Falling for the soldier. Sociological gazes between light and algorithms

Abstract

The pretext of an iconic shot—and the doubt it carries, “is this image true?”—opens the question and the reflection developed in this contribution on the transition from images of light to images of data, in the context of artificial intelligence. Through references to visual sociology, the Uncanny Valley effect, the concept of “hallucination” in generative systems, and the analysis of concrete applications, the text interrogates, albeit with a circumscribed approach, synthetic images not as mere fakes but as signs of a deeper shift. The aim is to encourage a renewed visual literacy and an inductive, situated approach capable of facing emerging complexity without losing the anchor of sociological imagination.