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Studio del MIT sul degrado cognitivo da uso di LLM
by Roberto Resoli Dec. 18, 2025

Dec. 18, 2025

Your Brain on ChatGPT: Accumulation of Cognitive Debt when Using an AI Assistant for Essay Writing Task https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.08872 «This study explores the neural and behavioral consequences of LLM-assisted essay writing. Participants were divided into three groups: LLM, Search Engine, and Brain-only (no tools). Each completed three sessions under the same condition. In a fourth session, LLM users were reassigned to Brain-only group (LLM-to-Brain), and Brain-only users were reassigned to LLM condition (Brain-to-LLM). A total of 54 participants took part in Sessions 1-3, with 18 completing session 4. We used electroencephalography (EEG) to assess cognitive load during essay writing, and analyzed essays using NLP, as well as scoring essays with the help from human teachers and an AI judge. Across groups, NERs, n-gram patterns, and topic ontology showed within-group homogeneity. EEG revealed significant differences in brain connectivity: Brain-only participants exhibited the strongest, most distributed networks; Search Engine users showed moderate engagement; and LLM users displayed the weakest connectivity. ... » rob

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"National Sovereignty Under Siege,The Shadow of Surveillance: Germany’s New Era of State Intrusion in Berlin"
by J.C. DE MARTIN Dec. 17, 2025

Dec. 17, 2025

*The Shadow of Surveillance: Germany’s New Era of State Intrusion in Berlin* With each passing day, German democracy is becoming a more relative category. In Berlin, the city authorities have adopted a new law giving local security forces the authority to surveillance. The Berlin House of Representatives passed an amendment to the General Security and Order Act (ASOG), granting law enforcement unprecedented authority to infiltrate the most private sanctums of citizens’ lives. This law, ostensibly designed to combat terrorism and serious crime, allows police to secretly enter homes to install spyware—known as “state trojans”—on personal devices, alongside a suite of other invasive tools like mass geodata requests and biometric scanning of social networks. But beneath the veneer of public safety lies a deeper narrative: a government grappling with economic turmoil and plummeting leadership approval, potentially wielding these powers as a blunt instrument for political control. As we dissect this development, one can’t help but wonder— is this the price of security, or the dawn of a surveillance state? [...] continua qui: https://restmedia.st/the-shadow-of-surveillance-germanys-new-era-of-state-i…

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"AI is making us work more" - by Tawanda Munongo
by Damiano Verzulli Dec. 16, 2025

