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"Demons assault us by the same mechanism and for the same reason as the ever adapting and insidious algorithm, in order to explore this inward disposition of man, to discern susceptibility to habits, and then by manipulating attention, to develop those habits. This sober realization paradoxically is the source of hope. Neither spiritual demons nor digital algorithms can directly violate our intellect and will. They seek them, but they can never possess them without our consent. The defense against the new dark arts of Silicon Valley thus relies on the same tools as ancient spiritual warfare, especially custody of our attention. Of course, demons attack weaknesses. Virtues have been called the spiritual armor protecting us from assault and it is vice that makes us vulnerable. But even here, demons need opportunity to attack. Advising Wormwood on effective methods of temptation, Screwtape warns against letting his target engage in basic exercises of will and reason: going for a walk, reading a book, even asking questions. These are all powerful human defenses against the distractions of the devil. Individual acts of thinking and choosing for oneself, exercising self-awareness and taking responsibility for one's actions and thoughts—the distinctive activities of the rational animal—are all safeguards against the soul-snatcher's designs." —Prof. Joshua Hochschild
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This lecture was given at West Virginia University on November 5, 2021.
About the speaker:
Joshua Hochschild is the Monsignor Robert R. Kline Professor of Philosophy at Mount St. Mary’s University, where he also served six years as the inaugural Dean of the College of Liberal Arts. His primary research is in medieval logic, metaphysics, and ethics, with broad interest in liberal education and the continuing relevance of the Catholic intellectual tradition. He is the author of The Semantics of Analogy: Rereading Cajetan’s De Nominum Analogia (2010), translator of Claude Panaccio’s Mental Language: From Plato to William of Ockham (2017), and co-author of A Mind at Peace: Reclaiming an Ordered Soul in the Age of Distraction (2017). His writing has appeared in First Things, Commonweal, Modern Age and the Wall Street Journal. For 2020-21 he’s been elected to serve as President of the American Catholic Philosophical Association.
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