dr. L.M. Possati (Luca)

I am a tenured Assistant Professor of Philosophy of Technology at the University of Twente, specializing in human–technology relations, artificial intelligence, and the philosophy of human subjectivity. I am also a senior researcher in the Ethics of Socially Disruptive Technologies (ESDiT) program. In addition, I am a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Active Inference Institute.

Research interests Philosophy of technology; human–technology relations; artificial intelligence and AI ethics; psychoanalysis and digital technologies; the algorithmic unconscious; human–AI interaction; technological mediation; subjectivity, identity, and processes of self-formation; active inference and the free energy principle; philosophy of design; phenomenology and postphenomenology; responsible innovation and technology assessment; ethical and societal implications of emerging technologies.

Work Experience I have extensive international research and teaching experience in philosophy, ethics, and interdisciplinary technology studies. Since 2023, I have been a tenured Assistant Professor at the University of Twente, where I conduct research and teach courses on AI ethics, philosophy of technology, philosophy of design, ethics of psychology, and emerging technologies. I am also actively involved in the ESDiT research program, investigating the transformation of the human condition through technological innovation. From 2021 to 2023, I was a postdoctoral researcher at Delft University of Technology, where I worked on the ethical and societal implications of quantum technologies within the Quantum Delta NL program. From 2019 to 2023, I was a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Porto, conducting research on philosophy of technology, artificial intelligence, digital hermeneutics, and data visualization. Previously, I held research and teaching positions at several European institutions, including the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS) in Paris, the Institut Catholique de Paris, and the Catholic University of Louvain-la-Neuve. I am currently involved in interdisciplinary research projects addressing the ethical design of emerging technologies, including holographic sensing and dense wireless networks. My academic activities also include doctoral supervision, international research collaborations, and advisory work on technological innovation.

Expertise My expertise lies in developing interdisciplinary approaches to the philosophical, psychological, and ethical analysis of emerging technologies. I specialize in combining phenomenology, hermeneutics, psychoanalytic theory, and philosophy of technology to investigate how technological systems transform human experience, behavior, identity, and agency. A central focus of my research is the application of psychodynamic concepts to artificial intelligence, particularly the formation of subjectivity in technologically mediated environments. I also work on active inference and the free energy principle as theoretical frameworks for understanding human–technology relations and technological design. My methodological expertise includes conceptual analysis, interdisciplinary theoretical research, hermeneutic technology assessment, and qualitative approaches in science and technology studies. I am the author of several academic books, including The Algorithmic Unconscious (Routledge, 2021), Unconscious Networks (Routledge, 2023),  and Design for Entropy: Active Inference and Technology (MIT Press, 2026).

Organisations

BOOKS

––, Design for Entropy. Active Inference and Technology. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2026.

––, Unconscious Networks. Philosophy, Psychoanalysis, and Artificial Intelligence. Routledge, 2023. Review on “Neuropsychoanalysis” (2025)

––, Software as Hermeneutics. A Philosophical and Historical Study. Palgrave Macmillan, 2022. Review on “Sofia” (2022)

––, The Algorithmic Unconscious. How Psychoanalysis Helps in Understanding AI. Routledge, 2021. Review on “AI&Society” (2022)

––, Games, Iteration, Numbers. A Philosophical Introduction to Computability Theory. College Publications, 2019.

––, L’inconsistenza del numero. Ipotesi sulla natura della computabilità. Il Prato, 2017. Reviews on “Dialeghestai” (2017) and “Phenomenological Reviews” (2017)

––, La ripetizione creatrice. Melandri, Derrida e lo spazio dell'analogia. Mimesis, 2013. Review on “Discipline filosofiche” (2013).

––, Paul Ricœur face à l'analogie. Entre théologie et déconstruction. L’Harmattan, 2012. Review on “Ricoeur Studies” 3 (2012). 

––, L'affermazione originaria. Pensiero e azione nel primo Ricoeur (1930-1950). Carocci, 2012.

––, Bernard Lepetit e i percorsi della storia sperimentale, « Storiografia », 1, 2009: 1-101.

––, Ricoeur e l’esperienza storica. L’ermeneutica filosofica nella tradizione delle Annales. Carocci, 2008. Review on “History and Theory” 49 (2010): 55.

MORE RECENT PEER-REVIEWED PAPERS

––, (2026). “The Gaze from Nowhere: Lacan and the Optical Unconscious of RF-Sensing Technologies” Psychoanalytic Inquiry (in collaboration with C. Aydin) https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/07351690.2026.2738529#abstract

––, (2026). “Technological Intentionality and the Concept of Flesh: A Merleau-Pontian Perspective on Technological Mediation” Philosophy and Technology (in collaboration with A. Martino) https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13347-026-01182-6

––, (2026). “The Ecology of the Unconscious: Attachment, Attunement, and Digital Technology.” In Handbook of Digital Hermeneutics. London: Routledge.

