The “modern alliance” – the unwritten pact through which people agreed to give up the idea that life has a predetermined cosmic meaning in exchange for the promise that science, progress, and economic development would give them greater power, control, and prosperity. Modernity no longer looks for meaning in a divine plan or a universal order, but in humanity’s ability to create change and progress.
The author explains that before modernity, most societies believed that the order of the world was fixed and that people could do little to change reality. Modernity completely transforms this perspective: the world can be changed, and the future can be built through science, investment, and economic development. This gives rise to the idea of continuous progress and the belief that humanity’s problems – such as famine, war, and disease – can be solved through knowledge and technology.
Scientific progress and capitalism have reinforced one another. People began to believe in the future and invest in projects that did not yet exist, based on the assumption that the future would be better and wealthier than the present. Credit, investment, and economic growth became the driving forces of the modern world.
The modern economy is built around the idea of perpetual growth: stability alone is not enough; the system needs to constantly produce more, faster, and more efficiently. This creates continuous pressure for productivity, consumption, innovation, optimization, and acceleration. Capitalism has transformed people’s relationship with work, time, and success, with value becoming increasingly associated with performance, efficiency, accumulation, growth, and continuous development.
Technology and progress have brought real benefits, including reduced famine, longer life expectancy, advances in medicine, and greater comfort. At the same time, however, they have created anxiety, permanent competition, pressure to constantly produce, and the feeling that there is never enough.
One particularly important concept is the “rat race”: people and societies become trapped in a logic of continuous growth that is extremely difficult to escape. Even when technology saves time and resources, standards keep rising, and people feel the need to work even harder simply to keep up with the system. Economic development does not automatically solve all human problems: although modernity has produced prosperity and technological progress, it does not guarantee happiness, meaning, balance, solidarity, or inner peace.
The author traces the emergence of modern humanism and the radical shift in the source of authority. If, in the past, truth and meaning came from outside the individual – from God, tradition, religion, or a cosmic order – modernity shifts the center toward the individual and human experience. People begin to believe that meaning, truth, and value can be found within their own experience and through their inner voice.
Humanism becomes the new “religion” of the modern world, even though it is not perceived as a religion in the traditional sense. It replaces obedience to God with obedience to oneself, following one’s feelings, and the belief that personal experience is a source of truth. This humanist logic influences politics, economics, education, art, ethics, relationships, and consumption.
Another important point is the critique of the idea that emotions and personal experience always provide truth or clarity. The inner voice can be contradictory, unstable, and shaped by culture, education, the market, and technology. Modern people believe they freely choose their desires and identities, even though these choices are constantly influenced by social and economic systems.
The book also introduces the concept of the “cult of experience.” Modernity places increasing value on intense personal experiences and on the idea that life should be lived through as many emotions, sensations, and authentic experiences as possible. This gives rise to experiential tourism, the obsession with authenticity, self-development, and the constant need to “feel something.” Emotions are not entirely “natural” or pure; they are also shaped and educated by culture. Our tastes, artistic sensibilities, preferences, and even the ways we love or experience suffering are influenced by our social environment and the experiences we go through.
Today, technology, algorithms, AI, biotechnology, and digital systems are beginning to know people better than they sometimes know themselves. This raises a central question: what happens to humanism and the idea of free will when technology can anticipate, influence, or manipulate human desires and choices? The future could bring about a profound crisis of humanism because people base their identity on the belief that “they know best what they feel and what they want,” while technological systems are increasingly taking over precisely this function of interpreting and predicting human behavior.
Homo sapiens is beginning to lose control over the world it has built, while humanism – the belief that the individual, free will, and human experience are at the center of meaning and authority – is being challenged by biotechnology and artificial intelligence.
One of the central ideas of this reading is its critique of free will. People believe they make free and autonomous decisions, yet biology and neuroscience suggest that many choices are the result of biochemical and neurological processes that take place before a person becomes consciously aware of them. The neurological experiments discussed in the book suggest that brain activity can anticipate a decision before an individual experiences the conscious feeling of having “chosen.” If human decisions can be predicted and biologically manipulated, technological systems could eventually know people better than they know themselves. This gives rise to the idea that humans are essentially biological algorithms: emotions and desires can be analyzed, preferences can be predicted, and behavior can be influenced through data and algorithms.
