Ontological Traps of Digitalization: Prerequisites for Transhumanism

The article is devoted to an attempt at a philosophical analysis of the genesis of the transhumanist worldview in the context of the explosive development of science and technology and the active use of convergent technologies that change the nature of interaction not only between humans and the environment, but also humans and the environment themselves. The purpose of the article is to explicate the ontological risks of digitalization, which at the same time are harbingers of the strengthening of the transhumanist paradigm. The author distinguishes between the concepts of digitization and digitalization, further considering the latter as a factor in the transformation of a person’s way of thinking and life. The thesis is put forward that digitalization is the main tool for the initial stage of society’s transition to transhumanistic rails, being one of the anthropotechnics designed to infinitely improve a person. The research focuses on the formation of a transhumanist worldview and the role digitalization plays in this process. The author of the article has established the cyclical nature of the digitalization process. The following stages of digitalization are distinguished as the ‘turns’ of the cycle: the emergence and spread of the Internet (the World Wide Web provided the necessary breeding ground for further processes); the spread of social networks and online services; the development and spread of neural networks. The author notes that digitalization was consolidated in public practice mainly through the dissemination of social networks and online services. It is determined that it is at this stage that there is a risk of cutting off human contact with reality. The author suggests considering the explosive development and proliferation of neural networks as the next phase of the digitalization cycle. It is clarified that in the phase of dissemination and improvement of training programs, due to the peculiarities of their functioning, there are risks associated with neglecting reality by belittling the importance of data sources. In addition, there are risks to common sense and deductive thinking throughout the life cycle of digitalization. It is also possible to observe varying degrees of truncation of access to reality, threatening to ‘uproot’ a person from his life world. Based on this, the author explicated the ontological traps of digitalization, in fact, pushing people to practice transhumanist ideology. Proceeding from the thesis that the source of data, common sense and the ability to form general concepts are the ‘three pillars’ of the connection of human consciousness with reality and self-identification, the author comes to the conclusion that it is precisely in these sensitive aspects that the ontological traps of digitalization are hidden – factors that imperceptibly ‘disconnect’ a person from his life world. The researcher cites the uncertainty of data sources, the discreteness of common sense, and a violation of the ability to form general concepts as such factors. The methods of ontological and structural analysis were used in the study.