humanitycorrupting

Humanitycorrupting is a coined term used to describe actions, technologies, institutions, or conditions that are believed to erode core human values such as autonomy, dignity, empathy, and social solidarity. Typically written as humanity-corrupting or humanitycorrupting, it functions as a qualitative judgment rather than a neutral technical descriptor. Because it expresses normative evaluation, its applicability depends on the ethical framework of the user.

Usage appears in debates about emerging technologies, mass media, and organizational systems that seem to diminish moral agency or degrade human relationships. Examples cited include artificial intelligence systems that bypass human oversight, surveillance regimes that suppress dissent, and economic models that prize efficiency over well-being. In fiction and critical theory, the term is sometimes invoked to frame dystopian scenarios in which power or technology corrupts human ends.

Critics warn that the term can be vague or culturally biased if used without clear criteria or evidence. Proponents argue that it helps illuminate risks to human welfare that quantitative measures overlook. In scholarly and public discourse, it is typically paired with specific analyses of mechanisms, safeguards, and ethical principles to avoid overgeneralization.

Related concepts include dehumanization, moral hazard, and technodystopia.