Human, Posthuman and Culture in the Digital Society

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to outline the perspectives of the human and posthuman in the culture of the ‘digital society’. The research used dialectical, typological and comparative methods, as well as methods of formalization, modeling and ascent from the abstract to the concrete. It was noted that the prospects for the development of ‘human’ were determined in the modern European classical thought, the culmination of which was the concept of unlimited improvement of his nature on the basis of reason, developed during the Enlightenment. In non-classical thought, this idea was questioned, which ultimately led to the denial of the prospects for the development of the human himself. It is shown that the formation of an ‘information society’ and a ‘digital society’ make it possible to increase the efficiency and productivity of labor, and improve the technical and technological components of the development of society, but do not guarantee the smooth development of its humanitarian component, i.e., the whole person. It is emphasized that the progress of the human presupposes the development of his nature, i.e., a certain totality of natural and socio-cultural constituents of his being, the main of which is the ability to carry out expedient activities to meet needs and realize interests, and also be aware of this process. The loss of this orientation as a result of disharmony in the development of material and spiritual production can lead to the leveling of the main goal of mankind — the achievement of the ideal of a ‘whole person’. The domination of the culture of the ‘partial man’ creates the basis for the formation of the ‘posthuman’ — a hypothetical prototype of the future intelligent being, which, as a result of the introduction of advanced technologies — informatics, biotechnology, medicine, etc. — lost his human appearance, because he abandoned his nature. This process can lead to the gradual extinction of the Homo sapiens species, replacing it with a new species, Post-Homo sapiens. Keywords: human, posthuman, culture, information society, digital society, digital economy