Digital Earth and Hybrid Crises of XXI: Remedy and Disease?

Abstract

AbstractThe purpose—To briefly discuss the essence of the Digital Earth and its civilizational consequences in the scope of cybernetics and semiotics and the context of the variety of modern “digital” initiatives of nowadays. To present the Digital Earth as a new geospatial paradigm, to point out its philosophical, cybernetics and social implications. To unveil semiotics roots of hierarchical governance architectures and how the Digital Earth triggered the development of subject-oriented net-centric architectures. To unveil the semiotic “non-digital” conundrum of the Digital Earth. To discuss the ambivalence of the Digital Earth as a decision-making environment and how it can be used to prevent the new hybrid crisis typical of the twenty-first century.Design/methodology/approach—The design of the work is focused on the task of revealing the general civilizational implications of the scientific geospatial revolution and is based on the dialectical approach. The general methodological basis of the work is system-centred, interdisciplinary and integral (H. Selye) approaches, which reveal the origins of geospatial approaches deeply rooted in human culture. Semiotic and cybernetic approaches are also used. The method of identifying and rationalizing paradoxes as well as retrospection are used extensively.Findings—The Digital Earth is presented as a paradigm of the new geospatial revolution. Its semiotic foundations are shown, the concept of the “zero sign” in semiotics as a factor determining a qualitative leap in the principles of governance, and the typology of visualization methods is proposed. Based on semiotic and cybernetic approaches, different digital initiatives are analysed, and a semiotic definition of the digital economy is given. The practical involvement of the Digital Earth in the formation of a new architecture of the struggle for global dominance is shown, and an explanation of the phenomenon of the “end of art strategy” is proposed.Originality/value—The scientific novelty of the proposed work is based on the author’s original works, partly debated and partly already included in the official body of knowledge about the Digital Earth, summarized by the International Society for Digital Earth (ISDE). From a methodological point of view, the novelty of the work is based on the use of innovative approaches for this interdisciplinary field.Research/practical/social/environment implications—Digital Earth as a geospatial approach directly impacts decision-making practices and command and control architecture on global and governmental levels. Additionally, Digital Earth due to its semiotics properties should contribute to the development of systems approach and cybernetics, which will be adequate to the challenges and threats of the twenty-first century. Based on this approach, criteria for assessing innovations in social systems using digital technologies and artificial intelligence could be developed.Research limitations—due to the global spatial and very wide temporal context of the research, it’s limited mainly by its methodological framework and clash of the scientific paradigms in the geospatial realm. Due to the high level of involvement in current geopolitical and sustainable development agendas and the self-interest of the group involved, research may be limited by subjective factors. Thus, there is a need to develop a methodology aimed at overcoming the limitations.KeywordsDigital earthCyberneticsSituational awarenessSemioticsScientific paradigm