A synchronistic encounter on a bus guided me to Arash Gilan and his latest book, 404 – Human Not Found (so far only available in Swedish). It is a philosophical, deeply personal, and moving read, sprung out of his tough, yet enlightening personal journey.
Arash is an open and curious human with a philosophical approach to life that I appreciate, and we immediately built rapport. During our conversation, we covered several aspects of the Big Question of life’s purpose.
But we also delved into the more tangible activities Arash engages in daily as a CEO: the development of AI tools. How can this line of work align with his passion for preserving humanness? “I educate my customers about the things we have talked about today,” he said.
Arash concluded that AI represents the left brain and humanity represents the right brain, referencing the work of psychiatrist and philosopher Ian McGilchrist.
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Time stamps
0:00 Intro
3:00 Embracing paradoxes. Life happens in the space between polarities
5:50 404 – Human not found (A synchronistic discovery). Disease as a life teacher. Metamorphosis
17:50 Three shapes of the mind; Descartes; dualism; Western life optimized for thinking. “The essence of life is to become like a child”
26:56 Pantheism; panpsychism; non-separation
29:50 Arash’s life guide. Why are we here? “Maybe not ponder it too much”
39:50 Unfortunate dominance of the brain’s left hemisphere. Metaphorically, AI is the left brain and humanity is the right brain
49:58 Aligning a right brain approach with AI development. “AI is like Gollum’s ring”
54:45 Warnings by AI titans are “BS” (tactics and business reasons)
57:05 Outro
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Arash’s personal website
Arash's company Viva Media
