“We are spiritual beings, temporarily imprisoned in a physical body similar to a machine. But we are much more than a machine. We are consciousness, infinite entities. Irreducible.”
Federico Fagginthe greatest living Italian inventor, father of the first microprocessor, creator of touch technology before Steve Jobs, today he embarks on a new revolution. After years of study and research he has understood that there is something irreducible in the human being, something for which no machine can ever replace us. And Irreducible is the title of his new book (Mondadori), which will be presented at the Mantua Literature Festival on 10 September.
“For years I have tried to understand how consciousness could arise from electrical or biochemical signals – he says during a long interview -. Signals that can only produce other signals, not sensations and feelings. Consciousness is irreducible. That is, it cannot be defined with simpler concepts. It is the consciousness that understands, experiences feelings and emotions. Without this feeling, we would be robots. The machine does not hear. He does not respond if it has not been programmed. Instead we must strive to find the answers, inside and outside of us. Starting with the main question: who are we? “.
29-30 September
Italian Tech Week 2022, the future not to be missed: online registration is open to participate
by Riccardo Luna
Born in 1941, son of a professor of History of Philosophy, he graduated as a radio technician against the wishes of his father. At 18 he is already at Olivetti di Borgolombardo. Degree in Physics, 110 with honors. In 1968 he left for the USA. He designs the first microprocessor in the world (Intel 4004), develops the first second generation (Intel 8080). He is the only Italian present at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View. In 2010, Obama awards him with a gold medal for innovation.
“I had everything in life, yet at some point I had an existential crisis. I was looking for happiness outside of myself. I had embraced the competitive and consumerist vision that dominates our society. I had more money than I could spend, I was recognized by others , I had a beautiful family, yet I was discontented. For years I had erased all inner turmoil from my mind. But having crossed all the milestones of success, I decided to look into my despair and understand what it meant what I felt. “
Study neuroscience and biology. Undertakes a psychological and spiritual path that lasts 20 years, he is convinced that consciousness cannot be a property that comes from inert matter, but rather a property of the universe. “Matter is the ink with which consciousness writes the experience of itself”. In his book, puts forward the hypothesis that the universe has always had consciousness and free will.
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“Science says that we are biological machines and when the machine breaks down … goodnight to the players. But if we let ourselves be convinced that we are our mortal body, we will end up thinking that everything that exists originates only in the physical world. I say : no. We are quantum realities that exist in a reality larger than space-time, which also contains physical reality “.
A pioneer of the information revolution, released by Intel in 1974, Faggin starts one startup after another. He invents Z80, an 8-bit microprocessor. Then he develops a phone that integrates voices and data (what the smartphone does today. He launches the first touchscreens. In 2019 Mattarella awarded him the title of Cavaliere al Merito of the Italian Republic.
“We are infinite, conscious entities who want to know themselves. To do this we need to have experiences in which to understand who we are through our behavior.”
However, there is a problem behind this revolution. Ourselves.
“We do not want to live in reality, but in the illusion of social networks that dull. We do not educate our children to understand who they are. We think that machines are better than us. It is true that a chip does a billion multiplications per second while we do it. we do one a minute. But if we think we are less than cars, we let those who control them out of the back door put us out of the bag. Artificial intelligence can be like a weapon in the hands of a madman. And of this I am afraid“.
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Between quantum mechanics and information theory, Faggin launches an enlightening message.
“We take seriously what we feel inside. The first step is to question ourselves. Our emotions are the window through which we know ourselves.” Is there happiness at stake? “Yes, but it is not just that of dancing barefoot on the grass. It is love for oneself and for life. It is the joy of having come to understand oneself to the point of feeling whole, clean. At home”.
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