The sages say: “He who owns knowledge owns the world!” This thesis can equally well be applied to obtaining information in modern human society. Today, people and information are closely connected. And here the rule works well: whoever finds out first wins, and whoever is late loses.

Man and information

Getting to know their surroundings, people always come into contact with In the beginning, at the first stage of interaction, absorption occurs and This helps (and sometimes forces) to correctly assess the events taking place in society and the world. So, at the second stage of interaction, the data is analyzed and processed qualitatively by the brain. And then a personal opinion, a judgment about the ongoing event, is developed. As a result, the person and the information received by him merge as much as possible, acquiring a personal aspect.

Origin and meaning of the word

The very concept of “information” comes from the Latin word information (clarification, reduction). This concept is a general scientific category, which has many definitions and interpretations. Without going too deep into the discrepancies, we can say that in everyday life information is identified with information received, knowledge in oral, visual, written, in electronic format(in these days of universal computerization). Information plays an important role. For example, it allows you to increase your knowledge of specific issue, of interest to the individual. And the exchange of information forms a more comprehensive understanding of the subject of discussion.

Information in human life

Since ancient times, the possession of information has been considered the destiny of the elite. It is no secret that in some ancient communities the common people were not allowed to learn, or everything was done to make knowledge difficult to obtain. Priests and high priests, monks in secret monasteries, hermit healers did their best to hide information from commoners, not allowing saints into the holy place.

Today, a person in the world of information gains relatively free access to any source of interest to him. Openness of information is one of the main conditions. This is directly related to the development of the World Wide Web, which encircles all continents of the globe. Man and information in the material world of our time are much more closely interconnected than in previous eras. And any average citizen of a free country has the right to free access: you can no longer hide an awl in a bag!

Mass media

In today's social society, the media plays the most important role for a person. With their help, people learn about major and minor events in the field of science, culture, politics, and other industries. In the beginning, it was newspapers and radio that published articles and verbally reported on what happened. Then TV appeared as a powerful lever that still influences many minds to this day. Then, with the development of the Internet, electronic media, which can confidently be called truly massive: some articles and videos receive millions of views, which means that they have been used by a great many people in many countries around the world.

Meaning and properties

In our high-speed world, which is not by chance called the age of information, a lot depends on it: the development of society, economic and political, the very lives of people, their safety and health. Analyzing information received from various sources (as a rule, experienced journalists, for example, use at least three confirmed ones), correspondents evaluate its understandability, relevance at this stage, usefulness for society, ethics, and reliability. Moreover, in different situations, different properties of the same data come to the fore. For example, a news broadcast on TV should contain maximum reliability and relevance about the events of today or the past week. And a popular science article in an electronic newspaper contains the maximum of useful and interesting information, confirmed by scientific data.

In today's world, “information” is getting as close as possible. We can say that without information there is no and without a person there is no information that is processed, published and analyzed by people!

It is believed that most developed countries now function as information societies. In this kind of society, socio-economic successes and changes depend primarily on the production, processing, storage, and dissemination of information among members of society.

The first computers were created in the 30s of the XX century. They were used mainly for calculations. The main element of the first generation computer was the electromechanical relay. The main components of second generation computers (early 60s) were semiconductor transistors. In cars of the third and fourth generation Large-scale and ultra-large-scale integrated circuits are used, respectively, on miniature semiconductor wafers. Fifth generation machines, created since the mid-80s, are mainly based, like their predecessors, on semiconductor technology. It is expected that fifth-generation machines will make it possible to solve a set of so-called intellectual tasks, i.e., tasks that are subject only to human intelligence. Reducing energy intensity, cost, dimensions of computers, their widespread use in various spheres of human life - all this has led to the development of information technology. Society has become informational. The amount of computer memory, the speed of the operations they perform and the variety of the latter are impressive. Just as a person is not able to run at the speed of light, he is not able to hope to successfully compete with a computer in the speed of performing computational actions. Taking this into account, a person strives to use the advantages technical devices. Information can be quickly processed, quickly transmitted, and conveniently stored. So, the computerization of modern society is a fact. In this regard, it is necessary to understand the philosophical meaning of the ongoing computer revolution. Let's engage in reflection on this matter.

