A case against «cyberfatalism». Benefit and risk in the digital society

Abstract

Since their emergence in the 1970s, digital information and communication technologies have had revolutionary effects in all areas of human life. However, none of the major technological phases of capitalism has been free of criticism. Rarely would it have been otherwise with digital technologies. Today, the realisation of the risks that digital technologies can cause, together with an increasingly abundant literature denouncing those, has meant that these issues are now part of the daily lives of the vast majority of people, and that this is so in a context of mistrust, suspicion and scepticism. The aims of this paper are threefold: first, identify the risks behind this scepticism. Second, identify and outline a very specific type of reaction to these risks, which goes far beyond mere scepticism and which we refer to here as "cyber-fatalism". Third, explain to what extent this cyber-fatalism is or is not the appropriate response to the risks of the digital society.