THE IMMOBILE HORDE OF THE DIGITAL AGE - Oreste Patrone - ETHICA SOCIETAS-Rivista di scienze umane e sociali

Digital technologies, cognitive delegation, and artificial intelligence between the zombie metaphor and the impoverishment of attention

Abstract: Starting from the well-known zombie metaphor developed by George A. Romero, this contribution offers a critical reflection on the cognitive condition of the human being within the contemporary digital ecosystem. The analysis brings together neuroscience, cognitive psychology, and the philosophy of technology to show how the progressive delegation of mental functions to digital devices, connected platforms, and artificial intelligence systems may affect the quality of attention, memory, orientation, and critical capacity. Reference to studies on multitasking, smartphone addiction, and so-called “digital dementia” makes it possible to frame the issue not in moralistic terms, but as a profound transformation of cognitive habits. From this perspective, generative AI does not merely represent a new tool for information consumption, but a device capable of intervening in symbolic production itself and in the structure of dialogue. The image of the “immobile horde” thus becomes the figure of a hyperstimulated subjectivity, continuously connected and progressively dispossessed of its reflective presence.

Keywords: #DigitalAge #CognitiveDelegation #ArtificialIntelligence #GenerativeAI #Attention #Memory #DigitalMultitasking #DigitalDementia #Neuroscience #PhilosophyOfTechnology #Zombie #DataSociety #OrestePetrone #ethicasocietas #ethicasocietasjournal #scientificjournal #humanities #socialsciences #ethicasocietasupli

Oreste Patrone (1976), engineer and public employee, he has worked for many years in the field of environmental protection and waste management, where he has developed solid experience through both consultancy activities and institutional roles. He currently deals with integrated environmental permits, waste treatment plants, and single authorization procedures, and he is a member of the Friuli Venezia Giulia regional section of the National Register of Environmental Managers.

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Introduction: From the Zombie Metaphor to the Digital Condition

Nearly fifty years after Dawn of the Dead was released in movie theaters, Romero’s consumerist metaphor appears so firmly established that it has become commonplace. The dead returning to the shopping mall no longer require interpretation: they represent an immediately recognizable critique of consumer society.

Contemporary zombies, however, no longer inhabit physical spaces. They move—or, more precisely, remain still—within digital environments characterized by continuous flows of content, notifications, and stimuli. They no longer wander through aisles between shelves and display windows, but endlessly scroll through sequences of information.

In this sense, the metaphor changes: no longer bodies in motion devoid of consciousness, but subjects who appear active while becoming increasingly passive at the cognitive level.

Neuroplasticity and Digital Environments

The research of neuroscientist Manfred Spitzer shows that the brain is a plastic system, capable of changing according to the activities it performs. Synapses strengthen or weaken, and certain brain areas increase or decrease in volume in relation to use.

Studies now considered classic, such as those on London taxi drivers (Maguire et al., 2000), have shown that the hippocampus, involved in spatial orientation and memory, develops in response to constant exercise. Active orientation shapes the brain; delegating it to external tools reduces its activation.

This principle can be extended to the entire range of cognitive functions. When we entrust memory to the cloud, orientation to GPS, and planning to digital systems, we are redefining the structures that sustain thought. This is not a neutral process, but a biological and functional transformation.

Multitasking, Attention, and Cognitive Fragmentation

The studies collected by Spitzer show that digital multitasking negatively affects selective attention, working memory, and deep learning. Even the mere presence of a smartphone can reduce cognitive performance, becoming a constant possibility of interruption.

The overstimulated subject thus tends to develop a superficial cognitive mode, characterized by fragmentation and loss of depth. The reward circuit, activated by unpredictable notifications, follows the principle of intermittent reinforcement, already well known from the studies of Schultz (1998).

As with Romero’s zombie, behavior is no longer oriented toward an end, but toward compulsive repetition. It is no longer a matter of nourishment, but of continuous stimulation.

Digital Dementia and the Impoverishment of Thought

The expression “digital dementia,” though controversial, represents a significant theoretical provocation. It does not indicate a clinical pathology, but a possible impoverishment in the quality of thought.

It is not simply a matter of forgetting information, but of progressively losing the capacity to orient oneself, evaluate critically, and construct meaning. The central question then becomes which cognitive functions are being exercised and which, instead, are being progressively deactivated.

A 2025 study found a correlation between smartphone addiction, increased perceived stress, and reduced cognitive performance, confirming the role of attentional fragmentation and cognitive overload.

Artificial Intelligence and Symbolic Production

The emergence of generative AI introduces a qualitatively new element. We no longer merely consume content, but interact with systems that produce it. Every interaction generates data, every datum feeds models, and the models produce new content designed to capture attention.

Cognitive delegation no longer concerns only instrumental functions, but extends to symbolic production itself.

The reflections of Andrea Colamedici challenge the idea that interaction with AI is merely an anthropomorphic projection. Unlike a cloud in which we see a face, a generative system responds, reshapes discourse, and introduces unexpected elements.

The question therefore becomes not whether AI thinks, but what happens to our thought in dialogue with it. If dialogue becomes passive consumption of ready-made answers, the risk is the progressive atrophy of the capacity to question, construct, and understand.

The Immobile Horde: A New Anthropological Condition

Within the contemporary digital ecosystem, the horde takes on an unprecedented form. It is no longer only individuals scrolling endlessly, but also content regenerating itself without direct experience.

Romero’s zombie was unsettling because it was a body in motion without consciousness. The digital human being risks becoming conscious without depth, present without attention.

Spitzer’s reflection on disturbed sleep and altered circadian rhythms suggests a further element: a condition of permanent wakefulness, in which the subject never fully disconnects.

It is no longer the return to the shopping mall that defines the metaphor, but the incessant return to the flow.

Conclusions

The question is not whether we will become “zombies,” but whether we will continue to exercise the functions that define the human being as a thinking animal.

The data society does not necessarily produce alienation, but it does require awareness. Technology is not in itself the problem; it becomes one when it systematically replaces the exercise of thought.

In the absence of such exercise, the horde will not move toward new symbolic places.

It will remain still.

Scrolling.