Welcome to Cosmic Intelligence (formerly Spiritual But Not Ridiculous), a podcast that explores philosophy (Western and Vedic), consciousness, cosmology, spirituality, and technologies in the broadest sense—technologies of the sacred, of transformation, and of the mundane. As we enter this age of artificial intelligence (AI), we focus in particular on AI and its implications for humanity, questions of consciousness, AI safety and alignment, and what it means to be human in the 21st century, as well as its impact on our shared worldview. Since worldviews create worlds we will always keep one eye on our shifting worldview, hoping to encourage it along from materialism to idealism.
In terms of consciousness and spirituality, we also explore spiritual practices and other ways to expand consciousness, the importance of feeling our feelings, how to cultivate compassion and empathy, find balance, and lean into fear as a practice. Sometimes we have guests.
We approach all subjects from a grounded and discerning perspective.
Your host is Chad Jayadev Woodford, a philosopher, cosmologist, master yoga teacher, Vedic astrologer, lawyer, and technologist.
I'm Chad, a philosopher, technologist, product manager, and attorney based in Los Angeles. As an attorney and product manager, I have been fortunate to work at places like Twitter, Google, Meta, and Airbnb. I am also a master spiritual teacher within the Yogananda, classical Tantra, and Himalayan Kundalini lineages, as well as a jñāna yogi of Yog-Vedantic wisdom who has trained yoga teachers at academies and ashrams across the U.S. and in India.
Matthew David Segall, PhD, is a transdisciplinary philosopher and Associate Professor in the Philosophy, Cosmology, and Consciousness program at California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco. His work bridges process-relational metaphysics with contemporary science and spirituality, drawing inspiration from thinkers such as Alfred North Whitehead, Goethe, and Rudolf Steiner. Segall’s scholarship challenges dualistic and mechanistic paradigms and invites a renewed integration between the natural sciences and humanities.