CIVILIZATIONAL DIMENSION

We live in societies where it is possible to be constantly connected without actually being in each other's presence.

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This paradox is not just a technological fact. It reveals something more fundamental: for the first time in human history, the architectures that organize collective life — work, relationships, learning, the city itself — can function without the physical co-presence that has shaped them for millennia.

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The transformations at play are multiple and convergent: urbanization, remote work, digital social networks, mediated interactions. Taken separately, each seems insignificant. Together, they profoundly alter the forms of presence in which the human brain has developed—and continues to regulate itself.

 

They also introduce a new form of uncertainty: a "seen", an "online" status, a notification never says with certainty if the other is truly available — they only feed, remotely, the same estimation that the brain has always made.

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The civilizational dimension of The Brain of Presence poses a question that neither technology nor sociology alone can adequately formulate: what becomes of a society when connection gradually replaces presence? It explores the consequences of these transformations on loneliness, isolation, development, mental health and new forms of social connection — starting from the brain and extending to civilization.

 

Articles in this series

 

A civilization of absent presence ✅

What happens to a society when connection is omnipresent but physical presence is becoming rare? The first article in this series sets the stage for an unprecedented civilizational transformation — and what the brain, built for co-presence, does with it.

→ Read the article

 

Solitude, isolation, and the social brain — a contemporary paradox (in preparation)

Loneliness is now recognized as a biological risk factor comparable to smoking. Yet, we live in societies more connected than ever. This article explores why loneliness has such profound effects on the brain and body—and what this silent epidemic reveals about our fundamental need for presence.

→ Read the article (in preparation)

 

Are social networks truly social? (in preparation)

A "like," a notification, a message read without a reply—the brain tries to read the same information it has always sought: is someone really there? This article examines whether digital technologies truly reproduce the properties of human presence, or whether they offer a simulation convincing enough to fool the system—and at what cost.

→ Read the article (in preparation)

 

Artificial Presence — Robots, AI and New Forms of Connection (in preparation)

Humanoid robots are altering our cognitive performance in the same way a human observer would. Conversational AI can trigger a feeling of companionship. These phenomena raise a question that the biology of presence compels us to take seriously: what makes a presence a presence—and where is the line between real presence and the illusion of presence?

→ Read the article (in preparation)