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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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AI Empires and the Soul Sickness of Silicon Valley
Episode 3
Wednesday, 12 November, 2025
Why is Mark Zuckerberg so obsessed with the Roman Empire?Why is Peter Thiel so obsessed with the Antichrist?Why does Sam Altman want $7 trillion dollars for an uncharted course to an unknown destination? And how can be build AI models and an AI company based on principles of kinship and reciprocity? In my ongoing exploration of what's rotten in Silicon Valley tech innovation and the ideologies driving it, last time I talked about the pandemic of what I called the Apollonian Mind Virus, a tendency throughout the modern world to favor cold, disembodied hyperrationality and cognitive intelligence over all other ways of knowing and being, over intuition, emotional intelligence, embodiment, and wisdom. This Apollonian orientation toward nature has ushered in what Sam Altman has dubbed the Intelligence Age. "Apollonian" describes the worldview and theories of intelligence behind current approaches to AI. Today, inspired by Native American thinkers like Jack D. Forbes and Robin Wall Kimmerer, as well as Karen Hao’s work, I explore an adjacent pandemic of the mind or sickness of spirit that is insatiable, extractive, and exploitative: The hungry ghost of the Windigo. I argue that current approaches to AI are largely the result of these two features of the modern, Western ethos—the interwoven helix of the Apollonian Mind and the Windigo soul sickness. I then close this post by beginning to explore whether there is a better way to innovate and evolve, collectively. Substack version here.Support the showJoin Chad's newsletter to learn about all new offerings, courses, trainings, and retreats. Finally, you can support the podcast here.
