Transformation Of Human Existence Temporality In The Global Digital World
Abstract
The trends in modern society development are globalization with the widespread processes of digitalization. Globalization is manifested in such phenomena of modernity as the growth of informatization, the widespread development of telecommunications infrastructure, the development of science and intellectual activity, the emergence of highly intelligent machines that can replace a person in the vast majority of professions, an identity crisis, the problem of multiculturalism, a change in linguistic traditions, and an increase in the confrontation between human culture. and the natural environment, accelerating the pace of social development, intensive transformations of reality, fundamental transformations in the forms of organization of society. Digitalization leads to the acceleration of scientific, technical, informational, social, and individualized beings, which in turn requires a timely and comprehensive understanding of this issue. Temporality is manifested in a person's awareness of own temporality and finiteness. Temporality takes on a new meaning, clothed in an understanding of the prospects of "overcoming time", the possibility of slowing down the aging process and prolonging life. These circumstances together lead to the transformation of the temporality of human existence in the modern world and the need to understand this issue.
Keywords: Digitalization, globalization, modern society, social development, temporality
Introduction
The modern era can predict and calculate the consequences of its activities, which puts us before the inevitable understanding of the question of the "temporal dimension" of human existence. What is the next stage in the evolution of humankind? How will a person be able to comprehend the problem of the temporal, temporal capabilities of mankind that have become relevant for him again, and how will the digitalization and globalization of public life affect the transformation of the “temporary worldview” of human existence? The radical transformation of the temporality of the modern world is formed based on an increase of phenomena and processes per unit of time, which, in turn, leads to the "acceleration of time" and "acceleration of the pace of life" of social and individualized beings.
Problem Statement
Fundamental to the philosophical and natural sciences, the concept of "temporality" in modern science acquires a new meaning. First of all, it should be noted that within the framework of this study, the concepts of "time" and "temporality" are not considered identical. Thus, time is considered by us as a continuous value independent of external factors (biological, social, psychophysical, historical); an undefined a priori character of the world. By temporality, we understand the characteristic of the speed of the passage (flow) of time, or “length in time”. We pay more attention to understanding the multidimensionality of time. The multidimensionality of time suggests that the temporality of human and social existence is comprehended by studying specific processes of movement and development occurring within a certain time interval. We also find that a radical transformation of temporality is currently taking place, associated with an increase in the number of phenomena and processes per unit of time. This circumstance leads to the "acceleration of time" of both individualized and social beings. The acceleration of time is a consequence of the acceleration of processes, the radical changes taking place in society as a result of globalization and digitalization. The accelerated pace of technological development, in turn, leads to the inevitable denial of the previous foundations of human and social existence. Thus, globalization processes create completely new realities of modern life, transforming the temporality of being, which requires a timely and comprehensive analysis.
Research Questions
It is necessary to solve several tasks for comprehension of the causes, features, opportunities, and consequences of the transformation of the temporality of human existence in the context of digitalization and globalization of modern society. The tasks are the following:
- To analyze the previous traditions of understanding "temporality" in the philosophical and natural sciences.
- Explore the relationship between the transformation of the temporality of human existence and the processes of digitalization and globalization
- To identify the key consequences of the transformation of temporality for the future development of humankind.
Analysis of previous traditions of understanding "temporality" in the philosophical and natural sciences
The prerequisites for considering the problems of the temporality of originating from the moment of the birth of civilizations. So, already in mythological and religious views, one can find attempts to comprehend time through the prism of cyclicality. Here, differentiation into the triad "past-present-future" is not yet revealed, and time itself flows relatively slowly and imperceptibly. In the reflections of ancient thinkers, in particular, in the classical works of Plato and Aristotle, the scientific concept of “time” is being formed, which is considered within the boundaries of the cosmic category. Medieval traditions of time analysis manifest themselves in understanding the question of the life of an individual soul, the existence of which is impossible outside of memory. It is within the limits of human memory that three key modes of time exist and are held: the past (what is no longer there), the future (what is not yet), and the instants of the present (what is but has no duration) and human life is considered in limits that have their beginning, their phases of flow and their end. In addition, time in the views of medieval authors is purely religious and is considered not within the framework of the cosmic, but the framework of the historical. It arises with the creation and, in its historical context, is related to divine eternity. In the era of the late Middle Ages, the idea of the relativity of time reveals itself, when time is perceived as a product of human subjectivity. Thinkers of the New Age explore the concept of "time" both from the standpoint of experimental and mathematical natural science and from