Academic Awards 2023 booklet

83 Technopolitical Resonance: Emotions, computers and socialism in Cold War Italy (1965-1990) Emotions and politics are often considered an hindrance to technological development. Even more, technology is promised to simplify political processes, and to overcome emotional distress. Yet, after a century of these promises, the contemporary world looks more politically complex and emotionally demanding than ever. What if we change perspective, by looking at our tech-centered world from other dimensions of human experience? In my PhD dissertation, I show that emotions, technology, and politics are always profoundly interrelated, by presenting an in depth historical investigation of the role played by emotions in the re-politicisation and de- politicisation of computer technologies in Cold War Italy (1965-1990). I developed a novel methodological and conceptual approach centered on the notion of “Technopolitical Resonance,” to understand how emotions contributed to make specific technopolitical configurations more or less popular through history. This approach provides an actor-centered framework to investigate emotions’ significance in the History of Technology. The dissertation critically analyses how “fear of falling behind” was used as a de-politicising discourse on computers. Several re-politicising counter-narratives are also discussed, based on different emotions (e.g. hope, anger, pride) and different political visions on the societal significance of computers and their design. Image 1 (Left page): Detail of Olivetti Elea 9003, License CC- BY-SA 4.0 International, Museo nazionale della scienza e della tecnologia Leonardo da Vinci, Milano (via Wikimedia Commons, “Console di comando per sistema Olivetti ELEA 9003”). Image 2: IBM 704 circuit model, LicenseCC-BY-SA4.0International, Museo nazionale della scienza e della tecnologia Leonardo da Vinci, Milano (via Wikimedia Commons, “Circuito di calcolo per il sistema IBM 704”).