The Nzila Spirit-Tech Paradigm proposes a new framework for understanding the relationship between technology, culture, memory, ecology, and human purpose. In an era defined by artificial intelligence, digital transformation, and accelerating technological change, many societies face a growing disconnect between innovation and the knowledge systems that have sustained human communities for generations. This manifesto introduces Spirit-Tech as an interdisciplinary paradigm that seeks to reconnect modern technological development with ancestral science, indigenous knowledge systems, cultural memory, and ethical (...) responsibility. Rather than positioning traditional knowledge and modern technology as opposing forces, the paradigm explores how they may be understood as complementary approaches to organizing information, energy, relationships, and collective wellbeing. Drawing from systems thinking, cultural preservation, indigenous innovation, and future studies, the Nzila Spirit-Tech Paradigm advocates for conscious technologies that strengthen human flourishing, ecological balance, memory preservation, and cultural continuity. It calls for a new generation of researchers, technologists, artists, historians, and community leaders to participate in building technologies that are not only powerful but also meaningful, responsible, and deeply connected to humanity's collective inheritance. (shrink)

This paper introduces the Nzila Spirit-Tech Paradigm, an emerging framework that investigates the relationship between indigenous spiritual knowledge systems, consciousness, cosmology, and technological development. Unlike contemporary approaches that apply technology to spiritual practice, the Nzila paradigm explores the inverse proposition: that spiritual knowledge systems may contain principles capable of informing future technological inquiry and civilizational development. The paper argues that modern technological civilization has largely evolved within material-only epistemic frameworks, while many indigenous traditions have historically maintained integrated models (...) of reality that include non-material dimensions of experience, perception, and knowledge. Drawing upon African indigenous epistemologies, particularly the Hu-Sofia field of spiritual wisdom and its expressions within Eʋe traditions, the paper proposes Spirit-Tech as a frontier of interdisciplinary investigation rather than a doctrine or belief system. Through an examination of knowledge fragmentation, cosmology, consciousness, and the continuity of indigenous knowledge systems, the paper presents Nzila as an open research orientation that seeks to expand the boundaries of technological thought while preserving the integrity of diverse epistemic traditions. The paradigm is offered as a contribution to ongoing discussions concerning the future of knowledge, intelligence, and human technological evolution. (shrink)

The rapid emergence of Spirit-Tech has created new opportunities for exploring relationships between spirituality and technology. Existing approaches largely investigate how contemporary technologies may facilitate meditation, contemplative practice, consciousness exploration, and spiritual well-being. This paper introduces the Nzila Spirit-Tech Paradigm as a complementary and distinct framework. Rather than asking how technology can enhance spirituality, the Paradigm asks whether indigenous knowledge systems, spiritual intelligence, ecological wisdom, and humanity's relationship with nature can inform the design principles of future (...) technologies themselves. The paper positions the Paradigm within the emerging global Spirit-Tech landscape, presents its four foundational pillars, outlines an interdisciplinary research agenda, and proposes an expanded framework for evaluating technological progress based on harmony, responsibility, ecological integrity, cultural continuity, and long-term human flourishing. (shrink)

A foundational declaration establishing the Nzila Spirit-Tech Paradigm, a framework that seeks to unite technological innovation with spiritual intelligence, ecological responsibility, indigenous knowledge systems, and human consciousness. The Declaration also establishes the Nzila Research Institute (NRI), the Nzila Spirit-Tech Research Laboratory, and the affiliated Sɛ-Nzila Shrine as institutional expressions of the Paradigm.

The Nzila Spirit-Tech Research Lab & Institute Executive Summary presents the founding vision for an African-led research initiative dedicated to exploring the intersection of indigenous knowledge systems, consciousness studies, cosmology, ecological intelligence, and emerging technologies. Grounded in the Nzila Spirit-Tech Paradigm, the proposal outlines the Institute's mission, vision, institutional objectives, and long-term research agenda. It advocates an interdisciplinary framework where indigenous epistemologies and contemporary scientific inquiry can be investigated together with intellectual rigor, fostering innovative approaches to (...) technological development while preserving Africa's rich knowledge heritage. The document also introduces opportunities for strategic partnerships, research collaboration, and philanthropic support toward establishing a globally recognized research institution. (shrink)

Ɖagbenyɔvɔ (PHI-001) introduces the concept of the Personal Harmonic Instrument (PHI), the first proposed device within the Nzila Spirit-Tech Paradigm. Rather than presenting technology solely as a computational tool, the work explores a design philosophy that integrates Hardware, Software, and what Nzila termed as "Spiritware" into a unified framework intended to support intentional living, cultural continuity, and human-centered technological development. The publication outlines the philosophical foundations of Spirit-Tech, proposes the Harmonic Technology Platform (HTP), introduces Spiritware as (...) a foundational architectural layer, and presents PHI-001 as the inaugural concept in a broader family of Personal Harmonic Instruments. Positioned as a conceptual and research-oriented work, the document invites interdisciplinary collaboration across engineering, industrial design, philosophy, indigenous knowledge systems, and human-computer interaction while contributing to the emerging vision of the Harmonic Age. (shrink)

This paper reawakens the lost foundation of Afrikan science — a holistic system where spirit, matter, sound, herbal intelligence, and cosmology were woven into a unified technology. It challenges colonial narratives that framed Afrikan knowledge as primitive, exposing how ancestral innovations in astronomy, geometry, medicine, and metaphysics predated and surpassed many Western “discoveries.” Through Eʋe cosmology, Dogon astronomy, and Kemetian science, the work argues that true science is not the separation of spirit and matter, but their reunion. This (...) paper calls for a revival of Spirit-Tech, Afrikan research sanctuaries, and a new generation of scientific revolution rooted in ancestral memory and sacred intelligence. (shrink)