The first foundation of information technology is rationalization. Computerization of society primarily acts as its comprehensive rationalization, organization of human activity in accordance with expediency. The origins of rationality force us to recall the names of outstanding philosophers of the New Age, primarily Leibniz and Descartes. Norbert Wiener wrote: “If I had to choose a patron saint of cybernetics in the annals of the history of science, I would choose Leibniz.” Leibniz - philosopher, physicist, mathematician, technician, linguist, logician. Combining the achievements of many sciences, he built a calculating machine unique for his time. By referring to Leibniz, we want to emphasize that the origins of information technology go back to the ideas of modern philosophy, however, it took centuries for their development.

The second necessary basis for informatization of society is a developed isomorphism. Isomorphism is a correspondence between objects and processes of different natures.

The emergence of information technology was preceded by a number of successes in the development of the idea of ​​isomorphism. Parallels of an isomorphic type were found between branches of mathematics, between mathematics and logic, between logic and linguistics, between brain processes and language, between systems of algebra and logic and technical systems. Information technology acts as a system of isomorphisms, extending from human intellectual activity to magnetization and demagnetization in computer elements. The very fact of isomorphism often causes amazement; its existence seems impossible. Is a computer really isomorphic to the human brain? Meanwhile, isomorphism exists. Such is our world that there are quite a lot of isomorphic connections in it. Only in their natural basis do they have a natural character; more often they are peculiar consequences of man’s cultivation of his symbolic activity. Why should a person count on his own if he can entrust it to a machine, which will allow him to save the main resource of his future, time. The computer calculates for a person; it does the same as he does, but in a symbolic form.

The third necessary information technology base is development of technology. It seems that this position does not require lengthy proof. Informatization became a reality only where a powerful material base for the production of computer equipment was deployed.

Finally, information technology requires certain economic, social and political institutions. In a society with undeveloped ideals of freedom and democracy, the widespread dissemination of information technology is in principle impossible. And it's clear why. Information technology presupposes unlimited user access to data banks, the exchange of various information, and the rapid adoption and implementation of practical decisions. But all this is absent in non-democratic countries.

So, the formation and development of information technology turned out to be possible thanks to a complex of scientific, technical and socio-political achievements. Having become one of the dominant forces, the informatization of society has led to global scientific, technical, social, ethical and other consequences; Apparently, even larger changes are coming. The consequences and prospects, both desirable and undesirable, of the computer revolution - note that experts identify several, usually three, computer revolutions - the reader can familiarize himself with in the specialized literature. We will note only the main philosophical result of the predominance of information technology in society. It lies in the dominance not of the artificial-technical, but of the information approach.

It was already noted above that technology brought with it a new, artificial-technical approach, alien to the contemplation of the refined natural-scientific approach. In the information society, the information approach comes to the fore. It is usually considered as a further development of the artificial-technical approach, without going beyond its limits. Even if this is true, the information approach nevertheless has certain specific features. The point is that the advantages of information technology are not determined by its material and energy characteristics, as is the case with most of the artifacts we are familiar with, such as architectural structures, airplanes, and cars. The center of the information approach is not energy, not matter, but information, its flows, in short, information technology. Any technique always symbolizes a person. This fully applies to information technology. But in information technology this process of symbolization is more complex; it is two-stage in nature. The engineer understands that on the path to information technology, he first - there is no other way - must be “symbolized” in the material-energy sense, and then, on the already created base, carry out another symbolization, this time directly informational.

The mechanism of information symbolization is based on two facts of fundamental significance. Fact one: information as a measure of heterogeneity of initially given objects can be reproduced in computer elements. Fact two: information processing is some form of computational process, regardless of whether it takes place in the elements of a computer or in a person’s head. These two facts together mean that within the limits of information isomorphy, a computer and a person are identical to each other. Thanks to the tireless efforts of man, this area of ​​isomorphism is constantly expanding, once again shaming skeptics who are wary of information technology and, on the contrary, delighting computer optimists. Computers play chess, prove theorems, design, translate texts from one language to another, communicate with humans in natural language (interface). Advances in computerization show that almost the absolute majority of processes occurring in the world are rational, that is, if you have the appropriate software and hardware, they can be “counted, calculated.” In this regard, the question quite naturally arises about the problem of so-called artificial intelligence.

