The Last Ideology by Gabriele Balbi winner of the Giancarlo Dosi Prize for Popular Science

The essay L'ultima ideologia (The Last Ideology) by Gabriele Balbi, full professor at USI Faculty of Communication, Culture and Society, came first in the Science of Engineering and Architecture category at the 11th Giancarlo Dosi National Prize for Popular Science.

The Last Ideology: A Brief History of the Digital Revolution (Laterza 2022) addresses the technological development that has taken place over the last few decades, starting from two fundamental questions: how is it that we uncontestably believe that we are living in a 'revolutionary' era due to digitalisation? And how has this change been portrayed by both protagonists and spectators? The answer lies in an attempt to deconstruct the deep-seated assumptions, thoughts, recurring slogans and our ideas (or ideologies?) on the subject from historical sources.

The essay had been selected, from over 325 entries, in the 15 finalist titles divided into five dedicated categories in the 11th edition of the Giancarlo Dosi National Prize for Popular Science, organised by the Associazione italiana del libro (Italian Book Association) in collaboration with the National Research Council of Italy. On Thursday 14 December, the votes of the National Jury - made up of over 250 professors and experts in scientific subjects - and those of the public decreed the best book in each category, and The Last Ideology won in the Science of Engineering and Architecture area.

Professor Gabriele Balbi: "I am happy to receive the award, especially because this book was an experiment that wanted to combine academic and historical accuracy with a popular, simple, sometimes ironic tone. The fact that this has been recognised by a jury of experts from Italy's largest research institution makes me forget the many rewrites and the hard work during 2020 and 2021. I also thank USI because this book was conceived and partly written during a 'pandemic' sabbatical in the spring of 2020".