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Cosmic IntelligenceAuthor: Chad Woodford
Welcome to Cosmic Intelligence (formerly Spiritual But Not Ridiculous), a podcast that explores philosophy (Western and Vedic), consciousness, cosmology, spirituality, and technologies in the broadest sensetechnologies of the sacred, of transformation, and of the mundane. As we enter this age of artificial intelligence (AI), we focus in particular on AI and its implications for humanity, questions of consciousness, AI safety and alignment, and what it means to be human in the 21st century, as well as its impact on our shared worldview. Since worldviews create worlds we will always keep one eye on our shifting worldview, hoping to encourage it along from materialism to idealism.In terms of consciousness and spirituality, we also explore spiritual practices and other ways to expand consciousness, the importance of feeling our feelings, how to cultivate compassion and empathy, find balance, and lean into fear as a practice. Sometimes we have guests. We approach all subjects from a grounded and discerning perspective.Your host is Chad Jayadev Woodford, a philosopher, cosmologist, master yoga teacher, Vedic astrologer, lawyer, and technologist. Language: en Genres: Philosophy, Religion & Spirituality, Society & Culture, Spirituality Contact email: Get it Feed URL: Get it iTunes ID: Get it |
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Is the Future of AI In Bhutan?
Episode 5
Thursday, 28 May, 2026
I’m in Bhutan this week with a group of experienced, wise, and diverse innovators for a collaborative, week-long listening and brainstorming engagement with Bhutanese leadership to study and iterate on Bhutan’s unique approach to natural resource use, bioregional development, urban planning, sovereign AI innovation, and consciousness science.Original essay here.Bhutan offers a glimpse into a different future of technology innovation. Drawing on a week-long visit with Bhutanese leaders, the episode contrasts Silicon Valley’s techno-utopian, extractive AI paradigm with Bhutan’s emphasis on Gross National Happiness, bioregional design, and “technologies of the sacred” such as meditation and ritual. I argue that today’s large, general-purpose AI systems mostly reinforce a Eurocentric worldview. As an alternative, the episode highlights the opportunity for Bhutan to leverage sovereign, hyper-local AI models powered by renewable energy and rooted in Bhutanese/Tibetan/Sanskrit knowledge traditions. It situates these experiments within Bhutan’s real challenges—like youth emigration and alcohol dependency—and frames the country as a testbed for domain-specific, non-extractive AI systems that prioritize wisdom, contentment, and ecological reciprocity over scale and efficiency.Bhutan's Gelephu Mindfulness CityPope Leo calls for being ‘profoundly human’ in the age of AI (The Verge)Support the showJoin Chad's newsletter to learn about all new offerings, courses, trainings, and retreats. Finally, you can support the podcast here.
