I can, therefore I must: the new story of utopias and dystopias in liquid modernity

LTReikšminiai žodžiai: Technologinė visuomenė; Modernybė; Utopijos; Distopijos; Technological society; Modernity; Utopias; Dystopias.

ENWhat remains deeply underneath our rights and civil liberties in liquid modernity is increasing social control and mass surveillance which reveals what happened to politics outpaced by technology. Whether we like it or not, technology does not ask us if we desire it. Once you can use it, you must do so. The refusal relegates you to the margins of society left without being able to pay your dues as a tenant or to participate in a public debate. The state which does not use mass surveillance becomes unable to justify its excessive use of secret services and spying techniques. Curiously, this tendency goes hand in hand with the spread and explosive proliferation of theforms ofself display and confessional culture in general, whether in popular or even in highbrow culture. The new wave of pessimism, determinism, fatalism and fear in present technological society goes hand in hand with the spread of the industry offear, self exposure, attention seeking, and obliteration of the dividing line between the private and the public. Utopias wither and go away as they are confined to individual success stories - this is to say that utopia has been privatized in our individualized society. Yet dystopias flourish. This book chapter will offer more insights into the logic of the new determinism, pessimism and fatalism in our technological society. [From the publication]