Jacek JANOWSKI – Ciemna strona światłowodów. O potrzebie zintegrowanych badań nad cywilizacją informacyjną

The article proposes an integral study of certain complex and dynamic social phenomena which come to light in the information civilization. The integration in question needs to embrace various areas of knowledge which have the potential of exhibiting a deeper and broader background of the current global technological and informational trends (megatrends). Described and discussed merely in their certain aspects, they might seem accidental, spontaneous and unrelated. However, critically verified by the data available within multiple domains of knowledge, they show a common background and similar tendencies. Interestingly, finding similar symptoms of various social phenomena and bringing them to light is frequently avoided even in the field of science, the bias being the stronger the more complex the phenomena in question are, in particular once they qualified as bringing progress.

The author identifies five layers of the possible discourse on the information civilization, corresponding to five levels of power organizing the new world order it introduces, namely: ideologically entangled politics, bureaucracy and the judiciary, technocracy, economy, and ideation. The latter turns out a crucial factor in a sufficient and ultimate explanation of the megatrend of globalization with its accompanying phenomenon of a rapid spreading of the Internet, which introduces undisciplined information control and frequently deprives societies of their subjectivity, making nations forget their identities and states lose their sovereignties.

Translated by Dorota Chabrajska