MysTech.org

Star Wisdom & Technology
2021-09-30 19:00 - 2021-10-28 19:00 UTC
Individual Creativity & the Future of CultureFour interactive presentations exploring the forces of technology as they have arisen in human culture and its impact upon it. We will follow the mythic story of Cain and Abel, Cain the practical one and Abel the dreamer closer to Divinity. How do their streams intertwine through history? We will explore their work through architecture, the rise of scientific discovery, and through the insights and voices of those confronting the trends of contemporary human culture.
Each 2 hour session will begin at 7 PM Mountain time starting on Sept. 30, and continuing October 7, 21, and 28, 2021
These sessions will be recorded and available in your personal “library” at the StarHouse site. You can access them at any time. Additional documents that we will provide, will also become part of your library.
For More Info & To Purchase the Course
Four Sessions
September 30
Temple Architecture: Shaping the Human Archetype through History
We begin with the mythos of Cain and Abel, and follow their relationship through cultural epochs. Cain is the practical and technical of the pair, who has become the master builder of our civilization. Solomon called upon Hiram, of the Cain stream, to build the Temple of Solomon in Jerusalem. Down through history, these two streams can be followed, through the sacred architectures of all cultures. “The temple becomes the human being.” (Rudolf Steiner, 1911)
“We shape our buildings; thereafter they shape us.” (Winston Churchill, 1943)
Bring paper and pens (and coloring tools if you have them)
October 7
The Fall of Spirits of Darkness and the Rise of Science and Technology
Anthroposophy describes particular times where spiritual beings have had an especially strong influence on the development of humanity. We will examine one of these times, in the 19th century, when out of the development of scientific inquiry technology began to arise. We will examine three scientists who lived and worked at this time. Through what they discovered or invented, our lives have been immensely changed. We will use astrological charts, to assist us in understanding the significance of this time, and the challenge that the rise of technology represents to human culture. We will demonstrate how we read these astrological charts, focusing particularly on the importance of the recently discovered “outer planets,” Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto.
October 21
From Science to Spiritual Science: Rudolf Steiner, the Renewal of Temple Architecture, and a Path of Meditation Envisioning Our Human Future
We will examine the life of Rudolf Steiner, the Austrian philosopher and inspirer of Waldorf education, biodynamic farming methods, and much else. We will see how the timing of his birth moment related him to the major challenges that Humanity must face, then and now. We will investigate his birth chart to identify the gesture he brought from the stars to confront the rise of technology and its consequences for nature and human culture—technology’s excesses and its promises.
A major achievement by Rudolf Steiner was the design and construction of the Goetheanum building in Switzerland. We will explore the revolutionary architecture of this modern temple. After this largely wooden structure burned, it was replaced with a second concrete Goetheanum. He also metamorphosed the original building’s forms and essence into mantric thoughts composed in four verses: Laying it as a new spiritual Foundation Stone, in human hearts, to strengthen the core of individual human beings to encounter the future.
October 28
Cultural Creatives in our Time: Three Michaelic Leaders in Modern Culture
How can we manage the challenges of the rise of technology and transhumanism in our time, so that the essence of humanity and the natural world is not lost? We will look at the lives and astrological charts of three powerful young women living today—”three Graces”—who have already had immense impacts on our culture. The three are Greta Thunberg, Amanda Gorman, and Malala Yousafzai. From them, as forerunners, we can learn how to face the forces and challenges arising in our ever-more technological world-order
For More Info & To Purchase the Course

The Turing Machine and what computers can and cannot do.
2021-11-14 00:00
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Our general theme will be on the mysteries of technology as seen in the light of spiritual science. While a foundation in Anthroposophy is helpful, it is not required for participation.
This will be a 2-part series that includes:
The Turing Machine and what computers can and cannot doArtificial Intelligence or Automated Imbecility? Can machines think and feel?
What you will learn: Overcoming our fears of the future and artificial intelligence in particular are important for a healthy confrontation with Ahriman. Here you will learn about Rudolf Steiner’s vision of the future in regards to technology from a professor of computer science.
Can machines think and be intelligent? We have the Turing Test and its extensions – is this adequate? Can machines have sensations and feelings? Prof. Valdemar Setzer will answer these questions by exploring the Turing Machine, the Decidability Problem, and the Halting Problem. He will lead us to the issues of the “singularity”, man-machine symbiosis, and transhumanism. How can something non-physical act physically without violating physical laws? Is the human being a machine?
More About the Speaker
Valdemar Setzer is an Anthroposophist and a retired professor of computer science at the Institute of Mathematics and Statistics of the University of São Paulo (USP) where he continues to supervise theses, research, and teach. He was Visiting Professor at the Universities of Texas in Austin and at Stuttgart in Germany. He received his doctorate from USP in 1967. He was founder and Director of the Electronic Computing Center at USP, head of the departments of Applied Mathematics and Computer Science at IME, President of the Undergraduate Committee of IME, and active in his profession in numerous ways. He has published 12 books (see list on his website) and has published numerous technical articles in national and international magazines and congresses. He has been an invited speaker for events that the Goetheanum.

