Reclaiming our Humanity in a rapidly-evolving technology-driven world

Prof. Dr. Salvatore Moccia
Editor-in-Chief

Image prompt: Create an image of Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, focusing on the moment of escape and enlightenment. In the foreground, depict dark, shadowy caves with a fire. Highlight the contrast between the dim, confined environment and the light outside the cave. In the middle ground, show several distinct paths leading upward from the cave's interior towards a distant, glowing light that represents knowledge and truth. These paths should be varied, some steep and challenging, others smooth and welcoming, symbolizing the difficult journey of enlightenment.

Last week, I was in Manila, at the Ateneo for a conference on the importance of humanity in a rapidly evolving technology driven world. During my discussion, I analyze what the coming wave of technology means for humanity, exploring how technology is entangling us once more in the Platonic cave, and examining his allegory of the cave to better grasp how we might recover our humanity. Throughout my presentation, I introduced various technologies that are engendering a distortion between the tangible world and the imagined one. Finally, I shared my thoughts on achieving enlightenment once more by embracing a comprehensive model centered on human being composed by four elements: 1) Knowledge and Wisdom, 2) Common Sense, 3) Prudence and Virtues in General, 4) Common Good.

When coming back to my beloved city of Valencia, my flight was deviated to Ibiza, and then to Barcelona for a big storm that is affecting the city. When I finally arrived, 24 hours later, I found a city devastated by flooding and mud (see images on TVs all around the world). However, the biggest surprise was seeing flocks of volunteers moving everyday from the city to the towns affected by the storm (almost 15.000 volunteers every day), only armed by shovels, brooms and brushes, to donate some form of help.

Suddenly, I realized that my discussion in Manila was exactly about this: rediscovering our humanity in a changing world, but a humanity centered on the human being. At the end, after billions of calculations, and computations, algorithms will never be able to decipher and understand why “humans help humans”. These reflections can easily drive us to the book “Man’s search for meaning” by Psychiatrist Viktor Frankl’s, who argues that we cannot avoid suffering but we can choose how to cope with it, find meaning in it, and move forward with renewed purpose. Frankl’s theory – known as logotherapy, from the Greek word logos (“meaning”), holds that our primary drive-in life is not pleasure, but the discovery and pursuit of what we personally find meaningful.

On the same side, seven centuries before, the greatest Sufi mystic and poet in Persian language Rumi left us one of the most astonishing reflections on our meaning in life: “Our words and actions testify to our hidden thoughts; together they express our inner spirit. This is our life’s testimony, our purpose here on earth: to manifest the very nature of our spirit, which is touched by the spirit of God”. 

Yes, I wrote SPIRIT who brings us to spirituality, and to the question “why are we so afraid to speak of the spiritual?”. As Malraux said, “The 21st Century will be spiritual, or it will not be”. However, to be honest, we have to admit that spirituality is clearly discomforting, especially today when we possess all technologies to almost “dominate the world”. But again. In a world affected by climate crisis, a growing world population, ubiquitous terrorism and war, nuclear weapons and financial crisis, the most – and most unanswered –  questions should still be the following ones: What is the purpose of our life in this world? Why are we here? What is the goal of our work and all our efforts? 

Going back to spirituality, let me conclude this letter with a last reflection: “Whoever has received from the divine bounty a large share of temporal blessings, whether they be external and corporeal, or gifts of the mind, has received them for the purpose of using them for the perfecting of his own nature, and, at the same time, that he may employ them, as the steward of God’s Providence, for the benefit of others.” This is not bread for algorithms! 

Discover the author by yourself. It will help you to dig a little bit more on your inner spirit.

Next time more!

Cheers,

Prof. Dr. Salvatore Moccia
Editor-in-Chief