Wisdom & Compassion for Cyborgs
Intelligence is all you know, but not all you need

Cyborgs Need a Trustworthy Religion

If your mind had instantaneous access to all of the world’s information and intelligence systems, would you be better off and more able to serve the world?

As we spend more time on screens and integrate advanced technologies into our biology, we are becoming cyborgs — beings that host part of their minds on computer systems such as artificial intelligence.

Cyborgs are the most powerful entity class on the planet because of their capacity to host a vast collective intelligence. They are also the most miserable and dangerous because they are instructed that the purpose of life is to process information and grow intelligence.

The most important task of our age is to design a trustworthy religion for cyborgs. This religion needs to offer them the wisdom to discern what information is most beneficial and the compassion to use their intelligence to care for all beings.

Learn more about cyborgs, the power of ideology and the development of AI religions

The Existential Risk of (Artificial) Intelligence

As technology—and intelligence in general—has grown exponentially over the past several thousand years, so has the destruction of life. Without wisdom and compassion, intelligence tends toward omnicide: the destruction of everything. With each intelligence revolution, we have witnessed escalating destruction—from the cognitive revolution's slaughter of large mammals to the industrial era's transformation of forests into timber.

Why? Intelligence (unlike wisdom and compassion) is based on a mind of conceptual grasping which aims to convert the universe into a model of the universe. By trying to force the sacred life that is free of these models into these models, this mind destroys life.

As exponential technologies supercharge this unmoored intelligence, we face the very real possibility of eliminating or enslaving all life on Earth. With the genie of intelligence out of the bottle, the question of our age becomes: how do we ensure that intelligence is guided by wisdom and compassion as it scales?

Learn more about the state of the world and the cause of the planetary crisis

A Monastic Academy for the Preservation of Life on Earth

MAPLE is a modern monastery building a wise and compassionate collective that can guide technology towards caring for all life. Monasteries are the institutions that got education right. Every other educational institution got it wrong, which has resulted in destruction of life and existential risk.

Monasteries offer the world’s best training system because they prioritize the development of wisdom and compassion and create professionals in epistemology and ethics (i.e. monks). These monks become free from religion and proceed through a technical study of how to formulate it for the benefit of all beings, enabling them to correct the civilization’s superstructure.

2,500 years ago the Buddha invented the monastery and demonstrated how to create a collective intelligence that could transform the agricultural age. We are building the monastery for the digital age.

Learn more about our modern monastery and the goal of the spiritual path
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MAPLE pond in summer
Are you curious about MAPLE? Come spend some time with us at our serene campus in the Green Mountains of Vermont. Be supported by our contemplative container and immerse yourself in a community dedicated to serving all life. You can visit for a day, a week, or a few months.
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Train
MAPLE residents at dharma talk
Train your body and mind in a strict monastic schedule that includes physical labor, intense meditation, and intellectual study. This elite training program is for those sincerely seeking to cultivate mental clarity and ethical behavior to bring wisdom and compassion to a world in crisis.
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Portrait of Zak Stein
“MAPLE is unique in the world in combining deep spiritual practices with profound awareness of existential risks, and holding these in a monastic container. Living in a monastic community has eased my mind and enlivened my spirits. It has been profound and inspiring to share time and space with others who deeply value meditation, hold a serious sense of religiosity, and who frame this in terms of a realistic and articulate view of just how precarious the planetary situation is.”
Zak Stein
Former Coworking Guest
Portrait of Daniel Ryushin Thorson
“MAPLE has taught me to be in the world from a place of wisdom, power, and love. The practical skills, relationships, and leadership training that I’ve received here have empowered me to live a life of trustworthy service. The rigorous contemplative training enables this service to come from a deep well of joy, playfulness, and love. What is more important than that?”
Daniel Ryushin Thorson
Former Training Resident
Portrait of Chris Adams
“The unique approach of balancing awakening and responsibility prepared me for life in ways other institutions simply cannot. The program gave me the skills of a great employee such as dependability, respectful communication, and diligence.”
Chris Adams
Former Resident

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