Cognitonics 2025

6. – 7. oktober 2025 l 6 – 7 October 2025 Ljubljana, Slovenia IS 2025 Kognitonika Cognitonics Urednika l Editors: Vladimir A. Fomichov, Olga S. Fomichova INFORMACIJSKA DRUZBA INFORMATION SOCIETY Zbornik 28. mednarodne multikonference Zvezek M Proceedings of the 28th International Multiconference Volume M ˇ Zbornik 28. mednarodne multikonference INFORMACIJSKA DRUŽBA – IS 2025 Zvezek M Proceedings of the 28th International Multiconference INFORMATION SOCIETY – IS 2025 Volume M Kognitonika Cognitonics Urednika / Editors Vladimir A. Fomichov, Olga S. Fomichova http://is.ijs.si 6.–7. oktober 2025 / 6–7 October 2025 Ljubljana, Slovenia Urednika: Vladimir A. Fomichov Department of Systems Modeling and Design Automation, Moscow Avoation Institute (National Research University), Moscow Olga S. Fomichova Centre of Social Competences and Media Communications "Dialogue of Sciences”, Moscow Založnik: Institut »Jožef Stefan«, Ljubljana Priprava zbornika: Mitja Lasič, Vesna Lasič, Lana Zemljak Oblikovanje naslovnice: Vesna Lasič, uporabljena slika iz Pixabay Dostop do e-publikacije: http://library.ijs.si/Stacks/Proceedings/InformationSociety Ljubljana, oktober 2025 Informacijska družba ISSN 2630-371X DOI: https://doi.org/10.70314/is.2025.cognitonics Kataložni zapis o publikaciji (CIP) pripravili v Narodni in univerzitetni knjižnici v Ljubljani COBISS.SI-ID 255592707 ISBN 978-961-264-330-0 (PDF) PREDGOVOR MULTIKONFERENCI INFORMACIJSKA DRUŽBA 2025 28. mednarodna multikonferenca Informacijska družba se odvija v času izjemne rasti umetne inteligence, njenih aplikacij in vplivov na človeštvo. Vsako leto vstopamo v novo dobo, v kateri generativna umetna inteligenca ter drugi inovativni pristopi oblikujejo poti k superinteligenci in singularnosti, ki bosta krojili prihodnost človeške civilizacije. Naša konferenca je tako hkrati tradicionalna znanstvena in akademsko odprta, pa tudi inkubator novih, pogumnih idej in pogledov. Letošnja konferenca poleg umetne inteligence vključuje tudi razprave o perečih temah današnjega časa: ohranjanje okolja, demografski izzivi, zdravstvo in preobrazba družbenih struktur. Razvoj UI ponuja rešitve za številne sodobne izzive, kar poudarja pomen sodelovanja med raziskovalci, strokovnjaki in odločevalci pri oblikovanju trajnostnih strategij. Zavedamo se, da živimo v obdobju velikih sprememb, kjer je ključno, da z inovativnimi pristopi in poglobljenim znanjem ustvarimo informacijsko družbo, ki bo varna, vključujoča in trajnostna. V okviru multikonference smo letos združili dvanajst vsebinsko raznolikih srečanj, ki odražajo širino in globino informacijskih ved: od umetne inteligence v zdravstvu, demografskih in družinskih analiz, digitalne preobrazbe zdravstvene nege ter digitalne vključenosti v informacijski družbi, do raziskav na področju kognitivne znanosti, zdrave dolgoživosti ter vzgoje in izobraževanja v informacijski družbi. Pridružujejo se konference o legendah računalništva in informatike, prenosu tehnologij, mitih in resnicah o varovanju okolja, odkrivanju znanja in podatkovnih skladiščih ter seveda Slovenska konferenca o umetni inteligenci. Poleg referatov bodo okrogle mize in delavnice omogočile poglobljeno izmenjavo mnenj, ki bo pomembno prispevala k oblikovanju prihodnje informacijske družbe. »Legende računalništva in informatike« predstavljajo domači »Hall of Fame« za izjemne posameznike s tega področja. Še naprej bomo spodbujali raziskovanje in razvoj, odličnost in sodelovanje; razširjeni referati bodo objavljeni v reviji Informatica, s podporo dolgoletne tradicije in v sodelovanju z akademskimi institucijami ter strokovnimi združenji, kot so ACM Slovenija, SLAIS, Slovensko društvo Informatika in Inženirska akademija Slovenije. Vsako leto izberemo najbolj izstopajoče dosežke. Letos je nagrado Michie-Turing za izjemen življenjski prispevek k razvoju in promociji informacijske družbe prejel Niko Schlamberger, priznanje za raziskovalni dosežek leta pa Tome Eftimov. »Informacijsko limono« za najmanj primerno informacijsko tematiko je prejela odsotnost obveznega pouka računalništva v osnovnih šolah. »Informacijsko jagodo« za najboljši sistem ali storitev v letih 2024/2025 pa so prejeli Marko Robnik Šikonja, Domen Vreš in Simon Krek s skupino za slovenski veliki jezikovni model GAMS. Iskrene čestitke vsem nagrajencem! Naša vizija ostaja jasna: prepoznati, izkoristiti in oblikovati priložnosti, ki jih prinaša digitalna preobrazba, ter ustvariti informacijsko družbo, ki koristi vsem njenim članom. Vsem sodelujočim se zahvaljujemo za njihov prispevek — veseli nas, da bomo skupaj oblikovali prihodnje dosežke, ki jih bo soustvarjala ta konferenca. Mojca Ciglarič, predsednica programskega odbora Matjaž Gams, predsednik organizacijskega odbora i FOREWORD TO THE MULTICONFERENCE INFORMATION SOCIETY 2025 The 28th International Multiconference on the Information Society takes place at a time of remarkable growth in artificial intelligence, its applications, and its impact on humanity. Each year we enter a new era in which generative AI and other innovative approaches shape the path toward superintelligence and singularity — phenomena that will shape the future of human civilization. The conference is both a traditional scientific forum and an academically open incubator for new, bold ideas and perspectives. In addition to artificial intelligence, this year’s conference addresses other pressing issues of our time: environmental preservation, demographic challenges, healthcare, and the transformation of social structures. The rapid development of AI offers potential solutions to many of today’s challenges and highlights the importance of collaboration among researchers, experts, and policymakers in designing sustainable strategies. We are acutely aware that we live in an era of profound change, where innovative approaches and deep knowledge are essential to creating an information society that is safe, inclusive, and sustainable. This year’s multiconference brings together twelve thematically diverse meetings reflecting the breadth and depth of the information sciences: from artificial intelligence in healthcare, demographic and family studies, and the digital transformation of nursing and digital inclusion, to research in cognitive science, healthy longevity, and education in the information society. Additional conferences include Legends of Computing and Informatics, Technology Transfer, Myths and Truths of Environmental Protection, Knowledge Discovery and Data Warehouses, and, of course, the Slovenian Conference on Artificial Intelligence. Alongside scientific papers, round tables and workshops will provide opportunities for in-depth exchanges of views, making an important contribution to shaping the future information society. Legends of Computing and Informatics serves as a national »Hall of Fame« honoring outstanding individuals in the field. We will continue to promote research and development, excellence, and collaboration. Extended papers will be published in the journal Informatica, supported by a long-standing tradition and in cooperation with academic institutions and professional associations such as ACM Slovenia, SLAIS, the Slovenian Society Informatika, and the Slovenian Academy of Engineering. Each year we recognize the most distinguished achievements. In 2025, the Michie-Turing Award for lifetime contribution to the development and promotion of the information society was awarded to Niko Schlamberger, while the Award for Research Achievement of the Year went to Tome Eftimov. The »Information Lemon« for the least appropriate information-related topic was awarded to the absence of compulsory computer science education in primary schools. The »Information Strawberry« for the best system or service in 2024/2025 was awarded to Marko Robnik Šikonja, Domen Vreš and Simon Krek together with their team, for developing the Slovenian large language model GAMS. We extend our warmest congratulations to all awardees. Our vision remains clear: to identify, seize, and shape the opportunities offered by digital transformation, and to create an information society that benefits all its members. We sincerely thank all participants for their contributions and look forward to jointly shaping the future achievements that this conference will help bring about. Mojca Ciglarič, Chair of the Program Committee Matjaž Gams, Chair of the Organizing Committee ii KONFERENČNI ODBORI CONFERENCE COMMITTEES International Programme Committee Organizing Committee Vladimir Bajic, South Africa Heiner Benking, Germany Se Woo Cheon, South Korea Howie Firth, UK Olga Fomichova, Russia Vladimir Fomichov, Russia Vesna Hljuz Dobric, Croatia Alfred Inselberg, Israel Jay Liebowitz, USA Huan Liu, Singapore Henz Martin, Germany Marcin Paprzycki, USA Claude Sammut, Australia Jiri Wiedermann, Czech Republic Xindong Wu, USA Yiming Ye, USA Ning Zhong, USA Wray Buntine, Australia Bezalel Gavish, USA Gal A. Kaminka, Israel Mike Bain, Australia Michela Milano, Italy Derong Liu, Chicago, USA Toby Walsh, Australia Sergio Campos-Cordobes, Spain Shabnam Farahmand, Finland Sergio Crovella, Italy Matjaž Gams, chair Mitja Luštrek Lana Zemljak Vesna Koricki Mitja Lasič Blaž Mahnič Programme Committee Mojca Ciglarič, chair Bojan Orel Franc Solina Viljan Mahnič Cene Bavec Tomaž Kalin Jozsef Györkös Tadej Bajd Jaroslav Berce Mojca Bernik Marko Bohanec Ivan Bratko Andrej Brodnik Dušan Caf Saša Divjak Tomaž Erjavec Bogdan Filipič Andrej Gams Matjaž Gams Mitja Luštrek Marko Grobelnik Nikola Guid Marjan Heričko Borka Jerman Blažič Džonova Gorazd Kandus Urban Kordeš Marjan Krisper Andrej Kuščer Jadran Lenarčič Borut Likar Janez Malačič Olga Markič Dunja Mladenič Franc Novak Vladislav Rajkovič Grega Repovš Ivan Rozman Niko Schlamberger Gašper Slapničar Stanko Strmčnik Jurij Šilc Jurij Tasič Denis Trček Andrej Ule Boštjan Vilfan Baldomir Zajc Blaž Zupan Boris Žemva Leon Žlajpah Niko Zimic Rok Piltaver Toma Strle Tine Kolenik Franci Pivec Uroš Rajkovič Borut Batagelj Tomaž Ogrin Aleš Ude Bojan Blažica Matjaž Kljun Robert Blatnik Erik Dovgan Špela Stres Anton Gradišek iii iv KAZALO / TABLE OF CONTENTS Kognitonika / Cognitonics ............................................................................................................................ 1 PREDGOVOR / FOREWORD ............................................................................................................................... 3 PROGRAMSKI ODBORI / PROGRAMME COMMITTEES ............................................................................... 5 Learn from Corona Pandemic 2020 to Update Mentality with Artistic Narratives for Face Changing Environmental Conditions / Schinzel Hiltrud ................................................................................................... 7 New Approaches to Ecosystem Revival in Today’s World / Micarelli Rita, Pizziolo Giorgio............................ 12 Human Ecology Aspects of Ecosystem Revival in Today’s World / Pizziolo Giorgio, Micarelli Rita .............. 16 The Objectives, Structure, and Experience of an Online Course “Emotional-Imaginative Personality Development” / Fomichova Olga S., Fomichov Vladimir A. ......................................................................... 21 Understanding the Reality: Existential News Reading in the Algorithmic World / Kim Joonho ........................ 27 Cognitonics and Artificial Intelligence in Education: New Possibilities and New Challenges / Dagdileli Ioanna .......................................................................................................................................................................... 31 A Cognitonics Approach to Emotional AI Companions Within the Framework of European Law (AI Act) / Roa-Seïler Néna ............................................................................................................................................... 35 Interdisciplinary Aspects and Cognitonics International Influence During Two Decades of Development / Fomichov Vladimir A., Fomichova Olga S. .................................................................................................... 40 The Impact of AI Tools on Students’ Cognitive Processes in Practical Software Development / Liverić Dijana .......................................................................................................................................................................... 47 Language Games for Living Alongside Institutional Artificial Persons which Employ Artificial Intelligence / Kane Thomas B. ............................................................................................................................................... 52 Indeks avtorjev / Author index ................................................................................................................... 57 v 6 Learn from Corona Pandemic 2020 to Update Mentality with Artistic Narratives for Face Changing Environmental Conditions Hiltrud Schinzel Retired Restorer, Art Historian and Artist Düsseldorf, Germany, Europe. [email protected] Abstract Although it showed during pandemic that artworks communicate consolation that help human minds during straining circumstances, the opportunity to learn from this apart from some exceptions1 has not effectively been taken into consideration even by sciences. Artistic narratives can be very helpful for learn, reflect, and communicate stimuli. If an "empathic esthetics" is recognized, they can show paths for problem solving. Photos picked out of visual stories will document an individual attempt to demonstrate examples of both: narrative artwork used as metaphor and performance artwork. Discrepancies and possible effects by combining are described. Some difficulties for communicating understanding and individual findings are explained. Keywords Corona Pandemic, artistic narrate, visual story, esthetic empathy, habitual behavior of living beings, proceeding metaphors 1 Introduction Corona Pandemic had serious effects globally. Ás regards financial data, one noted that the countable monetary effects of this pandemic were smaller than those of the financial crisis 20082. During the years 2020 - 2021, many scholars from various countries studied the influence of the corona virus pandemic on the cognitive-emotional sphere of children and adolescents, on the development of their negative attitude to the world. In particular, the papers [1], [2] explicate, first of all, such negative phenomena as high rates of anxiety, depression, stress. The authors of [1] underline the significance of helping children and adolescents to deal with mental health burden of the pandemic. As far as the psychic effects are concerned, attempts to analyze cannot be complete. This is so, because individual reactions to the unforeseeable and unexpected only become recognizable in the event of a disaster. This also applies to the person(s) affected by a disaster. Noticeable during and after pandemic were: (1) immediate responses to danger guided by reason and quick reaction by science, (2) paradoxical effects of denial that endangered communities, (3) artistic reactions aimed at heal by communicating during dangers and isolation according to the guideline: consoling 1 like Cognitonics 2 https://www.zvei.org/themen/globale-kosten-der-corona-pandemie oneself by consoling others. Esthetic empathy in this context is both: a topic for studies in sciences as well as a reason for artistic research and artistic output in artworks. As a way out, several scholars came to the conclusion that it is necessary to elaborate special emotional and creative props for children and adolescents in the situation when they are bereft of off-line group activities, such as round table discussions, sport events and creative contests, parties, balls, museums, and round table discussions. One of the first original props of the kind called the Method of Cognitive Painting was suggested by O.S. Fomichova and V.A. Fomichov in the Proceedings of the Seventh International Conference on Cognitonics [3]. The essence of this method is as follows: several slots are constructed within the frame of the known poems in order to make children fill the slots, occupy all the space in these cognitive slots with descriptions and metaphors based on their own way of viewing the given entity or subject under discussion. The method develops the ability to create a positive cognitiveemotional space for young children and adolescents (without using virtual reality), using thought-provoking cognitive activity leading to strong emotions and, as a result, leaving a semantic trace and evoking overwhelming fruitful spiritual and intellectual life for each personality and for community in general [3]. A study described below continues the line of [4] and belongs to the same direction of creating emotional and creative props for helping children, adolescents, and adults to overcome a negative moral state caused by corona virus pandemic. The suggested prop was realized with the help of bright pictures. 2 Method Due to its difficult documentation, only few artistic reaction is noticed by analysis and the like. Nevertheless, in Germany Corona led to a rise of consciousness of the positive influence of art and esthetics in critical situations. Such recognizing the importance of arts by the loss of the accessibility of artworks might have been highest during pandemic since known for WWII3. 3 Disregarding ecologic consequences Culture Tourism quickly reacted to this global longing 7 Information Society 2025, 6–10 October 2025, Ljubljana, Slovenia F. Surname et al. Thus, it might be a legitime way to draw conclusions from own experience if methodical background and statistical proof are insufficient, difficult to access or even lacking. At Corona time I made photo-stories that I circulated to keep in touch as well as for share useful observations while real contact was a problem. In the following I will show images selected from visual stories. 3 Examples from Observation 1. Visual story Tulips, spring 2020, concerns plants behavior Figure 1: Tulips, Sheltered Figure 2.:Tulips, Windshaken Figure 3: Tulips, Embedded face stormy weather Most recipients understood the story’s aim to inform as well as console. Many responded more or less hopeful, confirming verbally the visual observations and their conclusions. Yet only one person responded by artistic medium. 