In the News (Interesting Engineering): “In China, an AI could send you to jail. Researchers in the country have developed a machine that can charge people with crimes with the help of artificial intelligence. 

“This AI “prosecutor” can file a charge with more than 97 percent accuracy based on a verbal description of the case, as per the team. …

“Shi and his colleagues said that “the system can replace prosecutors in the decision-making process to a certain extent,” in a paper published this month in the domestic peer-reviewed journal Management Review. …

“The machine was “trained” using more than 17,000 cases from 2015 to 2020. For now, it can identify and press charges for Shanghai’s eight most common crimes which include credit card fraud, running a gambling operation, dangerous driving, intentional injury, obstructing official duties, theft, fraud, and “picking quarrels and provoking trouble” – a catch-all charge often used to stifle dissent.”

Question: Many believe that in the near future AI will be able to pass fair sentences and thus replace humans. What do you think about such a scenario?

Answer: I am certain it will happen because a person is in fact, predictable, limited, corrupted, and a lowly being above all. And prosecutors are clearly no exception. They will be ashamed to see what this electronic prosecutor reveals, what it is able to bring to the surface.

Question: Why, when looking at present day judicial systems, don’t we express some kind of an outcry; “Let’s get rid of them all”? We see it is all so corrupt and that it is basically rooted in egoism.

Answer: We can’t currently replace it with anything. It is a consequence of a society that is uncorrected and egoistic. So there’s nothing with which to replace it.

Question: To be clear, you’re talking about this judicial system?

Answer: Yes. In general, you have no way to fix anything. You can only say: it’s a little softer, it’s a bit worse, it’s better in one place or another, etc. But it all falls within the framework of human relations. All in all, we can’t do anything to directly fix it.

Question: If we talk about the ideal judge, what would he or she look like? I mean a human who is a judge; what does it mean to you?

Answer: A judge is a person who is in practicality a defender of the Creator, who stands as an intermediary between the Creator and the rest of the world. The rest of the world can bring any charges against the Creator and the judge can justify almost all of these charges. That is, he should not be a judge or a prosecutor, but a defender, someone who justifies.

Question: That is, the judge does not pass a sentence, but must instead always pass an acquittal?

Answer: That’s right. How can you justify a person despite the fact that he, a human, is controlled by the Creator? He is 100% under the control of the Creator.

How can we justify a person in this case, when the Creator committed such a crime through this person. Here we must rise to a level above the court, investigation, toward kindness and mercy. And consider before whom will he do it? Before the people who will judge the judge in this way.

Question: Are you saying that he is like an intermediary between the Creator and the people?

Answer: The people and society.

Question: So he essentially has the attainment of the Creator?

Answer: Yes, he must understand the claims of the people as well as the justification of the Creator in order to somehow coalesce them. It’s not easy. This is what is said about judges in the Torah. There is a whole “Book of Judges”.

Question: Could we bring it down a notch to our level? What should a judge feel in order to pass a sentence? Must he have some kind of empathy…or fear? Maybe his verdict will be unfair?

Answer: No, judges were collectively appointed by the people. Naturally, they were held to great standards and expectations back then.

Comment: Well in any case, nothing should “stick” to the judge, neither to the heart nor the hands.

My Response: That’s for sure! He is, on the one hand, a representative of the Creator, on the other hand, a representative of the people and must unite them; while also being above both of them.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 6/9/22

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Comment: Until recently the Black-Scholes-Merton model was used to mitigate the risk in fluctuating markets. The economists who developed it (Scholes and Merton) were awarded a Nobel Prize for it. Today it has reached a dead end.

My Response: Just imagine, the world’s leading economists received a Nobel Prize, and ten years later a crisis broke out that overturned absolutely everything! To what extent humanity is like blind kittens!

The economy is the imprint of our inner egoistic state. If I am connected with you by some kind of ties, then all this can be calculated according to economic formulas: how much I owe you, how much you owe me, and the same between everyone. That is, the connection of people with each other is displayed in the clearest, rigidly formulated way in the economic ratio.

