The Imaginary of 4.0 Technologies: An Empirical Analysis of the Narrative System on Industry 4.0, Digital Twin and High Performance Computing.

The present research adopts a mixed methods approach that aims to investigate the system of narratives about Industry 4.0, the emerging technologies of high-performance computing and digital twins and how these are impacting socially. Specifically, the reflection started from a broader perspective that explored all the possible ‘visions’ of the future that digital transformation and technological innovation processes are leading to, taking into account the conflicts that arise in their implementation and in the widespread socio-technical configurations. With critical optimism, the implications and repercussions that these technologies have on society were analysed, but not only that, the academic and entrepreneurial narratives of Industry 4.0 were also explored through an integrated perspective that produced a matrix of entrepreneurial types in the terminal phase. In the initial phase, a contextual investigation and reconstruction of the existing social literature on the examined technologies and Industry 4.0 was carried out. In the second, more operational phase, an automated extraction of the contents present in the social media Facebook was carried out, with regard to the three different macro-themes, at the same time the qualitative survey instrument was developed, i.e. a semi-structured interview outline, which allowed for an in-depth exploration of the narrative system concerning 4.0 enabling technologies in general and in particular with regard to high-performance automatic computing and digital twins in the various contexts examined, trying to understand the perceptions of users but also the social repercussions given by their use. Interviews were carried out with entrepreneurs and experienced personnel who have or have proven knowledge of the technologies under study. The results were read and interpreted from a convergent integration perspective attentive to social impacts and future perspectives in a critical key.