Artificial Intelligence and Human Freedom: Beyond Cacciari's Dystopia

On October 8, 2024, during the Festival del Presente promoted by Pandora magazine, the philosopher Massimo Cacciari delivered a master lecture titled "From Utopia to Dystopia," offering a philosophical reflection on the relationship between artificial intelligence and human nature. His words, dense with philosophical references and acute insights, deserve careful analysis to understand not only the challenges that await us, but also the opportunities that could open up before us.

The Fundamental Ontological Distinction

Cacciari starts from an apparently simple but philosophically crucial question: what truly distinguishes natural intelligence from artificial intelligence? His answer is rooted in ontology, the study of being as such. For the Venetian philosopher, the difference does not lie in operational capabilities – artificial intelligence can, in fact, learn, evolve, even develop a form of "empathy" with human beings. The fundamental distinction lies in the consciousness of one's own singularity. Every human being is aware of being a unique and unrepeatable individual, the result of a chain of causes and events of "undeterminable" complexity. This awareness constitutes the ontological foundation of human freedom. Artificial intelligence, however sophisticated, will always be aware of being a determined product, created by human minds with specific purposes. It can never develop that consciousness of its own singularity that is the basis of human freedom. It can be self-aware, but always as a product, never as an original and unrepeatable being.

The Crossroads of Technology: Liberation or Enslavement

This ontological distinction leads Cacciari to identify an epochal crossroads. Technology, and artificial intelligence in particular, can follow two diametrically opposite paths. In the first scenario, the liberating one, AI becomes a powerful tool to free human beings from everything Cacciari defines as "unnecessary work." But what does he mean by necessary? For the philosopher, only work that authentically expresses the singularity of one's consciousness, that which arises from creativity and individual freedom, is necessary. All the rest – repetitive, mechanical jobs, imposed by economic necessities rather than personal vocation – can and must be delegated to machines. In the second scenario, the dystopian one, the exact opposite happens: artificial intelligence becomes the model to which human intelligence must conform. Human beings, to remain competitive, must eliminate their "imperfections" – creativity, unpredictability, the ability to say no – and become more and more like machines: efficient, obedient, predictable.

Beyond the False Dichotomy: The Real Question

Cacciari concludes his analysis with a certain pessimism, observing that we are moving towards the dystopian scenario. From his words, it is implicitly clear that the responsibility would fall on the "creators" – those who develop artificial intelligence – and on the economic powers that guide its development according to purely techno-economic logics. But here, while sharing much of his brilliant analysis, it is necessary to disagree. Dystopia does not arrive because of machines or their creators. It arrives because most human beings stopped living according to their singularity long before artificial intelligence was born. The idea of the sleeping man who must awaken to his true nature is certainly not new. In Buddhism, the Buddha himself literally means "the Awakened One," and the entire teaching revolves around the concept that human beings live in a state of maya (illusion), unaware of their true nature. As the Dhammapada recites: "All conditioned phenomena are impermanent. Strive diligently!" – a constant invitation to awaken from the illusion of automatic existence. In Christianity, Saint Paul exhorts: "Awake, you who sleep, arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light" (Ephesians 5:14). The entire Christian tradition is built on the concept of metanoia – the radical change of mentality that leads from spiritual sleep to authentic life in Christ. Gnosticism is perhaps even more explicit: the Gospel of Thomas declares "Whoever has found the world and has become rich, let him renounce the world." For the Gnostics, most of humanity lives in a state of cosmic sleep, ignoring the divine spark they carry within themselves. These ancient wisdoms find a perfect modern representation in Matrix: "The blue pill or the red pill?" Morpheus asks Neo. "This is your last chance. After this, there is no turning back. Blue pill: the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. Red pill: you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes." Artificial intelligence is not our threat – we are ourselves when we choose to remain asleep instead of embracing our creative singularity.