––, (2026). “How Light Reshapes the Mind. An Active Inference Framework for the Cognitive and Emotional Effects of Indoor Lighting.” Front. Comput. Neurosci. 20:1865557. doi: 10.3389/fncom.2026.1865557   

––,  (2026). “ICU Delirium as a Failure of Predictive Synchronization. A Two-Agent Active Inference Model” Entropy 28, 702 https://doi.org/10.3390/e28060702  

Vermaas, P.E., Possati, L.M. & Seskir, Z.C. (2026). “Quantum Internet, Governance, Trust, and the Promise of Secure Communication.” Ethics Soc. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11569-026-00516-0

––, Aydin, C. (2025). “To Repair or Not to Repair? Disclosing the Subject in Technical Mediation”. Philosophy & Technology, 38, 105. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13347-025-00930-4

Aydin, C., Possati, L. (2025). “Less and more than data: a Lacanian inquiry into self-formation in the age of data mining”. AI & Society, 40, 6123–6134. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-025-02414-7

––, Vermaas, P. (2025). “The Rationality and Morality of Connecting Quantum Computers”. Ethics and Information Technology, 27, 30. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10676-025-09840-7

––, (2025). “Exploring the Geopolitical Limits of Research Innovation and Technology Assessment”. Science & Technology Studies, 36(3), 44–62. https://doi.org/10.23987/sts.137812

Savazzi, S., Salami, D., Helmut Paulus, A., Bersan, R., Possati, L. (2025). “RF Sensing and Holography in Dense Wireless Networks: Towards Privacy-Scalable and Ethical Design.” In Companion of the 2025 ACM International Joint Conference on Pervasive and Ubiquitous Computing, pp. 1096-1099.

––, (2024). “Quantum technologies: A Hermeneutic Technology Assessment Approach”. NanoEthics, 16(1), 91–107. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11569-023-00449-y

––,  (2024). “Mediation as Anti-mediation. Re-evaluating the Role of Technological Breakdowns and Anomalies in Postphenomenology”. Journal of Human-Technology Relations, 2. https://doi.org/10.59490/jhtr.2024.2.7381

––, (2024). “Negotiating Actors. Toward a New Paradigm for Social Robotics”. Technè: Research in Philosophy and Technology, 25(2), 226–251. https://doi.org/10.5840/techne2024123193

––, (2023). “Ethics of Quantum Computing. An Outline”. Philosophy & Technology, 36, 28. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13347-023-00651-6

––, (2023). “Looking through the Algorithmic Unconscious. The Noise as Anti-Mediation”. Angelaki. Journal of the Theoretical Humanities, 26(5), 11–25. https://doi.org/10.1080/0969725X.2023.2216546

––, (2023). “Psychoanalyzing AI. The case of Replika”. AI & Society, 37, 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-021-01379-7

––, (2023). “From Turing to Peirce. A Semiotic Interpretation of Computation”. Foundations of Science, 25(2), 387–405. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10699-022-09878-6

––,  Bisconti, P. (2022). “Sociomorphing and an Actor-Network Approach to Social Robotics”. Frontiers in Artificial Intelligence and Applications (366: Social Robots in Social Institutions) Robotphilosophy 2022 conference proceedings. IOS Press. DOI: 10.3233/FAIA220652

––, (2022). “The Paradox of Quantum Information and its Ethical Consequences”. Scenari. Rivista semestrale di filosofia contemporanea, 16, 235-256.

––, (2021). “Is There a Digital World? Video Games as a Framework for Analyzing the Relations between Software and Lived Experience”. Technè: Research in Philosophy and Technology, 20(1), 1–25. https://doi.org/10.5840/techne2021120130

––, (2021). “Making the Invisible Visible. The Phenomenon of Data Visualization as a Framework to Understand How Software Shapes the Imaginary and the Image”. Technè: Research in Philosophy and Technology, 22: 1-25. https://doi.org/10.5840/techne2021423136

––, (2021). “Freud and the Algorithm: Neuropsychoanalysis as a Framework to Understand Artificial General Intelligence.” Humanities and Social Sciences Communications 8, 132. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-021-00812-y

––, (2020). “Towards a Hermeneutic Definition of Software.” Humanities and Social Sciences Communications 7, 71. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-020-00565-0

––,  (2020). “Algorithmic Unconscious: Why Psychoanalysis Helps in Understanding AI”. Palgrave Communications 6, 70. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-020-0445-0 Translated in German by S. Kudritzki in Kunt und Künstlichkeit. Jahrbuch für klinische un interdisziplinäre Psychoanalyse 3. Frankfurt: Brandes & Apsel, pp. 69-105.

Courses academic year 2026/2027

Courses in the current academic year are added at the moment they are finalised in the Osiris system. Therefore it is possible that the list is not yet complete for the whole academic year.

Courses academic year 2025/2026

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University of Twente

Ravelijn (building no. 10), room 4250
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7522 NH Enschede
Netherlands

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University of Twente

Ravelijn (building no. 10)
Hallenweg 17
7522 NH Enschede
Netherlands

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Office RA4250