Intro ~
I see that a fashion-tech company has created yoga pants infused with machine learning and Bluetooth technology. Let me tell you now Yogi folks ~ those pants miss the Yoga point ENTIRELY. Those pants are barred from YM 🙂
Chapter 1 ~ THE RISE OF THE MACHINES
Oppenheimer’s most famous quote after his witnessing first atomic bomb test is from the Bhagavad Gita “Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds“ which reflects the immense power and destruction unleashed.
Bertrand Russell quote “Men are born ignorant, not stupid. They are made stupid by education”. Deep down I believe he speaks truth. I believe what he says against the “cult of work” I am all for the idea of the four hour working day {J show me someone who isn’t} to ensure we all have employment and are less anxious and have time to pursue meaningful lives beyond just ‘earning a living’; that working hard is not a badge of honor… and all the rest; I avoid re-reading what he says because I see no immediate way out of the system we are entrenched in (not in my lifetime). For Bertrand who never knew AI it would probably have been the answer; in theory perhaps it would have relieved the drudgery for all and allowed All:Equally to pursue the more meaningful. OF COURSE I see the tremendous opportunity/possibility for empowering and freeing up human beings to focus on their highest callings but I fear it will be hijacked by the few and the rest of us will remain slaves to it/the few.
Stuart Russell (proponent of AI and author of AI: A Modern Approach; the definitive AI textbook and no relation to Russell :)) was just saying in October 2025: “AI like physics is a field of study not a specific technology … it will give a better understanding of how to make decisions … BEING BETTER AT MAKING DECISIONS IS NOT THE SAME AS MAKING BETTER DECISIONS… {AI} does not by itself ensure a better future.” He quotes “Show me the incentive and I’ll show you the outcome”… “To what end are the decisions made by large language models directed? The unsettling truth… WE HAVE NO IDEA … Large language models trained to imitate human beings; in the process we suspect they absorb human like goals such as self preservation and self empowerment and pursue those goals on their own account… fundamental error” “possibility… the bus of humanity is headed towards a cliff, the steering wheel is missing and the driver is blindfolded…”
One of the Godfathers of AI Geoffrey Hinton has also recently been doling out warnings.
Anyway. All those warnings what are we supposed to do now?
Chapter 2 ~ THE PERSON COMING TO SAVE YOU IS YOU
I am in the camp that big tech is about to be the worst mistake humanity has ever made. {you may agree or disagree J but deep down I know this is not going in the right direction right this minute}. It is not a matter of belief Vs. unbelief; it is not what you believe but what you do. It is always about CONSCIOUS CHOICE. But they won’t give me the choice; they force it upon me; I never asked for this. They may eventually replicate and surpass all our intellectual capabilities but there is one area where I think we will always have the edge: CONSCIOUSNESS ~ the essence of life and an un-programmable force.
Chapter 3 ~ CONSCIOUS CHOICE
Maybe we can’t stop it but I still believe personal choice has huge power; You know your whole Yoga practice is a series of little choices YOU get to make. And so at YM we continue to make our little stand; the personal choice of: at our studio of ‘No Devices in Yoga Class’ {LINK ref blog Step Away from the Dopamine Triggers January 2025}, guess this blog is a continuation of that theme! Well. We are consistent if nothing else. What an ‘AI’ year ‘tho!; it seems more important than ever (with the rapidly increasing pace of generative AI) to carve out a small space/time where there is no smart watches, fitbits, phones. OF COURSE I see the possibilities, but the pace! It is all wrong and accelerating fast; those forcing it on us don’t have a handle on it; the displacement is already here and we know it is going to change us and I believe it will set us back.
So. You know what WE/YM do. All we can offer YOU is a gentle reminder (‘cos Microsoft, google, Meta won’t now will they?) is that your ‘time’ budget is precious; spend your leisure time wisely; pause, consider what you are filling the gap with (AI/scrolling/streaming?) (guilty here of binging on Stranger Things lately! Wellll… got sucked in didn’t I…). The world we are living in right now is reminiscent of so many key themes from classic dystopian novels; it is INSANE.
Chapter 4 ~ OUR COMMITMENT TO YOU at YM
But what about you? Who is going to help make it easier for you?
We have made the choice for you. ~Your welcome 🙂 No problem~
There is one safe space where the insanity cannot penetrate, it has no access, its name is not down so its not coming in 🙂 ! And that is YM: ~No Bluetooth pants, NO smart watches/rings, no fitbits, no phones~ {LINK full Policy with Exceptions of course!} There now. The rest is up to you.
Om Om Om The Person Coming to Save you is You. Time to step up You!