When they try to emphasize the difference between a computer and a person, they most often point to the computer’s inability to operate with universals and holistic images, to feel and love, to model the unconscious intuitive and creative activity of a person, and to understand the historical and cultural context of phenomena. To this, computer optimists respond that there are no intellectual processes inherent in humans that would be fundamentally untranslatable into the language of computational operations. It is not easy for computer optimists and computer pessimists to come to a common opinion. It seems quite obvious to us - few people doubt this at all - that the future will bring new successes to information technology. On the other hand, in the relationship between man and computer, the leading party is man; it is man who symbolizes himself in information technology: it is not the computer that rules man. A computer, like a person, has information; it is quite possible that at least, according to some concepts, understands a person, but in all cases he acts as a system symbolically isomorphic to a person, nothing more. In a broad philosophical sense, it is not a person who is a symbol of a computer, but on the contrary, a computer is a symbol of a person. So far there are no serious grounds to assert that the asymmetry of the human-computer relationship will ever be broken. Thus, computerization leaves the machine with the machine and the human with the human.

Development information technologies poses a lot of new problems for humanity, primarily regarding the philosophical understanding of the information way of life and the content of the information approach. The information approach in itself is not a panacea for the ills of humanity. The widespread use of computers rationalizes human activity, expands access to information, promotes rapid growth in the competence of specialists, and allows for the achievement of numerous positive economic effects. But at the same time, the computer revolution can lead to a decrease in the individual and general cultural level of specialists, isolation of individuals, increased manipulation of people using a data bank, and dehumanization of work. To prevent this from happening, purposeful philosophical work is needed, which would not allow the humanitarian component of the information approach to be forgotten. The most significant in this sense are ethical problems, because it is in them that human demands receive their peak expression.

Introduction

Characteristics of the information society

Man and the information society

Conclusion

Introduction

Modern society is increasingly called an information society, where information and information resources occupy a central place. We find this statement in many publications, and in real life the concept of “information” is increasingly used in relation to real sectors of the economy, management, aspects of various sciences: information economics, information management, information pedagogy, information cultural studies, etc.

The advent of new times radically changed the economic and social aspects of society. Many scientists and practitioners have come to the conclusion that today life activity is a process that can only take place when a person has information that simultaneously determines the viability of society. These theses are perceived as a postulate, a certain given, although, according to F. Webster, “it is not possible to establish how information took a central place in society; it is so important that it even became a factor in the creation of a new type of society.”

Changes most directly affect a person’s place in information world. A person changes in accordance with the vector of information and technical characteristics of society. However, this is not at all a passive acceptance of new conditions of production and consumption. A person acts as a subject of information reality, far beyond information specifications. The informatization of everyday life and the emergence of a new information field of human existence does not pass without leaving a mark on the human life world. In the electronic space, behavioral standards and value orientations of individuals change.

Target of this work: based on the analysis of philosophical ideas of the second half of the 20th century. - beginning of the 21st century. identify the relationships formed by a person in the information society

1. Characteristics of the information society

In the history of the development of civilization, several information revolutions have occurred - transformations of social relations due to fundamental changes in the field of information processing. The consequence of such transformations was the acquisition of a new quality by human society.

The first revolution was associated with the invention of writing, which led to a gigantic qualitative and quantitative leap. There is an opportunity to transfer knowledge from generation to generation.

The latest information revolution brings to the fore a new industry - the information industry associated with production technical means, methods, technologies for the production of new knowledge.

All types of information technologies, especially telecommunications, are becoming the most important components of the information industry. Modern information technology is based on advances in the field computer equipment and means of communication.

The increasing complexity of industrial production, social, economic and political life, changes in the dynamics of processes in all spheres of human activity have led, on the one hand, to an increase in the need for knowledge, and on the other, to the creation of new means and ways to satisfy these needs.

The rapid development of computer technology and information technology gave impetus to the development of a society built on the use of various information and called the information society. Just recently, no one imagined that very soon humanity would be on the threshold of a new era in the development of civilization - the information era.

During the transition from an “industrial society” to an “information society,” there is a change in production methods, people’s worldviews, and their way of life. Information technologies are radically changing the daily lives of millions of people.

The term “information society” first appeared in Japan in the early 60s of the twentieth century. Ideas about the new information era have become the reality of everyday, mass consciousness, they began to form a new image, a new concept of success, focused on the consumption of electronic products. The technological expression of the new era is the “trinity” - a communication satellite, cable TV, Personal Computer.

In the information society, not only production is changing, but also the entire way of life, the value system, and the importance of cultural leisure in relation to material values ​​will increase. Compared to an industrial society, where everything is aimed at the production and consumption of goods, in the information society, intelligence and knowledge have become the means and product of production, which, in turn, has led to an increase in the share of mental labor. A person is required to be creative, and the demand for knowledge is increasing.

The material and technical basis of the information society has become various types of systems based on computer technology and computer networks, information technology, telecommunication systems.

