# Human Condition **Domain:** Philosophy / Literature / Social Thought **Doc Type:** Concept Node **Maturity:** Developed ## Definition The **human condition** is the shared field of embodiment, mortality, dependence, agency, suffering, love, labor, meaning-making, social belonging, and uncertainty within which human lives unfold. The phrase does not imply one uniform experience. Historical position, culture, institutions, technology, disability, wealth, and power profoundly change how common conditions are encountered. ## Corpus Context The corpus uses the human condition as a meeting point among technology, contemplation, politics, biology, and personal history. Technical systems matter because they alter the conditions under which identity, memory, relationship, and agency can be maintained. ## See Also [[wiki/Consciousness|Consciousness]] · [[wiki/Agency|Agency]] · [[wiki/Cognitive Liberty|Cognitive Liberty]] · [[wiki/Transhumanism|Transhumanism]] ## Simple Reminders, Quotations, and Thoughts > "Some prominent scientific gurus are scared by a world controlled by thinking machines. I am not sure that this is a valid fear. I am more concerned about a world led by people, who think like machines, a major emerging trend of our digital society." > **— Haim Harari**, *2015, Edge annual question “What Do You Think About Machines That Think?”* [[reminders/AI Control/Fear People Who Think Like Machines by Haim Harari|Fear People Who Think Like Machines by Haim Harari]] > "Fear of AI is the latest incarnation of our primal unconscious fear of an all-knowing, all powerful angry God dominating us but in a new ethereal form." > **— James Croak**, *2015, Edge annual question “What Do You Think About Machines That Think?”* [[reminders/Risk Debate/Fear of AI Repeats Fear of an Angry God by James Croak|Fear of AI Repeats Fear of an Angry God by James Croak]] > "Maybe the idea of progress itself is not necessarily tied to the idea of humanity. Maybe humans are not the eternal carrier of this idea." > **— Georg Diez**, *2015, Edge annual question “What Do You Think About Machines That Think?”* [[reminders/Civilization/Progress May Not Need Humanity as Its Carrier by Georg Diez|Progress May Not Need Humanity as Its Carrier by Georg Diez]] > "Mere rumors of an AGI might cause our species to go berserk." > **— Sam Harris**, *2015, Edge annual question “What Do You Think About Machines That Think?”* [[reminders/Existential Risk/Rumors of AGI Could Make Humanity Panic by Sam Harris|Rumors of AGI Could Make Humanity Panic by Sam Harris]] > "So yes, in the obvious sense, technology may become superintelligent, and elect to annihilate or enslave us." > **— Beatrice Golomb**, *2015, Edge annual question “What Do You Think About Machines That Think?”* [[reminders/Existential Risk/Technology May Become Superintelligent and Turn Against Us by Beatrice Golomb|Technology May Become Superintelligent and Turn Against Us by Beatrice Golomb]]