LEGAL CONSCIOUSNESS AND LEGAL CULTURE IN THE ERA OF TOTAL DIGITALIZATION:

Abstract

The paper analyses the change in ideas about law in the digitalization era. Noting the insufficient theoretical substantiation of attempts to impose on modern law any special characteristics arising from the widespread development of digital technologies, the authors admit that in the era of virtual reality, the laws of the digital virtual world begin to actively compete with the laws of nature. This entails a slight decrease in the role of law as a traditional regulator of social relationships. However, according to the authors, one should not artificially diminish the role of law even in the era of digitalization. In this regard, the paper discusses the main trends in the study of legal digitalization processes. The first trend is due to the need to promptly respond by legal means to the emergence of new areas of legal regulation caused by the widespread use of digital information technologies. The second trend assumes the expansion and rethinking of the subject and object of legal science within the context that new digital "participants" of legal relations born due to intelligent human activity emerge. In this regard, the authors dwell on the most relevant conceptual and practical problems of using digital technologies in the processes of law education and law enforcement within the context of various approaches to legal thinking. Special attention is paid to the institution of digital (informational) rights and freedoms of citizens, as well as "traditional" individual rights in the new digital virtual reality. The paper draws conclusions about the possibilities and prospects of further legal regulation in the sphere of digital (information) legal relations and artificial intelligence, as well as the influence of information technology development processes on legal processes in general.