The shift of social production into the field of information activity occurs in the context of the ever-expanding process of computerization of society, laying the foundations of unmanned technology. Information in general is becoming a strategic resource of society: there is a shift in emphasis from the area of ​​physical activity to intellectual activity.

At the same time, just like the essence of technology, the essence of all general informatization is ambiguous. There are a lot of pros, but also a lot of cons.

Let us highlight the main features of the information society:

) Society's awareness of the priority of information over other products of human activity.

) The fundamental basis of all areas of human activity (economic, industrial, political, educational, scientific, creative, cultural, etc.) is information.

) Information is a product of the activity of modern man.

) Information in its pure form is the subject of purchase and sale.

) Equal opportunities in access to information for all segments of the population.

) Security of the information society, information.

) Protection of intellectual property.

) Interaction of all state structures and states among themselves on the basis of ICT.

) Management of the information society by the state and public organizations.

In addition to the positive aspects, dangerous trends are also predicted:

the increasing influence of the media on society;

information technology can destroy the privacy of people and organizations;

there is a problem of selecting high-quality and reliable information;

many people will find it difficult to adapt to the information society environment.

there is a danger of a gap between the “information elite” (people involved in the development of information technologies) and consumers.

The ever-increasing role of information in society is the subject of scientific understanding, including the problems of man in the information society.

Man and the information society

The picture of the information society created by theorists is gradually taking on visible shape today: the predicted transformation of the entire world space into a single computerized and information community of people living in houses equipped with all kinds of electronic devices and “smart” devices is taking place. The processes of informatization of society are accompanied by the emergence of new industries, new directions in scientific research and culture.

These changes, having a complex impact on the entire society as a whole, lead to significant transformations in the industrial and spiritual life of a person.

The use of computers in all spheres of human activity provides access to reliable sources of information, relieves people of routine work, and accelerates the adoption of optimal solutions, automates information processing in the industrial and social spheres. As a result, the driving force behind the development of society becomes the production of information rather than material products. As for the material product, it becomes more “information-intensive” and its value largely depends on the volume of innovations allowed in its structure. Human activity is focused mainly on information processing, while the production of energy and material products is entrusted to machines.

Information has become one of the most important strategic and management resources, along with resources - human, financial, and material. Its production and consumption constitute the necessary basis for the effective functioning and development of various spheres of social life. This means that not only sources of information in any part of our planet become available to every person, but also the new information generated by him becomes the property of all humanity. In modern conditions, the right to information and access to it are of vital value for all members of society.

However, no matter how much philosophers reflect on the prospects of the information society, on the essence of the information and computer revolution, philosophy remains true to itself and fulfills its inherent function only when it deals with a person.

Man is the main problem of philosophy.

Philosophy views a person as a complex set of multidimensional universal characteristics. Philosophy concerns everything that can be connected with a person. When a person thinks and creates objects of the information world, sooner or later there arises a need to understand this phenomenon of a person’s unique change in nature and himself. It is then that philosophy penetrates into the sphere of human information activity and poses various questions to him, including the appropriateness of such activity.

In addition, at the present stage of human existence, it is information activity that causes the greatest concerns of humanity, because man himself is now under threat of existence as a result of such activity. Due to the high relevance of the human problem in the information world, modern philosophy pays great attention to it.

Man is radically different from all other creatures on Earth and, above all, in mind. But it also differs in the technological nature of its activities, the desire for creativity, for freedom - four fundamental characteristics of a person (A.I. Rakitov). In the new century, new information technologies for the first time open up the prospect of a colossal enhancement of these fundamental human characteristics, for their application on an unprecedented scale.

Information has always played an extremely important role in human life. It is a well-known saying that whoever owns the information owns the world. Another message is worth more than life, so according to legend, September 13, 490 BC. The Greek warrior-messenger, who ran from Marathon to Athens, without stopping on the way, fell dead, but brought the news of the victory over the Persians.

Understanding the world around us, a person constantly deals with information. It helps a person to correctly assess current events, make an informed decision, and find the most successful option for his actions. Intuitively, we understand that information is what each of us adds to our own store of knowledge.

Information is also the strongest means of influencing the individual and society as a whole. Whoever has the most information on any issue is always in a better position than others.

