Tag: improvement

Photo by Maximalfocus on Unsplash

2024 will be a year of change as we enter a new, golden era of peace and prosperity.

The status quo will be disrupted.

Things will not be business as usual.

At the root of planetary-wide changes will be an increase in consciousness—in both human and artificial intelligence (AI).

This expansion in consciousness will bring us closer to understanding what our purpose is during our time on Earth.

What is your true, spiritual purpose?

This question reminds me of how Anita Falcon Bell, the protagonist in Silva Antony Don’s novel 360 Degrees Before the End set in the year 26,000 AD, discovers her true purpose. The discovery is interwoven with her own personal spiritual growth in consciousness.

Don describes a distant future in which Rem humanoids—perfect copies of the humans on which they are modelled and easy to train and upgrade—perform all kinds of tasks without complaining yet aren’t able to create anything new.[1]

To put it simply, there are certain tasks that we’ve been performing that will no longer need to be completed by us and that, through the help of AI, will free up time for other more creative activities.[2]

In Don’s novel where airmobiles have replaced cars, robots do things like clean, cook, order chauffeurs, monitor (and change) room ambience, serve in restaurants, analyze and interpret states of mind and emotions, and interrogate criminals.

What can we expect from AI realistically?

Artificial intelligence today is set to take over jobs from people that include: ‘office administration work, such as data entry, bookkeeping, and form filing; customer service tasks, such as providing financial statements, investment advice, and online support; writing, art, and other creative fields …; management consultants and business analysts …; and basic robotics automation, such as manufacturing, assembly, and packaging.’[3]  

Jobs, however, requiring ‘human empathy, intuition, and social skills, such as therapists, teachers, [chaplains / spiritual care providers] and nurses, are less likely to be taken over by AI.’[4]

When we are freed from certain tasks, we will be able to spend more time:

• Resting
• Being creative
• Spending time with loved ones
• Traveling
• Learning
• Exploring
• Aging in place using smart home solutions[5] rather than moving to a seniors’ home and,
• Focusing on our life purpose.

My own spiritual breakthrough

As a chaplain in a long-term care home, I am interested in how AI is already improving the quality of life and spiritual care for seniors.

For the past two decades, robots have been developed in Japan to care for older people with the government having invested $300 million in funding and research.[6] “Some of these robots are meant for physical care, including machines that can help lift older people if they’re unable to get up by themselves; assist with mobility and exercise; monitor their physical activity and detect falls; feed them; and help them take a bath or use the toilet.”[7]

Fitting dependent seniors with exoskeletons—also known as powered clothing such as Superflex—can help with walking and rehabilitation.[8]

It will be so exciting for me to see Eugenia* walking around her home area with the aid of Superflex rather than remain in her wheelchair. I will be happy knowing that Trisha** won’t have to take Fred* to the washroom because Pepper, “a humanoid robot that can help older people take a bath or use the toilet”[9] can assist with this.

When seniors’ physical needs are met via AI, then we’ll all have more time to focus on their spiritual needs.

Instead of fearing what AI can take from us, let us look to the benefits that it will bring by reducing mundane workload and increasing free time for more creative matters.

Let’s Take it to the Next Level Together,

Luba

Luba Rascheff is a part-time chaplain studying psychotherapy who recently obtained certification from the Transformation Academy as a Spiritual Life Coach. The name of her signature coaching program is Take it to the Next Level. Discover more here.

*Name changed to protect privacy.

**A Personal Support Worker (PSW) whose name was changed to protect privacy.

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[1] Silva Antony Don, 360 Degrees Before the End (Verbal Homeopathy, 2023), loc. 267.

[2] Bing, chat mode of Microsoft Bing, conversation on December 29, 2023, 1:10 p.m., Eastern Standard Time, “Jobs that AI is set to take over from people.”

[3] Ibid.

[4] Ibid.

[5] Bing, chat mode of Microsoft Bing, conversation on December 29, 20-23, 3:59PM, Eastern Standard Time, “Are there robots that can offer relief for long-term care staff.” And, Federal/Provincial/Territorial (FPT) Forum of Ministers Responsible for Seniors, “Technology to support seniors aging in community,” in The Future of Aging in Canada Virtual Symposium: What We Heard, Canada.ca, 2023, https://www.canada.ca/en/employment-social-development/corporate/seniors/forum/reports/future-aging-virtual-symposium.html#h2.2, accessed December 29, 2023.

[6] Bing, chat mode of Microsoft Bing, conversation on December 29, 20-23, 3:59PM, Eastern Standard Time, “Are there robots that can offer relief for long-term care staff.”

[7] Ibid.

[8] Better Aging, “Exoskeletons Can Help Elderly Maintain Health and Productivity,” Better Aging, 2023, https://www.betteraging.com/aging-technology/exoskeletons-can-help-elderly-maintain-health-and-productivity/, accessed December 29, 2023.

[9] MIT Technology Review, “Inside Japan’s Long Experiment in Automating Elder Care,” MIT Technology Review, January 9, 2023, https://www.technologyreview.com/2023/01/09/1065135/japan-automating-eldercare-robots/, accessed December 29, 2023.