2026-07-30 10:00 UTCIn-site rewrite1 min readUpdated: 2026-10-02 02:36 UTC

I’ve spent years researching what it means to be alive. This is what I’ve learned | Melanie Challenger

Summary

To understand the experience of life, don’t look to the mind. Look to the body. In a 1982 article, Elizabeth Spelman coined “somatophobia” for the delusion that we are minds rather than bodies. Forty years later, AI offers the illusion that intelligence can exist without flesh. Two-thirds in a survey believe ChatGPT has consciousness. We are in the age of somatophobia; time to resist.

SourceThe Guardian AIAuthor: Melanie Challenger

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To understand the experience of life, don’t look to the mind. Look to the body

In a 1982 article, the American feminist scholar Elizabeth Spelman coined the term “somatophobia” to describe the strange human delusion that we are minds rather than bodies.

Forty years later, artificial intelligence is everywhere, offering the most powerful illusion yet that intelligence can exist without flesh. Two-thirds of people surveyed in a recent study believe that tools like ChatGPT possess some consciousness and feeling. We are living in the age of somatophobia. Now is the moment to resist it.

I’ve spent years researching what it means to be alive. This is what I’ve learned | Melanie Challenger

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