Asked what the researchers she works alongside actually think about the relationship between artificial intelligence and extraterrestrial intelligence, D.W. Pasulka is candid: some of them are so intelligent she finds their perspectives hard to follow. But she relays them. Many do not assume linear time, which makes it difficult for her to discuss something in the future affecting the present, though that assumption runs through their language and their theories. Some consequently see AI as something cultivated in the future and created in the present, a non-human intelligence that will go on evolving on its own timeline and outlast us. She also relays a theory from Steven Dick, a former NASA historian and astronomer, about why we have found no evidence of extraterrestrial life. Perhaps they are simply incommensurable with us, so far beyond comprehension that we could not recognise them if we met them. Perhaps we are ants to that civilisation. Perhaps they came through their own AI era long ago, and what we would be encountering is technology so advanced it would appear to us as divinity. From there the conversation turns to Teilhard de Chardin, the Jesuit priest and paleontologist whose work is enjoying a revival, and who was silenced by his own church for it. He was both a scientist and a visionary, and he was astonished that other people could not perceive what he perceived, describing a spiritual sense he took to be as real as sight. What he saw coming was the noosphere, from nous, the ancient Greek term for the faculty that grasps what cannot be seen. A thinking layer wrapped around the planet the way the biosphere is, carrying all our consciousness and intellect and, he thought, our economics too. He was writing in the early twentieth century, at a time when nobody had left the atmosphere. He believed it would produce a different kind of human being, which he called the ultra human, and the term has since been adopted by people in Austin and Silicon Valley who, Pasulka notes drily, seem to think they came up with it. For Teilhard it was never only physical. It was spiritual, and the stakes could not have been higher. Either it would be the end of human beings, he said, or it would be their beginning. Which was heresy at the time, and the reason he was permitted to teach paleontology and forbidden to teach this. Want to go deeper with D.W. Pasulka? Join Sounds True One for more conversations like this. Get your first month FREE at https://bit.ly/4ctecMn Subscribe to Sounds True's YouTube Channel ► https://bit.ly/SubscribeSTYT Sounds True is a mission-driven learning and media company, and a recognized leader in wellbeing, personal growth, and spiritual transformation. Partnering with the world’s foremost wisdom teachers and best-selling authors, the company reaches millions worldwide with its unique programs, digital learning experiences, and worldwide events. The company also features a variety of original series, weekly shows, and live online experiences on Sounds True One, its global platform and community with members across more than 125 countries. Sounds True is a Public Benefit Corporation and also the home of the Sounds True Foundation. Connect with us: ▪️Facebook: http://bit.ly/2XFIIeE ▪️Instagram: http://bit.ly/2UlEoiH ▪️Website: http://bit.ly/2tOl02d