The “Boundary” of Technology, Culture, and Digitalization

Abstract

Human beings use various techniques to change their mode of production and lifeworld. However, modern technology is becoming increasingly self-oriented and is threatening human subjectivity. The digital revolution, with its unprecedented “surpassing” capability, breaks through various boundaries of human social life and, in reality, increasingly escapes from human control. The digital mode of thinking involves both formality and power. When social beings and humanities become products and commodities, and when “artificial humans” such as electronic humans, robots, intelligent humans, and genetic humans can be mass-produced, “natural humans” seem to disappear. The social organizations, lifestyles, ethics, and legal systems that are composed and created by natural beings can no longer be maintained. If humans have always dreamed of enhancing their potential by integrating technology science with social ethics and humanistic values, the building of digital ethics and digital cultural values then becomes a must. And the basis for all of these is to acknowledge and maintain some basic boundaries. The most important one is the boundary between human nature/self and “non-human”—the boundary between human beings and the external world. If human nature resists digitalization, humans will never be “assimilated” by technology. The survival of human beings and the continuation of civilization require a balance among technology, digitalization, humanity, and ethics to secure human subjectivity over technocracy.