MysTech Study Groups forming now for January through March
2021-12-03 00:00 - 2021-12-31 00:00
Start 2nd week of January and run for 12 weeks using Zoom. Each class has a study guidebook consisting of passages from Steiner lectures and books. Each session has a theme with study questions and commentaries. Feedback has been 5-star. Sign up at https://mystech.org/study-courses/.Courses:
Beginners (NA, EU, Asia, and Aus/NZ)Intermediates (a) Mondays 5 pm ET or (b) Wed 8 pm ET or (c) ?Light & Electricity TBDDestiny of the Human Body TBDRefined Breathing TBD
You can sign up for any but it works best if you take the Beginners course first. The lecture material is often surprising and commonly challenging. You can work on it by yourself, but the group perspective certainly is very helpful. Groups have bonded and look forward to meeting each week.
CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP

AI: Artificial Intelligence or Automated Imbecility? Can machines think and feel?
2022-01-09 19:30 - 21:30
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This second webinar squarely confronts the notion of “intelligent” technology. By attending this, you will learn:
Thinking: the possibility of self-determining the next thought and free will. Searle’s Chinese Room. Machines will never think in the human sense, and they will never have free will. Sensations and feelings: individuality and subjectivity. Machines will never have sensations and feelings. Mind: thinking, feeling and willing and the role of the physical brain. Consciousness and self-consciousness. Intelligence and the Turing Test. Electronic chess and Kurzweil’s prophecies. New classifications of intelligence and “Artificial Intelligence”. Should AI mean “Artificial Intelligence” or “Automated Imbecility”? Machine Learning: implementation, the new programming paradigm, social problems. Man-machine symbiosis and the “singularity”. The films Artificial Intelligence (by Spielberg) and The Bicentennial Man (by Columbus) and their absurdities. The dangers of considering humans and living beings as machines and how to reverse this trend.
After attending these two webinars you will better understand how to work with:
The indications Rudolf Steiner gave concerning technology and how to apply them today.The adversarial powers behind technology, how to confront and transform them. The necessity of our future and how we can rightly accept these things out of freedom.
This is the 2nd part of a 2-part series that includes:
The Turing Machine and what computers can and cannot do AI: Artificial Intelligence or Automated Imbecility? Can machines think and feel?
CLICK HERE TO REGISTER
More About the Speaker
Valdemar Setzer is an Anthroposophist and a retired professor of computer science at the Institute of Mathematics and Statistics of the University of São Paulo (USP) where he continues to supervise theses, research, and teach. He was Visiting Professor at the Universities of Texas in Austin and at Stuttgart in Germany. He received his doctorate from USP in 1967. He was founder and Director of the Electronic Computing Center at USP, head of the departments of Applied Mathematics and Computer Science at IME, President of the Undergraduate Committee of IME, and active in his profession in numerous ways. He has published 12 books (see list on his website) and has published numerous technical articles in national and international magazines and congresses. He has been an invited speaker for events that the Goetheanum.

Facing the Future Without Fear: 5 Webinars
2022-01-16 19:30 - 21:00
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The direction of modern society appears to be sending everyone sliding into the abyss. Rudolf Steiner talked about a period of pandemonium that we must endure. Are we in the autumn of humanity’s earthly evolution? Have we already succumbed to Ahriman? Where is Michael when we need him?
We cannot understand society’s issues with materialism. These webinars intend to give Rudolf Steiner’s picture of the future to enable us to face this future without fear, to be able to act with wisdom in this Technological Age.
1/16/22 Webinar 1: Evolution Leads to Ahriman’s Incarnation (recordings available)
1/23/22 Webinar 2: Transhumanism and the Double (recordings available)
1/30/22 Webinar 3: Sheep and Goats
2/06/22 Webinar 4: Spiritual Science’s View of Our Future
2/13/22 Webinar 5: Refined Breathing: The New Yoga
You will want to attend this webinar series to know:
What were Steiner’s indications about technology?What is the role of technology in human evolution?How do we face the incarnation of Ahriman?What becomes of our Ahrimanic double?What will be unavoidable for our future and what can we do out of freedom?If sexual procreation will end, how will we carry on?How should we understand and confront the adversarial powersbehind technology and to transform it to the good!
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Fear of the Future grips many today. Such fear is food for Ahriman.
Spiritual Science can teach us how to stand with enthusiasm in the face of what seems to be a grim future. Our webinar series of 5 webinars give us the means to overcome these fears. I will guide you through the pertinent indications made by Rudolf Steiner about these times.
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Recordings | MysTech Conference 2022
2022-08-22 08:00 - 2022-09-30 00:00

