The Bowl and the Machine

From building AI to studying ancient sound: exploring what makes us human in an accelerating world.

Lauren Berkowitz · Oct 8, 2025

I've spent my career at the edge of technology, from digital music to cloud computing, AI and memory storage, I've built products, shaped strategy and helped drive transformations that have redefined industries.

A health scare recently forced me to pause. I realized I was stretched thin, overstimulated and disconnected, from people, and from myself. In trying to reset, I ended up back where my career began: music. Or rather, sound. Not the produced tracks from my Sony and EMI days with artists like Beyonce and Coldplay, but ancient sounds, made from Tibetan and crystal bowls and Ohms. Vibrations that you feel easily as much as you hear pleasingly. At first it was therapy. Then curiosity took over.

As I studied how frequencies and materials affect the brain, I recognized a familiar kind of systems thinking, the same I'd used in tech, but this time aimed at restoring presence instead of extracting productivity. Tesla once said, "If you want to understand the secrets of the universe, think in terms of energy, frequency, and vibration." Sound holds all three at once.

So I kept going. I learned how sound waves interact with brain waves, how frequencies shift our states of mind, and how ancient mantras were early forms of resonance science. Eventually, I became a sound healer myself.

And here's the surprising part: I've seen a shift, and others see it too. I'm calmer, more centered, and more joyful. Colleagues and friends, early-career, mid-level, and senior all now ask about this new passion often more than they want to talk about technology breakthroughs or product roadmaps.

I believe the next big trend in work and culture won't just be technology itself, it will be the practices that bring us back into ourselves as humans: listening, resting, connecting, and making meaning. The more advanced the machine becomes, the more clearly our humanness stands out, and the more opportunities we have to explore each other and ourselves. I believe this will be one of the true gifts technology brings us over the coming decade.

I still work in technology. This reflection isn't about stepping away from that world, it's about understanding it more deeply, and exploring how humans can thrive within it.

That's why I started Ctrl Alt Human, as a personal reflection on what it means to be human in a world dominated by technological advances.

If this resonates, follow along. And if you're in New York, come join me at the Ohm Center for a sound bath.