When I think about the story of the end of Autistici/Inventati my central question is concerning the inactivity of Italian and European politics on the issue. Many values that are defended by both institutions combine in this matter: National and European sovereignty. The future of the European market. The Creation of a future perspective for our youth.
From this point of view A/I is first and foremost an Italian, an European tech project. A project that does not only preach values of participation and digital emancipation, but has made them the foundation of all their activities since the beginning. Decisions are made democratically by the collective and the central idea was that everyone would learn to understand the technology used. This approach resulted in manuals and guides that teach the reader concepts of hosting and the technical structure of the internet.
Why is it so shocking that we have not heard anything from our political representatives in Rome and Brussels? The EU is far behind the US and China when it comes to the digital economic powerhouses of the world. We find ourselves in a situation in which we realized that our digital space is practically exclusively being controlled by the US Big Tech companies. Effectively those are monopolies that have used values like free market capitalism and democracy only to maneuver themselves into their absolutist position of power. Europe is struggling with both: we have few companies that are economically relevant enough to even make a dnet in fields like digital communication, networks, trade, entertainment, hardware and office software. One of the central pillars of US-american softpower in the last 30 years has been to render the western hemisphere utterly dependant on US tech, transformining national into international monopolies. This has developed into one the central threats to our pluralistic democracy: Any discourse in the digital space does not take place on democratically goverened platforms but in the private rooms of Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk and Liang Rubo. Today, digital discourse is practically the same as public discourse and it follows the rules enforced by those companies. We witness the consequences for decades now, but increasingly so since the US decided to turn towards authoritarianism. US and Russian interests now largely overlap when Europe’s future is concerned resulting in the uniform propaganda-slop that follows these well-known dimensions: the western world is doomed, our dedication to human rights, empathy and democracy have weakened us politically and economically to the point that we can’t even survive yearly immigration on the scale of less than one percent of our population. This digital age, now AI age, requires autocracy and the dictate of the patriarchy. These narratives work and we see it in the political direction of pracitcally all EU nations. It’s handy that this division of our population and nations serves our global competitors so much. Divide and conquer, a weak Europe that finally lets reign oligarchs and autocrats freely.
So what could be a way out of this stuck situation? The path to a solution highlights why it is so shocking that our politicians have not recognized the value of A/I and remain silent instead of defending democratic European digital projects. To make it short: the way out is emancipation. A/I is expression of this emancipation, a self-help group filling the gap that insufficient digital public policies have created. Today we witness a digital space based on passive consumption, human convenience, distraction and entertainment. A space that hinders critical thinking and furthers separation. A space in which the majority of public discourse is taking place. Even though those facts are known for a long time now, we fail to prepare our children for this world. Digital education in our schools is limited to encourage children to buy an iPad or a Chromebook on which they then learn to use Microsoft Office products. You really have to realize this: the concept for digital education is to use specific products of specific US companies. Learned helplessness from day one. If, however, we want an independent digital economony and a self-determined digital space, we must not educate ‘users’. We need generations for whom algorithms aren’t black magic and computers black boxes. Who are not users but architects, not only of content, but crucially of infrastructure, of spaces. People who are used not only to technical structures but specifically understand the impact on our society, our discourse and our independence. People who create a digital infrastructure that represents our values, not those of US-monopolies. Achieving this requires a confrontation with the foundations of digital technologies from day one, not only with finished apps and products. We need to understand that apps can’t only be used but also be adapted and built. We need to educate our youth in using the means of digital production, not only in using its final products.
This is what A/I understood 25 years ago and what we need to defend: Italians, Europeans who dare to construct and control the infrastructure of our digital spaces. Who dare to make our values the basis of the education of others and in the creation of digital services. Who are one of many both in the market as well in the democratic discourse, not one for all.
I am deeply disappointet by our representatives and their confused so-called digital strategies, that are passive instead of active, who kowtow to our big brother the US. It is not about constructing a digital space in the image of the US-controlled monopolized one, whith the only distinction to put European billionaires in charge. It is about truly emancipating ourselves and educate a population who is able to shape the digital space to their ideas.