Therefore, we have reached a dead end: there they cheat, here they inflate some kind of bubbles, there the economy is more rigid, and here it is more social or naturally socialist, and so on. All this reflects the inner world of a man.

Today we are not only in an economic crisis, as it seems to us, but also in other crises. This shows us that we have reached the biggest general crisis that human society can experience.
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From KabTV’s “Close-Up. The Future of Humanity” 7/17/11

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Comment: Before the Second World War, Jews were very closely integrated into all spheres of activity in Germany, Poland, and other countries. Then the Nazis came and began to drive them into ghettos; they were not considered human and were burned alive. The Jews have suffered a lot and it has all dulled now. In most countries of the world, they have returned to the same stage again where they control everything.

My Response: Physically, Jews do not rule in the world. And it didn’t happen before. Of course, they were present in many aspects, but more like doctors, lawyers, and not empire governors.

And the feeling that Jews control and twist everything comes from the inner nature of man, because the fate of each person in the world depends on whether he or she goes, so to say, along the Jewish, Kabbalistic path or not.

Moreover, it seems to people that Jews rule the world through the usual systems: financial, economic, political, industrial, commercial, and so on. No! Of course, they take a place in this, but not to that extent.

The fact is that the nations of the world really have a feeling that their fate depends on the Jews, because their correction depends on the correction of the Jews. To the extent that the Jews would rise up the spiritual ladder and pull all other nations with them, they would feel that the Jews are doing the right thing: “We will follow them, it will be better, they are smarter.”

There is an understanding in the world in this regard. As soon as the Jews begin to do their job, the nations of the world will accept them calmly as teachers, as leaders.

Why not, if this is actually how nature works? Rabbi Akiva was the first among the Jews, although he was not a Jew by birth (Please! The way is open to everyone). Therefore, the problem here is not a material advantage, but only a spiritual one.

But, firstly, the nations of the world do not feel this and secondly, they do not treat Jews badly, but the fact is that Jews do not realize their destiny. And not because the nations of the world are smart or stupid, but because in this way the Creator puts pressure on the Jews through them.

After all, the Spanish Inquisition did not treat Jews badly. It treated the Marranos badly, those who were baptized and converted to Catholicism.

Which means, if you are a Jew, be a Jew; if you are an Arab, be an Arab ,and if you are a Christian, be a Christian. Therefore, it was suspicious and disgusting for Spanish Catholics when a Jew converted to Catholicism. Why was this launched from above by the Creator? Because a Jew must fulfill his function, must lead people to integration and correction, and must rise above egoism. Instead, he departed from his mission and also went to Catholicism. It was precisely from this that the Inquisition began.

The same happened in Germany. At first, the Germans wanted only one thing: to evict all Jews to Palestine. Through them, subconsciously, there was a clear decree of the Creator to create a Jewish state in Palestine, so that they would begin to fulfill their mission.

But they rested their hands and feet, like a donkey being pushed from behind, saying, “We are Germans, Germany is our home” and all that sort of thing until they were just thrown out because the Creator instilled such hatred. This is a law of nature. If you do not fulfill your mission, you have no option for further existence.

Today, this applies not only to Jews, but more and more to the whole world. There will no longer be a Holocaust with only the Jewish people; there will be a Holocaust with the whole world.

We have come to a state where everything is open to the world, including the theory and practice and everything is set out on the Internet and everywhere. Please get it! Listen up! Accept it! Begin to understand that this is your salvation. But neither the Jews nor the nations of the world do this. Now everyone will get into trouble if they don’t start implementing the methodology on themselves.
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From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. Who Rules the World” 2/9/13

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Comment: Please explain the popular expression “Beauty will save the world.”

