informational environments that are stressful for most nervous systems

Enjoy the talk:

Dr. Zachary Stein: Idea Seed Banks, the “Nous Arc,” and the “Great Library”The Editors2023-06-21T12:16:12-07:00

Harville Hendrix, Helen LaKelly Hunt, Lori Galperin & Marc Gafni: Imago, Unique Self, & the Crying God

Watch and listen to this gorgeous dialogue between four masters of their respective fields in the process of evolving the teaching of Unique Self, Unique We, Couplehood, Imago Therapy, and Unique Self Recovery:

Harville Hendrix is a contemporary psychologist who co-founded Imago Relationship Therapy, along with his wife, Helen LaKelly Hunt.

Harville Hendrix was born in 1935 in Statesboro, Georgia. He was an ordained Baptist minister before he completed his BA at Mercer University in Georgia, in 1957, and his BD from Union Theological Seminary in 1961. He went on to receive both an MA and PhD in psychology and religion from the Divinity School at the University of Chicago.

Hendrix serves as a therapist, educator, and pastoral counselor. He has spent the last two decades practicing and teaching his own form of marriage and relationship therapy known as Imago Relationship Therapy in collaboration with his wife.

Helen LaKelly Hunt (born 1949) is a daughter of H. L. Hunt. She is founder and president of The Sister Fund, which describes itself as “a private women’s fund dedicated to the social, political, economic, and spiritual empowerment of women and girls.”

Hunt currently lives in New York with her husband, Harville Hendrix, a self-help author.

Hunt was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame, which cited her as a “[c]reative philanthropist who has used her own resources and others to create women’s funding institutions.”

Lori Galperin serves as a Member of the Board of the Center for Integral Wisdom.

She is a clinician, writer and teacher who began her 27 year career working in the area of sex & marital therapy. Training at Masters & Johnson Institute, she eventually became co-director, co-founded the first inpatient sexual trauma program in the country, and ultimately established and clinically co-directed three such programs. Her work spanned diverse populations including incest families, sex offenders, victims of sexual abuse and individuals struggling with sexual addiction.

Dr. Marc Gafni is a philosopher, public intellectual and wisdom teacher. He holds his doctorate in philosophy from Oxford University, rabbinic certification from the chief rabbinate in Israel, as well private rabbinic ordination. He is also ordained and holds a doctorate in religious science. He is the initiating thought leader, together with Ken Wilber, of World Spirituality based on Integral principles, as well as the leading theorist and teacher of Unique Self Enlightenment. He is the director of Center for Integral Wisdom (formerly World Spirituality), a think tank he co-founded in 2011 with Ken Wilber, Sally Kempton, and Mariana Caplan (now also joined by Lori Galperin) which is creating a body of work to evolve the source code of human existence.

Harville Hendrix, Helen LaKelly Hunt, Lori Galperin & Marc Gafni: Imago, Unique Self, & the Crying GodThe Editors2023-09-12T09:58:37-07:00