This paper conducts a critical sociological analysis of digital bureaucracy, interrogating the dominant narrative that posits it as an efficient and democratic solution to the problems of traditional bureaucracy. Through a synthesis of classical theory (Weber, Foucault) and contemporary critique (Deleuze, Benasayag, Han, Eubanks), this paper argues that the “digital cage” tends to embody a form of power that is often more totalizing and potentially more insidious than the Weberian “iron cage”, especially in its current applications. The analysis unfolds along three interconnected lines of inquiry: 1) the eclipse of the human mediator and the consequent elimination of discretionary power and negotiation; 2) the transition from a disciplinary-panoptic model of control to a pervasive system of modular control, embedded within the very code of digital platforms; 3) the illusion of universal access, which masks the creation of new and deeper forms of social inequality and exclusion. The paper concludes that the digital cage, by combining the total visibility of the subject with the total opacity of the power mechanism, and by requiring the user’s active complicity, achieves a more sophisticated and resilient form of control, with profound implications for the future of citizenship and democracy.
Abstract Teaching diagrams will be introduced as an extension of Develay's teaching triangle, both to highlight teacher self-development and to correlate them with the categories of the Mathematical Knowledge for Teaching (MKT) framework. These diagrams and MKT are then contextualized within the philosophical-pedagogical framework of German Neohumanism (18th-19th centuries) and Gadamer's hermeneutics (20th century). This will constitute the proposed coordinated framework for teacher self-development, called BMDD. Keywords: teacher self-development; Bildung; Mathematical Knowledge for Teaching; Teaching diagrams. Sunto Si introdurranno i diagrammi didattici come ampliamento del triangolo didattico di Develay sia per evidenziare l'attività di auto-formazione del docente sia per correlarli alle categorie del quadro di riferimento della Mathematical Knowledge for Teaching (MKT). I suddetti diagrammi e la MKT sono, poi, contestualizzati nel quadro di riferimento filosofico-pedagogico della Bildung del Neoumanesimo tedesco (XVIII-XIX sec.) e con l'ermeneutica di Gadamer (XX sec.). Il tutto costituirà la proposta di quadro di riferimento coordinato per l'auto-formazione del docente denominato BMDD. Parole chiavi: auto-formazione docente; Bildung; Mathematical Knowledge for Teaching; diagrammi didattici.
The paper analyses the historical and epistemological rise of instrumentalism in the natural sciences, tracing its roots to the second industrial revolution and focusing particularly on the German scientific and educational system. The authors argue that instrumentalism, understood as the reduction of scientific theories to predictive or utilitarian tools, cannot be separated from the processes of specialisation, state intervention, and the transformation of science into an economic resource. The paper contrasts this instrumentalist approach with the Enlightenment tradition of rational empiricism, emphasising the loss of critical reason, conceptual understanding, and unity of knowledge. The discussion extends to twentieth-century physics, technoscience, and contemporary Artificial Intelligence, which is presented as the ultimate form of instrumental knowledge devoid of genuine understanding.
This article highlights how even the great mysteries of the universe—such as what existed before the Big Bang, the concept of infinity, and the possible existence of a first or ultimate cause of the cosmos—can be answered in a specific way. Despite their importance, these topics have received limited attention within the academic community. In this essay, I emphasize the complexity of the ongoing debate surrounding issues such as the beginning and end of the universe and the origin of life, which has led to numerous new hypotheses in recent decades. I conclude that the great mysteries of the universe may be unraveled through tools such as artificial intelligence, contact with extraterrestrial civilizations, and the in-depth study of cosmological mathematics and information. This article demonstrates that science and philosophy can answer questions about the cosmos that humanity has pondered for centuries.
This paper reexamines the Turing Test by placing it within the broader history of experimentation. Challenging views that link Turing to a continuous scientific tradition from Galileo, it argues that the Imitation Game marks a key epistemological break. Whereas Galileo used experiment to connect observation with mathematical order, and Descartes internalized experience as formal representation, Turing transformed experiment into simulation—producing meaning through logic alone. This shift reveals AI not as a recent innovation, but as the outcome of a rationalist tradition that displaces experience with computation. The paper critiques this legacy and calls for restoring experience as central to knowledge.
