Achille De Tommaso

Digital Anthropology Achille De Tommaso

We are more connected than ever online, but are these connections real human connections? Is technical progress human progress? How do technological devices affect our relationships? And, in the case of companies: is a hyper-connection enough to provide better efficiency and profit? People are getting used to considering the virtual world as a great centralizer of their attention, emotions and thoughts; and the temptation will be to give their loyalty to what not only weakens their relationship with nature, but, with a possible corrosive effect, to their inner life. What is the difference between 'human' and 'digital', 'real' and 'virtual'? Social media can also unite. When you share a loss, or a failure, you can experience great solidarity. When you feel insecure, you happen to turn to Facebook or Instagram for relief, and the results seem to be better than any other self-affirmation activity. Furthermore, the time spent on social media has to do with virtual new culture. Digital technology is therefore a new culture with people at the center; because Digital Humanism, for instance, is the result of a hitherto untested convergence between our complex cultural heritage and a technology that has produced an unprecedented social sphere. This convergence, instead of simply forming a link between antiquity and today, has redistributed concepts, categories and objects, as well as associated behaviors and practices, all in a new environment. In trying to understand how digital technologies affect individuals and companies, we must first understand the difference between the different categories, but beware: the answers cannot be given only by technologists: the questions involve our whole being and living; such as information, art, culture, philosophy, religion, entertainment, economics, finance. And so on. It is important that anyone is aware of it. This book helps ask these questions; and proposes some answers.