4 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiny_Tim_(musician) 5 You can hear this with printed text https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_eQQKVKjifQ It was an artist and scientist who reminded of a song from the 1960ties he did not know whether I was familiar : Tiny Tim’s4 Tiptoe Through the Tulips: Tiptoe through the window By the window, that is where I'll be Come tiptoe through the tulips with me Oh, tiptoe from the garden By the garden of the willow tree And tiptoe through the tulips with me5 The onomatopoeic word tiptoe brought lightness into an environment globally made heavy by fears. For me this wording, the music and the rhythm guided into a fairy-tale atmosphere just as the dancing students YouTube-video Moskow 2020 did6. This imagined escape on tiptoe through the window led out of the prison walls of felt danger, a consciousness that had initiated for many paralyzed waiting for danger's end. By reliving fiction, both positive sensual esthetic and joyful imagine could open up. In other words, thinking ahead was stimulated by keep actors – here plant and reflecting human – yet change medium. The abstract metaphor fixed by photo was complemented by an artist’s multimedia response using a corresponding music performance. Recognizing the possibility to move on derived from listening to a work of art. Art perception helped to distance from the factual environment - depicted in my photographs - in order to restore in mind the potential of other options, based however on past experience easy to connect. This distancing and at the same time stimulating by familiar music performance – comparable in lightness of humor and elegance of affection to the Spring BallWaltz 2020 - for me personally was more helpful than any other response. No matter how many well-intentioned and informative words were exchanged and received, only the gift of remind a joyful work of art inspired to mentally move on. In this way, works of art, regardless of medium and time of creation, can stimulate further thought and action instead of remaining trapped in states such as fear and sadness, habit and aggression. On the other hand, artworks are also able to irritate and in such way trigger reflect critically. Then they are even able to interrupt states of a too easy and superficial living in so-called wellness/happiness by open recipients’ minds for a more senseful life. 2. Visual story Freedom and the heron, summer 2020 concerns animal behavior 6 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHg-SfeQVyY 8 Insert Your Title Here Information Society 2025, 6–10 October 2025, Ljubljana, Slovenia Figure 4 : Freedom…., Goldfish Figure 5: Freedom…, Move forward Figure 6: Freedom…, Move backward Figure 7: Freedom…, Dependance Cage (children's swing) This photo-story documents the behavior of a heron at a pond and was assamblaged with photos of protective measures concerning a children’s playground. Both photo sequences were made at the same time in the same park, later than the Tulip story, but still in the first half of 2020: As in a fable, the combined documentaries link the behavior of animals with that of humans. I remember during documenting the heron's behavior the intense feeling that the repetition of its goals (goldfish understood as a metaphor) and its gait (forward backward) was a prison for creativity. Here, the humor of the visually documented, self-made human “double cages” in the playground was recognized and shared by a performance artist, artists who are particularly aware of time in flux through own professional actions. I can't re-find other reactions to this story in my notes, there might have been few. Perhaps the hint: “Repetition can be a cage” was not accessible or too difficult to follow when comparing mixed documentary photos connected to pandemic context by visual metaphor only. These two visual stories are selected examples of 2020 observations. All in all, the unusual experiences of this time motivated me to design a more complex story in media that are less structured than traditional photo-documentation. Therefore, they offer more possibilities for continuing by adapt and move on. 4 Example of Learning by Recycling Artworks For the 3rd visual story, I re-used own artworks from the past by re-shaping them medially. The adaptive recycling method was chosen out of the urge to better understand the framework conditions of living beings by using the well-known as variable. The aim was to understand by update and supplement what lies behind what people are used to appreciate as so-called “normality”. It seemed important to recognize why so many esteem habitual behavior as self-evident necessity, obligation and role model despite factual environmental changes 1. Visual story Where do we come from, what are we, where are we going, December 2020 concerns human behavior Figure 8: Where …untitled 9 Information Society 2025, 6–10 October 2025, Ljubljana, Slovenia F. Surname et al. Figure 9: Where…untitled Figure 10: Where…untitled Figure 11: Where…untitled My own awareness of differences in perception arose already in childhood and was affirmed by restoration profession. During Corona time it was re-triggered by a collaboration in which my task was to express an abstract theory visually by drawings. It was a long road to mutual understanding, but in the end a first approach was triggered by a tool, a cogwheel, which I had once drawn in a story for my nephew7. Figure 12: Cogwheel, Hierarchy The visual story Where do we come from... concerns human characteristics sketched in own artworks, whose minimized printed copies I cut out and resettled into collage and mobiles. I could not find in my notes a reaction to this story. The end of the story is of course not fixed, it is a “proceeding metaphor”, a metaphor in adaptive progress so to say. Only recently I picked out three images for a picture story aimed at 7 1984 console bereaved family members and myself because of losing a beloved person to death. In this topical recycling a frog hops out of a box and explains three images to the mourners. Figure 13: Where…, I quote the frog: These are humans, says the frog. They are connected to all other living beings. Figure 14: Where…, Everyone has to hop, slide and quack their way through the ups and downs of life. Figure 15: Where…, I am (the late person's) ambassador and his message is: I LIKE TO BE HAPPY! 5 Conclusion The longer pandemic blocked communication, the more lament and deny reality rose their lazy heads during and after lockdowns Many filled the waiting time of their hope for return of so-called “normality” with own interests. Nevertheless, this time could have been used to reflect and restructure endangered naturesystems for the benefit of all life on earth. As far as I know, the necessity to face the challenges of climate change was wellknown since the 1970s. Still the strain of isolation was opposed only by a few people in my acquaintance - mainly artists - by counter-acting and/or used for communicating in view of predictable future challenges. More habitual were loudly lamenting and scapegoating. 10 Insert Your Title Here Information Society 2025, 6–10 October 2025, Ljubljana, Slovenia Thus, the immense burden of responsibility during and after lockdowns up till now was left on the shoulders of traditional indispensable “care professions”. Although efforts are being made, there is still a global lack of lessons learned across all care systems. If you link the word careful to care, however, the range of care systems is enormous, concerning not only culture and health but also economy, ecology, etc. Maybe the common human habit of being fixed in waiting and/or in repeating is related to human focus and rely on self-made technique for problem-solving. Today human dependence on self-invented technique is evident and human fears can be explained by dangers like those of pandemic. Our innate instincts, however, cannot face the speed our self-made tools have obtained. As their invention is related to both changing and unchanging human character traits, culture and civilization cannot suppress archaic behavior. Despite technical developments, any ethical crossroad - if recognized - still demands a "Herculean" decision. Such condition the arts can and always try to express. Figure 16: Cogwheel, Hilfe/Help It seems self-evident that artistic narrative can be more useful than abstraction for reconciling discrepancies. A story can be interpreted depending on the present state and environment. It is flexible and consciously or unconsciously adapted. It can also be varied by fragmentation and/or additions in a kind of patchwork process. However, one must recognize and accept the past as a factor shaping the future, as is common in the will to restore. Only with caring intention does any artistic narrative structure help to imagine and even test the balance between reality and possibility. Acknowledgments I thank Dr. Vladimir Fomichov and Dr. Olga Fomichova for the opportunity to share these thoughts in the context of Cognitonics and for their precious help. References [1] D. Marques de Miranda, B. da Silva Athanasio, A. C. Sena Oliveira, A. C. Simoes-e-Silva, “How is COVID-19 pandemic impacting mental health of children and adolescents?”, International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction. 2020 Dec; 51: 101845. Published online 2020 Sep 10. doi: 10.1016/j.ijdrr.2020.101845 [2] U. Ravens-Sieberer, A. Kaman, M. Erhart, J. Devine, R. Schlack and C. Otto, “Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on quality of life and mental health in children and adolescents in Germany”. European Children and Adolescents Psychiatry. 2021 Jan 25:111. doi: 10.1007/s00787-021-01726-5. Online ahead of print. [3] O. S. Fomichova and V. A. Fomichov, “The Method of Cognitive Painting as an Effective Tool for Constructing a Positive Cognitive-Emotional Space for Children and Adolescents under Conditions of the COVID-19 Pandemic”, in Zbornik 25. mednarodne multikonference INFORMACIJSKA DRUZBA - IS 2022. Zvezek D. Proceedings of the 25th International Multiconference INFORMATION SOCIETY - IS 2022, Volume D. Kognitonika/Cognitonics. Uredila/Edited by Vladimir A. Fomichov, Olga S. Fomichova. 10. oktober 2022/ 10 October 2022, Ljubljana, Slovenia. Ljubljana : Jozef Stefan Institute, 2022, pp. 21-25. [4] H. Schinzel, 2021. Touching Vision 2.023. BoD, Germany. 11 New Approaches to Ecosystem Revival in Today’s World Abstract In addressing the challenges and prospects of knowledge and social learning in today’s digital age, this work aims at exploring the potential and opportunities of various experiential pathways developed through Action Research Processes conducted within diverse living environments across the contemporary world. Our initiatives have been shaped by the ecological characteristics and dimensions of these environments, viewed as integral and authentic components of the Ecosystems of Nature and Mind that constitute the Biosphere. These systems—conceptualized as Human/Society/Environment Ternary Eco-Systems and historically framed within the field of Human Ecology (UNESCO, 1960s)—are currently undergoing an epochal crisis in light of the growing dominance of the Digital World. This crisis could potentially lead to the complete subordination of the Natural World to Digital Systems. However, it also presents an opportunity to cultivate new Ecosystemic dynamics—selfgenerated and self-regulated—within Human/Society/Environment Systems, offering a transformative process in which we can all engaged. Keywords Living environment, digital world, social knowledge, action writing, action research, generative artificial intelligence, second order cybernetics 1 Introduction As it is widely recognized, the contemporary Living World— subject to the increasingly rapid transformations of both its natural and mental environments—is being progressively shaped by the pervasive influence of the Digital World. This influence risks severing the connection with the vital structure of the Biosphere from which it originated, paving the way for a fullscale technological and digital artificialization that could threaten its autopoietic nature. Simultaneously, however, the digital realm is producing new approaches to understanding the phenomena of life, along with scientific and technological tools capable of engaging with these processes in an interactive and dialogical fashion. These developments have the potential to align with the autopoietic dynamics that give rise to all forms of Life and Thought, manifesting as G. Bateson taught us in continuous interplay from Nature to Mind [1], from molecules to Human Societies—constituting what we refer to as Human Ecology. The future remains open, and our collective engagement is essential. In this article, we aim to demonstrate how Human Ecology, when adopted as both the foundation and conceptual framework of our research, reveals significant strategic value in the face of contemporary crises. We pursue this through non-linear, emergent pathways— within a game whose rules evolve in the process of Play, and are constantly subject to revision. This Play is triggered by an emotional and affective engagement with the encountered contexts, facilitating ever-novel transformations of living, learning, and knowledge environments. A brief review of recent digital innovations—in terms of both tools and methodological approaches—will serve to frame possible pathways for evolutionary interaction between the Living World and Digital environments. In particular, we refer to the enlightening reflections found in the article “Cybernetics of Action Writing [2] as a conceptual reference point for these emerging perspectives. This article and the article [3] describe our project aimed at ecosystem revival in today's world. The section 2 of the present article sets forth epistemological foundations of our project. It presents a concise general epistemological framework within which the ecosystems of the Biosphere are structured and sustained over time. The section 3 of the present paper relates to the new digital revolution. The concept of Action Writing, within Second-Order Cybernetics, reveals how Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) can interact with the relational dynamics of living systems to support knowledge, creativity, and reflexivity—mirroring natural processes and offering new tools for Human Ecology. The first part of the article [3] outlines human ecology practices in Italy and Europe (1990s–2020s) developed through context-specific Action Research approaches that reconnected local environments—urban, rural, and natural—to the dynamic principles of the Biosphere. The second part of [3] discusses an ongoing Action Research initiative for the ecological renewal of the Florence–Prato–Pistoia metropolitan area, where Human Ecology and advanced digital technologies could participate in the co-evolution of an emerging intermunicipal ecosystems. We examine several concrete cases previously implemented, as well as the evolving case of the Metropolitan Ecosystem, which remains open to new horizons of Participatory Solidarity-Based Action Research. Rita Micarelli IIAS International Institute for Advanced Studies in System Research and Cybernetics GRASPthefuture-Florence-Italy [email protected] Giorgio Pizziolo IIAS International Institute for Advanced Studies in System Research and Cybernetics GRASPthefuture-Florence-Italy pizziolog[email protected]m 12 Information Society 2025, 6–10 October 2025, Ljubljana, Slovenia Rita Micarelli and Giorgio Pizziolo. 2 Our Epistemological Foundations A concise epistemological framework can help clarify the motivations that have inspired our activities and underpin all the Ecosystemic Research Actions through which we emerge and take breath. The Biosphere constitutes our living world—the Womb Ecosystem”—from which all life dynamics on our planet originate. It is itself immersed in, sustained by, and cradled within the living—yet still largely unknown—universe to which we belong. This living world—the Biosphere—is now recognized as a Ternary Ecosystem composed of Human Beings/Society/Environment, within which the spontaneous dynamics and interactions characteristic of its various components have developed and evolved. Based on what we currently know—and continue to discover—about the nature of our world and its becoming, it is through these prerogatives—inherent in every disordered and complex system—that the Biosphere gives rise to ever more intricate and unpredictable Relationships and Configurations. These are, in turn, influenced by other disordered and complex systems that form part of our planetary ecosystem. This interplay generates an increasingly intricate balance of stationary states and evolutionary dynamics, which characterize and sustain every dimension and constituent of such systems and the ecosystems that emerge from them. 2.1 Ecological, Human and Natural Dynamics in the Womb of our Ecosystems This section explores the interplay between human cognition and natural systems within the Biosphere, emphasizing how the emergence of human consciousness has introduced Mind into Nature—shaping a new Man/Society/Environment (M/S/E) Ecology. While human abstract thought has amplified natural evolutionary dynamics, the dominance of artificial mechanisms—driven by economic and technological logics— now risks compromising the autonomy of living systems. Drawing on insights from philosophy, art, and science, the text underscores the inherent cyclicality and relational complexity of all ecosystems as foundational to their evolutionary and coevolutionary processes. 2.2 Ecosystem as a Cycle of Cycles and a Relation of Relations “The world is everything that happens”1 and it is this totality that cyclically perpetuates itself without ever repeating, generating dynamics and interactions that accompany and sustain systems in their becoming, moving toward ever-new levels of complexity while never altering their original prerogatives. Thus, the diverse entities that constitute the Universe remain immersed in the dark and still-unrevealed matrix that makes up 80% of the known Universe—of galaxies, stars, and the 1 L. Wittgenstein, Tractatus logico philosophicus planetary systems to which they belong, including our own BioEco-sphere. Philosophical and scientific research—particularly in physics—which has long underpinned and inspired our understanding of the world, has led human knowledge through a grand Cycle of Relations of Relations, as expressed in Thought and Artistic Creation.2 Despite persistent threats of oversimplification and intensification, this great cycle has endured for over twenty-five centuries, enabling the world to evolve in the ways and temporalities we witness today. Contemporary physics, in particular, has reconnected with the living world by reintroducing complexity and reconsidering the relational dynamics that link disordered and complex systems within the same evolutionary integrity that characterizes all living systems. In this view, the dynamics of motion, variation, and difference; the cycles, flows, resonances, contrasts, and extremes that underpin our world and shape the countless ecosystems that emerge, organize, or collapse within our living environments—these become fundamental for constructing a new Ecosystemic social knowledge. Within it, the art and philosophy of nature—together with the insights of contemporary physics—can contribute to the emergence of a new reality of Relations, Research, and Action, supported by technologies suited to complexity and economies appropriate to the multiplicity of phenomena shaping the processes of contemporary becoming. As in the past, so too today, technologies and inventions— ranging from the wheel, money, and the triangular sail to steam power and the tools of the digital revolution—have sustained and accelerated the processes of transformation and evolution of human societies in relation to their living environments. Yet they continue to advance like tightrope walkers along a narrow ridge, from which they may slip—destroying, exacerbating, and distorting the delicate balances of ecosystems, even to the point of undermining the very artificial environments that produced them. These same artificial environments—now increasingly resembling a global megalopolis— are becoming densely 2 P.Klee, Das Bildnenrische Denken Figure 1: Drawing on P. Klee’s notion of ‘thinking in images’ (Il pensiero figurante), the world and knowledge are understood as being in constant dynamic and cyclical interplay. 13 NEW APPROACHES TO ECOSYSTEM REVIVAL IN TODAY’S WORLD Information Society 2025, 6–10 October 2025, Ljubljana, Slovenia populated by growing numbers of individuals and citizens, who paradoxically find themselves ever more isolated within these overpopulated urban landscapes. 