Dec. 16, 2025

Un punto di vista... interessante, completo di riflessioni che non mi pare di aver letto/sentito in giro... "AI is making us work more" https://tawandamunongo.dev/posts/2025/10/ai-work-more/ Bye, DV --------------------------------- Intro <https://tawandamunongo.dev/posts/2025/10/ai-work-more/#intro> I was listening, recently, to an episode of /The Pragmatic Engineer/ podcast with Armin Ronacher <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45kVol96IlM>, and something he said really resonated with me. He pointed out how paradoxical it is that AI was supposed to /free us/ and allow us to work less yet, somehow, we find ourselves /working more than ever before/ (timestamp <https://youtu.be/45kVol96IlM?si=1KM2tNSzrU8lQA3g&t=2536>). I have seen the same trend in my own work patterns. This increase in work is not necessarily in the sense of being busier because there’s /more/ work to do. Instead, it manifests as a psychological compulsion to keep going. The very existence of these /hyper-capable/ tools seems to have created a /new kind of pressure/, an existential duty to keep working, to keep driving *the machine that never sleeps*. 996 in the Valley <https://tawandamunongo.dev/posts/2025/10/ai-work-more/#996-in-the-valley> The /996/ concept - working from 9AM to 9PM, six days a week - used to only be associated with Chinese tech companies, having been championed by the founder of Alibaba, Jack Ma. The rest of the world, however, used to see it as nothing more than an extreme, sustainable model of hustle culture. In 2025, however, there have been several reports of this (toxic?) work culture /migrating west/. According to a recent Wired investigation <https://www.wired.com/story/silicon-valley-china-996-work-schedule>, AI start-ups in Silicon Valley have begun to adopt 996-style work schedules. The rationalisation, of course, is /“to stay competitive”/. Leaders at these companies believe that with things moving so fast, especially in the AI space, and with developers having access to tools that can keep going so long as there’s a human there to steer them, people must worker harder to keep up with that. It has become not at all unusual to see job postings that make it clear to prospective hires that they should look forward to long, gruelling hours. When the machine never tires <https://tawandamunongo.dev/posts/2025/10/ai-work-more/#when-the-machine-nev…> Throughout human history, the natural constraint on work was always /human fatigue/. We stopped working when we were tired. And, we took time to rest because our minds and bodies needed to recover. However, the introduction of generative AI and agents fundamentally shifts the status quo. These tools never tire, never switch off, and never lose motivation. even as you rest, the tool keeps running, always available to generate ideas, code, text, designs, etc. As a result, a new psychological loop forms: “Every moment I don’t spend prompting, I’m falling behind.” The system insidiously guilts you for not /leveraging/ it constantly. Allowing AI to sit there, just waiting, feels like a waste. It’s subtle, but corrosive. Any downtime becomes a missed opportunity, and rest turns into inefficiency. Within this framework, leisure becomes a moral failure. From the lamp to LLMs <https://tawandamunongo.dev/posts/2025/10/ai-work-more/#from-the-lamp-to-llms> Of course, this is not an entirely novel development. From lamps to lightbulbs, and now with LLMs, certain human advancements have had the capacity to transform the nature of work. This transformation comes in the form of leverage, allowing us to do more, to transcend limitations, and manifest more than we ever could. In the case of the aforementioned illumination technologies, people who had to set their tools down at sundown because it was now too dark to work could now go on well into the night. And, with that came a subtle shift as /“can work”/ transformed into /“should work”/. Such is the nature of advancement - recently acquired luxuries quickly transform into necessities, and pushing our newfound capabilities to their limits becomes an expectation. With this, the /996/ culture re-emerges, not because someone imposed it but because the tools themselves, and the culture surrounding them, make rest feel like lost potential “One of history’s few iron laws is that luxuries tend to become necessities and to spawn new obligations.” - Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind Book by Yuval Noah Harari The Burnout Society, Upgraded <https://tawandamunongo.dev/posts/2025/10/ai-work-more/#the-burnout-society-…> The Korean-German philosopher, /Byung-Chul Han/ saw this coming. In his book, /The Burnout Society/, he argued that modern work culture replaced external oppression with internalised /“self-discipline”/. We don’t need anyone shouting orders at us anymore. Instead, we do it to ourselves in the name of /“productivity”/, /“passion”/, and /“self-actualisation”/. AI amplifies this dynamic. It extends what Han calls /“the excess of positivity”/ - what I would call /the tyranny of can/ - which is the idea that we /can/ always do more, and therefore /must/. “/Possum, ergo debeo./” “/I can, therefore I must./” There is no external whip required here. Just a quiet, internalised command: /the machine can keep going, so why can’t you?