Autoreference

Autoreference, a term that is not widely used but very present, also thanks to digital tools. It means doing something not because it is useful or popular, but just to improve one’s visibility. This way, the curriculum is consolidated, and from nobody one can become somebody. The poet Montale said in an interview that it is better to be illiterate but know how to do something than to be intellectuals and know how to do nothing. Certainly an extreme and provocative statement, but prophetic.

The digital era and the new tools that are emerging, such as artificial intelligence, allow us today to work from home and manage multinationals from distant locations, without ever meeting, organizing meetings and events remotely, which, if well orchestrated, can also have a large participation.

It only takes a few seconds for the actors in this process to gain a certain credibility. They are evaluated by the minutes they manage to be attractive, regardless of what they say or do. It is enough for people to connect. This is how one becomes an opinion leader and can aspire to enter the prestigious media, political, economic circles, etc. Many young people use this methodology of self-referentiality, inventing a job and feeling occupied. But the work produces nothing and does not even bring in earnings. It is just a pretext for not socializing, especially when social phobia is a pathological issue.

The autonomy claimed or sought is merely an avoidance of the troubling pathological meaning. The induction to self-referentiality is the great illusion and the great sin of modernity. One escapes judgment and criticism, and remains trapped in an inconsistent, arid, meaningless virtual reality. Today, having entered this existential drift, the only therapy lies in digital silence. Returning to hand-delivered mail, to writing with pen and ink, to developing photographs, and to theater.