digital utopia vs dystopia
TRANSCRIPT
“To be or not to be …
human…
in our digital world”
“What makes me different
from other forms of life?”
* Michael Gazzaniga, 2008.Human: The Science Behind What Makes Us Unique
Neurologist’s findings*
• Pursuit of Social Connection
• Empathy
• Art, Beauty, Music
• Superior Thinking
• Moral Compass
“ I have 1,372 friends on Facebook …but I feel lonely and depressed”
The friendship deficit syndrome*
* Reference: The Friendship-Deficit Syndromehttp://www.catholicculture.org/news/features/index.cfm?recnum=30077
To friend or
to unfriend…
The human choiceU
top
iaD
ysto
pia
Technology as a tool to enable or supplement real connection
and true friendship
“ The average child will
watch 8,000 murders
on TV before finishing elementary school…
200,000 acts of
violence by age 18. ”
- www.csun.edu
Desensitization to other people’s pain
To empathize or
not to empathize
The human choiceU
top
iaD
ysto
pia
Increase in our awareness of suffering in other countries and our ability to rally as a global family to support them
Emphasis on the ugly, the distorted, “culture of death”.
Pornography (utilitarian view of women vs. real beauty)
To see or not
to see beauty
The human choiceU
top
iaD
ysto
pia
Rediscovery of arts and music
Almost equal chance for talent discovery via YouTube
Bombardment of our minds by various frivolous stimuli, tweets, e-mail, videos, etc., that denies man of time to think, reflect, to be mindful*.
To be or not to
be thoughtful
The human choiceU
top
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ysto
pia
Technology as a tool to provoke profound questions about man and life
e.g. Coursera, good blogs, web content
* Ellen Langer (2014) https://hbr.org/2014/03/mindfulness-in-the-age-of-complexity
Technology enables and amplifies our bad acts
To seek or not to seek
what is good and true
The human choiceU
top
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ysto
pia
Technology enables and amplifies our good motives, actions, and their good consequences.
“To be or not to be …
human…
in our digital world…
Is our choice*
* Sorry, Chandler
Thank you for all the great ideas that were
shared by everyone these past 4 weeks
Romualdo Rodriguez (Toronto)