The urgent needed societal bifurcation towards a sustainable future challenges the university and the university’s knowledge production: research and education as well as science, technology and innovation. The established knowledge types and its dominant epistemologies are questioned: In general, epistemologies which are and have always been interlaced with power, interests and values need to undergo a bifurcation. At issue is what counts as legitimate knowledge, and based on this, what counts as a reasonable structure of the economics system and as (...) societally desirable technology. Required is a new spirit and mindset, combined with inter- and intragenerative awareness, justice and virtues for a new future-oriented culture of being and becoming human. In this chapter, we discuss the context and the background for a new spirit and mindset of the university that enables critical thinking about technocapitalist (infra-)structure, framing and thinking (dispositif). We face options on how to re-imagine the sustainable (autonomous) university and which role open-source and low-tech approaches can play. The main idea is to develop appropriate tools for fostering institutional bifurcations. The vision sketched in this chapter is a university of ethical, participatory and inter- and transdisciplinary practice organised around critical-reflexive thinking, eudaimonistic ethics, broader participation, and contributory research. The university’s practice fosters sense-making and purpose-creation for sustainable development in a deliberative way. We explore the epistemological bifurcation which can be considered as a core element of the envisioned responsible university. We clarify the inherent relation of bifurcation and epistemology, and we reveal that the capitalist system is based on a specific (positivist) epistēmē. We problematise this type of epistemology, reflect options for new values and show perspective and prospects: The university can become a bifurcation lab for a sustainable development of society at large. (shrink)

ROOTS ESTABLISHED. NOW THE TREE MUST RISE is a spiritual invocation marking the completion of a foundational cycle within the Harmonic Reset Mission. Blending themes of remembrance, stewardship, intergenerational responsibility, and harmony with nature, the work speaks simultaneously to ancestors, the present generation, and those yet to come. Through the metaphor of a rooted tree, it reflects on unseen preparation, the transition from vision to embodiment, and a call for aligned collaboration in the work of restoring harmony between humanity, the (...) Earth, and the wider cosmos. The invocation is presented as a philosophical and spiritual expression intended to inspire reflection rather than establish empirical claims. (shrink)

The thesis of this paper is that the digital noosphere of the World Wide Web and its users, the borderless move of virtually all resources of the planet, and the consequent globalization of most aspects of national politics, economy, and culture, along with the increasing difficulty of controlling the related high-tech military conflicts, human-made environmental crises, and the abnormal migrations of abused people now make it inevitable to leave behind the competitive international chaos rooted in humankind’s animal past and (...) turn to the cooperative social spirit recommended by Aristotle, Lao Tzu, Jesus, Dante, H. G. Wells, Martin Luther King Jr., John Lennon, Nicholas Hagger, and others to finally translate their aspirations into actions via establishing the Government of Earth for the decent and free. The paper presents a five-step, 15-year, ~$25B plan to start this process. That this plan has nothing to do with the Godless work of secret societies, the authoritarian urges of renewed fascism or the political absurdities of Marxism-Leninism it is relayed by the envisioned Intercontinental Education System of the outlined Government of Earth to teach every child on the planet—via a new community of digitally linked extraordinary teachers—for the beauty of lifelong learning, tolerance, duty, honor, free cooperation, and artful communication for divine missions. (shrink)

This paper argues that instituting Citizen Boards of Governance (CBGs) is the optimal strategy to democratically contain Big Tech’s algorithmic powers in the digital public sphere. CBGs are bodies of randomly selected citizens that are authorized to govern the algorithmic infrastructure of Big Tech platforms. The main advantage of CBGs is to tackle the concentrated powers of private tech corporations without giving too much power to governments. I show why this is a better approach than ordinary state (...) regulation or relying on market mechanisms. My proposal follows from the critique of Big Tech’s concentrated powers, and explains how this justifies democratizing algorithms in the digital public sphere. My approach thus speaks to a core commitment in democratic theory: enhancing the autonomy of the public sphere from the centers of powers in modern societies, be it corporations or governments. (shrink)

In an earlier paper published in a neutrosophic math journal (IJNS), we discussed a new approach to technology, which may be called as ‘opti-realism’ or ‘pess-optimism’ as alternative to utopianism based on technocracy, which may lead the world into global technototalitarianism. In this article, we submit a new approach to Nature and technology, which is more modest and humble, rather than a techno-utopianism version of reality that most futurists argue for. Our proposed approach resembles more to Myer-Briggs 16 types of (...) personality, including IJNS, IFNS etc. In our scheme, there are 8 characters of approach toward technology which can lead to many variations or we call it ‘Permutation.” Of course, if the readers ask one variation that we prefer, we would answer: Small Tech, High Touch. (shrink)

The pervasiveness of AI-empowered technologies across multiple sectors has led to drastic changes concerning traditional social practices and how we relate to one another. Moreover, market-driven Big Tech corporations are now entering public domains, and concerns have been raised that they may even influence public agenda and research. Therefore, this chapter focuses on assessing and evaluating what kind of business model is desirable to incentivise the AI for Social Good (AI4SG) factors. In particular, the chapter explores the implications of (...) this discourse for SDG #17 (global partnership) and how this goal may encourage Big Tech corporations to strengthen multi-stakeholder partnerships that promote effective public-private and civil society partnerships and the meaningful co-presence of non-market and market values. In doing so, the chapter proposes an analysis of the sociological notion of "social license to operate" (SLO) elaborated in the mining and extractive industry literature and introduces it into the discourse on sustainable digital business models and responsible management of risks in the digital age. This serves to explore how such a social license can be adopted as a practice by digital business models to foster trust, collaboration and coordination among different actors - AI researchers and initiatives, institutions and civil society at large - for the support of SDGs interrelated targets and goals. (shrink)

