КОНВЕРГЕНТНЫЕ ТЕХНОЛОГИИ И ПЕРСПЕКТИВЫ МОДИФИКАЦИИ ЧЕЛОВЕКА

Abstract

У статті показується евристичність концепції позитивного соціального конструювання  реальності  за  допомогою  сучасних  інформаційно-комунікаційних  технологій,  відзначається  плідність  моделі  суспільства  як  криптосистеми.  Також  в  дослідженні  вказуються  тенденції  розвитку  конвергентних  технологій  і  перспективи  модифікації  свідомості  людини,  що  підсилюють її креативний потенціал і вимагають нової гуманістичної парадигми.  Ключові  слова:  модифікація,  інформаційно-комунікаційні  технології,  свідомість,  конструювання  соціальної  реальності,  криптосистема,  фрактальний  підхід,  Інтернет,  живучість системи.

  E. Polikarpova  CONVERGENT TECHNOLOGY AND THE PROSPECTS OF THE MODIFICATION   OF THE HUMAN BEING  The  topic  the  author  tackles  is  one of  the  most  important  in the  modern  Russian  social  and  philosophical  discourse, as  modern  society  is  at  a  new,  digital stage  of  information revolution  which  affects  the whole  system of modern  information and communication  technology influencing  the human  consciousness.  On  this  basis  new  social  reality  is  being  actively  designed.  The  problem  of  modern  information  and  communication  technology  influencing  the  human  consciousness  and  society  transformation  is  very  urgent  and  debatable.  In  this  respect  the  problem  of  sustaining  the  human  consciousness as an integral, hypercomplex (though, quite vulnerable) system which has not been studied  that thoroughly.  So  in  a  very simplified  way the  human consciousness can  be  viewed  as a system of  processing information.  Taking into consideration possible negative aftermath of the development of modern technology  and its application for manipulating people, the author also stresses its positive side, one of them being  positive social construction of reality and designing the society ready for the new challenges of the epoch.  Elena  V.  Polikarpova clearly  points  out  that  in  connection  with  modern  technology  the  catastrophic  approach to explaining the development of the humanity is widespread today. In other words, today there  are a lot of alarmist papers describing the negative concept of constructing social reality. However, as  people construct social reality with their actions, this approach can lead to the negative perception of the  world. The writer suggests using the so-called “Blue Ocean Strategy” developed by Western management  specialists  and  successfully  applied in business.  Unlike the so-called  “Scarlet Ocean  Strategy”  which  means contest and serious confrontation between competing companies, the Blue Ocean Strategy enables the  companies  to  avoid competition  creating  a  vacant  market  niche.  The  Blue  Ocean Strategy  being  applied to the paper outcomes, one can state that modern technology enables to create new areas for  human activity which, in its turn, is a chance to create a steadily developing society, a society of genuine  knowledge.  The author emphasizes  that the approach to study  society as  a cryptosystem is productive for  understanding  the  tendencies  of  the  information  and  communication technology development  and  the  prospects  of  the  modification  of  the  human  consciousness.  The  approach  helps  to  set  the  quality  parameters of the  stability  of information  society and the high level of information and psychological  protection of the  human consciousness from  the negative  influence of modern information technology.  Elena V. Polikarpova also singles out a number of positive effects linked to modern technology affecting  the  human  consciousness,  such  as  an  opportunity  to  achieve  one’s  creative  potential,  constructing  imaginary worlds etc.  However the paper writer highlights the danger of turning man into “another being” due to the  influence of  modern  technology. She  also  draws  the  readers’  attention to  the  fact  that  there  are  two  significant value systems of the human consciousness inseparably connected with modification of people  and  their  activities.  The  first  value  system is  based  on  the  assumption  that  an  individual  has a  vast  potential from his/her birth, the potential being not completely achieved in the course of life, though. The  second  value  system  presupposes  that  there  are  a  lot  of  technological  capabilities  enabling  to  “construct” a human being with pre-set features. Yet the paper writer considers there are the limits of  modern technology influencing the human being, because an individual is not absolutely “yielding” so  s/he cannot be transformed arbitrarily. The human being cannot be reduced to the information matrix as  s/he  exists  as  an  independent,  creative  entity  –  “Ego”.  Ego  has  learned  and  processed a  number  of  generations’  social  and  cultural experience. Due  to  the  creativity  ego is  a unique  active  personality,  whose  consciousness  forms  incomplete,  indefinite  images  that  are  of  fractal  nature.  Consequently,  studying the issue one has to apply the fractal approach constituting the synergic paradigm. Within the  paradigm the so-called “constructivist realism” is developed. According to the “constructivist realism”  only the entities that match the system inherent tendencies can be constructed. This determines the limits  of modifying the human being.  Keywords:  modification,  information  and  communication  technology,  consciousness,  the  construction of social reality, cryptosystem, fractal approach, the Internet, system survivability.