Homo numericus : the coming 'civilization' / Daniel Cohen ; translated by Steven Rendall.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Cohen, Daniel, 1953-2023, author.

Contributor:

Rendall, Steven, translator.

Standardized Title:

Homo numericus. English

Language:

English

French

Subjects (All):

Social evolution.

Social change.

Information society.

Information technology--Social aspects.

Information technology.

Economics--Moral and ethical aspects.

Economics.

Physical Description:

viii, 175 pages ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Polity Press, [2024]

Language Note:

Translated from the French.

Summary:

"From Amazon to Tinder, from Google to Deliveroo, there is no facet of human life that the digital revolution has not streamlined and dematerialized. Its objective was to reduce costs by forgoing face-to-face interactions, and it was a direct result of the free-market shock of the 1980s, which sought to expand the marketplace seamlessly in every possible dimension. Today, we can be algorithmically entertained, educated, cared for, and courted in a way that was impossible in the old industrial society, where institutions structured the social world. Today, these institutions have been replaced by monetized virtual contact. As the industrial revolution did in the past, the digital revolution is creating a new economy and a new sensibility, bringing about a radical revaluation of society and its representations. While obsessed with the search for an efficient management of human relations, the new digital capitalism gives rise to an irrational and impulsive Homo numericus prone to an array of addictive behaviours and subjected to intensive forms of surveillance. Far from producing a new agora, social media produce a radicalization of public debate in which hate-filled speech directed against adversaries becomes the norm. But these outcomes are not inevitable. The digital revolution also offers an exciting path, one that leads to a world in which everyone deserves to be listened to and respected. It explores a new way of living that is historically unprecedented, that of a society based neither on individualism nor on the hierarchical model of earlier civilizations. Are we able to seize the new opportunities opened up by the digital revolution without succumbing to its dark side?"--Amazon.com.

Contents:

Introduction

Part I: The Digital Illusion

Ch. 1 Body and mind

Terminator

Reason and emotions

Descartes' 'error'

Artificial intelligence

Ch. 2 Stultify and punish

Wild thought

Surveillance capitalism

Ch. 3 Waiting for the robots

The death of kings

The industrialization of services

The thinking robot

The stake of the century

Ch. 4 Political anomie

Impoverishing growth

Working-Class suicide

A political revolution

Vox populi

Part II: The Return to reality

Ch. 5 Social ties

The law of 150 friends

Bonobos and chimpanzees

Four possible societies

The secular age

The triumph of endogamy

The postmodern mentality

Ch. 6 Winter is coming

The crises of the Twenty-First century

The climatic clock

The society of addiction Ch. 7 In a hundred years

The society of abundance

Back to science fiction

By way of conclusion.

Notes:

Translation of: Homo numericus : la 'civilisation' qui vient.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781509560219

1509560211

OCLC:

1390677515