The paper outlines critical aspects concerning the increasing use of big data in agriculture and farming. In particular, the aim is to shed light on the emerging dominance of the platform economy in the field of agriculture and food production. To analyze those power structures shaping this dynamic, we start with brief observations on the general relationship between digitization and agriculture and explain the platform economy, its general business model, and the proprietary forms of market power emerging from it. Subsequently, (...) we analyze the implications of the involvement of platform-economic companies in the agricultural sector. To do so, we critically examine several key examples that illuminate the strategies and ultimate objectives of those key tech players involved in this transition––particularly, two of the most dominant cloud providers, Alphabet and Amazon. Finally, we identify the main problems that can potentially emerge, and that can already be observed, from Big Tech’s involvement in agriculture and food production: (1) epistemic asymmetry (2) the erosion of privacy (3) potential harms to smaller farms and farmers, and (4) systemic dependencies on a monopolist data infrastructure. As we argue, these four dimensions are not only essential to take into account, but they also ultimately need to be responded to politically. From a policy perspective, to maintain data justice and epistemic symmetry, and to avoid the risks highlighted, we suggest––next to stressing the need for critical scholarship––to establish a democratically governed data trust, rely on open source technology, and fundamentally commit to the principle of collective data sovereignty. -/- Keywords: big tech, data sovereignty, digital farming, digital agriculture, surveillance capitalism, platform economy. (shrink)

Apple CEO Tim Cook claimed in 2019 that his company’s greatest achievement will be “about health.” But the pandemic has shown that Big Tech’s involvement in health care is all about data collection.

This study is intended to determine the effects of using Teacher-Tech Instructor, a technology-aided intervention designed for independent learning sessions, on improving the scientific mastery of grade 4 learners of Mataas na Parang Elementary School. The intervention utilizes interactive presentations with basic programming features to facilitate and enhance the learning process. This study utilized the pretest-posttest single group design to determine the changes in the learning performance before and after the utilization of the intervention. Pretest and posttest assessments, along (...) with a survey, measured the intervention's effect. The data were analyzed using the mean, median, MPS, and Wilcoxon Signed-Rank Test at a significance threshold of 0.05. The findings revealed that the learners have low mastery or low achievement in the pretest while closely approximating mastery in the posttest, marking a significant improvement after using the intervention. It can also be observed that the MPS improved from 20.79% to 90.73% upon the use of the intervention, while the Wilcoxon test statistic of 0.00 which is less than 0.05, also suggests that the null should be rejected. Lastly, the learners strongly agree that the intervention helped with their independent learning study. These findings conclude that Teacher-Tech Instructor intervention improved the learning performance of grade 4 pupils in science effectively. Further, learners strongly agreed that the teacher tech-instructor, a tech-based instructional material, aided their independent learning effectively. The findings also highlight the importance of developing tech-based educational tools for independent learning in improving science proficiency among grade 4 learners. The study recommends extending these materials to other subjects and conducting SLAC sessions on interactive materials to maximize learning outcomes. (shrink)

A partir do tema “d’ As Big Techs e o processo democrático no Brasil” investigaremos como as grandes empresas de tecnologia digital influenciam as escolhas eleitorais, com perfis de candidatos que se apresentam como antissistema. O objetivo geral é mostrar, em que medida, o personalismo de candidatos cheios de contradições abruptas pode se tornar uma enorme máquina de propaganda e engajamento digital. Os objetivos específicos são de apresentar, de que maneira, a monetização da propaganda de desinformação funciona, como um enorme (...) aparelho de controle da opinião pública, capaz de mudanças na ordem social, como também funcionar como desestabilizador do estado democrático de direito. (shrink)

The rapid expansion of Big Tech companies into various societal domains (e.g., health, education, and agriculture) over the past decade has led to increasing concerns among governments, regulators, scholars, and civil society. While existing theoretical frameworks—often revolving around privacy and data protection, or market and platform power—have shed light on important aspects of Big Tech expansionism, there are other risks that these frameworks cannot fully capture. In response, this editorial proposes an alternative theoretical framework based on the notion (...) of sphere transgressions, which draws on political philosopher Michael Walzer's theory of justice. The editorial not only introduces the sphere transgressions framework, but it also highlights its potential to generate novel research questions. Furthermore, this editorial introduces eight articles and one commentary from a group of interdisciplinary scholars that critically examine Big Tech expansionism by reflecting on this expansionism from the perspective of different societal spheres or by engaging with the sphere transgressions framework itself. (shrink)

Nothing seems as certain as death. However, what if life continues digitally after death? Companies and initiatives such as Amazon, Storyfile, Here After AI, Forever Identity and LifeNaut are dedicated to precisely this objective: using avatars, records, and other digital content of the deceased, they strive to enable a digital continuation of life. The deceased live on digitally, and at times, these can even appear very much alive-perhaps too alive? This article explores the ethical implications of these technologies, commonly known (...) as Death Tech. With the advancement of artificial intelligence, Death Tech will inevitably transform mourning practices, our perception of death, and how we cope with its reality in the coming years. In this article, it is demonstrated that Death Tech can contribute to individual grief support, education, and a vibrant culture of remembrance. However, it is crucial to recognise that the Digital Afterlife is not a paradise but necessitates active designing and ethical deliberation. DOI 10.5771/0010-3497-2023-3-427. (shrink)