the standpoint of metaphysics and theology. For example, Descartes and Spinoza, in their interpretations of time, pay attention to its correlation with the concepts of "duration" and "eternity", and time in the understanding of Descartes is nothing but something that exists only in the thinking of the subject measuring duration, and only God (eternity) by His power can bind together the separate parts of this duration. In the era of modern times, oriented towards scientific rationality, the dominant form of interpretation of time and space was the Newtonian concept. Newton also comprehends the concept of "time" through the prism of the immutable and eternal, and, as he notes, absolute time, i.e., duration – cannot exist outside of God. The Age of Enlightenment offered psychological (J. Locke, D. Hume) and transcendental (I. Kant) interpretations of time. So, for example, Kant thinks of time as a “pure form of sensual contemplation”, which, manifesting itself in the form of internal contemplation, has a certain priority over space, and plays the role of an element that connects sensuality and reason. It should be noted that the direct use of the concept of "temporality" in the philosophical sciences originates from existential philosophy. An analysis of temporality as a temporal category is offered by such thinkers as Husserl and Heidegger. Heidegger explores temporality for understanding being as a whole (Dasien). It is with the help of temporality, as Heidegger notes, that it is possible to understand Dasien since it is “the original temporality of temporality as such” (Heidegger, 2001, p. 324). Considering the problem of temporality from the standpoint of philosophical and natural sciences, one should pay attention to the views of Vernadsky, who expressed the idea of nature as the integrity of matter, time, and space, which in no case can be separated from each other, and time, in this case, is, first of all, duration. Vernadsky's proposal to combine the efforts of natural science and philosophy to understand temporality, while classical physics up to the 20th century presents time as an absolute phenomenon, divorced from any natural processes. It should be noted that the twentieth century was the beginning of a radical transition to understanding the philosophical traditions of temporality. The works of researchers, largely related to the need to comprehend the achievements and problems of the natural sciences, began to be devoted to the most diverse aspects of the problems of the temporality of being, in particular, to understanding its temporal dimension (Prigozhin, Reichenbach, Chernin, etc.), historical aspect in the interpretation of time (Losev, Molchanov, etc.), socio-historical interpretation of temporality (Gurevich, Ezhov, Kaike, etc.) and many other aspects of the temporality of being in general, and human being in particular. The transition of modern society to the post-industrial, informational stage of the development of civilization was also marked by an interest in the problem of understanding the temporality of being. Here we can find the emergence of futurological concepts in which information and knowledge are not only products of human activity, but also factors leading to fundamental social (including temporal) transformations (Bauman, Castells, Toffler, etc.). These works were the basis for the study of the problems of transformation of the temporality of human existence in the context of globalization and the digitalization of society at the present stage.
Investigation of the relationship between the transformation of the temporality of human existence with the processes of digitalization and globalization
The transformations taking place in society reveal a direct connection with the processes of information technology development, digitalization, and globalization processes (Guillen, 2001; Pieterse, 2009). As a result of correlating the speed of these processes and the speed of social transformations, we find that at the present stage of human development there is a qualitative leap. This race has several features. On the one hand, a qualitative leap inevitably and constantly transforms social reality, and in which, on the other hand, "the technological process and the social changes caused by it will continue at an extremely high (but almost constant) speed (Shestakova, 2019). Thus, we find that for modern people to realize a comfortable existence, it is extremely necessary to "harmoniously integrate" into this rapid flow of social changes. In addition, today, observing the acceleration of "social time", one can also notice that for it, from the point of view of the concepts proposed by Bauman, the characteristic feature is not duration and extension, but instantaneity. Fluidity, "liquid state" – these are exactly such metaphors Bauman characterizes a new stage in the history of modernity, at which the rights and obligations familiar to the previous era, the bonds’ fixed in the foundations of human relations, lose their "inviolability" (Bauman, 2008). Humanity is moving to a stage of existence in which the "fluid state" requires a radical revision of old concepts that act as the boundaries of human existence. Today, these boundaries are blurred, and a person is a kind of "zombie" for whom "everyone is dead and still alive." The modern world is an era in which old traditions have already been destroyed but new models have not yet been formed, allowing a person to find own place in an ever-changing society and take root in it (Castells, 2006). As Toffler (2002) notes:
The increased pace of life and the increased speed of broad scientific, technical and social changes affect the life of an individual. Human behavior is largely motivated by the attractiveness or denial of the pace of life imposed on the individual by society or the group in which he is included. (p. 158)
And the key tasks of modern people are to find the foundations of their being, to harmonize the "accelerated life" and everyday life. People try to find those patterns that will allow them "harmoniously integrating" into the accelerated flow of social development caused by the processes of globalization and digitalization. However, people also try to find those patterns that determine their ways of further existence, considering the acceleration of social development.
