Please meet the second issue of the scientific and analytical journal “Information Society” for 2025. The main theme of the issue is Digital technologies: use and right of refusal. The articles in this issue cover, among others, the following topics:
Challenges in the implementation of generative AI
Evolution of data analysis technologies
Use of the digital ruble
Change in understanding of reality
“Natural” and “improved” brain
Political role of artificial intelligence
Efficiency of ICT application in higher education
Changing role of a person in legal relations in the information age
Alternative metrics of publication activity
Innovation processes in an industrial enterprise
In her address to readers “Yes to digital opportunities, no to digital colonialism,” the journal’s editor-in-chief Tatiana Ershova wrote:
I have three female acquaintances, communication with whom is a real quest. Of course, they are not from a professional environment, but from a personal one, and two of them are significantly younger than me, that is, they belong to the generation of “children of perestroika”. It is even stranger that they completely reject modern technologies. They live with push-button phones and of all means of communication, they use only e-mail, and even this causes them difficulties. They watch movies in cinemas or on TV, write letters by hand, make purchases only in stores and markets, pay utilities and taxes at banks, receive payment notifications in mailboxes. No smartphones, tablets, messengers and social networks – that which makes communication fast, convenient and effective. Issues that I resolve with others in a few seconds, with them can take several days, or even weeks, if, for example, they are on vacation somewhere or, God forbid, are sick.
These people have made a conscious choice: to reduce the use of any modern technologies to an absolute minimum. They categorically do not accept the digital world, considering it evil, depriving a person of his nature, destroying normal connections between people, eroding morals and values, damaging education, making a person defenseless against the authorities, scammers, spammers and cyberterrorists. Of course, there is some truth in this position, and it cannot be ignored. The specific dangers and risks of the information society are studied by serious scientists in different countries of the world, discussed at conferences and on television programs, but this is not done to dissuade people from using technology, but mainly so that they can reliably protect themselves. Moreover, there are now plenty of proven tools for such protection, and they are constantly being improved. My like-minded people are supporters and promoters of digital technologies that make people’s lives better and more interesting; at the same time, the task of society and the education system remains the education of people in such a way that they strive for knowledge and work and develop moral qualities. Technologies are not responsible for this – they are just a multiplier that magnifies everything good and bad that is in a person and in society.
But, be that as it may, we cannot ignore the right of people to refuse to use technologies, just as it would be immoral to forcibly impose an alien religion on indigenous tribes. The times of colonialism and missionary work are over, and reviving them in the digital age is hardly a good idea. At the same time, people who choose to refuse “digital” should have all the rights and opportunities guaranteed by the constitution. This means that appropriate non-digital mechanisms must be provided for their implementation.
In this issue, the human right to use digital technologies or to refuse them is discussed in an interesting polemical article by the author from St. Petersburg Viktor Naumov “Law and the “Butlerian Jihad”: reflections on the threats of using artificial intelligence.” The author and the editors of the journal invite everyone to discuss the article and the scientific discussion on this topic.
The full text of the issue can be found on the journal’s website.