From the Physical Prison to the Algorithmic Prison

FROM THE PHYSICAL PRISON TO THE ALGORITHMIC PRISON Memory, Depersonalization, and Human Autonomy in the Light of the Frankfurt School and Graciliano Ramos’s Memoirs of Prison This article examines the relationships between confinement, depersonalization, memory, and human autonomy by establishing a dialogue between the Critical Theory of the Frankfurt School, Graciliano Ramos’s Memoirs of Prison (Memórias do Cárcere), and contemporary forms of surveillance and control mediated by digital systems and algorithms. The study begins with the experience of physical imprisonment portrayed by Graciliano Ramos and proceeds to analyze transformations in the mechanisms through which individuals are observed, classified, and subjected to intervention. In this context, the contributions of Max Horkheimer, Theodor W. Adorno, Herbert Marcuse, Walter Benjamin, and Erich Fromm are brought into dialogue with contemporary reflections on digital surveillance, algorithmic profiling, and human autonomy. The article proposes a conceptual architecture organized around the sequence BODY → RECORD → PROFILE → INTERVENTION, in which memory operates as a transversal dimension connecting individual experience, institutional records, representations constructed about individuals, and the decisions that affect them. This framework makes it possible to examine how personal information can be transformed into classifications and used to guide decisions, thereby influencing individual opportunities for action and social participation. The central contribution of the article lies in integrating testimonial memory, the philosophical critique of instrumental rationality, and the analysis of algorithmic mechanisms of control. The comparison between physical imprisonment and the digital environment does not treat them as equivalent phenomena; rather, it investigates continuities and differences in the ways they restrict autonomy, construct institutional identities, and organize power relations. By bringing philosophy, literature, historical memory, and the critique of technology into dialogue, this study offers a conceptual framework for discussing human dignity, the ability to challenge imposed classifications, and the conditions necessary to preserve autonomy in societies increasingly mediated by automated systems. Keywords: Frankfurt School; Graciliano Ramos; Memoirs of Prison; Critical Theory; digital surveillance; algorithms; memory; depersonalization; human autonomy; instrumental rationality. Subject areas: Philosophy; Social Philosophy; Critical Theory; Literary Studies; Philosophy of Technology; Digital Society.