Digital future
Rise of a “new renaissance” featuring the latest, cutting-edge technologies – in Italy, too
Digital versus real. Virtual versus tangible. Opposites that do not cancel each other out but actually, and increasingly, exist together and integrate into each other, and to which social activities and production operations must get used. Digitalisation as a path that must inevitably be undertaken by all, with some care and moderation, however.
These are the interdependent topics that Francesco Caio and Pierangelo Soldavini tackle in their recently published Digitalizzazione. Per un nuovo rinascimento italiano (Digitalisation. An Italian renaissance), a book that deals, clearly and effectively, with a complex and often misunderstood topic.
The work was inspired by real-life events: the pandemic emergency, inflation, the war in Europe, the energy crisis – all this has basically overturned our world and prompted the need of facing a “new normal”. The two authors argue that these circumstances gave rise to, and accentuated, the importance of digital tools, which allow for increasingly fast and flexible relationships and services, offering personalised custom-made products. The issue is how to “govern” these new technologies and thus the “hybrid world” that will ensue.
A challenge that, the work emphasises, must be undertaken knowing full well that those who stay behind now may not be able to bridge the gap later on. Further, a challenge that is very significant for Italy, a country that, objectively, is rather behind in terms of digitalisation. Yet, also a challenge that could inspire a “digital renaissance”, with all the benefits that might follow – a renaissance that could have an impact on various different areas concerning the country’s civic and economic life, such as the public sector, telemedicine, cybersecurity, digital citizenship, smart working, tourism, schools and universities, and much more.
Hence, Caio and Soldavini start exploring this topic by looking at how to “dissipate resistance” in the long term, scrutinising the infrastructural aspects that should be implemented and assessing several applications that could already prove effective. Paths and goals that could be achieved with investments (the PNRR, the Italian recovery and resilience plan, gets a mention too, of course) but, above all, with the creation of a veritable digital culture that could lead everyone to understand the reasons why these new standards and transformation should be attained – an ambitious and extremely urgent project that, nonetheless, is within our reach.
Towards the end, the book includes an excellent and important assertion that outlines “a culture that changes in full awareness of the consequences of technology and of its own actions, that teaches people to assess the excesses and pervasiveness of technologies that, by their very nature, are all-encompassing and able to take over all aspects of our personal life. And that will turn into the ability to master the danger of such technologies controlling and manipulating consciousnesses, which may arise as a result of a constant and warped use driven by business motives”.
Digitalizzazione. Per un nuovo rinascimento italiano (Digitalisation. An Italian renaissance)
Francesco Caio, Pierangelo Soldavini
Vita e Pensiero, 2023
Rise of a “new renaissance” featuring the latest, cutting-edge technologies – in Italy, too
Digital versus real. Virtual versus tangible. Opposites that do not cancel each other out but actually, and increasingly, exist together and integrate into each other, and to which social activities and production operations must get used. Digitalisation as a path that must inevitably be undertaken by all, with some care and moderation, however.
These are the interdependent topics that Francesco Caio and Pierangelo Soldavini tackle in their recently published Digitalizzazione. Per un nuovo rinascimento italiano (Digitalisation. An Italian renaissance), a book that deals, clearly and effectively, with a complex and often misunderstood topic.
The work was inspired by real-life events: the pandemic emergency, inflation, the war in Europe, the energy crisis – all this has basically overturned our world and prompted the need of facing a “new normal”. The two authors argue that these circumstances gave rise to, and accentuated, the importance of digital tools, which allow for increasingly fast and flexible relationships and services, offering personalised custom-made products. The issue is how to “govern” these new technologies and thus the “hybrid world” that will ensue.
A challenge that, the work emphasises, must be undertaken knowing full well that those who stay behind now may not be able to bridge the gap later on. Further, a challenge that is very significant for Italy, a country that, objectively, is rather behind in terms of digitalisation. Yet, also a challenge that could inspire a “digital renaissance”, with all the benefits that might follow – a renaissance that could have an impact on various different areas concerning the country’s civic and economic life, such as the public sector, telemedicine, cybersecurity, digital citizenship, smart working, tourism, schools and universities, and much more.
Hence, Caio and Soldavini start exploring this topic by looking at how to “dissipate resistance” in the long term, scrutinising the infrastructural aspects that should be implemented and assessing several applications that could already prove effective. Paths and goals that could be achieved with investments (the PNRR, the Italian recovery and resilience plan, gets a mention too, of course) but, above all, with the creation of a veritable digital culture that could lead everyone to understand the reasons why these new standards and transformation should be attained – an ambitious and extremely urgent project that, nonetheless, is within our reach.
Towards the end, the book includes an excellent and important assertion that outlines “a culture that changes in full awareness of the consequences of technology and of its own actions, that teaches people to assess the excesses and pervasiveness of technologies that, by their very nature, are all-encompassing and able to take over all aspects of our personal life. And that will turn into the ability to master the danger of such technologies controlling and manipulating consciousnesses, which may arise as a result of a constant and warped use driven by business motives”.
Digitalizzazione. Per un nuovo rinascimento italiano (Digitalisation. An Italian renaissance)
Francesco Caio, Pierangelo Soldavini
Vita e Pensiero, 2023