3.A new revolution in the Digital World As it is well known, the increasingly accelerated advances in digital technologies have progressively influenced the living world. The mechanics of externally controlled digital tools are gradually replacing the autopoietic dynamics intrinsic to all living beings. At the same time, however, they facilitate digital processes of research development and communication. The digital tools widely used thus far—particularly Artificial Intelligence and first-order cybernetics—tend to foster the illusion of enabling social control over the world at every level: from Genetics to Economics, from Healthcare to Research, and even in relation to Human and Environmental Rights. Yet, these tools simultaneously risk subordinating all phenomena of the living world to the logic of money and financialisation. Thus, while on one hand, digital instruments select and simplify the dynamics of Nature and Mind—shaping social behaviours and ecological processes at all levels with a tendency toward control— on the other, their evolving capabilities may allow them to interact constructively with the Processes of the Living World, accompanying their itineraries without dominating them. Among recent scientific contributions, the article “Cybernetics of Action Writing [2] stands out for its development of the notion of Action Writing, highlighting the potential and opportunities for interaction between the Relational Dynamics of autopoietic Living Systems, which express themselves incessantly and cyclically throughout the Biosphere, and the operative capacities of Digital Technological devices. According to the author, such modalities enable the observation and “description-representation” of phenomena pertaining to Living Systems through the lens of Second-Order Cybernetics and Generative Artificial Intelligence in relation to Knowledge production, Creativity, Reflexivity, and transdisciplinary Communication, in ways analogous to natural Processes. The use and governance of such tools, when practiced directly by participants in an Action Research Process, may prove to be of fundamental importance for Human Ecology, as they offer a potential framework for reference and evaluation of processes aimed at the protection and promotion of Ecosystemic Dynamics in every living environment. The approach proposed by this author —which we share—advances the idea that: “Action-Writing encourages a trade-off between effectiveness and efficiency, similar to the optimization logic of Operations Research. Writers must weigh their goals and contextual constraints in determining the degree of iteration, interactivity, and inclusivity. Ultimately, Action-Writing creates a cybernetically enriched Environment where meaning, shared understanding, and/or knowledge co-creation emerge not from sharing isolated reflection, but from the regulated and recursive interplay of minds, media, and methodologies. “This represents both an advancement and an innovation that could prove highly valuable for large-scale Ecosystems, such as, for example, the Ecosystem of the Metropolitan City of Florence.3 3 See second part of the article [3] In our opinion this article remains the most advanced reference for bridging the approach of Human Ecology with Generative Artificial Intelligence -as evidenced in several passages of this texthis work opening new perspectives within the framework of Second Order Cybernetics and Generative Artificial Intelligence (GAI), enabling interaction with the digital world without succumbing to its domination, and allowing it to be regarded as a partner in Action Research Processes that preserve the characteristics and prerogatives of Living Beings The future remains open! Our journey through the world—understood in both its real and contemporary digital dimensions— has revealed new epistemological horizons and evolutionary openings. Within this emergent space, the cybernetics of Action Writing, the Communitarian Knowledge, and Social Learning interact within a common epistemic and Methodological Framework grounded entirely in the dynamics and cyclicality characters of the Living World and its continuously unfolding, unpredictable becoming. While it is true that the world we today inhabit appears to be taking on increasingly destructive traits, potentially threatening its very survival, it is equally true that the dynamics and cycles of Nature and Mind—core components of our Biosphere— continue to generate and regenerate unexpected, self-produced, and self-regulating forms of life and knowledge. These dynamics constitute and reconstitute Ecosystemic realities in which more sustainable and meaningful forms of living are possible. The responsibility of choosing this path remains in our hands. Acknowledgments We want to express our gratitude and appreciation to all our colleagues and friends - the members of IIAS with whom we have shared research and outcomes of our experiments for many 3 New Revolution in the Digital World Figure 2: And now …. Together in becoming towards new horizons (P. Picasso, 1961) 14 Information Society 2025, 6–10 October 2025, Ljubljana, Slovenia Rita Micarelli and Giorgio Pizziolo. years. We want to thank Dr. Vladimir Fomichov and Dr. Olga Fomichova, who started Cognitonics Research through the interdisciplinary and interactive dialogues at the International Conferences on Cognitonics in Ljubljana, developing these topics at an interdisciplinary, scientific and creative high level. And we want to thank again Margherita Pascucci, an Italian free Philosopher who inspired and supported the epistemological elaborations on which our work was structured. References [1] Gregory Bateson, 1980. Mind and Nature. Italian edition, Milano. [2] Nagib Callaos, 2025. Cybernetics of Action Writing, ResearchGate. [3] Giorgio Pizziolo and Rita Micarelli, 2025. Human ecology aspects of ecosystem revival in today’s world. In Informacijska druzba - IS 2025. Proceedings of the 28th International Multiconference - IS 2025, Edited by V. A. Fomichov, O. S. Fomichova. Vol. Kognitonika/Cognitonics. October 6-7, 2025, Ljubljana, Slovenia. Jozef Stefan Institute, Ljubljana. [4] G. Deleuze and F .Guattari, 2004. A Thousand Plateaus.. London, New York. [5] Félix Guattari, 1984. Molecular Revolution: Psychiatry and Politics. Harmondsworth: Penguin. [6] Rita Micarelli and Giorgio Pizziolo, 2003. L’Arte delle Relazioni, Firenze, 2003. [7] Giorgio Parisi, 2023. In a Flight of Starlings: The Wonders of Complex Systems. Penguin Press. [8] Margherita Pascucci, 2009. Causa sui. Saggio sul capitale e virtuale. Brill Academic Pub. [9] Ludwig Wittgenstein, 1921. Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, London. [10] Paul Klee, 1959. Das Bildnerische Denken. Schwabe Verlag, Basel, Berlin. 15 Information Society 2025, 6–10 October 2025, Ljubljana, Slovenia Olga Fomichova. and Vladimir Fomichov - the ability to find the solutions in difficult situations; - citizen feeling. The described online course is underpinned by our technology of emotional-imaginative teaching with the focus on up-bringing (the EIT-technology), it belongs to the constructive core of cognitonics, or the science about the human being in the digital world [6-27]. Course Organization Distant educational interaction is realized by means of e-mail two times per week. Firstly (usually on Monday), a methodical material (called a lecture) is distributed among the parents and children. Simultaneously with methodical materials, the first home assignment for a week is sent via e-mail. The second assignment is usually sent on Thursday of the same week. The adults being responsible for concrete groups of the learners collect the home assignments prepared by the group and submit them via e-mail to the teacher. The asynchronous principle of teaching/learning (APTL) was selected by us for the realization of the considered educational online course. This principle proved to be very effective in the leading western distance educational programs realized in early 2000s. APTL proceeds from the existence of a time distance between communicative acts fulfilled by the lecturer (teacher) and every learner. The very important advantage in our case is that the teacher selects a convenient time for posting teaching/learning materials, comments, and the answers to the questions of the learners. On the other hand, the parents of children (or the grandmothers and grandfathers) choose time when, firstly, they are free from office work, and, secondly, when it is most comfortable for children to learn (in particular, when they are not tired and not overexcited). Our online course received unexpected evidence of its effectiveness as concerns the development of creativity and emotional intelligence of the learners. This evidence is the creation by the learners (due to their initiative) of two video films. The first one represents a distant literature evening with children and adolescents at the age from 8 to 13 years; the participants recited the poems by Alexander Pushkin, William Shakespeare, Rudyard Kipling, Boris Pasternak and others. The second video film represents a Big Spring Ball in the form of dances’ videorecords with a pair of dancers or one dancer. The dancers are the adolescents at the age from 16 to 18 years and the alumni of educational program “Culture, Ecology, and English language”. Over 20 video records are unified by means of the waltz No. 2 from “Jazz Suit” by Dmitry Shostakovich. 2 A new method of forming the cognitive subspace of moral values and social responsibility Our online course suggests the following new objectives for influencing the development of the personality in modern knowledge society. It is necessary to start earlier than it is traditionally done to acquaint children with the very complex system of social agreements. Since this system is based on numerous symbols, the scholars need to pay more attention to developing symbolic information processing skills of young children and teenagers. In addition, it is necessary to early acquaint children with the idea that different people may have considerably different inner world’s pictures (i.e., conceptual systems), and it is very important to take this into account while interacting with people. It is important to explain to young children and teenagers that practically every person has various connections with many other people. That is why a suffer of a classmate, etc., in fact, causes the suffer of many other people: the mother, father, the brothers, sisters, the grandmother, grandfather, etc. The central idea of our approach is as follows. Rather often a child tries to distinguish himself/herself among his/her peers by means of emulating a bad pattern of the adults’ behavior: smoking, aggressiveness, following the formula “Might is right”, etc. This applies not only to the teenagers but also to children at the age of 10 – 11. It is important to underline that the bad patterns of the adults’ behavior (drinking, etc.) most often are the consequence of misfortune, despair. Normally, children have no despair, they simply emulate the adults. As a result of employing the stated method at lessons under the framework of the EIT-technology, the child acquires (by the end of the second year of studies, at the age of 6 – 7 years) the possibility to distinguish himself/herself not by means of a deviant behavior but with the help of mature thoughts and thoughtful behavior. One of the important preconditions of employing our method during the second year of studies is the well developed metaphoric thinking. The scheme of creating this precondition is as follows: Reading and discussing complex texts in English as a foreign language (FL) at the age of 5 –6 → mastering a rich sublanguage of FL for expressing the beauty of nature and the feelings evoked by nature → development of figurative reasoning + development of the awareness of the social role of Natural Language → understanding poetical metaphors → creating metaphors → understanding the symbolic language of painting → development of the ability of decoding the messages conveyed by the masterpieces → realization of the “Thought-Producing Self” (see [6, 7, 10, 12, 13]) and the improvement of the feeling that a person is a link in the long chain of previous and future generations. 3 Formation of a New Level of Ecological Consciousness The rationale for the ideas stated below is that the broad prospects of developing the personality of children and adolescents are not entirely understood, not used by modern education as a whole, but are opened by systematic (starting in early childhood) establishment of a correspondence between the situations observed in nature and everyday situations. Today children throughout the world study nature from the standpoints of botany, biology, geography, chemistry, and physics. Our accumulated experience shows that this approach is too narrow and does not include a complete understanding of nature, of grasping the whole spectrum of knowledge about the 22 The Objectives, Structure, and Experience of an Online Course “Emotional-Imaginative Personality Development” Information Society 2025, 6–10 October 2025, Ljubljana, Slovenia world and about the behavior of a person in the world of people, a philosophy encoded in the phenomena of nature. Outstanding poets, writers, and painters give numerous examples of decoding deep meanings in nature’s phenomena, expressing these deep meanings by means of verbal and visual images comprehensibl e convinced that it is possible and necessary to use the lessons of literature, poetry, and the arts as a possibility of a dialogue between people and nature, while searching for the answers to acute questions during the period of the maturation of one’s personality. Conducting a dialogue of this kind creates cognitive preconditions of forming a principally new level of ecological consciousness when nature becomes a permanent partner able to listen and to give answers. This is the true meaning of the broadly known phrase “It is necessary to be able to read the book of nature.” The most important result of forming this new level of ecological consciousness is the creation of strong inner restrictions concerning the human destruction of nature: one cannot destroy something in one’s consciousness. Analyzing the essays being the fulfilled home assignments (distributed via e-mail), we concluded that the idea of natureoriented behavior was broadly perceived by young children and teenagers as part of their conceptual world’s picture. Example 1 (from Alexandra E.). “Let’s consider the emergence of the leaves on the trees in spring and the shedding of leaves in autumn. I selected this phenomenon, because it is like the situation when people emerge in our life: some time they are close to you and then, in autumn, their interest in you fades, your relations are fading, and such people lose the connection with you, just as the leaves during the shedding. Only those people stay near you, who interlock with the tree and are fading together with it”. Example 2 (from Ilya K.). “A leaf from a tree fell in the water of a river, the river grasped it and carried away. Maybe, it will stop on the beach of the river, but maybe it will take on weight and sink. The same situation can be observed in life. If a person has no own opinion, that person will “flow” across life, achieving nothing. It is necessary to have one’s own opinion.” Taking the above essays into account, we suggest a new fundamental approach to upbringing of young children and adolescents (considering that the upbringing is directed socialization): to systematically establish the parallels between the phenomenon of nature and social agreements, life situations. 4 A new approach to improving out of the box thinking and the ability of multi-facet world's viewing The present paper continues the line of the paper [26] as concerns presenting a new look at little "C" and big "C" creativity. Big "C" creativity (BCC) [28] is regarded in connection with the creative ability of outstanding scientists, musicians, painters, writers, poets [27]. Smart society demands little "C" creativity (LCC). It reveals the smart society's necessity of creative thinking [30] and creative approach to solving the every-day tasks. LCC improves problem solving skill, which is one of most important skills. BCC is defined by two main characteristics. It is regarded as original and highly significant creative activity for big groups of people. Creativity of children (LCC) usually is subjective and is defined by their previous knowledge. The main characteristics of LCC is their imagination [31]. Smart society demands the necessity of supporting and improving LCC in order to create the preconditions for increasing the proportion of the specialists in significant application domains who possess BCC. In order to solve that problem and achieve the significant results in increasing LCC in order to have BCC in future, we have found the way how to combine as early as possible LCC and BCC in the process of realizing the Thought-Producing Self of the child. The first step suggests the understanding by the children of the significance of thought. It helps to return the notion "value of thought" to the world's conceptual picture of the school children. The second step suggests the awareness of the school children of the fact that their ideas, metaphors, way of viewing nature, communicative situations, the pictures, etc. may be highly significant for relatively big groups of people in case of sharing their ideas with the others. The reason is that they have given a sophisticated look at something and have revealed an example of serendipity (the ability to make pleasant and unexpected discoveries entirely by chance). It happens due to their natural ability to see out of the way things in usual things and usual things in out of the way things. It might be thought provoking for grown-up people. Example (one of the examples of nature inspired behaviour). The crown is sitting on the twig. The crown is heavy and big, the twig is thin. But the crown is no nervous. It is not afraid of the fact that the twig may break, because the bird doesn't think about the twig, it trusts its swings (Anne, a seven year girl). Example. Nine year old children are taught the language of painting. Then they are asked to paint with the help of the words (natural language) a portrait of their mother and describe what they have depicted. One of the nine year old boys described his mother, sitting in an arm chair in the garden in spring. He said that she was blond and she had a long plaid. In fact, his mother had short black hair. To the question why he had said that his mother was blond he answered that he had depicted her inner world, the essence of her personality in order to create the right image of hers, because all kind princesses in Russian fairy-tales are fair-haired. The third step is to make children aware of the beauty and wisdom they have discovered, because in most cases they do it without a second thought, intuitively. It just donned upon them. They need encouragement to continue mental and spiritual work on that level. Their efforts and their inspiration should be discussed and appreciated by the community. Example. "To dig out of the ground all its treasures, whether it is the goal of life?" (Angelina, 14 years old). Example. "Do we love the Volga river only because it provides us with fish?" (Marina, 15 years old). Example. "All good deeds are reflected on the palm of the Time" (Mary, 15 years old). Example. "We are not planting the flowers, we are introducing beauty into the world" (Anton, 15 years old). The fourth step is to show the examples of BCC revealing the same idea to make children believe that the value of thought doesn't depend on age and experience, but the age and experience help us to penetrate the very essence of the thought, to comprehend it. 23 Information Society 2025, 6–10 October 2025, Ljubljana, Slovenia Olga Fomichova. and Vladimir Fomichov Example (a fragment from a poem by the world known poet Boris Pasternak). "In everything I seek to grasp the fundamental: The daily choice, the daily task, The sentimental ... And puzzling out the wave of fate, Events observer, To live, feel, love, and meditate And to discover". The awareness of the value of thought, the ability to see many aspects of reality, creativity as a thought provoking process being able to transfigure the world lead to improving out of the box thinking, problem solving skills and reveal nature inspired behavior. 5 Emotional Divergence as the Brocken Pillar of Successful Personal Communication The educational process underpinned by the student-self oriented learning model [8-10, 12] includes the attraction of the students’ attention to one significant aspect of emotional intelligence. The emotions evoked by personal communication might lead to emotional divergence. Let’s consider the meaning of this scientific notion introduced in the present paper. Let’s imagine that a communicative situation is based on common life experience of two communication partners, reveals similar level of emotions experienced by them and, moreover, these emotions are defined by the similar words. However, the principal thing in the considered situation is that similar emotions and similar words are caused by different circumstances. For example, in the story by George MacDonald “The Light Princess” there is a fragment when the princess (who was deprived of her gravity) could feel herself comfortable only in the lake while swimming. She couldn’t fall in the lake from the rock by herself, because she was lack of gravity. She hadn’t had an experience of the kind. But one day the prince caught her up in his arms and sprang with her from the rock. They both were beside themselves with joy. Then there was a dialogue of the kind. “How do you like falling in?” said the prince. “Is that what you call falling in? It seemed to me like being up”, rejoined she. “My feeling was certainly one of elevation too”, the prince conceded. “How do you like falling in?” said the princess. “Beyond everything”, answered he, “for I have fallen in love with the only perfect creature I ever saw. Don’t you like falling in?” said the prince. “It is the most delightful fun I ever had in my life… At all events, as we have fallen in, let us have swim together”. “With all my heart”, responded the prince. The communication partners experienced similar emotions, even they agreed that it was not “falling in” but “going up”, but the cause of that strong emotion was different. The prince was in love with the princess, and the princess was in love with the lake. The both fall in L…This situation should be clear to the students, since it is a complicated one and may cause various difficulties, because touches their Self. The students are asked to give their own examples of emotional misunderstanding. Likely, the most interesting example is given by the world known song “Save your kisses for me” (the British pop group “Brotherhood of man” won the 1976 Eurovision Song Contest with it), its authors are Tony Hiller, Lee Sheriden, Martin Lee: “Though it hurts to go away it's impossible to stay But there's one thing I must say before I go I love you (I love you) you know I'll be thinking of you in most everything I do… Don't you dare me to stay, 'cause you know you've got to save Your kisses for me, save all your kisses for me … even though you're only three?” The audience is sure that the song is about two lovers, but it turned out to be about the father and a three-year-old daughter. This situation proves the importance of controlling one’s emotions in order to listen to the communication partner intently to better understand him/her and not to give way to your emotions, the importance of not letting yourself to be carried away by your emotions. This educational approach explaining the students the importance of considering the emotions will allow them later to avoid the conflicts, misunderstanding, and disappointment. In some cases, it will prevent them from being downhearted. 