Digital totalitarism in the paradigm of digitalization of society

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Department of Journalism and Advertising State University of Trade and Economics Kyiv

Digital totalitarism in the paradigm of digitalization of society

Dobrodum Olha Viktorivna

Doctor of Philosophical Sciences, Professor, Professor,

Onofriychuk (Gamova) Iryna Vyacheslavivna

Doctor of Economic Sciences, Associate Professor

Kyiv

Abstract

The urgency of the problem. Today, in the 21st century, digital totalitarianism is an urgent phenomenon and an existential challenge of the modern era. The discourse of digital totalitarianism invites an allusion of numerological views ofpythagoreanism - magical relations of all the earthly to the number, and God was marked by the unit. The kaleidoscope of all social actions is reflected in the media and can act positively or negatively - this ambivalent approach is also used in understanding the impact of digital technologies, the relationship to which can be from glorification and sacralization to demonization and infernalization, as many scientists express concern about potential threats in connection with the abnormally rapid development of the technology discussed. In connection with this topic it is impossible not to mention Chinese capitalism with a socialist face or socialism with Chinese specifics and its great Chinese electronic firewall. The manifestation of digital totalitarianism, in our view, can be seen in a certain monopolization of production. The aim of the article is to explore digital totalitarianism as a possible trend of digitalization of society. Methods of research: principles of world-view and methodological pluralism, impartiality and humanism, comparability and nonengagement, ideological diversity, tolerance, secularity. From concrete-scientific methods, problem- chronological, system-structural and critical analysis of philosophical sources, as well as conceptual- discourse, systematic-chronological approaches to scientific understanding of phenomena and events of social life were applied. Results. At present, anti-utopian fears in the possibility of the emergence of digital totalitarianism and a whole palette of diverse attitudes to high-tech, in connection with which synonymous concepts of technophobia and neo-Luddism, computer and Internet addiction as forms of problematic influence of the Global Web are being updated in the public memory. The spectrum and registry of the impact of technologies on a particular person depends not so much on the nature of the Internet, but on its users, who are increasingly interacting on a technological basis.

Key words: digital totalitarianism, digitalization of society, personality, artificial intelligence, Internet, technophobia, paradigm.

Анотація

Добродум Ольга Вікторівна

доктор філософських наук, професор, професор кафедри журналістики та реклами Державного торговельно-економічного університету, Київ

Онофрійчук (Гамова) Ірина В'ячеславівна

кандидат економічних наук, доцент кафедри журналістики та реклами Державного торговельно-економічного університету Київ

ЦИФРОВИЙ ТОТАЛІТАРИЗМ У ПАРАДИГМІ ДИГІТАЛІЗАЦІЇ СУСПІЛЬСТВА

Актуальність проблеми. Сьогодні в ХХІ столітті цифровий тоталітаризм є актуальним феноменом та екзистенціальним викликом сучасної епохи. Дискурс цифрового тоталітаризму навіює алюзію нумерологічних поглядів піфагореїзму - магічних співвідношень всього земного з цифрою, причому Бог позначався одиницею. Калейдоскоп усіх соціальних дій знаходить відображення у ЗМІ і може діяти позитивно чи негативно - даний амбівалетний підхід вживаємо і в межах осмислення впливу цифрових технологій, відношення до яких може бути від глори- фікації та сакралізації до демонізації та інферналізації, оскільки багато вчених висловлюють занепокоєння потенційними загрозами у зв'язку з аномально швидким розвитком обговорюваної технології. У зв'язку з цією тематикою неможливо не згадати китайський капіталізм із соціалістичним обличчям або соціалізм із китайською специфікою та його великий китайський електронний брандмауер. Маніфестація цифрового тоталітаризму, на наш погляд, може вбачатися і у певній монополізації виробництва. Мета статті - дослідити цифровий тоталітаризм як можливий тренд дигіталізації суспільства. Методи дослідження: принципи світоглядного та методологічного плюралізму, неупередженості та гуманізму, компаративності та незаан- гажованості, ідеологічного різноманіття, толерантності, світськості. З конкретно-наукових методів було застосовано проблемно-хронологічний, системно-структурний та критичний аналіз філософських джерел, а також концептуально-дискурсний, системно-хронологічний підходи до наукового осмислення явищ та подій суспільного життя. Результати. В даний час поширені антиутопічні побоювання у можливості настання цифрового тоталітаризму та ціла палітра розмаїтого ставлення до high-tech, у зв'язку з чим актуалізуються у суспільній пам'яті синонімічні поняття технофобія та неолуддизм, комп'ютерна та Інтернет-адикція як форми проблематичного впливу Глобального Павутиння. Спектр та регістр впливу технологій на конкретну особистість залежить не стільки від самої природи Інтернету, а від його користувачів, які все більше взаємодіють саме на технологічній основі.

