Human in new techno-social reality

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Human in new techno-social reality

Lada Prokopovych

Doctor of Philosophy Sciences, Professor,

Professor of Department of Cultural Studies and Philosophy of Culture, Odessa Polytechnic National University, Odessa, Ukraine

Abstract

The purpose of the research is to study the socio-psychological posture of people and their behavioral reactions in the new techno-social reality. The study of the socio-psychological posture of people in the conditions of social chaos and the new techno-reality has shown that people have different behavioral reactions: from the desire for self-isolation (due to socio- and technophobia) to immersion in the cult of technology. The formation of these two extremes is facilitated by the mass media, which broadcast the corresponding philosophical concepts (techno-optimism / techno-utopianism and techno-pessimism), enhancing their emotional component. At the same time, a direction is being formed in philosophy, aimed at finding a balance in the system "man - nature - technology". The main idea of this direction is to understand that technology should be considered not as a subject or actor in this system, but as a tool with which people achieve their goals. This approach allows keeping the emphasis on the expediency and usefulness of technologies for people and nature, as well as on the responsibility of people for their development and implementation. The implementation of this approach not only in philosophical theories, but also in engineering activities will contribute to the formation of technoreality in balance with human (society) and nature.

Keywords: digital technologies; social philosophy; mass media; technophobia; cult of technology; system "man - nature - technology".

Introduction

Digital technologies, which are now being intensively introduced into all spheres of human activity, contribute to the formation of a new technoreality. Therefore, it is important to understand how this reality affects society and each individual, how people perceive it, how they realize it in the ontological aspect and how they adapt to it.

Modern science increasingly has to raise the question of the human dimension of systems and processes based on engineering, information and digital technologies. psychological people social

Some technologies improve people's lives (in varying degrees), and some radically change it. Already with the advent of the first looms and the industrial conveyor, it became obvious that technical innovations can displace not only people, but also the human dimension from the sphere of production. The advent of cinema raised fears for the fate of the theatre. And these fears were partly confirmed: the theater, as an art form, although it did not disappear, became less popular. Now such concerns are associated with the emergence of e-sports, telemedicine, distance education, robotics and artificial intelligence technologies.

It should also be taken into account that the formation of a new technoreality takes place against the background of social transformations, which are described in philosophical theories as social chaos.

Therefore, the study of people's behavioral reactions in conditions of social chaos and new technoreality is an urgent scientific problem in the interdisciplinary discourse of social philosophy, anthropology, cultural studies and philosophy of technology.

Literature review. From the very beginning of its existence, mankind has modified the world around it, forming a new habitat. Since this environment includes nature and elements artificially created by man, it is called "second nature" [1; 2], culture [3], anthroposphere [4], technosphere [5]. These concepts are applied in different scientific contexts. The concept of "technoreality" allows these contexts to be combined into one interdisciplinary discourse. The concept of "technoreality" refers to a part of objective reality, which includes artificial objects and systems (except sign systems), nature and societies.

In relation to man, technologies are considered from two positions: technological determinism and social determinism. Within the framework of technological determinism, technologies are considered as autonomous: their development does not depend on human control; they develop in accordance with their own logic. Social determinism suggests that the development of technology is conditioned by the general sociocultural context [6].

The connection between the sociocultural context and technology is not only that this context influences technology, but also that technology is part of this context. Therefore, some researchers use the concepts of "techno-social reality" [7] or "techno-cultural reality" [8] to describe the problems of modern civilization. The development of robotics, biomechanics and control systems based on artificial intelligence is considered as the reason for the formation of "bio-techno-cybernetic reality" [9].

The emergence of such concepts is explained by the need to study not only the causes and methods of formation of the technosphere, but also how it affects people: their psyche, worldview and social behavior.

The purpose of the research is to study the socio-psychological posture of people and their behavioral reactions in the new techno-social reality.

The study used methods of analysis and synthesis (to generalize theoretical and empirical material); sociocultural analysis, which involves considering life forms as integral cultural formations with three components: artifacts (material manifestations of culture), typical organizational actions (technologies and behaviors) and symbolic aspects (general ideas and cultural meanings).

The picking of information for the formation of the empirical part of the study was carried out using open sources.

