RHETORIC OF DIGITAL SUBJECTIVITY: NEO, SHREK, AND THE EVOLUTION OF AGENCY IN THE AGE OF ALGORITHMS
Abstract
The article examines the ontological transformations of rhetorical subjectivation under conditions of digital mediation. Through hermeneutic analysis of the archetypal figures of Neo («The Matrix») and Shrek (the eponymous animated narrative), the study conceptualizes paradigmatic modes of constituting subjectivity in the post-digital era. The research articulates the transition from post-structuralist deconstruction of the Cartesian cogito to emergent forms of distributed agency in hybrid human-machine assemblages.
The work identifies three distinctive epistemological models: techno-gnostic (represented by Neo), post-ironic (embodied in Shrek), and post-anthropological (manifested by algorithmic actors). The first model explicates the modernist project of emancipation through vertical transcendence and binary oppositions of real/simulative. The second demonstrates the postmodernist strategy of horizontal immanence, where irony functions as an ontological category. The third reveals the radical deterritorialization of rhetorical agency under conditions of algorithmic governance.
The study analyzes the fundamental reconfiguration of the classical rhetorical triad (ethos, pathos, logos) in digital space. Pathos transforms from affective disposition into performative practice through mechanisms of participation. Logos is reduced to probabilistic algorithms of machine learning. Ethos is constituted as a hybrid phenomenon at the intersection of human and non-human.
The crisis of authenticity in the context of generative technologies is examined, problematizing traditional epistemological dichotomies of true/false. A concept of new rhetorical ethics is proposed, founded on principles of algorithmic transparency and conscious hybridity of communicative acts.
The article articulates perspectives for further research on post-anthropological forms of rhetorical subjectivation, particularly post-ironic gnosticism (synthesis of transcendental and ironic modes) and techno-memetic agency (algorithmic production of discursive presence) as possible ontological frameworks for conceptualizing rhetoric within the posthumanist turn.
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