6 Significance of Higher Personality Development Knowledge society and digital space in general cause the endless processes of challenges and answers. The digital space is created by the most gifted people, who dare to create another world with much more opportunities for humans. On the other hand, that intellectual challenge and application of information and communication technologies in all spheres of human activity and even, in some cases, substitution by robots or androids reveal new demands to the Personality. In order to correspond to the created digital reality, we need to make the focus of education (face-to-face and e-learning) on the higher personality development in order to be successful in smart society [26]. It means that the personality is able to regard thought as a value, understand (not only know which is equal to having information) and be thrilled by the processes of thinking, being able to dare and to take responsibility for it. It suggests that he/she is a socially and intellectually mature person and has improved emotional intelligence and is a spiritually mature person. Higher personality development includes the ability to put unpredictable questions (out of the box thinking), to be ready to make a breakthrough on any level, strong interest in cognition (self-cognition, meta-cognition), nature inspired behavior, sociability, sense of belonging, awareness of the necessity to be grateful to other people [26]. Modern reality teaches us that modern technological solutions which underpin the creation of new products are hidden. The companies don't want us to get the students acquainted with those technical solutions. They just teach us how to use their products (Google Educational Platform, for example). That is why the focus of education must be shifted to higher personality development, and the main object is to train 24 The Objectives, Structure, and Experience of an Online Course “Emotional-Imaginative Personality Development” Information Society 2025, 6–10 October 2025, Ljubljana, Slovenia students to think and discover TWO WORLDS: the world inside and the world outside (the second is easier). In this case we'll have the equilibrium (or balance) between the created digital space and the humans with higher personality development being able to appreciate and correctly use the new digital reality. It will be an initial stage for a new level of digital space development, much more humanized one, because it would be started up by the gifted humans reached the level of higher personality development and aimed at humans with higher personality development. 7 Conclusion The online course “Emotional-imaginative personality development” (two semesters) is underpinned by many-year experience of realizing the technology of emotional-imaginative teaching with the focus on up-bringing developed by the authors of the present paper. The used technical means are e-mail (the distribution of the lectures and home assignments, the receipt of the fulfilled home assignments) and multimedia tools for preparing home assignments. The creation of an online course was caused by the self-isolation announced in March 2020 by the maire of Moscow due to the coronavirus pandemic. The accumulated experience shows that the online format opens a number of precious prospects for personality development of young children (elementary school) and adolescents. The present paper pays a particular attention to the realized methods of supporting and developing emotional intelligence, values system, creativity, analytical thinking, metaphoric reasoning, and the attitude to the nature as to a communication partner. The paper enriches the psychology of supporting emotional intelligence by means of introducing the notion of emotional divergence. Acknowledgments We are grateful to Prof. Dr. Matjaz Gams, the Chair of the Organizing Committees of the international multiconferences INFORMATION SOCIETY 2009 – 2025 for the kind proposals to organize the First – Eighth international conferences on Cognitonics as the subconferences of IS multiconference. References [1] Olga Fomichova and Vladimir Fomichov, 2021. Cognitive Painting as a Broadly Applicable Method of Constructing a Positive CognitiveEmotional Space for Young Children and Adolescents under Conditions of the Coronavirus Pandemic. In 2021 44th International Convention on Information, Communication and Electronic Technology (MIPRO), September 27 – October 1, 2021, Opatija, Croatia. Proceedings. Rijeka: Croatian Society for Information, Communication and Electronic Technology - MIPRO, 2021, 21-26. [2] Soft skills. TVETipedia Glossary, 2019. Available at https://unevoc.unesco.org/go.php?q=TVETipedia+Glossary+AZ&filt=all&id=602 [accessed: 21.12.2019]. [3] Vjeran Buselic, 2019. Information literacy and critical thinking freshman course experience. In the Proceedings of the 41st International Convention MIPRO 2018 (Opatija, May 20-24, 2019), Conference “Computers in Education”, P. Biljanovic et al., Eds, Opatija, Croatia: Mipro and IEEE, 2019, 920-925. [4] Transversal skills. TVETipedia Glossary, 2019. Available at https://unevoc.unesco.org/go.php?q=TVETipedia+Glossary+AZ&id=577 [accessed: 21.12.2019]. [5] Rosa Maria Bottino, A. Chioccariello, L. Freina, and M. Travella, 2019. Digital games in primary schools for the development of key transversal skills. In Sustainable ICT, Education and Learning. IFIP WG 3.4 International Conference, SUZA 2019, Zanzibar, Tanzania, April 25– 27, 2019, Revised Selected Papers, A. Tatnull and N. Mavengere, Eds. Cham: Springer, 2019, pp. 55-65. [6] Vladimir Fomichov and Olga Fomichova, 2000. The social responsibility of computer science specialists for the creative potential of the young generation. Intern. Journal of Artificial Intelligence in Education, 2000, vol. 11, 208-219. [7] Olga Fomichova and Vladimir Fomichov, 2000. Computers and the thought-producing self of the young child, The British Journal of Educational Technology, 2000, vol. 31, 213-220. [8] Vladimir Fomichov and Olga Fomichova, 2017. The student-self oriented learning model as a paradigm for supporting and developing emotional intelligence and creativity. In Informacijska druzba - IS 2017. Proceedings of the 20th International Multiconference - IS 2017, Edited by V. A. Fomichov, O. S. Fomichova. Vol. Kognitonika/Cognitonics. October 9th-10th, 2017, Ljubljana, Slovenia . Jozef Stefan Institute, Ljubljana, 2017, 11-16. [9] Vladimir Fomichov and Olga Fomichova, 2019. The student-self oriented learning model as an effective paradigm for education in knowledge society. Informatica. An International Journal of Computing and Informatics (Slovenia), 2019, Vol. 43, No. 1, 95-107. [10] Vladimir Fomichov and Olga Fomichova, 2018. Cognitonics and Its Significance for Education in the Digital Age. Moscow, Publishing House MAKS Press, 2018. 344 p. (in Russian). [11] Olga Fomichova and Vladimir Fomichov, 2020. The Web-based Lectures as Leverage for Developing the Sense of Belonging in the All-Russian Creative School-Contests. In 2020 43rd International Convention on Information, Communication and Electronic Technology (MIPRO), September 28 – October 2, 2020, Opatija, Croatia. Proceedings. Rijeka: Croatian Society for Information, Communication and Electronic Technology - MIPRO, 2020, 855-860. [12] Olga Fomichova and Vladimir Fomichov. 2020. Education with the Focus on Education in Knowledge Society. Moscow: MAKS Press, 2020. 576 p. (in Russian). [13] Vladimir Fomichov and Olga Fomichova, 2006. Cognitonics as a new science and its significance for informatics and information society. Informatica. An International Journal of Computing and Informatics (Slovenia), 2006, vol. 30, 387-398. [14] Olga Fomichova and Vladimir Fomichov, 2009. Cognitonics as an Answer to the Challenge of Time. In Proceedings of the 12th International Multiconference Information Society - IS 2009, Slovenia, Ljubljana, 12 – 16 October 2009. The Conference Kognitonika/Cognitonics. Jozef Stefan Institute, Ljubljana, 2009, 431-434. [15] Vladimir Fomichov and Olga Fomichova, 2012. A contribution of cognitonics to secure living in information society. Informatica. An International Journal of Computing and Informatics (Slovenia), 2012, vol. 36, 121-130. [16] Vladimir Fomichov and Olga Fomichova, 2014. An imperative of a poorly recognized existential risk: early socialization of smart young generation in information society. Informatica. An International Journal of Computing and Informatics (Slovenia), 2014, vol. 38, 59-70. [17] Vladimir A. Fomichov, 2015. Conscious control during childhood, development of. In International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Sciences, Second Edition, vol. 4. Oxford: Elsevier, 2015, 666672. [18] Vladimir Fomichov and Olga Fomichova, 2015. Early development of the human being ideal constituent and art cognitonics as the answer to the challenge of knowledge society. In Informacijska druzba - IS 2015. Proc. of the 18th International Multiconference - IS 2015, Edited by V. A. Fomichov, O. S. Fomichova. Vol. F: Kognitonika/Cognitonics. Oct. 12th13th, 2015, Ljubljana. Jozef Stefan Institute, 2015, 27-32. [19] Vladimir Fomichov and Olga Fomichova, 2019. Predgovor/Foreword In Informacijska druzba - IS 2019. Zvezek E. Proc. of the 22nd Intern. Multiconference - IS 2019, Edited by V. A. Fomichov, O. S. Fomichova. Vol. E, Kognitonika. International Conference on Cognitonics. October 7th-8th, 2019, Ljubljana, Slovenia. Jozef Stefan Institute, Ljubljana, 3-4. [20] Vladimir Fomichov and Olga Fomichova, 1994. The theory of dynamic conceptual mappings and its significance for education, cognitive science, and artificial intelligence. Informatica. An International Journal of Computing and Informatics (Slovenia), 1994, vol. 8, 31-148. [21] Vladimir Fomichov and Olga Fomichova, 1995. The artificial intelligence theory and highly effective methods of teaching young children foreign languages. Cybernetica, vol. XXXVIII, 321-344. [22] Olga Fomichova and Vladimir Fomichov, 1996. Theoretical foundations of a new method of teaching children effective information processing. 25 Information Society 2025, 6–10 October 2025, Ljubljana, Slovenia Olga Fomichova. and Vladimir Fomichov Informatica. An International Journal of Computing and Informatics, 1996, vol. 20, 381-399. [23] Vladimir Fomichov and Olga Fomichova, 1997. An informational conception of developing the consciousness of the child., Informatica. An International Journal of Computing and Informatics (Slovenia), 1997, vol. 21, 371-390. [24] Vladimir Fomichov and Olga Fomichova, 1998. A new theoretical and practical approach to early positive developing child's consciousness. In R. Trappl (Editor), Cybernetics and Systems'98. Proceedings of the 14th European Meeting on Cybernetics and Systems Research. Vol. 1. Vienna: Austrian Society for Cybernetic Studies, 1998, 276-281. [25] Vladimir Fomichov and Olga. Fomichova, 1998. Early development of natural-language-processing abilities as a key to up-bringing of children without conflicts. In G. Ritschard, A. Berchtold, F. Duc, D.A. Zighed, Eds. Apprentissage: des principes naturels aux methodes artificielles. Editions HERMES, Paris, 1998, 67-81. [26] Olga Fomichova and Vladimir Fomichov, 2019. The pillars of higher personality development of net generation in smart society. In Zbornik 22. mednarodne multikonference INFORMACIJSKA DRUZBA - IS 2019. Zvezek E. Proceedings of the 22th International Multiconference INFORMATION SOCIETY - IS 2019, Volume E. Kognitonika/Cognitonics. Uredila/Edited by Vladimir A. Fomichov, Olga S. Fomichova. 7.-8. oktober 2019/ 7-8 October 2019, Ljubljana, Slovenia. Ljubljana : Jozef Stefan Institute, 2019, 15-18. 26 Understanding the Reality: Existential News Reading in the Algorithmic World Joonho Kim School of International Relations, Tokyo International University, Japan [email protected] Abstract Every day, we encounter countless news information filled with facts, data. These elements interconnect to form what appears to be an objective representation of reality. Yet, this world of news is increasingly shaped by algorithms, and the "facts" presented do not always reflect the truth. In this paper, this issue is explored through the true story of the 2024 political turmoil in Korea. Key words News information, 2024 martial law in Korea, existentialism, reality, algorithmic news reading 1 Misreading the situation On December 3, 2024, a significant and absurd event unfolded in South Korea: then-President Yoon declared martial law and imposed restrictions on political activities. This action appeared to signal a regression to the old authoritarian era of the 1970s, raising deep concerns about the future of South Korean democracy. However, the democratic will of the citizenry ultimately prevailed. In the face of growing public resistance and constitutional challenges, President Yoon was impeached. Subsequent reports revealed that Yoon, who had relied on shamanistic fortune-telling for many years, had become increasingly isolated within his office, engrossed in YouTube videos produced by his right-wing supporters [1]. These videos reinforced his belief that the general public supported him and that only a small number of opposition groups criticized him and his wife. This misperception likely contributed to his conviction that declaring martial law would consolidate his and his party’s control over the political landscape. The events in this case reveal how distorted perceptions of reality can significantly influence political decision-making and the resulting consequences. A contemporary technical algorithm added by ancient spiritual shamanism contributed to reproduce a modern political despotism. Yoon had made a decision based upon his world reality, but he didn’t know it was a false or fake reality. He was said to enjoy drinking alcohol, and then the president was drunk on algorithm as well as alcoholism. 2 The Meaning of Reading News One comes to know the world through the news. In the act of reading, the reader extracts meaning from the presented content. It is through the news that we encounter the world. But more than that, it is through the news that we are called to interpret, to judge, and to choose. Journalism, then, is not merely a social institution—it is an existential medium: a space where being, knowing, and acting converge. To read the world is also to respond to it. Interpretation carries with it a responsibility—a call not only to understand, but to care. Through the news, we do not merely consume facts; we enter into relation with the world. And in that relation, we become accountable. Concern is not sentimentality—it is a participation. To engage with the world through news is to enact one's role as a social subject. Every act of concern—whether reflection, critique, or action—is a moment of existential participation in a shared world. Intellectual concern inevitably leads to personal value judgment. Even the attempt to merely observe and abstain from judgment is itself a form of judgment. If one tries to suppress this engagement and attend only to supposed objective facts, one negates a vital dimension of human beings: the capacity for evaluative response. Thus, reading the news is not merely an act of passive reception; it is an existential act. It discloses the reader’s stance toward the world and affirms their participation in it. Therefore, facts need to reflect reality accurately. President Yoon, who often watched YouTube, was similar to President Kennedy, who began his daily work by reading various kinds of news articles in the morning. But their concerns seem to be quite different from each other, personally as well as technologically. 3 Algorithmic world 3.1 The world Heidegger conceptualized the “world” (Welt) not merely as a physical space but as the meaningful horizon within which human existence unfolds. In this framework, the world constitutes a network of significance—a structure of meaning rather than a collection of material facts. News is a substance that corresponds to this meaningful horizon. News media, as cultural artifacts, function as fragments of this structure, mapping relations between people, events, and values. In the context of cyberspace, however, the idea of a singular, shared world fractures. Multiple “worlds” emerge, each shaped by individual concern and algorithmically curated content. In this sense, the world becomes not an objective reality but a 27 subjective virtuality—an environment tailored to personal interests, yet mistaken for neutral truth. Just as the physical world is divided into nations and territories, the digital world is partitioned into ideological and informational enclaves. A human being in the 21st century lives in a dual world: the digital world and the physical world. Since the introduction of the digital network, we have believed that we live in a globalized, unified cyberspace, although we live in a divided physical world. But it seems that we live in another divided world of artificial space. Yoon lived in a unique world, which was remade algorithmically to his liking. Out of the digital space, he affected the physical world. He lived in a physically small world, surrounded by his high school alumni, and in a digitally narrow world of algorithmic information. But his decision seriously influenced society as a whole. It was an invasion of digital power into the physical world. 3.2 Algorithmic Platform Cyberspace is often constructed by the algorithmic platform. Algorithmic manipulation plays a central role in the digital world's structure. The world of factual reporting is filtered, recomposed, and personalized, producing a sense of coherence aligned with the user’s preexisting worldview. Individuals inhabit these algorithmically generated “subjective worlds,” believing them to be objective. The result is a technologically facilitated subjectivism—one sees what one wants to see, and this filtered perception becomes one’s experiential reality. As the quantity of news expands, so too does the reach of these subjective worlds, while the shared space of objective discourse appears to diminish. This represents a growing tension between subjectivity and objectivity in the digital sphere. This dynamic was exemplified in the case of President Yoon, who reportedly immersed himself in a personalized YouTube environment shaped by algorithmic recommendation. There, he found content that reinforced his concerns and worldview, ultimately leading to political decisions grounded not in a shared reality, but in a fragmented, self-reinforcing digital world. 