The architect and the oracle. A new alliance for the organisation of knowledge?

Abstract

The contribution is dedicated to the Gino Roncaglia’s book L’architetto e l’oracolo. Forme digitali del sapere da Wikipedia a ChatGPT (Roma-Bari, Laterza, 2023), which examines the general lines of different models of knowledge organization in current digital ecosystems and traces them back to the metaphorical role of the architect and the oracle evoked in the title. In the case of the architect, the tendentially universalistic representation of knowledge is realized through the hierarchical structure of the encyclopedia, namely Wikipedia; in the case of the oracle, the production of content takes place on the basis of complex probabilistic and predictive models, which characterise in particular the functions of generative artificial intelligences such as ChatGPT. The contribution proposes an examination of the overall structure of the book, starting from its paratextual elements, and tries to point to a practicable integration of the two models for the construction of complex contents in the light of an unprecedented and feasible alliance between men and machines, in respect of which interesting possibilities are beginning to be glimpsed, which also invest the field of bibliographical and library culture.