INTRODUCTION

The concept of “information society” today has ceased to be a metaphor or designation of megatrends in the development of the modern world. The deep structural transformations of the economic mechanism that took place in the last third of the twentieth century in a number of developed countries, which brought new knowledge-intensive industries to the forefront instead of heavy industry, were accompanied by the rapid development of the “knowledge industry” and associated technologies for transmitting and processing information, global computerization and the emergence of ramified information systems With the creation of the worldwide computer network Internet, humanity has practically entered the phase of forming and maintaining up to date a unified global information and communication environment, and cyberspace, which until recently was accessible only to highly qualified programmers, is being transformed before our eyes into the information field of socio-economic, political and cultural development the entire community, making it possible to provide the necessary information to individual citizens, their various associations, enterprises, authorities and management. We are constantly surrounded by computers, the Internet, television, cell phones, pagers - all this has become an integral part of modern man and forms the information society.

All of the above determines the relevance of the study of this topic. In turn, the relevance of the research topic and the degree of development of the problem determined the goal of the work: on the basis of literary sources, to study the features, problems and prospects of the information society and its impact on the global economy.

The implementation of this goal involves solving the following tasks:

Consider the concept and essence of the information society, as well as its main stages of emergence and development;

Analyze the current informatization process;

Explore the practice of formation and the impact of information technology on the global economy;

Identify prospects, problems and trends of the information society.

The subject of the study is the information society and its main characteristics

The object of research in the course work is the world economy.

The methodological basis of the work is the dialectical method of cognition, general scientific techniques (analysis, synthesis, induction, deduction, etc.), system analysis.

The structure of the work consists of three chapters, introduction, conclusion and list of references.

THEORETICAL ASPECTS OF THE INFORMATION SOCIETY

The concept and essence of the information society

Since the late 60s of the 20th century in developed capitalist countries (primarily Japan and the USA), it has become obvious that information and information resources are beginning to play a special independent role, no longer tied to material production. At the same time, information resources acquire the status of a determining factor in the development of material production, and not vice versa, as was previously the case. All this gave rise to the emergence of a new approach to assessing the impact of information and information processes on society - the concept of the information society, in which information occupies a dominant position. The invention of the term is attributed to Y. Hayashi, a professor at the Tokyo Institute of Technology. The contours of the information society have been outlined in reports submitted to the Japanese government by a number of organizations, notably the Economic Planning Agency and the Industrial Structure Council. The titles of the reports are indicative: “Japanese Information Society: Themes and Approaches” (1969), “Policy Contours for Promoting the Informatization of Japanese Society” (1969), “Plan for the Information Society” (1971). In these reports, the information society was presented as one where the computerization process would give people access to reliable sources of information, relieve them of routine work, and provide a high level of production automation. At the same time, production itself will change - its product will become more “information-intensive,” which means an increase in the share of innovation, design and marketing in its cost. It was then that the now generally accepted idea was formulated for the first time that “the production of an information product, and not a material product, will be the driving force of education and development of society.”[ 1, p. 20]

Later, the term "information society" became widespread and is currently used in various contexts. The related concepts of “knowledge society” and “post-industrial society” are also often used.

There are five definitions of the information society, each of which represents a criterion for understanding what is new in this society. These are technological, economic, cultural definitions and definitions based on the structure of employment and the spatial distribution of information technologies.

The most common definition of the information society focuses on technological innovation. The key idea of ​​this definition is that breakthroughs in the processing, accumulation and transmission of information have led to information technologies being applied to all aspects of social life.

The economic definition is associated with a subsection of economics called informatization economics. Its founder, Fritz Mahlap, has spent much of his professional career assessing the size and growth of the information industry. His work, “The Production and Distribution of Knowledge in the United States,” laid the foundation for measuring the information society in economic terms.

The cultural definition of the information society places particular emphasis on the growth of information in public circulation.

Another popular feature of the information society is a change in the structure of employment. According to this definition, the information society arises when the majority of the population is engaged in work related to information processing.

The definition, based on the spatial distribution of information technologies, pays special attention to information networks that connect different geographical locations and have consequences for the organization of time and space. This requires the presence of four elements. Information must take center stage as a strategic resource on which the organization of the global economy depends. Computer and communications technologies provide the infrastructure that allows information to be processed and disseminated. There is rapid growth in the information sector of the economy. The growing informatization of the economy contributes to the integration of national and regional economies. .

Despite the diversity of views of various researchers, it is still possible to identify some common fundamental features of the information society:

· a change in the role of information and knowledge in the life of society, expressed, first of all, in an unprecedented increase in the information saturation of economic, managerial and other spheres of activity, in the transformation of information and knowledge into the most important resource for socio-economic development;

· transformation of the information industry into the most dynamic, profitable and prestigious sphere of production;

· the emergence of a developed market infrastructure for the consumption of information and information services;

· increasing informatization of society using telephony, radio, television, the Internet, as well as traditional and electronic media;

· creation of a global information space that ensures: effective information interaction between people, their access to global information resources and satisfaction of their needs for information products and services;

· profound changes in models of social organization and cooperation, when centralized hierarchical structures are replaced in all spheres of society by flexible network types of organization, adapted to rapid change and innovative development.

Thus, despite the fact that the term “information society” has some heuristic value for studying the features of the modern world, it is still too imprecise and vague. There is still no generally accepted criterion highlighting the fundamental novelty of this society and its difference from previous ones. Most of these definitions deal with quantitative characteristics (“more information”) rather than qualitative indicators.

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WELL:SOCIAL ASPECTS OF MODERN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES

TOPICS OF COURSE WORKS

For students of the Modern Humanitarian Academy

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© MODERN HUMANITIES ACADEMY, 2005

