The Center for Psychoanalysis and Technology

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

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/