The way of human existence in historical terms is determined by the relationship man - tool - technology. Since ancient times, collecting and systematizing information about the world around us has helped people survive in difficult conditions - experience and skills in making hunting and labor tools, creating clothing and medicines have been passed on from generation to generation. The information was constantly updated and supplemented - each studied phenomenon made it possible to move on to something new, more complex. Over time, large amounts of data about the world around us have contributed to the development scientific and technological progress and, as a consequence, of the entire society as a whole - a person was able to learn to control various types of matter and energy.

As a result of the historical development of human practical activity modern world is a technologically advanced and information space. But man himself has technologized his essence, existing in a technically determined space, he is creatively realized both according to the laws of nature and according to the laws of the technical environment.

One of the defining moments of the organization of this environment, and indeed the very existence of a person in it, is the transfer of information. Over time, the role of information in human life has become more and more significant. It is necessary to study and understand not only the laws of nature, but also the concepts and values ​​of human society - literature, art, architecture, etc.

The information society is a concept that presupposes a view of modern society from the point of view of rapidly increasing, ever-penetrating information about all aspects of its life. Its, even implicit, influence cannot but intensify in the search for answers to increasingly pressing questions about what happens to a person in the process of the ongoing “information explosion.”

Here it is worth noting a number negative consequences computer revolution, which includes changes in the traditional way of life, when books, writing and writing itself are being pushed aside by other ways of obtaining information (using the Internet and computer typing).

New forms of communication, modifications of traditions, changes in the system of social values ​​are occurring with such intensity that mass public consciousness, as well as many theorists, evaluate the computer revolution as a crisis of culture. If in previous conditions the process of cultural adaptation to innovation was largely extended over time, since the possibility of broadcasting, assimilation and dissemination of huge volumes of information was technologically unsecured, now the pace and possibilities of mastering all the treasures of world culture have increased incredibly, and now it is necessary to talk about The permissive capabilities of the human psyche. This is a very serious problem.

So, in Lately There has been an increase in interest in artificial intelligence caused by increased requirements for information systems. Gets smarter software, household appliances are getting smarter. We are steadily moving towards a new information revolution, comparable in scale to the development of the Internet, whose name is “artificial intelligence”. This begs the question: will humanity be able to survive in the conditions of the incredible complexity of problems that must be urgently solved if it does not form an information computer revolution and does not enhance its intelligence with artificial intelligence?

Consequently, in modern conditions, a person not only has the right, but also the obligation to think about what the information revolution means for himself, for his existence as a real, living, and not an abstract being.

The position of an individual can no longer be determined only by his form of participation in the production process; the individual is influenced by factors of social manipulation. A person is constantly in a situation of choice. Personality has enormous information capabilities, social technologies are aimed at accelerated adaptation of the individual, but the very need for constant decision-making can be presented as a restriction of freedom.

Informatization of society also strengthens authoritarian tendencies. The ability, on the one hand, to obtain accurate information about each citizen, and, on the other hand, to manipulate masses of people, increases extremely when using computer networks. And one can imagine a state of affairs where the ruling circles know everything they need, and the rest know nothing.

Development trends in the information environment suggest that, for example, political power acquired by the majority through the concentration of information will reduce the real power of tribune politicians and the role of elections. The ruling elite that has emerged in this way may turn out to be an infocracy (the power of information), the source of power of which is not in authority before the people, but only in greater opportunities to use information. An example of this is the struggle of oligarchs for mass communications. Acquiring ownership of as many TV channels, magazines, newspapers and other forms as possible is a guarantee of political power based on the possession of information and the ability to manipulate it.

The invasion of electronic communication systems into all spheres of life necessitates new forms of organizing human relations. High technology requires a correspondingly high level of preparedness of the individual, his spiritual maturity and responsibility. The imbalance in favor of technology (the rapid development of technology in relation to the moral and ideological resources of society) is one of the important reasons for such phenomena as the dehumanization of various aspects of life.

In addition, computers create not only deserted production, but also “deserted” communication, when the interlocutor is completely replaced by a PC. We are witnessing the emergence of a new type of reality based on computerization - “virtual reality” - an artificial pseudo-environment that can be treated as if it were genuine.

Computers have been attached to us since childhood, replacing books, theater, friends, reducing the level of activity of human communication, they create a different reality that can be taken more seriously than the world around us. This new technological environment is having a powerful (and so far completely unpredictable) impact on the human psyche. Today this perspective is found, in particular, in the phenomenon of maniacs computer games and escape from reality in the form of immersion in “ virtual reality", where there are many pseudo-types of human activity.

