Divine Determinism to Digital Determinism: The Paradigm Shift of Fate in the 21st Century

This article investigates the theoretical reorientation of the term 'destiny' from the classical theological understanding of divine determinism—anchored in natural law philosophy—to the contemporary model of digital determinism arising from the convergence of artificial intelligence, expansive data aggregation capabilities, and the monopolistic tendencies of twenty-first-century technology firms. Employing a conceptual-hermeneutic framework in conjunction with critical discourse analysis, the inquiry traces both historical and present-day modalities through which fate, elective freedom, and the scope of human agency are reconstituted in a socio-technical setting. The decisive marker of the current transition is the advent of algorithmic determinism, in which opaque predictive architectures, often referred to as 'black boxes', consolidate the advantages of data monopolists while simultaneously attenuating the capacity for individual moral accountability and constricting the residual latitude of autonomous action. Such developments are masked by the self-serving lexicon of technological neutrality, yet they materialise in pronounced asymmetries of power and the precariousness of human-technical entanglements. This research advances critical discourse concerning the interplay between technological systems, corporate sovereignty, and the erosion of human agency, and it simultaneously articulates a theoretical understructure for technology policy formulations that honour both justice and the integrity of autonomous subjects.