Shows
AI and FaithConsciousness, Intelligence and Ethics. Where do they Overlap? #37In this episode, we bring together three scholars from the Jewish, Christian, and Buddhist faith, for a deep and meaningful discussion about the roots of consciousness and the implications on ethics. This all leads to the critical question we will all have to answer in the coming year: what ethical obligations do we have to artificial intelligence?Views and opinions expressed by podcast guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect the view of AI and Faith or any of its leadership.Production: Pablo Salmones and Penny Yuen2025-06-1945 min
New Books in Big IdeasPeter D. Hershock, "Consciousness Mattering: A Buddhist Synthesis" (Bloomsbury, 2023)Consciousness Mattering (Bloombury, 2023) presents a contemporary Buddhist theory in which brains, bodies, environments, and cultures are relational infrastructures for human consciousness. Drawing on insights from meditation, neuroscience, physics, and evolutionary theory, it demonstrates that human consciousness is not something that occurs only in our heads and consists in the creative elaboration of relations among sensed and sensing presences, and more fundamentally between matter and what matters. Peter Hershock argues that without consciousness there would only be either unordered sameness or nothing at all. Evolution is consciousness mattering.Shedding new light on the co-emergence of subjective awareness and cult...2025-03-241h 53
New Books in PsychologyPeter D. Hershock, "Consciousness Mattering: A Buddhist Synthesis" (Bloomsbury, 2023)Consciousness Mattering (Bloombury, 2023) presents a contemporary Buddhist theory in which brains, bodies, environments, and cultures are relational infrastructures for human consciousness. Drawing on insights from meditation, neuroscience, physics, and evolutionary theory, it demonstrates that human consciousness is not something that occurs only in our heads and consists in the creative elaboration of relations among sensed and sensing presences, and more fundamentally between matter and what matters. Peter Hershock argues that without consciousness there would only be either unordered sameness or nothing at all. Evolution is consciousness mattering.Shedding new light on the co-emergence of subjective awareness and cult...2025-03-231h 57
New Books in NeurosciencePeter D. Hershock, "Consciousness Mattering: A Buddhist Synthesis" (Bloomsbury, 2023)Consciousness Mattering (Bloombury, 2023) presents a contemporary Buddhist theory in which brains, bodies, environments, and cultures are relational infrastructures for human consciousness. Drawing on insights from meditation, neuroscience, physics, and evolutionary theory, it demonstrates that human consciousness is not something that occurs only in our heads and consists in the creative elaboration of relations among sensed and sensing presences, and more fundamentally between matter and what matters. Peter Hershock argues that without consciousness there would only be either unordered sameness or nothing at all. Evolution is consciousness mattering.Shedding new light on the co-emergence of subjective awareness and cult...2025-03-231h 53
New Books in Buddhist StudiesPeter D. Hershock, "Consciousness Mattering: A Buddhist Synthesis" (Bloomsbury, 2023)Consciousness Mattering (Bloombury, 2023) presents a contemporary Buddhist theory in which brains, bodies, environments, and cultures are relational infrastructures for human consciousness. Drawing on insights from meditation, neuroscience, physics, and evolutionary theory, it demonstrates that human consciousness is not something that occurs only in our heads and consists in the creative elaboration of relations among sensed and sensing presences, and more fundamentally between matter and what matters. Peter Hershock argues that without consciousness there would only be either unordered sameness or nothing at all. Evolution is consciousness mattering.Shedding new light on the co-emergence of subjective awareness and cult...2025-03-231h 57New Books in Buddhist StudiesPeter D. Hershock, "Buddhism and Intelligent Technology: Toward a More Humane Future" (Bloomsbury, 2021)Machine learning, big data and AI are reshaping the human experience and forcing us to develop a new ethical intelligence. In Buddhism and Intelligent Technology: Toward a More Humane Future (Bloomsbury, 2021), Peter Hershock offers a new way to think about attention, personal presence, and ethics as intelligent technology shatters previously foundational certainties and opens entirely new spaces of opportunity.Rather than turning exclusively to cognitive science and contemporary ethical theories, Hershock shows how classical Confucian and Socratic philosophies help to make visible what a history of choices about remaking ourselves through control biased technology has rendered invisible. But...2025-02-211h 12
New Books in Science, Technology, and SocietyPeter D. Hershock, "Buddhism and Intelligent Technology: Toward a More Humane Future" (Bloomsbury, 2021)Machine learning, big data and AI are reshaping the human experience and forcing us to develop a new ethical intelligence. In Buddhism and Intelligent Technology: Toward a More Humane Future (Bloomsbury, 2021), Peter Hershock offers a new way to think about attention, personal presence, and ethics as intelligent technology shatters previously foundational certainties and opens entirely new spaces of opportunity.Rather than turning exclusively to cognitive science and contemporary ethical theories, Hershock shows how classical Confucian and Socratic philosophies help to make visible what a history of choices about remaking ourselves through control biased technology has rendered invisible. But...2025-02-211h 12
New Books in TechnologyPeter D. Hershock, "Buddhism and Intelligent Technology: Toward a More Humane Future" (Bloomsbury, 2021)Machine learning, big data and AI are reshaping the human experience and forcing us to develop a new ethical intelligence. In Buddhism and Intelligent Technology: Toward a More Humane Future (Bloomsbury, 2021), Peter Hershock offers a new way to think about attention, personal presence, and ethics as intelligent technology shatters previously foundational certainties and opens entirely new spaces of opportunity.Rather than turning exclusively to cognitive science and contemporary ethical theories, Hershock shows how classical Confucian and Socratic philosophies help to make visible what a history of choices about remaking ourselves through control biased technology has rendered invisible. But...2025-02-211h 12
AI and FaithDigital Dharma: Buddhism & AI Ethics with Peter Hershock #24Listen to the conversation between our host Alex Sarkissian and Buddhist scholar and author Peter Hershock. Peter shares what led him to Buddhist practice and his interest in technology. They discuss how Buddhist principles, such as karma, mindfulness and interdependence, can help us better navigate the age of AI, and the opportunities and risks of using AI to support faith practices. Peter and Alex see hope for the future while asking “Am I being present in a way that matters most?”
