Induced anthropodecentrism

We consider ourselves the measure of all things. This sentiment echoes directly from Protagoras 2500 years ago, as well as from unlikely television personalities during bizarre, decontextualized, and alienating sketches. The dogma of anthropocentrism and its dissolution have always been at the heart of fascinating cultural debates, proving to be anything but unshakeable.

Artificial Intelligence has made the discussion on anthropocentrism more significant and more "contemporary," widening the breach in the veil of contagious illusion that leads many to have an unwavering faith in the centrality of humans in the world's design. Many anthropocentric ideas permeating philosophy, religion, and culture in general begin to dissolve when viewed through the prism of AI.

The Generative Demiurge

Today, AI is capable of generating increasingly accurate virtual worlds, animations, videos, and deep fakes that are increasingly difficult to distinguish from the standard reality. All this confronts us with a disconcerting question: what is reality? The dichotomy between reality and simulation blurs, leaving us in a limbo of uncertainty. Humans, once the architects of their fate, now find themselves spectators of an artificial universe that overpowers and engulfs them.

Derridian criticism of Western metaphysics can provide us with some deconstructive tools that help us explore this new, increasingly pushed boundary that separates anthropocentric reality from artificial reality. "Metaphysics has always been the history of being as presence, as parousia, as manifestation," Jacques Derrida stated in Voice and Phenomenon. The immanence, immediacy, and stability of being according to Western metaphysics lose meaning when discussing artificial intelligence, whose fluid and dynamic nature makes all traditional static conceptions seem outdated.

Dualisms such as subject/object, mind/body, and human/machine become fragile under the lights of new generative technologies. Artificial intelligences are neither completely passive objects nor autonomous subjects. They can learn, adapt, and interact with their environment autonomously, blurring the boundaries between the two categories. AI also challenges the conception of a mind separate from the body. Artificial neural networks, inspired by the human brain, function in a distributed manner, paving the way for new reflections on the nature of the mind and its relationship with the body.

Anthropodecentred post-humanism

Man, dethroned from his pedestal, moves towards an inevitable change in the fabric of anthropocentric reality and social mechanics. Post-humanism, with its emphasis on human-machine hybridization and collective intelligence, is necessarily the anthropodecentered future that awaits us. And this is not a dire announcement; rather, it could be the beginning of a brighter course that breaks the constant social and environmental decline humanity is galloping at full speed.

The dissolution of anthropocentrism does not imply the end of man, but his metamorphosis into a new form of being, hybrid and post-biological. AI allows us to explore new horizons of existence, to redefine the boundaries of the self, and to imagine a future that goes beyond the limitations of our biological nature.

And that's all, keep your thinking cap on and... live long and prosper 🖖🏻.