2024
BOOK – Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI, Yuval Noah Harari, translated in Romanian by Ioana Aneci and Adrian Șerban, Polirom Publishing House, HISTORIA collection.
The book explores how information networks, algorithms, and artificial intelligence are radically transforming the relationship between people, truth, power, and society. Technology is gradually becoming an autonomous system that influences perceptions, emotions, decisions, the economy, politics, social relationships, and even the very idea of human identity.
Harari begins by challenging the assumption that more information automatically means more truth and greater wisdom. In reality, information networks can simultaneously produce order, chaos, manipulation, mythologies, polarization, and social control. All societies operate through shared stories and intersubjective realities, including religions, states, money, corporations, and ideologies. New digital networks can create and distribute such mythologies on an unprecedented scale.
A central theme of Harari’s book is the comparison between democracy and totalitarianism in the information age. In the past, dictatorships had the advantage of centralized control over information, while democracies benefited from distribution and plurality. The internet revolution initially seemed to favor democracy by providing open access to information and enabling broader participation. However, social media and algorithms have since begun fragmenting the public sphere, creating echo chambers, radicalization, emotional manipulation, polarization, and information chaos.
Artificial intelligence should not be understood as an “artificial human mind,” but as a fundamentally different type of intelligence, capable of processing enormous amounts of data and optimizing decisions without consciousness or emotions. The term “AI” itself can be misleading because people tend to project human characteristics onto algorithms that do not actually possess them.
Another important theme is the emergence of the “inorganic network” – a global infrastructure of computers and algorithms that is beginning to operate with increasing independence from individual human intentions and to influence the labor market, consumption, politics, culture, relationships, and personal choices.
Algorithms learn from data produced by humans and can reproduce or amplify existing racism, sexism, discrimination, stereotypes, and social inequalities. They do not need consciousness to have enormous effects on the world. Even without intentions or emotions, automated systems can influence hiring, credit decisions, recommendations, relationships, voting, access to information, reputation, healthcare, and collective behavior.
Automation and AI could eliminate many professions and create a “useless class” – people whose skills are no longer economically necessary. However, the main problem is not simply the disappearance of jobs, but the speed at which people are expected to continually adapt to change.
Another important concept is “information politics” – the way algorithms, bots, and digital platforms can influence elections, public opinion, and political debate. Bots can generate political content, AI can produce fake news and facilitate manipulation, and platforms can control the visibility of information, making democracy increasingly vulnerable to algorithmic manipulation.
The book concludes by examining the risk of “information cocoons” – separate digital worlds in which different groups live within completely different and often incompatible realities. This fragmentation can fuel social conflict and make it increasingly difficult to build a shared understanding of truth.
2023
BOOK – Virtual Identity: How and Why Social Media Is Transforming Us, Mihnea Măruță, Humanitas Publishing House.
The book explores how human identity is being reshaped by the virtual environment and social media. It examines the relationship between the “real self” and the “virtual self,” tracing how our online presence increasingly influences our perception of ourselves, our relationships with others, and even the way we construct and experience our lives.
One of the concepts explored is “metalepsis,” used to describe the point at which the boundary between the real and the virtual begins to blur. The author shows how virtual identity is no longer simply a representation of a person, but becomes an active extension of the self, capable of influencing real life. The book examines mechanisms such as posting, seeking validation through other people’s reactions, preserving images, and turning the online profile into a form of extension of the self.
In the chapter “The Virtual Self as a Ghostly Extension,” online identity is described as a bodiless presence that continues to exist and circulate independently of its creator. The author explores the idea that profiles and digital traces can outlive the person themselves, creating the sense of a virtual “double.” The internet thus becomes a space where individuals try to preserve their image and obtain a continuous form of validation.
Another interesting chapter, “Antimetalepsis: Fiction Against Reality,” examines how the virtual self begins to influence behavior and decisions in real life. The author describes a process in which people increasingly adapt their lives in order to produce content, attract attention, and receive approval online, sometimes ending up living more for their virtual image than for their direct experience of reality.
