Čovjek-android ili onaj koji gleda prema dolje / The Man-android or the One Looking Down

Abstract

The text treats the impact of modern technologies on the transformation of human experience and perception, relying mainly on the theoretical frameworks of G. Debord and M. McLuhan. Debord's theory of the spectacle serves as a starting point for understanding how society is affected by media spectacles, where reality is replaced by representations and illusions. In this context, the human-android represents an individual who is constantly connected to digital devices, looking down at their smartphones, thereby becoming part of a society of spectacles and losing connections with reality. McLuhan's ideas about technological extensions emphasize how media and technology expand human senses and perception, but also how they influence consciousness and behavior. Technological simulation of consciousness, according to McLuhan, means that technology not only expands human capabilities but also simulates and shapes the way we think and feel. The android man is an example of how digital devices are becoming an extension of the human body and mind, redefining how people interact and experience the world. The concept of the mass man, which is defined as a consumer and a runner after money, was mentioned as another of the specifics of the man-android. In modern society, a society of spectacles, man becomes a mass consumer, constantly bombarded with information and advertisements that shape his desires and needs. This phenomenon leads to alienation, where real communication and deep interpersonal relationships give way to superficial screen interactions. Relationships between individuals are accidental and weak, such individuals form masses that are politically apathetic and ready for manipulation, and the entire content of culture, i.e. culture itself - philosophy, art, science, literature - becomes mass culture, it is reduced to a miserable level of taste, to the lowest field of satisfying primitive passions.

The Manandroid or the one who looks down is an excerpt from the doctoral dissertation Individual and Media Spectacle in Contemporary Society's draft by a PhD candidate Alena Kahrimanović, under the mentorship of Prof. Dr. Fahira Fejzić-Čengić (Faculty of Political Sciences in Sarajevo, Doctoral studies, Department of Communication).