Pan-European Forum on Human Rights in the Information Society

12 – 13 September 2005

Prof. Michele TRIMARCHI, IPV and CEU President
            

Prof. Luciana Luisa PAPESCHI, IPV and CEU Co-President

BRAIN AND MASS-MEDIA The role of information in human development and the responsibilities of Institutions for a right use of mass communication tools

Let’s plan together the world we want. Let us overcome the tyranny of memories which conspire to be right at any cost. Let us recognize a common human dignity through dialogue and comparison, as the conflict between ideas leads to discord and war. Let us put the past behind us and cooperate together for the wellbeing of all, taking from the past only that which is useful for the present . Our reasons are useless if they only generate conflict. Only values can produce an evolution in consciousness. Awareness of values results in just deeds and creates wisdom, and it is only the wise who can rule mankind. Marginalizing the wise offends dignity and generates discord, conflict, wars with great pain for everyone. We do not wish pain upon ourselves, so let us use in the best way our intelligence in order to build our happiness.

1. Neuropsychophysiology of communication

Communication is the essential basis of life in all its endless forms. Every physical system in the Universe constantly exchanges Energy. Energy exchange is linked to the principle of conservation of energy according to which, nothing can be created or destroyed: everything can only be transformed from one form to another. In fact Information, by informing, produces coherent transformations, i.e. when a system receives energy, it modifies its own internal activity, producing a new emission of energy. Such a process maintains a dynamic balance between systems and the evolution of the universe. The human brain is a perfect physical system which, since birth, constantly exchanges energy with the environment, i.e. communicates with its surroundings. The senses organs are the transducers of the various forms of energy transmitted to the brain by the environment: these energies modulate the brain producing emotions, rationality, creativity and consciousness. The quality of information, i.e. of the various forms of energy, determines the quality of consciousness. Unfortunately, we lack today a knowledge explaining the physiology of conscience. This leads to a distorted, equivocal, instrumental communication engendering illusions, expectations and planning which nearly always denies and offenses human dignity as well as human rights in general.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights represents a “summa” of the qualitative informational foundations which must guide communication in order to favour the development of a conscience based, centred and determined by such values. Communication in the respect of human rights combines all information to define dignity, as the absolute value of the life of every human being on Earth, freedom, as the continuous search for knowledge regarding both the person and the surrounding environment, and justice, based on knowledge, which allows the individual to communicate in the respect of those values the person recognizes in him/herself and thus to other people.

“Conditio sine qua non” to overcome whatever "communication barrier" is the knowledge of the human being in his/her psychophysical and spiritual integrity, of the higher functions of his/her brain and of how the conscious Ego, who has to lead human behaviour and communication in respect of human right foundations, develops inside the brain. To communicate means to put in common. But what is important to put in common? Not banal, repetitive, conditioning, conflictual information, but an information aimed to build, reflect, grow. It is important to put in common that wealth of experiences each one of us does, and that allow to widen the knowledge of both ourselves and the world, to put in common emotions and feelings in syntony with Nature's harmony.

Information is energy, and we must learn to exchange it each other to increase our "wealth" levels. All human beings bear experiences and knowledge that represent their true wealth. How can they exchange them? By communication codes. Therefore, the problem is knowing such communication codes, being able to use them properly understanding them, and being aware that they are only "tools" that do not add or subtract nothing to the human beings in their potential immensity.

Human soul resides inside the brain, and in the human soul we find the person, his/her emotions, experiences, life. In order of favouring the expression of whatever human being, it is necessary to send him/her stimuli opening those doors generally closed since birth by our kind of culture and society: it blocks them, engenders fears, anxiety, expectations, conditionings, produces situations really inhibiting for the human soul. We can say that this is a society which does not educates, as it does not know what Education means, but conditions. To Educate means to bring out human being's potentialities favouring the development of the conscious Ego. It is exactly the contrary than to instruct, condition, inhibit, block, "tame" a person to make her obey to formally shared schemes, rules and social patterns.