My Response: Beauty is a vessel for the revelation of the upper light, that is, the greatest revelation of the greatness of the Creator that corrects and fills everything. Therefore, the most important is the vessel.

But beauty is not in how we understand it. Beauty means aspiration for bestowal, for goodness—Ohr Hassadim, light of mercy.

Question: And can a person become such a vessel?

Answer: Of course! And the light of Hochma will burn inside him. It will be truly bestowal, love, and unification.

The light of Hochma is life. And the light of Hassadim (vessel) is the condition of life.

Question: Nonetheless, when they say: “Beauty will save the world,” what is it? What kind of salvation are they talking about?

Answer: That we will begin to correctly evaluate love, the movement of a person toward a person; this will save the world. At the same time, absolutely the whole of nature will change.

Question: So, it will become our value? And then the world will be saved?

Answer: Yes.

Comment: And now it is not in good state? Now beauty is perceived differently.

My Response: I see it like, let’s say, an asteroid or something else the size of the Earth or even a little more is flying at you, and only our relationship with each other will stop and turn it around. That is how I see our state.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 6/20/22

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Question: Now everyone in the world is saying the same thing you said a few years ago: “You will hear that we need to unite, that this world is global.” What is the difference between their words and the words of a Kabbalist?

Answer: Firstly, we are really getting closer and time is shortening. If Baal HaSulam in the twenties of the last century said that the whole world must unite, then humanity only began to talk about it in the twenties of this century. A hundred years have passed since then, and it seemed to him that it was about to begin.

And several years have passed between our words about the need for connection and the words of the world about it. This suggests that the world has gone into a serious acceleration of its development.

Secondly, I am waiting for the world and me to be able to talk at the same frequencies, not just about the same thing, but at the same frequencies, when not just the main waves will coincide, but all the particular harmonics within them.

By “connection” people don’t mean what I mean, but rather they mean an egoistic connection. I think it won’t help. We need at least some intermediate stage. But I hope that I will still find the world coming closer to understanding what Kabbalah is talking about. It will see that we are talking about rising above egoism and not about using egoism to unite.

The use of egoism for connection was what was in the Soviet Union, and we saw what it led to. You cannot place egoism between universal social relations; you must rise above them. This is what Marx meant when he wrote about socialism and communism.

Socialism means giving for the sake of giving, communism means receiving for the sake of giving, meaning, two spiritual degrees of ascent above egoism. Giving for the sake of giving is a quality of Bina, a spiritual degree.

It is necessary that people gradually begin to come closer to understanding the correct connection, which should happen over the coming years. The problem is whether we can turn this around from two sides: by our internal ascent and by explaining it to the masses from the outside. We spread our thoughts and forces in the world. Many are beginning to understand this, to agree that a person’s thoughts affect the world, and if such a strong team as ours thinks, then naturally its influence on the world from within the world is huge, and people feel these thoughts without even knowing where they came from. The masses are beginning to think in unison with us.

I think that this will slowly begin to pass into the general awareness of ordinary, remote people. I am waiting for them to begin to awaken to this kind of awareness, the germs of the next state. And then you can talk to them more explicitly.

In principle, the material is prepared for this. I don’t know if I will live to see this. After all, we are talking about huge layers of humanity that should begin to feel mutual incorporation, mutual rapprochement, and mutual connection as a given of nature. I don’t know how fast they’ll start to feel it. But all the same, the material is prepared, and people will come.

I think my main job is done. Of course, I would like to start implementing this as much as possible. Let’s see if it works out or not.
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From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. The World After Сatastrophe” 2/14/13

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Question: We gathered at the congress, but no one came as a whole ten, except for the Baltic students. What role does my permanent ten that stayed at home and is now in touch with us play in my efforts and the efforts of each of us?

Answer: At such gatherings, it is not necessary to divide into tens. You are all one ten wherever you are in the world right now. Whether you have been sitting at home near Vilnius or in Latvia, it does not matter. The most important thing is global connection. We see friends here from Russia, Georgia, Italy, Kiev, and the Baltic States.

