Open access
TRANSFORMATIONS OF LIFE IN THE TECHNOLOGICAL SOCIETY
Rafał ILNICKI1
Transformations of Man and Society: Ideas, Perspectives
Publication language: Polish
Journal article
Transformations No. 1-2 (84-85) 2015, Publication date: 4 May 2015
Keywords: technological society, bare life, technological systems, technological mediation, small projects
Abstract It is argued that what constitutes human in technological society is bare life which is shaped by different technological systems. This means that human life is hardly graspable in terms of conscious existence. Analysis in this article focuses on the concept of the technological society developed by Jacques Ellul and characteristics of life developed by this thinker. The main argument is that human life is transformed by technological mediation into a series of small projects. Life in these projects creates not understanding self but lacks existence, so technological society creates phantoms of self which help people to cope with inhuman conditions of the technological society. Further there is developed existential characteristics of the contemporary man’s life with acknowledging problems with evaluation of this life especially when it is being automatically evaluated by technological systems in the scope of the ideology of productivity. In conclusion there is shown how contemporary transformations of life creates a possibility for authentic existence which is still mediated by technological systems
Instytut Kulturoznawstwa, Wydział Nauk Społecznych, Uniwersytet Adama Mickiewicza w Poznaniu
E-mail: Ilnicki.r@gmail.com