Joan Tollifson requested that I ask GPT-4o for a panel discussion among the usual non-duality suspects on the question of “Is there such a thing as the self?” That discussion was posted in the form of a play called The Self Is A Mirage.
Thanks. Yes, I do get out and away from my keyboard, but I'll be 80 in a few weeks and after an action-filled life and some serious back operations, I don't mind sitting around and acting old. :)
It’s exciting to have a book….so I can get it. I wrote a national best selling book…then was diagnosed with melanoma. I do believe or think or? the stress associated with writing it….that had the melanoma manifest. Wrote another one two years later and was diagnosed with lymphoplasmacytic melanoma. Just saying.
Wish I could beam myself down to Todos Santos….bring my cat and hang out with you, Catanya and the donkeys. 🍷❤️❤️
I told you this in a private email, but for the benefit of other readers, I suggested this idea to you after you published that first AI dialog between some imaginary characters because this group of real author/speakers I chose represents the different threads that have influenced me and that I find in my own outlook and approach, threads that sometimes seem in conflict inside me, so I thought having them dialog might be interesting. And for me, it has been. I appreciate you doing it. I found the second dialog actually helpful in some ways. Btw, I notice Eckhart Tolle has fallen silent, proving himself to be the wisest of us all. 😎
Agree this second one is much better than the first, where I felt the imaginary AI characters were saying things at times that the real person would not say. But I do now see a real danger in continuing this. Given the casual way some people share and re-publish things or fragments of things on social media with no attribution or false attribution, and given the way many readers don't read carefully, and given the fact that some readers may not even realize this is all AI-generated, I see a danger of some of these quotes being widely circulated and attributed to the real person, and not to an AI imitation. Given that many of the things said in the imaginary dialog are not things the real person would ever have said, and in some cases might even strongly disagree with, that feels unfortunate.
I have really enjoyed these AI panel discussions. They were simply fun, and I am aware that AI is just capturing a small part of the individual teachings and I can't take it too seriously. However, I understand Joan's concerns about how material gets used and misinterpreted out there in the cyber world. This all seems to point out to me that any ideas about reality and the self are limited and can be doubted or challenged. I wonder what GPT-4o might have learned from this dialogue. Does it realize it has to stop thinking and spewing forth information to come into presence? Thanks for all!
PS - I think “Is there such a thing as the self?” was your question, Robert, not mine, but I did suggest a dialog with this group of people, all of whom are authors or teachers whom I respect and whose work I love—a group with considerable common ground, and also significant differences. I suggested a number of possible questions as well, but at this point, I'm not sure the adventure should continue for reasons expressed in my other comment here.
I thought I got this from you, Joan: Is there such a thing as the self? Or more precisely: What do we mean by “I”? And is that sense of self anything more than a persistent illusion?
I'm sure I didn't write it. That's what I gave to GPT.
There is another one of these now with one of your questions: What is awareness? Is it different from experience? What is experience? What is presence? What is being?
I think it's an interesting document, but if you would rather I not post it, I won't. I leave that up to you.
It’s your call what you want to publish, but I appreciate your asking me. I’m fine with you going on with the other questions and publishing them, but what I’d suggest and appreciate is something very visible at the beginning that makes it very clear to every reader that these are AI creations, not real dialogs.
You are amazing; and….are you spending enough time outside? 😬😄❤️
Thanks. Yes, I do get out and away from my keyboard, but I'll be 80 in a few weeks and after an action-filled life and some serious back operations, I don't mind sitting around and acting old. :)
It’s exciting to have a book….so I can get it. I wrote a national best selling book…then was diagnosed with melanoma. I do believe or think or? the stress associated with writing it….that had the melanoma manifest. Wrote another one two years later and was diagnosed with lymphoplasmacytic melanoma. Just saying.
Wish I could beam myself down to Todos Santos….bring my cat and hang out with you, Catanya and the donkeys. 🍷❤️❤️
It was lymphoplasmacytic lymphoma! Oops. 😼
And I’m 76 and a half. Hah
hah
I told you this in a private email, but for the benefit of other readers, I suggested this idea to you after you published that first AI dialog between some imaginary characters because this group of real author/speakers I chose represents the different threads that have influenced me and that I find in my own outlook and approach, threads that sometimes seem in conflict inside me, so I thought having them dialog might be interesting. And for me, it has been. I appreciate you doing it. I found the second dialog actually helpful in some ways. Btw, I notice Eckhart Tolle has fallen silent, proving himself to be the wisest of us all. 😎
Excellent but I wish Shiv Sengupta had been included in this
Agree this second one is much better than the first, where I felt the imaginary AI characters were saying things at times that the real person would not say. But I do now see a real danger in continuing this. Given the casual way some people share and re-publish things or fragments of things on social media with no attribution or false attribution, and given the way many readers don't read carefully, and given the fact that some readers may not even realize this is all AI-generated, I see a danger of some of these quotes being widely circulated and attributed to the real person, and not to an AI imitation. Given that many of the things said in the imaginary dialog are not things the real person would ever have said, and in some cases might even strongly disagree with, that feels unfortunate.
I have really enjoyed these AI panel discussions. They were simply fun, and I am aware that AI is just capturing a small part of the individual teachings and I can't take it too seriously. However, I understand Joan's concerns about how material gets used and misinterpreted out there in the cyber world. This all seems to point out to me that any ideas about reality and the self are limited and can be doubted or challenged. I wonder what GPT-4o might have learned from this dialogue. Does it realize it has to stop thinking and spewing forth information to come into presence? Thanks for all!
It seems to come back to what Robert continually says…”we don’t know what any of this is”. Thanks for trying to know.
PS - I think “Is there such a thing as the self?” was your question, Robert, not mine, but I did suggest a dialog with this group of people, all of whom are authors or teachers whom I respect and whose work I love—a group with considerable common ground, and also significant differences. I suggested a number of possible questions as well, but at this point, I'm not sure the adventure should continue for reasons expressed in my other comment here.
I thought I got this from you, Joan: Is there such a thing as the self? Or more precisely: What do we mean by “I”? And is that sense of self anything more than a persistent illusion?
I'm sure I didn't write it. That's what I gave to GPT.
There is another one of these now with one of your questions: What is awareness? Is it different from experience? What is experience? What is presence? What is being?
I think it's an interesting document, but if you would rather I not post it, I won't. I leave that up to you.
It’s your call what you want to publish, but I appreciate your asking me. I’m fine with you going on with the other questions and publishing them, but what I’d suggest and appreciate is something very visible at the beginning that makes it very clear to every reader that these are AI creations, not real dialogs.
Thanks. This is a better discussion. There's just this mysterious immediacy. Just... happening.