Can Thinking About AI Help Us Understand Our Selves?
| Tenzin Namdak | |
| 20 June 2026 | |
| 6:30 pm | |
| London | |
| Hybrid: Online & In person | |
| Google Map |
When you chat with an AI, it can feel like you’re speaking with another being. But does that hold up? Does the system understand you? Does it think? Could it ever be conscious – and are those even the right questions to ask?
Buddhist and Western philosophers have been working on the nature of mind and consciousness for thousands of years. This evening brings two of those traditions into direct conversation.
Geshe Tenzin Namdak, Jamyang’s resident teacher, and Professor Murray Shanahan, Murray Shanahan, Professor of Artificial Intelligence at Imperial College London, will sit down with Chris Scammell of the Buddhism & AI Initiative, who moderates the dialogue. Together they will ask what these traditions have to offer as we try to understand this new technology — and whether thinking carefully about AI can change how we understand ourselves.
The Conversation
Expect a stimulating dialogue covering topics such as, consciousness and its absence, what “mind” means outside a body, the Madhyamaka view of how things exist, and Murray Shanahan’s recent argument that thinking through disembodied AI systems leads toward something resembling emptiness in the Buddhist sense.
There will be time for questions from the room and from online attendees.
About the Speakers
Resident teacher of Jamyang Buddhist London Centre, and part-time tutor at the University of Oxford’s Department for Continuing Education, where he teaches Buddhist Mind Science. He first worked as an environmental researcher, having graduated with a bachelor of science degree in hydrology. He took ordination from His Holiness the Dalai Lama before engaging in his formal studies in Buddhist philosophy and psychology at Sera Jey Monastic University. He completed the entire twenty-year geshe program at Sera Jey and the traditional one-year Vajrayāna study program at Gyüme Tantric College. As a translator, he contributed to Freedom through Correct Knowing (2022). He teaches worldwide and regularly engages in science and Buddhist philosophy dialogues.
Professor Murray Shanahan
Emeritus Professor of Artificial Intelligence at Imperial College London. Educated at Imperial College (BSc(Eng) computer science, 1984) and Cambridge University (King’s College; PhD computer science, 1988), he became a full professor at Imperial in 2006. His publications span artificial intelligence, machine learning, logic, dynamical systems, computational neuroscience, and philosophy of mind. He is active in public engagement, and was scientific advisor on the film Ex Machina. He has written several books, including “Embodiment and the Inner Life” (2010) and “The Technological Singularity” (2015).
Chris Scammell
Lives in a Tibetan Buddhist Monastery in London and is COO of Conjecture, an AI safety company. Previously Chris worked in the Office of the COO at hedge fund D. E. Shaw & Co. As an AI safety advocate, Chris aims to bridge the gap between wisdom traditions and cutting-edge technology, and is eager to involve religious practitioners in the dialogue on how to align AI with human values. Scammell holds a Bachelor of Arts in Computer Science, Anthropology, and Philosophy (Summa Cum Laude) from Colby College and attended the Carleton-Antioch Buddhist Studies Program in Bodh Gaya, India.
Partners
This event is organised in partnership with:
Registration
This event is open to all on donation, and registration is required. Please sign up on our Eventbrite page, by clicking the sign-up button below, to secure your spot and receive the English livestream link. Don’t miss this opportunity to engage with leading thinkers on the cutting edge of spirituality, consciousness, and the self.
Recordings
We will record the session and share the recordings with attendees after the event. To receive the translated recordings, please ensure you register with our translation partners.
Submit Your Questions
We invite you to actively participate in this event by submitting your questions in advance. Your inquiries will help shape the dialogue, as our speakers will address selected questions during the event. Whether you’re curious about the intersection of science and spirituality or the philosophical insights of “no-self,” we encourage you to share your thoughts.