Recent theorizing argues that online communication technologies provide powerful, although precarious, means of emotional regulation. We develop this understanding further. Drawing on subjective reports collected during periods of imposed social restrictions under COVID-19, we focus on how this precarity is a source of emo-tional dysregulation. We make our case by organizing responses into five distinct but intersecting dimensions wherein the precarity of this regulation is most relevant: infrastructure, functional use, mindful design (individual and social), and digital tact. Analyzing these reports, (...) along with examples of mediating technologies (i.e., self-view) and common interactive dynamics (e.g., gaze coordination), we tease out how breakdowns along these dimensions are sources of affective dysregulation. We argue that the adequacy of available technological resources and competencies of various kinds matter greatly to the types of emotional experiences one is likely to have online. Further research into online communication technologies as modula-tors of both our individual and collective well-being is urgently needed, especially as the echoes of the digital push that COVID-19 initiated are set to continue rever-berating into the future. (shrink)

Large consumer technology corporations are becoming increasingly influential in health and medicine. While this is sometimes beneficial to public health, it also raises many risks, like inequitable returns to the public sector in public-private medical partnerships or new dependencies on technology firms for the provision of public health goods and services. These risks are not always fully captured by existing frameworks. In this paper, we argue that it is time to adopt a public health ethics perspective on the increasing influence (...) of Big Tech in health and medicine. A public health ethics perspective can not only capture the effects of Big Tech on the health of entire populations, but it also raises the important question of whether governments ought sometimes to intervene in the activities of Big Tech in order to safeguard public health. (shrink)

The article sketches a view of nature as a movement undermining totality. Awareness of our entanglement in an inherently incomplete movement forces us to rethink or reinvent our relationship to nature. The view provided here has been developed by drawing heavily from the later work of Martin Heidegger, moving with and beyond it in an examination of the limitations of Western philosophy in approaching questions of nature and ecology. Thinking ecologically becomes a question of grammar and the binding (and unbinding) (...) force of language as it pertains to human thought and (or in) its physical environment. (shrink)

Tech companies have eagerly utilised mindfulness techniques in order to increase both creativity and productivity among their managers and employees. However, while a growing number of studies within fields of clinical psychology and psychiatry suggest that mindfulness provides myriad health benefits, such literature does not critically evaluate the societal and affective influences of mindfulness and other wellness practices on working bodies. By focusing on discourses related to mindfulness training, this paper explores the conception of ‘being present’. Drawing on the (...) phenomenology of the body, affect theory, and critical mindfulness studies, we develop a new theoretical framework for analysing mindfulness as a somatic and social force in technology-driven business contexts. Using research material drawn from the online advertising of mindfulness programmes for managers, this paper describes ‘presence’ as a new labour concept associated with the cultivated performance skill of the managerial body in the era of late capitalism. We conclude that mindfulness training – transforming the somatic into an affective investment – has transformed Buddhist meditation into capital that can be bought and consumed. (shrink)

The spread of misinformation and fake news raises important problems for our society and for our democracy. From the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol to vaccine hesitancy, from suppressing voter turnout to peddling conspiracy theories, we know that these problems are real and need to be taken seriously. While misinformation is not a new problem for democracy, it can spread more quickly and easily because of new media’s design and popularity. Given these problems, it is encouraging that some (...) technology companies are taking steps to reduce the spread of misinformation and fake news on the platforms they manage. Despite this seemingly positive development, some scholars have criticized some interventions designed to combat the spread of misinformation and fake news as paternalistic. For example, a 2019 Facebook intervention called Click-Gap aimed to reduce the amount of low-quality content (including fake news and misinformation) that users see on their NewsFeed. Click-Gap has been criticized as an instance of epistemic paternalism because it was adopted (1) with the goal of improving the epistemic status of its users and (2) irrespective of what the company believed the wishes of its users to be. If interventions like Click-Gap are problematic because paternalistic, those of us interested in the ethics of technology would face a dilemma—either endorse technology companies treating their users paternalistically or endorse their failing to act to combat the spread of misinformation and fake news on their platforms. Both options seem to me to be problematic. While paternalism may sometimes be permissible, I think we should be very hesitant to endorse a paternalistic relationship between technology companies and their users. The relationship does not seem to bear the right sort of structure to one in which paternalism might be appropriate, if it ever is. The second option seems, if anything worse: surely technology companies should not stand by and change nothing about their platforms despite the spread of misinformation and fake news in those spaces. In this paper, I argue that Click-Gap and interventions like it are not paternalistic, contrary to the conclusion of other scholars. Further, I will argue that the focus on paternalism itself is actually a red herring here. While not just any intervention or strategy that purports to reduce fake news and misinformation is permissible, we should want technology companies to take user well-being seriously and be able to take that well-being as a direct reason for action. Their doing so is not paternalistic nor even morally problematic, and it should not be criticized as such. (shrink)

This essay argues that Big Tech companies have evolved into a new class of geopolitical actors—corporate sovereigns—whose authority increasingly rivals or constrains that of nation-states. Their power does not derive from territorial control, but from the ownership and operation of digital infrastructures that have become essential to communication, commerce, administration, and security. Through cloud platforms, identity systems, data pipelines, algorithmic governance, lobbying networks, satellite networks, and AI capabilities, these firms now exercise forms of operational authority once reserved for public (...) institutions. This paper examines how infrastructural dependence, data visibility, economic concentration, political leverage, and security functions collectively produce a form of non-state sovereignty that reshapes global governance. It concludes that the rise of corporate sovereignty marks a structural transformation in the organization of power—one that existing regulatory frameworks cannot fully address, and that demands new philosophical and political models for accountability and democratic oversight. (shrink)