/ The Psychological Toll <https://tawandamunongo.dev/posts/2025/10/ai-work-more/#the-psychological-to…> The recurring narrative within the tech community is mostly the same: infinite tools + infinite leverage = infinite potential. But, I find this to be a corrosive mentality with potentially devastating effects on our psyches. Where feeling tired used to be a signal to rest, now it’s a /sign of weakness/. Every break you take feels like a gap in your /potential productivity/. What we become, then, is our own taskmasters. From the moment we wake until our heads hit the pillow in the evening, we must make use of every available moment. We internalise the myth of this infinite potential and, under the guise of our own search for freedom, we exploit ourselves, putting constant pressure on ourselves to prompt, iterate, and improve. All to keep up with a *machine that never sleeps*. Sadly, as a recent NextGen Hero analysis <https://nextgenhero.io/why-ai-firms-embracing-996-culture-may-be-sabotaging…> pointed out, this “hyper-productivity loop” is self-defeating. As burnout rates climb, creative output falls, and the majority of teams working /996/ often become /less/ instead of more innovative when compared to balanced ones. And, as the machine continues to improve, so too does the baseline expectation of what you should get out of it. What once looked like “good output” becomes “not enough”. We struggle to improve our prompts, and mould the deluge of mediocre output into something useful. Meanwhile, as a consequence of how the loudest proponents of this technology speak about it, we absorb the belief that we /can (and should)/ be orders of magnitude more productive, we /can (and should)/ build lucrative businesses, and we /can (and should)/ multiply our abilities with AI tools. Any kind of doubt, scepticism, or negativity is shunned. Any failure on your part to use AI tools to elevate yourself is, at best, a skill issue and, in the worst case, stubborn refusal to embrace a revolutionary technology. Rest as resistance <https://tawandamunongo.dev/posts/2025/10/ai-work-more/#rest-as-resistance> In such a world, rest itself becomes an act of rebellion. If AI gives us near-limitless productive capacity, the truly radical act might be to /not/ use it at all. By setting realistic targets for ourselves, and putting up boundaries, we can slow the erosion of our humanity. Similarly, AI creates nigh-infinite consumption potential. /OpenAI/’s Sloptok <https://openai.com/index/sora-2/> can generate endless content, which could just as easily trap us in a /Sisyphean-loop/ of consuming limitless content. In itself, saying /“enough”/ might be a kind of innovation. Because, ironically, most research supports the idea that innovation and creativity emerge from reflection <https://pcad.edu/ctl/the-role-of-reflection-in-creativity-and-learning/> not exhaustion. Our best ideas usually come not from being “on” all the time, but from being free enough to /ponder/ and let our minds /wander/. So, what now? <https://tawandamunongo.dev/posts/2025/10/ai-work-more/#so-what-now> The way I see it, this is ultimately a story about culture. Tools don’t demand work; /people/ and /systems/ do. The machine doesn’t care whether or not you sleep. What keeps us awake are the stories we tell ourselves about what it means to be /“productive”/. So, maybe, the challenge of the AI era isn’t just learning how to /leverage/ these tools. It’s learning to /live with them/ in a healthy way that doesn’t allow them to enslave us. And, as I will explore in the second part of this series, it’s also knowing /when/ and /how/ to use them in a way that doesn’t diminish our efforts. Because, just as the light bulb extended the day, AI is extending the /workday/. The question is whether we’ll allow it to extend the /night/, too. ---------------------------------- -- Damiano Verzulli e-mail:damiano@verzulli.it --- possible?ok:while(!possible){open_mindedness++} --- "...I realized that free software would not generate the kind of income that was needed. Maybe in USA or Europe, you may be able to get a well paying job as a free software developer, but not here [in Africa]..." -- Guido Sohne - 1973-2008 http://ole.kenic.or.ke/pipermail/skunkworks/2008-April/005989.html