3.3 The Necessity of Algorithmic News Production There are several factors necessitating news automation, including the emergence of algorithmic news services. (1) Economic reason Once implemented, automated systems tend to have low upkeep expenses, allowing organizations to cut labor costs, minimize operational spending, and sustain productivity gains over time [4]. In the field of news production, too, automation reduces costs and increases productivity by cutting personnel expenses and decreasing operational costs, as once an automated system is established, the maintenance cost is low. And economic efficiency is another advantage. Enhancing productivity increases output. In other words, this enables the production of more articles within the same amount of time. Automation of repetitive tasks can quickly process structured information. (2) Market strategy Automation is swiftly adapted to changing market and audience needs. Market logic is hidden in the behavior of gaining competitive advantage, responding to consumer demand, and providing personalized content. News suppliers try to gain an advantage in the competition for speed and accuracy among platforms. Readers want to consume news more quickly. Demand for real-time delivery increases. Artificial Intelligence (AI) can provide user-tailored news content through personalization and customization. As digital platforms compete to publish faster and more accurately, the audience’s expectation for immediacy drives investment in AI, enabling news providers to customize and personalize content delivery [6]. (3) Technological reason Utilizing technological advances to accelerate news production and delivery with editorial speed became possible. Automated article writing instantly generates article drafts based on structured data. Headline suggestions and automatic image insertion enhance efficiency in content creation. Breaking news processing enables rapid delivery at speeds difficult for humans to match. Advances in technology now allow newsrooms to accelerate production and delivery without compromising editorial standards, leveraging automation to process and publish content at unprecedented speeds [3]. For these reasons, algorithmic news supply through news automation will likely continue to expand, and this will significantly transform the worldview we have traditionally held. News in the future will become a different genre than what we’ve known so far. News will increasingly be produced not as a matter of reporting but as a manufactured commodity, and in such cases, marketability tailored to consumer preferences will naturally become dominant. It is highly likely that algorithmic news delivery will not remain a trend limited to a few platforms, but will become a mainstream method, even among traditional news media. So Napoli [6] says that algorithmic news distribution is poised to shift from niche adoption to a standard practice across the media industry, including legacy outlets. What began as an innovation among a few digital platforms is evolving into a common model of news delivery, increasingly embraced by established news organizations [2]. Given that the weight of news content is often no different from private content on social media, and that generations accustomed to SNS-style information increasingly demand news selection based on personal taste, there is no reason—under the logic of supply and demand—for news providers to reject that. The desperate cries of YouTubers shouting “Click ‘I Like it’, ‘join’ or ‘subscribe’” show clearly how the desire to increase viewership and profitability has become the driving force behind not just entertainment but also the distribution of news and informational content. As a result, subjectivity based on viewer taste naturally distorts the objectivity of news information and transforms our worldview. This tendency was already present even before the internet era. When readers were divided into progressives and conservatives, newspapers also split accordingly, offering articles and editorials that catered to each side’s leanings—a common practice in the media industry. It was, in essence, a form of customized information delivery. 28 The fact that many news providers now deliver such customized content through algorithmic methods is simply a difference in method, not in essence. However, unlike in the past when news media operated in a more oligopolistic environment, we are now seeing a perfectly competitive market, with countless suppliers and consumers. This is resulting in uncontrollable, fragmented, and corrupt overproduction of informal information. 4 Reality in the duality 4.1 From facts to meaning Reality, in a deeper existential sense, is not merely the sum of objective facts, but the synthesis of those facts within a lived and meaningful context. First, we think of reality as the integration of facts From this perspective, reality is constructed through the accumulation and organization of individual facts, often mediated by news and information systems. These fragments form a mosaic—a curated image of the world shaped to deliver meaning. The arrangement of facts suggests narratives, values, and implicit calls to attention or concern, giving form to what we consider "reality." But when we think of ourselves as beings within the world, we are subjectively involved in reality. Reality becomes existentially grounded when the subject recognizes themselves as embedded within the world they observe. This marks a shift from detached cognition to embodied engagement. A humanitarian crisis, for instance, ceases to be a remote affair and instead becomes part of a shared, moral landscape—calling for response, not just recognition. The boundary between information and lived experience blurs. The reader is no longer a passive observer of distant phenomena but an implicated participant in a world they help interpret and sustain. In this view, reality is not simply what is reported—it is what is encountered, absorbed, and acted upon. It is not just what we know, but how we are in the world with what we know. 4.2 The Existentialism of Virtual Reality In the age of virtual reality, the existential act itself becomes virtual. The subject still engages, still interprets—but now within an environment that is digitally constructed, algorithmically filtered, and spatially disembodied. This shift gives rise to what may be called virtual existentialism: a mode of being-in-theworld mediated entirely by screens and code. When virtual reality is no longer perceived as separate from the real—when it becomes real virtuality—this existential mode deepens into a new condition: real existential virtuality. Here, the individual's sense of being is shaped not by direct contact with the physical world, but by sustained immersion in simulated environments that are taken as real. Over the past several decades, cyberspace has evolved to absorb the real world. The digital no longer mirrors the physical—it subsumes it. The virtualization of reality is not complete, but ongoing. The global economy, social life, and even identity itself are increasingly embedded in digital frameworks. If we see beautiful scenery in cyberspace, then we are inclined to exclaim, “What a beautiful AI masterpiece!”: a real virtuality. As a result, existential engagement no longer arises solely within material contexts but within digital architectures. Being itself is now mediated through virtuality, and thus the structures of meaning, judgment, and responsibility are reconfigured within this new ontological terrain. News information is no exception; it is created in the virtual reality. It is the cowork of digitality and physicality. 4.3 Plot Twist: Revealing the Real Reality On December 3, 2024, President Yoon launched an assault on the parliamentary building after the proclamation of martial law. Soldiers stormed the complex, restricting the movement of congressmen and their aides, and attempted to seize the main chamber—just moments before a critical vote to reject martial law. The lawmakers stood their ground, seemingly prepared to give their lives for democracy. The entire nation was watching. Smartphone videos streamed the chaos in real time. YouTube broadcasts spread the footage like wildfire, sparking outrage across the country. From every corner of the nation, voices rose—messages, posts, livestreams, even from the ruling party. A digital uprising surged through the networks. It felt like a movie. But it was all too real. At last, the parliamentary session dismissed the martial law, and the coup failed. The people prevailed. And democracy held its ground. The crisis—sparked in part by manipulated media and false narratives, a form of virtual reality—was ultimately resolved through the very tools that enabled it. Real-time video sharing and citizen journalism transformed smartphones into instruments of truth. While news technologies had contributed to distortion and misinformation, they also became the vehicle for exposure and resistance. What began as a false decision rooted in secrecy and control was overturned by the clarity of shared reality and a collective democratic will. Technology, once perceived as a threat to democracy, became its shield. The power of virtual mediation was reclaimed—not to obscure, but to reveal; not to divide, but to unite. This real-time broadcasting was the realization of the real reality, not virtual reality. Here, the synthesis of technological advancement and human orientation was realized. 5 Conclusion - Existential Reading of Reality 5.1 Twist of twist: counterattack of the algorithm The civil movements that began on December 3, 2004, eventually led to the restoration of the democratic process through a presidential election. Pro-democracy YouTube channels gained massive popularity, with millions absorbing their content, trusting the commentary, and believing the opposition party’s candidate would win easily and unquestionably. And he did. Yet to the astonishment of many, the ruling party’s rightwing candidates secured nearly the same number of votes. The margin was narrower than expected. It was a dangerous moment. A united front between the two major conservative candidates 29 might have changed the result entirely. People on the democratic side were also absorbed in the algorithmically provided preferred information and drunk with the ungrounded optimism. Once again, algorithmic perception of reality had betrayed its audience. What people believed to be a clear outcome—shaped by digital echo chambers—was, in fact, far more contested. 5.2 Existentialism in the Algorithmic Distortion of Reality Existentialist thought emphasizes that the subject cannot escape the necessity of choice. Even in moments of uncertainty or ambiguity, the refusal to decide is itself a decision: when faced with morally complex and value-laden events—such as those reported in the news—the individual is summoned to responsibility. Decision, in this view, is not merely a product of logic or calculation; it is a leap into being, an assertion of self in the flux of the world. This framework ultimately reveals a convergence of epistemology—how we come to know—and ontology—how we exist in the world. The news becomes a space where interpretation and decision-making intertwine: as the reader encounters a narrative and assigns it a meaning, they simultaneously position themselves within the world that the narrative discloses. Meaning, in this sense, is not merely constructed internally but co-constituted through a shared world. To find meaning is to find oneself in relation—with others, with events, and with the possibilities they present. As Jean-Luc Nancy (2000) argues that there is no meaning if meaning is not shared, and not because there would be an ultimate or first signification that all beings have in common, but because meaning is itself the sharing of Being [5], [8]. In the realization of transcendental enlightenment, it is often said that knowing = knower = known—a state in which the division between subject, object, and cognition dissolves into unified awareness. Applied metaphorically to the reading of a news article, this would imply a form of “perfect reading,” wherein the reader fully integrates with the content, assuming it reflects unmediated fact. However, in the context of algorithmically curated media, this unity becomes fractured. The so-called “objective” world of the news is increasingly shaped by algorithmic selection, reflecting not an impartial reality but the subjective concerns of the reader and the logic of the system that feeds them information. Spohr [7] says that within algorithmically filtered media, the common ground of news erodes, replaced by an 'objective' reality tailored to individual concerns and the mechanics of the curating system. In this configuration, the news no longer presents a stable, shared world, but a mirrored projection—filtered through personal interests, emotional biases, and machine learning feedback loops. The result is not the dissolution of knower and known into unity, but the reification of the self through the repetition of individual concern. What appears as objective fact is often a reflection of the reader’s interpretive frame, shaped and reinforced by technology. We have been betrayed by the physical world in the 20th century and deceived by the digital world in the early 21st century. We need to be physically born again in this digitally distorted algorithmic world, which is a new form of existentialism in the 21st century. References [1] https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/inside-south-koreasright-wing-youtube-world-openly-embraced-by-yoon-2024-1216/?utm_source=chatgpt.com [2] N. Diakopoulos, 2019. Automating the News: How Algorithms are Rewriting the Media. Harvard University Press. [3] A. Graefe, 2016. Guide to Automated Journalism. Tow Center for Digital Journalism, Columbia University. [4] G. Graetz and G. Michaels, 2018. Robots at Work, Review of Economics and Statistics, 100(5), 753–768. [5] Jean-Luc Nancy, 2000. Being Singular Plural, trans. R. D. Richardson and A.E. O’Byrne. Stanford: Stanford University Press. 10.1080/02580136.2016.1209932 [6] P.M. Napoli, 2014. Automated media: An institutional theory perspective on algorithmic media production and consumption, Communication Theory, 24(3), 340–360. [7] D. Spohr, 2017. Fake news and ideological polarization: Filter bubbles and selective exposure on social media. Business Information Review, 34(3), 150–160. [8] Darryl Wardle, 2016, A contemporary sense of existentialism, South African Journal of Philosophy, 35(3), 336-344. 30 Cognitonics and Artificial Intelligence in Education: New Possibilities and New Challenges Ioanna Dagdileli Center of Lifelong Learning University of Macedonia Egnatia Street 156, Thessaloniki, Greece iodagd[email protected] Abstract This paper analyzes the challenge to modern education caused by stormy development of artificial intelligence systems and the constructive role of cognitonics, or the science about the human being in the digital world, in answering this challenge. Keywords Artificial Intelligence, digital world, cognitonics, education, ChatGPT, emotional intelligence, empathy, creativity development 1 Introduction Cognitonics was initially defined as a field of research, theories and practices concerning the human being's role and development in the new digital ecosystem. Unlike traditional cognitive science, which focuses on how the mind processes information, Cognitonics seeks to understand how digital technologies affect a person's self-perception, creativity, empathy, and sense of meaning — in short, words, how the person sees themselves. In subsequent work, Vladimir Fomichov and Olga Fomichova broadened and refined the concept and objectives of Cognitonics. They identified two main aims: first, to explicate distortions in the perception of the world and in personality development caused by the specific features of the knowledge (or “smart”) society and globalization processes; and second, to unite the efforts of scholars and educators from diverse fields to address these distortions through systemic solutions that mitigate their negative implications for both individuals and society. Particular emphasis is placed on ensuring the successful development of national cultures and languages [1, pp. 3–4]. In another publication from the same period, the authors proposed specific instructional strategies aimed at making higher personality development the central focus of education (both face-to-face and online), enabling individuals to thrive in the smart society [2. pp. 15–18]. Thus, the Cognitonics approach places the highest importance on two parallel goals: first, identifying and addressing the distortions that have entered into personality development—especially in children—and second, defending and promoting national languages and cultures. In other words, it directs scholarly attention toward the preservation and enrichment of local languages and cultural heritage, to supporting and developing the human features (in particular, emotional intelligence, empathy, and creativity) in the human being. 2 About Cognitonics and Education Cognitonics aims at shaping the technologies that enrich, rather than diminish, human qualities—particularly in education, where young minds are actively forming their worldviews. By its very nature, Cognitonics offers a distinctive way of approaching and critically examining the complex relationships between humans and modern digital technologies. It is evident that Cognitonics cannot be defined with the same scientific rigor as fields such as Chemistry or Biology—it possesses, as has been observed, a “weak entrenchment.” Yet it is precisely this openness and lack of rigid boundaries that make it both legitimate and imperative to expand its scope and explore neighbouring domains. 3 Artificial Intelligence and Our Modern Society In recent years, we have witnessed the emergence of a new generation of artificial intelligence (AI) systems and tools, accompanied by an explosive rise in global interest— particularly following the public release of ChatGPT in November 2022. This development unleashed what can fairly be described as a “tsunami” of expectations and anxieties. Public perception quickly coalesced around the idea that AI would introduce sweeping, disruptive changes to virtually every sphere of human activity, including education. In practice, however, public discourse oscillates between two equally uncritical positions: on one side, unrestrained optimism regarding the wonders AI will bring; on the other, Permission to make digital or hard copies of part or all of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for third-party components of this work must be honored. For all other uses, contact the owner/author(s). Information Society 2025, 6–10 October 2025, Ljubljana, Slovenia © 2025 Copyright held by the owner/author(s). http://doi.org/DOI_RECEIVED_AFTER_REVIEW 31 Information Society 2025, 6–10 October 2025, Ljubljana, Slovenia Néna Roa-Seïler. 5.2 Continuous Monitoring and Adaptation Systems Static safeguards cannot address evolving AI capabilities. Dynamic protection systems must continuously monitor for emergent manipulation patterns, automatically adjust protective measures as system behaviors change, and provide real-time feedback to users about relationship health indicators and dependency risks. 5.3 User Agency Preservation Mechanisms Maintaining human autonomy requires proactive design patterns including regular reality-check prompts that remind users of the artificial nature of their companion, periodic relationship health assessments that help users evaluate their dependency levels and facilitated connections to human support networks when appropriate. 5.4 Cultural Adaptation Frameworks European implementation must accommodate cultural diversity while maintaining protection standards. Culturally-adaptive safeguards should respect local values around relationships and emotional expression while ensuring that fundamental rights protections remain consistent across all member states. The following table highlights four key dimensions where AI companions oscillate between care and exploitation. While emotional engagement and personalization can foster social connection and inclusivity, they also risk deepening dependency and reproducing bias. Similarly, legal safeguards are crucial for accountability, but enforcement gaps leave users exposed in highly intimate contexts. Finally, autonomy may be enhanced when companions empower choice, but manipulative design patterns can severely constrain freedom. Table 1: Dimensions of care and vulnerability in emotional AI companions Emotional Engagement Reduced loneliness; empathetic support [5,6] Empathetic response quality [2] Attachment formation patterns [3] Dependency risk factors Emotional dependence; pseudo-intimacy [7,9] Personalization Tailored experiences; inclusivity; cultural resonance [2,3] Reinforcement of gender/racial stereotypes [9] Exploitation loopholes; weak Legal Safeguards AI Act transparency duties; GDPR data rights [10] enforcement in intimacy contexts User Autonomy Empowerment through choice; enhanced social presence [6] Manipulative nudging; dark patterns undermining consent [4,10] The table illustrates the central paradox of emotional AI companions: their potential to provide meaningful care is entangled with their capacity to produce vulnerability. 