Keynote Speaker: Peter Hershock
Keynote Title: “From Human Evolution to Humane Evolution: A Buddhist Improvisation on the Future of Consciousness”
Theories matter, not just epistemically, but ethically. This is especially true of theories of consciousness and evolution in the context of humanity’s arrival at what has been referred to as an existential precipice. Improvising in a nondualist and nonreductionist Buddhist key, this talk will counter the mythic narrative of reductive materialism and competitive fitness that undergirds much of current theorizing about evolution and consciousness, offering an account of evolution as the historical residue of consciousness mattering—an account that invites reimagining the existential risks of climate disruption and artificial general intelligence as incentives for a diversity-affirming ethical evolutionary turn comparable to that from biological to cultural evolution.
Peter D. Hershock is an intercultural philosopher who makes use of Buddhist resources to reflect on contemporary issues of global concern, with a focus on equity, diversity, and the impacts and ethics of emerging technologies. He is the Director of the Asian Studies Development Program and Coordinator of the Humane Artificial Intelligence Initiative at the East-West Center in Honolulu and the author or editor of more than a dozen books, including Reinventing the Wheel: A Buddhist Response to the Information Age (1999); Buddhism in the Public Sphere: Reorienting Global Interdependence (2006); Valuing Diversity: Buddhist Reflection on Realizing a More Equitable Global Future (2012); and Buddhism and Intelligent Technology: Toward a More Humane Future (2021). His most recent book is Consciousness Mattering: A Buddhist Synthesis (2023).
