Luca M. Possati is a Tenured Assistant Professor at the University of Twente in the Netherlands, specializing in human-technology interaction. He also holds a senior researcher position with the international research program Ethics of Socially Disruptive Technologies (ESDiT) and serves as a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Active Inference Institute.
Previously, he contributed to the global initiative New Humanism in the Time of Neurosciences and Artificial Intelligence (NHNAI).
Trained as a philosopher, he has held positions as a researcher and lecturer at the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, the University of Porto in Portugal, and the Institut Catholique in France. He has also been an associate researcher with the Fonds Ricoeur and the EHESS (School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences).
His research focuses on the intersection of three main areas: philosophy of technology, philosophy of design, and philosophy of mind. Drawing on design studies, active inference, neuropsychoanalysis, and post-phenomenology, he develops a multidisciplinary approach to understanding how technologies shape—and are shaped by—human cognition, social relations, and forms of agency. His work is particularly concerned with the complex entanglements between individuals, technical systems, and the socio-material environments they inhabit. His teaching in ethics of technology extends this research into the classroom, where he guides students in critically examining the moral, political, and societal implications of contemporary and emerging technologies.
He has published numerous papers and books on phenomenology, and history of contemporary philosophy. He is the author of Design for Entropy. Active Inference and Technology (MIT Press, 2026) and The Algorithmic Unconscious. How Psychoanalysis Helps in Understanding AI (Routledge, 2021).
“Possati’s Design for Entropy is a timely and deep addition to the growing literature on the free energy principle. This landmark contribution is emblematic of the field’s recent evolution, and exemplifies the key pivot from using the free energy principle as an explanatory lens to wielding it as generative design principle. A delightful and informative read.” (Maxwell J. D. Ramstead, Cofounder, Noumenal Labs; Honorary Research Fellow, University College London)
“Interdisciplinary collaboration—combining psychoanalysis with data science—could lead to groundbreaking advancements in understanding what Luca M. Possati calls the algorithmic unconscious. Such efforts may redefine how society interacts with technology, fostering trust and accountability while addressing systemic inequities amplified by biased algorithms. By incorporating an understanding of projective identification into AI design processes, developers could better anticipate and mitigate the unintended negative consequences of their work.” (Karyne E. Messina, PhD)
You can view his updated CV here.
This book develops an original theoretical framework for understanding human-technology relations. The author’s approach, which he calls technoanalysis, analyzes artificial intelligence based on Freudian psychoanalysis, biosemiotics, and Latour’s actor-network theory.
How can we communicate with AI to determine shared values and objectives? And what, ultimately, do we want from machines? These are crucial questions in our world, where the influence of AI-based technologies is rapidly growing. Unconscious dynamics influence AI and digital technology and understanding them is essential to better controlling AI systems. This book’s unique methodology— which combines psychoanalysis, biosemiotics, and actor-network theory—reveals a radical reformulation of the problem of the human mind. Technoanalysis views the mind as a hybrid network of humans and nonhuman actants in constant interaction with one another. The author argues that human unconscious dynamics influence and shape technology, just as technology influences and shapes human unconscious dynamics. He proceeds to show how this conception of the relationship between the unconscious and technology can be applied to social robotics and AI.
Unconscious Networks will appeal to scholars and advanced students interested in philosophy of technology, philosophy of artificial intelligence, psychoanalysis, and science and technology studies.