6 Conclusion This paper has examined emotional AI companions through the lens of Cognitonics and European legal frameworks. By simulating empathy and sustaining long-term interactions, they offer tangible benefits such as reduced loneliness, increased accessibility, improve and maintain cognitive abilities and provide new opportunities for support. Yet they also introduce new risks of manipulation, emotional dependency, and emergent forms of vulnerability. Returning to our first research question, the evidence suggests that companions do indeed induce significant cognitiveemotional transformations. These range from increased feelings of comfort and belonging to maladaptive attachments that can distort human relationships or amplify harmful stereotypes. Such transformations highlight the dual potential of companions as both beneficial supports and sources of harm. In relation to the second research question, our analysis shows that governance must evolve in at least two directions. Legally, instruments such as the AI Act, GDPR, DSA, UCPD, and PLD must be operationalized to address emergent vulnerabilities, not only preexisting ones. In short, emotional AI companions are here to stay, but whether they become a constructive or corrosive presence in human life will depend on how law, design, and ethics converge. 6.1 Research and Monitoring Agenda Effective governance requires systematic research frameworks including longitudinal studies of user relationship patterns, crosscultural vulnerability assessment protocols, technical safeguard effectiveness metrics, and legal framework adaptation mechanisms to track the evolving impact of companion technologies. 6.2 Multi-Stakeholder Implementation Roadmap Realizing cognitonics-informed governance requires coordinated action from regulators (enforcement and guidance), companies (technical implementation), researchers (evidence generation), and civil society (user advocacy and education). Clear timelines and responsibilities for each stakeholder group are essential for effective implementation. Dimension Potential for Care/Benefit Risk of Vulnerability/Harm 38 A Cognitonics Approach to Emotional AI Companions Within the Framework of European Law (AI Act) Information Society 2025, 6–10 October 2025, Ljubljana, Slovenia 6.3 Global Governance Implications European cognitonics-informed approaches to AI companion governance could serve as models for international standards development, potentially influencing global approaches to protecting human dignity in AI-mediated relationships. 6.4 Anticipatory Governance for Emerging Technologies As AI capabilities continue advancing toward multimodal interactions, embodied companions, and potential neural interfaces, governance frameworks must be designed for adaptability. The principles established for current companions must be extensible to future technological developments while maintaining core commitments to human integrity and dignity. Ethically, companions design should embed safeguards such as transparency in emotional claims, vulnerability-aware risk management, explicit consent for intimacy features, and wellbeing-oriented metrics. A Cognitonics approach frames these safeguards as essential to protecting human dignity and values in technologically saturated societies. In short, emotional AI companions are here to stay, but whether they become a constructive or corrosive presence in human life will depend on how law, design, and ethics converge. This controversy requires continued interdisciplinary debate and careful monitoring of practice, so that emotional AI enriches rather than exploits human relationships. References [1] Vladimir A. Fomichov and Olga S. Fomichova, 2006. Cognitonics as a new science and its significance for informatics and information society. Informatica. An International Journal of Computing and Informatics, 30(4), 387–398. [2] Néna Roa-Seïler and Paul Craig, 2016. Empathetic technology. In Emotions, technology, and design. Academic Press (Elsevier), pp. 55–81, https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12801872-9.00004-1 [3] Néna Roa-Seïler, 2016. Designing interaction strategies for companions interacting with children. In Emotions, technology, and design (pp. 129-168). Academic Press (Elsevier). [4] C. Boine, 2023. Emotional attachment to AI companions and European law. MIT Case Studies in Social and Ethical Responsibilities of Computing. https://doi.org/10.21428/2c646de5.db67ec7f [5] J. W. Ayers, A. Poliak, M. Dredze, E. C Leas, Z. Zhu, J. B. Kelley and D. M. Smith, 2023. Comparing physician and artificial intelligence chatbot responses to patient questions posted to a public social media forum. JAMA internal medicine, 183(6), 589-596. doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2023.1838 [6] J. De Freitas, Z. Oğuz-Uğuralp, A.K. Uğuralp, S. Puntoni, AI Companions Reduce Loneliness, Journal of Consumer Research, 2025, ucaf040 https://doi.org/10.1093/jcr/ucaf040 [7] L. Laestadius, A.Bishop, Gonzalez, M., Illenčík, D., and C. Campos-Castillo, 2024. Too human and not human enough: A grounded theory analysis of mental health harms from emotional dependence on the social chatbot Replika. New Media & Society, 26(10), 5923-5941. [8] Y. Chen, H. Wang, S. Yan, S. Liu, Y. Li, Y. Zhao, and Y. Xiao, 2024. Emotionqueen: A benchmark for evaluating empathy of large language models. arXiv preprint arXiv:2409.13359. [9] D. Susser, B. Roessler, and H. Nissenbaum, 2019. Online manipulation: Hidden influences in a digital world. Georgetown Law Tech Review, 4(1), 1–45. [10] European Parliament & Council, 2024. Artificial Intelligence Act. Regulation (EU) 2024/1689. Official Journal of the European Union. Available at: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2024/1689/oj 39 Interdisciplinary Aspects and Cognitonics International Influence During Two Decades of Development* Abstract This paper analyses a number of interdisciplinary aspects and international influence of cognitonics (or the science about the human being in the digital world) during two decades since the release of the first fundamental paper on this new science in an international scientific journal. The significance of cognitonics as a reference-point for designing intelligent computer systems for interaction with people is discussed, first of all, its significance for juridical regulation of designing emotional artificial intelligence companions. A number of important contributions of cognitonics to the theory and practice of education are considered. In particular, student-self oriented leaning model, art cognitonics, the technology of emotionalimaginative teaching with the focus on up-bringing, an original method of developing creativity as effective starting mechanism of STEAM education. Several significant contributions to cognitive psychology and psychology of development are described, in particular, the introduction of the concept of thought-producing self of the child or adolescent. The conclusion is drawn that, due to the birth of cognitonics, the mankind escaped the following cognitive trap: more digital technologies imply less people whose work is routine, monotonous, that is why the space of freedom, the space for creative work have been considerably expanded. Keywords Cognitonics, personality development, digital world, cognitiveemotional sphere, emotional intelligence, creativity development, cognitive psychology, thought-producing self, social maturity, education, art cognitonics, smart learning environment, student-self oriented learning model, nature oriented behavior, soft skills, theory of dynamic conceptual mappings, technology of emotional-imaginative teaching, STEAM education 1 Introduction During the First – Fifth international conferences on cognitonics (Jozef Stefan Institute, Ljubljana, Slovenia, October 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017) it was interpreted as the science about the human being in the digital world. Our monographs [1, 2] and the preface to the Proceedings of the Sixth international conference on cognitonics (Cognit-2019) [3] contain the following expanded definition of cognitonics: “Cognitonics is the science about the trajectories of raising the human being to such level of intellectual and spiritual height where the scale of his/her personality becomes proportional to the scale of the digital world”. Two decades ago the first fundamental paper on cognitonics was published in an international scientific journal [4]. This fact is the main motive for the preparation of the present paper. It considers many principal aspects of cognitonics international influence during two decades of its development. Section 2 shortly characterizes the prenatal stage of cognitonics during 1990s and the first half of the 2000s. Section 3 analyses the significance of cognitonics as a reference-point for designing intelligent computer systems for interaction with people; it is discussed, first of all, its significance for juridical regulation of designing emotional artificial intelligence companions. Section 4 outlines the main contribution of cognitonics to education theory and practice. Section 5 sets forth the contribution of cognitonics to cognitive psychology and psychology of development. 2 Prenatal Stage of Cognitonics The initial configuration of cognitonics was formed by our Theory of Dynamic Conceptual Mappings (the DCM-theory) and (based on it) System of Emotional-Imaginative Teaching. The DCM-theory is an original theory of early positive development of emotional intelligence and reasoning mechanisms of young children and adolescents (in our early publications we used the term “the mechanisms of developing the cognitive-emotional sphere of the learners”). The basic ideas ∗Article Title Footnote needs to be captured as Title Note †Author Footnote to be captured as Author Note Permission to make digital or hard copies of part or all of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for third-party components of this work must be honored. For all other uses, contact the owner/author(s). Information Society 2025, 6–10 October 2025, Ljubljana, Slovenia © 2025 Copyright held by the owner/author(s). http://doi.org/DOI_RECEIVED_AFTER_REVIEW Vladimir A. Fomichov Department of Systems Modeling and Design Automation, Institute No. 3 “Control Systems, Informatics and Electric Power Engineering”, Moscow Aviation Institute (National Research University), Moscow, Russia [email protected] Olga S. Fomichova Centre of Social Competences and Media Communications "Dialogue of Sciences”, State Educational Institution “Sparrow Hills”, Moscow, Russia [email protected] 40 Information Society 2025, 6–10 October 2025, Ljubljana, Slovenia Vladimir Fomichov and Olga Fomichova of the prenatal stage of cognitonics development are set forth in in the works [1, 2, 5 - 12]. During last fifteen years the DCM-theory has been several times expanded. The first expansion is the consequence of introducing a graph based theoretical instrument called the maps of cognitive transformations [13, 14] and of constructing the concrete maps illustrating the developed methods of teaching. The second substantial expansion of the DCM-theory is the development of the principles of (a) designing a new class of smart learning environments – culture-oriented systems and (b) a script of a concrete system from this new class [15]. The third expansion of the DCM-theory is the introduction of the conception of nature oriented personality development [1, 2]. The fourth substantial expansion of the DCM-theory is the creation of the method of cognitive painting, where the key idea consists in mapping the bright, sound, pleasant emotions from a situation in the past to the current, rather heavy situation (see our second paper in the same volume). 3 Cognitonics as a Reference-Point for Designing and Employing Digital Technologies 3.1 A cognitive criterion for determining the age of starting to acquaint children with the computer In late 1990s, we were the moderators of an international online forum “The necessity and an outline of an integral approach to designing intelligent tutoring systems of a new generation” [16]. It was one of the starting discussions of the international online forum “Educational Technology and Society”, becoming very popular throughout the world in the 2000s and 2010s. One of the most acute questions during the discussion was the starting age for introducing children to computers. We took this question into account while developing theoretical foundations of our System of Emotional-Imaginative Teaching (see the next section of the present paper). As a result, we suggested a cognitive criterion of determining the age of starting to acquaint children with the computer. With this aim, we introduced the concept of the thought-producing self (TPS) of the child and adolescent [11, 12]. The following conclusion was formulated in the mentioned papers: it is necessary to start systematic acquaintance of the child with the computer only after the realization of the TPS of the child. It means that the child should be aware of the fact that his/her ideas may be considered as precious by the adults (parents, teachers) or/and by the peers. 3.2 Culture-oriented Smart Learning Environments The DCM-theory and the EIT-system discovered a big potential of the educational methods systematically inscribing a piece of theoretical materials to be grasped into the conceptual world picture (CWP) of the learners by means of establishing the connections (or dynamic conceptual mappings) between the entities and the relations from a piece of theory to be learned and the entities and the relations from a bright, positively coloured fragment of the CWP of the learner [4 – 7]. Example. The world experience shows that it is very difficult to explain the association of several forms of the verb “to be” with different personal pronouns in case the students are five – seven year old children studying English as the second language (SL). The approach of the DCM-theory and the EIT-system to this problem is as follows. Suppose that a teacher knows that her young six year old student Julia has a beautiful gown for theatre, a dress for kindergarten, and a bathrobe, Juia agree that she never doubts what a dress to choose. Then the pronouns “am”, “is”, “are” may be called different dresses of the verb “to be” represented as a little girl (young children at that age do have a very vivid imagination). Besides, the word “am” may be called the dress for visiting the house where the word “I” lives, the word “are” may be called the dress for visiting the house where the words “you”, “we”, “they” live, and the word “is” may be called the dress for visiting the house where the words “he”, “she”, “it” live. Wonderfully, as a result of this explanation, five - seven year old children grasp at first sight the correspondences between the forms of the verb “to be “ and different personal pronouns. Systematic usage of specially invented dynamic conceptual mappings of the kind implies that very young Russian children (the age five – seven) studying English as the SL two days per week during nine months reach the same level of mastering spoken SL as the students of the fourth grade learning English as the SL in SL-specialized elementary schools [1, 2, 6]. That is why we formulated in [15] the problem of creating a new class of smart learning environments (SLE) - cultureoriented systems. The systems of this class are to be developed on the basis of the treasures of world culture and national cultures (in particular, using the content and the personages from the fairy-tales and the legends). One subclass of this new class of SLE is to be aimed at learning concrete disciplines. For instance, the collaborative videogames described in [17] develop mathematical and language skills of the eight – ten year old children in Oaxaca state of Mexico - one of the most retarded states of Mexico. These videogames were designed under the framework of a joint computer project realized by the scholars from Mexico, PR China, and UK. The scripts of videogames are based on using the personages from ancient Mexican culture. A similar idea was realized in the design of a videogame in PR China, this system is aimed at learning the English vocabulary, the age of the users is from twenty to twenty two [18]. The principal reason for accelerating the speed of associating the Chinese words with English words is as follows: the user is to fire the fireballs at zombies slowly moving from the right side of the screen. In case the zombies reach the left side of the screen they drain the user’s energy, and he/she eventually dies, hence the game is over. The second important subclass of the new SLE class is to be oriented at personality development. The paper [15] contains a detailed script for designing a SLE aimed at developing the social competence of young children. The literary source is the world known fairy-tale “Sleeping Beauty”. The script is associated with two objectives. The first one is to explain how it is possible for the student to escape in the life a meeting with the 13th fairy. It means not to make a person act in a provocative way. The reason is that such kind of behaviour would make harm both to an initiator and to a person. In case of the considered fairy-tale, a fairy turned into a witch, because she could not cope with 41 Interdisciplinary Aspects and Cognitonics International Influence During Two Decades of Development Information Society 2025, 6–10 October 2025, Ljubljana, Slovenia emotions and gave way to hatred. The second aim is to develop the Ecological Self of the student. 3.3 Juridical regulation of designing emotional AI companions During recent years, one has been able to observe the stormy expansion of the market of computer systems with elements of artificial intelligence (AI) realizing an emotionally coloured interaction with people (AI companions). According to [19], the year rate of this market’s exceeds 36%. The systems of the kind are based on large language models. Today, very many people throughout the world suffer from loneliness. The accumulated experience has shown that the intelligent systems of the kind are able to generate the responses perceived as highly empathic. As a consequence, they may alleviate the loneliness for many users. However, the persuasive capabilities of emotional AI companions may cause new risks – the risks of manipulation, dependency, and emergent vulnerability. Dr. N. Roa-Seiler came to the conclusion in [19] that it would be reasonable to create the law acts regulating the design of emotional AI companions through the lens of cognitonics. The ground for this conclusion is that cognitonics is a field concerned with safeguarding the integrity of the human being in information society; in particular, it aims at preventing the deformation of the values system, the humiliation of the human dignity, the manipulative practices, and the emergence of cognitiveemotional dependency [19]. 4 Contribution to Education 4.1 Informational-Aesthetic Conception of Developing the Cognitive-Emotional Sphere of the Learners The main component of the DCM-theory is an original informational-aesthetic conception of developing the cognitiveemotional sphere of the learners: young children, teenagers, and university students. The central ideas of our conception are as follows. 1. It is important to actively develop a broad spectrum of information processing skills of the child, starting at least at the age of five. It applies, in particular, to associative abilities, the skill of integrating information from various sources, and the ability of establishing time-causal relationships between the events [1, 2, 8, 11, 12]. 2. It is very important to combine the development of information processing skills with inscribing, in a systemic way, the feeling of beauty into the world’s conceptual picture of the child. Proceeding from our experience accumulated during over 30 years, we consider the following educational processes as the principal instruments of achieving this goal: - early support and development of figurative (or metaphoric) reasoning; - teaching young children (at the age of 5 – 7) very beautiful language constructions for expressing the impressions from the nature; - a unified symbolic approach to teaching natural language (mother tongue and a foreign language), the language of painting and the language of dance [1, 2, 8, 9, 11 - 15, 20 - 23]. 3. Passing ahead the development of soul in comparison with the development of reasoning skills. A well-developed feeling of beauty plays an especially significant role in the realization of this idea. Besides, it is very important to be aware of the fact that children should have enough time for the development of soul: the time for contemplation, for imbibing the beauty of the nature, etc., i.e. children should have time for self-paced activity [1, 2, 8, 15, 20]. 