The problem of the dialectical relationship of natural and social aspects of human adaptation in the ecosystem of the information society

Abstract

In the analysis of the problem of human adaptation there are two closely related aspects - natural and social. The main methodological guideline of this work is to try a holistic consideration of the problem of human adaptation in the information environment emphasizing (but not separating from each other) its natural and social aspects. All organisms on the planet are grouped into certain kinds of complexes – ecosystems. An ecosystem is a collection of living organisms in their relationship with environmental factors. The ecosystem centered on the human becomes anthropo-ecosystem. One of the integral parts of any anthropo-ecosystem is its information field. The problem of the information field is one of the most important in the description of the dynamics and nature of anthropo-ecosystem. This is due to the fact that the basis of the anthropo-ecosystem is always a community of people, the existence of which is impossible without information and communication processes. In fact, the information environment is becoming a major habitat of modern man. Modern information environment can be considered as a collection of information conditions of human life (availability and quality of information resources, development of information infrastructure), as well as a set of economic and socio-cultural conditions of informatization processes. Changes to our life created by artificially created environment of information and communication technologies affect all its aspects: our minds and our world view, work and education, family and interpersonal relations, the economy and production. Consequently, the need to develop new mechanisms of adaptation to the changing environment is undeniable. The process of changing of information environment by humans, the construction of artificial information environment around them, and their change under the influence of the environment – these processes are inextricably linked, closely intertwined and impossible without each other. Consideration of human beings as part of anthropo-ecosystem helps us better to understand the need for human adaptation to the information environment. It would even be more correct to use the term “co-adaptation” here, since humanity and information environment throughout their evolution constantly mutually adapt, evolve, co-adapt. The ecosystem of the information society originally, like any other ecosystem, is built as part of the environment (in this case the information environment) and only then is integrated into the structure of the information society. Adaptation is not always a positive thing. When a person experiences a flow of information exceeding the limits of his or her adaptation mechanisms there is a possibility of failure of adaptive mechanisms and information stress. Analysis of changes in the human psyche, consciousness, and behavior immersed in the modern information environment, shows that the concept of “adaptation” and “maladjustment” dialectically interrelated, acquiring positive or negative direction depending on a variety of factors. A new form of pollution – information pollution – necessitates the creation of a new science – information ecology. Humanity must develop new adaptation mechanisms (or try to somehow modify existing ones), in order to successfully adapt to the new information environment. Moreover, this applies to both social and natural adaptation, because these processes are inextricably linked. The process of adaptation - a holistic process and the natural and social sides of it can be distinguished as its aspects, the relationship of which can be analyzed dialectically, but a clear separation and isolation of them is not possible or even needed.