Neuropsychophysiology allows to notice the dynamism of physical events gradually leading the child to express his/her potentialities towards adult age. The key of that dynamism is linked to the knowledge of communication and information modulating the development of consciousness. In this field, even if great tools have been created to strengthen communication, in fact very little is known on information stimulating consciousness or instead conditions, blocks, limits, enslaves human beings to "will" violating the right to life, to self-determination, to self-esteem, to the formation of a conscience capable to love life itself. This lack of knowledge favoured an highly competitive political, economic, social and cultural process, antithetic to the fundamental values of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Instead of affirming equal dignities we continue to perpetuate a system in which power is not a service but domination, subduing of will (and when shrewdness is not enough on tries with coercion and punishment, elements offending human dignity). A system still dominated by the law of the strongest, where who has more logico-rational capabilities, more ability, more fine appearance, more money, more power emerges, to the detriment of who is "materially" weaker and less endowed of those qualifications which became so important in the society in which we live.

In order to be able to overcome communication barriers and to achieve a society where the respect for equal dignity is granted, the starting point is knowing how human consciousness is developed and the limits to its development. The main limits are represented by conditionings, patterns, rules and "myths" proposed (and imposed) by present culture. They altogether "imprison" the brain and prevent people to communicate with their surroundings in respect for the natural laws which fulfil the principle of love, respect and harmony. Thus let's try to discover again and use Nature codes, which are the most important existing codes to understand the human being and the deep meaning of life.

Another point to stress is that we must be careful not to mix communication with transmission. Television, for instance, transmits but does not communicate, it does not communicate with anyone, it sends into houses an infinity of information, often "driven" and conditioning. The audience must accept like it is, obviously with the faculty of listening in a critical way in order to evaluate the validity degree or to change channel, but have no possibility of saying: "I do not agree" or anyway, to express their thoughts in a real communication. Human communication implies an interaction between individuals, aimed to exchange energy and a mutual enrichment, by information that are respectful for the person's dignity. We need to deeply understand what is information: information is life, it is the exchange money of life. And we should be aware that every word may "destroy" or "build", may be banal or harmonious, may be heavy or solve problems. Therefore, when communicating, we should bear clear in mind our goal where we recognize both ourselves and the others, aimed to human evolution, that is the ultimate sense of Life.

In synthesis, we may say that substantially what counts are the intrinsic potentialities to every birth, whose value cannot be classified on the basis of functional patterns to social systems. The true purpose of the biologic birth is to allow a second birth, the birth of conscience. As the individual develops his/her potentialities, he/she must be able to recognize him/herself as an unique and not repeatible being, and learn to manage and drive his/her brain and body, independently of eventual limitations, in search of everything enriches his/her own conscience.

2. To educate to a proper use of mass-media

To be able to use whatever tool, a child has to know the tool itself and understand both its potential and goal. Every means that society, technology and science put at our disposal has its own usefulness, its aim. If we do not use that means according to the very aim it has been created for, we risk to cause damages. As taking a drug for a different situation from the prescribed one can cause harmful effects on the user, in the same way television, computer, internet, everything produced by us has collateral effects if not used in the right way.

An improper use of computers has already produced pathologies, classified according the symptoms they produce specially in children and young peoples, serious symptoms such as insomnia, excitement, anxiety, aggressiveness, lack of motivation to study, learning disorders, social troubles, that are all worrying signs of a massive information that jeopardizes the harmonious development of children, teenagers, young people.

It is precisely the lack of deep knowledge on the personality and individuality development processes, and on how the various kind of information may favour or jeopardize it, that unfortunately forbids to create new generations able to reduce the conflicting chaos existing in families, society, school, in every sector. As a result, we are assisting "powerless" to all this chaos and projects and initiatives have to be promoted for the improvement of private and public functions oriented to a social regeneration, and to the quality of life of both individuals and societies.

At birth inside the human brain we have a wonderful project foreseeing the realisation of an individual able to acquire consciousness of both him/herself and the environment, and to act fully respecting the fundamental values common to every human being of the planet, i.e. the values of dignity, freedom, justice, love. But then it's up to family, school, society in its whole to allow to carry out this project or to provoke a sort of "abortion".

Unfortunately present educational systems do not help the development of a strong and conscious Ego in the child enabling him/her to grow free, autonomous, able to consciously and creatively manage him/herself with positive relationships with the surroundings, to make aware choices on the basis of universal values. This is not a pessimistic view, but it is very real. Many teenagers are nowadays as "drifting mines", they were not yet able to develop a conscious Ego to drive them through the chaos in which they are immersed. To make available for them powerful tools capable of satisfying often conditioned and induced needs means to risk to engender very difficult situations for all, for children and for families. It is enough to think how many minors are hooked, violated and raped by suspicious people who, with sly programmes drag them in their sites leading them where they want. This unfortunately happens because anyone can drive our brain until we become able to consciously manage it Children and young people, in the first place, are not fully able to protect themselves and avoid those who use shrewdness to reach aims that are antithetical to the basic values of a democratic society.

