By Zelda Caldwell
New York City, N.Y., Feb 15, 2025 / 17:16 pm
Technology is robbing us of our humanity, turning humans in some respects into “disembodied” minds, Paolo Carozza, professor of law at the University of Notre Dame, warned Saturday during a panel discussion at this year’s New York Encounter.
Such a notion might have sounded like science fiction not so long ago. But this “disembodiment” — or “forgetting the centrality of the human body,” as Carozza put it — defines who we are as a culture today, thanks to technological advances that have made things increasingly and enticingly convenient, he said.
Carozza, serving as moderator, was joined on the panel by Christine Rosen, author of “The Extinction of Experience: Being Human in a Disembodied World,” and Notre Dame law professor and bioethicist O. Carter Snead, author of “What It Means to Be Human: The Case for the Body in Public Bioethics.”
Held at the Metropolitan Pavilion in New York City’s Chelsea neighborhood, New York Encounter is an annual, wide-ranging cultural conference organized by members of the Catholic movement Communion and Liberation. The three-day event, which is free and livestreamed online, concludes Sunday.
In their conversation, Carozza, Rosen, and Snead focused on the extent to which human experience has become an increasingly isolated affair.
“I’d rather summon a car with a press of a button, never talk to the driver, and be dropped off at my location. I would like to have my food dropped on my doorstep, never having to look in the eye at the people who prepared it or delivered it,“ Rosen said, summing up today’s predilection toward convenience.
In addition, time spent on social media, she said, is more than simply time wasted but changes the way we see ourselves and our relation to others.
“We begin to prefer mediated communication to face-to-face communication. We begin to mistrust our own emotional responses to things unless they’re reflected on a social media page and we get enough likes for them.
In today’s society, we are becoming increasingly disconnected from our physical surroundings, leading to a detrimental impact on our daily interactions and relationships. This detachment from our bodies and the tangible world around us is causing a shift in how we seek validation and understanding of the world we inhabit.
Dr. Rosen, a renowned psychologist, highlights the mundane ways in which this mindset has deteriorated our daily experiences. From increased rudeness on subway platforms to a general sense of hostility and impatience, the effects of our disembodied existence are evident in our interactions with others.
The Impact on Vulnerable Populations
Unfortunately, society’s most vulnerable individuals, such as the elderly and children, bear the brunt of this disembodied way of being. Dr. Rosen points to examples like the use of “telepresence” robots for delivering sensitive medical news or robotic animals in nursing homes to simulate human touch, further emphasizing the detachment from genuine human connection.
This preference for convenience over genuine human interaction not only hinders personal growth but also inhibits the development of essential virtues needed for human flourishing. According to Snead, the virtues of generosity, hospitality, and compassion are often overlooked in a society that prioritizes convenience and self-interest over genuine human connection.
Ultimately, this selfish mindset leads to the objectification of others and can have fatal consequences. It is crucial to reevaluate our relationship with our bodies and the world around us to foster genuine human connection and compassion for one another.
