Can you provide a brief overview of the PAUA Paris conference and its primary objectives, particularly for those who are not yet familiar with the event?
In a world where we’re all wondering about the consequences of technology progress and risks we created a conference focusing on consciousness. PAUA is a first event of its kind gathering together entrepreneurs and business leaders together with consciousness and indigenous leaders who are focused on preserving nature and mental and physical happiness.
While PAUA fully supports and promotes technology growth we also see that we mostly lost our connection to nature and often what’s happening inside our own minds and bodies.
Having on stage Yat Siu, founder of Animoca which is one of the leaders of Web3 in the world (Animoca is a multi billion dollar company) together with the KOGI indigenous who spend from birth 10 to 20 years in a cave is unprecedented. The KOGI are one of the most isolated tribes in the world, they live in the Sierra Nevada in Colombia completely disconnected. It is extremely rare to have the opportunity to hear them speak.
With such diverse speakers, PAUA participants can only improve their understanding of the world we live in and expand their views of the purpose of their own lives as well as increase their own well being and happiness.
With a strong emphasis on the convergence of technology and consciousness, what is your vision for the future of the tech industry and its potential impact on human well-being?
We chose “Artificial versus Natural Intelligence” as a theme because AI has never challenged the future of humanity as much as now. Everyone understands that AI is a fantastic opportunity for us but also a huge risk.
To talk about AI, we bring Silicon Valley experts and investors such as Nichol Bradford and Tim Chang and AI entrepreneur Rand Hindi from Europe.
We have talks such as “the Intelligence of the Plants” that few people understand as well as our speakers. Khaliya, Jack Alloca and Gino Yu are all scientists. Together with writers and philosophers such as Daniel Pinchbeck we will explore the connection between nature and technology and the future of humanity.
I personally believe that we cannot continue to ignore the knowledge of the indigenous tribes who have learned for thousands of years how to be the guardians of nature and have a much better well-being than ours.
I created PAUA to bring together their “ancient technologies” and their knowledge for example of thousands of plants in the Amazon forest (we are bringing indigenous masters from the Puyanawa tribe to talk about this) and new technologies.
The future cannot be anymore focusing only on technology and human progress as we see as this leads eventually to destroying our home, planet Earth. Integrating ancient knowledge is the best way to protect us from doing more of that destruction. PAUA is a unique opportunity to hear both ancient and future technology speakers.
PAUA Paris features the PAUA Startup Awards, which highlight emerging companies in artificial intelligence, Web3, environment, and consciousness/mindfulness. Can you walk us through the process of selecting startups for the awards, and what benefits do the winners receive?
The meditation app section alone is a 4 billion dollar segment in the Apple Appstore! We wanted to have young, early startups in the consciousness and mindfulness space along with AI and Web3. We are very happy of the many candidates we received for this first edition.
The winners will present on PAUA’s stage and our judges, Tim Chang and Nichol Bradford, will select three winners.
PAUA Paris takes place at Station F, the world’s largest startup campus. Could you tell us more about the venue and how it complements the conference’s vision?
We thought it was perfect to host indigenous and ancient knowledge leaders at the heart of the startup scene in Paris! Station F partnered with us and offers a space ideal for both keynote talks in their plenary room as well as networking space and workshops which we will have more of on the second day.
One unique aspect of the conference is the closing cacao ceremony. Could you explain the significance of this ceremony and how it aligns with the conference’s core values?
The Cacao ceremony will happen at the closing. Indigenous are used to night-long ceremonies in the Amazon forest twice a week or more. While we cannot bring the magic of staying all night in the Amazon to Paris, we can bring a connection to a very important plant, the cacao, that humans have been using since the age of time. We are going to give a taste of what an ancient ceremony is to our participants with ancient songs and music while connecting to this plant.
Throughout the event we will also have indigenous songs that they consider sacred, like Buddhist Mantras they are ways for them to focus and connect to what they call “the divine”.
PAUA Paris :: May 12-13, 2023 @ StationF
#ProudSesamers get 30% off tickets here