Buddhism, Science and Future
Conference
Futian Shangri-La Hotel
Shenzhen, China
June 15-17, 2018

The 2nd Annual Buddhism and New Technology hosted by Woodenfish Foundation was a success.

Nestled in the heart of Shezhen in the beautiful Shangri-La, progressive talks and demonstrations were shared.

This cutting-edge, cross-disciplinary conference convened an international meeting of scholastic, philosophical, and practical minds to explore Buddhism & New Technology, Neuroscience, Biotechnology, and much more.

Following the tremendous success of our first-ever Buddhism and New Technology conference in Shanghai, China, the second annual Conference was hosted June 15 to 17, 2018 in Shenzhen, China. This was an independent conference run exclusively by Woodenfish Foundation without other affiliations.

Conference overview:

Neuroscience, genetics, artificial intelligence, and other new technologies are expanding the scope of our collective knowledge and revolutionizing our world. Meanwhile, these changes are shaping our personal and spiritual lives: our happiness, our well-being, our enlightenment. Buddhism’s long advocacy of “technologies of awareness” makes it instinctive to embrace these emerging technologies and incorporating them as an aid to attain greater wisdom.

Indeed, the interchange among them—especially psychology, neuroscience, biotechnology—has gone from a trickle to a virtual flood. Beginning millennia ago when Śākyamuni Buddha developed meditation techniques to foster the awakening that he had sought—and that are today known throughout the world—this conversation is more important than ever in today’s turbulent world. Tantric practices, visualization exercises, aesthetic practices, and a vast number of other contemplative technologies have been continuously developed, refined, and practiced over the thousands of years of Buddhist history. Genetic sequencing, brain imaging, in vitro fertilization have physicalized the mystical code of life, yet controversies arise when humans are attempting to manipulate life—and the mind—with scientific methods. In other words, are we ready to think about the era of “meditating like a Zen master at the push of a button”?

There are many products and plans that promise to duplicate the contemplative experiences, which Buddhists have been pursuing for millennia. We think that it will be interesting and even fun to think about these things a little more systematically. Is it really possible to skip the thirty years meditating in a cave? What are the risks and ethical implications of the “science of happiness,” the neurophysiology of the “lama in the lab”? If your genetics encoding for greater happiness and higher intelligence can be modified, would you go for it? To avoid suffering?

Cyborgs to meditation apps to wearable computers to pharmaceuticals to genetics to ethics, all in the service of awakening. These are the topics for our symposium. Neuroscience or neuro-phrenology? Buddhism or Buddhism-lite? Hollywood? Business? Join us and find out.

For more information, please contact buddhatech@woodenfish.org.