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A PERSON IN THE DIGITAL AGE // ΠΡΑΞΗMΑ. Journal of Visual Semiotics. 2022. Issue 4 (34). P. 102-122

In the context of economic, political, technological, cultural challenges and rapidly changing realities, one of the significant tasks of philosophy is to form a conceptual position about a person and, more broadly, to achieve a certain level of understanding of a person in a transforming world. Meanwhile, philosophers and specialists in the field of social and human sciences dealing with anthropological problems widely believe that all human projects have exhausted their resources. A radical variation of this opinion is expressed by the thesis “a person is dead”. The digital age, characterized by the intensification of the development of information electronic technologies and the introduction of the Internet into all spheres of society, is a fertile ground for the formation of a different, “posthuman” formation. The radical nature of these beliefs encourages the formation of a humanitarian alternative that takes into account modern technological trends and challenges of the time. The article consistently considers various aspects of the stated topic. The first section of the article discusses the digital human environment. The authors indicate a significant transition in the development of the Internet from anonymity to total control. The Internet has turned from a “magical” space (a pioneering technology) into an everyday means of political, economic and other practices. Communication now is subject to total economic and moral control. The second section, “A digital person: From transhumanism to Homo telematicus and beyond”, discusses a directly anthropological aspect. The position of a person is ensured by a frequently unconscious transfer of cognitive functions to the machine. A person predominantly seeks and copies information (consumer orientation), rather than produces it. Among modern practices of handling information, situational, one-time reproduction of text from the screen is popular. At the same time, the speed of access to content is conceived as an unconditional value. The authors give two options for interpreting the digital person, relying on the philosophical concept of Homo telematicus by Jean Baudrillard and on the discourse of transhumanism. The latter constructs images of a technologically transformed being that ultimately overcomes any “limitations” of human nature. The section “Digital Age: An individual in the space of publicity” examines the pattern catalyzed by the quarantine conditions of 2020. The public digital space has invaded the private environment. This trend has ambiguous consequences: on the one hand, the growth of the public sphere and the emergence of a wide range of political and professional roles narrow the private and actually make it a social mode; on the other hand, the private turns into the secret, which must be hidden, protected. The final section, “The time of the “significant-selves”: To the anthropology of the new world”, discusses the problem of personal identity in the digital age. The authors argue that the Internet at the present stage stimulates the activity of an individual and creativity. At the philosophical level, the authors conceptualized this phenomenon as the actualization of “self-significance”.

Keywords: digital age, digital technologies, digital humans, Internet, virtual, anthropological frontier, transhumanism, Homo telematicus, privacy, pandemic, identity, individuality

VISUALIZATION OF HISTORICAL MEMORY: THE IMAGE OF PETER I IN INTERNET MEMES // ΠΡΑΞΗMΑ. Journal of Visual Semiotics. 2024. Issue 1 (39). P. 9-29

The article deals with the problems of historical memory visualization in Internet memes. In the digital age, the construction of historical memory is no longer a matter for professional historians and political actors only. Internet users actively create historical media content, interpret historical events, and make representations about the past. This practice destroys the line between historical knowledge and memory. Visualization has become a key form of representation of the past in the media environment. Digital technologies for creating visual images transform historical memory. Internet users perceive polysemantic images of the past on an emotional level. The main emotions are nostalgia for a bygone era and the desire to recreate historical reality. At the same time, visualization of the past strengthens the simulation of historical reality. For people, the authenticity of historical events ceases to be a value, since they have equated history and myth. In visual historical images, the masses do not resurrect the past, but create the present. This gives rise to fakes. The emergence of historical fakes is due to both the general concept of the post-truth, in which the authenticity of the fact ceases to matter, and the visualization of distributed polysemantic images, which leads to the simulation and semiotization of the media sphere. The Internet meme is characterized by its emotional impact, changeable structure and viral spreadability, so it introduces historical images into the mass consciousness with high efficiency. It is the perfect embodiment of a historical fake. Historical memes combine mythological representations of the past with current agendas, popular culture stereotypes, and modern media images. By compiling various elements, Internet memes distort historical reality and create new images of historical memory while visualizing them. Internet memes about Peter I illustrate these processes. The Russian Emperor is a highly mythological historical figure in Russia, with his reign, life, and actions being presented as a collection of myths in popular consciousness. These myths include an order to shave beards, the "opening of a window" to Europe, construction of a fleet, and establishment of a Northern capital on marshy lands. These stories are reflected in Internet memes, connecting with the visual characteristics of current events. The practice of combining ideas about the past and the realities of the present allows users to actualize the memory of Peter I in the mass consciousness and fit modernity into the historical context. The case “Peter I and Shrek” shows how the visual image of a historical person becomes a part of digital culture, and the image of mass media acquires the status of historical reality.

Keywords: media environment, images of past, memory studies, wistfulness, visual images, fake