For a “Genealogy” of the Political Debate on 5G

We are observing in society a twofold trend in shaping the technological discourse of 5G. On one hand, there are a lot of spontaneous social movements that protest public institutions and decision-makers arguing about the perilous development of 5G for human health. On the other hand, far from the participation of citizens, governments and large ICT companies decide the destiny of the application of this novel technology arising the suspect of common people. It seems to us that the insistent emphasis on health risk and the idea of a 5G conspiracy are two sides of the same coin. But this sclerotized manifestation threatens to lose sight of the most consisting and remarkable societal aspect of 5G. This is the scope in the background of this paper. 5G represents a challenge for ethics and the value-based discus- sion on technologies since it demonstrates how important it is that the social acceptability of emerging and disruptive technologies passes through the participation of people who at the same time should form rational and shared models of judgment, reactivating the subjunctive link between democracy and science.