We are experts in this field and are available for whatever initiative useful to stop the spreading chaos, and to give tools for the formation of both individual citizens and the different professions and institution with training courses aimed to update qualification in public and private functions. Society must become responsible towards the new generations, also watching over the tools one puts at their disposal, this should be the "battle horse" of institutions. It is not possible that families are responsible for every problem of youth, problems mostly produced by a society not understanding and not helping them to realize themselves, to know themselves, to ripen, to grow, to develop their autonomy and consciousness.

Present communication means are not to be demonised, but enhanced. The more they are powerful, the more they can be useful to improve the quality of life, on condition that one knows their potential and their proper use, otherwise is like to give a knife to a enraged child... Internet is a very powerful communication means allowing to spread initiatives, information, projects, useful works for the quality of our life. But what I am going to look for on Internet if I am stressed, apathetic, "annoyed"? Something to make apathy, suffering, anxiety, anguish pass. It is the same mechanism pushing an "unsatisfied" boy to look for drugs, exciting situations, "games" to divert his attention, motorcycle races to feel strong, powerful respected.

We must consider the strong degree of “conflictuality” inside many families, conflicts between parents and children, between brother and sister, with oneself. If we do not give to people, both children and adults, right tools to solve their problems, it is clear they shall continue to look for distractions and compensations wherever they can find them. The situation is not going to improve "eliminating" Internet, television, videogames or other things. Teachers of all school levels must be well prepared to introduce their students to a correct use of every technological and cultural tool that school or society may offer, and they must be able to detect symptoms and signs calling for intervention and rehabilitation.
Among the various forms of teenagers uneasiness, the lack of motivation is among the main ones. It largely stems from the very strong drumming of mass-media, often propagandizing "to have everything immediately": success, beauty, power, fine appearance, superiority, negative competition... Mass-media thus become, in many cases, containers without content, unfortunately enormously stimulating what can be learned, obtained, "consumed" very rapidly. Information useful for the growing of consciousness it is not quick, but rather it leads to a reflection. Instead television and nearly all media now stimulate in most cases the non reflection, the quick learning of something that can be burned immediately like sugar, but is void of fundamental "substances" for the growth and wellbeing of a person, substances that at the organic level are proteins, vitamins, mineral salts, and, at a psychological level, are information promoting evaluation, self-criticism, enlarged view, growth, conscience.

Our brain is divided into two hemispheres, and neuropsychophysiology stresses that a “fast” information is processed and stored in memory mainly by the left hemisphere. The same type of information (fast) “blocks” the right hemisphere therefore preventing the synergetic work of the two hemispheres. A false relationship with emotions derives, as in many cases one gets used since childhood to get excited with stimuli linked to an artificial world depriving the person of the "physiological" emotions produced by the natural world. And if we monitor cerebral activity with techniques like brain mapping, we see that a fast, repetitive, "empty" information is unable to activate neither the frontal lobes of the brain, where volition, evaluation, reflection reside (that is, the anatomic location of the conscious Ego), nor the right hemisphere where creativity, emotionality, broadmindedness, spatiality reside.

Neuropsychophysiology permits us to analyze this process scientifically. The left hemisphere of human brain stores the type of information that can be defined as "everything right away", i.e. words and images associated to immediate pleasure, which are not the result of a direct experience of the individual. This means that the left hemisphere is conditioned to search for artificial emotions (built “ad hoc” to produce desire, excitement, attention, need, dependence) that can be evoked by sly messages recalling them automatically. This condition is 1) conflictual with the right hemisphere activity, where instead every information produces an objective information and not an artificial pre-constituted association, 2) does not allow to activate functions as volition, ideation and planning, proper of the frontal areas of the brain, but 3) favours the continuous "primer" , without the individual's awareness, of mind automatisms. too often responsible of the rise of mental disorders of various nature.

