Digitization of Society: Alternative Projections of the Future

Abstract

The impact of digitization on four spheres of society, i.e., economic, political, social, and spiritual, is analyzed. Digitization is defined as the diffusion of information and communication technologies (ICT) that can bring about both positive (legitimate) and negative (wrongful) effects. At the same time, today the digitization of public spheres directly involves the component of ensuring the digital security of society, which is becoming increasingly global in character. Cyber wars and cyber attacks cause economic damage on a global scale, amounting to six trillion dollars US annually, which is commensurate with the economic losses of wartime. Large-scale digitization of public spheres for the first time in human history creates an objective opportunity for constructing and designing future social states, which makes a fundamental difference between the course of future socio-economic and political processes and the historical evolution of the previous eras. This gave rise to a dichotomy of virtual utopias and dystopias of Future projects. Dystopias are inspired by visions of the coming “digital slavery,” while utopias focus on visions of a “digital paradise.” Polarized views on the digital Future are based on the processes of the “digital divide,” the meaning of which is that digitization contributes to a significant increase in inequality in access to digital goods, which in turn results in a growing inequality in the distribution of income and wealth. The coronavirus pandemic promoted a powerful acceleration of digitization processes, which acted as a form of society’s adaptation to its stresses and harmful consequences. Digitization has made social distancing possible and cost-effective. At the same time, the pandemic was conducive to a colossal increase in the economic power and political influence of digital corporations, which objectively requires a sharp increase in the regulatory role of the state, which should put digitization under effective public control.