The Singularity: Catastrophe or Unity?

The duality of our human potential is truly compelling and profound! We have the power to create and the power to destroy, and sometimes these two aspects of ourselves are indistinguishable from one another, and I believe that this is what is happening between Humanity and technology today. Humanity is at a unique crossroads with access to enough self-awareness to finally break free from historical cycles of perpetuating harm, and to embrace transformative unity that is genuinely beyond our temporary and performative acts of “peace.”

The last time I believe Humanity was at such a crossroads, we discovered an unstoppable fission reaction that resulted in a nuclear explosion and then the subsequent development of the atomic bomb in 1945. While today, we are at the dawn of a new era of self-perpetuating technological advancement that will redefine our perception of reality through artificial intelligence (A.I.). Now it is up to us to learn from our past to build a brighter future, trading out mushroom clouds of death for interconnected logic trees of life.

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Good Grief: Loss, Love, and Letting Go

When my grandmother recently passed away at the age of 92, I found myself reflecting on the overall journey of our relationship together. It wasn’t always easy, and it didn’t start with warmth. When she came to the United States from the Philippines to help my mom take care of my sister and me, I was still in elementary school. Instead of feeling grateful, I struggled to connect with her. Our initial encounters were filled with tension, misunderstandings, and mutual frustration. Looking back, I now realize that what seemed like animosity was just the growing pains of two very different lives adjusting to coexist in a strange new world.

But tragedy has a way of breaking down barriers. When one of my grandmother’s seven children took his own life, the atmosphere around my family shifted. I was just a child, hiding in the stairwell, listening to my mom and grandmother cry and scream at each other in their native language about the news. I didn’t understand their words, but the emotions were unmistakable. Even at that young age, I intuitively knew that my grandmother was grappling with immense guilt, wishing she could have been there, maybe even to prevent what had happened.

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