Are Digital Technologies Trans Forming Humanity and Making Politics Impossible?

• Authors: Chimakonam Jonathan O.
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

My question in this paper is whether digital technologies transform humanity and make politics impossible. Digital technologies, no doubt, are revolutionary. But I argue that what they have done in the Post-Cold War era are: (1) to further contract the spaces between politicians and the people; (2) transform actors from subjects to objects, such that we may in addition to social identities, talk about digital identities; (3) relocate the public sphere from squares to ilosphere where individuals are granted enormous expressive powers but at the same time become vulnerable to large scale manipulations; (4) and escalate the tools of politics. My argument will be that digital technologies in a subtle way are transforming humanity in the digital space and that this might have costly moral consequences not only in politics generally but specifically in liberal democracy. However, I will contend that this transformation of humanity does not make politics impossible; it only escalates it with troubling consequences like those we saw in the 2016 American presidential election.

Keywords

EN

digital era; digital technologies; ilosphere; politics; human relationship

• Publisher: Instytut Filozofii i Socjologii Polskiej Akademii Nauk; Fundacja Filozofia Na Rzecz Dialogu
• Journal: Dialogue and Universalism
• Year: 2020
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 209-223

Contributors

author

Chimakonam Jonathan O.

• University of Calabar, Cross River State; Etagbor, PMB 1115, Nigeria; University of Pretoria, Lynnwood Rd, Hatfield, Pretoria, 0002, South Africa.