So do not split up. In principle, you feel that you are all together, you study the same methodology, you belong to the same stream, direction, aspiration; you all belong to the same heart. I do not see any difference.
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From the “Arava” Convention in Europe – Lithuania 2022, Lesson 1, 7/22/22

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Therefore, we should know that we were given love of friends to learn how to avoid blemishing the King’s honor. In other words, if he has no other desire except to give contentment to the King, he will certainly blemish the King’s honor, which is called “Passing on Kedusha [holiness/sanctity] to the external ones.” For this reason, we mustn’t underestimate the importance of the work in love of friends, for by that he will learn how to exit self-love and enter the path of love of others. And when he completes the work of love of friends, he will be able to be rewarded with love of the Creator (Rabash, “Come unto Pharaoh—2,” Article 13, 1986)

Comment: There is certain absoluteness in this article that there is no gradual revelation of the Creator. Rabash says strongly: “When he completes the work of love of friends, he will be able to be rewarded with love of the Creator.”

My Response: This happens because there are no partial decisions relative to the Creator and there is no way to do something by a few percent. Regarding the Creator, one can act only from a completely corrected Kli (desire). That is why it is said: “From love for the created beings to the love for the Creator.”

The more you love your friends or connect with them, the closer you come to the Creator. But the fact is that it may not be felt. After all, we do have degrees of closeness between us, but we have not yet revealed the Creator. In order to do this, we need a complete Kli.
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From the “Arava” Convention in Europe – Lithuania 2022, Lesson 2, 7/22/22

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Medium published my new article “Hunger Is a Rolling Snowball”

The rising inflation around the world and the foreboding food shortage has created a snowball that is rolling down the mountain straight toward us. No one is safe. Some countries are more vulnerable than others, but everyone is in harm’s way. We have the power and the ability to mitigate the situation, perhaps even solve the crisis altogether, but it depends on how we relate to one another, to Earth, and to wars, namely to all the problems that really do disrupt our lives — not hunger, but our hatred for each other, which causes the hunger.

The crisis will affect everyone everywhere. The western world will cope with it better than disadvantaged third world countries, but everyone will feel the heat. In poorer countries, however, it will be a very serious crisis, and the only way to prepare for it is through international cooperative efforts to prepare and mitigate the event.

There are also technological solutions. Israel, for example, has numerous technologies to increase plants’ yields, decrease their dependence on water and soil, boost their immune systems, and make them less sensitive to extreme weather events.

In short, the ways and means to overcome the food crisis are there, the resources are there, and the means of production are there. We could overcome the crisis easily were it not for one glitch: Every country thinks only of itself, and if it does think of another country, it is always around the lines of “How can I use it to benefit myself?” without any accountability or regard for the exploited country.

This is why I am not optimistic. While the problems may not be unsolvable, we cannot solve even the smallest among them, as we see today, because we are failing one another.

Alone, even the strongest country cannot ride the storm unharmed. But together, nothing can harm us. When we let the ego set the tone, we end up with a world of scarcity, hostility, and destruction. But when we rise above it, we ride the whitecaps of the waves like surfboards.

We have turned human society into a snake-pit. The only time we avoid biting one another is when we are afraid that the bitten will bite back harder. But when we see that we will not be hit back, we strike like vipers without any hesitation or remorse.

To make any progress toward a solution, we first need to realize who we are. We need to not only acknowledge our egoism, but also to recognize its deadliness. Unless it hurts us that we are selfish, we will have no motivation to act against it. The only war we really need to fight, if we want to make life better for ourselves, is the war against our own ego. This, in fact, is the kernel of the rolling snowball that is barreling toward us.

It will take a while before we are ready, but in the end, we will have to realize that the only solution to the food crisis is to distribute it evenly. We are not there, granted, but eventually, we will have no choice and it will happen one way or the other.