Differences in approaches to philosophical understanding of the role of technology in people's lives. In the first philosophical studies of the technosphere, technologies were considered as ways and means of creating the material component of culture (Ernst Kapp [10]; Lewis Mumford [11]). Later they began to be perceived as the main way of existence of man and society.

Considering the meaning of human life as a "need of needs", Jose Ortega y Gasset argued that it is technology that satisfies this need. Carried away by irresistible consumption, a person turns into an "appendage of the machine" with a "crisis of desires" [12].

Today we see an increase in this trend, when the cult of consumption is combined with the cult of technology [13]. This combination sometimes has signs of social psychosis. This is indicated, for example, by huge queues in branded stores during the sales of new models of smartphones and other gadgets; or when a person sells his own kidney to buy a new iPhone [14]. It can be assumed that not only a "crisis of desires" is manifested here, but also a failure of value orientations, which is inherent in a situation of social chaos.

It should be noted that the failure of value orientations and the distortion of cultural meanings are facilitated not only by lobbyists and technology sellers, but also by philosophers who demonize technology in their concepts. Such concepts include those in which technology is described and comprehended as a force that dominates man and nature. Jacques Ellul, for example, argued that technology is a force imposed from outside, a given that a person has to reckon with. Technology, according to Ellul, is something self-sufficient that plays a dangerous and risky game, making a person an object of "calculations and manipulations". Therefore, we must resist her. Based on this attitude towards technology, Ellul formulated the ethical concept of renouncing the power of technology (through self-restraint) [15].

A similar idea is fixed in the works of Jurgen Habermas, who adheres to the concept where technology is declared a force that takes away a person's creative spirit, deprives him of the will to self-expression, self-organization and, ultimately, turns him into a slave of his own creations [16].

In general, such an approach forms the idea of technology not as an object and instrument of human activity, but as a subject or actor in the system "man (+ nature) - technology".

Theodor Adorno speaks from the opposite position, which sees the problem not in technology, but in popular culture. In mass culture, the uniqueness and independence of a person is being lost, people are being unified and turning into a homogeneous passive mass, devoid of critical thinking. It is mass culture that puts forward demands on a person that enslave him. And the enslaver is not technology, but its owner. Theodor Adorno insists that it is impossible to oppose technology and humanism, because such an opposition is the product of an erroneous understanding of the role of technology in people's lives [17].

But there are doubts here: is this a mistake or a conscious, purposeful formation of a certain mythologeme/ideologeme?

Behavioral reactions of people in the new techno-social reality. Agreeing with Theodor Adorno's idea about the influence of mass culture on people, one should pay attention to such a segment (and tool) of culture as the mass media.

Today, people have the opinion that the mass media are not the means of information, but the means of manipulation. Adorno drew attention to the manipulative nature of the mass media, noting that people receive from them not what they want, but what is offered to them [17]. Today this is becoming even more obvious. This is manifested not only in the selectivity of information that is offered to the consumer of this information, but also in how it is presented.

When it comes to technology, the headlines in the news are very revealing. For example, messages about the achievements of robotics and artificial intelligence technologies look like this: "This robot co-taught a course at West Point" [18], "Inside the Singapore cafe run by Robots the can cook up delicious egg dishes and fried rice in just 20 seconds" [19], "Watch a Boston Dynamics robot herd sheep in New Zealand" [20], "Meet Ai-Da, the robot artist who is making an exhibition of herself" [21], "Robot takes podium as orchestra conductor in Seoul" [22]. Many more such headlines can be cited, which together form ideas about robots and artificial intelligence as independent subjects of reality that dance, cook food, draw, herd sheep, conduct an orchestra, give lectures on philosophy, etc.

Such headlines are one of the ways in which the media broadcast the philosophical concept of "alienation". According to this concept, the forces created by people become beyond the control of their creators. Among these forces, machine technology is also considered, which allegedly develops on its own, controls complex processes, and makes decisions [23]. At the same time, the mass media not only broadcast this concept, but also fill it with emotions (which is also one of the manipulation techniques): "A Robot Just Debated Humans on the Benefits and Risks of AI, Tells Audience `AI Can Cause a Lot of Harm'" [24], "Humanity's hope and nightmare: how robots are conquering the world" [25], "Living robots made from frog cells can replicate themselves in a dish [26], "US Air Force Denies AI drone attacked operator in test" [27], "Nine robots held a press conference and said they could be better leaders than humans" [28].

