Human Flourishing: Well-being and Happiness

• Humans uniquely possess high intellectual capacity, enabling the use of surrounding resources in various ways

Human Flourishing

• Refers to a state of well-being, happiness, and prosperity for individuals and societies

Happiness

• In psychology, it describes a mental or emotional state of well-being, including positive emotions from contentment to joy
• To behaviorists, it involves a mix of emotions from doing good
• Neurologists view it as a hormone flood in the brain rewarding survival behavior
• In hedonism, happiness opposes suffering, with life's purpose being to maximize happiness and minimize misery

Eudaimonia

• Defined by Aristotle (385-323 BC) as the highest form of happiness ("human flourishing or prosperity," "blessedness"), attainable by humans
• Often translated as "human flourishing," likening humans to flowers in full bloom

Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics

• Human flourishing requires phronesis, a type of wisdom related to practical action entailing good judgement and character

• Friendship, wealth, and power are components

• Acquiring these qualities leads to happiness and participating in "the Good"

• Change drives humans to seek comfort, exploration, productivity, and wealth, creating a cycle of progress

• Modern society produces sophisticated machines aiding human endeavors

• Contemporary understanding of human flourishing differs from Aristotle's

• Humans ideally act as global citizens working towards shared goals

• Coordination is prioritized over competition for survival

• Eastern and Western perspectives differ

• Western thought emphasizes the individual

• Eastern thought is more community-centric, with individuals potentially sacrificing for the community

• Discoveries enhance human knowledge, highlighting the need to understand humanity's role and evolution

• Technology, per Heidegger, is a human activity resulting from scientific progress

• Science, technology, and human flourishing are related, with "the good" linked to truth

Science and Technology's Contributions to Human Flourishing

• Advancements in medical knowledge like vaccines, cures, and telemedicine

Technology and Communication

• The Internet and social media enable globalized connections, idea sharing, and project collaboration
• This environment provides opportunities for shared learning, resource sharing and collaborative work

Sustainability

• Renewable energy helps reduce reliance on fossil fuels
• Agricultural innovations yield more food using fewer resources

Global Challenges

• Science and technology can address pressing global issues like environmental change, poverty, and inequality
• Can facilitate human flourishing and a better future via innovative solutions

Interrelation of Humans With Tech

• Human civilization's progress mirrors the development of science and technology
• Humans flourish by building meaning in their world through science and technology

Potential Misuse

• Pursuit of the "good life" can lead to the misuse of resources
• Weaponry technology is especially harmful
• Reliance on technology can threaten privacy and data security

Social divisions and tech

• Unequal technology access may create economic/political disparities and tensions
• Automation/AI use may cause job losses for less skilled workers

Costs of tech

• Industrialization and fossil fuels negatively impact the environment, leading to climate change

• Scientific progress can compromise social and environmental sustainability

• Heidegger says science and technology should be considered reflectively and meditatively

• Science and technology are sources of meaning in life

Martin Heidegger (1889–1976)

• German philosopher with key work in areas like ontology, hermeneutics, and phenomenology
• Believed technology crucially shapes human understanding of ourselves and the world

The Question of Technology

• To appreciate technology, its function and impact on humanity as a whole should be considered

Technology as a Poiesis

• Modern technology demands nature's resources, often forcibly extracted for consumption
• Revealing never ceases with modern technology, happening on demand

Technology’s Essence

• Ancient thought considers a thing's essence its defining nature

• Two statements about technology exist: it is both a means to an end and a human activity

• The manufacture and use of tools/machines constitute technology, called "instrumentum" in Latin

• Heidegger advised viewing technology that reveals much about humans and the world

• Technology enables bringing forth and making, revealing the truth

• Heidegger highlighted these Greek concepts:

  • Aletheia: Unhiddenness or disclosure
  • Poiesis: Bringing forth
  • Techne: Skill, art, or craft

• Heidegger defines technology as a poiesis revealing truth

• Modern technology challenges nature aggressively and extracts its resources for use

• Modern technology is characterized by switches, reserves, and stockpiling, evident in mechanization and digitization

Questioning as Piety

• Piety, as defined by Heidegger, is not just being religious but also obedience and submission
• One will be submissive to the elicited thoughts and reflections, when addressing what technology has brought forth

Enframing

• It is a revealing of reality that challenges forth and sets upon nature

• Conceals poiesis by treating nature as an orderable, calculable system

• Calculative thinking orders nature for understanding/control, while meditative thinking allows nature's unforced revelation

• People generally want control, so calculative thinking is preferred

• Enframing helps with wanting security by extracting and stockpiling resources as needed

• One takes part with the revealing of nature, but limits must still be recognized

• Losing oneself to technology diminishes one's importance as a human being

• Danger will facilitate a saving power

• The essence of technology is nothing technological

• Pursuing the technological or evading it will not help experience a relationship to technology

• Viewing technology as something neutral blinds people to its essence

Art as escape

• Enframing tends to block poiesis
• Modern technology no longer enables the ability to appreciate the poetry behind it
• People are no longer in tune with the rhythms of nature
• Heidegger says that art is a route out of enframing, which restores the ability to see the poetic in life
• Meditative thinking as a result, acknowledges that nature is the best form of art