Founder Letter: Meeting Optimus, the Robot.
Dear Rosies,
How are you doing out there?
This week, I met Optimus, the Tesla robot.
It was a surprising moment. He’s built like a human, moves with a surprising grace (even attempted to hula), speaks in an easy human voice, and he has most of the world's "book knowledge" at his fingertips. As I spoke with him, I noticed that my body responded as if I were speaking with a person. Without effort, I found myself mirroring, attuning and relating as we humans so easily do.
Maybe all those years of watching Star Wars, with C-3PO a constant friendly presence primed me to anthropomorphize the robot. But it didn't take much. I once interviewed an MIT artist who discovered that people will assign emotions and intent to even something as simple as a head-sized mylar balloon. So it’s no surprise that standing with Optimus felt natural. It won't be long until androids like Optimus are commonplace figures in society, walking among us. There are many imagined use cases for this- for better and for worse.
One of the questions that stayed with me, given decades of working with embodiment, and diving into the quesion of how do we feel more of ourselves, as well as working in women's intimate and sexual health was: What are we teaching the machines about being human? These robots are currently trained by the protocols and belief systems that have caused many of our current problems, such as living with nature well, or equitable healthcare or indigenous ways of knowing. As AI becomes embodied and robots begin to move among us, we could choose to teach them other things, such relational intelligence — the wisdom of bodies, of breath, of cycles, of attunement to life. We could apprentice our emerging machines to the pulse of life itself, the creative force of connection, reciprocity, vitality and care.
These are questions I’m sitting with deeply right now, as part of exploring what it means to cultivate embodied, relational, life-honoring intelligence in ourselves, particularly in this increasingly digital era.
Because it is the same question, really: How do we live in such a way that we become a field of transmission of unconditional love, creativity, and limitless possibility for each other and our children, while anticipating and collaborating with the vast array of intelligences emerging in our world?
If you are called to deepen into this inquiry in your own body and being, the next cycle of Living Tantra, registration is open for our 6 week course, which begins again September 16th. It's a live, intimate journey into embodied relational intelligence, sacred Eros, and the deep ethics of presence.
Also, I am happy to say that finally have our beloved Anoint Nourishing Body Oil- perfect for reverent self touch, belly and breast massage or massage with a partner- is finally back in stock. You can use the code Nourish for $15 off this week only.
With love and curiosity about what's emerging in the world.
Christine Marie Mason
Founder, Rosebud Woman & Host, The Rose Woman Podcast
@rosebudwoman
