The use of binary oppositions cultivates hatred in polarization. Today the operation spreads through social networks. It is about “hanging the little sign” of discrimination and rejecting what is not marked as “chameleon-like” or “weak.” All ambiguity is reduced to a strong marking with opposite terms. “Cutting to the chase” is increasingly the way of doing politics. Taking power and eliminating the enemy is worth it. Sovereignty is equated with coup and dictatorship.

Anti-democratic reasoning has some of its roots in the widespread use of binary oppositions and in the action mediated by the algorithms of our daily life. The political corollary is not at all flattering. True reflection seems to be marginalized in increasingly reduced environments. Today Ortega’s “mass man” is a hyper-informed being but incapable of thinking deeply and calmly.

But let us not despair. Reflection and democracy will not die. Fascism encounters resistance and makes mistakes. There is even a ray of hope in artificial intelligence, which until now has been based on binary calculation. We are on the threshold of quantum computing, which in its own way will once again boost complex and multidimensional thinking. For now, let us put our screens to rest, suspend the binary matrix and cultivate doubt. Let us not allow future extraterrestrials to consider us remote-controlled apes.