All processes of measurement imply symmetry?breaking. Ambiguity is the coexistence of mutually incompatible aspects of the same structure. There are many examples of analogy and symmetry breaking in nature and in culture.

Machine awareness is a disputed research topic, in some circles considered a crucial step in realising Artificial General Intelligence. Understanding what that is, under which conditions such feature could arise and how it can be controlled is still a matter of speculation. A more concrete object of theoretical analysis is algorithmic iteration for computational intelligence, intended as the theoretical and practical ability of algorithms to design other algorithms for actions aimed at solving well-specified tasks. We know this ability is already (...) shown by current AIs, and understanding its limits is an essential step in qualifying claims about machine awareness and Super-AI. We propose a formal translation of algorithmic iteration in a fragment of modal logic, formulate principles of transparency and faithfulness across human and machine intelligence, and consider the relevance to theoretical research on -AI as well as the practical import of our results. (shrink)

Antonio Signorini’s contribution to the constitutive theory of non-linear elasticity is reconstructed and analyzed. Some uninformed opinions suggesting he had a minor role, lacking of significant results, are discussed and refuted. It is shown that Signorini should be rightly credited for being among the first scholars aware of the central problem of non-linear elasticity: the determination of the general form of the elastic potential.

This article provides an original exploration of the self-identified populist coalition leading the Italian government between 2018 and 2019. The analysis, informed by a governmentality approach, starts by scrutinising the economic, social, and cultural issues framed as political “problems” by the coalition, also highlighting the tensions underlying such constructions. The second step charts how this political subject sought to address those problems by deploying an array of political technologies. From examining these two dimensions, the article then can discern the composite (...) rationality—techno-sovereignism—that drove precariously the coalition’s art of government. Finally, the article sketches out some forms of contestation against the techno-sovereignist operations, whose significance may stretch beyond the Italian borders. Overall, although the Italian populist coalition turned out to be ephemeral, the dynamics that characterized its emergence and functioning could still be used heuristically to understand the interactions and reciprocal adjustments possibly used by right-wing and technocratic populist groups to exert political power conjointly. (shrink)

This article claims that the study of irregular migration may be a strategic research material for the development of an adequate understanding of contemporary society. The field, however, suffers not only from a lack of reliable empirical data, but also from endemic undertheorizing. The article shows how the attempt to develop an understanding of irregular migration from within a general theory of modern society has positive consequences both for the clarification of the problems and for the design of research programs (...) able to deal adequately with the phenomena. Particularly, it is argued that a theory of modern society centered on its form of differentiation may help to clarify both the political dimension of contemporary international mobility, the variety of irregular statuses existing in the foreign population of receiving countries, and the condition of inclusion and exclusion of irregular migrants. (shrink)

Este ensayo se centra en la democracia entendida como forma política, como constitución democrática. El concepto de poder del pueblo indica, por una parte, un poder absoluto al que someterse, y, por otra, tiende a negar la sumisión en cuanto tal. Los dos conceptos fundamentales de la constitución democrática, la soberanía del pueblo y la representación política , que surgen para mostrar cómo el poder es de todos, en realidad crean un hiato estructural que impide pensar en la dimensión política (...) de los ciudadanos. En la base de la aporía se encuentra el ideal de la libertad y la libertad incondicional del individuo, la cual se afirma mediante la negación de la relación de gobierno. Esta incondicionalidad de la voluntad se convierte en el elemento fundador de la racionalidad formal propia de la legitimación democrática. Sólo la conciencia de la centralidad de la cuestión del gobierno, incluso en el interior de la democracia y más allá de su dispositivo legitimador, puede mostrarnos la vía para repensar a los ciudadanos como sujetos capaces de acción política. (shrink)