Identification of the key consequences of the transformation of temporality for the future development of humankind
The processes of transformation of temporality taking place in the modern world have a significant impact on the specifics of individual and social development. The modern world acquires the status of "unstable" when the "new" almost instantly becomes "old", giving way to an even more "new". The accelerated pace of life simply obliges a person to adapt to the consequences of constant changes and self-perception in the conditions of a continuous flow of messages about an increase in the number of event processes per unit of time. This obligation, in turn, implies a superficial perception of reality, when in fact there is not enough time for a long, thoughtful, and full-scale perception of the processes taking place within an individual or society as a whole. The superficiality of perception of reality leads to the loss of the essence of phenomena and processes, when, as Hoffman (2017) notes, "individuals perceive the world every time as if they were just born or, conversely, as if the world had just appeared in its original form as if nothing had happened before" (p. 143). In addition, "non-interference in the past", discovered as a result of accelerating social development, it implies the "loss of the future" when the key goal of human existence is "to be here and now". As Toffler (2002) notes:
The average person knows little and worries even less about the cycle of technological innovation or the relationship between the acquisition of knowledge and the pace of change. But at the same time, he is acutely aware of the pace of own life – whatever it may be. (p. 270)
Analyzing the totality of aspects reflecting the reaction of person and society to the temporality of modern life, we can identify two key positions in identifying the consequences of these transformations: 1) "acceptance of changes and their development to improve the quality of life"; 2) "escape (refusal) from interaction with the accelerating world" (Nafikova, 2020, p. 207). Proceeding from this, we find that the key task of a person in the modern world is to find a "stable island" within which he can find a support that allows establishing a balance between the accelerated pace of life and the desire for a full, filled the content of existence.
Purpose of the Study
The key goal of the study is to analyze the processes of transformation of the temporality of human existence, taking place in the context of digitalization and globalization of modern society.
Research Methods
The study required the use of a complex methodology. So, on the one hand, the study of the traditions of understanding time in the philosophical and natural sciences, which reflect the previous stages of understanding the temporality of human existence, is subject to theoretical analysis. On the other hand, there is a need for a theoretical and methodological solution to the issue of ways to study temporality within modern society in the context of digitalization and globalization. The methods of historicism and comparative analysis are used as key research methods. The methods of historicism and comparative analysis allow analyzing and understanding the features of the modern understanding of the temporality of human existence, as well as exploring the relationship and interdependence of the transformation of the temporality of human existence and the processes of digitalization and globalization. To understand the consequences of the transformation of temporality for the future development of humankind the method of theoretical modeling is used, which makes it possible to apply the results of a socio-philosophical analysis of the transformation of temporality to the study of its consequences for the future development of humankind. The work also used several general scientific methods of theoretical research (analysis, synthesis, comparison, generalization), as well as the provisions of the systemic and sociocultural approaches.
Findings
Analysis of the problems of studying the transformation of the temporality of human existence, taking place in the conditions of digitalization and globalization of modern society, leads to the following results:
1. Modern (information, post-industrial) society is currently at the stage of a radical transition to a new digital world, which requires a person and society to radically reassess the basic concepts that serve as the foundations of individual and social life.
2. The acceleration of technological development, the spread of information technologies, together with other trends characteristic of modern society, lead to an acceleration in the pace of human and social life, which, in turn, leads to the transformation of the temporality of being as a whole.
3. The transformation of individual and social life requires a person and society to search for grounds for further existence, the need to adapt to the impact of permanent changes, and the perception of their future existence in the emerging conditions, which requires a deep and comprehensive study of this issue, which is currently one of the most acute and debatable issues. These findings, in turn, allow asserting the need and timeliness of studying this issue.
Conclusion
Thus, completing the analysis of the transformation of the temporality of human existence in the context of digitalization and globalization of modern society, we can state that this process is a permanent, inevitable phenomenon for the current stage of human development. The transformation of being is considered by modern people as a process of accelerating the pace of social life, which is characterized by an increase in event phenomena per unit of time. Thus, the main goal of the study was to analyze the transformation of the temporality of human existence in a changing world. The results of the study allow drawing the following conclusions:
1. An analysis of the previous traditions of understanding "temporality" in the philosophical and natural sciences reveals that this issue has been of concern to humanity since the dawn of civilization, however, a multidimensional understanding of this issue in conjunction with the information and technological development becomes relevant only at the end of the 20th century when it is determined that information and knowledge act not only as products of human activity but also as factors leading to fundamental social (including temporal) transformations.
2. It has been established that the scientific and technological revolution, computerization on a global scale, informatization, globalization, and digitalization of the modern world have determined the emergence of a radically new system in society, which characterizes itself by such a trend as accelerating and overcoming time, accelerating the pace of individual and social life, transforming temporality of being.
3. It has been revealed that the transformation of the temporality of human existence leads a person to the need to search for grounds for his further existence in a new digital reality, and a more detailed study of these grounds constitutes a research perspective.
References
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Nafikova, A. I., Shergeng, N. A., Bashirov, T. A., Antonova, N. A., & Shakirov, I. A. (2022). Transformation Of Human Existence Temporality In The Global Digital World. In D. K. Bataev, S. A. Gapurov, A. D. Osmaev, V. K. Akaev, L. M. Idigova, M. R. Ovhadov, A. R. Salgiriev, & M. M. Betilmerzaeva (Eds.), Knowledge, Man and Civilization- ISCKMC 2022, vol 129. European Proceedings of Social and Behavioural Sciences (pp. 772-778). European Publisher. https://doi.org/10.15405/epsbs.2022.12.100