Light and shadows of digital reality: from the editors

The paper establishes the relationship between the concepts of information technologies, artificial intelligence, and digitalization. The author suggests that digitalization is an inevitable possibility of social development because it is deeply rooted in the development of material production and also because it is perceived as the public good and a key factor of competitiveness in all contemporary worldviews, including alternative ones. At the same time, people are increasingly faced with the growing insecurity of their existence due to rapid digitalization within the existing social institutions. We can only hope that the implementation of the digitalization trend can take different forms. This trend requires serious study and an awareness of the relevant alternatives developed during scientific debate.