At the moment, we are so far from such ideas as sharing or caring that countries even burn each other’s crops, which is insanity in terms of the global needs. But when we do not have the world’s needs in mind, and only our own, anything that hurts others seems to make perfect sense.

Therefore, first we must learn how connected we are. We must understand that by hurting others, we invariably hurt ourselves, even when we do not feel it right away. Next, we must learn how to conduct ourselves in line with the understanding that we are all connected and dependent on each other.

Once we understand that we have no choice but to take care of each other as we take care of ourselves, since by doing so, we are actually helping ourselves, we will understand what to do, what not to do, and how to do what we need to do so that everyone gets what they need. Then, everyone will be satiated, safe, and happy. We can stop the ball from rolling; the choice is in our hands.
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Accountability is coming for those who liquidate our future.

Last week, I announced five actions to speed up the shift to renewable energy.

As graduates, you hold the cards.

Your talent is in demand from multinational companies and big financial institutions.

You will have plenty of opportunities to choose from.

My message to you is simple:

Don’t work for climate-wreckers.

Use your talents to drive us towards a renewable future.
..
Throughout history, humanity has shown that we are capable of great things.

But only when we work together.

Only when we overcome differences and work in the same direction, with the same aim — to lift all people up, not only those born to wealth and advantage.

Only when we look to all people as fellow global citizens — with goodwill, tolerance and respect.

So to all graduates, I urge you —

Be useful. Be mindful. Be kind. Be bold (UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Commencement Address Seton Hall 2022).

Question: At the same time, it is clear that he was not just addressing students. Every 30 hours, a billionaire appears in the world. You need to have enough time to go earn your billion.

What should one do to prevent students from joining these companies?

Answer: Nothing will help. Wherever there is money is where everyone goes. There is nothing we can do about it.

Question: What should be introduced in universities then, what kind of teaching?

Answer: Nothing. Everyone tries to get into IT and other such faculties that lead them to good earnings. It doesn’t matter what I make my money from. If I earn a million dollars a month for producing some kind of machine, and I can produce a bomb for 10 million dollars a month, then I will produce a bomb. The calculation is very simple: wherever they pay me more.

Question: And this is a stalemate. But how can a person make a correct calculation?

Answer: You can’t do it in any way; this is the correction of a person! And this should be dealt with by the UN in the first place! But not in such a way that he says: “Guys, don’t go where they give you a lot of money. Go to a place where they will give you a little money, but you will respect yourself.” Who will respect you?!

Question: You say that the UN is not engaged in correction. And what kind of mindset does a corrected person have?

Answer: He’ll be ashamed. He will be reproached for choosing a company that develops, say, poisons. He will be embarrassed to talk about it.

And today there is no such thing in the world. A person works in some secret laboratory, develops poisons or something else, and is proud of it, if it is not secret.

Comment: Because the first question is: “How much do you earn?” He says: “It’s decent.” Everyone says: “Well settled.” And then they don’t ask what you make good money on.

My Response: Yes. And if he says on what, they will respect him even more.

Question: You mean that shame should come first in a corrected person?

Answer: The censure of society, the approval of society, this should be the main thing. And society in our eyes is educated in a way that it respects only money and power.

Question: It turns out that we need to rearrange society?

Answer: Of course.

Question: So are you saying that it is necessary to educate precisely society so that it will look at a person, at his good deeds?

Answer: And a person will be ashamed. A person depends on society. He exists in it; it affects him.

Question: Is it necessary to educate the whole planet so that it wants to be in good business?

Answer: Yes, it is only possible on a global scale. After all, we are talking about people who are engaged in programming and so forth.

Soon there will be programmers who will be able to run a person on absolutely anything. People will not know whether it’s good or bad, where they are going or what they are doing. All this will be programmed.

Question: You say that a corrected person will be ashamed of how society treats him and will not go to such a job. What will change in him, in the corrected person?

Answer: Values, the significance of a particular quality in a person.

