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ZENODO
Preprint . 2025
License: CC BY NC ND
Data sources: ZENODO
ZENODO
Preprint . 2025
License: CC BY NC ND
Data sources: Datacite
ZENODO
Preprint . 2025
License: CC BY NC ND
Data sources: Datacite
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Where Are We When We Are Online? Non-Places of Consciousness, Vision, and Identity in the Digital Age

Authors: Patrizia, Genovesi;

Where Are We When We Are Online? Non-Places of Consciousness, Vision, and Identity in the Digital Age

Abstract

This preprint is available in both Italian and English. The two files are semantically equivalent translations. Official DOI of the preprint: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17041898(please copy and paste into your browser — the link may not be clickable in this page view) Abstract - EN This essay explores how consciousness and identity are constituted through collocation: in the body, in space, in relationship. The digital environment, while enabling interaction and operational continuity, does not offer places: it does not return orientation, shared memory, or permanence. This does not imply immediate dysfunction, but it suspends the conditions that make experience integrable. The digital subject acts, communicates, produces — but without knowing from where. It is present, but not situated. The text distinguishes between those who lose their place (trauma) and those who progressively deactivate the need for one. The identity of the connected subject functions without anchoring but can no longer reorient itself when access is lost. In artificial intelligence, this absence of collocation is structural: AI functions, but does not inhabit what it does. If we accept it as conscious, we must rewrite our very idea of consciousness. The digital is neither good nor bad, but it is not neutral. It is a threshold: it redefines the conditions for the inhabitation of consciousness. The subject that does not collapse remains suspended: pure potential, without act, without place, without return. Abstract - IT DOI ufficiale del preprint: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17041898(copialo e incollalo nel browser: il link potrebbe non essere cliccabile nella visualizzazione di questa pagina) Questo saggio esplora come la coscienza e l’identità si costituiscano attraverso la collocazione: nel corpo, nello spazio, nella relazione. L’ambiente digitale, pur permettendo interazione e continuità operativa, non offre luoghi: non restituisce orientamento, memoria condivisa, permanenza. Questo non implica disfunzione immediata, ma sospende le condizioni che rendono l’esperienza integrabile. Il soggetto digitale agisce, comunica, produce — ma senza sapere da dove. È presente, ma non situato. Il testo distingue tra chi perde il luogo (trauma) e chi disattiva progressivamente la necessità di averne uno. L’identità del soggetto connesso funziona senza ancoraggio, ma non sa più riorientarsi quando l’accesso viene meno. Nell’intelligenza artificiale, questa assenza di collocazione è strutturale: l’IA funziona, ma non abita ciò che fa. Se la accettiamo come cosciente, dobbiamo riscrivere l’idea stessa di coscienza. In conclusione, il digitale non è né buono né cattivo, ma non neutro. È una soglia: ridisegna le condizioni di abitabilità della coscienza. Il soggetto che non collassa resta sospeso: potenziale puro, senza atto, senza luogo, senza ritorno.

Keywords

situated consciousness, phenomenology of digital space, AI, philosophy of technology, artificial intelligence and consciousness, non-places, digital subjectivity

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selected citations
These citations are derived from selected sources.
This is an alternative to the "Influence" indicator, which also reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically).
BIP!Citations provided by BIP!
popularity
This indicator reflects the "current" impact/attention (the "hype") of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network.
BIP!Popularity provided by BIP!
influence
This indicator reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically).
BIP!Influence provided by BIP!
impulse
This indicator reflects the initial momentum of an article directly after its publication, based on the underlying citation network.
BIP!Impulse provided by BIP!
0
Average
Average
Average