Tag: ai

rethinking education: what does It mean to be human?
What Does It Mean to Be Human?

This is the question I’ve spent my life exploring, with children, educators, and communities. It’s the thread that runs through everything I do: teaching, curriculum design, the humanities, justice work, mindfulness, and now helping others navigate the unfolding reality of UAPs and Non-Human Intelligence (NHI).

For centuries, we’ve explored this question through history, science, religion, literature, and philosophy. We’ve defined ourselves by our intellect, creativity, compassion, and desire to make meaning. Some of the stories we’ve told about ourselves have been expansive and beautiful. Others have been limiting or exclusionary.

But today, something is shifting. If we are not alone in the universe, if there are other forms of life, intelligence, or consciousness, what does that mean for how we understand ourselves?

How do we define what it means to be human if we are not the only ones asking the question?

Expanding Our Definition

For too long, education has centered on delivering the “right” answers. But now, more than ever, we need the courage to ask better questions.

In my teaching, I invite children to wonder freely. Together, we explore:
- Do you consider humans animals?
- What makes us similar to other animals? What makes us different?
- What might explain those differences?
- How do we treat other species in science and industry? What does that reveal about our values?
- What if another species treated us the way we treat animals?
- What if humans are not the pinnacle of creation?
- What else on this planet might be sentient?
- How might other animals or beings experience reality in ways we cannot imagine?
These are no longer just imaginative or philosophical questions. They now live at the edge of science, history, and spirituality. And they are becoming more timely and real.

Rethinking Education

As new information emerges and challenges our assumptions, we have an opportunity to rethink the very purpose of education.

Education should not be a conveyor belt of facts. It should be a space where we learn to hold questions. A space for imagination, empathy, and critical thinking. A place where we unlearn what no longer serves us and begin to see the world, and ourselves, with new eyes.

This is not about replacing one worldview with another. It’s about learning to live with complexity. To remain curious and open in the face of mystery.

If the unknown includes forms of intelligence beyond humanity, or beyond Earth, then the classroom becomes more than a site of knowledge. It becomes a space for deep, transformative inquiry.

Practicing Inquiry Together

These questions are not abstract. They can be brought into real classrooms with real students, right now, as journaling prompts, circle discussions, art explorations, or collaborative projects.

Here are a few that can guide inquiry:
- What makes us human?
- What assumptions do we hold about our uniqueness or superiority?
- Are we alone in the universe? What do you believe, and why?
- How might other forms of life experience reality?
- What counts as sentience, and who gets to decide?
- What stories or cultural traditions suggest we’ve been connected to other intelligences?
- How has knowledge about other beings or deeper human potential been dismissed, hidden, or controlled?
- Who decides what is real or valid knowledge?
When we explore these questions together, we practice exactly the kind of thinking and courage this moment asks of us.

A New Chapter

As we step into the next chapter of human history, we will need more than just new technologies. We will need new ways of knowing and being. We’ll need empathy, imagination, and a willingness to stretch our understanding beyond old boundaries.

This is the spirit of education I believe in.

Not one that prepares students only for college or tests, but for the mystery of existence itself. One that honors our place in a vast, complex universe. One that teaches us how to ask honest questions, and how to live with them.

So I’ll ask again:

What do you think it means to be human?
May 8, 2025
Why Epistemology Matters More Than Ever
Epistemology is about knowledge. It asks how we know what we know, why we believe it, and what counts as truth. It challenges us to look at what we’ve accepted without question and to wonder what might still be missing.

In schools, what we teach—and just as importantly, what we leave out—shapes how students see the world and their place in it. Science is often taught as a fixed set of answers instead of a way to ask better questions. History is treated like a closed book, not an evolving record shaped by power, perspective, and silence. The humanities get pushed aside, labeled soft or extra, instead of being treated as vital tools for understanding what it means to be human.

But the world is changing. The questions are getting bigger. And we need thinkers who are ready.

We need ethicists, mystics, dreamers, artists, and scientists who can hold complexity, sit with the unknown, and imagine new paths forward. Technical skill is important, but it’s not enough. We also need wisdom, discernment, curiosity, and heart.

That’s why epistemology belongs in our classrooms. It invites students to ask:

What is real?
Who decides?
What happens when our old answers no longer fit the questions?

Because reality is shifting. New stories are rising. Paradigms are cracking. If we aren’t teaching students how to question, how to stay curious, how to sit with uncertainty and still stay grounded, we aren’t preparing them for the world that’s coming.

Here are the kinds of questions that matter now:
- What happens when epistemology becomes part of the curriculum?
- How do you define what is real? What do you define as not real?
- Is reality objective, subjective, or something else entirely?
- How do perception and bias shape what we see and understand?
- How has knowledge—about other intelligences or even our own human potential—been dismissed, hidden, or tightly controlled?
- Who gets to decide what counts as science or history?
- What stories are we handing down, and what truths are we leaving out?
- Are we teaching students to think critically or just to fit in?
Let’s raise a generation that questions, imagines, and stays awake. Let’s teach them how to build something new from the ground up.
May 7, 2025