Gelephu Mindfulness City is a completely unique project. Not only is there nothing else like it anywhere in the world, but it is also historically unique: never before in the history of the world has there been an attempt to create something like Gelephu. The city’s goal is to be both sustainable and environmentally friendly, as well as to reflect a Buddhist worldview and values. One significant reason for building the city is to attract back young people who have left Bhutan in search of a better standard of living. Gelephu is intended to offer employment opportunities for young professionals across various fields. For this purpose, growth companies, especially in the technology sector, will be needed. Thus, Gelephu aims to combine two things that are often seen as conflicting: capitalism and Buddhist values.

One of the cornerstones of Buddhism is the truth that desire leads to dissatisfaction. Freedom from desire, on the other hand, leads to contentment. Capitalism and the modern world, however, are built on desire: the desire for more wealth, the desire for a better life, the desire for companies to grow. This desire has led to immense technological development and has lifted a large number of people from poverty into the middle class. But this growth is not always in balance with the environment or the human mind, which is why the modern world is often marked by crime, environmental problems, and mental distress, as I mentioned in my previous letter. That’s why there are no Gelephus elsewhere in the world but cities that are referred to as “megaslums”. It seems that the modern capitalist system automatically comes with both positive and negative aspects. The big question is, can the good be separated from the bad? This has never been attempted on a large scale; instead, capitalism’s negative sides have always been accepted as an unavoidable consequence.

Capitalism taps into the natural human desire to prosper and succeed. When a person is doing reasonably well, there is a need to do even better. Eventually, this desire is no longer natural or reasonable but leads to excess. The capitalist system fuels this need for excess. At that point, people themselves should realize what is “enough.” Perhaps this is exactly what conscious capitalism, as Prime Minister Tobgay has spoken about, could be? A practical challenge for Gelephu is that individual people may not necessarily be able to direct companies operating in the city to be mindful. Companies might be internationally owned, with shareholders from around the world demanding ever-increasing returns. This could be avoided if companies operating in the city were required to adhere to ethical conditions based on Buddhist values. It’s important to remember that even in Western capitalism, companies are regulated by a variety of laws and rules.

But perhaps the real key to enabling Gelephu lies in entirely new ways of thinking. Modern digital technology primarily needs electricity to function, and Bhutan has an abundance of it. Through the computing power of artificial intelligence and quantum computers, a completely new kind of innovation may be possible in the near future. But AI might also be important because it could help place the concept of humanity into the right context. As we know, one of the basic principles of Buddhism is “anatta,” or the doctrine of non-self. So, while the West often speaks of an eternal and unchanging soul, Buddhism recognizes that even if such a soul existed, it would not be immutable. Over countless ages, that soul would undoubtedly change so much that, at some point, we would no longer recognize it as our self.

The same, of course, applies to artificial intelligence: it, too, has no unchanging soul. When non-self is taken as the starting point, selfishness diminishes, which is the Buddhist path. Could this same principle be applied to the technocapitalist system? Just as Western people have been programmed by consumer culture to always want more, AI also functions precisely as it is programmed. And just as AI can be programmed to operate in the best possible way, people could be “deprogrammed” from excessive desire. One vision could be AI-led companies that do not compete to grow capital but, for example, compete to produce the greatest happiness for the city. In this way, the greed inherent in capitalism would not gain control, and it could indeed be truly mindful.

Contributed by Meretvuo

He is a Finnish author and political theorist. He is also a Buddhist and is currently writing a book on Buddhist understanding of life as a path from suffering to happiness.