The Forth Revolution: How the Infosphere is Reshaping Human Reality

Luciano Floridi explores the developments of information and communication technologies (ICTs) and what influences they are having on us and the world around us. In relation to these technologies, he asks who we are and how we relate to each other. In The Forth Revolution (Oxford: Oxford University Press), Floridi investigates the revolution in information in a world that has become ever more data-driven since the twentieth century and argues that human history has experienced four major revolutions: the physical (after Copernicus); the biological (after Darwin); the psychological (after Freud); and, finally, the one we are currently occupying, which Floridi connects to Alan Turing, whose theories revolve around humans as information organisms. According to Floridi, humans are creating a new environment, the “infosphere”, in which the personas we create on social media are “onlife”. This technosphere determines and transforms our daily lives and the ways we interact with each other. Ultimately, Floridi asks whether our technologies will enable and empower us, or constrain us.