food for thought

The Italian Strategy for Quantum Technologies has recently been published and represents a fundamental step to strengthen Italy's position in this innovative field.

Here are the key points from the document:

The strategy was adopted by the Interministerial Committee for Digital Transition (CITD) in July 2025, after being drafted by a group of experts and institutional representatives.

Quantum technologies are expected to influence various sectors, including health and work, and generate significant impacts on daily life.

Among the actions proposed by the Strategy, we find: incentivizing basic and applied research through dedicated funding; improving access to the necessary infrastructures for the development of quantum technologies; stimulating private investments in the sector by creating networks of collaboration between public and private entities; developing advanced training programs and industrial PhDs to train a specialized workforce; promoting the internationalization of national ecosystems to attract talent and foreign capital.

The working group that drafted the strategy was established by the Ministry of University and Research, in collaboration with various ministries, including those of Enterprises and Made in Italy, Foreign Affairs, and Defense. Tommaso Calarco, a professor of Physics at the University of Bologna, coordinated the work. Having had the opportunity to participate in the drafting process, I can testify to the commitment and seriousness demonstrated by the working group.

The strategy is set within the context of the European Declaration on Quantum Technologies, highlighting Italy's commitment to intensifying investments in research and aligning with the objectives of the Quantum Europe Strategy, which foresees the presentation of a Quantum Act by the European Commission by the end of 2025.

Therefore, this strategy represents a significant commitment from Italy to become a key player in the landscape of quantum technologies at both the European and global levels.

The idea of the "post-Vitruvian" man represents a significant transition in the evolution of the Homo sapiens species, moving away from the Renaissance image of the individual as the measure of all things. Leonardo da Vinci's Vitruvian Man is a famous pen-and-ink drawing on paper (circa 1490), preserved in the Gabinetto dei Disegni e delle Stampe of the Gallerie dell'Accademia in Venice, which depicts a nude man with his arms and legs in two different overlapping positions, inscribed within a circle and a square. The figure is based on the ideal proportions of the human body described by the 1st-century BC Roman architect, Marcus Vitruvius Pollio.

The drawing symbolizes an ideal of proportion and perfection, placing man at the center of the universe. Many argue that Leonardo incorporated the concept of the golden ratio (1.618...) into his drawings, which is considered a perfect esthetic proportion. According to this theory, the human body is designed according to universal mathematical laws, which Leonardo wanted to reveal visually. From a symbolic perspective, the circle would represent the sky, infinity, the divine; The square is the earth, the material, the finished product: The man who unites both would thus be the bridge between spirit and matter, in line with the Neoplatonic concepts that were very widespread during the Renaissance.

It should be noted that the geometric centers of the circle and the square do not coincide: The first has the navel as its center, the square the genitals, suggesting the interpretation that Leonardo wanted to indicate the dual nature of man: rational (spirit, navel as the origin of life) and sensual (instinct, genitals).

Some scholars, such as Carlo Pedretti (2009), have hypothesized that Leonardo da Vinci's Vitruvian Man contains a harmonious geometric structure, based on circles, squares, and triangles, used to calculate architecture and perspective: a codified system of relationships and visionary synthesis between art, science, classical philosophy, according to the Renaissance ideal of man as the measure of all things.

Today, however, we are witnessing a radical metamorphosis, where the human being can no longer be considered an isolated entity, but an integral part of a complex system that includes technological elements such as, for example, artificial intelligence (AI) and brain-computer interface (BCI) systems.

This evolution can be understood thru various fields, including philosophy, biology, and technology. With the advent of generative AI, the very conception of the individual has changed: Humanity is beginning to recognize that its identity is not solely defined by biological characteristics, but also by interactions with "intelligent machines" based on the theories formulated by Alan Turing in the 1950s. If the logic of a machine, argued the British logician and mathematician, is indistinguishable from that of a human being, it must in fact and in every way be considered intelligent, "albeit artificially" (Turing, 1950). Hence his prophetic vision: "I believe that by the end of the century, the use of words and the opinions of cultured people will have changed to such an extent that we will be able to speak of thinking machines without expecting to be contradicted. »

According to Yuval Noah Harari (2015), our ability to create increasingly sophisticated technologies has made possible a new form of "co-evolution," in which Homo sapiens and AI influence each other. This phenomenon leads to the consideration of the human being as a hybrid entity, where the boundary between natural and artificial becomes increasingly blurred.