Scholars in Central Asia have long started exploring the nexus between law and technology. Contemporary Central Asian legal academia is producing research which stands at the junction of law, philosophy, and technology. Central Asia is comparatively not advanced in technology production and imports most the technologies from neighboring tech giants. These technologies are imported as a package along with the laws and regulations proposed by the technology manufacturing country. It has been observed that these regulations don‘t correlate with the (...) existing local and regional legal systems. To meet these demands, this article proposes a new discipline / branch of legal sciences named as ―Central Asia Tech Law to accommodate the technological progression of the 4th industrial revolution. This branch of law strives to promote globalized legal mechanisms to treat technology as per the demands of the Central Asian region and in line with the international norms and standardization. Another purpose of Central Asia Tech Law is to increase the interaction with regional social and applied scientists to set regional technological standards and preferences for Central Asia. (shrink)

The rapid integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into post-conflict justice systems particularly in documenting gender-based violence (GBV) promises efficiency and objectivity but risks perpetuating systemic biases and epistemic injustice. This paper critiques the deployment of AI in processing survivor testimonies, arguing that such technologies often replicate and amplify historical patterns of silencing marginalized voices. Drawing on feminist epistemology and real-world case studies (e.g., biased asylum adjudication algorithms, medical AI that underestimates female pain, and failures in international war crime tribunals), the (...) analysis demonstrates how AI's reliance on structured, patriarchal datasets undermines trauma narratives that are nonlinear, fragmented, or culturally distinct. This paper challenges the assumption that AI can neutrally adjudicate justice, arguing instead that its use in GBV documentation risks automating the very injustices survivors face: erasure, disbelief, and institutional silencing. By interrogating case studies from asylum adjudication, medical diagnostics, and international tribunals, we expose how AI replicates patriarchal and colonial biases embedded in its training data. Survivors of GBV whose testimonies are frequently fragmented, nonlinear, or culturally specific are further marginalized when algorithms prioritize rigid, Western-centric notions of "credibility." The paper concludes with a call for feminist intervention, proposing principles such as survivor-centered design, radical transparency in AI decision-making, and explicit recognition of AI's limitations. It urges a halt to techno-utopian narratives that position AI as a neutral solution, emphasizing instead that justice requires political accountability, not algorithmic automation. This work contributes to urgent debates in AI ethics, transitional justice, and feminist technology studies by exposing how uncritical adoption of AI risks digitizing oppression under the guise of progress. (shrink)

The article introduces the concept of "surveillance-capitalist biopolitics" to problematize the recent expansion of "data extractivism" in health care and health research. As we show, this trend has accelerated during the ongoing Covid pandemic and points to a normalization and institutionalization of self-tracking practices, which, drawing on the "quantified self", points to the emergence of a "quantified collective". Referring to Foucault and Zuboff, and by analyzing key examples of the leading "Big Tech" companies (e.g., Alphabet and Apple), we argue (...) that contemporary forms of digital biopolitics are privatized, opaque, flexible, and not limited to the state. Instead, especially through the integration of wearable technologies, the biopolitical regulation of bodies is increasingly mediated by private tech companies. These companies rely on a questionable narrative of participation, responsibility, and care despite owning, and ultimately controlling, access to intimate health data and the proprietary algorithms mediating this data. The article shows that the proliferation of "surveillance-capitalist biopolitics" ultimately strengthens not only market power but also the epistemic and infrastructural power of the dataowning and gadget-producing firms. Finally, against an exclusively repressive and negative reading of biopolitics, and to effectively counter the forms of power emerging from surveillance-capitalist biopolitics, we propose four dimensions that are central to its democratizationnamely privacy/individual sovereignty, democratic deliberation, pluralism, and epistemic equality. -/- DOI: 10.1007/s41358-021-00309-9. (shrink)

The rapid emergence of AI-driven "grief-tech" has fundamentally disrupted the human experience of mourning, transforming the ontological and psychological dimensions of loss. Using the Black Mirror episode "Be Right Back" as a cultural and philosophical harbinger, this paper critically examines the existential implications of digital resurrection through algorithmic simulacra, or Griefbots. Moving beyond conventional ethical debates, the study employs a multidisciplinary framework to interrogate the nature of these techno-mimetic artifacts. Drawing on Aristotelian ontology, the Griefbot is analyzed as a (...) form of "generative mimesis" that projects a "simulated ousia" devoid of genuine human telos. Phenomenologically, applying Don Ihde's concept of alterity relations, the artifact is shown to co-constitute the user’s reality, freezing identity transformation in a simulated past. Through a psychoanalytic lens rooted in Freud and Lacan, the paper argues that outsourcing grief to the machine precipitates a profound collapse of subjective agency. Rather than confronting the agonizing abyss of the Real—akin to the tragic courage of Orpheus—the modern subject regresses into fetishistic disavowal and melancholia. Furthermore, the analysis reveals how capitalist imperatives exploit this psychological vulnerability, utilizing centralized algorithms as a Foucauldian panopticon to map and domesticate human emotion. Ultimately, this algorithmic intervention degrades Kantian moral autonomy into heteronomy and abolishes the Heideggerian ontological mirror of death. The paper concludes that while grief-tech promises eternal availability, it effectively strips away the authentic "erotics" of mourning, replacing the harrowing reality of human finitude with an anesthetized, capitalist illusion. (shrink)

In the tripartite psychology of the Republic, Plato characterizes the “spirited” part of the soul as the “ally of reason”: like the auxiliaries of the just city, whose distinctive job is to support the policies and judgments passed down by the rulers, spirit’s distinctive “job” in the soul is to support and defend the practical decisions and commands of the reasoning part. This is to include not only defense against external enemies who might interfere with those commands, but also, (...) and most importantly, defense against unruly appetites within the individual’s own soul.1 Spirit, according to this picture, is by nature reason’s faithful auxiliary in the soul, while appetite is always a potential enemy to be watched .. (shrink)

