Keynote at DAAD Scholarship Holder Meeting 2026

27 Mar 2026

Where Descartes Erred: Embodied Minds in the Age of Digital Technologies

On March 27, 2026, as part of the opening ceremony of the DAAD Scholarship Holder Meeting at the University of Würzburg, Prof. Dr. Marc Erich Latoschik, Chair for Human-Computer Interaction, delivered a keynote addressing one of the most fundamental questions in understanding human cognition in the digital age.

Rethinking the Mind

The talk, titled “Where Descartes Erred – Embodied Minds in the Age of the Metaverse, Snapchat, and ChatGPT,” revisited the philosophical foundations laid by René Descartes in the 17th century. Descartes famously argued that the mind and body are separate entities—an idea that has influenced centuries of thinking in science, philosophy, and technology.

However, modern cognitive science paints a different picture. Human cognition does not occur in isolation within the brain. Instead, it emerges from a continuous and dynamic interaction between the brain, the body, and the surrounding environment. This perspective, known as embodied cognition, suggests that thinking is not just something we do—it is something we experience through our entire being.

When Technology Enters the Loop

Building on this understanding, the keynote explored how contemporary digital technologies are no longer external tools but active participants in these cognitive processes.

Immersive technologies such as virtual and augmented reality can alter a user’s sense of presence and even their perception of their own body within seconds. These systems demonstrate how flexible and adaptive our cognitive processes are when interacting with synthetic environments.

At the same time, social media platforms operate through rapid feedback loops that connect perception, action, and reward. These loops continuously shape attention, behavior, and even identity, often in subtle but powerful ways.

Generative artificial intelligence, including systems like ChatGPT, represents another major shift. These technologies interact directly with human thinking—supporting information retrieval, influencing reasoning, and increasingly becoming part of how decisions are formed.

A New Kind of Question

These developments lead to a critical question: if the human mind is inherently embodied, what happens when technologies begin to shape the very loops that connect mind, body, and world?

Rather than simply extending human capabilities, digital systems are beginning to integrate into the cognitive process itself. This raises important challenges—not only technical, but also ethical and societal.

Implications for Human-Computer Interaction

From an HCI perspective, this shift calls for a new approach to designing technology. Systems must no longer be treated as isolated tools but as components within a broader human-technology ecosystem.

Understanding embodied cognition provides a framework for explaining both the fascination with modern technologies and the risks they carry. It highlights the responsibility of designers and researchers to consider how systems influence perception, behavior, and decision-making.

Looking Forward

The keynote concluded with a call for a more responsible and human-centered vision of technology development. As immersive systems and intelligent agents become more deeply embedded in everyday life, it becomes essential to design them in ways that respect and support human cognition rather than disrupt it.

In this sense, acknowledging where Descartes may have been wrong is not just a philosophical exercise—it is a necessary step toward shaping the future of human–technology interaction.