Man's Existence in Informationalized Society

Abstract

J. D. Bolter considers the transformation of “writing space” in the Computer age, and finds the essence of the electronic book which the print book does not have to the character of “Hypertext”, which also corresponds to the direction of “Network culture” of the society. On the other hand, Bolter considers the image of man (and the mind) in the informationalized society to be “Turing's Man (i.e. information processor/semiosis).” From such viewpoints he criticizes the Cartesian view on man at the West modern ages. However, I doubt that “Turing's Man” is only a reflection of the tendency of systematization and “Versachlichung” which becomes strong more and more in society from modern ages to present age. Therefore, I think that we should understand the meaning of the informationalized society for man not only from the perspective of “writing space” like Bolter, but also the perspective of new “Oral culture” on which W. J. Ong insists. And, I related Ong's thought of the revival of the community with electronic media to Marx's community thought. In addition, I attempted to mediate them by the thought of communicative subject of Habermas and referred the “Mode of information” of M. Poster critically. Finally, I pointed out the importance of the introduction of the viewpoint of the environmental problem into the community problem because of “virtual reality”