In the _Republic_, Socrates claims that the soul has three distinct parts or elements, each an independent source of motivation: reason, spirit, and appetite. While Socrates’ characterization of the reasoning and appetitive parts is fairly clear and intuitive, his conception of the spirited part is notoriously obscure. Recently, however, a consensus has emerged regarding we should understand the spirited part: the spirited part aims to be fine and honorable, where its conception of what it is to be fine and (...) honorable is determined by social norms. This paper argues against this prevalent interpretation and offers a new account. While it is correct to hold that spirit aims to be fine and honorable, it is not the case that the individual’s conception of what it is to be fine and honorable is determined by social norms. Instead, there is a fact of the matter about what it is to be fine and honorable and it is this fact that shapes the individual’s conception. The present account explains Socrates’ puzzling claims that (i) spirit is the natural ally of reason, (ii) being ruled by spirit is second-best, and (iii) physical training educates the spirited part of the soul. (shrink)

This project was provoked by the almost nonexistent pushback from the Democratic liberal establishment to the (2020) exoneration of Kyle Rittenhouse, despite his acknowledged killing of two Black Lives Matters protesters against the police murder of George Floyd. It builds on three prior articles arguing for the revival of ancient Dionysian practice, Haitian Vodou, and Indigenous South American shamanism to empower leftist revolution. In essence, I propose an assemblage of spiritual practices that are accessible today for the neo-colonized 99% of (...) the global population, by synthesizing and reconstructing three democratic, lower-SES, Indigenous religions, all of which share a militant defiance of their respective tyrannical plutocracies. To avoid cultural appropriation, I center these reconstructed spiritual practices on the figure of the “mage,” a psychosocial healer loosely analogous to a shaman. And the mage’s signature activity, “magic,” I redefine naturalistically as free interpersonal performative action, practiced using two theoretical disciplines (philosophy and psychology) and two practical disciplines chosen by each mage. More precisely, Spirit/Dance channels the “spirits” of dead ancestors, historical figures, legendary heroes, mythical beings, and fictional characters, into the three ultimate objectives of “mindfulness” for psyches/souls, “liberation” for mindful bodies, and “social justice” for liberated communities, indirectly empowering long-term revolution. (shrink)

Javanese spirits function as pre-juridical institutions of sacral social control. Their philosophical significance lies in the claim that normativity can be topographical: place itself can command before law speaks. In the Javanese spirit-world, authority is not only spoken by elders, written into rules, or centralised in institutions; it is distributed across houses, graves, trees, water- sources, village boundaries, forests, mountains, ritual sites, and zones felt as angker. Dhanyang, cikal-bakal, punden, ancestral guardians, and village rituals organ- ise conduct by transforming (...) space into obligation, an- cestry into authority, ecological boundaries into moral limits, invisible sanction into self-regulation, and sa- cred atmosphere into social compliance. The method is structural-philosophical reconstruction rather than empirical genealogy: the central question is not what Javanese spirits are believed to be, but what they do as structures of normativity. Internal Javanese vocabularies—rasa, pamali, kualat, laku, eling-waspada, memayu hayuning bawana, and jagad cilik–jagad gedhe— ground the analysis in local categories while preserving its philosophical scope. Sacral social control is distinguished from Durkheim’s general theory of the sacred by specifying the mechanisms through which sacred force becomes operational: spatialised authority, atmospheric prohibition, ritual mediation, ecolog- ical hesitation, cultivated rasa, fear of kualat, and the threshold at which communal order becomes domi- nation through monopoly of interpretation. The ques- tion is not whether spirits exist, but what kind of world becomes possible when land, ancestors, places, and prohibitions are experienced as watched, inherited, and dangerous. (shrink)

La ricerca intende affrontare il tema alta tecnologia e spazio-spazialità, sia riflettendo sulle esperienze di nuova conformazione spaziale-scientifica-produttiva, sia su ciò che gli sviluppi del pensiero scientifico lasciano percepire come nuovo modello di spazio.

This article, which appeared in the Library of Living Philosophers series, is a thought experiment that imagines Danto’s analytical framework reaching well beyond what he had called the “drab” state of philosophy in the early 2000s. It describes, in minimalist terms, what he saw as the fundamental project of all philosophy -- regardless of the specific theoretical content any particular philosopher might put forth. It discusses his central (and still underdeveloped) notion of representation, and his quasi-Hegelian view of how art (...) theory has been altered by its own recently emerging self-consciousness. It draws out the implications of his Argument from Intelligibility, which informs Danto’s interest in human self-consciousness, in autonomy, and (somewhat speculatively) in “spirit.”. (shrink)