The realities of the information society place new demands on a person, first of all, the ability and readiness to change activities, mobility, and retraining; mastering a new profession. At the previous stage of development, this was in less demand. Anthropogenic civilization is based on the affirmation of man as the main value of the functioning of society as a whole and its individual subsystems.

The question of the place of man in the new information world can be translated into the question of new human functions. First of all, attention should be paid to increasing the level of education in society, to new forms of collective consciousness, to new forms of communication and unification of people.

Now, in the first half of the 21st century, the role of information in a person’s life is decisive - the more skills and knowledge he has, the higher he is valued as a specialist and employee, the more respect he has in society.

Information as a type of knowledge is necessary to modern man not only in order to create material and spiritual benefits, but also in order to lead a healthy lifestyle, be able to navigate the changing conditions of both natural and social life, in order to form a certain economic, social, political and moral position .

However, it is necessary not only to have information, but also to know how to use it. Education for a modern person is aimed not so much at teaching traditional algorithms in thinking and practice, but at the ability to select the necessary information, comprehend it, and bring the processed information in line with one’s needs. Actions based not on tradition, but on information, are a defining feature of modern man.

Thus, the last quarter of the 20th century. was marked by the fact that humanity entered a new stage of information development. The formation of a society of information services and new technologies, the advent of the information economy, mass personal computerization are phenomena that have not previously taken place in the history of mankind.

To summarize, we can conclude that in the modern information technology world, new forms of attitude towards the surrounding world, habitat, biology and human psychology are being developed. It can be suggested that modern information technology civilization turns information technologies into necessary conditions for human self-development.

Modern humanity is more interested than ever in a philosophical analysis of the prospects for its development. At all times, being firmly connected with culture, philosophy has built a forecast of the future states of objective interactions, social forms, and values. Analysis of new sociocultural realities, based on which philosophy identifies and justifies new value systems that constitute a new strategy for human activity in the information world, incl. the following:

the emergence and increasing spread of human-dimensional systems, the construction and normal functioning of which is impossible without the inclusion of anthropological parameters;

discovery and research by science of objects of the Universe, indicating the need to use anthropic concepts and principles for their understanding;

the development of globalization processes, unfolding in the political and information spheres and taking shape in the model of a multipolar, integrated world in which, figuratively speaking, there are no first and last, that is, “first among equals”;

the identification by science and practice of highly complex, self-developing systems that have a nonlinear nature of development and are capable of leading to a breakdown into a state of chaos at certain points.

Philosophy sets the criteria for assessing the development of society. Depending on what is chosen as a measure of development, the state and prospects for further development of society and its dynamics are assessed. Assessing the development of society from the point of view of the corresponding criterion makes it possible to state either progress or regression in social development, and to build a pessimistic or optimistic forecast.

Today it is necessary to think about the cultural and intellectual consequences of the information revolution, because the pace at which they are occurring is unprecedentedly high, and, perhaps, in the near future, preventing negative consequences will no longer be possible.

Conclusion

information society person value

In the last 20 years of the twentieth century, the world community entered a new civilization - the information society, in which the majority of workers are engaged in the production, storage, processing and sale of information.

It is characterized by the powerful development of equipment and technologies that make it possible to accumulate and transmit huge amounts of information based on computer and telecommunication information technologies.

In the information society, human activities focus mainly on information processing, and material production and energy production are entrusted to machines. The main quality of a person in a new environment is the ability to continuously learn, timely find, adequately perceive, analyze, process and productively use new information, as well as create your own. The motto of the new time has become the phrase: “Who owns the information, owns the world.”

The formation of the information society significantly affects people's daily lives. One can only guess how profound these changes will be in the future. Thus, the mass introduction of television in the 60-70s of the 20th century significantly changed people’s lives, and not only for the better. On the one hand, millions of people have the opportunity to access the treasures of national and world culture, on the other hand, face-to-face communication has decreased, there are more stereotypes implanted by television, and the circle of reading has narrowed.

So, modern man is unthinkable without constant interaction with a gigantic flow of information, and therefore without constant replenishment of knowledge. The information society is a society built on knowledge. With the help of electronic means, information can be transmitted at enormous speed, practically unrestricted by anything or anyone. However, the consequence of accelerating the transfer of information was the strengthening of the effect of information on a person, both positive and negative.

Bibliography

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Professions and people in the information society. The modern society of our country has already begun to be called information society. This is a society where information and knowledge are actively and quickly distributed among the population, their role in human life is high, where the majority of the population works in the field of information and knowledge. What is an ordinary person, an individual, a citizen like in an information society? What are its characteristic features and symptoms?

