Open access
FROM INFORMATION WAVE TO VIRTUAL CIVILIZATION
Andrew S. TARGOWSKI1
Civilization Changes and Technology
Publication language: English
Journal article
Transformations No. 3-4 (86-87) 2015, Publication date: 8 November 2015
Keywords: virtual civilization, info-communication technology, virtual society
Abstract The purpose of this investigation is to define the central contents and issues of the rise and development of Virtual Civilization. The methodology is based on an interdisciplinary big-picture view of the Virtual Civilization’s elements of development and their interdependency. Among the findings are: Virtual Civilization has infrastructural characteristics, a world-wide unlimited, socially constructed work and leisure space in cyberspace, and it can last centuries/millennia - as long as info-communication technology is operational. Practical implications: The mission of Virtual Civilization is to control the public policy of real civilizations in order to secure the common good in real societies. Social implication: The quest for the common good by virtual society may limit or even replace representative democracy by direct democracy, while positively solving some problems, may eventually trigger permanent political chaos in real civilizations. Originality: This investigation, by providing an interdisciplinary and civilizational approach at the big-picture level defined several crucial repercussions of Virtual Civilization, which is evolving in our times and offers a golden opportunity for the well-being of humankind.
Western Michigan University, USA
E-mail: andrew.targowski@wmich.edu