Technological alienation and how networked digitality constitutes a map for understanding the complexity of individual and collective consciousness
AI & Society June 22, 2026 Betto van Waarden
Fears that technology fosters alienation and will eventually control humans through superintelligence are exacerbated by a reductionist assumption that humans are defined by intelligence. Human consciousness is broader than intelligence, and the problems of technological alienation and consciousness can inform each other. Going beyond the intelligence-focused computational theory of mind, technology can help conceptualize the networked multidimensionality of consciousness, which counters assumptions of alienation and suggests human compatibility with a modern accelerated society, provided its logic is restructured based on complex consciousness rather than mere intelligence.