Work in progress.

Title

THE STRUCTURE OF DIGITAL REVOLUTION.
An essay of social philosophy of technology.
Doctoral Thesis in philosophy under the direction of Michela Marzano.
CERSES, Centre de Recherche Sens, Éthique, Société, UMR 8137 - CNRS & Paris Descartes University, École Doctorale 180 « Social and Human Sciences », Paris, France.
Date of registration : October 2009 (in progress).

Abstract

Since the first apparition of computers in the 1940's, our civilization is involved in a deep technological change. The advent of Graphical User Interfaces, the growth of the Internet, the success of the Web 2.0, the development of video games, the increasing triumph of mobile devices or the forecast of The Internet of Things, all these main changes are different and complementary aspects of one unique global technological change. Because they are based on the « culture of simulation » (1), these new technologies or Information Technologies (IT) are not easy to understand : the Internet itself appears as « a problematic complex especially difficult to decrypt » (2) and even the researchers are embarrassed when they can only describe these new objects by saying « the Internet – and all that is connected to it : multimedia, computers, computing, information » (3). In such a context, this doctoral thesis project is double.

First, it aims to build a « true study of philosophy of technology » (4), which is missing today, able to offer, from an epistemological point of view, an interdisciplinary theoretical model of what we call sometimes « informational revolution » or sometimes « digital revolution ». By relying on the concept of « technical system » (5), the goal is to show that what we call « digital revolution » can be described as a technological paradigm change, which consists in the progressive advent, for several decades, of a new technical system whose the Internet is becoming the heard and that I call the digital technical system. The first part of the project is to study, to define and to describe this system, which is also a new « system of objects ».

Second, this project aims to reveal in which sense and which proportions the digital revolution is not only a technological revolution in the objects, but also a psychological, cultural and social revolution in the subjects : it deals with men as well as with machines. As says the french philosopher Paul MATHIAS, « The Internet is a total phenomenon » (6), « it goes through all the layers of life » (6), so we can say that we are « riddled » by the networks. Sherry TURKLE herself says that « computers don't just do things for us, they do things to us » (1). Beyond the « fascinating seduction » or the « respectful fear » (4), it is time to make a critical inquiry about all these changes on individuals. The goal of this research, from a philosophical anthropology point of view, is to determine how much our digital practices are changing us or not, and to define exactly what they are doing to us, and what they are not doing to us, by evaluating its social and psychological impact on individuals. What is affected, in us, by digital technology ? and what is not affected ?

Notes

1. S. TURKLE (1995), Life on the screen, New York : Simon & Schuster Paperbacks.
2. P. MATHIAS, "Horizons", in Rue Descartes ("Philosophies entoilées"), n°55, PUF, février 2007.
3 P. BRETON (2000), Le culte de l'Internet : une menace pour le lien social ?, La Découverte, p. 5.
4. D. PARROCHIA, "L'Internet et ses représentations", in Rue Descartes ("Philosophies entoilées"), n°55, PUF, février 2007.
5. B. GILLE (1978), Histoire des techniques, Encyclopédie de la Pléiade.
6. P. MATHIAS (2009), Qu'est-ce que l'Internet ?, Paris, Vrin.

Keywords

DIGITAL REVOLUTION - DIGITAL TECHNICAL SYSTEM - INTERACTIVE OBJECTS
INTERFACES - INTERNET - WEB - NETWORKS - IT