_Riassunto_: La _Deep Brain Stimulation _(DBS) è un dispositivo annoverato tra le interfacce-cervello computer e che si qualifica come una promettente soluzione medica per far fronte al decorso di alcune malattie neurodegenerative come il Parikinson. Decenni di utilizzo clinico della DBS hanno permesso di comprenderne gli effetti collaterali e il loro impatto sul PIAAAS (_Personality, Identity, Agency, Authenticity, Autonomy and Self_). In tal senso, per sondare cambiamenti psicologici legati all’uso della DBS si è fatto ricorso a metodi quantitativi, come questionari (...) incentrati su valutazioni di ordine numerico, e metodi qualitativi, che si appoggiano alle esperienze riportate dai pazienti tramite interviste. Questo articolo ha l’obiettivo di evidenziare come, a prescindere dai metodi di indagine utilizzati, la ricerca sia stata sempre focalizzata sugli effetti collaterali della DBS e gli eventuali cambiamenti sulle dimensioni comprese nel PIAAAS, lasciandosi sfuggire l’occasione di usare i numerosi dati raccolti per effettuare un’analisi fenomenologica che potesse restituirci una descrizione della sintesi uomo-macchina. Per colmare questo iato, proponiamo l’utilizzo sinergico di due metodi di raccolta e analisi dati di origine fenomenologica. _Parole chiave_: Deep Brain Stimulation; Effetti collaterali; Sintesi uomo-macchina; Fenomenologia _Deep Brain Stimulation and the human-machine synthesis: A possible phenomenological perspective_ _Abstract_: Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) is a device included among the brain-computer interfaces and that qualifies as a promising medical solution to cope with the course of some neurodegenerative diseases such as Parikinson’s. Decades of clinical use of DBS have allowed us to understand its side effects and their impact on PIAAAS (_Personality, Identity, Agency, Authenticity, Autonomy and Self_). In this sense, to investigate psychological changes related to the use of DBS, quantitative methods, such as questionnaires focused on numerical assessments, and qualitative techniques, which are based on experiences by patients through interviews, have been used. This article aims to highlight how, regardless of the survey methods used, research has always been focused on the side effects of DBS and possible changes in the concepts included in the PIAAAS, missing the opportunity to use the numerous data collected to carry out a phenomenological analysis that could give us a description of the human-machine synthesis. To bridge this hiatus, we propose the synergistic use of two phenomenological methods of data collection and analysis. _Keywords_: Deep Brain Stimulation; Side Effects; Human-machine synthesis; Phenomenology. (shrink)

¿Es hoy aún posible pensar la creatividad sin el método, la invención sin la regla? La historia nos enseña que el arte es siempre inevitablemente tanto fantasía como disciplina, tanto creatividad como técnica, tanto genialidad como orden, y allí donde prevalece sólo uno de los dos momentos la creación artística corre siempre el riesgo de degenerar o en un mero delirio creativo sin resultados concretos o en un exasperante formalismo sin inspiración. De las reflexiones barrocas de Baltasar Gracián y de (...) Giambattista Vico nos viene la invitación a concebir la creatividad como ingenio, por lo tanto, a entender la creatividad como la capacidad de captar relaciones inéditas entre las cosas, las ideas o las palabras, o de formular intuiciones imprevisibles e imprevistas para los esquemas de pensamiento habituales o tradicionales, aunque reelaborando y conectando originalmente materiales ya dados. Este diverso modelo de creatividad, un modelo especialmente barroco, trata así de evitar el doble peligro de la exasperación fantástica, por un lado, y de la mortificación creativa, por el otro. Descubrir y profundizar la relación entre creatividad e ingenio, así como fue elaborado por Gracián y por Vico, puede entonces contribuir a arrojar nueva luz sobre la noción misma de creatividad, enriqueciéndola siempre con nuevos y más amplios significados.Palabras clave: creatividad, ingenio, Gracián, Vico. Is it still possible to think about creativity without method, or invention without rule? We can learn from history that art is always, unavoidably, a matter of fantasy as well as of discipline, of creativity as well as of technique, of geniality as well as of order; and that wherever only one of those moments prevails, artistic creation runs the risk of degenerating into mere creative delirium, with no concrete results, or in exasperating formalism, deprived of any inspiration. Baroque reflections of Baltasar Gracian and Giambattista Vico invite us to understand creativity as inventiveness, namely the capacity to grasp unprecedented links between things, ideas or words, or to formulate intuitions that were unpredictable and unpredicted for the traditional schemes of convencional or traditional thought, even if re-elaborated, and connecting well known materials in an original way. It is the aim of this particularly baroque model of creativity to avoid the double danger of fantastic exasperation, on the one hand, and creative mortification, on the other. Discovering and considering the relationship between creativity and inventiveness, as Gracian and Vico devised them, could therefore throw some light on the very notion of creativity, enriching it with new and broader meanings.Keywords: creativity, inventiveness, Gracian, Vico. (shrink)