Ключові слова: цифровий тоталітаризм, дигіталізація суспільства, особистість, штучний інтелект, Інтернет, технофобія, парадигма.

Introduction

Presumably, today in the 21st century, digital totalitarianism is an actual phenomenon and an existential challenge of the modern era. The discourse of digital totalitarianism invites an allusion of numerological views of Pythagoreanism - magical relations of all the earthly to the number, moreover God was denoted as a one. The binary system as the basis of high-tech would not have been possible without the zero that India gave humanity, without the invention of which there would have been no mathematics, physics and the latest technologies (Brahmagupta, an Indian mathematician and astronomer, first used a point under other numbers to denote the number of zero in 628 AD). The kaleidoscope of all social actions is reflected in the media and can act positively or negatively - this ambivalent approach is also used in understanding the impact of digital technologies, the relationship to which can be from glorification and sacralization to demonization and infernalization, as many scientists express concern about potential threats in connection with the abnormally rapid development of the technology discussed. digital totalitarianism internet addiction

In connection with this topic it is impossible not to mention Chinese capitalism with a socialist face or socialism with Chinese specifics and its great Chinese electronic firewall. Particularly symptomatic was the Arab Spring, otherwise called the Twitter and Facebook revolution, which began with the revolution in Tunisia. The manifestation of digital totalitarianism, in our view, can also be seen in a certain monopoly of production - for example, in the fact that Taiwan accounts for almost 90% of the global production of advanced microchips (and more than 65% of all chips), so semiconductors, tiny computer chips are often called the "oil" of the 21st century. Probably, in the near future in the medium term, humanity is not threatened by a robot rebellion, because the robotic designs are not so perfect that they could independently plan and perform the functions entrusted to them. Mechanical engineering is still developing significantly independently from high-tech, there is almost no symbiosis between them, and the level of software is not yet so perfect that AI (artificial intelligence) could set tasks and perform them. Updated the problem we are studying and the fact that AI is the most important word of the year 2023 according to the Collins dictionary, because AI "accelerated at such a rapid pace and became the dominant discussion of 2023". The use of this word has increased fourfold in the last year. "AI" was chosen from a list of new terms that reflect "our constantly evolving language and the problems of those who use it". Last year was chosen as the word of the year "perma crisis" (permanent crisis), a year earlier - "NFT", and in 2020 - "Lockdown" [1].

The aim of the article is to explore digital totalitarianism as a possible trend of digitalization of society.

Research methods

The theoretical and methodological basis of the article were the principles ofworld-view and methodical pluralism, impartiality and humanism, comparability and unengagedness, ideological diversity, tolerance, secularity. From concrete-scientific methods, problem-chronological, system-structural and critical analysis of philosophical sources, as well as conceptual-discursive, systematic- chronological approaches to scientific understanding of phenomena and events of religious and political life were applied.

In the modern era, "technophobia" is present, first of all, in the so-called "anti-Scientist directions" of Western philosophy, such as, for example, the philosophies of life and existentialism that grow out of it, and philosophical anthropology. Some theorists of "global-environmental catastrophe" can be counted as technophobes, including Aurelio Peccei, Donella Meadows, Jay Forrester, Paul Ehrlich, Archie J. Bahm, Garrett James Hardin etc.

Digitalization by some is perceived as something inhuman and even infernal in the course of Erich Fromm's reasoning about necrophilia, as the embodiment of "Thanatos" in the terminology of Sigmund Freud. Using the conceptual legacy of psychoanalysis, one can imagine how future high- tech archetypes arise from the depths of the collective unconscious.

According to the classification used by a number of experts, today we are living in the Fourth Industrial Revolution, characterized by the fusion of AI technologies, genetic engineering and robotics, wiping the boundaries between the physical, digital and biological worlds. Anthony Hiddens believes that the pace and global scale of such a revolution is unprecedented in human history, and we are probably only at its early stages - according to him, new developments in the field of AI are likely to lead to a new phase of social transformation. Some believe that the digital revolution, first and foremost, creates endless diversity and destroys institutions and lifestyles that existed before. Recently, the publication "Insider" has compiled a list of specialties in which neural networks can replace people: programmer, journalist and copywriter, lawyer, marketing analyst, teacher, financial consultant, trader, graphic designer, accountant, support agent.

