Being Human in the Digital Age

Q & I Question: “What does it mean to be human?”

R. F. Georgy is a philosopher concerned with broad existential questions. He was born in Egypt and came to the United States at the age of ten. He is a Coptic Christian (the Copts are the Christian minority in Egypt). After studying philosophy at Berkeley, he devoted himself to writing. His books include The Unbearable Density of Being, Notes from the Café, and Absolution: A Palestinian Israeli Love Story. The latter two are being adapted for film.

In his 2014 book, Notes from the Café, Georgy revisits Fyodor Dostoevsky’s novel Notes from Underground. He brings back the iconoclastic Underground Man to observe the digital age. In this talk, he will draw on the book to examine the philosophical implications of information—particularly the dissemination of scientific information. He will explore the impact of social media on our collective psyche, and he will ask whether faith, which is predicated on reflection and contemplation, is possible in an age of fleeting images, ephemeral ideas, and addiction to instantaneous affirmations.

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