ABOUT TECHNOLOGY & THE HUMAN SPIRIT

Across industries and academia, in mainstream and social media, wherever human beings convene and converse — discussions are unfolding about the profound impact and potential of an evolving array of high-tech capabilities. From ubiquitous Internet access and its influence on human communication and relationships, to artificial intelligence, bioengineering, and quantum computing — poised to transform everything from business to education to healthcare — we are experiencing an unprecedented wave of tech driven change, a ”Fourth Industrial Revolution.” While tech insiders and tech users alike are pondering technology’s influence, few if any forums exist for exploring the most profound and complex questions about technology’s impact on what it means to be human. At Santa Clara University, such topics are the domain of the human spirit — the place in each of us where questions of identity, meaning, purpose, and human interconnection dwell. In Jesuit philosophy, cultivating spirit is as essential to human flourishing as knowledge and invention, as safety and access to essential resources. If we are to steward technology to its highest good, shouldn’t spirit be part of the conversation — and an inspiration for action?

As the largest comprehensive faith-based university in the San Francisco Bay Area, with an extensive alumni community in the technology industry, SCU is at home with the myriad and complex questions surrounding innovation. We have the mission — informed by a Jesuit heritage of courageous cross-cultural encounter and bold inquiry — the intellectual resources, and the interdisciplinary platform required to convene an inclusive and intrepid examination of technology’s impact and promise. And soon, we will have a unique forum through which to engage partners in this important work.

Through the Ignatian Center for Jesuit Education — the enterprise committed to full human flourishing across and beyond the SCU community — SCU is launching a one-of-a-kind initiative that will engage a diverse array of partners in conversation, reflection, and action at the intersection of technology and the human spirit. 

This day-long symposium will be a forum to explore the most profound and complex questions about technology’s impact on what it means to be human. At Santa Clara University, such topics are the domain of the human spirit — the place in each of us where questions of identity, meaning, purpose, and human interconnection dwell. The program is intended to be intellectually accessible, transdisciplinary, open to all traditions and points of view, inventive, and focused on the relationship between the human spirit and technological innovation.

The conversation over the impact of new digital cultures are happening without meaningful consideration of the complexity of the human person. The worst of Silicon Valley’s unintended consequences occur when projects make broad and shallow assumptions about what it is to be human and what brings about human flourishing before quickly moving to the design and implementation phase. We seek to insert not only a deep and complete picture of the human person, but also to encourage the Jesuit value of discernment and the processes of learning and reflection exemplified by the Ignatian Pedagogical Paradigm.