This is a theory that evokes concepts like Dante's "transhumanization" (“trasumanar”) or Teilhard de Chardin's "Omega Point."

The term "trasumanar," which Dante Alighieri uses in the First Canto of Paradise, and which in a certain sense constitutes the deepest key to interpreting the entire Divine Comedy, evokes the idea of a transformation of the human soul toward a state of divine perfection. This concept fits into a broader context where the spiritual and material dimensions intertwine, giving rise to a vision of existence that transcends earthly experiences.

In Paradise, Dante guides us thru an extraordinary journey into the afterlife, accompanied by Beatrice, his muse and a symbol of God's love. Here, "transhumanization" leads to an encounter with the divine and causes a metamorphosis in the soul. It's not just a physical change, but an inner elevation that allows the soul to draw closer to God. Divine light illuminates the human intellect, taking it beyond everyday, material reality. Beatrice is not only a figure of earthly love, but also represents the bridge to divine love, guiding Dante and, symbolically, every man toward the full realization of their spiritual potential. In this sense, "transhumanize" becomes a symbol of elevation and redemption, a call to bring out the best in ourselves thru virtue and faith, thus reaching our ultimate destination.

The concept of the "Omega Point," developed by French philosopher Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1955), posits the yearning for the attainment of the final destination of human evolution, where consciousness and complexity reach a sublime and unsurpassable peak. He invites us to consider evolution not just as a biological process, but as a spiritual and social journey that leads us toward a "noosphere," a collective harmony of thot and consciousness. In this scenario, humanity is not isolated but integrates into a larger design that encompasses the divine and the cosmic.

These visions, inspired by a deep religious sense, are intriguingly intertwined with the principles of "transhumanism," the philosophy that thru technology we can overcome the limitations of the human condition: almost a new religion, which has a growing number of followers in Silicon Valley and which postulates the necessity of embracing innovations with confidence and pushing forward relentlessly, in the belief that this will guaranty us great benefits. This school of thot draws inspiration from the theories of British biologist Julian Huxley, who, around the time Turing was publishing his studies, described the evolution of humanity toward a being that, while remaining human, transcends itself, and whose foundation is the belief that scientific and technological progress represents the primary tool for the supreme enhancement of our physical and cognitive abilities.

Among the most fervent disciples of transhumanism is Elon Musk, the South African-born American entrepreneur, founder, CEO, and CTO of the aerospace company SpaceX, co-founder of Neuralink and OpenAI, CEO of the multinational automotive company Tesla, owner and chairman of X (formerly Twitter), the richest man in the world, and the only one to have crossed the $400 billion net worth threshold.

According to the transhumanist view, the integration of human beings with artificial intelligence systems and other advanced technologies is not seen as a threat, but as an opportunity to accelerate our evolution toward reaching an "omega point."

Here we are, then, with Homo sapiens on the cusp of a radical transformation, toward the realization of a "post-Vitruvian" model of humanity.

This is a concept that has been explored, among others, by Sampada Bhatnagar (2021), who highlights how the growing awareness that humans are no longer the center of the universe has led to a redefinition of our very identity. In her A Cyborg Manifesto (1985), Donna Haraway challenged the rigid separations between human and machine, suggesting a vision where identity is fluid and interconnected with technology. Francesca Ferrando (2016) describes this idea as an open concept, where coexistence is not limited to humans but extends to all forms of life and the ecosystem itself.

Brain-computer interfaces represent a crucial aspect of this transition. These allow for direct communication between the human brain and digital devices, paving the way for new forms of interaction and experience. Recent studies (Lebedev & Nicolelis, 2006; Lebedev, 2017) have shown that these technologies can not only improve the quality of life for people with disabilities but also enhance the cognitive abilities of healthy individuals. The idea of "human enhancement" thus becomes central, suggesting that integration with technologies is not just a matter of accessibility, but of evolution.

Nick Bostrom defines the posthuman as an entity that possesses capabilities superior to those currently achievable by humans. His reflections concern improvements in health, cognition, and emotions, suggesting that the future could see individuals able to overcome current biological limitations (Bostrom, 2008). Emerging technologies like brain-computer interfaces, particularly Elon Musk's Neuralink project, promise to radically transform our ability to interact with the world and ourselves, making previously unimaginable experiences and capabilities possible.

