Digital revolution, neoliberalism and the singularity of life

 

Interview with Miguel Benasayag, born in 1953 in Buenos Aires, he is a doctor from the UBA and a Doctor in Psychology from the University of Paris VII. After being arrested and tortured for his activism in the PRT-ERP, he went into exile in 1978 to France, where he lives to this day. His vast intellectual production, which brings together more than forty books translated into fifteen languages, covers psychopathology, philosophy, biology and neurophysiology. This interdisciplinary nature of his research has allowed him to develop an original approach to different contemporary problems.

In this interview, we focus on his reflections on the relationships between technology, neoliberalism, subjectivity, education and politics. Made by Santiago Liaudat on May 4, 2024 for the Science, Technology and Politics (CTyP) magazine of the National University of La Plata and the Latin American Thought Network in Science, Technology and Society (PLACTS Network). The interview, edited by Liaudat and reviewed by Benasayag, was published in issue 12 of CTyP: https://revistas.unlp.edu.ar/CTyP/art... Also in the podcast "Ideas en Jaque" (Spotify) : https://open.spotify.com/episode/0hl0... The interview consists of three moments. The first addresses issues related to the diffusion of digital technologies and their effects at the social and individual level. In the second, philosophical themes are explored, focusing on the anthropological changes produced by the digital revolution. In the third and last one, the epistemological dimension of these changes is investigated; that is, its impacts on the way of doing science and technology and the discussions around relativism.

00:00 Digital technologies and neurological impacts

14:30 Digitalization and new rights 22:20 Regulations against digitalization

30:45 Great anthropological break

 

Complete interview in Spanish: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsgZYq84ETo&t=3267s

47:30 Organism-artifact hybridization

56:00 Artificial Intelligence as a model

59:22 Impacts on education

01:08:33 Epistemological discussions

01:29:22 Cognitive warfare

01:32:00 Refunctionalize technology