It is not surprising that under such informational pressure, people have a feeling of helplessness in front of powerful new forces - the Machine, the Digital Mind.

Some people are calm about this situation, like, for example, the owners of "smart houses" who joke: "My house is smarter than me!" Someone begins to worship these "powerful forces" as new gods (plunging into the cult of technology), while someone develops technophobia (as an acute manifestation of the fear of new technologies).

Often technophobia is combined with social phobia. The result of this syndrome is the desire of a person to escape from reality. In practice, this manifests itself in various forms of escapism and escape from the urban world into the natural world. In recent years, the practice of voluntary, consciously chosen self-isolation has become popular. This phenomenon is most evident in Japan. There, the concept of "hikikomori" appeared which refers to the syndrome of social phobia, reclusion, and refusal of socialization due to unwillingness or inability to adapt in society [29].

Technophobia can be not only individual, but also collective. An example of this is the case of robot dogs, which in 2021 the New York Police Department purchased from Boston Dynamics. Even though Digidog did a good job, he had to be "fired" due to criticism on social media. Residents of the city began to worry that the robot would be used against people. Their fears were supported by the authorities of New York, saying that in this way the police are "militarized", and the robotic dog itself is a symbol of how aggressive law enforcement agencies can be [30].

However, in 2023, the NYPD returned to using Digidog, ignoring the protests of the public, whose arguments at that time were already less emotional, but more specific. "The NYPD is turning bad science fiction into terrible policing. - Albert Fox Cahn, STOP's executive director, says in a statement. - New York deserves real safety, not a knockoff robocop. Wasting public dollars to invade New Yorkers' privacy is a dangerous police stunt" [31].

Discussion. The results of the study show that two poles are being formed in the sociocultural space - the cult of technology and technophobia; and between them - everything that manifests the ambivalence of people's attitude to technology. Indeed, in general, people do not abandon technology (contrary to the call of Jacques Ellul to abandon the power of technology through self-restraint). Even the mentioned hikikomori would be so popular if the Internet did not exist? After all, it is thanks to the Internet that young hermits communicate with the outside world (through social networks, computer games, etc.). That is, people still strive for social communication. They simply choose its other forms: instead of direct contact with real interlocutors, they communicate indirectly with "digital versions" of interlocutors.

Dog robots also do not cause technophobia in people when they are used in construction work, herding sheep, or mine clearance operations.

Therefore, some philosophers call not for the rejection of technology, but for the search for a balance in the system "man - technology - nature" [32]. Such a direction of philosophy as "technorealism" is being formed. Technorealism is an attempt to expand the middle ground between techno-utopianism and neo-luddism by assessing the social and political implications of technologies so that people might all have more control over the shape of their future [33].

Wars and man-made disasters that constantly occur all over the planet, each time make us remember the maxim that it is not technologies that kill, but the people who create and use them. And at the same time, an understanding comes that it is not technologies that save, but the people who create and use them. In other words, the problem lies not in technology, but in what purposes they are created for. As long as these goals are determined by people, the human dimension of technoreality will be an a priori factor.

The trends that are being traced today in social and political processes indicate that people (humanity) will have to live in conditions of social chaos for a long time to come. And it will be necessary not only to choose forms of adaptation from those that already exist, but also, perhaps, to invent some new ones. Accordingly, the study of these forms will be relevant for various scientific fields: sociology, cultural studies, anthropology, social philosophy, etc.

Conclusions

The study of the socio-psychological posture of people in the conditions of social chaos and the new techno-reality has shown that people have different behavioral reactions: from the desire for self-isolation (due to socio- and technophobia) to immersion in the cult of technology. The formation of these two extremes is facilitated by the mass media, which broadcast the corresponding philosophical concepts (techno-optimism / techno-utopianism and techno¬pessimism), enhancing their emotional component.

At the same time, a direction is being formed in philosophy, aimed at finding a balance in the system "human - nature - technology". The main idea of this direction is to understand that technology should be considered not as a subject or actor in this system, but as a tool with which people achieve their goals. This approach allows keeping the emphasis on the expediency and usefulness of technologies for people and nature, as well as on the responsibility of people for their development and implementation. The implementation of this approach not only in philosophical theories, but also in engineering activities will contribute to the formation of technoreality in balance with human (society) and nature.

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