At least, in the listed industries are detached amateurs, which can easily be replaced by chatbots, and only real professionals of their business will remain: the recent news that the American publication BuzzFeed fired 180 journalists and began to use a chatbot was loud - these processes are already taking place. History knows the scientific and technical revolutions that caused fear and concern of people to be replaced by machines: monks who rewrote manuscripts by hand condemned the printing machine, and the camera was declared the death of painting in the mid- 1800s. Remember the Luddite movement that arose in the first quarter of the 19th century during the Industrial Revolution in England - when workers broke machines and equipment in protest. Scientific and technological revolution is inevitable, and it mostly concerns certain professions or fields, but, in the end, literally changes the world. What will the world be like after the Fourth Industrial Revolution with such a massive use of AI? Ray Kurzweil spoke of the fact that we will not even notice when the era of singularity begins - when the development of these information technologies will be so dense that we do not know: we control them, or they control us. Even now, many people may feel that they control information technology. We are already entering the era of singularity, AI will play a very big role, but there will be a very great need for the uniqueness of human thought. Professionals will be in demand, but the question is whether professionals will then be able to integrate into this information digitized environment [2].

Results

It is possible that computers will become unnecessary by the end of this century, or even in thirty years. In the influential American scientific journal "Frontiers in Neuroscience", twelve scientists published an article that caused a worldwide resonance "Human Brain/ Cloud Interface" on the creation of a direct system of interaction between the human brain and the "rapidly expanding data cloud", the prototype of which is the Internet. In 2016, the development of an incredible interface was taken over by Elon Musk, who skillfully scares the audience by the fact that soon humanity in comparison with AI machines will become just their domestic cats. The concept of transhumanism has been receiving more and more criticism lately: on the one hand - not much or little elimination of suffering, sickness, aging and death, but on the other - our complete dehumanisation, moreover, giving ourselves under the control of some secret system, which, since the leverages of influence as nanorobots are already instilled in every individual, especially afraid of death, and it can dispose of them at its own discretion. After all, moral guarantees of security of the individual remain moral assurances, and no one gives them. At the same time, as Elon Musk rightly noted, partial cybersecurity of the person has already occurred: modern people daily interact with “digital versions of themselves” in the form of accounts in social networks, for example [3].

Also, as is known, the "godfathers" of artificial intelligence are afraid that it can get out of control, so they propose to impose the responsibility for the damage from it on the companies- developers. It articulates proposals on AI that governments should allocate one-third of their AI research and development, and companies should devote a third of their research resources to the safe and ethical use of systems; that independent auditors should be given access to AI laboratories; that a licensing system should be established to create advanced models; that AI companies should take special security measures if dangerous capabilities are identified in their models; and that technology companies should be held accountable for predictable and preventive damage from their AI systems. Negligently developed artificial intelligence systems threaten to "increase social injustice, blow up our professions, undermine social stability, promote large- scale criminal or terrorist activities, and weaken our shared understanding of the reality that is at the heart of society". They noted that current AI systems already show signs of alarming capabilities that point the way to the emergence of autonomous systems that can plan, pursue goals and act in the world. Although some experts on artificial intelligence argue that fears about threats to human existence are exaggerated [4].

It can be noted that mankind has inherent alarming feelings in connection with AI - there are hypothetical notions that humanity for the first time faces a situation when something appeared that will be much smarter than the smartest person. For example, Elon Musk stated that artificial intelligence is the greatest threat to mankind [5] and expressed concern about the impact of AI on the future of work and society. Such a state of affairs, according to Musk, can be both a positive and a negative phenomenon (the benefit of AI will be to deprive people of labor, but the spread of the handmade mind to question the meaning of the existence of mankind) [6]. Elon Musk believes that AI may eventually also leave everyone unemployed and become the "most breakthrough force in history" and more dangerous than nuclear weapons, calling for the cessation of the development of AI, a more sophisticated, than OpenAI GPT-4 software [7].

We are witnessing the consequences of global Tech and IT revolutions, as the IT and Tech industries are changing even the policy landscape. If you carefully look at the middle age of top politicians of the West and the quality of today's low-paid Western bureaucracy, it is easy to understand that for at least twenty years the world trend has been ongoing: politics and public service is causing rejection among young people, because "why shoot each other when you can lick each other". The chance of the global restart of the West and the appearance of new, ready to act leaders who will go to raise the stakes until the complete victory of civilization over darkness - there is simply no other option [8].

Conclusions

The AI factor is important in humanitarian discourse, as it demonstrates the possibility of using some ideas, regardless of what the authors themselves meant. In its cunning and subtility, lowliness and aggression, human intelligence far exceeds the inhuman and AI for the time being only demonstrates the capabilities of the human being, in particular its bad sides. The unlimited creativity of the human mind is confined to a set of ethical principles: so, in 2016, the chat-bot Microsoft Tay, the predecessor of ChatGPT, filled the Internet with xenophobic and racist content that appeared because of online trolls that “feed” it offensive educational data [9].