THEMES

The concept of post-industrial society through the eyes of American futurists. The main features of a technotronic society. Brzezinski. Marshall McLuhan on the prospects for the development of communication technologies. Waves of civilizations by O. Toffler: where is humanity going. Society as a self-sufficient system. Luhmann. The newest stage of human civilization in the concept of E. Giddens. W. Beck about the features of modern civilization. W. Beck: creation of a theory of risk society. Risks of modernity: methodological and sociocultural approaches. Global society: main features and development trends. Postmodernity and the needs of new sociological knowledge. Hyperreality in the works of J. Baudrillard. Globalization: social and political consequences. Contradictions of the globalization process. From globalization to glocalization: main development trends. The essence and main features of the information society. Information in modern society. Information resources and their role in the development of society. The essence of computerization processes. The role of knowledge in modern societies. Development of virtualization processes in modern society. Virtual worlds as an attempt to simulate real processes and phenomena. The essence and social consequences of the information revolution. The essence and social consequences of the computer revolution. Information comfort as a value in modern society. Information technologies: essence and development trends. History of the development of new information technologies. Public policy in the field of information in Europe. Development of information technology in the USA. State policy in the field of information in Japan. Informatization of Russian society: problems and prospects. Basic theoretical and methodological approaches to the analysis of the informatization process. New social layers in the information society. New trends in the social stratification of Russian society. Informatization: new opportunities and new risks. Development of new information technologies in Russia. National information resources. Virtualization of society: forms of manifestation, social consequences. Internet addiction as a new socio-psychological phenomenon. Russia: movement towards an innovative society. Computer crime and computer security. The use of information technologies in politics: Russian realities. Sociocultural transformation of Russian society under the influence of information technology. The concept and essence of information security. The problem of “brain drain” from Russia. Formation of the information environment. The problem of informatization of public administration. Social and psychological problems of informatization. The problem of personal information security. Information wars and their social consequences. Problems of information inequality: social consequences. Overcoming information inequality in Russia: conditions, trends, prospects. Use of information technologies in education. Use of information technologies in distance learning. Changes in the structure of labor under the influence of the introduction of new information technologies. Development of the labor market in the field of information technology. Main characteristics of the information services market. The role of new information technologies in modern politics. Problem field of research in the sociology of informatization. IT as a factor in the formation of new social communities.

LITERATURE

1. , Zhodziszki crime and computer security. - M.: Legal. lit., 1991.

2. Risk society: On the way to a different modernity. - M.: Progress-Tradition, 2000.

3. The coming post-industrial society. - M.: Academia, 1999.

4. In the shadow of the silent majority. – Ekaterinburg: Ad Marginem, 2000.

5. System of things. - M.: Rudomino, 1995.

6. Vershinin communication in the information society. – St. Petersburg: Eksmo-press, 2001.

7. Voronin society: essence, features, problems. - M.: TsAGI, 1995.

8. national information resources: problems of industrial exploitation. - M.: Nauka, 1991.

9. Drucker of reality in government and politics, in economics and business, in society and worldview. - M.: Book Chamber International, 1994.

10. State information policy: concepts and prospects. Sat. Art. resp. ed. - M.: RAGNS, 2001.

11. Zemlyanova Communication science on the eve of the information society: An explanatory dictionary of terms and concepts. - M.: Mozhaisk-Terra, 1999.

12. Zemlyanova American Communication Sciences: theoretical concepts, problems, forecasts. - M.: Moscow University Publishing House, 1995.

13. Ivanov Society. – St. Petersburg: Ecopsicenter ROSS, 2000.

14. Ivanov virtualization: Modern theories of social change. – SPb.: St. Petersburg. state University, 2002.

15. Information Society / Ed. , - St. Petersburg: St. Petersburg State University, 1999.

16. Information technology, economics, culture. - M.: Castells, 1995.

17. Information Age: Economy, Society, Culture. - M.: GU VES, 2000.

18. Colin civilization. - M.: IPI RAS, 2002.

19. Nikolaev economy: development trends abroad and in Russia. – St. Petersburg: Research Institute of Chemistry of St. Petersburg State University, 1999.

20. Nisnevich and power. - M.: Mysl, 2000.

21. From books to the Internet: Journalism and literature at the turn of the new millennium. Rep. ed. - M.: Publishing house Mosk. University, 2000.

22. Ovchinnikov’s hope: the state and prospects of the political

Runet. // Political studies, No. 1, Polis, 2002.

23. Peskov in Russian politics: utopia and reality. // Political studies, No. 1, Polis, 2002.

24. Skvortsov culture and integral knowledge. - M.: INION RAS, 2001.

25. Sokolova informatics (sociological aspects) - M.: Soyuz, 1999.

26. Metamorphoses of power: Knowledge, wealth and power on the threshold of the 21st century. - M.: AST, 2001.

27. Electronic business: evolution and/or revolution: Life and business in the Internet era. - M.: Williams, 2001.

SOCIAL ASPECTS OF MODERN

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES

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The rapid development of mass media, especially television, the creation and widespread distribution of personal computers, the construction of global information networks, the development of virtual reality technologies and other technological innovations, radically changed the life of society, not only bringing information activity to the forefront, i.e. activities related to the production, consumption, transmission and storage of information, but also complicating and transforming reality. The rapid social changes caused by these changes have given rise to many futurological projects, such as “post-industrial society”, “consumer society”, “information highway”, “risk society”, etc., related to one degree or another with the formation and dynamic development "information society".

INFORMATION SOCIETY: TECHNOLOGICAL AND HUMANITARIAN ASPECTS

In modern scientific knowledge there is no single position regarding the understanding of the information society. There are a large number of approaches that, in one form or another, try to describe the main features of this kind of stage in the development of society. To define the information society, one should consider the main characteristics of society as an integral, changeable system, the components of which are in diverse connections and interactions.

Consistency is the main characteristic of society as a material formation in which individual and social consciousness also functions. In the course of their lives, people form a wide variety of social relations, among which the most fundamental are economic, political-legal, social and spiritual. Society as a system also represents the unity of various social communities: ethnic or regional associations, classes and strata, social groups. Society is the systemic activity of people seeking to satisfy various needs and interests: economic, political, legal, social, moral, religious, aesthetic, family and everyday life, etc.

Any the social system is characterized by:

• - availability goals(there are external and internal goals, realistic and utopian, strategic and operational, etc.);
• - availability borders, which may vary in length and degree of “transparency” or closedness;
• - certain adaptation to the internal and external environment, what allows the system to be more or less stable and dynamic;
• - functioning based on economic, political, social and cultural relations and communication links;
• - management and self-government based on a certain ratio of unity of command and participation of other people in leadership;
• - mandatory presence of a person, realizing the goals of the system, forming relationships and communication connections in it.

The classic definition of society states that it is a relatively stable system of social connections and relations between both large and small groups of people, determined in the process of historical development of mankind, supported by the power of custom, tradition, law, social institutions, etc. and based on a certain method of production, exchange and consumption of material and spiritual goods.

The concept of “information society” became part of the scientific lexicon, primarily thanks to economic theories, in the early 60s in the USA, in order to explain the new role of information in the progressive development of mankind. The American economist F. Machlup, as an independent field, along with the economic, political, social and spiritual spheres, identified a relatively independent information sphere, the development of which is determined by the growth in the number of information interactions and the general flow of information. It begins to be seen as dominant and determining all aspects of life, primarily in Western society.

Japanese researchers Y. Hayashi and T. Umesao gave the information society a slightly different meaning, believing that the basis of the information society was the theory of “information explosion” (the economic sector of Japan at that time was really developing in an implosive manner), according to which a gigantic increase in information in a short period of time leads to qualitative changes in society and, above all, in its economic sphere.

Another position in the consideration of the information society was laid down in the studies of the French scientist S. Nora, who argued that fundamental changes in society are associated with the emergence and rapid spread of information and communication technologies, radically transforming people's lives.

Another point of view is presented by F. Webster, who tried to systematize the entire problematic field of theories describing the information society. Webster connected the concepts of “consumer society” and “information society”. In modern society, which largely bears the features of a consumer society, information cannot but play a significant role, since, firstly, consumers must know what and where they can consume, and secondly, in our individualized time they declare themselves through consumption. Both factors contribute to the dissemination of information, the first - because it is associated with advertising and promotion of goods (information reaches the consumer), the second - because the symbolic dimension of consumption works here: people, using certain things and relationships, declare about themselves, again producing information .

An important issue is to identify the criteria of the information society, however, from the presented points of view it is not entirely clear what exactly is meant by this term: if we use criterion for the establishment of information as a separate sphere of society, then it is not clear what to do with the very phenomenon of information, which permeates all spheres of social life from the moment of its very origin. It is no coincidence that the Gospel of John says that: “In the beginning was the Word (Logos), and the Word was with God, and the Word was

God" (John 1:1). Thus, the Logos existed, in the words of the Christian church father John Chrysostom, “before all things imaginable and before the ages.”

If we take this as a basis criterion as an increase in the amount of information, then, with the same success, for example, Chinese or Japanese societies, due to the large volume of rice consumed, can be called rice societies.

If you apply technological criterion, then it should be argued that previously the life of society was based on labor-intensive and capital-intensive technologies: in the pre-industrial era, raw materials were considered the main production resource, and in the industrial era - energy; in the information era, human economic activity is mainly associated with the development of information, and its technological base is knowledge-intensive technologies. This position is also not flawless: after all, each new technology does not cancel the previous energy base does not destroy the raw material base, and information technologies cannot be implemented without energy.

If you select consumer criterion, It is unclear what to do with societies where the information potential is quite high, but for one reason or another (for example, spiritual aspirations that exclude a consumerist attitude to life) have not become part of the general world of consumption.

One way or another, the analyzed campaigns are not fully justified and are not without serious contradictions.

An important question arises: why did the information society actually arise? The ideological sources of the emergence of the information society should be considered the theoretical views of such thinkers as F. Bacon, D. Diderot, D. Bell, M. McLuhan.

The English philosopher F. Bacon in the New Age called for the need to create a unified science of man, which is designed to help strengthen his practical activities to change the world based on experience. It is knowledge that motivates a person to action: “Knowledge is power!” (Latin “Scientia potentia est!”), another meaning of this statement is possible, translated from English “Knowledge is power!”, which can also mean “Knowledge is power!” “He who fully understands human nature can almost certainly become the architect of his own happiness, he is born for power...” - Bacon asserted.

In his utopian work “New Atlantis,” Bacon talks about the possible results of the implementation of his project of knowledge. We are talking about the non-existent Pacific island of Bensalem, which is dominated by the highest technocratic power of scientists - the “House of Solomon”, the purpose of which “is to know the causes and secret springs of all things and to expand the limits of human power until everything becomes possible for him.” In the affairs of the scientists of the “New Atlantis” all the dreams of the humanists of the New Time came true. Based on technological advances (similar to modern sound recording, radio and television) and discoveries in physics, chemistry, mechanics, medicine, economics and agriculture, they created a social world of unclouded happiness, in which not only climate conditions and crops, but also duration and high quality of life depends on the rational efforts of all members of society who own the relevant information.

In the context of the emergence of the modern stage of development of the information society - the knowledge society, the words of warning of Bacon, who believed that the limitless accumulation of information can bring not only good, but also a terrible danger for humanity, sound especially relevant: “Knowledge is in the hands of an ignorant and inept person, without exaggeration, he becomes a monster. Knowledge is multifaceted and can be applied in different ways. He has the face and voice of a woman - the personification of his beauty. Knowledge has wings because scientific discoveries spread very quickly, regardless of borders. He needs sharp and tenacious claws so that axioms and arguments penetrate into the human consciousness and are firmly held in it so that it is impossible to get rid of them. And if they are misunderstood or misused, they bring anxiety and torment in one way or another and in the end simply tear the consciousness to pieces."

French thinkers D. Diderot and J. D'Alembert published from 1751 to 1772. "Encyclopedia", realizing his grandiose project of Enlightenment. The Enlighteners sought to change the ways of forming and transmitting knowledge, taking advantage of the presentation of information by the most important representatives of the scientific community of those times: philosophers, physicists, mathematicians, they created a systematized body of knowledge in various branches of human life and made it possible for anyone to access this information, bypassing all class divisions. and shop barriers.

In the second half of the 20th century. Dramatic changes began to occur in the field of scientific and technological progress, information and knowledge accumulation, which was conceptualized in a number of scientific concepts.

In his post-industrial concept D. Bell believed that previously the life of society was based on labor-intensive and capital-intensive activities for the extraction and processing of resources: in the pre-industrial era, raw materials were considered the main production resource, and in the industrial era, energy. In the information age, human economic activity is mainly associated with the development of information, and its technological base is made up of high-tech technologies.

D. Bell divided the history of society into three stages: pre-industrial, industrial and post-industrial; the main factor in this division is the development of the system of management of society, primarily in the economic sphere.

IN pre-industrial stage, the basis of society is agriculture, the church and the army are its main institutions.

IN industrial stage - industry with a corporation and a firm at its head. The main figures were an entrepreneur, a businessman, and the head of an industrial enterprise.

IN post-industrial stage - The basis of social relations is theoretical knowledge, and the place of its reproduction is the university. The leading role belongs to the “new people” - scientists, representatives of intellectual technologies and the creative elite, the middle class consists of engineers, scientists and, finally, the “proletariat of mental labor” - these are technicians and assistants.

The technological basis of the information society was the creation of personal computers, as well as corresponding intuitive-graphical operating systems that radically simplify the user’s interaction with an electronic machine.

The video, based on the dystopian book “1984” by J. Orwell, shows the “two minutes of hatred”, in which the dictator “Big Brother” inspires from a huge screen the people gathered in the hall, dressed in the same gray robe, respectfully listening to their idol: “Today we We celebrate the first anniversary of the great day. Day of cleansing consciousness from hostile information. For the first time in history, we have created the Garden of Perfect Ideology. A place where every employee can bloom in safety from alien thoughts. The unification of our thoughts is our weapon, stronger than any fleet or army on this earth. We are one people, with one will, one goal, one motive. Our enemies must tell themselves that they will perish and we will bury them along with their worthless thinking. Together we will win!" (Fig. 2.1). Suddenly a girl runs in, dressed, unlike the others, in a bright sports uniform with a player’s headphones in her ears and with a huge hammer in her hands, who throws it at the screen, an explosion is heard and in place of Big Brother the inscription appears: “On January 24, Apple Computer will present the Macintosh. And you will see why 1984 will not become like "1984".

Rice. 2.1.

In other words, the new technology will change the world in such a way, making it more open for communication, that totalitarian power that unifies and suppresses people will no longer be possible in it.

IN wave concept E. Toffler, the information society is also the result of economic development. The emphasis is on the development of technology and the cultural changes brought about by this development. The world is shaped by peculiar waves of socio-economic development, technology determines the type of society and the type of culture. The logic of three “waves” can be traced.

At first there was first wave - "agricultural civilization"(China, India, Benin, Mexico, Greece and Rome), which replaced the “pre-wave” culture of hunters and gatherers and within which a system of traditional patriarchal relations developed.

Three hundred years ago, an explosion occurred, destroying ancient societies and giving birth to an entirely new civilization. second wave (industrial revolution). An “industrial civilization” has reigned on Earth, with characteristic relations of exploitation, a conveyor system of education and corporatism.

Third wave (“information explosion”), brings with it new institutions, relationships, values, a huge variety of subcultures and lifestyles. Information can replace a huge amount of material resources and becomes the main material for workers who are freely united in associations.

E. Toffler argued that the emergence of a post-industrial society is a revolutionary change that will radically change relations between people and transform their consciousness and the very social fabric of existence, becoming for them a “shock of the future.”

Communication concept Canadian scientist M. McLuhan is based on the idea that the engine of history is a change in technology caused by a change in the method of communication. Human perception is determined by the speed of information transmission, and the type of social structure itself is determined by the dominant type of communication.

Just as hieroglyphs were necessary for ancient civilizations and, accordingly, to overcome the tribal organization of society, the alphabet “transferred” power from the priests to the military aristocracy, and its influence led to the formation of the ancient world with its “Greek miracle”. Printing “gave birth” to the Reformation (individualism, national languages ​​and nation states) and became the prototype of the industrial revolution. Modern means of communication act as external “extensions” of a person: television expands the boundaries of vision, radio - hearing, which leads to the creation of a “global village”.

According to McLuhan, in the middle of the 20th century. the transition of society from the book-based Gutenberg galaxy"(named after the inventor of printing I. Gutenberg) to the electric galaxy The apotheosis of the new Electric Galaxy was the spread of visual technologies (cinema, television, video), which not only transformed the system of mass communications of society, but also changed the ideals, habits and behavior of humanity, which finds itself on the threshold of a democratic, “liberated and carefree world”, uniting people of different nationalities, religions and beliefs.

If the cultural symbol of traditional society was printing and the printed word, today, according to the Spanish-American communicatologist M. Casels, we are witnessing the formation and development of a new galaxy - “ galaxies Internet".

The entry into use of electronic media of mass communication has led to a fundamentally new form of organization of text space in the virtual environment of the global network, where one-dimensional text is replaced by multidimensional electronic hypertext. The latter is based on the possibility of instant transition from one volume of information to another at all points provided with links, and any arbitrarily selected places in texts can be provided with such links.

Thus, following McLuhan’s thought, it can be argued that the development of society is associated with new information technologies that allow the exponential expansion of human feelings outside; progress in this regard follows from auditory perception(oral narratives), through linear-written(manuscript, print), to visual(film, video and television) and further to tactile(virtual reality) and nonlinear-textual(structure of hyperlinks and written Internet content).

Information and communication prerequisites. The German philosopher J. Habermas believed that the media play a leading role in the development of society. The media can be window to the world expanding our vision and allowing us to see what is happening with our own eyes, without outside interference or bias.

But more and more often they are called interpreter of reality with varying degrees of objectivity explaining and interpreting disparate and incomprehensible events occurring in the modern world, as well as screen, barrier, hiding the truth for the purposes of propaganda or diversion from this very reality.

Information is one of the most significant and at the same time mysterious phenomena of the world around us. Initially, the term “information” was used to refer to information about something that people received or transmitted. Information was equal in meaning to a message and in this regard was essentially identified with communication.

Attempts to understand the essence of this phenomenon were made by many scientists over several decades, starting from the mid-20th century. However, generally accepted ideas about the conceptual nature of information in the scientific community have not yet been developed.

In early philosophical definitions of information as a category, concept, property of the material world, subjectivism dominated, according to which information is a projection of the person himself onto the world around him (J. Berkeley, D. Hume).

Currently, among the many approaches to identifying the essence of information, the leading positions are occupied by three of them, which can be designated as ontological(materialistic), functionalist(idealistic) and active.

Ontological approach sees information as a physical phenomenon and emphasizes the relationship between information and the property of matter - reflection. So, according to V.I. Lenin: “all matter has a property essentially related to sensation - the property of reflection.” Information is immaterial, like all properties of matter, and is a formalized reflection of objective reality in its distribution and variability, diversity and manifestation. Information is a property of matter and reflects its properties (state or ability to interact) and quantity (measure) through interaction. Hence, information belongs to objective reality as a natural phenomenon of the material world or an integral function of all highly organized material systems, including society and the individual. Information exists in any material object in the form of a variety of its states and is transferred from object to object in the process of their interaction. The set of states of a material system and all its subsystems represents information about the system.

V.G. Afanasyev believes that information “represents messages, information about the social form of the movement of matter and about all its other forms to the extent that they are used by society, by man, and are involved in the orbit of public life.” In other words, information should be understood as the entire complex of knowledge, the entire content of available information that can be transmitted or received as a result of communication.

Another approach is functionalist, indicates the intangible nature of information. Thus, the “father of cybernetics,” mathematician N. Wiener, argued that information is information, not matter and not energy. From this definition it follows that information is not a really existing object, but a mental abstraction, that is, a fiction created by the human mind. “Information is a designation of content received by us from the outside world in the process of adapting us and our feelings to it.” Thus, information is an artificially created structure that can be used to achieve purely utilitarian practical goals.

Third approach - active, considers information as the exchange of information between people. Information is the objective property of material objects and phenomena to generate a variety of states that, through the fundamental interactions of matter, are transferred from one object (process) to another and are imprinted in its structure. Information is a collection of information necessary to actively influence the managed system in order to change and optimize it.

Most philosophers today adhere to the ontological position according to which information exists independently of our consciousness, and can be reflected in our perception only as a result of interaction: reflection, reading, receiving in the form of a signal, stimulus. The difference between these approaches, which equally have the right to exist, allows us to understand the nature, capabilities, ways of being information and its significance in the modern world.

Let's look at some signs of the information society, among which both positive and negative characteristics can be identified:

• - increasing the role of information and knowledge in the life of society and the emergence of fragmented thinking and clip consciousness;
• - dominance of the share of information communications, goods and services and the emergence of a virtual economy;
• - access to the necessary information for every member of society and at the same time alienation from the most necessary (information noise) part of society;
• - the ability of society to produce and the media to distribute vital information for it and the manipulation of public consciousness with the help of mass media;
• - development of electronic democracy, information economy, electronic state, electronic government, digital markets, electronic social, economic networks and virtual violence;
• - creation of a global information space in which effective information interconnection will be ensured and value identity will be lost.

Currently, there are several paradigmatic approaches to the information society: post-industrial, neo-Marxist, synergetic, postmodern, tectural, network, spatial, cognitive (Fig. 2.2).

The post-industrial paradigm was developed by American sociologists and futurologists D. Bell and E. Toffler.

The main ideas are the beliefs that:

• - technology is the main engine of social dynamics;
• - new information technologies are a sign of the birth of the information society;
• - the volume of technological innovations should lead to social reconstruction that significantly improves people's lives;
• - computer technology has become for the information age what mechanization was for the industrial revolution;
• - the emergence of symbolic analysts (or symbolic manipulators) - politicians, intellectuals, media activists, ready to lead them into a future where adaptability and constant retraining are the norm, possessing information capabilities that allow them to achieve power.

In the neo-Marxist paradigm, G. Schiller argues that information and communication are only the main components of a new stage in the development of the capitalist formation - technocapitalism.

You just need to ask Who benefits from these technologies and in whose hands remains control over their use?(information turns into product, and its receipt will increasingly be possible only on a commercial basis; dissemination of information, access to it and the right to create it is carried out on the basis class inequality; the nature of modern capitalism is determined by corporations that develop information technologies in the interests of private business, rather than in the interests of society as a whole).

Rice. 2.2.

In an information society, more intensively than in an industrial society, society is splitting into two classes. According to Schiller, this is the class of intellectuals (information rich), carriers of knowledge, and the class of those who are not part of the new information economy (information poor). This situation is characterized as "digital divide").

In the synergetic paradigm of G. Haken and I.R. Prigozhin’s information is related to the functioning of self-organizing (synergetic) systems. Based on the principles of self-organization, it explains the emergence of order from chaos, as well as the transition from one level of organization of a complex system to another.

In synergetics, the measure of disorganization is the concept of “entropy” (from the Greek. eShgorga - transformation), and the measure of organization is the concepts of “negentropy” or “information”. It is information that organizes the system and resists its self-destruction.

The processes of emergence and development of ordered space-time structures can occur spontaneously near special bifurcation points, in the vicinity of which the behavior of the system becomes unstable.

A complex system, under the influence of the most insignificant influences (fluctuations) at the bifurcation point, can dramatically change its state (butterfly effect). The darkening of the representatives of the synergetic paradigm, the further development of society, collective memory and knowledge, the increase in the complexity of social connections and interactions should lead to a state of bifurcation, the consequence of which will be the emergence of a new quality - an information society with its inherent Collective Mind.

The postmodern paradigm (J. Baudrillard, D. Jamieson) defines the information society as a reconstruction of the structures of traditional society, which leads to decentralized social structures, the destruction of the hierarchical value system, and the destruction of social ties. Information turns into exformation, i.e. a destructive explosive substance exploding society. The form of information storage is "simulacrum" as a model (copy of a copy) of a real object or event. Modern man loses touch with the real world, living among simulacra models. As a result, the opposition between real and artificial disappears.

In the information age, technological development has led scientists to shift their attention from ends to means. It is not the search for truth, but the solution of status problems and the struggle for funding that determine the development of science. The choice of values ​​depends on the will of chance (“buffet”), which erases all criteria in the distinction between the beautiful and the ugly, the true and the false, the good and the evil.

In his tectural paradigm V.A. Kutyrev states that the information society absorbs the natural with the artificial, turning into text(from lat. tegere- cover). There is a process of increasing human alienation, dehumanization of social relations, and the dominance of postmodern values ​​is being cultivated. “Not God and not man”... - this is the desired inhabitant of the world, emerging after the death of Homo sapiens as a historical natural-social being. It is quite legitimate in this case to consider him a posthuman. The posthuman world loses its natural dimension, even the artificial, but objective environment disappears, replaced by screens, disembodied signs and information - artificial, virtual substance.

For the survival of humanity, it is necessary to fight machine expansion, to defend a niche for humans and understanding consciousness. Resist! And what we see: the victims of progress for valor believe that they are running ahead of its locomotive, joyfully shouting first about “dehumanization” and then “improvement”, in other words, the cyborgization of man. As if there’s something you can keep up with here. They swore by humanism, abandoned it without doubt and sadness and became transhumanists.

The network paradigm (M. Castells) indicates that social relations today are organized according to the principle of networks, where each subject is in relationship with others. Previously, the basis of the community was a person’s attachment to his place of residence and work, today it is the weakening of this attachment and the transition to weaker extraterritorial social ties. People are losing connections with local communities due to the fact that they realize personal needs based on these new opportunities - network individualism(personalized community).

Castells developed the principle of networks, according to which each individual is united with others by a system that includes a huge number of connections “a million invisible threads”; people are rapidly losing their traditional connection to their place of residence and work, moving to “network individualism” and becoming part of global network structures.

Castells warned that the emergence of a network society could also lead to a breakdown in communications, which could be characterized by the commercialization of information, fragmentation and disunity between people and the imposition of false images on them. Castells connects the network society with the processes of globalization and proposes new terms associated with the embodiment of this phenomenon: "space of flows"(English, space of flows) means liberation from the physical coordinates of objects and the dependence of the structural elements of the social world on the flow of electronic signals. Nod "infinite time"(English, timeless time) is understood as a refusal to linearly fix the sequence of events and can be presented through a set of information and instant reformatting of communications depending on emerging challenges.

The technology to which the network society owes its existence is information superhighway(English) Information Highway) - representing a holistic structure of deployed data networks that allow almost any user to almost instantly communicate with any other, regardless of their location.

The network society forms a social structure on a global scale, which is characterized not by information or knowledge, but by a change in the direction of their use, as a result of which global, network structures take on a major role in people’s lives, displacing previous forms of personal and material dependence.

Spatial paradigm. P. Bourdieu understood society as a social space, which “represents a set of agents endowed with various and systematically interrelated properties...”. At the same time, social space is the connections and interactions that are established between people (agents) and social groups.

Social space is constituted by an ensemble of subspaces (fields) as systems of objective connections between different positions. There are various fields: economic, political, religious, etc.

The structure of social space and subspaces (fields) includes three groups of capital: economic, cultural and social. Economic capital is resources of an economic nature (goods and money). Cultural capital is resources of a cultural nature (education and cultural level). Social capital is resources, belonging to a social community (connections that an individual can use through its members). Hence, Bourdieu poses the problem of power over capital, which means the same thing as power over social space.

Symbolic (intellectual capital) describes the unique situation in which the poor but educated can influence the rich but incompetent, either as his advisor, or as a government official, or in the garb of a priest or judge. The power of money and the power of knowledge are equivalent in their capabilities, and which of them will defeat whom depends on the specific society and stage of historical development. Possession of power, capital, and education create unequal opportunities for people to achieve success.

A special place in modern society is occupied by the “fields of journalism” and “media fields,” emphasizing the possibility of the emergence of the phenomenon of “mediatization of reality” on this basis.

The social space, becoming more and more integrated on the basis of message carriers, acquires the properties of communicability, this means the permeability of the space of society for communication carriers, social technologies, and at the same time, this is the acquisition by each social unit (up to a specific person) of the ability to “broadcast” about oneself, to declare one’s existence. In the ability to communicate, the carrier of information increasingly manifests itself as its multiplier, endlessly increasing the power of influence through discursive practices, ideologies, symbolic forms, hypertexts and direct communication on other objects and on itself.

Cognitive paradigm (P. Drucker). In a “post-capitalist society,” knowledge becomes a productive resource of the individual, society, state, and humanity as a whole. They are beginning to exceed in scale many other traditional resources: human, natural, material and even capital.

The knowledge society strives to overcome the existing contradictions of the information society: the dangers of the “digital divide” and the worsening imbalance of information and knowledge, the protection of freedom of expression, the danger of total surveillance and control, the threat of manipulating information for political purposes, etc.

Based on the cognitive paradigm, the next stage in the development of the information society - the knowledge society - is being built.

Main features of the knowledge society

• - the predominant role of immaterial labor;
• - revision of the category of time as a criterion for measuring and cost of labor;
• - labor goes beyond the limits of “working time” allotted to it, it is now tied to the entire lifetime;
• - living labor becomes linguistic and communicative to a significant, if not predominant, extent;
• - the desire of the intellectual and immaterial labor force for autonomy from capitalist control (the creation of autonomous zones).

In the early 2000s, the UN, through its Educational, Scientific and Cultural Affairs Division (UNESCO), made serious efforts to promote the knowledge society as a model for human development. To this end, UNESCO recruited a number of renowned intellectuals from around the world who created the World Report “Towards Knowledge Societies” in 2005.

Ageeva, Al-Khalil, Yusipov fzhb-11

At the present time, any discussion about building an information society in the country must begin with an analysis of the crisis situation in the domestic information sphere, which is inextricably linked with the general decline in business activity.

In the audiovisual sector, the most developed and important from a political point of view, advertising revenues are declining, and accordingly, commercial channel development programs are being frozen. The prospects for the development of pay television and the accompanying specialization of broadcast channels are moving away indefinitely. Replacing communications satellites in the space constellation and the corresponding development of satellite broadcasting, including its modern types, require long-term investments. The state does not have funds, investments from the private sector and foreign investors will not enter this market in the near future.

The telecommunications infrastructure, which has developed significantly over the past few years, will apparently continue to progress, but at a less rapid pace.

On the other hand, there is a noticeable unification of mass consciousness, since people “consume” the same news almost simultaneously, there is massive propaganda of the lifestyle inherent in Western, technogenic civilization, and the same groups of goods are advertised in different countries. This mechanism of “globalization of mass consciousness” has a particularly strong impact on young people. Accordingly, in a couple of decades, a generation of people will grow up who share much more stereotypes of consciousness than their predecessors.

Technological determinism as a conceptual basis for the information society is attractive due to its simplicity and clarity of explanation of the historical process. However, it is dangerous because it gives rise to utopias and illusions about the feasibility of technological projects. The laws of economics, politics, and social psychology make significant adjustments to the original vision of the information society as a “technotronic” society. What is technically feasible is not always economically feasible, socially acceptable or politically justified. This feature must be kept in mind when developing the concept of building an information society in the country. In order for the idea of ​​the information society to be in demand socially, it must be included in the political sphere. The attractiveness of the concept of the information society for politicians is that it paints the prospect of human development from a new angle.

Technological “intervention” allowed the countries of Southeast Asia to create a modern high-tech industry in the shortest possible time and become one of the world's industrial leaders. The introduction of the latest technologies is the shortest way to the club of developed countries.

ITT (information technologies and telecommunications), on the one hand, increase a person’s ability to get a prestigious and highly paid job, create his own leisure and world of entertainment, and keep abreast of major world and local events. However, these opportunities are not open to everyone today. The already established property, cultural, and social polarization of society can be “enriched” by another division of people into those who have and those who do not have information, access to it, and the ability to work with new technologies. To prevent a dangerous gap, coordinated efforts are needed at the national and international levels to eliminate computer illiteracy. Distance education with the help of ITT is the only chance for many countries to prepare personnel for the information economy of the next century.

Considering the social aspect of informatization of society, we are faced with a number of problems that currently do not have a clear solution. In our opinion, three main problems can be identified.

The first of them is the problem of employment in connection with the informatization of society. Today there is a clear imbalance: the rate of reduction of traditional activities is greater than the rate of creation of jobs created under the influence of information technology.

The second is the problem of interaction between the process of democratization of society and the protection of the privacy of an individual’s life. Will the information transparency of society lead to total information control over the individual? Added to this are the threats of manipulating the consciousness of citizens using information means.

Finally, the third problem, which also does not have a clear solution today, is identifying ways to overcome the contradictions between national interests and the interests of network society conglomerates, which have a supranational character. This is a contradiction of a global order - it permeates not only the sphere of economics and politics, but also the field of culture, which will be discussed later and is associated with the processes of globalization and, in particular, with the formation of network structures.

The name “information society” first appeared in Japan. The experts who proposed this term explained that it defines a society in which high-quality information circulates in abundance, and there are all the necessary means for its storage, distribution and use. Information is easily and quickly distributed according to the requirements of interested people and organizations and is given to them in a form familiar to them. The cost of using information services is so low that they are available to everyone.

A more formalized definition of the information society is given by sociology. In the history of its development, human civilization has gone through several socio-economic stages:

Agrarian Society;

Industrial society;

Post-industrial society.

The next stage of development should be called “information society”.

The socio-economic criterion that determines the stage of social development is the distribution of employment of the population. At the stage of an agrarian society, more than half of the population is employed in agriculture; in an industrial society, most of the population works in industry; If in a society more than 50% of the population is employed in the service sector, the post-industrial phase of its development has begun. According to this criterion, the stage of the information society occurs provided that more than half of the population is employed in the field of information-intellectual production and services.

The socio-economic criterion is not the only one. An interesting criterion was proposed by Academician A.P. Ershov: the phases of progress towards the information society should be judged by the total capacity of communication channels. There is a simple thought behind this: the development of communication channels reflects both the level of computerization and the objective need of society for all types of information exchange, and other manifestations of informatization. According to this criterion, the early phase of informatization of society begins when the total capacity of communication channels operating in it is reached, ensuring the deployment of a sufficiently reliable long-distance telephone network. The final phase is when it is possible to implement reliable and prompt information contact between members of society on the principle of “everyone with everyone”. In the final phase, the communication channel capacity should be a million times greater than in the first phase.

According to a number of experts, the United States will complete the overall transition to an information society by 2020, Japan and most Western European countries by 2030–2040.

Russia's entry into the information society has its own characteristics associated with the current stage of its development. In Russia there are a number of objective prerequisites for the transition to an information society. Among them: the rapid development of the material base of the information sphere, informatization of many branches of production and management, active entry into the world community, preparedness of public consciousness, etc. It is important that Russia’s movement towards the information society is being implemented by the state as a strategic, priority goal, the achievement of which is facilitated by a fairly high personnel and scientific-technical potential of Russia.

Trends in the development of the information society

Changing economic structure and labor structure

The transition to an information society is accompanied by a shift in the center of gravity in the economy from the use of materials to the provision of services, which entails a significant reduction in the extraction and processing of raw materials and energy consumption.

The second half of the twentieth century, thanks to informatization, was accompanied by a flow of people from the sphere of direct material production to the information sphere. Industrial workers, who made up more than 2/3 of the population in the mid-twentieth century, now make up less than 1/3 in developed countries. The social stratum has grown significantly, which is called “white collar workers” - people of hired labor who do not directly produce material assets, but are engaged in processing information (in a broad sense): teachers, bank employees, programmers, etc. Thus, by 1980, 3% of the workforce was employed in US agriculture, 20% in industry, 30% in the service sector, and 48% of the population was employed in the information sector.

Informatization has also changed the nature of work in traditional industries. The emergence of robotic systems and the widespread introduction of elements of microprocessor technology is the main reason for this phenomenon. The machine tool industry in the United States employed 330 thousand people in 1990, and by 2005 there were 14 thousand people left. This happened due to the massive reduction of people on assembly lines, due to the introduction of robots and manipulators instead.

Another characteristic feature in this area is the emergence of a developed market for information products and services.

Development and mass use of information and communication technologies

The information revolution is based on explosive development information And communication technologies. In this process, a feedback loop is clearly observed: the movement towards the information society sharply accelerates the development of these technologies, making them widely in demand.

However, the rapid growth in the production of computer equipment, which began in the mid-twentieth century, did not in itself cause the transition to the information society. Computers were used by a relatively small number of specialists as long as they existed in isolation. The most important stages on the path to the information society were:

· creation of telecommunications infrastructure, including data transmission networks;

· the emergence of huge databases, accessed through networks by millions of people;

· development of uniform rules for behavior in networks and searching for information in them.

Played a huge role in the process under discussion creation of the Internet. Today, the Internet is a colossal and rapidly growing system, the number of users of which by the beginning of 2007 exceeded 1 billion people. It should be noted that the quantitative characteristics of the Internet become outdated faster than the books in which these indicators are given are printed.

The growth rate of the number of network users is fairly stable at about 20% per year. The United States ranks first in terms of the number of Internet users - approximately 200 million Americans are connected to the global Internet (all data as of the beginning of 2007). In second and third places are China and Japan with 111 and 87 million users, respectively. In Russia, the number of people connected to the Internet is 21.8 million, which is 17.5 percent more than in the previous year. This indicator allowed Russia to take 11th place in the ranking of the most Internetized countries. It should be noted, however, that “connected” does not mean “regularly used”; In statistics of this kind throughout the world there are difficulties in interpreting the data.

According to some indicators related to the Internet, our country is among the leaders. Thus, in terms of the number of users of fiber optic networks, Russia ranks first in Europe. This is explained by the fact that with the relatively late start of mass Internetization, it was easier for Russian providers to develop new and technologically more advanced Internet access channels than to modernize existing ones.

Information and communication technologies are constantly evolving. Gradually it happens universalization of leading technologies, i.e. Instead of creating its own technology to solve each problem, they are developing powerful, universal technologies that allow for many use cases. An example of this is office software systems, in which you can perform a wide variety of actions - from simple typing to the creation of fairly specialized programs (say, payroll using a spreadsheet processor).

The universalization of information technologies contributes to widespread use of multimedia. A modern multimedia system is capable of combining the functions of, for example, a computer, television, radio, multi-projector, telephone, answering machine, fax, while also providing access to data networks.

Improvements in computing technology lead to the personalization and miniaturization of information storage devices. Tiny devices that fit in the palm of your hand and have all the functions of a personal computer allow a person to acquire his own universal reference book, the volume of information of which is comparable to several encyclopedias. Since this device can be connected to the network, it also transmits operational data - for example, about the weather, current time, traffic jams, etc.

Overcoming the information crisis

The information crisis is a phenomenon that became noticeable already at the beginning of the twentieth century. It manifests itself in the fact that the flow of information that pours into a person is so great that it is inaccessible to processing in an acceptable time. This phenomenon occurs in scientific research, in technical developments, and in socio-political life. In our increasingly complex world, decision-making is becoming an increasingly responsible matter, and it is impossible without complete information.

The accumulation of total knowledge is accelerating at an astonishing rate. At the beginning of the 20th century, the total volume of all information produced by humanity doubled every 50 years, by 1950 the doubling occurred every 10 years, by the end of the 20th century - already every 5 years, and this, apparently, is not the limit.

Let us give several examples of manifestations of the information explosion. The number of scientific publications in most branches of knowledge is so large, and traditional access to them (reading journals) is so difficult that specialists cannot keep up with them, which gives rise to duplication of work and other unpleasant consequences.

It often turns out that it is easier to re-design a technical device than to find documentation about it in countless specifications and patents.

A political leader who makes a responsible decision at a high level, but does not have complete information, will easily get into trouble, and the consequences can be catastrophic. Of course, information alone is not enough in such a matter; adequate methods of political analysis are also needed, but without information they are useless.

As a result comes information crisis, manifested in the following:

· the information flow exceeds a person’s ability to perceive and process information;

· a large amount of redundant information arises (the so-called “information noise”), which makes it difficult to perceive information useful to the consumer;

· economic, political and other barriers that impede the dissemination of information are strengthened (for example, due to secrecy).

A partial way out of the information crisis is seen in the use of new information technologies. The introduction of modern means and methods of storing, processing and transmitting information greatly reduces the barrier to access and the speed of search. Of course, technology alone cannot solve a problem that has an economic nature (information costs money), a legal one (information has an owner), and a number of others. This problem is complex, so it must be solved through the efforts of both each country and the world community as a whole.

Freedom of access to information and freedom of its dissemination

The problem under discussion lies more in the political and economic plane than in the technical one, since modern information technologies have purely technically opened up limitless scope for information exchanges. Without freedom of access to information, the information society is impossible. Freedom of access to information and freedom of its dissemination is a prerequisite for democratic development, promoting economic growth and fair competition in the market. Only relying on complete and reliable information can one make correct and informed decisions in politics, economics, science, and practical activities.

Freedom of dissemination of cultural and educational information is of great importance. It contributes to the growth of the cultural and educational level of society.

At the same time, the problem of freedom of access to information also has the opposite side. Not all information of state, corporate or personal importance should be freely disseminated. Every person has the right to personal secrets; in the same way, a state or a corporation has secrets that are vital to its existence. There should be no freedom to disseminate information that promotes violence and other phenomena unacceptable to society and the individual. Finding a compromise between freedom of access to information and inevitable restrictions is not an easy task.

The growth of information culture

The modern understanding of information culture is the ability and need of a person to work with information using new information technologies.

Purposeful efforts of society and the state to develop the information culture of the population are mandatory when moving towards an information society. One of the important tasks of the computer science course is to develop elements of the information culture of students. This task is complex and cannot be solved by schools alone. The development of elements of information culture should begin in childhood, in the family, and then pass through the entire conscious life of a person, through the entire system of education and upbringing.

Information culture includes much more than a simple set of technical skills for processing information using computers and telecommunications. Information culture must become part of universal human culture. A cultured (in the broad sense) person must be able to evaluate the information received qualitatively, understand its usefulness, reliability, etc.

An essential element of information culture is mastery of collective decision-making techniques. The ability to interact in the information field with other people is an important sign of a member of the information society.

Changes in education

Great changes are taking place as we move towards an information society in the field of education. One of the fundamental problems facing modern education is to make it more accessible to every person. This accessibility has economic, social and technological aspects.

However, the problems of building an education system in the information society are not limited to technology. Due to its dynamism, this society will require continuous training from its members over decades. This will allow a person to keep up with the times, be able to change professions, and take a worthy place in the social structure of society. In connection with this, a new concept even arose: the “principle of lifelong professional development.” Economically developed countries have already embarked on the path of creating a system of lifelong education, including preschool and school education, vocational education, a system of professional retraining and advanced training, additional education (sometimes informal), etc. The level of quantitative and qualitative development of the educational system allows us to judge the degree of progress of the country along the path to the information society.

Changing people's lifestyles

The formation of the information society significantly affects people's daily lives. Based on the examples already available, it can be foreseen that the changes will be profound. Thus, the mass introduction of television in the 60–70s of the twentieth century significantly changed people’s lives, and not only for the better. On the one hand, millions of people have the opportunity to access the treasures of national and world culture, on the other hand, face-to-face communication has decreased, more stereotypes instilled by television have appeared, and the range of reading has narrowed.

Let us consider the individual components of the way of life, analyzing what has already happened and what is emerging in our time.

Job. According to a sociological study conducted in the United States, up to 10% of workers can already do their work without leaving home, and 1/3 of all newly registered companies are based on the widespread use of self-employment, which does not involve regularly coming to the office.

Studies. In a number of countries, the number of children who do not attend school and are taught at home with the help of computer programs and telecommunications is increasing. If this trend continues, the school will face the most serious danger since its inception as a mass public institution. If we consider that school not only teaches, but also instills in children the skills of socialization and social behavior, then such development causes a certain concern.

Leisure activities are changing before our eyes. Computer games, which already occupy a significant amount of time for some people, are being transformed into network games with the participation of several remote partners. The time spent “walking” on the Internet without a specific goal, as well as on the so-called “chat”, with not very meaningful exchange of messages, is growing. At the same time, educational trips to educational sites, virtual museums, etc. are also implemented. As mentioned above, information culture is only a part of universal human culture, and the form of leisure is determined primarily by the general culture of a particular person.

A recent achievement in Internet technology is shopping trip the transfer of real goods to a virtual online store is already beginning to have a noticeable impact on the trading system.

The human home tends to become increasingly “informatized.” Houses are already being put into operation, in which, instead of a wiring harness (electrical wiring, telephone, television, security and fire alarms, etc.), only one power cable and one information cable are included. The latter takes care of all information communications, including the provision of many cable television channels, Internet access, etc. A special electronic unit in such an apartment will control all devices, including household appliances and life support systems, and help the inhabitant of the apartment live as comfortably as possible. Such a house is called “smart”.

Since for many people the car has become an extension of their environment, the emergence of “ smart cars" also important. Such a car, in addition to the already mandatory microprocessor devices that serve its technical part, is constantly connected with city information services, which suggest the most optimal route at the moment (taking into account how busy the roads are). In addition, a “smart” car is connected to its owner’s “smart house” and this house can be controlled from it.

Dangers of the Information Society

While admiring the opportunities that the information society brings, we should not forget about the contradictions that it potentially contains and that are already emerging.

It should be understood that the concept of “information society” does not lie in the same circle of concepts that are associated with the concepts of “capitalism”, “socialism”, etc., i.e. does not directly indicate the nature of property relations and the economic structure. Likewise, it should not be perceived as just another utopia promising universal happiness.

Let us list some dangers and problems on the way to the information society:

· the real possibility of destruction by information technologies of the private lives of people and organizations;

· the danger of ever-increasing influence on society from the media and those who control these media;

· the problem of selecting high-quality and reliable information when its volume is large;

· the problem of adaptation of many people to the environment of the information society, to the need to constantly improve their professional level;

· a collision with virtual reality, in which illusion and reality are difficult to distinguish, creates in some people, especially young people, little studied, but clearly unfavorable psychological problems;

· the transition to an information society does not promise any changes in social benefits and preserves the social stratification of people; Moreover, information inequality can add to existing types of inequality and thereby increase social tension;

· the reduction in the number of jobs in the economies of developed countries, which is not fully compensated by the creation of new jobs in the information sector, leads to a dangerous social illness - mass unemployment.

An extreme manifestation of the negative consequences of the transition to the information society are the so-called “ information wars" This term is interpreted as the open or hidden information impact of state systems on each other in order to obtain a certain gain in the political or material sphere. The main targets of defeat in such wars will be the enemy’s information infrastructure and psychology.

Information warfare is understood as a complex impact on the system of state and military control of the opposing side, on its military-political leadership. In principle, this influence should, even in peacetime, lead to the adoption of favorable (for the party initiating the information pressure) decisions, and during the conflict, completely paralyze the functioning of the enemy’s command and control infrastructure. Information warfare, which precedes information war, is implemented by influencing the enemy’s information and information systems while simultaneously strengthening and protecting one’s own information and information systems and infrastructure. At a certain stage, an information war can turn into a conventional one, with the use of traditional weapons to suppress a weakened enemy. Unfortunately, there are already examples of information wars that have taken place.