Esalen Institute Presents: HUMAN FUTURES: AI THROUGH THE LENS OF HUMAN POTENTIAL – Illustrated lecture by Esalen’s Sam Stern

Artificial intelligence offers extraordinary assistance, expression, and power. It also arrives inside systems that reward extraction, dependency, and control. Drawing from his work at the Esalen Institute and the human potential movement, Sam Stern asks how we might evaluate AI according to a richer conception of human flourishing—one that considers authenticity, embodiment, agency, relationship, community, and responsibility for the world our choices collectively produce.

Bio: Sam Stern is a Senior Content Creator at Esalen Institute and host of the million-download podcast Voices of Esalen, where he’s interviewed voices shaping psychology, spirituality, and culture, including Sonya Renee Taylor, Richard Schwartz, Michael Pollan, Bayo Akomolafe, and Stanislav Grof.  Sam is a cum laude graduate of Brown University, where he received the William J. Weston Award for excellence in Film and Video. At Esalen, he frequently teaches on human-centered AI, guiding others to approach emergent technologies with curiosity, critical thinking, and play. 

Esalen is a holistic retreat and nonprofit educational institute, established in 1962 and considered the epicenter of the human potential movement.  Esalen is situated on 27 acres nestled between the Santa Lucia Mountains and the Pacific Ocean and features a cascading canyon stream and hot mineral springs gushing out of a seaside cliff.  (https://www.esalen.org/)

Tickets:  $15 advance / $20 at the door.