I came across a post on the internet with the heading: “Singapore is paying citizens to read for 15 minutes a day.” The post goes on to say: “Singapore is offering its citizens small cash rewards for reading books for at least 15 minutes a day, as the government tries to encourage healthier habits amid growing concerns over doomscrolling and excessive social media use.”
What does it mean when viewed from the vantage point of philosophical anthropology, more specifically in the area of the mind? The core question here: “What humans are?” generally; and, “What mind is?” specifically. If now artificial intelligence (AI) will rather be a “replace” than an “assistance” to the mind (among children, or, perhaps, even among adults/grown-ups), what would humans(?) become – i.e., when true “thinking” becomes expensive or as rare as the astatine element?
Philosophical anthropology is a branch of philosophy that deals with the essence, nature, and meaning of human existence. In this case, as some philosophers agree, philosophical anthropology is considered a sub-field of metaphysics. Thus, in general, it can be seen as being concerned with the essence and existence of human beings. In particular, it can be seen also as being concerned with the essence and existence of the mind. But, moreover, this also considers the purpose of the human being, in general, and the purpose of the mind, in particular.
Let us briefly consider the word doomscrolling. Today it refers to the compulsive habit of endless scrolling of the internet, in spite of the negative and trash news that one comes across. What actually goes on here is that one simply surfs the surface of things through sensory impressions. Reading, and, at the same time, thinking, does not take place here. The mind is not really at work: i.e., it is not undertaking the act of analysis, finding the inherent logic of things, and drawing the right conclusion from premises.
If what Singapore shows is now the general trajectory of the human mind in the world, then we can somewhat see a reduction of man as a thinking being in the nearest future. If we are to use Aristotle’s basic definition of man as “rational animal,” then it means that the rational aspect of man, the mind, is reduced to a “tingga” (Pb) and that the animal aspect (flesh, bones, and blood: the physical body) is amplified to be like the “automatons” in Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, or what is called Philosophical Zombies (P-Zombies), or humans conditioned into being mindless, machine-like persons, acting without thinking.
It is now alarming to see that man needs to be paid in order to lift up his mind. It is clear passivity. The mind no longer inherently acts towards its intended purpose, or, to its proper end (to use Aquinas’ way of saying the telos of a certain being).
This phenomenon shows that man has capitulated to the enemy perceived as friend even up to the point of the demise of his own mind. In accordance with Aristotle’s definition of man, it follows that if rationality is lost, animality is what remains: a reduction to animal instincts.
For how else then can this phenomenon be interpreted if not man’s capitulation to the machine? It could be possible that someday robots will be the teachers and human beings the students (automatons, babbitts, P-Zombies). Perhaps, this situation could even be worse than the case of the Houyhnhnms (talking, rational horses) and man in Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels.
Perhaps this could be the worst state of man in human history. It is unprecedented that man needs to be paid in order to use his mind (except in the case of little children who need to be baited with Bobot candies in order to read their storybook).
Now, if we ask: Is the Philippines treading the same path? There are already signs. One clear sign is the removal of the Science of Logic from the curriculum. Basically, Logic is the science of correct thinking and proper reasoning. This should have been inculcated in the developing minds of the young; but, cataclysmically, this tool for developing the mind has been removed. What remains is clear to see for those who still think.
When reading is not out of passion, it is a burden rather than a joy, and what is read (aloud) merely enters the eardrum of one ear and goes out in the other, and, in between, it’s like an empty bottomless can. Indeed, the mind, like the muscle, when out of use, becomes weak, numb, and even sick. When this happens, as it is now the trajectory, the true telos of the mind is rather repudiated by humans themselves. The downfall of man’s mind, in the last analysis, is just from within: i.e., when true thinking becomes like astatine.
In Genesis 1:26-27, God created man in his image and likeness. This image and likeness would refer to God as spirit, immaterial substance. This would also refer to God’s capacity of knowledge. It can be said then that God created man with intellect, an image of God’s mind, with its telos for knowing. But then this image and likeness of God in man has been relinquished by man himself, in and by surrendering his mind to the machine, such as AI, as a replace rather than as an assistance.
Man is being alienated from the purpose of his mind as created by God. Would man continue in this direction until falling into the abyss (or perhaps into the point of no return)?