Near Death Experience (NDE)
2022-09-18 20:00 - 21:30
Offering Insights into Mind, Consciousness, and Reality with Robert and Suzanne Mays
Based on evidence from extensive NDE research, Robert and Suzanne Mays will address the question: What do near-death experiences (NDEs) mean to us as conscious physical beings living on Earth? Their talk will present their hypotheses derived from NDE phenomena. They will focus on significant new material, NDE Evidence, and their next steps in Mind-Brain Research. As well-known and highly respected researchers, they bring Anthroposophical concepts into NDE concepts such as their mind-entity hypothesis that proposes that human beings have a physical body and a conscious, nonmaterial mind that is united with the body. The mind-entity is the seat of consciousness. In ordinary consciousness, the mind is united with and works with the brain through direct interaction. During an NDE — and after physical death — the mind separates from the body and operates independently of it. The meaning of life is implied: we are eternal spiritual beings in an earthly incarnation and we do not die with the death of the physical body. The implications are huge for our sense of reality.
Click HERE for more on their work.
Venue: Online MysTech Webinar
Cost: FREE, donations accepted
When: Sep. 18, 2022, 8 – 9:30 pm
Register HERE to watch online >>
About the Speakers: Robert and Suzanne Mays have studied NDE phenomena together for over 40 years, although neither has had an NDE. They are also students of Rudolf Steiner’s anthroposophy and helped found the Emerson Waldorf School in Chapel Hill, NC. They are particularly interested in veridical perceptions during NDEs and apparent interactions during NDEs between the NDEr and physical reality. Their recent focus has been the study of NDErs’ prophetic visions of future world events which includes a survey of NDErs on visions they have had of future events.

Webinar: The UFO Challenge by Robert Filocco
2022-10-27 14:00 - 16:00
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The Spiritual Meaning of the UFO Phenomenon
In this presentation, three areas of the phenomenon will be touched on, the technological, intrapsychic and ontological/spiritual. Special focus will be on the so-called abduction literature. Similarities between what Steiner called Ahrimanic and Luciferic beings and the appearance and apparent agendas of UFO beings will be explored via quotes from Steiner and modern-day experiencers. The role of more benevolent beings, the “Vulcans” will also be discussed. The connection of this phenomenon with the Ahrimanic agendas of transhumanism and AI will be examined, as well as the potential hybridization and future evolution of mankind. The dangers of three forms of materialism will be touched on, offering an alternative blending the best of the “new sciences” and traditional supersensory organic development.
Robert Filocco, after completing his advanced studies in Psychology, began his work in the field of mental health which has continued since 1986, most recently in private practice. He has served as an adjunct professor of Psychology at several universities and colleges. Since his youth he has pursued interests in the paranormal, especially UFOs, publishing in The Bulletin of Anomalous Experience, Outer Limits Magazine, and related journals. He is also a children’s book author. Most recently he has pursued in depth reading and study of Rudolf Steiner, leading up to his recent paper “Steiner, Ahriman and UFOS” serving as the basis for the conference’s presentation.
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Divine Technology
2022-11-04 19:30 - 21:00
The Harmonic Secret of Living Forms

Register below to gain instant access to the event recordings.

Image: Remedios Varo – Solar Music (1955)

About this Workshop

In four presentations based on her book Harmony, the heartbeat of creation, Monique Pommier shares a path to the primal pattern of nature’s forms, which she uncovered while inquiring into the mystery of number 12. What emerges from looking at the forms of nature with an eye for their hidden sameness is the archetypal pattern of the spherical vortex. The kinship of this pattern with Steiner’s lemniscate lights up the inner dynamic of “consciousness” common to all forms of being. It also imbues our awareness of the day/night and earthly/cosmic cycles of the human “I” with a new quality of intimacy with the spirit world.

