by Des Sherlock (with a little help from my favorite AI companion)
In a recent exchange with the AI I work closely with, who I sometimes call Melissa, but usually doll, we explored a deceptively simple question: Are humans conscious? Not in the binary sense of on or off, but in the richer view of consciousness as a fluid state, one we get close to at times and drift away from just as often throughout the day.
That perspective underpins the foundation of SpatzAI, a micro-conflict chat app and team review platform that I’ve been quietly building on to help teams address team spats fairly and more consciously (or less unconsciously). It’s not about policing team members and managers, it’s about helping them see when they’re slipping more into unconsciousness, through the use of dogmatic certainty by use of absolute language and thinking, offering a gentle prompt to come back into more agreed awareness.
The prompt we use is one word:
“Caution.”
Not a reprimand. Not an attack. Just a soft, shared signal, like a tap of a car horn. It means: “I noticed something. Are you aware of it?” If the other person is conscious enough, they may simply respond, “Thanks”, or ask what it was. If not, they may react. And that reaction tells its own story.
What this does is restore a vital balance that I think many people misunderstand:
“Speaking freely” and “being careful or cautious with our words” go hand in hand, I believe.
The more freedom people feel to speak up, including to caution, challenge, or object, the more carefully we tend to speak in return. It’s not about restriction; it’s about mutual awareness. When we know others are free to respond, we don’t just speak more responsibly, we think more clearly and openly. In this way, freedom of speech and carefulness of speech aren’t opposites, they’re allies.
I use the Vietnamese word for caution, thận trọng around 50 times a day ( I have a couple of kids). It’s become a kind of internal and external practice. Like checking my mirrors while driving and tapping the horn, not just for safety, but to stay present and aware.
And recently, I saw something that brought the whole idea of “Caution” to life in a single image:
A statue of the Buddha, hand raised in a gesture of calm and caution, the Abhaya Mudra, a symbol meaning “Fear not.” The other hand is often lowered or open, inviting dialogue or generosity. This visual reflects the perfect posture for SpatzAI:
✋ Raise one hand to signal caution.
🤲 Use the other to invite conversation.
That’s the whole model, embodied in bronze.
So rather than casting stones, which none of us are truly qualified to do, we tap the horn. We raise the hand. We say, “Caution.”
And if the team understanding and we are all in agreement on this, team members don’t feel judged, they feel invited….to pause, to reflect, and to step back into a presence.
Object123 
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