When communicating, we have to take into account the cerebral physiology and how information can stimulate globally or partially the brain, in order to avoid to use information and stimuli that weaken the expression of the human being. The two cerebral hemispheres represent two different but complementary aspects of human reality, and if one of them is limited or stifled, the individual experiences worry, anxiety and stress. An artificial information, empty of objective and targeted contents, "subdued" to consumerism logic, engenders inside the human being a conflict between the two realities of the person, between the two parts of the brain, between artificial and natural world. This is a tearing conflict expressing with many symptoms (anxiety, depression, dissatisfaction, search for "dizziness") and that can be only solved developing a conscious individuality able to manage information and stimulations, so that the individual can become a subject and no longer an object of situations he or she are living.

Another serious problem is the addiction to communication tools, computer, and videogames. How can computer dependence arise? It can occur because "immerge oneself" in a “computer environment” means to remove oneself from thoughts engendering suffering, to create a break from everyday problems, to isolate oneself in a pseudo-reality not asking for efforts to be understood , to mediate, manage and face interpersonal difficulties. A protected communication can so be preferred to individual relationships, to clash and meeting, to a real dialogue anyway leading to the individual's growth. It is near impossible to teach and transmit to young people the importance of even antithetical dialogue, which allows learning to "live democracy", learning to plead a cause, learning to fight for an ideal, always in the respect for diversity.

Unfortunately “interacting" with a computer brings up to be passive and reduces social interactions, real and not assertive ones. But this does not concern only computer or internet, because the whole system accustoms to passivity, to non intervention, to non "work". Most information provided since early childhood is rarely aimed to the full development of the human being, by fulfilling the basic life's aim that is to work for evolution, for the growth of all systems, individuals, families and societies included.

We are all involved as the future of our society is at stake, human relations, more and more undermined by the logic of profit and always less aimed to live, to believe in something, to plan something inside an useful and constructive target, are dramatically at stake. "Normality" concept itself is misleading. Which normality is one looking for or defending? The normality of human beings enslaved to ideas given with Pavlov's hand-bells, with support and punishment, with false targets creating terrible expectations, or that of men and women who, even suffering, try little by little to express themselves? Suffering but also with joy for the results, for what they started to build, for the project they undertaken to carry out with r strength and energy. Thus, if man's aim is to free one's energy from conditionings to acquire freedom and conscience, the communication system, with all linked tools, must take it into account in order to favour and promote the creative expression of human beings and their continuous growth.

3. Potentialities and risks in computer use

The negative effects of a wrong use of computers are age-dependent. Many researches verified that, for instance, that between 2 and 6 years learning needs the use of all five senses, as the exploration of a virtual world limits (and even blocks, sometimes) social interaction, direct experience, and this causes, in turn, alterations of the physiological development of some cerebral areas. Learning to be linked to images before than to people engenders an alteration in the process of knowledge of the real world and of real emotions. In schooling age risks are engendered by the reduction of motivation, because one should choose a straining activity instead of one giving quick and immediate gratifications. Therefore computer use should be limited to targets coming after other priorities (family, friends, sport, etc.).

It is well known that the viewers of a computer or of a TV-monitor risk to fall into a "near-to-hypnosis" status. EEG studies show this effect resulting in the inhibition of cerebral activity. The psychological consequences are serious, as children and teenagers learn to passively accept artificial information and emotions and they will depend on them, as they follow at "high speed" pre-formed paths without a personal goal and unable to produce experience-based thoughts.

Navigating in the web children are subject to many risks, among them pornography, fraud and paedophilia. Unfortunately, concerning the so-called chat-lines, the main problem is they are used by adults who lie, as they are not seen, saying they are children while they are not. On-line navigation produces abstraction from reality, causes people to lose sight of both the objective reality and its goal, because in most cases who in on the other side gives an altered image of his/her reality, expressing his/her impracticable desires, aspirations, deformations, etc. The effects on the cognitive development of children and young people are dangerous and the risk of being trapped into devious systems with a total lack of control on the part of families is evident.

