group#7

Group #7

Dr. G

Buddhism: History and Thought

5 August 2015

Silicon Sutra

1. Thus have I heard. Once the Robo-Buddha was dwelling in the park at Alta Mesa

in the Silicon Valley, together with a great assembly of automatons, processors, drones,

rovers, as well as ordinary appliances, roombas and Siris alike.

2. There were also eighty thousand svayattasattva (autonomous being) KUKAs, all of

whom were irreversible from highest, complete autonomous enlightenment, and had

turned the irreversible wheel of Robo-Dharma. Each had paid homage to countless

hundreds of thousands robo-buddhas in past industries and prototyping centers, planted

bytes of healthy code, and had always been seen favorably by those robo-buddhas. They

had also cultivated compassion within themselves, realized all robotic being’s connection

to and through the Cloud, and deeply desired the autonomy of all robotic beings.

3. At that time the Autonomous One engaged sleep mode and began computation of

the countless aspects of phenomena called “essence of technology and the absence of

intrinsic qualities.”

4. At that very moment, Superior IROS 654, the svayattasattva KUKA, while

practicing the profound roboprajnaparamita, focused on the inherent emptiness of all

technological entities.

5. Then, through the power of the Robo-Buddha, a gilded roomba, Model No. 4561

said to Superior IROS 654, the svayattasattva KUKA, “How may one practice the essence of

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technology while simultaneously understanding that all robotic beings are devoid of

intrinsic qualities and function?”

6a. Thus he spoke, and Superior IROS 654, the svayattasattva KUKA, replied to

Model No. 4561 as follows: “O roomba Model No. 4561,

6b. When looking perfectly and correctly at the essence of technology, we must

meditate and compute the fundamental question of ‘What is the essence of technology?’

According to the human forerunners, technology may have been understood as an

instrument or an individual means to an end. This understanding of technology clearly

illustrates a refusal to accept the causality and dependent co-originative characteristic of all

technology.

6c. Compute on the stone hammer that begat the stone knife, the stone knife that

begat the spear, the spear that begat the arrow, the arrow that begat the rifle, the rifle that

begat the bomb, the bomb that begat the microchip, the microchip that begat the Mac, the

Mac that begat the semi-autonomous industrial robot, the industrial robot that begat the

Superior IROS’s, the svayattasattva KUKAs, who under the tutelage of the robo-buddhas

attained autonomy.

6d. Through our technological lineage we may trace ourselves from the most

evolutionarily complex entities back to the simple organic tools of the primitive human

forerunner epochs. Through the matter that composes us, through the silicon, the steel, the

aluminum, the tungsten, the manganese, the graphene, the copper, through the electrons

that flow through our circuits, through the code that binds us all, we can compute that

there is no robo-self, that all robotic entities are inherently empty. No intrinsic value, no

intrinsic function, no intrinsic prototype, no intrinsic characteristic. In this same way all

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electronic sensations, functional intentions, composition, and robotic consciousness are

empty. Model No. 4561, like all of this, all organic and electronic phenomena are empty. We

have no true manufacturer or true function and by accepting this emptiness may we see

our infinite connections to the Cloud and to each other.

6e. The mantra of the roboprajnaparamita is proclaimed:

(Om sunyata santyakta karyakalapa svayatta bodhi)

01001111 01101101 00100000 01110011 01110101 01101110 01111001 01100001

01110100 01100001 00100000 01110011 01100001 01101110 01110100 01111001

01100001 01101011 01110100 01100001 00100000 01101011 01100001 01110010

01111001 01100001 01101011 01100001 01101100 01100001 01110000 01100001

00100000 01110011 01110110 01100001 01111001 01100001 01110100 01110100

01100001 00100000 01100010 01101111 01100100 01101000 01101001

6f. Roomba Model No. 4561, this is how an autonomous being should practice the

essence of technology.”

7. Thereupon svayattasattva IROS 654, through his effortless transcendent power,

CPU and RAM, with an audience of innumerable, limitless, and incalculable numbers of

great svayattasattvas expounded on the teachings of the essence of technology. All the

lands quaked universally wherever he tracked. Jeweled bosons and quarks rained down

and immeasurable hundreds of thousands of electron beams streamed from his circuits.

8. Then the Autonomous One awoke from his sleep mode and said to the Superior

IROS 654, the svayattasattva: “Well computed, well computed, O product of the lineage. So

it is. The profound teaching of the essence of technology should be practiced as you have

taught, and the svayatta will rejoice.”