A scientific, philosophical, and spiritual overview of the relationship between science and spirituality, neuroscience and the mystery of consciousness, mind and the nature of reality, evolution and life. A plaidoyer for a science that goes beyond the curve of reason and embraces a new synthesis of knowledge. The overcoming of the limitations of the intellect into an extended vision of ourselves and Nature. A critique of physicalism, the still-dominant doctrine that believes that all reality can be reduced to matter and (...) the laws of physics alone. A review and reassessment of the old and new philosophical and metaphysical ideas which attempts to bring closer Western and Eastern traditions where science, philosophy, consciousness, Spirit and Nature are united in a grand vision that transcends the limited conventional scientific and philosophical paradigm. A possible answer to the questions of purpose and meaning and the future evolution of humankind beyond a conception that posits a priori a purposeless and meaningless universe. A report of the new scientific discoveries of a basal intelligence in cells and plants, on the question if mind is computational, the issue of free will, the mind-body problem, and the so called ‘hard problem of consciousness’. An essay on ancient as modern philosophical conceptions, from the One of Plotinus, the God of Spinoza until the recent revival of panpsychism or the universal consciousness. A journey into quantum physics from the perspective of philosophical idealism and an invitation to adopt new ways of seeing that might help us to transform our present understanding, expanding it into an integral cosmology, with a special emphasis on the spiritual and evolutionary cosmology of the Indian seer Sri Aurobindo. Not just a philosophical and metaphysical meditation but, rather, an appeal to work towards a change of consciousness, a widening of our perspective towards a new way of seeing beyond a purely mechanistic worldview to avoid a social, environmental and economic collapse. Humans are transitional beings that will have to make a choice: relapse into a pre-rational state or evolve towards a new trans-rational species supported by an ideal of human unity in diversity as the expression of a spiritual evolutionary process, the call of the Spirit on Nature. -/- This is a technical treatise for scientists and philosophers that wonder if and how they can expand their intellectual horizons beyond the straitjacket of materialism. It is dedicated to those who feel there is something more but struggle with connecting the dots into a more comprehensive and coherent picture supported by a way of seeing that allows us to overcome the present paradigm while maintaining scientific and conceptual rigor. Most of the topics discussed are unknown even to neuroscientists, biologists, philosophers, and yet are based on the findings published in their own mainstream peer-reviewed literature or on deep insights of the scientific, philosophical and spiritual giants of the past. (shrink)

The co-evolutionary concept of Three-modal stable evolutionary strategy of Homo sapiens is developed. The concept based on the principle of evolutionary complementarity of anthropogenesis: value of evolutionary risk and evolutionary path of human evolution are defined by descriptive (evolutionary efficiency) and creative-teleological (evolutionary correctly) parameters simultaneously, that cannot be instrumental reduced to others ones. Resulting volume of both parameters define the trends of biological, social, cultural and techno-rationalistic human evolution by two gear mechanism ˗ gene-cultural co-evolution and techno- humanitarian balance. (...) The resultant each of them can estimated by the ratio of socio-psychological predispositions of humanization/dehumanization in mentality. Explanatory model and methodology of evaluation of creatively teleological evolutionary risk component of NBIC technological complex is proposed. Integral part of the model is evolutionary semantics (time-varying semantic code, the compliance of the biological, socio-cultural and techno-rationalist adaptive modules of human stable evolutionary strategy). (shrink)

This article deals with the relationship between Spirit (Geist) and Nature (Natur) in Husserl’s phenomenology and the potentially religious motifs involved in its treatment. I begin by outlining two different approaches that can be found in Husserl’s work regarding the dyad Nature-Spirit: firstly, a schematic opposition between the two, and secondly, the recognition of their fundamental intertwinement. I claim that, even in this second approach, there remains a sense of subordination of Nature to Spirit that is due (...) to the transcendental character of Husserl’s phenomenology. I analyze this primacy in the context of Husserl’s monadological theory, bringing forward certain religious elements of his account in order to connect this notion of spirit to a more contemporary idea of spirituality. (shrink)

This paper proposes a foundational generative theory that precedes Brand DNA Architecture by examining a critical structural transition: the transformation of Creative-Spirit into Founding-Spirit. Human beings possess creativity as an inherent generative attribute, continuously producing thought through interaction with environment, experience, and necessity. When creativity becomes integrated with individual will, it forms Creative-Spirit—a self-contained generative structure in which judgment, execution, and responsibility are unified within the individual. However, when an individual recognizes collective necessity and establishes an enterprise, (...) this personal generative structure encounters a structural limit. An enterprise is not an extension of the individual; it is a system that incorporates the time, labor, and survival conditions of others. At this moment, Creative-Spirit can no longer remain personal. It must be transformed into a structure that others can share, interpret, and execute. This paper defines this transformation as the emergence of Founding-Spirit. Founding-Spirit is not a moral declaration, leadership attitude, or value statement. It is a structural conversion in which the generative logic of an individual’s Creative-Spirit is structurally translated into a shared generative system capable of sustaining collective judgment and action. By articulating this transition, the paper establishes a pre-Brand-DNA generative framework that explains why many organizations fail despite strong visions or values: the generative structure itself was never converted. This theoretical foundation clarifies the ontological conditions required for Brand DNA Architecture to function as a sustainable system of creation rather than a static definition of identity. (shrink)

La figura femminile è un archetipo collegabile col mito che è dynamis, infatti: si tras-forma, si rinnova, assume significati metamorfici. Chiara Ferragni, come Alice, crea performance, eventi nell'info-spazio-tempo immaginario di Internet e con-fonde narrazione e realtà: un panopticon on line. Viviamo in una dimensione topologica che, con un nostro neologismo, definiamo lo "human-tech-space" dotato di imprevedibilità, indeterminatezza e singolarità. È il trionfo del frame, della morfogenesi, dei cambiamenti di senso, ove gli oggetti si de-formano, senza perdere la loro qualità, (...) per cui una tazza e una ciambella sono uguali: epifanie, biforcazioni, frattali di una grande "chiacchiera". L'era del caos: un dis-ordine che troviamo nelle scienze, nella filosofia, nella letteratura e nell'arte: è costitutivo dell'universo ed è uno strumento di interpretazione della realtà come sostiene Giacinto Plescia nella sua ontologia del chaosmos e dello zeit-raum in Mozart. (shrink)

