The Advent of Homo Algorithmicus and the Eclipse of Judgment

Technology, Nihilism, and Democratic Crisis

Abstract

This article examines the anthropological, political, and ethical transformation brought about by the expansion of artificial intelligence (AI) in the twenty-first century, understood not as a mere technical advance but as a civilizational event that reconfigures social rationality, forms of power, and the conditions of possibility of democracy. Drawing on a philosophical analysis in dialogue with contemporary authors, the article argues that the core of the challenge lies not in the intelligence of algorithms, but in the progressive externalization of human judgment and decision-making into automated systems. On the anthropological level, the emergence of Homo algorithmicus expresses a mutation of subjectivity characterized by the delegation of judgment to recommendation architectures that impoverish experience and erode autonomy. On the political level, algorithmic rationality reorganizes the public sphere through forms of automated governance that privilege efficiency and prediction, displacing deliberation, weakening accountability, and conflating technical correctness with democratic legitimacy. On the ethical level, the article maintains that the challenges posed by AI cannot be addressed exclusively through normative codes, but require a political critique of algorithmic reason capable of subjecting technology to the horizon of self-government, the common good, and democratic responsibility. The article concludes that the contemporary challenge does not consist in perfecting algorithms, but in preserving and strengthening the human capacity to decide, deliberate, and assume the uncertainty inherent in democratic life within an increasingly automated world.