A prime example of this evolution is the Primo Posthuman body prototype, designed to be multifunctional and upgradeable, representing a vision of humanity enhanced thru genetic engineering and advanced technology (Bhatnagar, 2021). This model aligns with the transhumanist philosophy, which views the human being as a constantly evolving work in progress, capable of overcoming their biological limitations.

The concept of the post-Vitruvian man also implies a reconsideration of free will and autonomy. With the advent of AI, human decision-making processes are increasingly influenced by algorithms and intelligent systems, often beyond our ability to control. This raises ethical and philosophical questions about responsibility and individual freedom: In a context where choices are increasingly mediated by algorithmic systems, the question arises whether humans can still be considered the authors of their own decisions. As Bostrom and Yudkowsky (2014) suggest, the challenge is not just to develop advanced technologies, but to do so in a way that preserves and amplifies human dignity.

Finally, the post-Vitruvian man represents a paradigm shift in our understanding of knowledge and creativity. AI is transforming the way we produce art, music, and literature, ushering in a new era of collaboration between humans and machines. Generative art, for example, is challenging traditional notions of authorship and originality, suggesting that even creativity is not an exclusively human prerogative, but can also emerge from interactions with algorithms (Elgammal et al., 2017). This evolution invites us to reconsider the value of human experience in a context of "co-creation."

In conclusion, the post-Vitruvian man represents a new era where human identity, autonomy, and creativity intertwine with advanced technologies. The challenge is to navigate this new landscape in a way that preserves humanity's core values while embracing the potential offered by integration with artificial intelligence and brain-computer interfaces. Only in this way can we build a future where the human being remains at the center, not as the measure of all things, but as part of a complex and interconnected evolutionary ecosystem.

References

- Bostrom, N., & Yudkowsky, E. (2014). The Ethics of Artificial Intelligence. In the Cambridge Handbook of Artificial Intelligence.

- Bhatnagar, S. (2021). From a Vitruvian Man to a Primo Posthuman: Understanding Posthumanism. Nerd for Tech. (https://medium.com/nerd-for-tech/from-a-vitruvian-man-to-a-primo-post-human-understanding-posthumanism-ffa0c6d0c662).

- Elgammal, A., Liu, B., Elhoseiny, M., & Mazzone, M. (2017). CAN: Creative Adversarial Networks: Generating "Art" by Learning About Styles and Deviating from Style Norms. arXiv preprint arXiv: 1706.07068.

- Ferrando, F. (2016). Philosophical Posthumanism and its Otherness. ETS

- Harari, Y. N. (2015). Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind. Harper.

- Lebedev, M. A., & Nicolelis, M. A. L. (2006). Brain-machine interfaces: past, present, and future. Trends in Neurosciences, 29(9), 536-546.

- Lebedev, M. A. (2017). Brain–machine interfaces: a review. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 86, 181-195.

- Pedretti, C. (2009). Preface to Leonardo – The Vitruvian Man between Art and Science. Exhibition catalog. Marsilio Editori.

- Teilhard de Chardin, P. (1955). Human energy. Paoline Editions.

- Turing, A. M. (1950). Computing Machinery and Intelligence, Mind, (https://courses.cs.umbc.edu/471/papers/turing.pdf)

The recently adopted Italian Strategy 2024-2026 for Artificial Intelligence is a crucial step for our country, which aims to assume a leading role in AI and technological transition, also thanks to the important role played with the G7 Presidency. This is the full text of the Italian Strategy for Artificial Intelligence 2024-2026 . The document reflects the Government's commitment to creating an environment in which AI can develop in a safe, ethical and inclusive way, maximizing benefits and minimizing potential adverse effects. After an analysis of the global context and Italian positioning, it defines the strategic actions, grouped into four macro-areas: Research, Public Administration, Business and Training. The strategy also proposes a system for monitoring its implementation and an analysis of the regulatory context that outlines the framework within which it must be deployed.

In 1964 Norberto Bobbio decided to dedicate his lectures on the philosophy of law to the theme of war and peace , exploring the concept of just war, and arriving, among other things, at formulating his famous thesis regarding the impossibility of justifying war in an era in which the use of such powerful weapons risks calling into question the very survival of the human race.

