Internet of Things, Artificial Intelligence and Power

Part 6 of 12 — Blockchain: Decentralization of Money, Power and the State Originally written as a History BA thesis, academic year 2021–2022. Published online August 2026. Series index → · References & bibliography →

Internet of Things (IoT)

The world of the Internet of Things has been seeing the light of day in recent years, and its motto is quite simple: sensors and antennas everywhere! It all stems from human curiosity: if one could measure our body temperature constantly, who knows how many things would be discovered? If you then compared the temperatures of the individual with those of the mass, you could determine what is normal and what is abnormal. If you combined the data with what you ate that day, your average expenditure, body weight, body fat mass, height, how many people you saw that day, how many hours standing and how many sitting, and what concentration of oxygen or pollutants there was in the air, etc., you could really discover a lot of things. The scientific discoveries that could benefit from such research are endless. Artificial intelligence or machine learning systems could provide solutions to real problems, giving insights into what hurts and what is advisable to do instead. These complex systems 'feed' on data, and it is collected by sensors connected to microcontrollers. There are sensors for heartbeat, others for body temperature, others for outdoor temperature, sensors for bending, color, strength, altitude, distance, CO2 detectors, and, recently, there is even talk of very sophisticated odor sensors. So many of these sensors have been in common use for dozens of years now: the elevator has sensors to detect what floor it is on; so many cars have a distance sensor that is activated when reversing; cell phones, when brought close to the ear, turn off the screen as a light sensor is obscured by our head. As with all industrial revolutions, it takes time for new inventions to catch on, and the IoT revolution is no different. It will see sensors producing data and actuators performing actions: they are thus linked together, with the goal of creating something (can it be called an 'entity'?) that all sees, hears and can. Everything feels because of sensors, which fan more and more of our daily living, sometimes so subtly that we wonder what is sensor and what is not. Clothing itself is becoming more and more smart; earphones, or the smartphone itself, thanks to the presence of a microphone, are elevating from means of communication and listening to sensory devices at the disposal of third-party entities, be they machines or flesh-and-blood people. Everything sees because of the sensors and cameras, which allow for a great deal of information. Facial or object recognition systems, license plate recognition systems, etc., are becoming the norm; cameras that were previously installed for public safety reasons, and which are connected to local police stations, will simply be connected to the systems described above, so that in real time it is possible for the maximum entity everything see.

Those who all see and all hear can, through actuators (motors, pumps, lights, electronic locks, etc.), control the present.

When we place our finger on a fingerprint sensor at the bank, the data from our fingertips are sent to a microcontroller (a kind of mini-computer, low-power, low-cost, low-power, and about the size of a fingernail). This device sends the information to the central database, where it checks whether or not the data sent, i.e., our fingerprint of our fingertips is on a 'blacklist'. The response from the database to the microcontroller will contain permission or denial to open the door. The door is in fact opened by an electronic motor, which is connected to the microcontroller. It is thanks to the actuators that he who sees and hears everything can, like a modern Leviathan: Absolute Intelligence will hold the sword of political power and that of state religion. A very big issue is what will be meant by public good and where the hand of power can reach.

At the time this text is being written, the normal keys to a house door belong to the owner-although the police can, in the presence of a supposed danger to society, force the lock; at the time each door should open digitally, it is not a foregone conclusion to assume exclusive access to the owner, and a coaccess, in which the state also possesses copies of the keys, is presumable.

It is not an easy thing to reason about what should be the jurisdiction of one and what of the other, what is public and what is private. The moment the digital interrupts the boundary of physicality, everything becomes blurred and difficult to categorize.

Artificial Intelligence

When people talk about Artificial Intelligence (AI in Italian and AI in English) they must think of something extremely stupid, lacking any glimmer of intelligence or creativity. Artificial intelligence is software, i.e., a set of written lines, that is executed by a computer, i.e., a set of switches that turn off and on quickly. Speed is the key that should be used when thinking about artificial intelligence: a calculator, however inanimate and unintelligent an object, beats any human being in capacity and accuracy. In fact, the machine is so fast that it can analyze a mass of data inconceivable in size and complexity by a human. The purpose of artificial intelligence is precisely this: to have a tool that allows one to understand what, for small humans, would in no way be conceivable due to limitations of time, energy and mental faculties. What happens is that an algorithm will take care of doing very complex calculations and then provide invaluable answers to important problems. However, it will hardly be possible for humans to have a counterevidence of the calculation or reasoning, since they cannot - due to lack of material resources - repeat the experiment. What already happens, for example, in the content that is proposed on social networks: when viewing a video related to a certain topic, the algorithm keeps showing us relevant videos among those suggested. The algorithm calculates, based on criteria set by the platform owners, how to judge whether or not a video is considered interesting to the end user. The goal is to keep the viewer glued to the screen for as long as possible: every action we take is measured and tracked, and the algorithm adjusts and raises the bar. This is now the norm, and it is no longer surprising. This algorithm was written by employees of companies present in Silicon Valley, thus a geographically centralized place, or possibly in smaller locations of the same multinationals, thus with a geographical decentralization, but with a centralization at the logical level. This text (a program is for all intents and purposes a text written in a machine-understandable language) collects data from hundreds of millions of individuals and adapts itself to each individual. People's actions are influenced by it: instead of seeing one video, the one they were really interested in, they will see three or four. If it is true that the flap of a butterfly's wings can change the world, it is easy to imagine the importance of such a system acting continuously and often in the shadows. A final consideration should be made: if the algorithm is self-adapting to people, how self-adapting are people to the algorithm?

It should be clear to everyone how a society that relies on algorithms performing calculations, which cannot be verified because of their complexity, must somehow trust technology. The concept of trust, and therefore faith, is very complex and will not be addressed. What will be emphasized is how, from the outside, the computer engineer who will translate problems into algorithms and solutions into responses is not too different, as a figure, from those in ancient Rome who read omens in the entrails of animals or the flight of birds. This is not to say here that the two types of responses have the same level of reliability, but one must be aware that soon it will not be possible but to regard and respect AI as an Absolute Intelligence. It will serve to legitimize power, just as every other religion has served the same purpose, certainly maintaining important spiritual values, but falling into the toolbox of power as instrumentum regni. Whether the ruling class will also be completely imbued with technical and scientific faith, or whether the latter will be used only to legitimize authority, is a question that future historians will debate.

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