Returning to the current Russian-Ukrainian war, there are notions that the Kremlin is preparing a 'import replacement' for Google: so beautifully will be called the introduction of a digital dictatorship The Great Chinese Firewall (named the "Golden Shield") involves obedient behavior in the market of world services, from Google to Facebook, which set keyword filters and use the "black list" of banned sites. China has also created successful analogues of Western services: instead of Google - Baidu, Twitter replaced Weibo, instead of Facebook - RenRen, Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp - WeChat, YouTube - Youku. Today, Yandex has overtaken Google and is a key censor in the Russian digital world and plays a leading role in covering information about the war, while "Yandex" opens the FSB access to data of all users, not only Russian. As a joke on the network, Putin's intelligence services changed the company's slogan from "Yandex - Find Everything" to "Yundex - Get Everything". Keeping Yandex in its pocket, the Kremlin will simultaneously filter digital communication with the "bourgeois" Internet, all kinds of Google, Yahoo! and FB: for this it is enough to decrease the speed with the Western world - this is the simple way that Runet will become "sovereign" [10].

At present, anti-utopian fears in the possibility of the emergence of digital totalitarianism and a whole palette of diverse attitudes to high-tech, in connection with which synonymous concepts of technophobia and neo-Luddism, computer and Internet addiction as forms of problematic influence of the Global Web are being updated in the public memory. The spectrum and registry of the impact of technologies on a particular person depends not so much on the nature of the Internet, but on its users, who are increasingly interacting on a technological basis. On the one hand, as if "Doctor Google knows everything", and on the other, "connect, or you will die", because "reality is an illusion caused by the absence of the Internet", and, according to Bill Gates, "if you are absent in Internet - you do not exist".

Bibliography

1. Addley E. `AI' named most notable word of 2023 by Collins dictionary Chosen from a list that includes `greedflation', `nepo baby' and `deinfluencing', use of term has quadrupled this year.

2. Mok A. and Zinkula J. ChatGPT may be coming for our jobs. Here are the 10 roles that AI is most likely to replace.

3. Human Brain/Cloud Interface

4. «Хрещені батьки» штучного інтелекту остерігаються, що він може вийти з-під контролю [Електронний ресурс]

5. Ілон Маск назвав найбільшу загрозу для людства [Електронний ресурс]

6. Бровченко В. Ілон Маск висловив побоювання, що штучний інтелект позбавить людство сенсу існування

7. Орос Ю. Штучний інтелект із часом залишить усіх без роботи, - Ілон Маск

8. Сакварелідзе Д. Ми - свідки наслідків глобальних Tech та IT революцій

9. Chomsky N., Roberts I. and Watumull J. Noam Chomsky: The False Promise of ChatGPT.

10. Кремль готує "імпортозаміщення" Google: так красиво називатиметься введення цифрової диктатури

References

1. Addley E. (2023). `AI named most notable word of 2023 by Collins dictionary Chosen from a list that includes `greedflation, `nepo baby and `deinfluencing, use of term has quadrupled this year.

2. Mok A. and Zinkula J. (2023). ChatGPT may be coming for our jobs. Here are the 10 roles that AI is most likely to replace.

3. Human Brain/Cloud Interface. (2019).

4. "Khreshcheni batky" shtuchnoho intelektu osterihaiutsia, shcho vin mozhe vyity z-pid kon- troliu [The "godfathers" of artificial intelligence are wary that it can get out of control] (2023).

5. Elon Mask nazvav naibilshu zahrozu dlia liudstva [Elon Musk named the greatest threat to humanity]. (2023).

6. Brovchenko V. (2023). Elon Mask vyslovyv poboiuvannia, shcho shtuchnyi intelekt pozbavyt liudstvo sensu isnuvannia [Elon Musk expressed fears that artificial intelligence will deprive humanity of the meaning of existence].

7. Oros Yu. (2023). Shtuchnyi intelekt iz chasom zalyshyt usikh bez roboty, - Elon Mask [Artificial intelligence will eventually put everyone out of work - Elon Musk].

8. Sakvarelidze D. (2023). My - svidky naslidkiv hlobalnykh Tech ta ITrevoliutsii. [We are witnesses of the consequences of global Tech and IT revolutions]

9. Chomsky N., Roberts I. and Watumull J. (2023). Noam Chomsky: The False Promise of ChatGPT.

10. Kreml hotuie "importozamishchennia" Google: tak krasyvo nazyvatymetsia vvedennia tsy- frovoi dyktatury. (2023).

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