"And after every war, Dori thought, after every battle, not one, but two, three, ten, a hundred versions. Who is right, in the end? What appears seems one thing, but then seems another, and then changes perspective again. In the end, what does it matter who is right, if reason itself has been lost?" (Diego Brasioli, il Caffè di Tamer , Mursia 2002, II ed. 2023

The answer is yes, through World Modelling.

Yann LeCun's (Meta, Alan Turing Prize winner) vision of the future of artificial intelligence.

The great neuroscientist Antonio Damasio, in his studies on the neural bases of cognition and behavior, highlighted the importance of emotions in the decision-making process. His theories suggest that feeling and perception are fundamental aspects in guiding human choices.

Artificial Intelligence is opening up new frontiers in understanding the mechanisms that drive humanity. Through data analysis and machine learning, AI can understand and anticipate the emotional reactions of users. This not only makes digital systems more effective, but also helps us feel and perceive in unique and personal ways.

«It is time to acknowledge these facts and open a new chapter in the history of AI and robotics. It is clear that we can develop machines operating along the lines of “homeostatic feelings”. What we need, to do so, is to provide robots with a “body” that requires adjustments and adjustments to maintain itself. In other words, almost paradoxically, we need to add a certain degree of vulnerability to the robustness so appreciated in robotics. Today, we can do this by placing sensors throughout the robot structure and having them detect and record the more or less efficient states of the body, integrating the corresponding functions. […] Do these “feeling” machines then become “conscious machines”? Well, not so fast. Their “feelings” are not like those of living creatures, although they develop functional elements related to consciousness (feeling is part of the path to consciousness). The degree of consciousness finally achieved by such machines will depend on the complexity of their internal representations, concerning both the “inside the machine” and its “surrounding environment”. It is very likely that […] this new generation of machines would constitute a unique laboratory for the study of human behavior and the mind, in many authentic realistic scenarios.» (Antonio Damasio, Sentire e Conoscere. Storia delle menti coscienti, Adelphi, Milan, 2022, pp. 183-184)

When we consider the controversial notion of thinking machines, Braitenberg vehicles come to mind, a fascinating concept introduced forty years ago by the Italian neuropsychologist Valentino Braitenberg (1926-2011) in his study Vehicles: Experiments in Synthetic Psychology . He imagines relatively simple machines that move based on sensor inputs, through purely mechanical actions, but that can exhibit highly multifaceted behaviors, to the point of appearing intentional, as if they were endowed with real intelligence. This illustrates how simple rules and interactions can lead to emergent phenomena , a phenomenon relevant in fields such as robotics, artificial intelligence and biology: a different and original way of looking at reality.

Large amounts of water are needed to cool the data centers that power AI systems, raising concerns about the environmental cost of the boom in generative AI. Several studies point out that the growing demand for AI could have a very significant impact on the extraction of water resources from underground and surface sources in the coming years: between 4.2 and 6.6 billion cubic meters by 2027, or about half the amount consumed by the entire United Kingdom in a year!

The question of whether it is more profitable and morally acceptable for companies that create AI programs to keep the specifications of their computer code secret or to make them freely available to software developers around the world has been a topic of debate among industry experts for many years now.

Concerns that artificial intelligence is becoming a security threat have fueled the debate between closed source and open source software, which has become increasingly heated due to the rapid advancement of new technologies.

In an open letter published in July 2024, Mark Zuckerberg, one of the founders of Facebook and CEO of Meta, asserted the position taken by his company, considered by many to be revolutionary, to liberalize the use of its programs as much as possible. In particular, the Llama 3.1 405B model is now available to developers in open source mode, like all the artificial intelligence models that Meta has worked on so far. This means that anyone can access, view, modify and redistribute the source code of this program. For example, anyone who wanted to use LLama 3.1 to create a new chatbot capable of conversing naturally with users - exactly like ChatGPT or Gemini do - would not have to pay Meta the licensing costs of the technology they are using.

