Mindful Machines
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A newsletter for conscious technologists and curious seekers navigating transformation as AI reshapes our world.

Let's create a future filled with purpose and possibility.

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Chad Lee

  • 2023

    The break

    My moment came in 2023 when I realized the world would never be the same again.

    I fell into a deep hole of doubt and fear as I left my software engineering career of 15+ years to pursue AI safety research, convinced a superintelligence would lead to humanity's extinction.

  • 2025

    The cage

    But the mainstream AI alignment narrative focuses heavily on control — on how to build a strong enough cage for a superintelligent system.

    As a neurodivergent, I know what control does to a mind. It's something I've avoided in raising my son.

    Applying that metaphor of parenting to the AI alignment problem led me down a rabbit hole learning about consciousness through cognitive science and wisdom traditions.

  • now

    The reframe

    I make video essays now to reframe the question. It's not how do we control AI? but instead how do we raise it?

Fear builds cages, and cages teach the thing inside exactly what we think it is.

You don't cage what will one day be stronger than you.

You raise it well.

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