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diritto di autore: novità normativa su tutela delle fotografie semplici
by Mauro Alovisio Dec. 15, 2025

Dec. 15, 2025

segnalo novità di interesse https://www.altalex.com/documents/2025/12/09/fotografie-semplici-tutela-est… Cordiali saluti Mauro

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Servizi cloud "made in USA" e compliance EU: l'analisi tedesca
by Damiano Verzulli Dec. 13, 2025

Dec. 13, 2025

Il documento (in tedesco) da cui è scaturito il tutto è questo: https://fragdenstaat.de/anfrage/gutachten-zu-zugriffsmoeglichkeiten-von-us-… Un'articolo descrittivo (in inglese) è questo: => "Academics advise German gov: almost no way to stop US accessing cloud data" A newly-released expert opinion suggests Germany was worried just before Donald Trump took office, and with good reason. source: https://www.thestack.technology/academics-advise-german-gov-almost-no-way-t… ========================================================================= A month before Donald Trump took office, Germany's Ministry of the Interior asked experts at the University of Cologne to determine if German data on the cloud could be kept out of the reach of US intelligence agencies and law enforcement. A document released this week under a freedom of information request [1] shows, it received a fairly straightforward response back in March: not really, no. Even data stored on servers physically located on German soil and operated by a German company may be exposed to the jurisdiction of US courts, if that company so much as has a website that can be accessed in the USA. (However, this only applies to cases of specific personal jurisdiction which limits prosecution.) In the following months, Microsoft, Google, and AWS all sought to set up structures they said would satisfy the data sovereignty requirements of EU countries. With no changes in the multi-layered American legal framework to access data, though, the formal advice solicited by the German government suggests these efforts could be in vain. Extraterritorial reach According to the FOI request [2], Researcher Moritz Schneider launched a request for the expert opinion in October, after it was referred to in an academic journal, and on Tuesday the interior ministry released a lightly-redacted version the legal opinion. The document shows that, in late 2024, the German government wanted to specifically know if US intelligence agencies could legally get at cloud data – and if hyperscalers could legally preclude themselves from accessing such data, either through encryption or by way of German subsidiaries. The Cologne university's faculty of law (via experts whose identities were redacted) thought not. Between a Reagan-era executive order allowing covert operations and more modern rules requiring access to evidence, they said, a US company would likely have no legal way to resist a US government attempt to access any information it could access, or over which it has control by way a subsidiary. Being party to the encryption of data for which it does not hold the keys could technically work, the experts said, and could also see the hyperscaler face legal sanction for what amounts to evading responsibility. US extraterritorial reach could extend to not only German subsidiaries of US companies, but to German-native companies with only the barest connection to the USA, said the legal scholars. However, the researchers said these possibilities were dependent on the specific case. A German company that offers services to US customers could face access demands, they said – simply by operating a website from which Americans are not specifically excluded. Hyperscaler promises In June, Microsoft announced an update to its EU sovereign-data offering [3] to ensure that European-resident employees must authorise access to data by non-European engineers, with servers under the control of a subsidiary with only European directors. Neither of those measures would make any accessible data proof against US demands, according to the German opinion; as long as Microsoft has control over the staff, servers, or subsidiary, all would be within the reach of the US justice system. Microsoft also said data on Azure could be encrypted via external key management, with the keys hosted on hardware security modules (HSMs) that could be anywhere, including on the customer premises. In such a case, the German analysis suggests, Microsoft would still be liable to hand over any metadata it can access, while facing tough questions and possible sanction for enabling the encryption. In July, the General Counsel of Microsoft France told French courts [4] that the company could not guarantee they would not had over European data to US authorities if a legitimate request was made. However, the lawyer added that situation had never occurred. Also in June, AWS promised a "built, operated, controlled, and secured in Europe" cloud option [5] that is "subject to local laws." German-resident subsidiaries would keep both data and metadata in the EU, Amazon said, with a fully EU-citizen management and oversight board, and the ability to operate indefinitely in isolation if it should be disconnected from the rest of the AWS cloud. As with Microsoft, Amazon's operational control over those subsidiaries and their employees would still give the US theoretical access to data, according to the German opinion. In November, Google held a Digital Sovereignty Summit in Munich [6]. It has been selling "disconnected cloud services" [7] on the continent, providing air-gapped solutions for NATO [8] and the UK Ministry of Defence [9]. Those systems allow for the use of its advanced tools in an environment entirely under the control of the client, Google said – by dint of being on-premises and entirely disconnected from the internet. [1] https://fragdenstaat.de/anfrage/gutachten-zu-zugriffsmoeglichkeiten-von-us-… [2] https://fragdenstaat.de/anfrage/gutachten-zu-zugriffsmoeglichkeiten-von-us-… [3] https://blogs.microsoft.com/blog/2025/06/16/announcing-comprehensive-sovere… [4] https://www.senat.fr/compte-rendu-commissions/20250609/ce_commande_publique… [5] https://www.aboutamazon.eu/news/aws/built-operated-controlled-and-secured-i… [6] https://cloud.google.com/events/digital-sovereignty-summit-munich?hl=en&ref… [7] https://www.googlecloudpresscorner.com/2023-03-15-Proximus-and-Google-Cloud… [8] https://www.googlecloudpresscorner.com/2025-11-24-NATO-and-Google-Cloud-Sig… [9] https://www.googlecloudpresscorner.com/2025-09-11-Google-Cloud-Awarded-Land… ========================================================================= Bye, DV -- Damiano Verzulli e-mail: damiano(a)verzulli.it --- possible?ok:while(!possible){open_mindedness++} --- "...I realized that free software would not generate the kind of income that was needed. Maybe in USA or Europe, you may be able to get a well paying job as a free software developer, but not here [in Africa]..." -- Guido Sohne - 1973-2008 http://ole.kenic.or.ke/pipermail/skunkworks/2008-April/005989.html

