On the Threshold of Digital Civilization: the Dialectics of Artificial Intelligence and Humanism

The article discusses the challenges and findings of researching the dialectics of the relationship between digital technologies and humanistic principles and values in the context of an emerging global information civilization. The authors base their analysis on contemporary theories and practices of digital society and on V.I. Vernadsky’s concept of the noosphere. This framework allows for understanding the transition to a digital civilization as a stage in the evolution of the biosphere, where human thought plays a key role. Empirical data is drawn from the All-Russian Sociological Monitoring survey “How Are You Living, Russia?” (conducted by the Institute of Social and Political Research of the Federal Research Sociological Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences), which reflects specific public concerns regarding the widespread implementation of artificial intelligence, as well as the paradox of trust in information disseminated online. The article outlines key challenges associated with growing dependence on AI, the declining quality of interpersonal interaction, the concentration of power in the hands of tech corporations, and a crisis of trust in information. Special attention is paid to the ambivalent consequences of digitalization. While information and communication technologies (ICT), neural networks, and artificial intelligence offer tools for addressing global ecological and resource management problems, they simultaneously exacerbate social, material, and spiritual disparities and contribute to information fragmentation. The authors conclude that it is necessary to uphold ethical norms and moral humanistic imperatives, considering technological progress, social responsibility, and sociocultural as well as ethnopolitical specificities.