|
Dr. Knafo will present a two-part lecture on advanced technology, AI, and the new sexual landscape. In the first part, she will introduce the topic of artificial intelligence by proposing that algorithms are the new unconscious. She will offer a psychoanalytic understanding of why we create AI and discuss the challenges to remaining human in the age of AI. She will offer an example of dream interpretation using AI, illustrating the growing abilities AI is developing in the therapy arena.
Dr. Knafo’s second talk will address how sex and technology partner for pleasure, novelty, transcendence, and perversion. She argues that the Internet and AI have enabled the creation of an alternative adult world of sex dolls and sex robots, cybersex, teledildonics, sexting, catfishing, internet porn, and more in the widespread deployment of omnipotent fantasy. Knafo will discuss her own clinical and professional journey through the massive sea change taking place in what she calls “the new sexual landscape.” She will offer several clinical vignettes, including one of a man who loved a synthetic doll, to illustrate the connection between technology and sexuality.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
After attending this program, participants will be able to:
- discuss the psychodynamic understanding of the development and uses of AI.
- be conversant with the new sexual practices that have evolved in conjunction with advanced technology.
- explain the clinical and ethical implications of these new sexual and relational practices.
REFERENCES:
Knafo and Lo Bosco. 2020. The new sexual landscape and contemporary psychoanalysis. Routledge.
Knafo and Lo Bosco. 2017. The Age of Perversion: Desire and technology in psychoanalysis and culture. Routledge.
Ogas, O. & Gaddam, S. 2011. A Billion Wicked Thoughts: What the World's Largest Experiment Reveals About Human Desire. Dutton.
 Danielle Knafo, PhD is a clinical psychologist and psychoanalyst, a professor and author. Currently she is faculty and supervisor at NYU’s Postdoctoral Program in Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis and Adelphi’s Postgraduate Programs. Dr. Knafo is a popular lecturer and prolific writer. She has written 10 books and dozens of articles and art essays. Her areas of expertise are: art and creativity, trauma and psychosis, sex and gender, and, recently, technology and AI. Just a few titles demonstrate her range and interdisciplinary approach: Egon Schiele: The Creation of a Self; In Her own Image: Women’s Self-Representation in Twentieth-Century Art; Living with Terror: Working with Trauma; Dancing with the Unconscious: The Art of Psychoanalysis and the Psychoanalysis of Art; The Age of Perversion: Desire and Technology in Art and Psychoanalysis; The New Sexual Landscape and Contemporary Psychoanalysis. Her most recent book is From Breakdown to Breakthrough: Psychoanalytic Treatment of Psychosis. She conducts writing groups for psychoanalysts and serves as an independent writing consultant. Dr. Knafo maintains a private practice in Manhattan and Great Neck, New York.
|
