The digital world
The digital world
Current state justification theories are not only unsatisfactory in the analogue world but are also unsuitable for the digital one too. If such fundamental matters as what the state is and why it exists have not been resolved in the analogue world, how can they apply or sound even remotely convincing in the digital? How can they solve the problems of non-territoriality, loss of individual identity or challenged sovereignty? For the moment state justification remains jumbled in the minds of humans as a combination of social contract theory (or Marxist (Hegelian) theory, depending on which part of the planet one lives in), realistic findings (‘there is no other alternative to living in states throughout human history anyway’), and a pragmatic way to manage current affairs (‘states are the only mechanisms available to humans to manage major projects such as mitigating climate change, building large infrastructures or addressing inflation’). While the analogue world may have been served well by the above combination (excepting state malaise), the digital world will put all these theories to the test by challenging (if not reversing) all their basic assumptions. For example, if humans have allegedly agreed to a social contract in the analogue world because they can do little else to avoid a state of nature, does this extend to the digital world too? Significantly, in the digital world there is no state of nature, because it is artificial, made by humans, and thus, unlike the analogue one, entirely controllable. Or, alternatively, does Reason (in the sense employed by utilitarianism and others), as assumed in the analogue world, remain the same in the digital world too, even if all assumptions (i.e. about individuality, sovereignty, and, most importantly, the finite nature of information) are overturned? Inevitably, all of the above state justification theories, which have only barely held their ground until today on the basis more of pragmatic than theoretically sound arguments, will crumble under the challenge posed by the digital world.
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