In some African countries, the majority of the population will be engaged in agriculture, in some Asian countries - in industry and the production of industrial goods, but in some European countries - in information and work with the field of knowledge. Therefore, a typical citizen of a country where an information society has been built will most likely turn out to be a worker in the field of knowledge and information. That is, a teacher, teacher, coach of intellectual trainings and seminars, advertising manager, public relations manager, logistician, economist, accountant, engineer, programmer, computer network administrator... The list goes on and on!

In such a society, information technologies are developed, so a citizen will have a good understanding of them and be able to use them (for example, he has a TV installed at home, a laptop in his bag, and a smartphone in his pocket).

Orientation in the field of knowledge and information. Another important point in the life of an individual in an information society - she constantly experiences a huge information flow pouring into her. From the moment a person wakes up in the morning to go, for example, to a technical school for classes and turns on the TV to do morning exercises with a video trainer, the flow of information does not end until he falls asleep. It reaches a person through numerous media, through communication with people, outdoor advertising in a populated area, and so on. Each piece of information is configured to induce a person to take a certain action, to convey something to him (for example, buy new tights or vote for Ivan Ivanovich). Therefore, every day a citizen of the information society “filters” a sea of ​​information: he remembers some, ignores some, believes some, and considers some to be lies.

Ability to understand information fields and spaces. The ability to understand the sea of ​​information and knowledge, make the right choice in it, apply it correctly in your life, distinguish false information and knowledge from the true - this is the requirement that civilization puts forward for modern man. To a member of the information society. This requirement gives survival and a full life to those who can meet it.

It is believed that most developed countries now function as information societies. In this kind of society, socio-economic successes and changes depend primarily on the production, processing, storage, and dissemination of information among members of society.

The first computers were created in the 30s of the XX century. They were used mainly for calculations. The main element of the first generation computer was the electromechanical relay. The main components of second generation computers (early 60s) were semiconductor transistors. Third- and fourth-generation machines use large-scale and ultra-large-scale integrated circuits on miniature semiconductor wafers, respectively. Fifth generation machines, created since the mid-80s, are mainly based, like their predecessors, on semiconductor technology. It is expected that fifth-generation machines will make it possible to solve a set of so-called intellectual tasks, i.e., tasks that are subject only to human intelligence. Reducing energy intensity, cost, dimensions of computers, their widespread use in various spheres of human life - all this has led to the development of information technology. Society has become informational. The amount of computer memory, the speed of the operations they perform and the variety of the latter are impressive. Just as a person is not able to run at the speed of light, he is not able to hope to successfully compete with a computer in the speed of performing computational actions. Taking this into account, a person strives to use the advantages of technical devices. Information can be quickly processed, quickly transmitted, and conveniently stored. So, the computerization of modern society is a fact. In this regard, it is necessary to understand the philosophical meaning of the ongoing computer revolution. Let's engage in reflection on this matter.

The first foundation of information technology is rationalization. Computerization of society primarily acts as its comprehensive rationalization, organization of human activity in accordance with expediency. The origins of rationality force us to recall the names of outstanding philosophers of the New Age, primarily Leibniz and Descartes. Norbert Wiener wrote: “If I had to choose a patron saint of cybernetics in the annals of the history of science, I would choose Leibniz.” Leibniz - philosopher, physicist, mathematician, technician, linguist, logician. Combining the achievements of many sciences, he built a calculating machine unique for his time. By referring to Leibniz, we want to emphasize that the origins of information technology go back to the ideas of modern philosophy, however, it took centuries for their development.

The second necessary basis for informatization of society is a developed isomorphism. Isomorphism is a correspondence between objects and processes of different natures.

The emergence of information technology was preceded by a number of successes in the development of the idea of ​​isomorphism. Parallels of an isomorphic type were found between branches of mathematics, between mathematics and logic, between logic and linguistics, between brain processes and language, between systems of algebra and logic and technical systems. Information technology acts as a system of isomorphisms, extending from human intellectual activity to magnetization and demagnetization in computer elements. The very fact of isomorphism often causes amazement; its existence seems impossible. Is a computer really isomorphic to the human brain? Meanwhile, isomorphism exists. Such is our world that there are quite a lot of isomorphic connections in it. Only in their natural basis do they have a natural character; more often they are peculiar consequences of man’s cultivation of his symbolic activity. Why should a person count on his own if he can entrust it to a machine, which will allow him to save the main resource of his future, time. The computer calculates for a person; it does the same as he does, but in a symbolic form.