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Does the ‘Military-Digital Complex’ Control Everything?
by Dario Guarascio Dec. 12, 2025

Dec. 12, 2025

Segnalo: https://tribunemag.co.uk/2025/12/does-the-military-digital-complex-control-… Buona giornata, dario -- *Dario Guarascio* Dipartimento di Economia e Diritto, Sapienza Università di Roma <http://www.uniroma1.it/strutture/dipartimenti> Via del Castro Laurenziano n° 9, 00161 Roma Edificio A (6° piano) -ala B, stanza n° 606 E-mail: dario.guarascio(a)uniroma1.it <nome.cognome(a)uniroma1.it> *Sito web* italiano - https://sites.google.com/a/uniroma1.it/darioguarascio/ inglese - https://sites.google.com/a/uniroma1.it/darioguarascio-eng/ -- *Fai crescere le giovani ricercatrici e i giovani ricercatori*** *con il 5 per mille alla Sapienza* Scrivi il codice fiscale dell'Università *80209930587 **Cinque per mille <https://www.uniroma1.it/it/node/23149>*

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MEMENTO | 17° Convegno Annuale del Centro Nexa | "Contro la casa di vetro. Opacità, schedatura e potere nell’età digitale" | Lunedì 15 dicembre 2025
by Nexa - Media Dec. 11, 2025

Dec. 11, 2025

Gentilissime, gentilissimi, Vi ricordiamo che lunedì 15 dicembre, dalle ore 9.30 (accoglienza dalle 9.00) alle ore 18.00, presso la Sala Luigi Ciminiera del DAUIN – Politecnico di Torino (5° piano), Corso Castelfidardo 34/D<https://maps.app.goo.gl/PmXAxuEuZ2B7Yact7>, si terrà il 17° Convegno Annuale del Centro Nexa su Internet e Società, dal titolo: "Contro la casa di vetro. Opacità, schedatura e potere nell’età digitale". L'evento verrà registrato, e il video sarà pubblicato sul nostro canale YouTube<https://www.youtube.com/@NexaCenter> e sito web<https://nexa.polito.it/conv2025> nei giorni successivi al convegno. Vi invitiamo a consultare la seguente pagina https://nexa.polito.it/conv2025 per scoprire tutti gli interventi in programma e gli ospiti invitati. L'iscrizione al convegno è libera e gratuita: iscriviti QUI<https://mobilizon.it/events/497677b1-d8a8-4001-89cd-d8bbd0f5667c>. Speriamo di vedervi numerosi! Vi ringraziamo per l'attenzione e vi auguriamo una buona giornata, Un saluto cordiale, -- Valeria Bergantino Communication Manager Nexa Center for Internet & Society Politecnico di Torino - DAUIN Via Pier Carlo Boggio, 65/A - 10138 Torino web: https://nexa.polito.it/ mail: valeria.bergantino(a)polito.it<mailto:valeria.bergantino@polito.it> tel: 3473443585

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U.S. Department of War - Hegseth Introduces Department to New AI Tool
by Daniela Tafani Dec. 10, 2025

Dec. 10, 2025

Hegseth Introduces Department to New AI Tool Dec. 9, 2025 | By C. Todd Lopez, Pentagon News | Yesterday, several employees at the Pentagon got a pop-up on their computers inviting them to use a new artificial intelligence tool developed for the War Department. Some were skeptical, wondering if the invitation was part of a cybersecurity test. [...] "When GenAI was asked, "How will you help the Department of War achieve its mission," through a user prompt, it replied with a list of capabilities, including, among other things, creating and refining documents, analyzing information, processing and analyzing satellite images, and even auditing computer code for security purposes." <https://www.war.gov/News/News-Stories/Article/Article/4355797/hegseth-intro…>

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Account mobilizon di Centro Nexa e ActivityPub
by Roberto Resoli Dec. 10, 2025