Question: Before that it was money?

Answer: That’s if for the word “money” we will start asking: “And for what? What kind of money do you get? From whom do you get it? What are they paying you for?” Then the person will start thinking about what to do. At least this way.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 5/26/22

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Question: I’ve heard that we have to pay twice for the things we buy. The first price is paid when we purchase whatever we want, be it a book, a bicycle, cabbage, and the second payment is an effort to get the benefit from this item. And the second payment can be much higher than the first. For example, if I buy a book for $20, it takes 10 – 12 hours to read it, to get some pleasure, etc. Only then do we see the return on the first payment.

Today, in the pursuit of pleasure, we often pay only the first price and do not have time to pay the second. We immediately run for a new pleasure, buy again, and so on. Cars, bicycles, sneakers…

How do you feel about this?

Answer: It is correct. We do not want to put in the effort after that. We make enough effort in the buying.

Question: And where is it, the pleasure? I bought it, why can’t I master this thing?

Answer: You cannot buy pleasure; you buy it in some kind of wrapper.

Question: Let’s say I bought pleasure in the wrapper of a car. Why don’t I master it, but after some time I run for another pleasure?

Answer: Enough is enough. You bought it, that is it. Nothing more is expected of you. Why did you get the desire to buy it? In order to buy. That is it. And it is getting smaller every day.

Comment: There was no such thing before.

My Response: Egoism becomes more vivid and plays with us this way.

Question: What will this chasing lead to?

Answer: To fatigue. The next stage, which will come after the society of fulfillment that the West lives in today (the rest of the world is still far away), will be a society of disappointment.

Question: Do you see another formation that will suddenly arise? There were changes of some formations all the time, slavery, capitalism, etc.

Answer: No, it is the same egoism growing. And here we reach a state where we fill it and find that there is nothing further to do. Then there will be howling all over the world: “What can we make ourselves busy with? What can we fill up with? Where is the pleasure? What is the point of living?!”

Question: That is, the pleasure will wash out, go away from us?

Answer: Yes, it will disappear.

Comment: And I will not get it from anything?

Answer: No, not from wealth, sex, knowledge, power—nothing!

Question: And what is next in this pyramid?

Answer: Nothing. Above this is the attainment of truth, the Creator.

Question: So Maslow’s pyramid of these desires has stopped somewhere, and it is not known what will happen next? Is that where the attainment of the Creator is?

Answer: Yes, of course. Growth is leading to this.

Question: There was no other way to bring us to this idea that we need a Creator?

Answer: No, we have to go through these states. We have to build this pyramid within ourselves. Each subsequent stage is based on the previous one. That is all.

Question: Will this happen to every person?

Answer: Yes, but with each person it is not that he will really go through everything. He will perceive the experience of others and absorb the qualities and impressions of everyone.

Question: And he will not have to go through the same path?

Answer: No. He will understand that he does not need it.

Question: And then what? They will ask the Creator to reveal Himself?

Answer: The Creator is the most perfect pleasure. Look at how sex is viewed today. Once it was the greatest pleasure. Now they refuse it, they renounce it, and so on. And what remains? What will they be left with? What can one fill oneself with?

Question: You see this process as positive?

Answer: Of course, it is positive. Humanity is developing and going through all these stages.

Question: Is it possible to speed up this process?

Answer: No. It grows together with humanity, together with our egoism, together with the developing society. It all happens at the same time on different levels but together. It is a single whole.

Question: Can I have your cautious forecast? After what time will we come to the state that we will finally ask the Creator?

Answer: At the pace at which it is now going, it should be very fast. Of course, not yet in our time. But fast. I think it is in a couple of decades, 30 to 40 years.

I do not think there will be many. Even if now we return to poverty, to limitations, it will not be the same. We will already have impressions: why do we need this? We will no longer gnaw our teeth for earnings, for some material pleasures, and so on.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 6/9/22

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