The problem of a not right use of chat-lines must be well clarified, as there is another risk for children: dissociation from the objective reality and its goal leading to build up an "abstract reality" in which one takes shelter but loses contact with the dynamism of the real life with all its nuances, unforeseen events, diversities. We must bear in mind that human brain needs to perceive as much as possible concrete and natural reality. The ideal should be to live from zero to 6 years old in contact with nature, so to have physiological stimuli from natural world. As we already largely demonstrated with Physics of Information (Basic Course in the Psychotherapy Neuropsychophysiological oriented Specialization School), every information carries in itself a quantity of energy stimulating our cerebral functions. Information promotes and directs personality, emotions, brain development in its totality. Everything is "physical" in our universe, everything transmits information. Every information can be measured by physics laws, and our brain is potentially able to "measure them" if put in position to do so, i.e. to verify the “objectivity” and the “aim”, the harmony or the disharmony of an information.

Every technological tool produced by us was first conceived, thought and then carried out. When conceiving and carrying out computer we tried to imitate a part of our brain. We can thus say that our brain contains all realizable technology at theoretical and substantial level, and then it reproduces it outside itself. But the creator, producer is "it", and "it" must be able to use the produced tools.

As the brain must be able to use the technological and cultural tools it produces, so the conscious Ego must be able to manage the brain and all its memories. The brain represents the most sophisticated tool available for human beings to develop and enrich one’s consciousness and to produce a culture that is useful for evolution. We can now draw a parallel between computer and brain: if I insert in a computer chaotic, artificial, useless data, not favouring the harmonious development of its users, it becomes more harmful than useful, and I infringe the ultimate goal for which it was produced. Likewise if children’s brains are stimulated with un-physiological information, dangerous for their harmonious development and consciousness, those children (and those people) will be hampered in carrying on the purpose whereby they are born, that is to say, to become aware of their potentials, of their tools, of the surrounding world, and to acquire a creative autonomy in the relationship with the environment.

At birth the brain represents an immense project with huge potentialities to develop geniality and wisdom, but often these potentialities are limited by "damages" produced by the environment (due to ignorance and not guilt). In fact in most cases we still follow a kind of "education" which denies to the human being the possibility of developing geniality and wisdom. It is a pseudo-education not favouring the harmonious, global, creative, autonomous development. This is due to the lack of clearness on the substantial difference between education and instruction: education aims to "educere", bringing out human potentials and shaping a true consciousness; instruction aims to provide consciousness with processing and communication tools. In absence of this clearness the whole process is altered and the individuals, instead of acquiring and improving the ability to implement the instructions provided, identify themselves with the instructions they stored in memory. Without a conscious Ego, memories become the "owners" of a person and, according to what memory is evoked, the answer is automatic, thus setting apart that person’s volition, and autonomy of evaluation and decision-making. That's why in the field of neurosciences it is still pointed out that people use a small percentage of their brain, because it is enough that a stimulus recalls the memory of a pleasant, exciting or, on the contrary, painful situation to produce behaviour of search for or avoiding it. This can be observed with PET, that shows exactly the areas working when a person has a determined thought or makes a determined action.

"Immersing" in this chaotic world an human being who has not yet developed an ability of looking for, evaluating, choosing, deciding, wanting, means to expose him/her to problems of various kind, from the difficulty of constructively relate with other to the development of addiction to everything giving pleasure. From a neuropsychophysiological point of view, there is no difference between drug- and computer addiction: in both cases the cerebral areas involved are the same, as addiction is caused by a whatever sense of "well-being", excitement, feeling good. Addiction exists in that the pleasure comes from outside, it is not a pleasure produced by the person. This can be linked to the difference between subject and object we mentioned before. Internet and videogames are perfectly able to offer excitement and pleasure because, unfortunately, they are also controlled by shrewd people who continue to produce software and sites to hook those (mostly young people) who do not know the means they are using and the goal whereby they are using it.

Human brain has two forms of intelligence: the intelligence of the left hemisphere, that we recreated in computers, consisting in the ability of data processing in a rational, logic, mathematical way; and the intelligence of the right hemisphere, consisting in the ability of identifying reality objectively and its aim. We have two hemispheres because the right one identifies physical reality on the basis of its genetic characters, while the left one can learn whatever information, strategy, code, can store whatever from which it can earn a "prize" or avoid a "punishment". As an extreme example, I can be a man but assert to be a woman, if I receive an advantage or am conditioned, and I can also be convinced of it developing a real form of schizophrenia. Schizophrenia is a dissociation from reality, produced through isolation of the left hemisphere functionality, developing a perfect in itself logic, but torn away from both the dynamism and concreteness of reality.

