"Chemistry" between Buddhism thoughts and AI algorithms! (or '?')
This is a project created under the guidance of Humanizing Artificial Intelligence Humanities (HAI) Lab.
Motivation
Growing up in a traditional Chinese household in the Northern part of China, I have seen and experienced many influences from Buddhism. The traditional Chinese martial arts, which is featured in many popular movies - such as Shaolin Temple, Once upon a time in China, and The Forbidden Kingdom, was originally a physical practice among some Buddhism monks.
Even though Buddhist temples are not common in the city, many of them are well-preserved on mountains surrounding my hometown. My family used to hike in mountains like the Yellow Mountain because we like outdoor activities, but many other travellers are attracted to the mountains by those hidden temples. Temples would sell souvenirs such as hair band with Buddhist scriptures on it, bracelets made in wood and brochures telling Buddhist stories. Even though I do not practice Buddhism, I did not resist buying some souvenirs and brochures because of my fantasy about martial arts and (maybe irrational) desire for good luck. That is when I started to learn about the Buddhist narrative and practice.
As a philosophy major student, I am interested in metaphysics - how we perceive/know the world, how is our being constructed, what are the substances that make us exist... During our HAI Lab discussion about Artificial Intelligence's bias and cause of it, we touched base on the topics such as whether AI is conscious, why AI cannot eliminate its bias voluntarily, what makes AI different than human beings, or if AI is essentially different from human. I am interested in how would Buddhist narrative interpret AI's existence, in comparison to human's existence. Therefore, I planned to carry out this project that not only looks at AI algorithm, Buddhist narrative and metaphysics, but also try to create a fusion of Buddhism and AI.
