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LIMINA 3:2 | Digital Transformation | Editorial
tounding ambiguity and disagreement surrounding key concepts that are
absolutely fundamental to any such debate. What exactly is digitisation? Or
more specifically: What is virtuality, a term that is often talked about in the
same breath as digitisation? Daniel Pachner examines these definitions and
formulates an approach based on Gilles Deleuze that conceptually links the
existential preconditions of digitality â hardware, the machine â with the
user â the human â through virtuality, and opens up a different perception
of the digital, away from something that holds the potential to transcend
or replace humankind.
The popular interpretation of âvirtual realityâ is closely related to the idea
of âbeamingâ, as Georg Gasser anecdotally presents in his introduction. He
examines possible frameworks for what constitutes personhood and iden-
tity, and what arguments might support the widely held assumption that
the status of a concrete, real-life person can be digitally represented or
recreated. Is consciousness merely a phenomenon of emergence based on
a neural structure that exceeds a certain threshold? Or are conscious and
non-conscious entities fundamentally different from each other? And what
does Christian anthropology have to say about âmind-uploadingâ, follow-
ing Karl Rahnerâs theories?
This seamlessly leads us on to Herbert Hrachovecâs article: In untangling
two interwoven interpretations of omnipresence, he demonstrates that the
widespread analogy between the omnipresence of God according to reli-
gious teachings and the telepresence of the (digitally represented) indi-
vidual is in fact a misunderstanding. His considerations also touch on the
parallels between omniscience as a Divine attribute and omnipresent sur-
veillance of the digital lives of modern humans. Such comparisons may be
a popular tool to achieve an impact, but as Hrachovec shows, it is a danger-
ous one to make in todayâs information society: âThe defining symbol in
âomnipresence/telepresenceâ is the dividing slash.â This provides a cogent
counterpoint to the following article, which presents a more technophile
point of view.
Sara Lumbreras and Lluis Oviedo explore whether processes of believing
can be interpreted as functions of neural systems. This analogy between
the brain and the computer has already been exhaustively discussed but
is making a recent, differently nuanced reoccurrence in technological and
philosophical discourses. An interesting shift in current developments,
particularly within the context of neurobiological research (also here in
Graz), is an expansion in scope from purely (bio-)technological aspects
Limina
Grazer theologische Perspektiven, Band 3:2
- Titel
- Limina
- Untertitel
- Grazer theologische Perspektiven
- Band
- 3:2
- Herausgeber
- Karl Franzens University Graz
- Datum
- 2020
- Sprache
- deutsch
- Lizenz
- CC BY-NC 4.0
- Abmessungen
- 21.4 x 30.1 cm
- Seiten
- 270
- Kategorien
- Zeitschriften LIMINA - Grazer theologische Perspektiven