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Tao of Seneca (Volume Three): Practical Letters from a Stoic Master

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313 pages, Hardcover

Published October 16, 2024

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Profile Image for Realini Ionescu.
3,408 reviews15 followers
August 24, 2025
The Tao of Seneca by Seneca – one of the greatest thinkers in the history of humankind http://realini.blogspot.com/2013/10/d...

10 out of 10





Seneca, AI and The Future of Philosophy



I am convinced that Artificial Intelligence will change philosophy, just as it will transform almost all other areas of human development, replacing humans at the cashier desk, in doctor’s offices, on the battlefield, at the wheel of cars…evidently, philosophy is a whole together different kettle of fish, ‘love of wisdom’ should not be in any way attributed to a machine – love in that context would be an oxymoron, albeit if we ‘philosophize’ and think of Thomas Mann, humans do not have the ability to ‘love’ on a regular basis, and we find the definition of the word in art, our feelings are generally much feebler and are not best described by ‘my love is as a fever longing still for that which longer nursest the disease…’



But I dare say that after Singularity will have taken place http://realini.blogspot.com/2017/10/w... this reader will give his Cortana, AI assistant as a task to think of the Best Possible Philosophy aka Religion of the Future, which would be one that is most likely personalized – as in one for me, another one for you – unless of course we do not all transcend into a Nightmare Alley – I hear good things about this new release by the way, Guillermo del Toro at the helm, Bradley cooper, Cate Blanchet and quite a few others…we definitely need to see this soon – a dumb future like in Idiocracy, which is quite possible, seeing that more than a billion – what am I saying, maybe three or more – opt for the most ludicrous leaders and democracy does not seem to work.

That is another task for AI aka the Intelligence that will cumulate and surpass all that humankind has been able to know, understand, think – to philosophize and work out a new system, for democracy alas does not fulfill its task and yes, Churchill was right in saying it is the worst – except for all others – and I have had the ‘chance’ to live under communism and still enjoy the benefits, which will outlast me, but we need look no further than America and see what the Ultimate Idiot and his one hundred million plus admirers (he has fans outside the borders of his country, maybe north of the billion mentioned)



To stay with philosophy and Seneca – who is allegedly the subject of this note, but it looks like AI has already taken over here, in that it makes this admirer long for the moment when all that Thinking and Philosophizing Power will be available to talk to, have It explain things, find solution to quagmires – why not, even extract me from the Quarantine (splendid chef d’oeuvre by Jim Crace, a note on it is ready to be posted on the blog soon) http://realini.blogspot.com/ in which I find myself, trapped with two macaws that are left into my exclusive care, which means that I cannot leave the house and the birds to scream and shout, except for a couple of hours or so, then there is the pressure of selling, financial duress, the big fracture dividing the rest of the family, the prospect of war next door and gas as dear as gold…in a nutshell



Artificial Intelligence will be able to square the circle and find the perfect combination between Seneca, Stoicism and Hedonism, with touches of Zen Buddhism - which I understand shares much with Stoicism http://realini.blogspot.com/ - and introducing rules form Positive Psychology – research confirms many if not most Stoic precepts…take the example of the effect that money has on wellbeing, where although it is important in that sleeping on the street does not condone happiness, money does not equal bliss, as demonstrated by tests made with winner of more than one million dollars at lottery and the study looking at the happiest people, who have strong bonds with family and friends and not big piles of money in common, demonstrating what Seneca was saying in his letters…

Sometimes it feels like there may be a contradiction between Flow and Nirvana – the state when we feel we need…nothing more, craving is the source of unhappiness for Buddhists and Stoics alike – Flow will require intense action, participation, while a Zen attitude is the exact opposite, transcendence, catharsis achieved through Detachment, not involvement and this is where AI will come into effect and tell us when to sleep and meditate and when to do jumping jacks and live with maximum intensity, what the French call vivre a fond – in contrast maybe with the well know La Dolce Vita, dolce far niente



The under signed thinks he has found (part of) the solution for Climate Change, what we need to still have this planet to live on and that is Stoicism to Save the Planet – an app, web site and more should be dedicated to this, or maybe there is something out there – which will play a key role in teaching humanity to stop consumerism, learn from luminaries like Seneca to ‘wish for what we already have’…as it is, Yuval Harari – perhaps the equivalent of Seneca in this century – explains in his marvelous works, Sapiens and Homo Deus, that if people around the world were to have the same living standard as those in America have, we would need more planets than this one, for it does not hold enough resources http://realini.blogspot.com/2021/02/s...

The Economist has published a study some days ago, which showed that if humans were vegan, then we would only need a quarter of the arable land, because the rest is used to feed animals – which are tortured and massacred in their billions now – and that would be both ethical, moral and good for the environment, plus it would be in line with what the Stoics preached – restraint,



The Supercomputer of the future will go beyond the famous Aristotelian Golden Mean – finding a balance between one extreme and the other, say when one is a Miser, giving nothing and another is giving all he has and leaves his family on the streets http://realini.blogspot.com/2021/02/i... - and find a Composite, sophisticated mathematical formula which will be applied to everyday life: at one thirty three I need my siesta (and then like in that Latin American joke, maybe a revolution) then at four zero five it is time to be stoic and at six twenty two it will be the start of Hedonic Activity number sixteen, with the Count Your Blessings exercise in the evening, when tens of other fruitful, blissful, cathartic events will have taken place…some quotes:



‘We are dying daily and need to understand that…it is the same for the sick man if he is one golden bed or on one made of wood, the sickness longing for riches cannot be alleviated’

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