The extinction of experience Being human in a disembodied world

A senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute explores how modern technology is causing different types of embodied human experiences to disappear. Technology has permanently changed the way humans interact with the world, causing many experiences to be mediated rather than direct. According to Rosen, this mediation has caused our understanding of experience to become so "disordered" that "we can no longer assume that reality is a matter of consensus." She argues that part of the problem is that people now tend to prefer virtual interactions over face-to-face ones. A major issue with mediated communication, however, is that it leads to a blunting of human interaction skills, as well as a host of negative psychological effects, including anxiety and low self-esteem. Yet despite these pitfalls, people willingly compromise empathy and well-being for the convenience and "seamless ease and comfort" of digital interaction. Reliance on technology has also rendered certain types of activities, such as handwriting, obsolete. While this may not seem like a big loss for younger generations, Rosen cites research that suggests how humans "lose measurable cognitive skills" when they forgo instruction in cursive writing. More disturbingly, as technologies advance, they encourage users to see the world and themselves as needing the transformations offered by the latest apps or electronic devices. Everything in the world--from long-distance travel to loneliness--becomes "just another solvable engineering problem" that data-collecting megacorporations like Google or Meta use for their own profit. Meanwhile, what gets lost is an appreciation for the physicality of the world and for the sometimes inconvenient but always unique experience of human embodiment. Engaging and impeccably researched, this book serves as an important reminder that survival during this time of accelerated global change will depend on humanity's willingness to impose intelligent, self-preserving limitations. Timely, well-informed reading. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.