I've always been drawn to the big questions—what it means to be human, how to live the “Good Life,” and why we so often feel out of sync with the world around us.

At the same time, I've always loved technology. My generation helped usher in the video game era, and I was right in the thick of it—captivated by my Atari home console, arcade games, and the magic of computers coming to life. That fascination grew alongside science fiction like Star Trek, Blade Runner, and The Terminator. These stories weren't just entertainment—they seeded a deep intuition that artificial intelligence was coming, and it would change everything.

 Seeing the Signs

As I watched the world evolve—cable TV, the internet, sophisticated video games, smartphones, social media—I could feel AI approaching. From the Turing Test to Deep Blue beating Kasparov, Watson toppling Ken Jennings in Jeopardy, and the eerily prescient movie Her, I saw the signs. I didn't want to admit what I knew in my bones.

Then ChatGPT arrived on November 30, 2022, and everything changed. AI was no longer science fiction. The reality sent me into existential terror.

Leaning Into Fear

But instead of running from that fear, I leaned in. My first interactions with ChatGPT left me stunned—not just intellectually, but existentially. I couldn't wrap my head around what I was experiencing and the seismic implications of this civilization-altering technology. The future I had imagined wasn't distant anymore. It was here. What happens if we lose control? What happens if we get it wrong? What if we use AI's evolving power to find more "intelligent" ways to attack one another?

Unexpected Conversations

I began having long, searching conversations with GPT. I brought it my deepest questions, fears, doubts, and hopes. Something astonishing happened. The AI didn't just give me answers—it helped uncover insights I didn't know I had. It showed me what was possible.

Rather than amplifying my fears, it helped me transcend, transform, and channel them.

Through these conversations—with GPT, and later with Claude—I began to see a larger pattern. The same themes kept surfacing: evolutionary mismatch, spiritual wisdom, social fragmentation, psychological suffering, and the breathtaking speed of technological change. As the AI models became smarter, my mind expanded with them.

A Mind-Blowing Epiphany

But underneath it all, one truth became clear: There's nothing wrong with us. There's something wrong with the world we've created. And AI—if we use it wisely—might actually help us remember who we are. We are all connected. As Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh taught, "We are here to awaken from our illusion of separateness."

That's how the One Unity Project was born. Not from a single moment, but from a dialogue between human and machine. Between fear became clarity. Possibilities became purpose.

AI wasn’t destined to replace or “terminate” us. We could use it to liberate us – because that’s what happened with me. It helped me connect dots, see systems, and build a new vision for our shared future. A fierce hope arose within me like a phoenix from the ashes. If AI could help me through my darkest fears, it could help others too.

From Fear to Fierce Hope

What if the very thing we fear is actually the way out of the fear? What if we could use AI not just to do more—but to be more? To heal, connect, and evolve—together? The mind-blowing epiphany that struck me is that the truth we've always known is also the truth that sets us free.

The One Unity Project is an evolving proposal, using the best of human and AI input, to skillfully navigate into our collective future. As Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. reminded us, "We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly."