The article analyzes the transformation of contemporary society from the paradigm of the “information society” to the phenomenon of “digital collective reality.” The object of the study is contemporary digital society in its transition from an informational model to hybrid forms of social organization. The subject of the study is the philosophical interpretation of the processes accompanying the formation of a new digital ontology. Drawing on the works of leading contemporary philosophers, the author examines in detail such topics as overcoming digital dualism, the formation of hybrid reality, the strengthening of algorithmic power, the transformation of subjectivity, and the emergence of new forms of collectivity. Special attention is paid to the critical analysis of the attention economy and the ecology of consciousness in the context of surveillance capitalism. In conclusion, the contours of a new social ontology are outlined and the pressing tasks of the philosophical comprehension of digital being are identified. The methodological basis of the study is a set of contemporary philosophical and sociological approaches to the analysis of digital reality. General scientific methods (analysis and synthesis, induction and deduction, abstraction, idealization) are used, as well as comparative historical and systemic approaches for reconstructing the transition from the paradigm of the “information society” to the phenomenon of “digital collective reality.” The novelty of the study lies in the proposal to consider digital reality not as a set of technologies, but as a special mode of being in which online and offline practices, social institutions, and identities are synthesized, forming a single ontological plane of human and social existence. A particular contribution of the author to the topic is the introduction of the notion of a new type of subject – e-Homo Sapiens, whose identity, cognition, and ethics unfold in networked space, while rationality becomes distributed and algorithmizable. The main conclusion of the study is that digital collective reality is being formed as a new level of social being, where the boundaries between the real and virtual worlds become permeable and social relations acquire a hybrid character. At the center of the philosophical analysis is the “digital human” – a subject constantly embedded in digital networks, shaping a new configuration of consciousness and collective intelligence. Digital civilization carries a dual potential: it opens up opportunities for the expansion of knowledge and participation, yet generates threats of algorithmic control and the dehumanization of reason.
Alfred Ildarovich Shakirov (Fri,) studied this question.