Magnifica Humanitas: On Safeguarding the Human Person in the Time of Artificial Intelligence

Humanity has developed unprecedented power to shape itself and the world around it.

But that power is increasingly concentrated in private lives and institutions that operate beyond democratic oversight and public accountability. As technological systems become more deeply embedded in everyday life, many people feel like passive observers of forces they neither control nor fully understand. The challenge of technology is both moral and political: We must decide what kind of future we are building, who is shaping it, and whether those decisions serve our common good.

Introduction

Part 1: The res novae of our time times

    • Humanity possesses unprecedented technological power.

    • Power is increasingly concentrated in private actors rather than public institutions.

    • The development of new technology is not politically neutral.

    • Many people experience social change as spectators rather than as participants.

    • Societies must deliberately choose their direction rather than drift wherever technological and economic forces lead them.

    1. When major technological and economic decisions are made today, where do ordinary people actually have meaningful influence?

    2. What is the difference between participating in the future and watching it happen?

    3. Where do we experience this distance most acutely?

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