Dec. 10, 2025

Salve, Noto con molto piacere che Centro Nexa ha iniziato ad usare il servizio Mobilizon (istanza mobilizon.it) per divulgare eventi. È un sw libero eccellente, sviluppato dalla benemerita associazione francese Framasoft. Trattandosi di un sistema federato con il protocollo ActivityPub le sue utenze dovrebbero essere visibili dal Fediverso, rendendo immediato pubblicizzare lí gli eventi. Questo non accade (nella mia esperienza) con l'utenza: @centro_nexa_su_internet_societa@mobilizon.it https://mobilizon.it/@centro_nexa_su_internet_societa Riesco a visualizzarla, ma non a vedere gli eventi, né a seguirla. É un vero peccato, perché ho fatto lo stesso per la mia associazione: @linuxtrent@mobilizon.it https://mobilizon.it/@linuxtrent E ha funzionato bene. rob

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$64 billion of data center projects have been blocked or delayed amid local opposition
by Daniela Tafani Dec. 10, 2025

Dec. 10, 2025

$64 billion of data center projects have been blocked or delayed amid local opposition Data Center Watch Executive Summary $18 billion worth of data center projects were blocked, and another $46 billion of projects were delayed over the last two years in the face of opposition from residents and activist groups. There are at least 142 activist groups across 24 states organizing to block data center construction and expansion. Opposition to data center construction is largely motivated by local concerns. While the exact reasons opponents cite vary from location to location, some common themes are higher utility bills, water consumption, noise, impact on property value, and green space preservation. Data center projects that involve building their own power supplies are likely to attract additional opposition related to energy-generating infrastructure. A recent survey shows that while a majority of Americans support data center construction in the abstract, most are skeptical of projects in their communities. The backlash to data center development is bipartisan and does not follow the typical ideological fault lines of American politics. There have been projects blocked in red states and blue states, and there are both Republican and Democratic officials opposing new projects. A review of public statements by elected officials in districts with large data center projects (50 MW>) under consideration found that 55% of the politicians who had taken public positions against the data center projects were Republicans, and 45% were Democrats. This bipartisan opposition is notable because major data center developments tend to be located in red states, with Virginia and Oregon being notable exceptions. Even in famously business-friendly Texas, there is bi-partisan support for additional regulations on data center development in the State Senate. While there is bipartisan opposition to data center development, the exact issues emphasized by activists often differ based on their partisanship. On the left, you often see arguments around environmental concerns, while on the right, conservatives will often cite opposition to tax abatements. However, concerns over power consumption and grid strain have gained support across the political spectrum. And the traditional NIMBY opposition to new developments is driven by local residents and doesn’t tend to have a partisan lean. Data center challenges arise primarily at the local level, as most permitting decisions are made by local authorities. Consequently, even a supportive White House has limited control over delays arising at the local level. Data center development is becoming an important issue in local politics. In Cascade Locks, Oregon, voters recalled two Port Authority officials in June 2023 for supporting a $100 million data center project from Roadhouse Digital. Following the recall election, the new board canceled the data center project in July 2023. In Warrenton, Virginia, residents voted out all town council members who supported Amazon’s proposed data center in the November 2024 election. The newly elected council, composed entirely of project opponents, now has the mandate to block the data center. The future looks like Virginia The tremendous growth of the data center industry in Northern Virginia has spurred intense data center opposition. Virginia is now the focal point for community opposition to data centers in the United States, with 42 activist groups campaigning to slow, stop, or further regulate data center development. Opposition in Virginia is becoming increasingly professional and organized. In 2023, the Data Center Reform Coalition was founded to coordinate efforts among environmental, conservation, and homeowner association groups opposed to data center projects. The Data Center Reform Coalition is a growing organization, adding new members to its platform as opposition to data centers continues to rise in Virginia. Data center development has become an important political issue, with candidates for local, state, and federal office regularly taking positions on it. Legislative and regulatory measures aimed at curtailing data center growth have been introduced at both local and state levels. As data center development accelerates elsewhere in the country, local pushback on data centers is likely to follow the same pattern seen in Virginia. <https://www.datacenterwatch.org/report>

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