“Hacking the mind”, the essay written by Pierguido Iezzi and Don Gennaro Fusco presented at Lumsa

The vulnerability of human cognitive infrastructures in the face of modern online disinformation strategies is directly linked to the evolution of digital grammars. The combined use of keywords, visual stimuli and programming codes allows the creation of information bubbles capable of directing user preferences without there being a clear perception of external conditioning. Pierguido Iezzi, co-author of the text and cybersecurity expert, explored this dynamic in depth by explaining that: “Hacking the Mind is a book that tells how our thinking is manipulated. It is manipulated through images, through words, but also through code”.

Iezzi also highlighted the link between psychological manipulation and systemic security: “A code that can be used through a cyber attack, a virus, impacting what are essential and necessary services for each of us essentially generates a distorted opinion of reality, a sense of insecurity. We live in a world where there is a new grammar, a new language”.

The answer to these asymmetric threats does not lie exclusively in the development of technological barriers or mirror control algorithms, but requires a structural investment in digital education and ethical awareness of network languages. The distinction between comparison-oriented communication and deceptive persuasion mechanisms represents the starting point for the development of effective self-defense models. Don Gennaro Fusco, co-author of the essay, specified the ethical core of the research: “The volume addresses the issues of digital manipulation, algorithms and risks linked to online disinformation, offering tools and reflections to defend one’s digital freedom and greater awareness in the use of the internet, there is a thin thread between persuasion done in an ethical way and manipulation which then guides you to the final choice and the brain must be trained as happens with our entire human body, because by becoming aware each of us can defend our freedom and above all our digital freedom”.