Why Your Phone Is Stealing Your Life (And What Aristotle Knew About It)
What happens when we can no longer distinguish between the complicated and the truly complex—and what does that mean for your soul?
In this riveting lecture, philosopher and technologist Dr. Rolando Islas exposes the hidden forces reshaping human identity in the digital age. Drawing from his work with the interdisciplinary Homo Disruptor project (spanning MIT and cancer research institutions), he reveals how the hyper-speed of modern technology has fundamentally altered our moral formation, cognitive abilities, and capacity for genuine human connection.
This presentation traces the dramatic shift from a generation grounded in family, school, and church to one adrift in "systems in the dark"—algorithms, influencers, and curated realities that shape our deepest beliefs without our awareness. The speaker demonstrates how the very tools promising connection have eroded accountability, compressed time, and replaced substance with performance.
Yet this is not a counsel of despair. Returning to Aristotle's virtue ethics and the timeless wisdom of Christ, the lecture offers a path forward: temperance as rebellion, reading and writing as resistance, and the recovery of "islands of certainty" in a sea of manipulation. The invitation is clear—give faith a fighting chance, because it alone offers what our anxious generation desperately needs: hope.
At Catholic Pacific College, we believe the True, Good, and Beautiful are not antiquated ideals but urgent necessities. In an age of complexity, we form students to think deeply, live virtuously, and engage culture fearlessly with the light of Christ. Your support helps raise up the next generation of leaders who can navigate complexity with wisdom and ground others in what is certain and eternal.
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