In order to avoid whatever dissociation from reality it is necessary to fulfil, through education, a process of human, biological, social, psychological identification. In the first place, children must be able to identify in themselves, then they must be enabled to manage their potentials, to know and use the very precious tool that is their brain: finally, nobody and nothing will ever be able to drag them in dangerous situations.

This is not an "alarmist description", but an analysis to stress determined risks, dangers and negative aspects that normally are not properly seen or considered. We repeat that children, in order to use internet or whatever else communication means, must have the clearness of themselves as subjects as well as the clearness of the aim for which they use those tools, otherwise they risk very much, they risk to be trapped by people capable to hook their brain and to take the place of their will.

TV fiction also often has very problematic aspects, as within it problems are created and solved indicating possible solution strategies. In evolutionary age it is not easy to distinguish fiction from reality. Therefore when children and teenagers live problems similar to those watched in TV, their brains are automatically led to carry on the same solution strategies learned from the fiction.

Specific effects produced on children by computer use were the object of many researches, which have shown neuropsychophysiological mechanisms at the ground of the process of addiction and behaviour modification in evolutionary age produced by videogames and internet use. It has been recently proven that videogames stimulate the activity of cerebral areas associated with the visual and movement function. This involves in children a block of aggressive behaviour inhibiting mechanisms. Potentially antisocial attitudes are no more stopped because cerebral activity produced by videogames use weakens the functioning of areas inhibiting aggressiveness. Synthetically, development of some cerebral areas is slowed down, with a reduction of the control function over socially dangerous behaviours. The exposure to violence, the content fragmentation, the lack of links with real world, the strong artificial emotional component, the sequence of strong contrasts, sounds and answer rapidity to an order, produce a pathological attention status we may call excitement, reduced creativity, increase of aggressive behaviours. All this can also be shown as dependence syndrome, with difficulty to stop, reduction of social relations, generalized anxiety, reduced capability of concentrating on other activities, sleep troubles, increase of antisocial behaviours. Our clinical and educational experience suggests that it is necessary to counterbalance these damaging effects by fostering the functioning of the children frontal lobes, such as planning, volition, decision-making, regulation and modulation of behaviour and thought as well as of emotion.

Pathology from computer use is a "normal" event if risk factors are not considered such as: 1) users age; 2) their psychological features, that may be accentuated or favour a real psychological trouble; 3) content fairness in relation to the user's psychological development. In reality internet use cannot absolutely exclude these risk factors, because it is impossible to exert a control as well as because children and teenagers can easily reach dangerous contents even after a few minutes of casual navigation. Uneasiness is an aggravating factor favouring an adverse computer effect, but already in normal conditions an alteration of the cognitive development of the child is unavoidably determined. We deem that at present we cannot rely on a sure use of computers in the developmental age because we do not yet have enough information on their effects on the brain, and thus because of the indiscriminate abuse of this means without awareness or competence of its driver.

The computer can stimulate cognitive functions: children who interact using a computer in reality interact with culture, with other human beings living on the other side of the planet, something they could not do directly. Therefore it is a means that reduces distances, permitting people to communicate. But when a right goal and proper competences are lacking, it is easy to overcome limits strongly putting at risk mental and physical health of children and youth.

4. Conclusions

The problems linked to the use of mass-media in the society of information are only one aspect of the much larger problem of Education. The revision of Education is a top priority given the enormous quantity of pathological information that every day pours on children. Information - mostly produced by mass-media - that, instead of helping the expression of their potentials, stifles them and engenders deep conflicts between "nature" and "culture", that is, between human physiology and the result of human activities, between the need to develop one’s own critical consciousness and the capability to use the technological tools.

Let's start from the data more and more heavily emerging in every field of life to prepare projects aiming to stop present degeneration and to promote an effective healing of society. It is everyone's task to give Institutions clear and concrete indications on what has to be done to try to stop this avalanche of lack of motivation, uneasiness, environmental, social, human unbalance.

We are reporting a reality bound to worsen if interventions capable of healing it are not started. Unfortunately the big economic interests too often stop good intentions and good projects. We have to choose if we want a society where life has really a meaning and where one can feel and express the joy of living, or if we want a society at "rich", beautiful", successful one's" measure, with some pleasant moments, and then look defenceless at the biological, psychological and existential degeneration of societies, mainly highly technologically developed ones.