Towards A Contemplative Technoscience with Marco Schorlemmer

In this series of talks, Marco Schorlemmer WCCM coordinator and scientific researcher into Artificial Intelligence, addresses the question of technoscience as a product of human intelligence and reflects on the spiritual dimension of the professional practice of technoscience. 

“The late world renowned physicist Stephen Hawking and three other scientists wrote a polemic article of these hopes and dangers of artificial intelligence, they stated: ‘Everything that civilization has to offer is a product of human intelligence.” They said: “We cannot predict what may be achieved when this intelligence is magnified by these tools artificial may provide but the eradication of war, disease and poverty would be high on everyone’s list.

We do hope that scientific endeavours such as biomedicine, genetic research or artificial intelligence will eventually mitigate our sufferings, such as the one we’re going through with the Covid-19 pandemic. Among these products of human intelligence that Stephen Hawking talks about is obviously the discipline of artificial intelligence and all the other technoscience disciplines. 

By technoscience I mean this entanglement of modern science and technology together with these practices and methodologies and the close relationship they have with today’s social economic system.

Artificial intelligence is a good example of this entanglement, but reflections on technosciences are often done on their effects, their outcomes – what impact does artificial intelligence all have on society? 

Rarely, the spiritual dimension of the professional practice of technoscience is brought to the foreground.” 

Watch Marco first interview with Father Laurence Freeman here:

Following from the first part of this series, where Marco Schorlemmer started to explore the question of technoscience as a product of human intelligence, in this second talk of the same series, Marco delves into the question of spirituality in technoscience. Techno-scientists make use of the whole intelligence, in its integrity. In addition to the analytical skills of the functional intelligence, techno-science has also an axiological and esthetic dimension. Science often is championed as value-free. Values are however implicit in the choice of the phenomena being studied and the potential application of these results.

Watch the second part of the series here.

In the final series, Marco explores the question of contemplative technoscience. You can watch Marco’s third and final talk here.

Following from the first part of this series, where Marco Schorlemmer started to explore the question of technoscience as a product of human intelligence, in this second talk of the same series, Marco delves into the question of spirituality in technoscience. Techno-scientists make use of the whole intelligence, in its integrity. In addition to the analytical skills of the functional intelligence, techno-science has also an axiological and esthetic dimension. Science often is championed as value-free. Values are however implicit in the choice of the phenomena being studied and the potential application of these results.

Watch the second part of the series here.

Please feel free to write any comments you may have for Marco by emailing comms@wccm.org He will address them in the coming two talks.