Internet: On highlights and shadows

Abstract

Today we are witnessing an unprecedented historical and cultural challenge: the relentless and uncritical expansion of Information and Communications Technologies  (ICT), inasmuch as they extend our mental capabilities and communicative limits even unsuspected. Given the radical nature of its impact, the challenge is to start living ICT responsibly, creatively and critically. Until now, however, we have lived dazzle with their lights and blind to their shadows. In the essay, we ask both “what does a new technology build?” as well as “what as well does it unbuild?” Through a preliminary approach, we try to contribute to the debate about the existential, cognitive, communicative and social impacts of ICT.