WE ARE ON THE THRESHOLD OF A NEO-STONE AGE, EMOTIONAL INERTIA ABD SPIRITUAL COMA DR JERNAIL SINGH ANAND
Επιμέλεια: Εύα Πετροπούλου Λιανού
PANEL DISCUSSION ON THE AGE OF MORAL ARIDITY AND INSENSITIVITY
International Academy of Ethics organized its 2nd Panel Discussion on the theme of Moral Aridity and Insensitivity on 23rd July, 2023.
The Panelists were Professor Shandar Ahmad [JNU, New Delhi], Dr. Laksmisree Banerjee former VC Kalhan Univ. India, and Dr. Gianluigi Segalerba from Italy. The event was moderated by Dr. Shobha Sharma , Assoc. Prof. [Sikkim].
Dr. Maja Herman Sekulic Vice-President’s message was played in the beginning of the session, elaborating the efforts of the IAE to create a world of ethical well-being.
Opening the discussions, Prof. Shandar Ahmed brought to light the fact that on a larger perspective, the onset of the digital age had seen the growth of human sensitivity.
He talked of group fitness for collective survival of the human race. In families too, there are vulnerable sections, like kids, women and old parents, who need a higher sense of sensitivity from man. But there are problems because man has not yet been able to assimilate the new digital civilization, as there was a gap between what the individual wants and what the collective good requires.
Dr. Laksmisree Banerjee, remarked that the present civilization is marked by fear, which does not let men keep their heads high. Time and again, she referred to Tagore’s famous poem ‘Where the Head is Held High” and also lamented the “desert sands’ of dead habit, that have come to dominate the present narrative. Her discourse went back to the Mahabharta, and the arrival of the Lord on the scene when obscenities overgrow on the land of ‘dharma’. Dr. Gianluigi Segalerba, philosophizing on the present scenario, presented the thesis that too much emphasis on technology in education had sent poetry, history, study of nature, philosophy, creativity on exile, and what we have in the absence of these humanizing disciplines is a world of moral aridity. He also talked of intellectual aridity and wanted that intellectuals can re-set the things if they understand the dynamics of the upcoming age of insensitivity.
Dr. Jernail S Anand President of the IAE, in his concluding remarks asserted that we have to guard against the horrors of the digital age, in the form of AI, which can retard us mentally, physically and turn us into moral wrecks. He lamented that humanity today is electronically connected, yet physically isolated, suffers from emotional starvation, which affects their mental balance He expressed the fear that we are entering the neo-stone age of emotional inertia and spiritual coma, followed by clinical death.
The event was witnessed on livestream.by hundreds of our friends. Some of them like Dr Lalit Mohan Sharma Tariq Muhammad Rawle Iam James Dr Tamali Neogi Dr Mirzana Pašić Kodrić (Sarajevo) Eva Lianou Petropoulou and several others came up with insightful questions and suggestions as well.
The event evoked a lot of interest and gave rise to questions.This is the purpose of the IAE, Dr Anand quipped.
The event was rounded off by Dr. Molly Joseph, Chief Coordinator, who dwelt on the falling graph of sensitivity, with her vote of thanks. The event was hosted by Prof. Randhir Gautam, Coordinator.
PROF RANDHIR GAUTAM
COORDINATOR
LINK OF THE VIDEO
https://fb.watch/lZSDn8IOz5/?mibextid=Nif5oz
