IN THE WAVES OF THE COMMUNICATION FLOOD WITHOUT THE “OLD TESTAMENT ARK” OF CULTURE

Abstract

The collection of essays “Sharing Opinions” published in 1997 by Miroljub Radojković, professor at the Faculty of Political Sciences from Belgrade, also contains an essay from 1981 titled “The Communication Flood and the ‘Old Testament Ark’ of Culture”. The author of the essay offers a critical analysis of the changes brought about by the era’s new communications technologies and how they impact both society and an individual. Forty-three years later, the overview of how communication technology would grow in the future is especially impressive when viewed from today’s perspective. In the early 1980s, the technical concepts and predictions that the author wrote about - such as working from home, remote learning, and the smart watch - seemed like science fiction. The “look into the future” section of the aforementioned essay, in which communication technologies play a significant role in shaping culture and social connections, is, however, its most significant component. Radojković uses the “power of sociological imagination” to offer partially positive, but mostly negative responses to questions about the future of morality in that new society, as well as the place of art or religion.The author of this paper wants to examine the futuristic theses that were developed more than 40 years ago by looking at them through the lens of contemporary communication technology and its effects on society. The main research inquiry is derived from Miroljub Radojković’s thesis regarding the communication flood (or “floods of generality”) that will endanger the fundamental cultural values based on interpersonal interaction, human engagement with nature, and the symbolic environment, and it is as follows - why, in spite of the warnings, did man encounter the communication flood without the “Old Testament ark” of culture?