Spiritual, natural and artificial intelligence

Patricia McAlernon

Recently I visited India to participate in a global meeting to discuss responsible, safe and ethical use of artificial intelligence. My experience of India’s spiritual culture and regular local visits to the ancient site of the Fingerstones in Castletara got me thinking about the differences between spiritual intelligence, natural intelligence and artificial intelligence and how the three could work together for our own good and humanity as a whole. The three types of intelligence can be clearly defined.

Spiritual intelligence is a measure of our inner peace, personal growth, character and understanding of how we fit in the world. It can be mentally comforting and give us a purpose in life. Spiritual intelligence can be trained and developed through our lifetime. We can increase it through religious organisations, private study or meditation.

The second type of intelligence is natural which is an indication of human problem-solving, pattern recognition and decision-making skills. Natural intelligence may be an attribute we are born with which may be enhanced with education. It can also be trained and developed as we progress in our working life.

The third type of intelligence is artificial which is a technology driven by algorithms, built on models and requires a human to train, test and process it. It is commonly referred to as AI and is offered through an extensive range of software readily available online. It can be used to generate reports, control robots, schedule your diary and much more.

The relationship between spirituality, natural and artificial intelligence is complex and is continuously evolving with the development of more advanced AI software. It is thought that humans with a combination of spiritual and natural intelligence may be able to exhibit true wisdom and compassion.

Artificial intelligence can be used to enhance our knowledge but we need to know how to process it to elevate our wisdom. Our ancestors were thought to possess a high level of spiritual intelligence and this is evident from the creation of sites such as the Castletara Fingerstones, Stonehenge and other megalithic remains. They were more spiritually focused perhaps because they had less material distractions like computers and phones. Currently we are bombarded with artificial intelligence technology which may inhibit our spiritual and natural intelligence. On the otherhand AI can offer spiritual places online to persons not interested in joining a religious organisation.

AI is used to support persons experiencing grief due to the loss of a loved one by offering them a means to have a virtual conversation with the deceased by modifying pre-death voice recordings and photographic images. There are many concerns about the ethics of using AI for grief support and how it may not be good for our spiritual intelligence.

Overuse of AI may inhibit the development of our natural intelligence by reducing our ability to write and think for ourselves. A constant stream of data from AI may cause confusion and mental overload and be detrimental to our spiritual intelligence. However relevant and filtered knowledge acquired using AI can help expand our spiritual intelligence. AI systems should be designed to respect human dignity and avoid replacing humans who play a role in helping with spiritual growth of individuals. AI companions are artificial intelligent systems which are being used more regularly by persons who suffer loneliness. It offers a way to talk about your emotions and a digital journal or diary can be automatically generated to record your conversations and monitor your moods over a period of time.

We live in a society today which is constantly exposed to artificial intelligence technology. It is critical that we protect our spiritual and natural intelligence by carefully selecting the AI systems we engage with on a daily basis. Living in a spiritual country like Ireland will help us establish our own personal guardrails to protect us from the perils of artificial intelligence. Ireland has a history of people with literary and entrepreneurial skills which reflects the country’s high standard of natural intelligence.

So overall our country’s strong spiritual and natural intelligence will equip us to survive living in a world of artificial intelligence.