Metamorphosis and digital network society

The paper is aimed at revealing the connection between the features of the network itself as the structural basis of the digital network society and its metamorphosis as a cycle of its interdependent radical transformations or metamorphoses. The relevance of the study is due to the fact that modern society, becoming network and digital, goes through many metamorphoses in all its spheres and its ontology, and turns into a hybrid entity, a kind of a sociobiotechnosphere. The consequences of these metamorphoses are unpredictable and bring along a wide range of risks for humanity. A socio-philosophical analysis of what is happening can help identify new factors of such metamorphoses, predict their possible scenarios, and the degree of their probabilistic impact on people, which helps to reduce risks and provides society with hope for further development. The analysis was based on two assumptions: (1) the network itself, as a complex and dynamic structure, has characteristics that explain its tendency to metamorphoses of various types; (2) when exploring the concepts of a digital network society, it is necessary to take into account two polar basic techno-paradigms - “utopian” and “dystopian”, which can contribute to a deeper reflection of the metamorphoses observed in it. The work examines the concept “metamorphosis” and concludes that they have accompanied the development of society throughout its history, taking the form of “industrial revolutions”, “ruptures”, “catastrophes”, “paradigm changes”, and the like. Further, the concepts “network”, “network approach”, network society and its “basic techno-paradigms” are defined. Taking into account a number of approaches representing the attitude of philosophers, scientists and futuristic writers to the technologization and digitalization of the networked society, the author conventionally divides them into two polar techno-paradigms: “utopian” and “dystopian”, and uses them, along with the key concepts presented above as a basic methodological research tool. The results of the socio-philosophical analysis are confirmation of the connection between the network as the basic structure of modern digital society and its metamorphosis; identifying its main metamorphoses and defining the “new normality” (K. Schwab) as “the foreseen metamorphosis of the world” and a possible negative scenario for the further development of society. At the same time, humanity still has chances for a better future, since the nonlinear nature of the “metamorphosis of the world” (Sorokin, Beck) is not only a source of risks, but also a source of hope for a drastic turn from the dead-end branch of the development of society and the transformation of a person into a biological appendage of neural networks.

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