Technology and the Mind

Dr. Nicolle Zapien reviews all of the previous episodes of Technology and the Mind and muses about the future of psychoanalysis, technology and advocacy efforts as this relates to AI and the effects of technology products and services on us all. This is the last episode of the season.

In this episode, Dr. Roald discusses the importance of art and aesthetic experience and its relationship to freedom. We draw connections to technology and its impact on our experience of art and freedom as well as connections to psychoanalysis.

In this episode Dr. Trub discusses her research and experience training psychologists prior, during and after to COVID-19. She calls for more thinking about teleanalysis and teletraining and particularly questions about the analytic frame. In this episode we muse about the generational impact of tech use on schemata for thinking and on the future of our profession against the backdrop of AI and therapy apps.

In this episode Colleen Cotter, user experience researcher and designer discusses her work on projects of social value and in particular on technology products that support social good including neurodevelopment and that address neurodegenerative disease. She discusses incentives that motivate design and processes that are more beneficial to us all.

Dr. Possati describes he work at the intersection of philosophy, psychoanalysis and AI. He discusses the mutual influence of tech on humans and vice versa, the importance of unconscious processes and interdisciplinary collaboration across fields to produce ethical AI systems.

In this episode, Dr. Michelle Marzullo, chair of the Department of Critical Sexuality Studies at CIIS discusses her work and the importance of technology in sexuality studies. She provides a queer, intersectional and critical lens and shares a few projects she and her students are working on at the intersection of sexuality studies and technology.

In this episode long time friends and collaborators, Drs. Richard Frankel and Victor Krebs carry on a decade long conversation in person and in google docs resulting in the book, Human Virtuality and Digital Life, a delightful and rich discussion of the philosophical understandings of virtuality as well as implications for the psyche. Their discussions are far reaching and deep leveraging myths, critical thought, important philosophers and psychoanalytic theorists. In the end we discuss AI, thinking, dreaming, and the generational divide and post-truth political landscape that is fueled by technology. For additional resources please see: Dreaming in the Digital Age, Thoughts on the Technological Pharmakon. POLIGRAFI , 28 (109/110), pp. 59-82.: http://ojs.zrs-kp.si/index.php/poligrafi/article/view/404 Digital Animism. Towards a New Materialism, Religions 2023, 14(2), 264; https://www.mdpi.com/2140582 The Power of Ghosts, Jung Journal Culture and Psyche September 2013 https://www.researchgate.net/publication/272120809_The_Power_of_Ghosts Frankel, R. “Dreaming Life in the Digital Age” in Goodman, D and Clemente, M. (eds). (2024) The Routledge International Handbook of Psychoanalysis, Subjectivity, and Technology. London: Routledge. Frankel, R. "New Introduction to the Classic Edition of The Adolescent Psyche” in Frankel, R. (2023) The Adolescent Psyche: Jungian and Winnicottian Perspectives. London: Routledge. Frankel, R. “Digital Melancholy” in Jung Journal: Culture and Psyche. 2013, Vol. 7, No. 4.

In this episode Dr. Linda Michaels, Chair and Co-Founder of the Psychotherapy Action Network (PsiAn) discusses grassroots efforts to provide public information and advocacy for therapies of depth, insight and relationship. She discusses the role of marketing as a major source of information to the public about treatment options for mental health. Further she emphasizes that psychoanalysts and psychodynamically-oriented clinicians should advocate and educate the public, particularly while there are significant strategic interests in among tech apps, investors and insurance companies in shaping the marketplace for consumers.

In this episode Catherine Saldutti, founder of EduChange, an innovative EdTech firm that is re-engineering formal secondary academic systems for increased equity describes the values and motivations that drive her team's design of The Integrated Science Program. This program creates the conditions for expert STEM learning. She discusses the power of systems thinking, circular economic principles, sustainable practices and the value of the unknown, creativity and a focus on process. In this episode we philosophize about what technology is, how it is impacting us, we discuss its implications for teaching and learning and for adolescent development and we draw connections to psychoanalytic theory. For additional reading please see: Study on Social Media ad revenue earned from teens in 2022: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0295337 How to ban phones effectively [in schools]: https://fordhaminstitute.org/national/commentary/how-ban-phones-effectively The 2024 National Educational Technology Plan: https://tech.ed.gov/files/2024/01/NETP24.pdf By Sarah Lewis: The Rise: Creativity, The Gift of Failure and the Search for Mastery: https://www.amazon.com/Rise-Creativity-Failure-Search-Mastery/dp/1451629249 Common Sense Media’s Impact of AI on Kids: https://www.commonsensemedia.org/ai EDSAFE AI Alliance: https://www.edsafeai.org/ EduChange on Assessment https://educhange.com/functional-assessment/

Dr. Stein discusses his work consulting with executives and teams as a psychodynamic strategy consultant. He discusses the impact psychoanalysis can have on people and dynamics between people within business contexts. He centers decision making and caring in his work and muses about AI and the future from the perspective of the C-suite advisor role. His work is ultimately about how psychodynamic strategy consulting can be used as an intervention for social good and business success at scale. Introduction 2:58 — Professional Trajectory + Origin Story 7:33 — From Practice to Deployment 8:10 — Call to Retire Idea of Applied Psychoanalysis 11:25 — Considering the Social in Working with Leaders 13:35 — Differences Between Clinical Psychoanalysis, Conventional Consulting, & Psychodynamic Consulting 18:03 — Value + Benefits of a Psychoanalytic Approach with Executives and Teams: Creating Optionality 23:12 — Scaling Expectations + Meeting Goals 25:09 — Organizations as Human Ecosystems 26:03 — Approaching Varieties of Problems + Issues Across an Array of Practice Areas 27:47 — The Nodal Axis in Multiple Domains: Focused Delivery of Expertise in Decision-Making 29:14 — Human Architecture + Psycho-Social Dimensions in Cybersecurity 31:38 — Multidisciplinary Collaborations in Fraud Matters 33:11 — Psychoanalysis as a Technology to Solve Complicated Problems: Overcoming Challenges + Leveraging Value 35:30 — Building Solutions + Mitigating Risks in Socially Responsible + Commercially Profitable Technologies 40:05 — What Will the Future Hold? Barriers + Upsides to Bringing Psychological Expertise into the Technology Space at Scale 44:33 — AI: Risks, Benefits, Potentials 46:15 — A Critical Assessment of AI as a Project to Replicate + Computerize Human Thought 50:10 — Countering the Deficiency of Care in Developing Technological Applications & Services: Balancing the Psychological + Philosophical 52:25 — More on AI: Implicit Disdain for Humanity as a Driving Force 55:32 — Adverse Consequences of Divestiture of Human Connection 58:02 — How to Course-Correct: Technology Issues are Fundamentally Human not Technological 1:00 — The Value of Care: Shared Moral Responsibilities for Harms & Benefits 1:02:42 — Concluding Remarks + Calls to Action You can find Dr. Stein at: Dolus Advisors: www.dolusadvisors.com/ LinkedIn (individual): www.linkedin.com/in/alexandersteinphd/ LinkedIn (company): https://www.linkedin.com/company/dolus-advisors/ Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/alexanderstein/#1c06a3246220 The Dolus Advisors Briefing (a periodic newsletter providing analysis, counsel, and firm updates): https://www.dolusadvisors.com/subscribe + https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/7025507656970694656/?displayConfirmation=true