>>> emer.jent
A Tiny Zine From Altruistic Voices in Tech
Over and over our technologies reveal what we need to know to heal within ourselves
$6.50
Learn and deepen your knowledge about what an algorithm is and how the human body creates emotions and thoughts. Then, tap into your own potential and energy by writing what you wish to manifest for the future of humans, technology and earth. Finally, plant it and watch it grow. No knowledge of tech or AI required.
Printed on handmade plantable, wildflower paper.
Seed Mix: Wildflower Mix – Dwarf Godetia, Lemon Mint, Maiden Pinks, Forget-Me-Not, Catchfly, English Daisy, Sweet Alyssum, Spurred Snapdragon, Corn Poppy, Black- Eyed
All you touch, You Change / All that you Change, Changes You / The only lasting truth, Is Change.
- Octavia E. Butler, Parable of the Sower
I spent much of 2019 emerging myself in the Artificial Intelligence (AI) community in Los Angeles. AI was a mystery and when I feel mystery, I am often drawn into it. As I zigzagged through workshops on AI and the Future of Work or AI and Emotions, I became fascinated by the contrast between the terrifying myths about AI and the obvious limitations of the technology itself.
AI isn't a self-replicating, nefarious alien creature set on eliminating us. It's a list of instructions and potentials. In a way, it's a mirror amplifying all our insecurities and fears back to us. If all we feed it is hate, we will get more hate in return.
But, is this all we want to see? If we teach AI to be kind, can we become more kind? Could we instruct AI to amplify kindness instead of hate?
I turned to nature for guidance. I returned to indigenous knowledge and traditional eastern mindsets for the wisdom there on ways to cultivate inner peace and altruistic love and compassion. Then, I looked to neuroscience and the empirical patterns on how human bodies, like all living organisms, use an unique prediction system to navigate the world.
In fact, I was surprised to discover that we are emotional beings before we are thinkers. This felt like a stark contrast to the logical-thinking so dominant in the tech world.
This zine is born from the collision of the emotional and the rational. It is spiritual and technical. It is feminine and masculine. It is digital (designed in the digital realm it pays homage to the Python coding language) and natural (made of seeds).
It asks each of us to look within ourselves and to heal there first in order to heal each other, our communities and the earth.