Great Minds
Pre drinks and a lunch for 12 guests were held in the private dining suite of Rosewood Hotel to welcome New Yorker John Mack to London. The thinker, author, artist and founder of non profit Life Calling, whose mission is to preserve our humanity in the Digital Age, was representing the US at the London Design Biennale. The august yet entertaining company at pre drinks and lunch included the CEO of a film studio, an international artist, a King’s College London professor, and newspaper and magazine editors, to not name a few. Between the synchronised silver service of coordinated cloche lifting, John related to us,
“Change is going to come down to the individual level. Period. A free country begins from within. Artificial Intelligence is going to exploit the vacancy of the mind. But I see a lot of hope – a bot cannot describe an essence. The war within is the only war. Involvement in external conflict is but a distraction from this fact. As in any struggle that concerns one’s freedom, there’s an enemy and a saviour. As potential, you are both. Until we start embracing the algorithm of the mind we will not land on the right plot for life. I’m excited to be alive right now!”
John’s 2023 book Notes to Psyche has lots of points to ponder: “We must question ourselves without doubting ourselves. The former preserves vitality, the latter kills it.” Followed by, “Intellect cannot see eternity, it can only think about it. Science is blind.” Two thoughts on never being bored or boring: “Boredom is a matter of life or death. Imagine lying on your deathbed and gazing for the last time at the world around you. Go ahead, give it one final look – make it real. Now ask yourself: was there ever such thing as boredom, or was it merely a forgetting of life’s brevity?” And, “Boredom, at its core, is the absence of gratitude.”
Our host Sir Nicholas Lloyd concluded, “You’ve truly opened our minds.” Gratitude was not lacking; boredom was absent at lunch. And with that, John Mack departed for No.10 Downing Street.
