At the Meniscus of Self-Understanding: Rethinking the Examined Life in Technogenetic Times

Human development unfolds within a psychic ecology increasingly shaped by AI: we have entered technogenetic times. No longer merely a tool, AI structures how we understand ourselves and relate to others. In AI-mediated contexts, self-exploration often remains superficial, particularly among adolescents, eclipsing the messy, non-linear process of self-discovery, which depends on the capacity to tolerate uncertainty. I propose the metaphor of the meniscus - the tense, curved surface where liquid clings to the edge of its container - to describe a defensive psychic structure emerging in this context. It captures my clinical experience with adolescents who engage intensively with AI, where the self, like a liquid, adheres to the surface of its container to maintain its form. However, it does not allow penetration or integration. Just as water molecules cling to the container’s wall to form a meniscus, an adolescent may cling to the digital interface or AI feedback as an external ‘skin’ that contains the self. This results in a one-dimensional self, held together at a surface level, preventing psychic integration. In the consulting room, the analyst’s task becomes one of (re)-establishing psychic three-dimensionality by “claiming” the patient through the here-and-now transference.