Technology, AI and the Alienation of the Self: Heidegger’s Warning in the Digital Age

How modern technology and AI reshape human perception and identity. A philosophical reading of Martin Heidegger’s concept of enframing and its relevance in today’s corporate digital world.

  ✍️ Radhakrishnan Dutta

    

    German philosopher Martin Heidegger in an essay entitled Questions Concerning Technology discussed the way in which technology alienates an individual from a true understanding of the world and its reality. He used the German term Ge-stell ; which is roughly translated into English as “enframing” or “challenging forth” as the purpose of technology. Technological inventions basically challenge human users into an understanding of the world defined by it. So, Heidegger’s idea was that technology contorts the perceptions of humans into a particular direction. The person loses his discerning abilities, his agency to the will of the machine. Heidegger predicted this future in the year 1954. In hindsight, Heidegger’s prophecy has become relevant in the present era in a world dominated by miracles of technology like AI. It is obvious that life with novel technological progress has become comfortable. Hard labour is becoming a thing of the past for the average person in the 21st century. One wants to understand something; or one needs knowledge: one doesn’t require to visit a library or consult 400 pages of a book nowadays . With AI, chat GPT; the trove of knowledge is available at one’s disposal within a few clicks on the screen. With the advancement of communication technology, long journeys to the office everyday might soon become a thing of the past too. Recently, Brian Niccol, the new CEO of Starbuck was appointed with the perk that he would commute between his home in California and Starbuck’s headquarters in Seattle; situated some 1600 km away from his home instead of shifting to Seattle. The hyperloop technology which is currently under trial in western countries ; if successfully implemented, would turn the very idea of long distance travel irrelevant. Similarly, from the home delivery of food, commodities via e-commerce platforms to the recent addition of sites like Blinkit which enhances the concept of home delivery by now getting an agent to do your tasks on a phone click, these revolutionary technological advancements have significantly reduced the physical or mental toil necessary for a comfortable existence.

 

     However, despite the comfort and luxury of the techno-industrial era, the critical question lingering over the individual is the alienation of selfhood. As Heidegger showed the “enframing” effect of modern technology, the average person could be seen losing the sheen of his identity, his individual agency to perceive the world around him. Can the individual; surrounded by the technological halo, look beyond the particular worldview given to him by the overarching system of gadgets and devices is a big question. Instances of this question are prevalent in our very surroundings. Nowadays, a common occurrence in big cities around many new generation professionals is the indispensable dependency upon online food delivery sites. There are instances of many people living alone in big cities going hungry the day food delivery at home is unavailable. Of course, it would be wrong to blame the person for his over dependence on the e-commerce site as he has been allowed only a little leisurely time from the busy schedule, work pressure and the routine of deadlines given to him by his organisation. This is the systematic alienation of the individual’s own self and autonomy under a system of technological industrial era. This system has created a superstructure of corporate technological knowledge framework which moulds the individual’s perceptions, desires and views. In a techno-corporate culture, Completing the work target, meeting the deadline anyhow become the hallmark of the individual employee’s sole ambition. He is moulded by the system in a manner that he becomes oblivious to the fact that the corporation’s objectives are internalized into him as his own personal objectives. This is how the obliteration of the agency of the individual self occurs in a system of technological corporate control. This is just one instance, this process has permeated into the minute layers of day to day life of the 21st century.

     Japan and South Korea are two giants of innovation in technology in the present era. These two countries demonstrate the peak of ease and comfort given to human life by technological innovations. On the one hand, technological innovations have improved the living standard to unprecedented levels in both the countries in the last fifty years, yet both the countries are looking grimly towards an approaching demographic collapse due to dismal level of birth rates. In both nations, young people are refusing to develop social relations with others as they have grown up in an environment in which a technological ecosystem replaces the necessity of going out of home or interacting with other humans. As the human social ecosystem is removed, the new generations there are unable to comprehend the necessity of companionship and social interactions leading to a demographic collapse. In Japan, the culture of "salaryman" has grown deeper roots in this environment. The "salaryman" is a person who works in his corporation office from 8 o’ clock in the morning till midnight and then often ends up sleeping in sidewalks, parks or in the metro trains. For him, the corporation is the sole objective of his life. He doesn’t need social interaction, leisure or family. This scenario seen in Japan foreshadows a dystopian future for the human race under a highly advanced corporate technological civilization. When the rewards of technology makes life too easy, too comfortable that you don’t need to venture out of your apartment or room, when everything is available at the few clicks on your gadget’s screen, you may soon risk losing the autonomy of self, your identity without an inkling about it. With the advancement of artificial intelligence, a Japan-like social crisis could also become the reality of the entire world in near future. The human world would need to navigate a critical trajectory in between the zenith of technological growth and the lurking threat of erasure of the very individuality of the person.