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Talking to ChatGPT about my PhD

I’m currently having a weirdly informative conversation with ChatGPT about my PhD, via the AskYourPDF plug in. This is how it summarises the concept of personal morphogenesis:

  1. Personal morphogenesis is used to ‘open up’ what happens in each phase of a person’s biography, orienting the analyst towards the identification of specific cycles of personal change, unpacking circumstances at a particular point in time, and examining the relations through which personal change occurs (Page 225).
  2. The framework is used to analyze convergent and divergent tendencies in the biographies of individuals, particularly university students, as they navigate their trajectory into and through university. The goal is to offer causal explanations of biographical trajectories without abstracting away from what mattered to the individuals concerned and the role this played in engendering the direction which it took (Page 9).
  3. Personal morphogenesis is also about the interplay between human concerns and social context, with individuation occurring through this interaction. It’s about how the dreams, concerns, and life projects of human beings give social conditions their “specific gravity” (Page 225).
  4. The concept of personal morphogenesis integrates change at the personal level into an analytical framework oriented towards the analysis of change at the level of agency, culture, and structure. It discusses three relations through which the elaboration of personhood unfolds: The conditioning ‘me’ and the present ‘I’ (Page 250).

Here’s how it suggests these ideas could be applied to digital media, basically predicting the entire second half of Platform & Agency, which makes me wonder if there’s an emergent capacity to map the logical relations between ideas increasingly revealed here; human analysts and generative AI have the capacity to follow the same threads which are objectively present in a body of ideas:

The concept of personal morphogenesis, as developed in Mark Alex Carrigan’s thesis, could be applied to understand the impact of digital media on personal development in several ways:

  1. Role of Reflexivity: Reflexivity, or the process of self-examination and evaluation of oneself in relation to the world, is a key concept in personal morphogenesis. Digital media, with its vast array of information and perspectives, can significantly influence this process. It can shape how individuals perceive themselves and their roles in society, thereby affecting their personal development.
  2. Influence of Digital Relations: Personal morphogenesis emphasizes the importance of relations in personal change. In the digital age, these relations are not just physical but also virtual. Social media platforms, online communities, and digital communication tools create new kinds of relationships that can significantly impact personal development.
  3. Biographical Elaboration: The thesis also discusses the importance of biographical elaboration, or the way individuals’ life stories unfold over time. Digital media can play a significant role in this process. For instance, social media platforms often serve as a sort of digital biography, documenting key events and changes in individuals’ lives. This can influence how individuals perceive their own personal development and life trajectory.
  4. Digital Media as a Source of Change: The thesis argues that personal change is a result of the interplay between individual agency and social structures. Digital media can be seen as a new social structure that individuals must navigate. It presents new opportunities and challenges that can spur personal change.
  5. Temporal Aspect of Personal Change: The thesis emphasizes the temporal aspect of personal change. Digital media, with its constant updates and real-time interactions, can accelerate the pace of personal change. It can also influence individuals’ perceptions of time, which can in turn affect their personal development.

In summary, the concept of personal morphogenesis provides a useful framework for understanding how digital media can influence personal development. It highlights the importance of reflexivity, relations, biographical elaboration, and the temporal aspect of personal change, all of which can be significantly impacted by digital media.

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