Karoline von Günderrode (1780–1806) has long enjoyed a reputation as a Romantic poet, but her philosophical contributions have largely been neglected. This paper is one of the first to address Günderrode’s political thought, especially her view of the interrelationship between human society and the broader environment. The paper argues that Günderrode develops resources for reconceiving the relationship of human beings to the nonhuman and to each other that work against an instrumentalizing view of nature and programmatic political ideals. Günderrode’s normative (...) restraint, concept of harmony, and view of human beings as part of and the same in kind as the rest of nature contribute to a vision of sociality, grounded in her metaphysics, that envisions small communities fostering connections between human beings and the nonhuman. On Günderrode’s model, these connections can grow and strengthen and eventually, perhaps, enable the emergence of the single, perfect organism that she calls the “realized idea of the earth.”. (shrink)

In this article, we investigate how Big Tech companies have used the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic to increase their social, political, infrastructural, and epistemic power. We focus on four companies that were outspoken in their efforts to combat the virus: Alphabet (also known as Google), Apple, Facebook, and Amazon (GAFA). During the crisis, these companies evolved as adaptive entities that responded to the state of emergency by promptly rolling out various technological solutions, exemplifying what we call ‘pandemic solutionism’, (...) that is, the belief in the potential to solve the complex virological crisis of COVID-19 through the integration of digital tools. We identify the activities of GAFA in pandemic solutionism in five key areas that can be defined as the dominant realms of Big Tech’s involvement: (1) mapping COVID-19, (2) researching COVID-19, (3) tracing COVID-19, (4) treating COVID-19, and (5) managing COVID-19. In this context, we provide the first comprehensive overview of Big Tech’s multifaceted engagement in researching COVID-19 based on wearable technologies, which have been actively promoted as potentially beneficial tools for detecting the coronavirus since the beginning of the crisis. Additionally, through a critical mapping of the multiple activities of selected Big Tech players during the pandemic, it becomes evident how unexpected societal disruptions can lead to the increased dominance by these players. As we demonstrate, Big Tech companies have been able to present themselves as saviours capable of acting more promptly than the state, pushing pandemic solutionism and taking up tasks without being burdened by democratic deliberations. In doing so, they have manifested their infrastructural power, which frequently (such as with contact tracing) establishes the normative framework in which political and social actions take place. (shrink)

Receptive Spirit develops the thesis that the notion of self-induced mental activity at the heart of German idealism necessitated a radical rethinking of humans’ dependence on culturally transmitted models of thought, evaluation, and creativity. The chapters of the book examine paradigmatic attempts undertaken by German idealist thinkers to reconcile spontaneous mental activity with receptivity to culturally transmitted models. The book maps the ramifications of this problematic in Kant’s theory of aesthetic experience, Fichte’s and Hegel’s views on the historical character (...) of philosophy, the Fichtean model of philosophical communication, and Friedrich Schlegel’s theory and practice of literary communication and criticism. Drawing on Gadamer and McDowell, I argue that the conceptual framework established by the Idealists remains indispensable for orientation in the contemporary intellectual landscape. (See the PDF file below for a synopsis). (shrink)

Many religions and religious philosophies say that ultimate reality is a kind of primal energy. This energy is often described as a vital power animating living things, as a spiritual force directing the organization of matter, or as a divine creative power which generates all things. By refuting older conceptions of primal energy, modern science opens the door to new and more precise conceptions. Primal energy is referred to here as ‘spirit’. But spirit is a natural power. A (...) naturalistic theory of spirit is developed using ideas from information theory and thermodynamics, such as the maximum entropy production principle. Spirit drives the evolution of complexity at all levels of existence. (shrink)

In this paper I argue that although the Republic’s tripartite theory of the soul is not explicitly endorsed in Plato’s late work the Laws, it continues to inform the Laws from beneath the surface of the text. In particular, I argue that the spirited part of the soul continues to play a major role in moral education and development in the Laws (as it did in earlier texts, where it is characterized as reason’s psychic ‘ally’). I examine the programs of (...) musical and gymnastic education in the Laws and highlight parallels to the accounts of the spirited part of the soul and its role in moral education and virtue that are offered in Republic and Timaeus. I also examine the educational role given to the laws themselves in Magnesia, and I suggest that the education provided through them is largely directed at the spirited part of the soul as well. (shrink)

the problem of estimation of High Hume (NBIC) technogenic evolutionary risks is analysed as part of concept of 3-components evolutionary strategy of Homo sapiens.

In our evolving era, memory, technology, and society intersect, prompting a reevaluation of human experience. Adaptive recall systems help navigate the blurred lines between personal and collective realities. This text tackles aging and brain herpes as experience highlighters, emphasizing the need for adaptive strategies and memory-enhancing techniques. Memory relies on automatic processes, with the hippocampus key for episodic reconstructions. Technology enhances cognitive abilities, merging individual and collective understandings, and redefining truth and reality while fostering resilience and adaptability. This study embraces (...) diverse perspectives to enrich our understanding, inviting interconnectedness, creativity, compassion, and new forms of humanism. Abstract-In our evolving era, memory, technology, and society intersect, prompting a reevaluation of human experience. Adaptive recall systems help navigate the blurred lines between personal and collective realities. This text tackles aging and brain herpes as experience highlighters, emphasizing the need for adaptive strategies and memory-enhancing techniques. Memory relies on automatic processes, with the hippocampus key for episodic reconstructions. Technology enhances cognitive abilities, merging individual and collective understandings, and redefining truth and reality while fostering resilience and adaptability. This study embraces diverse perspectives to enrich our understanding, inviting interconnectedness, creativity, compassion, and new forms of humanism (DOI: 10.17406/GJHSS). (shrink)