Machine Learning, Plant Learning, and the Destabilization of Buddhist Psychology
Hualin International Journal of Buddhist Studies October 1, 2020 DOI: 10.15239/hijbs.03.02.03 via OpenAlex
Summary
AI-generated from the abstractAdvances in artificial intelligence and emerging evidence for plant learning challenge core Buddhist assumptions about which beings possess minds. The empirical findings suggest that mental capacities may extend far beyond what premodern Buddhist traditions in South Asia and Tibet accepted, raising doubts about whether certain Buddhist moral positions can be rationally justified.
Study at a glance
| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Buddhism |
| Keywords | Cognitive psychology Cognitive science Psychotherapist Geography |
| Citations | 3 |
| Key finding | New empirical evidence on AI and plant learning threatens to broaden the scope of mind beyond traditional Buddhist limits, undermining the rational basis for some Buddhist ethical commitments. |
Abstract
Recent developments in artificial intelligence and the nascent scientific literature on 'plant learning' pose serious challenges to Buddhist philosophy of mind and to Buddhist practical ethics. These challenges are of two general types. First, the empirical results threaten to extend the reach of mind more broadly than premodern South Asian and Tibetan Buddhists were willing to allow, calling into question the rational defensibility of a range of Buddhist moral commitments.