Dmitry Kalashnikov

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Just watched “The Transcendent Man” about Ray Kurtzweil (AI, speech recognition, OCR) and his concept of “Singularity” … how technology is growing so rapidly (exponentially) that the only way to comprehend and further develop it is by merging [ourselves] with the intelligent technology we create (essentially creating new species, expanding limited biological capacity of human brain with nano tech), being god-like, achieving immortality … etc. This movie has really interesting ideas, especially if you’re a computer scientist.

Well, I am a computer scientist and it is astonishing (to me) that such a brilliant person is completely oblivious to the spiritual realm to life, and the fact that humans are so much more than physical bodies!

There are many other aspects to “intelligence”:

• physical intelligence: being able to execute extremely complicated physical movements by turning off the logical brain and feeling it, its about having spacial awareness, things like acrobatics, gymnastics, dancing and purely the physical aspect of martial arts. I know a lot of really smart people that are completely out of shape, neglecting their physical body. Maintaining your “vessel” in perfect shape and being in complete control of movement is a form of intelligence.
• emotional intelligence: being in control of your thoughts, feelings, emotional reactions and responses. Its about curbing your urge to hurt back when you’re hurt, being able to switch your emotional states (flip a switch and get un-depressed, motivated, happy) … and always connecting with Love, seeking and shining Light. It all comes back to God.
• social intelligence: being able to deeply connect with others … way past small talk, food and weather … straight to the Heart! Its also the ability to pick up on subtle clues from body language, micro-expressions, vocal tonality … and being able to construct another person’s model of reality from it in order to communicate most effectively. Again, we all know highly “intelligent” people that fail in this area miserably.  I also know many people that are brilliant in social situations that can’t do basic math. But at the end of the day, I’d rather spend time with someone who is pleasant to be around than a brilliant asshole.
• logic/reason (traditional intelligence): math, science, technology, the stuff in this movie.
• time-space continuum intelligence: being in control of time/space. Its your ability to organize, create elaborate plans and set them in motion by doing right things at the right time. Its about visualizing all possible outcomes and mitigating undesired ones. Its about  living every moment of your precious life effectively. Its about being fully present, aware, reading the very next letter of this blog post and not thinking about anything else. Be here with me. Focus!
• spiritual intelligence: being in tune with the spiritual realm, sensing God, knowing that we’re all connected to each other, that nothing happens randomly. Its about understanding Life-force, its the Ki/Chi concept in martial arts. Its about having Faith, Hope and Love. Love being the greatest of all, of course.
• …

There are many more other aspects to “intelligence”, none of which can be “backed up” or taught to a machine. The more we progress technologically, the less emphasis we’re placing on developing ourselves physically, emotionally, socially and finally spiritually!

Back to the movie — its not difficult to see that Ray’s drive to invent and to create is singularily fueled by fear of death and grievance for his father. His is hurt and his way with dealing with it is to focus on logic/reason aspect of intelligence.

If it ever gets close to the age of his predictions, I’ll be the leader of resistance to this bullshit in a war he mentions.

If you liked this movie, here is an interesting read from another brilliant person on similar subjects. Its a collection of his personal essays, thoughts on God and role of technology.

Bruce Lee has been an inspiration to me since I was a little kid … and last night I’ve had the privilege and honor of training JKD with Sifu Taky Kimura (Bruce Lee’s best friend and his very first student) with a handful of senior students who moved across the country to train with him at his private residence. It is all still slowly sinking in … I am so grateful for the experience!!!