LOS ANGELES — Artificial Intelligence takes center stage at this year’s Doshi Family Bridgebuilder Award ceremony at Loyola Marymount University, with all four recipients being honored for their contributions to the field.
Receiving the prestigious award are leading experts actively exploring the intersection of AI and consciousness, with research in the areas of physics, metaphysics, and human technology. The following persons and organizations will be honored at this year’s event:
Center for Humane Technology (CHT) is a sponsor of “The Social Dilemma,” a film highlighting delicate issues surrounding social media and conceptions of self. Co-founder Randima Fernando, who will accept the award for CHT, served as founding executive director of Mindful Schools for seven years, teaching mindfulness to millions of kids and over 30,000 educators worldwide.
Fritjof Capra, author, physicist, systems theorist, and deep ecologist, founded the Center for Ecoliteracy in Berkeley and is a faculty member of Schumacher College. He has published several books, including “The Tao of Physics,” “The Hidden Connections,” and “The Systems View of Life.”
Jack Kornfield, trained as a Buddhist monk in Thailand, India, and Burma, holds a Ph.D. in clinical psychology and is a founding teacher of the Insight Meditation Society in Massachusetts and Spirit Rock Meditation Center in California. A key teacher of mindfulness practice since 1974, his 16 books have sold more than 2 million copies.
Trudy Goodman, Ph.D., is the founding teacher of InsightLA as well as the guiding teacher and co-founder of the Institute for Meditation and Psychotherapy in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She is a contributing author to several books, including the “Clinical Handbook of Mindfulness” and “Compassion and Wisdom in Psychotherapy.”
Since 2006, LMU has convened an annual Bridgebuilder Award event celebrating the honorees. The event, scheduled for Thursday, Feb. 22, 2024, is a daylong workshop on artificial intelligence that will include a screening of “The Social Dilemma” and presentations by each of the 2024 Bridgebuilders, including Fernando, a featured expert in the Emmy award-winning Netflix documentary.
For Thomas Poon, executive vice president and provost of LMU, this year’s Doshi Awards are showcasing brilliant minds behind the technology and innovation that instigates forward movement, the very forward movement that LMU is always extremely excited to champion.
“LMU is proud to host this event that for the past 19 years has honored some of the world’s greatest scholars, authors, and change agents,” said Poon. “The Doshi Family Bridgebuilder Awards is about forward movement in education, and this year’s recipients exemplify this sentiment in the best possible way.”
Established in 2005, the award carries a $10,000 stipend and honors individuals or organizations dedicated to fostering understanding between cultures, peoples, and disciplines. Previous recipients of the award include Vandana Shiva (eco-feminist and scholar of biodiversity and bioethics); Deepak Chopra (physician, philosopher, author); Zubin Mehta (world-renowned conductor); Thich Nhat Hanh (Zen master, peace advocate); Greg Mortenson (author, educator); and Huston Smith (religious scholar, author).
“Gratitude abounds for the Doshi family and for their vision in creating this award, which has honored and brought so many extraordinary individuals and organizations to LMU over the years,” said Robbin D. Crabtree, dean of LMU Bellarmine College of the Liberal Arts. “This year’s topic is so timely, as AI is transforming every aspect of daily life. A college of liberal arts is, in fact, the ideal convener of thought leaders to explore the far-reaching consequences of AI and to enhance understanding of its impact on society and humanity. All technological questions are first and foremost human ones, especially in the context of a Catholic and Jesuit university.”