Zuckerberg argues that the open source approach to AI will allow the widest possible number of developers of new technological models to use this knowledge to build their own AI programs. The basis of this reasoning is the awareness that it is unrealistic to think that a handful of companies can keep their AI technology secret for long, especially when Silicon Valley is clearly exposed to continuous attempts at industrial espionage. But Zuckerberg's ambition goes beyond these important competitive aspects, and ultimately aims to create truly accessible and transparent AI systems, for the benefit of all: " Open source will ensure that more people around the world can enjoy the benefits and opportunities of AI, that power is not concentrated in the hands of a small number of companies, and that the technology can be deployed more uniformly and safely across society ."

A key factor to consider is the energy cost required to run new digital systems, supercomputers, and quantum computers. It has been estimated that by 2030, data centers powering AI could consume between 85 and 134 terawatt hours of energy per year, equivalent to the consumption of entire nations such as the Netherlands, Poland, or Argentina.

Progress in artificial intelligence is accelerating tremendously, along with our difficulties in understanding and managing its development. What seemed impossible only yesterday already appears outdated today, and we do not really know what tomorrow holds. In the mid-1960s, the young chemist Gordon Moore - who would become one of the pioneers of microelectronics and co-founder of Intel - made a prediction that would shape the entire semiconductor industry. It states that the number of transistors on a silicon chip doubles approximately every two years, leading to an exponential increase in computer processing power and a decrease in cost per transistor. Moore's law, which proved to be surprisingly accurate in the decades to come, greatly influenced the digital industry, with rapid advances in various fields such as computing, communication and electronics. But today, after sixty years, the question arises whether it still makes sense to talk about the validity of this law. Well, Moore himself argued in a 2005 interview that the limits of his theory are essentially physical, and that it will last until chips approach the size of atoms, and that therefore in the future, as miniaturisation proceeds, it is theoretically destined to run out. According to scholar and entrepreneur Ray Kurzweil, AI represents a paradigm shift in the scalability-based scheme of progress. His studies emphasise the ‘singularity’, i.e. a virtually unlimited explosion of the power of artificial intelligence that will render the entire history and culture of human civilisations obsolete. Kurzweil imagines that we will soon (in the coming decades, and in any case by 2050) experience the advent of algorithmic systems capable of autonomously improving themselves in thousandths of a second at an ever-increasing rate. Man and his role in the world would cease to exist in the way we have always known it. Geoffrey Hinton, the British-Canadian scientist who won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 2024 and who is considered one of the fathers of AI and whom we have already met as one of the inventors of artificial neural networks, has taken the resounding decision to leave his position as an executive at Google in order to devote himself entirely to the one mission that is now close to his heart: warning the public about the most disturbing aspects of artificial intelligence. If the most immediate danger is that technology will make it increasingly difficult to distinguish reality from fake news originated by AI systems, he fears that the future holds even more alarming scenarios. According to Hinton, in fact, there is a real risk that artificial intelligence systems could autonomously learn unexpected and pernicious behaviour, and that soon the human being will literally be supplanted by a superior intelligence that he is no longer able to control, like a genie that has escaped from the bottle: ‘Many people thought the idea that these systems could become smarter than people was wrong. I myself used to think that this was an eventuality yet to come, that it would not occur until 30 or 50 years from now, or even later. Obviously, I no longer think that way, and already in a few years we could develop an artificial intelligence that is much more intelligent than man. That is extremely frightening.’ This is a dystopian vision that echoes that previously expressed by the distinguished physicist Stephen Hawking, who warned that a super-intelligent AI could become unstoppable and beyond human control, with potentially catastrophic consequences, especially if its capabilities were used irresponsibly or maliciously. Hence, according to both Hawking and Hinton, the importance of carefully regulating AI to ensure that it remains at the service of humanity, rather than threatening our future. This basic pessimism, which fuels an essentially dystopian conception of the future, is not shared by Kurzweil who - along with other exponents of transhumanism, the new philosophical current that sees in technological progress the possibility of human improvement - instead espouses an optimistic view. In fact, he believes that artificial intelligence will help us solve hitherto insurmountable problems, for example in the bio-medical field, by allowing the integration of the human biological brain with external hardware and software in the future, which could potentially allow us to live indefinitely. We will thus witness not only the disappearance of degenerative diseases or the most aggressive forms of cancer, but a total biological improvement of man, towards immortality. If these predictions are true, the individuals who will live forever may already be born and present among us.