The chapter “Self-Seduction” explores the emotional and psychological dimension of our relationship with the internet. The virtual environment is presented as a seductive space that offers the illusion of an ideal version of the self while promising continuity, attention, and a form of symbolic survival through the gaze of others.
The book discusses themes such as digital narcissism, the desire for validation, dependence on one’s image, and the way social media turns identity into an object of consumption and spectacle.
It also explores the idea of the “trace of the self” and the effects of social media on both the psyche and society. The author discusses the concept of “disruption,” explaining how the constant flow of information and permanent connectivity alter attention, willpower, and an individual’s ability to relate to themselves. Other themes include the loss of individuality, the pressure to remain constantly present and visible, dependence on social feedback, and the growing feeling that one’s existence must be continuously confirmed through the reactions of others.
The book also draws on ideas from philosophy, psychoanalysis, and sociology, referencing thinkers such as Roland Barthes, Bernard Stiegler, Carl Gustav Jung, and Umberto Eco. Overall, the book offers a critical analysis of how technology and social media are changing our relationship with identity, memory, validation, and meaning. It raises fundamental questions about what it means to exist in a world where the virtual image is becoming increasingly important – and sometimes more important – than direct experience.
2000
BOOK – Liquid Modernity, Zygmunt Bauman, Polity Press, Cambridge.
The book explores the profound transformations taking place in contemporary society and the way modernity has become “liquid” – unstable, flexible, and in a state of constant change. The central idea is that the stable structures that once organized people’s lives – community, family, work, identity, social relationships, and the idea of progress – are gradually dissolving and being replaced by temporary, fragile, and volatile forms of existence.
In the introduction, Bauman uses the metaphor of liquid to describe the contemporary world. Unlike solids, liquids do not retain a fixed shape; they adapt quickly and are constantly in motion. The same can be said of contemporary society: a reality in perpetual flux, where nothing remains fixed for very long. Bauman argues that modernity is no longer built around stability and durability, but around mobility, speed, and flexibility.
One of the key concepts discussed is the separation of time and space. In the past, people and institutions were strongly tied to territory and fixed locations. The development of technology and the acceleration of communication have made power and influence increasingly mobile. Those who can move quickly and escape the constraints of physical space gain greater advantages and control. Mobility becomes a form of power, while immobility increasingly becomes associated with vulnerability and exclusion.
The book then examines the individualization of modern life. Bauman argues that people are increasingly held responsible for their own success or failure in a world where stable rules and established life paths have disappeared. Individuals must constantly reinvent themselves, make decisions, and adapt quickly to change. This apparent freedom of choice, however, comes with anxiety, insecurity, and constant pressure to perform.
An important chapter focuses on consumption and consumer culture. Bauman explains that contemporary identity is increasingly constructed through consumption, image, and temporary experiences. People are encouraged to seek immediate satisfaction, while desires must constantly be renewed for the economic system to keep functioning. In this context, even relationships, experiences, and the self itself can come to be treated like products: evaluated, consumed, and quickly replaced.
Bauman also examines the transformation of work under contemporary capitalism. Stable, long-term employment is increasingly replaced by flexibility, temporary contracts, and professional insecurity. He describes the emergence of a world of work dominated by precariousness, competition, and constant adaptation. Employees are expected to remain constantly available and ready for change, while the idea of a stable career is becoming increasingly rare.
The book also explores the effects of these changes on human relationships. Social bonds are becoming more fragile and temporary, while relationships are increasingly shaped by the logic of consumption: they are maintained as long as they provide satisfaction and immediate benefits. Long-term commitments are gradually giving way to a culture of reversible connections and avoidance of lasting responsibilities.
Another important theme is the permanent insecurity that defines contemporary life. Bauman uses concepts such as precarity, anxiety, and insecurity to describe the feeling that nothing can be taken for granted: not one’s job, relationships, social status, or future. In liquid modernity, people live in a constant state of adaptation and uncertainty.
Overall, the book offers a critical analysis of contemporary society and the effects that speed, flexibility, technology, consumption, and global capitalism have on identity, work, and social relationships. Bauman describes a world in which people are expected to remain permanently mobile, adaptable, and ready for change, yet this apparent freedom often produces anxiety, instability, and a sense of losing the stable reference points that once gave life structure.