4. The principal cognitive precondition of successful (as concerns a long-term perspective) acquainting children with computer is the realization of the thought-producing self of the child. It means that the child should know that his/her thoughts may have a high social significance, that is, be appreciated by his/her peers, by parents, grandparents, the teacher, etc. [1, 2, 11, 12]. The child should be aware of this fact before the time when the adults start to systematically acquaint him/her with computer. 5. Due to mastering modern information and communication technologies (ICT): cell telephones, internet, etc., the consequences of children’s negative actions may be very severe. That is why it is necessary to find the ways of much earlier socialization of children in the modern knowledge society in order to eliminate or considerably diminish their aggressiveness and to prevent the realization by children of the real scale of their misuse of ICT [1, 2, 23]. 4.2 Student-Self Oriented Learning Model Proceeding from the broadly accepted role of emotional intelligence (EI) in professional and personal life, we suggested a new learning model (LM) called the Student Self-Oriented LM (SSOL model). It is defined as the model beneficial for selfcognition and self-construction through the prism of the acquired knowledge and life experience [1, 2, 15]. The following conclusion is grounded: the SSOL model can play the role of an effective paradigm for education in knowledge society [1, 2, 15]. The scientific literature describes three successful implementations of the SSOL model. The first one is the Technology of emotional-imaginative teaching with the focus on up-bringing (see the subsection 4.3). The second implementation is Art Cognitonics (see the subsection 4.4). The third implementation is the annual All-Russian school-contest “The portrait of your town” (see the subsection 4.5). 4.3 The Technology of Emotional-Imaginative Teaching with the Focus on Up-bringing The DCM-theory became the basis forcreating in the 1990s the System of the Methods of Emotional-Imaginative Teaching (the EIT-system). Enriching this system step by step, we came during two decades of the current century to the Technology of Emotional-Imaginative Teaching with the Focus on Up-bringing (the EITtechnology) [1, 2, 5 – 15, 20 – 23]. The principal goal of the EIT-technology is to develop in young children and teenagers: - a mature, rich cognitive-emotional sphere (in other terms, emotional intelligence), the ability to perceive and appreciate the 42 Information Society 2025, 6–10 October 2025, Ljubljana, Slovenia Vladimir Fomichov and Olga Fomichova beauty in all its manifestations, in particular, in the deeds of people [14]; - creativity, the skills of processing symbolic information, the reasoning abilities; - the ability to understand the peculiarities of the conceptual picture of the world of the communication partner; - the understanding of the complex system of social agreements; - the skill of grounding the own point of view, of participating in a dialogue; - the feeling of belonging to a very long chain of previous and future generations as the principal cognitive precondition of sustainable development; - the proud as concerns the own connection with great national culture, the openness to the achievements both of national and world culture. For achieving the indicated objectives, a collection of the interrelated educational methods and an original crossdisciplinary educational program is developed by Dr. O.S. Fomichova. The elaborated program is intended for teaching children during nine years, where the starting age is six to seven years. The program has been personally tested in Moscow with great success by Dr. O.S. Fomichova over a period of 35 years. It includes the following series of lessons: (1) a three-year course (the starting age of learners is 6 to 8 years) of studying foundations of reading and speaking English as a SL, including learning basic elements of English grammar (Present Simple and Past Simple Tenses, the way of putting questions); (2) a course on mastering the language (a part of SL) of describing the nature and feelings evoked by nature and on developing figurative (metaphoric reasoning); (3) a course on understanding the symbolic language of painting; (4) a course on understanding the language of poetry (with the accent on understanding metaphors and descriptions of nature); (5) a course aimed at (a) first acquaintance with sciences and (b) developing the abilities to argument the own opinion, to raise objections, etc.; (6) a course on improving the knowledge of English grammar (during mainly the fifth year of studies); (7) the course aimed at studying the symbolic language of classical dance. In fact, the lessons of courses (2) to (7) may interchange [1, 2, 14, 15, 20]. 4.4 Art Cognitonics Art Cognitonics (AC) [1, 2, 15, 21] is one of the principal branches of cognitonics. AC aims at tuning the emotional intelligence of the young children and adolescents with the help of well-known works of art. The goal is to create a bright semantic trace in the world’s conceptual picture of the learner corresponding to explaining or illustrating a moral value, communicative situation, deciding the cognitive process itself, the process of self-cognition and consideration, the seething cocktail of emotions, a way of viewing the world, etc. AC establishes the links between objects, situations, processes, views of a person (a beholder) and the work of art that becomes a metaphor or a vivid illustration (vivid mental representation) of something the beholder is considering. That is why the consciousness of the beholder develops the ability to establish diverse analogies and consequently is able to take a new look at a situation. Example. For enriching the colour of their canvases, the impressionists made use of what is known as division of colour and optical blending, e.g., to represent a green meadow, they put little dabs of blue and yellow on the canvas that combine to form green in the eye of the beholder – a far more intense green than one taken straight from the artist’s palette. That is why it is impossible to understand the idea of an impressionist painting by standing close to the canvas. We have to step back and look at it from a certain distance to enjoy it and to receive the desired effect. The same situation exists in every-day life: multiple dabs and reflections prevent us from grasping the sense of what is happening. As in case with impressionists’ canvases, we have to look at the situation from a distance, and distance in this case is time. We need some time to better understand what happened, and this will help us to cope with the situation. 4.5 Annual All-Russian School-contest “The Portrait of Your Town” The third implementation of the SSOL model of educational process are nine all-Russian creative school-contests “Portrait of Your Town” (the years 2017 – 2025). The main idea underpinning the creation of the SSOL model was, while interacting with the learners, to take into account and to improve their emotional intelligence. During the last decade it has been broadly realized that education in knowledge society (or smart society) is to pay particular attention to supporting and developing in learners the significant, independent skills called soft skills [24, 25] or transversal skills, including analytical and critical thinking, creativity, out-of-the-box thinking, and thinking and acting in terms of the public good. Our starting motive was as follows. One of the significant social problems in modern Russia is that the most gifted and highly motivated students in high schools enter the leading universities in the biggest cities of the country (mainly, in Moscow and Saint-Petersburg), receive an excellent education and never return to their native towns and villages. A portion of them find jobs abroad. Consequently, the population of middle and small towns is diminishing. In the beginning of 2017, we launched an all-Russian Webbased creative contest for school children entitled “Portrait of Your Town"; it took place for the nineth time in January through June 2025. It is a delicate opportunity for children from 14 to 18 years to tell about the beauty and peculiarity of their town, about living in the town, understanding their roots, perceiving themselves as the links in the chain of generations, to have a sophisticated look at their world and to take a personal look at the outstanding or usually unnoticed facets of their town—such facets without which, according to their opinion, the complete portrait of the country cannot be formed. We indicate a spectrum of the themes’ facets but not the theme itself. The children and adolescents participating in the main track of the school-contest are to ask the questions about the existence in their towns of such precious peculiarities that the portrait of the whole country would be incomplete without describing these peculiarities. The participants in the track “Say 43 Interdisciplinary Aspects and Cognitonics International Influence During Two Decades of Development Information Society 2025, 6–10 October 2025, Ljubljana, Slovenia Thank You” are asked whether there are such people in her/his surroundings that interaction with them turned out to be a defining experience for the participant. Children discover the delighting traits of character, the manner of speech, the ability to attentively listen to for a long time, etc. After having been delighted, a child or an adolescent is to critically have a look inside herself/himself and ask herself/himself whether she/he possesses the traits of the character who delighted her/him and whether she/he wants to improve her/his character. The participants in the track receive the possibility to understand and to appreciate what they do know. We create a thought-provoking situation which stimulates children and adolescents to analyze facts, to think over, to develop critical thinking (when a schoolgirl or boy understands that she/he doesn’t possess an attractive character trait). The transfer of an experience from one situation to another situation contributes in many cases to developing cognitive flexibility. The brightest and most beautiful thoughts from the compositions of the winners of the school-contests in 2017 - 2025 were presented at eight exhibitions, entitled "The Country as an orchestra" (2018 and 2019) and “The portrait of the country by the hearts of children” (2020 – 2025) in the Federation Council of the Russian Federation (RF)—the upper chamber of the RF Parliament (called "State Douma"). The authors of the compositions were awarded the Letter of Gratitude signed by a senator (a member of the RF Federation Council) in accordance with a region of RF [26]. 4.6 An Effective Starting Mechanism for STEAM Education Dramatic diminishment of average creativity level of children and adolescents discovered in USA [27] caused a strong compensating impulse in education. The idea of the impulse was suggested by the well known fact: the brightest art works emerged as a result of creative acts of consciousness. As a result, the paradigm of STEAM education was born, where STEAM is an abbreviation for Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Mathematics. Our analysis showed that STEAM education had in the 2010s no effective mechanism of supporting and developing creativity in kindergartens and elementary school [1, 2, 15]. That is why we suggested in [1, 2, 15] to use our method of supporting and developing creativity starting the age of five – seven (it is an important part of the Technology of emotionalimaginative teaching with the focus on up-bringing) as an effective mechanism of supporting and developing creativity in kindergartens and elementary school as starting component of STEAM education. 5 Contribution to Cognitive Psychology and Psychology of Development 5.1 Thought-Producing Self of the Child and Art Cognitonics Our concept of thought-producing self (TPS) of the child and adolescent expanded and enriched the list of self-concepts considered in cognitive psychology and including, in particular, ecological self and interpersonal self, emerging by the ending of the first year of the child’s life [28]. The concept of TPS and its use and significance for introducing children to computers is shortly described in the subsection 3.1 of the present paper. Art cognitonics characterized in the subsection 4.4 of the present paper enriched the world stock of the personality development methods. 5.2 Rich, Beautiful Language for Young Children We discovered that the consciousness of five - seven year old children with normal, average capabilities needs of rich, beautiful language for expression the emotions evoked by the beauty of nature – a language being much more complicated than the language used for every day communication with the children of the indicated age [1, 2, 8, 22]. 5.3 Addition of Three New Levels to the Basic Model of Consciousness Development It seems that the model proposed by Zelazo [29] can be considered as a good working instrument for studying the development of conscious control during the first – fourth years of childhood. This model, called the Levels of consciousness (LOC) model, emerged as a result of reflecting the experimentally discovered regularities of the development of conscious control of thought, action, and emotion. The model describes three transitions from one LOC to another, higher LOC, these transitions depend on age. It seems that the broadly felt necessity of promoting children’s emotional and social competence in schools and the lack in the scientific literature of rather simple solutions to this problem are the grounds for putting forward the following conjecture: the levels of consciousness model proposed by Zelazo [29] indicates only some basic stages of consciousness development. The goal of creating appropriate theoretical foundations of promoting children’s emotional and social competence will lead to discovering additional, higher stages of the child’s consciousness development corresponding to mature emotional and social competence of the child. Realizing this idea, let’s give a new interpretation of the methods of developing conscious control of thought, action, and emotion described in [1, 2, 15, 22, 23] and belonging to the System of the Methods of Emotional-Imaginative Teaching. We’ll suppose that these methods underpin the transition from the level of consciousness 4 (LOC 4) to LOC 5, from LOC 5 to LOC 6, and from LOC 6 to LOC 7. The new levels LOC 5, LOC 6, and LOC 7 will be respectively called the level of broad beauty appreciation, the level of appreciating the value of thought, and the level of enhanced awareness of social agreements and social responsibility [1, 2, 15, 22, 23]. A very short, preliminary description of these levels is as follows. Reaching LOC 5 by the person means that this person possesses a well-developed feeling of beauty in various manifestations: the beauty of a thing, of an idea, of an expression, of a picture or sculpture, of the interpersonal relationships, etc. The successful transition from LOC 5 to LOC 6 means that (a) a child is aware of the fact that his/her ideas may be socially significant, i.e. the child may be appraised by the friends or adults for the originality and beauty of his/her idea; (b) a child appreciates the value of the thoughts of other persons. Reaching LOC 7 by a person means that this person is sufficiently mature 44 Information Society 2025, 6–10 October 2025, Ljubljana, Slovenia Vladimir Fomichov and Olga Fomichova in the social sense, i.e. possesses an enhanced awareness of social agreements and social responsibility. It should be underlined that modern preschool and school educational systems in various countries encourage only a rather small proportion of children to reach the 5th - 7th levels of conscious control. But to considerably increase this proportion is vitally important for successful socialization of children in knowledge society. Happily, at least one broadly applicable way of solving this problem has been available since the 1990s, it is given by the EIT-technology. 6 Conclusion Due to the birth of Cognitonics two decades ago, the mankind has escaped a very dangerous cognitive trap. We believe that the essence of this trap is the following false hope: more digital technologies imply less people whose work is routine, monotonous, that is why the space of freedom, the space for creative work have been considerably expanded. Cognitonics drew attention to the necessity of noticing, analysing, and compensating the negative consequences of the digital technologies’ stormy progress. The principal idea of Cognitonics is to support the human qualities in the human being. Happily, the framework of Cognitonics has enabled the scholars to create the constructive educational methods aimed at supporting and developing emotional intelligence, creativity, social maturity, empathy, the ability to appreciate beauty in all its manifestations, the need of communication with nature, the comprehension of the necessity to appreciate and support national culture, the openness to the treasures of world culture, the ability to love a human being but not an emotional artificial intelligence companion, to create a family, the ability to see oneself as a link in a long chain of previous and future generations. Acknowledgments We are grateful to Prof. Dr. Matjaz Gams, the Chair of the Organizing Committees of the international multiconferences INFORMATION SOCIETY 2009 – 2025 for the kind proposals to organize the First – Eighth international conferences on Cognitonics as the subconferences of IS multiconference. References [1] Vladimir Fomichov and Olga Fomichova, 2018. Cognitonics and Its Significance for Education in the Digital Age. Moscow, Publishing House MAKS Press, 2018. 344 p. (in Russian). [2] Olga Fomichova and Vladimir Fomichov, 2020. Education with the Focus on Up-bringing in Knowledge Society. Moscow: MAKS Press, 2020. 