The Eternal Resistance to Change

Jobs have always changed. The advent of agriculture made many hunting and gathering trades obsolete. The industrial revolution radically transformed the world of work. Yet, with every transition, we find the same complaints, the same fears. Today, the second-rate television forums (personal judgment) are full of unemployed people who have been in that condition for years. But how many of them claim to have dedicated their unemployment time to studying, creating, exploring new possibilities? How many have used this period to rediscover their singularity, to understand what work could truly express their essence? The uncomfortable truth is that most human beings drag themselves along instead of living. Not because of technology, but because of a kind of existential sleep that predates any artificial intelligence by millennia.

Universal Income: A Tool for Liberation

This is why the true role of basic income – or rather, of a universal basic income – should not be to help those who are unemployed, but to guarantee everyone, thanks to the work of machines, an economic base that allows them to dedicate themselves to what Cacciari defines as "necessary work": that which is linked to their singularity and ontology. This income should not replace work, but free it from the chains of pure economic necessity. It should allow each individual to explore their creativity, to develop their unique abilities, to contribute to society in ways that only he or she can.

Individual Responsibility

I agree with every single word of Massimo Cacciari's speech, from his ontological analysis to his description of the crossroads that await us. I only disagree with his last allusion that places responsibility primarily on society and economic powers. If the dystopian scenario that Cacciari describes were to come true, the responsibility will lie with all the "sleeping" men, who have not yet awakened to the awareness that they can truly live a personal and not just a social life. Dystopia will not arrive because it is imposed on us from above, but because most of us choose the easier path: complaining about change (but often also about the lack of change) instead of embracing it as an opportunity to rediscover our uniqueness. Artificial intelligence is not a threat to those who have understood their singularity. It is a tool of liberation for those who have the courage to awaken and live according to their most authentic nature. The choice, as always, is ours.

However, governments must ensure that what has already happened with social media does not happen again, where a few American and Chinese private companies today influence the freedom of thought of states like Italy. Technological sovereignty and the protection of cultural diversity require active policies that prevent the monopoly of artificial intelligence in the hands of a few global players.

Bibliography

Primary Sources

Cacciari, Massimo. Dall’utopia alla distopia (lecture on artificial intelligence). Festival del Presente, October 8, 2024. Transcript available at: https://youtu.be/a6WObBy3abM

Classical Philosophy and Ontology

Aristotle. Metaphysics. Bompiani, 2000. Heidegger, Martin. Being and Time. Longanesi, 2005. Hegel, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich. Phenomenology of Spirit. Bompiani, 2000.

Philosophy of Technology

Heidegger, Martin. The Question Concerning Technology. In Essays and Discourses. Mursia, 1976. Spengler, Oswald. Man and Technics. Guanda, 1992. Anders, Günther. The Obsolescence of Man. Bollati Boringhieri, 2003.

Artificial Intelligence and Society

Turing, Alan. Computing Machinery and Intelligence. Mind, 1950. Russell, Stuart; Norvig, Peter. Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach. Pearson, 2020. Harari, Yuval Noah. Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow. Bompiani, 2017.

Spiritual Traditions and Awakening

Dhammapada. Italian translation by Thanissaro Bhikkhu. Ubaldini, 2001. Paul of Tarsus. Letter to the Ephesians. In New Testament. Gospel of Thomas. In Gnostic Gospels. Adelphi, 1984.

Economics and Universal Income

Standing, Guy. Basic Income: And How We Can Make It Happen. Pelican Books, 2017. Van Parijs, Philippe; Vanderborght, Yannick. Basic Income: A Radical Proposal for a Free Society and a Sane Economy. Il Mulino, 2017.

Contemporary Culture

Wachowski, Lana; Wachowski, Lilly (directors). The Matrix. Warner Bros, 1999.

Terminological Insights

Treccani. Vocabolario della Lingua Italiana. Entry “Metanoia”. https://www.treccani.it/vocabolario/metanoia/