Gopi Kallayil - The Happy Human: Being Real in an Artificially Intelligent World

Praise for The Happy Human

At Google it is a high compliment when you call someone Googley. Gopi is one of the most Googley people I know. He says yes to life, creates new opportunities, and is as helpful and inspiring as he is effective in his work. The Happy Human is a fun, interesting, and happy way to learn Gopis insights and experience his ups and downs. A thoroughly good read.

Alan Eagle, Director of Executive Summits, Google; co-author of the New York Times bestseller How Google Works

Being with Gopi makes me happy, and now, even when he is on one of his global adventures, I can get happy reading this book. Teaching with him, I have experienced the insight, kindness, inclusivity, and humility that he brings to the book from his life experiences, which range from village life in India to tech life in Silicon Valley. I often teach a meditation that includes the phrase May all beings be happy. Now Gopi gives us accessible techniques and inspiration to bring that aspiration to life. And you can start right now!

Mirabai Bush, co-founder of the Center for Contemplative Mind in Society; co-developer of Search Inside Yourself, Google; and co-author with Ram Dass of Walking Each Other Home

In The Happy Human, Gopi shows us there isnt an exact formula to follow in order to achieve happiness. Instead, we must simply remember that life is one big experimentand our only task is to embrace ourselves and the human experience. It is when we do this that we can find true meaning and live a happier, more purpose-filled life.

Cait Flanders, author of The Year of Less

A good reminder of the important ways we can each change our thinking to have a happier and more meaningful life.

Rabbi Steve Leder, author of More Beautiful Than Before: How Suffering Transforms Us

As a professor in Silicon Valley, I endeavor to give my students skills that will help them innovate in their careers. When Gopi visits my classroom, his effervescent stories remind students of the goal of innovation: to be happy every day, at work and at home, and to help others be happy.

Ted Ladd, Ph.D., professor of entrepreneurship at Hult International Business School and instructor at Harvard University

Life is a series of waves, of peaks, of ups and downs. No one is happy all the time. But the only thing that really matters in life is being happy. Not just content, not just satisfied, but fulfilled and full of meaning. This is a hard goal to reach, and one thats impossible to live up to all the time. It is too easy to be living well and to not fully appreciate it.... In The Happy Human, Gopi gives you some tips to put into practice to remain fully alive and happy.

Amandine Roche, human rights lawyer, United Nations, and founder of United Mindful Nations

As technology races forward at light speed, this is exactly the guide we all desperately need, and we need it now. I will recommend it to my patients, tech clients, and everyone in my community, since theres not a single person who cannot benefit from Gopis book.

Ronesh Sinha, M.D., physician, speaker, and author of The South Asian Health Solution

I connected profoundly with The Happy Human, especially how lifes sorrows are part of the whole human experience and how these can and do ultimately lead to happiness.... Gopi is a gifted storyteller whose delivery is a mixture of wisdom, humor, and compassion. The Happy Human is sure to inspire your heart and intellect.

Karen Guggenheim, CEO of WOHASU and co-founder of the World Happiness Summit

ALSO BY GOPI KALLAYIL

The Internet to the Inner-Net: Five Ways to Reset Your Connection and Live a Conscious Life

The above is available at your local bookstore, or may be ordered by visiting:

Hay House USA: www.hayhouse.com
Hay House Australia: www.hayhouse.com.au
Hay House UK: www.hayhouse.co.uk
Hay House India: www.hayhouse.co.in

***

Copyright 2018 by Gopi Kallayil

Published in the United States by: Hay House, Inc.: www.hayhouse.com Published in Australia by: Hay House Australia Pty. Ltd.: www.hayhouse.com.au Published in the United Kingdom by: Hay House UK, Ltd.: www.hayhouse.co.uk Published in India by: Hay House Publishers India: www.hayhouse.co.in

Cover design: Pete Garceau Interior design: Joe Bernier

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced by any mechanical, photographic, or electronic process, or in the form of a phonographic recording; nor may it be stored in a retrieval system, transmitted, or otherwise be copied for public or private useother than for fair use as brief quotations embodied in articles and reviewswithout prior written permission of the publisher.

The author of this book does not dispense medical advice or prescribe the use of any technique as a form of treatment for physical, emotional, or medical problems without the advice of a physician, either directly or indirectly. The intent of the author is only to offer information of a general nature to help you in your quest for emotional, physical, and spiritual well-being. In the event you use any of the information in this book for yourself, the author and the publisher assume no responsibility for your actions.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Kallayil , Gopi, author.

Title: The happy human : getting real in an artificially intelligent world / Gopi Kallayil.

Description: Carlsbad, California : Hay House, [2018]

Identifiers: LCCN 2018016400 | ISBN 9781401946227 (hardcover : alk. paper)

Subjects: LCSH: Conduct of life. | Happiness. | Self-realization. | Kallayil , Gopi--Philosophy.

Classification: LCC BJ1589 .K353 2018 | DDC 158--dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018016400

Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-4019-4622-7

E-book ISBN: 978-1-4019-5412-3

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

1st edition, September 2018

Printed in the United States of America

To my father and mother for giving me life and happiness.
To my Gurus Rama Devi, Tara Devi, Amma for teaching me to look for happiness within.

I met Gopi at the first World Happiness Summit in 2017, where I spoke about the Science of Happiness and he spoke about the Internet to the Inner-Net. We also spoke about this book, which he was just starting to write, and worried about a bit. When he gave me the book to read, I was struck by the profound simplicity of his writing. On the one hand, I could certainly relate to the ideas he wrote about, and yet on the other hand reading the book deepened my understandingand my experienceof the Happy Human.

Those writing about the pursuit of happiness are often criticized for being detached idealists. There is so much pain in the world, levels of depression and anxiety are on the rise, and youre concerned with happiness? Surely dealing with the dominance of the Suffering Human should precede dealing with the rare or absent phenomenon of the Happy Human. A second, related criticism aimed at those who explore and thus promote the pursuit of happiness is that they are spreading selfishness. How can you write about happiness while there is so much misery in the world? How can you encourage people to spend time on their personal flourishing when millions across our global village are hungry? Shouldnt we direct our personal pursuit and our collective concern toward studying and alleviating suffering and injustice? The two classes of criticismconcerning the detached and selfish nature of the pursuit of happinessare valuable in that they can help us more fully understand what happiness is and is not, and why in fact exploring the concept of the Happy Human is so important for us, personally and collectively.