This Lacan in Scotland seminar “Desire in the Age of AI: What “Her” Reveals about Contemporary Discontent” took place 29 November 2025 in Edinburgh. Marguerite Gleeson, Lacanian psychoanalyst and PhD researcher at Ghent University, examines how we can understand contemporary discontent via Spike Jonze’s movie ‘Her’ and by drawing on Lacanian psychoanalytic theory. The seminar is chaired by Professor Calum Neill, Director of Lacan in Scotland and ends in a Q&A with the audience.

Video Sections:

0:00 – Intro
01:38 – Presentation
1:02:35 – Discussion with Calum
1:16:24 – Q&A with audience
1:35:18 – Outro

About the Event

Why does Spike Jonze’s Her feel so unsettlingly familiar? In this session, Marguerite Gleeson invites us to explore what the film reveals about contemporary discontent: our longing for connection, our dependence on technology, and the challenged boundaries of human desire as we interact with the AI-Chatbot world. As Chatbot technology advances, this is a timely discussion on what we will have to contend with. Drawing on Lacanian psychoanalytic theory and other contemporary thinkers, we’ll consider what happens when human lack and desire encounter artificial intelligence and explore what this tells us about being human today.

About the Speaker

Marguerite Gleeson is a Lacanian psychoanalyst and researcher exploring how Lacanian theory can help us interpret contemporary cultural phenomena, particularly around the themes of lack, desire, discontent, sexuality, and love. Marguerite, Irish-Mexican, keeps a clinical practice in Madrid, Spain and is pursuing her PhD at Ghent University.