The Dark Ages or Enlightenment
The era of the “Enlightenment”, which was born in the middle of the 18th century, was a fight against ignorance, superstition and tyranny, although, like any revolution, it only spread among the bourgeoisie, through new means of publication and dissemination. for aristocrats.
The notions of freedom, progress and government based on the separation of church and state arose there.
The 21st century brought a new “Enlightenment”, where social networks democratized participation and connection, assuming that widespread knowledge and information would protect humanity from radicalization and extreme ideology.
But in reality, globalized communication does not automatically lead to truth and reason, because algorithm-driven self-learning structures are developing their own dynamics, which are cause for some concern.
Social networks have increasingly become tools for manipulation, control and propagation of conspiracies and hate speech, which are based more on narcissism, sharing images and selfies instead of theories, “influencers” are not a means of discussion of relevant ideas, such as the “Enlightenment”, which marked the transition from the “Dark Ages” to the “Age of Reason”. A2
Reason or Algorithms
Voltaire believed that “reason and scientific knowledge should replace arbitrariness and superstition”, Hegel maintained that “the sovereignty of the laws of understanding reached reason” and Kant expressed that “reason is sufficient in itself and for herself”,
There is no doubt that the great thinkers of past centuries never imagined that in the 21st century there would be this principle of Enlightenment or Reason called Social Networks, where trust and freedom are managed by algorithms, where the relationship is virtual and not personal, where the information can be falsified, where morality, ethics and reputation do not exist.
Nietzsche and social networks
Nietzsche announces “the death of God”, “Nihilism” places the moment where “the highest values are devalued”, there is no doubt that Heidegger, Sartre and the other existentialists are unthinkable without Nietzsche, but also many modern writers and philosophers they were influenced, even Freud maintains that psychoanalysis derives from these ideas, for this reason it is not by chance that Nietzsche put the announcement of the death of God in the mouth of a madman.
When Zarathustra asks what happens when the highest values are devalued? Who or what will take the place of God? What unfathomable comforts will man invent for himself in the absence of faith? He never supposed that the answer to these questions would be “Social Networks”, where the total absence of moral facts marks our time, where one of Nietzsche’s greatest fears materializes… “mediocrity”.
“Übermensch” (Superman)
Nietzsche developed the idea of the “Übermensch” (Superman), a creature with the inner strength to create his own values, to free himself from traditional morality, who would seek to break with his life of comforts and develop new goals.
In 1883 Zarathustra asked “What is love? What is creation? and What is longing? … In the 21st century the crowd responds… love is Tinder, creation is YouTube and longing is TikTok.