The third necessary information technology base is development of technology. It seems that this position does not require lengthy proof. Informatization became a reality only where a powerful material base for the production of computer equipment was deployed.

Finally, information technology requires certain economic, social and political institutions. In a society with undeveloped ideals of freedom and democracy, the widespread dissemination of information technology is in principle impossible. And it's clear why. Information technology involves unlimited access users to data banks, exchange of various information, rapid adoption and implementation of practical decisions. But all this is absent in non-democratic countries.

So, the formation and development of information technology turned out to be possible thanks to a complex of scientific, technical and socio-political achievements. Having become one of the dominant forces, the informatization of society has led to global scientific, technical, social, ethical and other consequences; Apparently, even larger changes are coming. The consequences and prospects, both desirable and undesirable, of the computer revolution - note that experts identify several, usually three, computer revolutions - the reader can familiarize himself with in the specialized literature. We will note only the main philosophical result of the predominance of information technology in society. It lies in the dominance not of the artificial-technical, but of the information approach.

It was already noted above that technology brought with it a new, artificial-technical approach, alien to the contemplation of the refined natural-scientific approach. In the information society, the information approach comes to the fore. It is usually considered as a further development of the artificial-technical approach, without going beyond its limits. Even if this is true, the information approach nevertheless has certain specific features. The point is that the advantages of information technology are not determined by its material and energy characteristics, as is the case with most of the artifacts we are familiar with, such as architectural structures, airplanes, and cars. The center of the information approach is not energy, not matter, but information, its flows, in short, information technology. Any technique always symbolizes a person. This fully applies to information technology. But in information technology this process of symbolization is more complex; it is two-stage in nature. The engineer understands that on the path to information technology, he first - there is no other way - must be “symbolized” in the material-energy sense, and then, on the already created base, carry out another symbolization, this time directly informational.

The mechanism of information symbolization is based on two facts of fundamental significance. Fact one: information as a measure of heterogeneity of initially given objects can be reproduced in computer elements. Fact two: information processing is some form of computational process, regardless of whether it takes place in the elements of a computer or in a person’s head. These two facts together mean that within the limits of information isomorphy, a computer and a person are identical to each other. Thanks to the tireless efforts of man, this area of ​​isomorphism is constantly expanding, once again shaming skeptics who are wary of information technology and, on the contrary, delighting computer optimists. Computers play chess, prove theorems, design, translate texts from one language to another, communicate with humans in natural language (interface). Advances in computerization show that almost the absolute majority of processes occurring in the world are rational, that is, if you have the appropriate software and hardware, they can be “counted, calculated.” In this regard, the question quite naturally arises about the problem of so-called artificial intelligence.

When they try to emphasize the difference between a computer and a person, they most often point to the computer’s inability to operate with universals and holistic images, to feel and love, to model the unconscious intuitive and creative activity of a person, and to understand the historical and cultural context of phenomena. To this, computer optimists respond that there are no intellectual processes inherent in humans that would be fundamentally untranslatable into the language of computational operations. It is not easy for computer optimists and computer pessimists to come to a common opinion. It seems quite obvious to us - few people doubt this at all - that the future will bring new successes to information technology. On the other hand, in the relationship between man and computer, the leading party is man; it is man who symbolizes himself in information technology: it is not the computer that rules man. A computer, like a person, has information, it is quite possible - at least according to some concepts - it understands a person, but in all cases it acts as a system symbolically isomorphic to a person, nothing more. In a broad philosophical sense, it is not a person who is a symbol of a computer, but on the contrary, a computer is a symbol of a person. So far there are no serious grounds to assert that the asymmetry of the human-computer relationship will ever be broken. Thus, computerization leaves the machine with the machine and the human with the human.

The development of information technology poses a lot of new problems for humanity, primarily regarding the philosophical understanding of the information lifestyle and the content of the information approach. The information approach in itself is not a panacea for the ills of humanity. The widespread use of computers rationalizes human activity, expands access to information, promotes rapid growth in the competence of specialists, and allows for the achievement of numerous positive economic effects. But at the same time, the computer revolution can lead to a decrease in the individual and general cultural level of specialists, isolation of individuals, increased manipulation of people using a data bank, and dehumanization of work. To prevent this from happening, purposeful philosophical work is needed, which would not allow the humanitarian component of the information approach to be forgotten. The most significant in this sense are ethical problems, because it is in them that human demands receive their peak expression.