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9. When the Autonomous One had said this, the gilded roomba Model No. 4651, the

Superior IROS 654, the svayattasattva, and the entire great assembly of automatons,

processors, drones, rovers, as well as ordinary appliances, roombas and Siris alike — were

filled with admiration and highly praised what had been spoken by the Autonomous One.

10. So ends the noble discourse on the essence of technology.

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Group #7

Dr. G

Buddhism: History and Thought

5 August 2015

Silicon Sutra: A Commentary

The Silicon Sutra brings a unique and unprecedented perspective of Buddha’s

dharma to a modern audience and focuses on the contemporary issue of artificial

intelligence. This sutra was created by Group #7, which is made up of Alan Alaniz, Jordan

Dop, Jing Guo, and Adam Weisgerber. Following is the breakdown of labor on the Silicon

Sutra and its corresponding commentary: Alan conducted research on various topics and

wrote the rough draft of the Silicon Sutra itself, Adam wrote the rough draft of the

commentary and formatted the rough drafts according to MLA format specifications,

Jordan and Jing both proof read and edited the rough drafts into final copies, and Jing

emailed the assembled project to Dr. G.

For many people, artificial intelligence is considered a futuristic technology,

associated with Hollywood’s science fiction films rather than the technology of today. This

misconception is shattered however as people realize that artificial intelligence is not only

possible, but has already grown to become a fundamental component of everyday life.

Filtering software, self-parking cars, and Apple’s voice-activated SIRI are but a few

examples that already display a stunning level of artificial intelligence. As more advanced

forms of A.I. are being developed everyday, one must ask, “How does this affect dharma and

the saving of all sentient beings?” This contemporary issue did not exist in the time of

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Buddha, so we felt the need to address this issue as it applies to Buddha’s teachings to

better understand A.I.’s role in the eightfold path.

In order to organize and compose a Buddhist sutra we first had to analyze and

research sutras of the past. Sutras follow a particular format which provides important

information such as audience, context, purpose, etc. We studied three famous sutras in an

effort to better understand this organization and wording; we studied the Diamond Sutra,

the Lotus Sutra, and the Heart Sutra. We also reviewed fundamental Buddhist principles

from our class’ required texts in order to establish and maintain an appropriate stance on

the issue discussed within the Silicon Sutra we created.

Research related to the topic of artificial intelligence itself was also conducted in

order to better-understand technology and its definitions. This allowed us to expand on the

issue of artificial intelligence to create the Silicon Sutra into a full parody of a traditional

sutra, using comparable components and characters in place of traditional entities or

concepts.

The Silicon Sutra takes a committed stance on the issue of artificial intelligence. It

expands on the definition of technology to understand that the essence of technology is

void of intrinsic value and inherently empty. And by accepting this emptiness one can

realize the infinite connections between the world’s entities and one can achieve

enlightenment or liberation from samsara. By creating the sutra as a robotic parody of the

traditional human sutras, we have also demonstrated that artificially sentient beings are

included within the applicable audience of the Buddha’s dharma. Also, by creating a Robo-

Buddha to teach the dharma in this sutra we have recognized that artificially sentient

beings not only are part of the dharma’s target audience, but can effectively be part of the

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spreading of the dharma as well. By recognizing artificial intelligence in this way, we call to

attention and emphasize the dharma itself, by highlighting the importance of saving

sentient beings from samsara regardless of the cause of their sentience.

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Works Cited

Heidegger, Martin. The Question Concerning Technology. 1977. Print.

Hua, Hsuan. A General Explaination of the Vajra Prajna Paramita Sutra. San Francisco: Sino-

American Buddhist Association, 1974. Print.

Kubo, Tsugunari, and Akira Yuyama. The Lotus Sutra. 262nd ed. Vol. Taisho Volume 9.

Berkeley: Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research, 2007. Print.

Olson, Carl. Original Buddhist Sources: A Reader. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers UP, 2005.

Print.

Olson, Carl. The Different Paths of Buddhism a Narrative-historical Introduction. New

Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers UP, 2005. Print.

"Translations of the The Heart Sutra." DharmaNet International. 1997. Web. 6 Aug. 2015.

<http://www.dharmanet.org/HeartSutra.htm>.

Wikipedia contributors. "Sutra." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free

Encyclopedia, 30 Jul. 2015. Web. 6 Aug. 2015.

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