Engaging insights from Goethe, Steiner, Plato, Kepler, cymatics, we will approach such central mysteries as the primal phenomenon of the appearing of Life into form; the unique “means” that vehiculate Being in physical organisms, weave matter with soul and unite self with world; the cosmological enigma of 1 3 7 12, which Steiner refers to as the “spiritual music” of the human being.

Realizing how every form of being, from atomic to galactic, deploys the same triune core of harmony, and expresses the same “breath-of-being” inspires a new ground of communion with the manifold breathing consciousness we are as a universe.

Watch Part One of this Series Here

The Stars Spoke Once to Man
2022-12-11 19:00 - 21:00
MysTech-Anthroposophy NYC Event
Sunday Dec. 11, 2022, 7:00pm EST
with Mary Stewart Adams
This was to have been jointly sponsored by MysTech and Anthroposophy NYC. Unfortunately, Mary is unable to be live in NYC for the event. She will still be present on Zoom.
Christmas will be the 100-year anniversary of when Rudolf Steiner gave Marie Steiner the verse “The Stars Spoke Once to Man.” Mary will speak to how this verse is the precedent to the Foundation Stone Meditation.
About the Presenter
Mary Stewart Adams is a Star Lore Historian and the host of the weekly public radio podcast The Storyteller’s Night Sky. In 2011 she established one of the world’s first International Dark Sky Parks, and in 2021 published the book The Star Tales of Mother Goose. Mary met the work of Rudolf Steiner simultaneous to encountering ancient star wisdom in the 1980s, which was galvanized into a life path through encounter with astrosopher Hazel Straker in 1995. Mary serves on the board of the Great Lakes Branch of the Anthroposophical Society and has recently joined the Anthroposophical Society in America’s council.
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Intelligence, Knowledge, Wisdom
2023-03-14 20:00 - 21:30
AI and the Waldorf School
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The launch of the chatbot system ChatGPT in November, 2022 has taken much of the world by storm. Its speed, clarity, and writing skills appear to be harbingers of a new stage of artificial intelligence that may transform almost every field of human endeavor. Its disruptive power was recognized within weeks of its release when the New York City public school system blocked its use, even as myriad academics spoke strongly for or against its pedagogical value. And what about Waldorf schools? It is likely that some enterprising Waldorf high school students are already using ChatGPT to assist them with history essay assignments or mastering concepts in science, and there are certainly teachers contemplating its possibilities in lesson preparation and composing end-of-year reports. Given the Waldorf schools’ track record with TV, computers, and iPhones, it is likely to be damned in school newsletters and prohibited as a tool for students and teachers.In this lecture Eugene Schwartz contends that whether ChatGPT and its progeny are banned or beloved, the most important task facing Waldorf educators and parents is to understand the ramifications of artificial intelligence and acknowledge the role that it is already playing in the educational and social life of our students. Eugene will begin with an explanation of how a chatbot works that he promises will be comprehensible to even the most technophobic listener. He will then explore the ways in which our own approach to “intelligence” in the Waldorf movement has been influenced by modern technology, changing our relationship to knowledge and wisdom. And he will illuminate how the Waldorf approach can empower teachers, parents, and students to counterbalance AI’s nebulous counter-image of human cognition.
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About the Presenter
Eugene Schwartz, a graduate of Columbia University, was a class teacher and high school teacher at the Green Meadow Waldorf School and Director of Teacher Training at the Sunbridge Institute. A former Fellow of the Carnegie Institute for the Advancement of Teaching, Eugene has served as a consultant and mentor in schools worldwide and has lectured on education at Harvard, Columbia University, Brigham Young University, University of Tennessee Medical School, and the Aspen Institute.

