Book Tips - Digital Society
Digital Society
Are we being driven by digitalization, which is sweeping over us like a force of nature? The new possibilities offered by big data and artificial intelligence could provide people with the tools they have been lacking up to now to drive forward the development of society in accordance with democratic principles. Transparency is considered a quality criterion for the democratic constitution of societies. Highly developed democracies were characterized by the greatest possible transparency of decision-making processes, while citizens were granted fundamental rights to privacy. In authoritarian power structures, the opposite is true. If one looks at the current global concentration of power by the large IT corporations, which are increasingly able to act independently of states, from these points of view, one might become concerned. In contrast, the power of the consumer is greater than ever before. The sensitivity of global players to the needs of individuals has increased, thanks to the knowledge gained from mass data processing. Offering appropriately differentiated services for a pluralistic society has become a key competitive factor.
" Freedom is the right to tell others what they don't want to hear. " -George Orwell
Source: E-3 Magazine - April 2018 issue
Hunters, shepherds, critics
Everyone knows by now that our world is currently changing rapidly. But how are we reacting to it? Some celebrate the digital future with frightening naiveté and expect the changes like the weather. Politicians don't seem to be taking the great upheaval seriously. They are once again redecorating the deck chairs on the Titanic. Others warn of the dictatorship of the digital corporations from Silicon Valley. And still others would prefer to pull the covers over their heads and return to the past. Richard David Precht, on the other hand, sketches a picture of a desirable future in the digital age. Is the end of the meritocracy as we knew it a loss at all?
Critique of digital capitalism
Michael Betancourt presents a sharp analysis of these new economic conditions and illuminates their characteristics and problems. From the supposed democratization of society through the free availability of information to the illusion of the cost-free, because non-physical production of digital products to the redefinition of the relationship between material and immaterial goods.
Life 3.0
Artificial intelligence is our inevitable future. Will it plunge us into ruin or contribute to the further development of Homo sapiens? Is the human era coming to an end? Massachusetts Institute of Technology physics professor Max Tegmark uses the latest research to show what awaits humanity.
Digital restoration
Digitization is fundamentally transforming society, but it is only consolidating the old system: capitalism. Nevertheless, the authors are conditionally optimistic: If the potential of digitization were exploited, there could be solutions based on solidarity. Resource-saving processes and an economy of exchange would be steps out of capitalist restoration.
Political theory and digitalization
Does digitalization threaten democracy and freedom? Diagnoses of the times that claim precisely this are currently in vogue. They have replaced the utopian literature of the 1990s, which saw digitization as the solution to all the problems of modern societies. This volume asks how the phenomenon of digitization can be captured in political theory.