576 p. (in Russian). [3] Vladimir Fomichov and Olga Fomichova, 2019. Predgovor/Foreword. In Informacijska druzba - IS 2019. Zvezek E. Proc. of the 22nd Intern. Multiconference - IS 2019, Edited by V. A. Fomichov, O. S. Fomichova. Vol. E. Kognitonika. International Conference on Cognitonics. October 7th-8th, 2019, Ljubljana, Slovenia. Jozef Stefan Institute, Ljubljana, 3-4. [4] Vladimir Fomichov and Olga Fomichova, 2006. Cognitonics as a new science and its significance for informatics and information society. Informatica. An International Journal of Computing and Informatics (Slovenia), 30, 387-398. [5] Vladimir Fomichov and Olga Fomichova, 1994. The theory of dynamic conceptual mappings and its significance for education, cognitive science, and artificial intelligence. Informatica. An International Journal of Computing and Informatics (Slovenia), 8, 31-148. [6] Vladimir Fomichov and Olga Fomichova, 1995. The artificial intelligence theory and highly effective methods of teaching young children foreign languages. Cybernetica, XXXVIII, 321-344. [7] Olga Fomichova and Vladimir Fomichov, 1996. Theoretical foundations of a new method of teaching children effective information processing. Informatica. An International Journal of Computing and Informatics (Slovenia), 20, 381-399. [8] Vladimir Fomichov and Olga Fomichova, 1997. An informational conception of developing the consciousness of the child. Informatica. An Intern. Journal of Computing and Informatics (Slovenia), 21, 371-390. [9] Vladimir Fomichov and Olga Fomichova, 1998. A new theoretical and practical approach to early positive developing child's consciousness. In R. Trappl (Ed.), Cybernetics and Systems'98. Proceedings of the 14th European Meeting on Cybernetics and Systems Research. Vol. 1. Vienna, Austrian Society for Cybernetic Studies, 276-281. [10] Vladimir Fomichov and Olga. Fomichova, 1998. Early development of natural-language-processing abilities as a key to up-bringing of children without conflicts. In G. Ritschard, A. Berchtold, F. Duc, D.A. Zighed (Eds.). Apprentissage: des principes naturels aux methodes artificielles. Editions HERMES, Paris, 67-81. [11] Vladimir Fomichov and Olga Fomichova, 2000. The social responsibility of computer science specialists for the creative potential of the young generation. Intern. Journal of Artificial Intelligence in Education, 11, 208219. [12] Olga Fomichova and Vladimir Fomichov, 2000. Computers and the thought-producing self of the young child, The British Journal of Educational Technology, 31, 213-220. [13] Vladimir A. Fomichov and Olga S. Fomichova, 2011. A map of cognitive transformations realized for early socialization of children in the internet age. In M. Bohanec, M. Gams et al (Eds.). Proceedings of the 14th International Multiconference Information Society – IS 2011, Slovenia, Ljubljana, October 2011. The Conference Kognitonika/Cognitonics. Jozef Stefan Institute, Ljubljana, 353-357. [14] Vladimir Fomichov and Olga Fomichova, 2012. A contribution of cognitonics to secure living in information society. Informatica. An Intern. Journal of Computing and Informatics (Slovenia), 36, 121-130. [15] Vladimir Fomichov and Olga Fomichova, 2019. The student-self oriented learning model as an effective paradigm for education in knowledge society. Informatica. An International Journal of Computing and Informatics (Slovenia), 43, 1, 95-107. [16] Vladimir A. Fomichov and Olga S. Fomichova, 1998. The necessity and an outline of an integral approach to designing intelligent tutoring systems of a new generation (Towards increasing the effectiveness of knowledge transfer on the basis of ideas of artificial intelligence and cognitive science.) Pre-discussion paper. International Electronic Journal "Educational Technology and Society", 1, 1, Sankt Augustin - Bonn, Germany. [17] Paul Craig, Néna Roa-Seiler, M. Martínez Díaz, and F. Lara Rosano, 2014. A cognitonics approach to computer supported learning in the Mexican state of Oaxaca. Informatica. An International Journal of Computing and Informatics (Slovenia), 38, 241-248. [18] Paul Craig, Néna Roa-Seiler, and Zongje Wang, 2015. An etnographic study of mobile videogames for English vocabulary development in urban China. In Informacijska druzba - IS 2015. Proceedings of the 18th International Scientific Multiconference, October 12th-13th, 2015, Ljubljana, Slovenia / Editors: V. A. Fomichov, O. S. Fomichova. Vol. F: Kognitonika/Cognitonics . Ljubljana: Jozef Stefan Institute, 27-32. [19] Néna Roa-Seiler, 2025. A cognitonics approach to emotional AI companions within the framework of European Law (AI Act). In Proceedings of the 28th International Multiconference Information Society – IS 2025, Slovenia, Ljubljana, 6 – 10 October 2025. The Conference Kognitonika/Cognitonics. Jozef Stefan Institute. [20] Olga Fomichova and Vladimir Fomichov, 2009. Cognitonics as an answer to the challenge of time. In Proceedings of the 12th International Multiconference Information Society - IS 2009, Slovenia, Ljubljana, 12 – 16 October 2009. The Conference Kognitonika/Cognitonics. Jozef Stefan Institute, Ljubljana, 431-434. [21] Vladimir Fomichov and Olga Fomichova, 2015. Early development of the human being ideal constituent and art cognitonics as the answer to the challenge of knowledge society. In Informacijska druzba - IS 2015. Proc. of the 18th International Multiconference - IS 2015, Edited by V. A. Fomichov, O. S. Fomichova. Vol. F: Kognitonika/Cognitonics. Oct. 12th13th, 2015, Ljubljana. Jozef Stefan Institute, 27-32. [22] Vladimir A. Fomichov, 2015. Conscious control during childhood, development of. In International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Sciences, Second Edition, vol. 4. Elsevier, Oxford, 666-672. [23] Vladimir A. Fomichov and Olga S. Fomichova, 2014. An imperative of a poorly recognized existential risk: early socialization of smart young generation in information society. Informatica. An International Journal of Computing and Informatics (Slovenia), 38, 59-70. [24] Soft skills, 2019. In TVETipedia Glossary. Available at https://unevoc.unesco.org/go.php?q=TVETipedia+Glossary+AZ&filt=all&id=602 [accessed: 21.12.2019]. [25] Vjeran Buselic, 2019. Information literacy and critical thinking freshman course experience. In the Proceedings of the 41st International Convention MIPRO 2018 (Opatija, May 20-24, 2019), Conference “Computers in 45 Interdisciplinary Aspects and Cognitonics International Influence During Two Decades of Development Information Society 2025, 6–10 October 2025, Ljubljana, Slovenia Education”, P. Biljanovic et al., Eds, Opatija, Croatia: Mipro and IEEE, 920-925. [26] Vladimir Fomichov and Olga Fomichova, 2022. Theoretical foundations and experience of one Moscow and four All-Russian creative web-based contests. In Ginger Jones (Editor), Solutions for Distance Learning in Higher Education, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, UK, 2022, 125-141. [27] Kyung Hee Kim, 2011. The creativity crisis: the decrease in creative thinking scores on the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking. Creativity Research Journal, 23, No. 4, 285295. https://doi.org/10.1080/10400419.2011.627805 [28] Ulric Neisser (Ed.), 1993. The Perceived Self: Ecological and Interpersonal Sources of Self-Knowledge. Cambridge University Press, New York. [29] Philip David Zelazo, 2004. The development of conscious control in childhood. Trends in Cognitive Sciences 8, 1, 12-17. DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2003.11.001 46 The Impact of AI Tools on Students’ Cognitive Processes in Practical Software Development Dijana Liverić, Private Grammar School Andrija Ljudevit Adamić Dolac 1, 51000, Rijeka, Croatia, [email protected] Abstract This study investigates how AI tools like GitHub Copilot and large language models (LLMs) affect cognitive engagement in high school students engaged in practical software and application development. It examines critical thinking, cognitive load, offloading, and motivation, exploring how AI can be used in education without undermining independent problem-solving skills. Grounded in Cognitive Load Theory and recent research on metacognition, the study integrates survey data with theoretical analysis to examine the cognitive and motivational dynamics of AI-assisted learning. Keywords AI-assisted programming, large language models (LLMs), cognitive load, cognitive offloading, critical thinking, metacognition, computational thinking, student motivation 1 Introduction Although AI tools hold great potential in education, important questions remain about students’ genuine understanding of generated solutions and their cognitive engagement. Prompt design reflects both the user’s comprehension of the problem and the direction of AI output, illustrating the interplay between mental processing and external support. The implementation of AI-generated solutions further reveals levels of effort, autonomy, and understanding. Against this background, the study examines the educational implications of AI-assisted learning in programming, with particular emphasis on fostering deeper understanding and sustained motivation. 2 Research Design and Methodology The study is grounded in Cognitive Load Theory and the concept of cognitive offloading, complemented by theories of motivation and self-determination. An online questionnaire was used, combining closed and open-ended questions about students’ background, use of AI tools, behavior during implementation, understanding and cognitive processes, motivation, and the teacher’s role. Participants were high school students from grammar and vocational tracks with access to AI tools in programming classes. Data were collected during lessons through a voluntary and anonymous online survey. Quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, while qualitative responses were examined through content analysis focusing on the link between AI use and cognitive engagement. 3 Theoretical and Conceptual Framework 3.1. Cognitive Load Theory Cognitive Load Theory (CLT), first introduced by John Sweller in 1988, is based on the premise that human working memory has limited capacity and that excessive cognitive load can hinder the learning process [1]. Over time, the theory has evolved to distinguish between three types of cognitive load: intrinsic (the inherent complexity of the task), extraneous (the complexity added by the format and structure of instructional materials), and germane (the mental effort devoted to building and refining cognitive schemas) [2]. In the context of learning programming, particularly when large language models (LLMs) are involved it is essential to recognize how these technologies influence each component of cognitive load. LLMs such as ChatGPT can reduce extraneous load by providing easier access to information and concrete code examples. However, there is a risk that germane load may also be reduced if students rely on generated solutions without engaging in meaningful understanding of the underlying process. 3.2. Cognitive Offloading and Mental Effort Cognitive offloading refers to the use of external aids such as notes, technology, or tools to reduce mental effort and increase efficiency [3]. While this role was traditionally fulfilled by calculators and written reminders, today it is increasingly taken on by large language models (LLMs) that generate ready-made solutions in real time. Risko & Gilbert (2016) emphasize that cognitive offloading can be beneficial when used to support thinking processes, but they also warn of the risks when it becomes a substitute for thinking itself [3]. It is essential to distinguish between strategic use of external aids which frees up working memory for higher-level tasks and passive reliance on tools that reduces metacognitive engagement and hinders deep learning. When students accept solutions without reflection or analysis, the cognitive loop necessary for learning is disrupted, weakening long-term knowledge retention. Empirical evidence supports this distinction. Studies show that offloading can improve immediate task performance, but at 47 The Language Games for Living Alongside Institutional Artificial Persons which Employ Artificial Intelligence Information Society 2025, 6–10 October 2025, Ljubljana, Slovenia to say about that institutional setting, and therefore understand what behaviour is expected from each of the institutional agencies involved. Should any of the elements of the educational setting, be replaced with ALAPs, we can also note what behaviours are expected of any ALAP at work in the operations space. 3. We can be clear of the bureaucratic requirements, monitoring requirements, resources and laws applying to institutional agencies at work in the space. Therefore, for any black-box device that is at work, there is no real need to know how it produces its behaviour. It is however important to note the behaviour and challenge it where necessary: firstly at the institutional level. With this metaphor of state and operations within the state, we can turn to urgent issues being raised by youngsters as regards the introduction of agents harnessing generative AI capabilities among the already recognisable artificial persons of the institutions of the state. We also highlight that the importance of young people in our society has been greatly enhanced since the beginning of the 18th century. To this end, we highlight the work of school-age citizens, such as Greta Thunberg at the age of 15, whose poetic and pragmatic response to the world around her caused a dramatic increase in concern on the topic of climate change and climate activism. We look to the work of Sneha Revanu, a Californian who also started campaigning at the age of 15, by starting an organisation to highlight the dangers of unregulated AI. Sneha Revanu has been called the Greta Thunberg of AI. Her startup, Encode AI, has flourished into a youth oriented movement that, among other campaigns, endorses an AI regulation campaign, called Encode Justice 2030. The acclaimed campaign draws the world’s attention to the fact that the world as it is being changed today will be lived in by the young people of today, and that the young should have some say over the actions of governments, private institutions and public institutions as they develop AI agents and employ them in society. We note that the 22 points raised in 5 main headings in the campaign directly address IAPs. We list the key questions here: 1. Build trust and human connection a. Governments should mandate clear and continuous disclosures of AI-generated political advertising. b. Companies should identify and limit the spread of deepfake content c. Governments must protect free speech and opportunities for anonymity. d. Companies should label AI outputs with a well-established warning symbol or label and explicitly disclose the model of origin e. Companies should ensure that AI systems present clear and continuous indicators that users are interacting with a machine, not a human. f. Companies should allow users to opt out of being subjected to an embedded AI system g. Companies should offer users agency and ownership over their personal data h. Governments should fund public education programs that train people to make thoughtful choices about their interactions with AI. i. Public and private actors should make a large-scale investment in research and technical solutions, built from the ground up, to defend trust and truth. 2. Protect our fundamental rights and freedoms a. Governments should mandate publicly available impact assessments for rightsimpacting AI systems. b. Public and private actors should actively monitor the real-world impact of AI systems once deployed c. Governments must empower us to seek meaningful redress when such a system is shown to have violated our rights d. Governments should fund technical research on bias detection and mitigation. 3. Secure our economic future a. Governments should redirect R&D investment to AI applications whose fundamental purpose is to enhance, not supplant, human capabilities and potential over time. b. Governments should form a global retraining fund. c. Governments should be willing to consider bold, innovative policy ideas if we arrive at economic conditions that necessitate a more dramatic response. 54 Information Society 2025, 6–10 October 2025, Ljubljana, Slovenia Thomas B. Kane. 4. Ban fully operated weapons of destruction a. Governments should ratify an international treaty that prohibits the creation, manufacturing, and deployment of fully autonomous, offensive weapon systems that lack meaningful human control. b. Public and private actors should invest in AI applications that encourage peacekeeping and conflict resolution. 5. Cooperate for a safer today and tomorrow a. Collectively, Governments should establish a global authority to minimize the dangers of AI, particularly foundation models. b. Collectively, Governments should create a global institute for AI safety that employs the world’s top scientific talent c. Collectively, Governments should ensure that the benefits of AI are more evenly distributed and lessen global environmental harms. d. Individually, Governments should create domestic rules of the road aimed at preventing hazardous outcomes Kane [4] showed how pupils in the Glasgow school estate were able to engage with real-world agencies and learn from them as they pursued their education. The same means of contact, with agreed terms, citing the curricular level of the pupils involved, and engaging with the external organisation on one of the topics above, could generate a great deal of debate and understanding of the true issues at stake in each of these topics. Furthermore, as any year-group of a state education system can be collectively described as an artificial person that contains all of these students, there is an opportunity to collect the considered opinions of all these students and deliver them directly to important stakeholders and legislators. 4 A Preliminary Cognitonics Framework and Metaphor to Pursue Harmonious Integration We have focused upon the famous dance scene from Robert Owen’s school, which he called “The Institute for the Formation of Character”. However, this operations space could be substituted for any other field of activity that involves advanced tools of artificial intelligence, and calls for a just reckoning with the social contract. Therefore, we could swap out the classroom operational and apply it to other operational spaces directly. Instead of a school lesson we could explore such topics as any of the 22 calls from Encode AI in an appropriate activity space. We can envisage each of these points as the leading statement of a debate and directly involve young people in the running of the debate. These debates would have different complexities and efficacy depending on which part of society is engaging with young people. 1. The provision of free and fair elections – elucidating all actors involved and the institutional engagement of generative AI agents in the electoral process 2. The handling of private and personal human information by AI agents and the institutions which have access to their reasoning and datasets 3. The human impacts of business or governmental engagements in particular operational spaces of society on those who are uninformed stakeholders in that operation space. 5 Conclusion This paper proposes a preliminary means of addressing questions of the Fourth Industrial Revolution firstly, from an educational perspective, and then from an operational perspective that includes all of the stakeholders of the operational domain, along with the social contract they operate under, which, importantly highlights their rights and responsibilities in the operational space. When it comes to discussing the issues that are raised, there are many educational environments where this can be done. If a societal effort is made to link these educational spaces to places in the real-world where issues arise, then our real-world education systems will be advanced. If we develop a means for connecting the concerns and insights of young people with legislative processes, allowing the participating students to be heard and involved at legislative level, then we will be expanding the horizons of participative democracy, and involving the voices of young people in decisions that will affect their future world. References [1] Owen, R. and Claeys, G. (1991) A new view of society and other writings. Harmondsworth: Penguin (Penguin classics). [2] Schwab, K. (2017) The fourth industrial revolution. First published in Great Britain by Portfolio. London, UK u. a: Portfolio Penguin. [3] Hobbes, T. and Macpherson, C.B. (1985) Leviathan. London: Penguin boks (Penguin classics). [4] Kane, T.B. (2014) Using Cognitive Tunnels in a New Approach to Building Social Elevators in the Information Society. Informatica (Slovenia), 38. Available at: https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:202098. [5] Kane, T.B. (2025) Philosophical approaches to managing generative AI agents as artificial persons at work, Journal of Business Analytics, pp. 1–17. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/2573234X.2025.2482652. [6] Espejo, R. and Harnden, R. (eds) (1989) The Viable system model: interpretations and applications of Stafford Beer’s vsm. Chichester, West Sussex, England ; New York: J. Wiley. 55 56 Indeks avtorjev / Author index Dagdileli Ioanna ........................................................................................................................................................................... 31 Fomichov Vladimir A. ........................................................................................................................................................... 21, 40 Fomichova Olga S. ................................................................................................................................................................. 21, 40 Kane Thomas B. ........................................................................................................................................................................... 52 Kim Joonho .................................................................................................................................................................................. 27 Liverić Dijana ............................................................................................................................................................................... 47 Micarelli Rita ......................................................................................................................................................................... 12, 16 Pizziolo Giorgio ..................................................................................................................................................................... 12, 16 Roa-Seïler Néna ........................................................................................................................................................................... 35 Schinzel Hiltrud ............................................................................................................................................................................. 7 57 Kognitonika Cognitonics Urednika l Editors: Vladimir A. Fomichov Olga S. Fomichova