Views and opinions expressed by podcast guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect the view o...2024-12-0536 min
Let's Talk ReligionWhat is Zen Buddhism?In this episode, we continue exploring the rich spiritual tradition of Buddhism through one of its most profound and important schools - Chan/Zen. We dive into the history and development of the school, as well as its characteristic teachings about meditation, koans, liberation and Buddha-nature.Sources/Suggested Reading: Chuang Zhi (2019). "Exploring Chán: An Introduction to the Religious and Mystical Tradition of Chinese Buddhism". Songlark Publishing. Hershock, Peter D. (2004). "Chan Buddhism". University of Hawaii Press. Red Pine (translated by) (1989). "The Zen Teachings of Bodhidharma". North Point Press. Red Pine (translated by) (2002). "The Diamond Sutra". C...2023-12-0444 min
Bright On BuddhismAsian Religions Series - Confucianism Part 1Bright on Buddhism - Asian Religions Series - Confucianism Part 1
Hello and welcome to a new type of episode of Bright on Buddhism, called the Asian religions series. In this series, we will be discussing religious traditions in Asia other than Buddhism. Buddhism never existed in a vacuum, and as it has spread all across East Asia, it has developed, localized, and syncretized with local traditions in fascinating and significant ways. As such, we cannot provide a complete picture of East Asian without discussing those local traditions such as they were and are. Disclaimer: this series is...2023-08-1828 min
The Good RobotBuddhist Approaches to Machine Consciousness with Peter Hershock We talk to Peter Hershock, director of the Asian Studies Development Program and coordinator of the Humane AI Initiative at the East-West Center in Honolulu. We talked to Peter about the kinds of misconceptions and red herrings that shape public interpretations of machine consciousness and what we can gain from approaching the question of machine consciousness from a Buddhist perspective. Our journey takes us from Buddhist teaching about relational dynamics that tell us that nothing exists independently from someone or something else to how to make the best tofu larb. 2023-07-1842 min
The Mindful CranksEpisode 47 - Peter Hershock: Buddhism & AISince the release of OpenAI’s ChatGPT earlier this year, there has been a media frenzy – with AI suddenly becoming of mainstream interest and concern. In this episode, I spoke with Peter Hershock, a prolific scholar trained in Asian and comparative philosophy, who has had a long-term interest in the ethical dimensions of our relationship with technology. His latest book, Buddhism and Intelligent Technology: Toward a More Humane Future, is another example of Peter’s creative and penetrating way of approaching a very complex subject – where he draws from the deep well of Buddhist thought – with its rich histories of cultiva...2023-05-281h 13
Collective Intellectualities8 Peter Hershock - Artificial Intelligence, Buddhism, and Relational ConsciousnessFor this episode, we chat with Peter Hershock, Director of the Asian Studies Development Program (ASDP) and Education Specialist at the East-West Center in Honolulu, Hawai‘i. Trained in Asian and comparative philosophy, his research and writing draw on Buddhist conceptual resources to reflect on and address contemporary issues of global concern. He has authored or edited more than a dozen books, including a new book that we will be discussing today: Buddhism and Intelligent Technology: Toward a More Humane Future (2021), out now on Bloomsbury Publishing.Link to Buddhism and Intelligent Technology: Toward a More Humane Future (2021)...2021-10-011h 27
Mind Your LeadershipLeading with Improvisational Genius: Are You Ready? with Dr. Peter HershockIn this episode, I will talk with Dr. Peter Hershock about what does it mean to lead nowadays. And how being an improvisational genius can help us be on the cutting edge.2020-08-0241 min
Harvard Divinity SchoolThe Intelligence Revolution and the New Attention Economy: An Ethical SingularityConsiderable attention has been directed to the possibility of a technological singularity when artificial intelligences “wake up” and start acting in their own self-interest. Long before then, however, humanity will confront an ethical singularity—a point at which the evaluation of values systems acquires infinite value. The computational factories and intelligence-gathering infrastructure of the global attention economy have begun to function as karmic engines, perfecting values-reinforcing feedback loops that are transforming everything from the dynamics of social interaction to geopolitics.
Drawing on Buddhist resources, this talk made the case that our prospects of realizing more humane global futures depends on changi...2020-02-191h 04
Press Play On This Unforgettable Full Audiobook — Perfect Right Now.Public Zen, Personal Zen by Peter D. HershockPlease visithttps://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/2/audible/127824to listen full audiobooks.
Title: Public Zen, Personal Zen
Author: Peter D. Hershock
Narrator: Tom Pile
Format: mp3
Length: 11 hrs and 56 mins
Release date: 02-08-17
Ratings: 4.5 out of 5 stars, 6 ratings
Genres: Japan
Publisher's Summary:2017-02-0811h 56
Buddhist GeeksThe Politics of Buddha NatureMatt Bieber is an author, political junkie, and practitioner in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition.
In this episode Matt and host Vincent Horn conclude their conversation exploring the intersection between Buddhist practice and politics. Asking whether our political and economic systems are geared towards idealized humanity or humans as they really are, Matt and Vincent discuss what the political world might look like if built to acknowledge Buddha Nature.
This is part two of a two part series.
Listen to part one – BG 325: The Politics of Dualism.
Episode Links:
The Wheat and Chaff ( http://www.thewheatandchaff.com )
Matt Bieber on Twitter ( ht...2015-07-2820 min