Anthropological Aspects of the Digital Transformation of Society: Articulating the Problem

Abstract

The general logic of the informatization process, its pace and scale are illustrated here based on the analysis of documented solutions and practices of digital transformation in modern Russia (including the Arkhangelsk Region). Covering the spheres of the economy, social life, and public administration, digital transformation alters the social space, actualizes and shifts the focus to anthropological problems. This paper suggests considering the following questions. What is the place of a person in a rapidly changing world? What can be opposed to the deformation of the existential dimensions of personality? What efforts and in what direction should be made to preserve the human nature (humanity) of a person? What is the role of the state, culture, and religion in solving anthropological problems: what tools do they have to solve them? The analysis shows that time has come to take deliberate steps to find answers and solutions. The traditional humanitarian paradigm defines a person as a standard of truth, paving the way for struggle of interests, politicization of all spheres of activity, and the rule of force. Philosophers have been talking about the limitations of this paradigm throughout the last century, as the established new European approach demonstrates the reality of the “death of the human”. The author suggests turning to the idea of achieving spiritual maturity, transformation, and improvement of a person. This idea rests on the thousand-year-old Russian Orthodox culture. Russian philosophers focused on it for a reason: being based on the values that formed the archetype of Russian people, the idea of internal (and, first of all, moral) transformation of a person has great potential. Today, however, it is poorly understood and rather underestimated. Considering this idea within the framework of the nation state–culture–religion triad and implementing it could be of great benefit, becoming a compensatory mechanism for solving anthropological problems of the digital transformation of society.