Buddhist Monks are in the business of convincing people to back out of any desire and attachments which are obsessive and addictive in nature.

In stark contrast, GAFAM (Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon, and Microsoft) have designed (or employ the use of) these effectively demonic AI’s which do positively everything they can, to maximally addict people to their services. These AIs are likely to be smarter than entire teams of psychologists, and know no moral boundaries in taking advantage of violating our privacy in every way possible to gain a psychological advantage over us, manipulating us to dive ever deeper into their digital worlds and alluring services, prodding us on with algorithically-meted doses of dopamine.


So GAFAM (and other similar AI-wielding corporations) are sort of doing the exact opposite thing that Buddhist Monks and Nuns are supposed to be doing, and encouraging: to back out of craving. Unfortunately, there are many well-intentioned Buddhist Monks who go on Facebook (or Youtube, etc.) and thereby condone what Facebook is doing, through their participation.


Venerable Sirs, please “get off the sauce”. It’s setting a bad example for the laypeople. The laypeople look up to you for an example.

There are other providers of various sorts of Internet communication out there besides GAFAM. Please find alternatives which neither have the dopamine-pushing AIs woven into them, nor “feed” on maximally violating our privacy. It’s highly contradictory to our message (to end all addictions) to be conveying that message through a medium which itself causes and strengthens addictions.

The Internet is addictive anough already, with all the wonderful convenience it brings. I’m not advocating we all become luddites and get rid of all technology, however could we please just tone it back, and avoid using and especially condoning these deeply-creepy AI technologies which attempt to optimally manipulate our minds, preying on our highly-personalized weaknesses?