This society, on autopilot, needs to reclaim the act of “thinking” in the age of data.
The phrase “I think, therefore my algorithm says I exist” is a disturbing update of Descartes’ “cogito, ergo sum,” which transferred the certainty of existence to the intimate act of thinking.
Today, that certainty seems to have been externalized. Thinking is no longer enough; it seems our existence only “counts” if it leaves behind data, metrics, and digital traces that some system records, analyzes, and translates into visibility or relevance.
In this shift, the self goes from asserting itself through inner consciousness to verifying itself in an algorithmic mirror. We cease to be merely thinking subjects and become also measured, profiled, and predicted subjects.
What we call identity is influenced by models that select what we see, what is recommended to us, what is amplified, and what is silenced, configuring an “algorithmic self” co-created between our minds and the logic of the platforms.
The risk is moving from “I think, therefore I am” to “I am recommended, therefore I am relevant,” replacing the depth of thought with the immediacy of scrolling and delegating part of our autonomy to systems that optimize attention and profit, not meaning.
The solution is not to demonize technology, but to reclaim the cogito within the code.
It’s about becoming aware of how we are calculated to decide when to follow the recommendation and when to deviate from it.
It’s about refocusing on a consciousness that doubts, questions, chooses, and takes responsibility. So that the algorithm is a tool and a mirror, but never an oracle or the ultimate judge of who we are.
Happy New Year 2026. From the heart of the entire TOTEM Branding team.
