Lectures for spring 2025

Homo Sapiens vs. Homo Patiens or: How One Might Learn to Stop Worrying and Love AI

Adam Blincoe, PhD, Longwood Philosophy
Tuesday, March 18th, 7:00 
BCM/Scholé House, 819 S. Cathedral Place, VCU

In this talk, I will discuss two philosophical anthropologies: one of agency (homo sapiens) and one of passivity (homo patiens). For biological and sociological reasons, the former has dominated human self-understanding. Recent technology, culminating in generative AI, threatens to make a passive anthropology plausible. If this happens, whole swaths of people may outsource the activities that make up life and instead seek a passive existence as subjects of experiences. I discuss current cultural dynamics that make this option attractive. To avoid this, we need properly attuned affective powers, including a healthy sense of disgust. This forms the basis of my anthropological argument for a liberal education. In the age of AI the liberal arts can no longer be justified via economic marketability. Instead they will need to be valued for their formation of students into persons who can use leisure well and who feel a proper disgust for homo patiens.

Dr. Adam Blincoe earned a BA in philosophy at Wake Forest University, a Masters of Divinity from Asbury Theological Seminary, a Masters of Philosophy from the University of Kentucky and a PhD in philosophy from the University of Virginia. His specialty is Neo-Aristotelian virtue ethics. His most recent publications treat the intersection of technology and human flourishing.  Outside of academics, Adam enjoys (not in order of importance): reading, hot sauce, liturgical participation, playing with his kids, and having long conversations with his wife, Dr. Sarai Blincoe.