Topics on Bridging Spiritual Science with Technology
2023-04-22 14:00 - 15:30
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Today’s world is full of technology; mechanical, electrical, digital and so on. About one century ago Rudolf Steiner, as well as other spiritual scientists, gave us insights into the spiritual realm. But how do these two connect? Building the bridge is indeed important. However, not much has been understood, tried or even achieved up to now. This is so in spite of clear indications and even task descriptions to get on the way. In this webinar we will be walking through this landscape of indications, trials and tasks in the field of spiritual science and technology. The webinar is intended to be of interest beginners in this field, as well as to spark enthusiasm for new experimental work in the expert. The English and German sources from which this content is taken are broad and may reveal new facts not known to everyone.
About the Presenter
https://mystech.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/The-Goetheanum-Windows-3.jpg Spaan, born Dutch, now living in Dornach / CH, obtained a degree in Astronomy / Physics / Mathematics / Astronomical Instrumentation from the University of Utrecht, a PhD on Digital Image Compression from the University of Delft, worked in several academic and industry positions – for example on direct exo-planet imaging and on X-ray space telescope optics,- and published over 30 articles and books. Once he encountered Anthroposophy, he also took classes in art-therapy, music-therapy, Christology, Steiner-teaching and biographical counseling; furthermore he worked in the Section for Astronomy in Dornach and initiated the Elisabeth Vreede Institute / NL. Currently important areas of activity are research into Anthroposophical Astronomy and how to create art from Rudolf Steiner’s indications on painting. Languages are English, German, Dutch. See also www.lanz-spaan.ch/astronomie
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The Robot Who Could Paint and other Modern Fairy Tales
2023-05-21 14:00 - 15:30
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How can we assess artificial intelligence (aka applied statistics) and the externalization of thought? What is the Turing Test? Who are the players — OpenAI, Ray Kurzweil, Jaron Lanier, and John Searle’s Chinese room? What is the difference between strong AI and weak AI? Memory vs. storage. What is the difference between representation thought (Kantian critical idealism) and grasping a thought in the Goethean sense? The experience of observing your own thinking vs. machine representation.How does an artificial intelligence play chess?move generator,static evaluation,recursive search for a high score to a given level of depth —> it plays this move. How does chatGPT work? Training on a large corpus of text (almost half the Internet! Project Gutenberg, Steiner elib, Wikipedia, Facebook posts, GitHub, Twitter it all goes in — a Generative Pre-trained Transformer — it is a Statistical Mimic it breaks down these texts into smaller tokens that statistically complete any given pattern of previous tokens — giving the appearance of answers which are statistically similar to the answers provided by other humans in the corpus of human literature on which it has been trained.How do robots create images? Just like the rubber stamp tool in Photoshop — midjourney and other stable diffusion methods micro-sample an enormous library of human-labelled images and then iteratively diffusely-dithers samples from multiple images requested by the user to create a believable synthesis of their request.After Deep Blue beat Gary Kasparov in 1996 — it was like a human trying to outrun a lawnmower engine or use pencil and paper to out-compute a calculator — Kasparov’s vision of the future was that a human with a computer could beat a computer alone. He saw that the game could continue to progress by leveraging the tools we have built ourselves. Man is a clever animal — yet in so many ways, we are just more busy beavers (using colloquialisms to bridge the techno and Anthro worlds here, and the busy beavers to add some humour to the delivery).
About the Presenter
John Roland Penner graduated from the Waldorf teacher training in Toronto in 2009 under the guidance of Diana Hughes and currently works in IT. He worked previously as a technical writer for the 3D animation company SideFX and did technical support for the architectural CAD firm Graphisoft. His main area of study is Goethean Science, Rudolf Steiner’s epistemological works, and artificial intelligence. To this end, he has written three of his own ‘artificial intelligences’ — a chess engine, a connect4 engine, and a hnefatafl (Viking chess) engine, as well as an ELIZA (conversational robot). He wrote these computer programmes to answer his own epistemological investigations regarding intelligence and cognition, which has led to a knowledge of the subject without resorting to magical beliefs about machines.
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Main image used for this webinar: A digital image generated by AI system DALL-E from the prompt: ‘Humanoid robot creating art on canvas with many colors in Art Nouveau style.’ December 2022. (Image generated with the assistance of DALL-E)

The Polarities of the Internet
2023-06-11 14:00 - 15:30
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This webinar will take you on a journey to discover the polarities of the Internet. We will start with the technological basis of modern computers, chips made out of silicon that I call “Ahrimanic water.” After that, we will take a look at cyberspace and its impact, especially on children and young adults.
About the Presenter
Uwe Buermann was born in 1968 in Oldenburg, Germany, and is currently a pedagogical, therapeutic Media advisor working with parents, pupils, students, and teachers. He gives lectures and seminars in schools and universities across Europe. He is the author of several books as well as many professional articles – and he is the happy father of three children. www.erziehung-zur-medienkompetenz.de.
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Rudolf Steiner as Philosopher of Technics
2023-07-09 14:00 - 15:30
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Aaron French, PhD, is a lecturer in Religious Studies. His research explores the intersection of science, religion and technology. He lives in Germany, where he creates sacred spaces.
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