From absolute nonsense to the world's operating system

Informatics, its artefacts and methods, have fundamentally changed our society and world, from the individual personal level up to the current geo-political powerplay between the US, China and Europe. Information Technology serves as the operating system of our society. This change has happened over the last 30 - 40 years, and the result should be compared with our historic views and expectations. At the same time, despite the enormous success of our discipline, it has serious shortcomings. I discuss some of them, especially the issue of online platforms, and describe a positive answer: Digital Humanism. This approach does not only describe and analyze the man - machine relationship, but also underlines the importance of humans in this development: we have to interfere - technology is not god given. This fundamental idea is already supported by a growing number of academics and practitioners from different disciplines and fields.

Automated summary

Informatics and Information Technology have fundamentally transformed our society and world in the past few decades, but also have serious shortcomings. Digital Humanism emphasizes the importance of human intervention and guidance in technological development, highlighting the need for humans to have a central role in shaping the direction of technology.