Towards a new anthropocene: The intersection of human evolution and environmental stewardship in the information era

Abstract

The impact of digital technologies on society, the environment, and individuals has been examined. It has been demonstrated that the processes of digitalization serve as a medium for human development and influence the transformation of social relations; advancement of digital technologies has enabled the alteration of social relations in the realms of ecology, economics, politics, and the management of social and natural resources. It has been established that the issues of the information society began to interest society and scientists since the 60s of the 20th century, especially when the results of digital technologies development massively entered the human ontology, becoming a part of it. Such a flurry of digitization of social life and technologies determined the period of society’s development and raised questions of anthropology, in particular, what a person of the information age should be and how he/she should be characterized. Scientific principles and methods were used to elucidate these and other questions, to scientifically substantiate worldview ideas: concreteness, integrity, historicism, rationality, comparison, and constructive criticism. In their totality and interaction, they contributed to high-quality research and the formation of scientific conclusions: the formation of Homo digitalis is due to the processes of digitalization, which are the basis of such concepts as the global village, the state in a smartphone, etc. It is noted that in the conditions of digitalization, not only the person changes, but also the traditional system of social relationships undergoes changes, the perception of the world, space, value orientations, etc. change. In fact, a new world is being created that will meet the interests of digital man. Identity becomes more complicated, becoming unstable and short-lived. The perspective of introducing modern technologies into all spheres of human life has been evaluated. It has been proven that the digitalization of the modern world in real practical life allows achieving a balance between the three factors of civilizational progress: social, economic and ecological.