A Word from the Subject Editors

Abstract

We present to readers the latest monographic issue of Studia de Cultura, entitled Human and Technology: Cybercultural, Communicative, and Legal Aspects. Issues concerning the relationship between individuals, society, and digital media as well as new information and communication technologies are highly complex and, as contemporary research practices demonstrate, often require trans- and interdisciplinary analyses. Such inquiries necessitate the deployment of methods and tools characteristic of diverse fields: the humanities and social sciences—including cultural studies, sociology, philosophy, anthropology, psychology, communication studies, and media studies—as well as law, information technology, and economics.

Some of these complex interrelations are expressed through potent media metaphors, which resonate not only within humanistic reflection but also in public discourse. Consequently, concepts such as network society, post-biological society, informatized society, information society, and the society of communicative democracy have emerged in both scholarly and journalistic language. Other related notions include global intelligence, knowledge societies, various forms of networking, as well as the cyborgization of humans and the creation of increasingly complex biotechnological hybrids, whose functions and operations are analyzed at the levels of system, function, and structure.

These novel and increasingly precise entanglements between humans, technology, and new media compel researchers to pose questions regarding the nature of humanity, the essence of society per se, the boundaries of machine humanization, and the risks and opportunities associated with the development of artificial intelligence (AI), neural networks, machine learning, deep learning, and the Internet of Things (IoT). There is no doubt that these technological innovations significantly impact key aspects of everyday life, the emerging 4.0 economy, and new legal frameworks.

Since the 1980s, with the rapid expansion of the Internet, and subsequently networked, mobile, and social media in the twenty-first century, research has increasingly referenced various “turns” that signify shifts in paradigms: the digital turn, the performative turn, the ethical turn, among others. The complex interplay between humans and technology is often discussed with reference to the specific “sensoryity” of individual media, hence terms such as audiovisual media, iconic media, and tactile media. Today, human-technology relations are becoming increasingly embodied, signaling the ontological blurring of boundaries between human and technological entities. Consequently, discussions concern not only the anthropomorphization of media and new technologies but also the cyborgization of humans.

Users perceive technology as a form of rational and intentional being, as the attributes of these technologies, alongside so-called user-friendly interfaces, foster quasi-social relationships with them. This phenomenon is evident, for example, in interactions with humanoid robots and bots. Simultaneously, humans increasingly resemble technology in form and function, as exemplified by exoskeletons, prostheses, pacemakers, next-generation implants, brain-computer interfaces, and a variety of scientific and existential projects inspired by technoimmortalism. These issues have become focal points for post- and transhumanist scholarship and cyberpsychology within contemporary humanities and social sciences.

The articles collected in this volume address selected aspects of these phenomena. Ewa Wójtowicz Szczebiot discusses human-technology relations in System. Tactical Relations between Humans and Technology. Łukasz Wojciechowski and Katarína Fichnová examine new forms of communication and their impact on contemporary marketing in New Technologies and Ambient Marketing Communication. Bartłomiej Kotowski addresses social media communication in The Rhetoric of Dance on TikTok. The phenomenon of influencers and their effects on media users is explored in Maria Łukomska’s Artificial Humans Online: Who Are Virtual Influencers? and Patrycja Cheba’s Activating Users During the COVID-19 Pandemic via Instagram Influencers: A Comparative Analysis.

Technological development is closely intertwined with the evolution of media, and communication assumes diverse forms. The roles of audiences, producers, and transmitters are not fixed but evolve alongside technology, creating heterogeneous media role configurations. Media that once targeted niche groups, such as video games aimed at youth, have now spread across multiple age groups and serve various purposes, including educational, pedagogical, and cultural dissemination. Consumers increasingly become prosumers, enhancing or modifying games independently. Martyna Czapska’s MODifications of Games – Selected Legal Aspects addresses the legal dimensions of user modifications in games.

In contemporary cyberculture, digital games, media carriers, and electronic publications, including standalone e-books, have become increasingly prevalent. In intellectual property law, the doctrine of exhaustion establishes that upon the initial commercialization of a work, the rights holder loses exclusive control over the distribution and use of that specific copy. The rise of digital technologies and their commercial utilization has amplified the practical significance of disputes over the exhaustion of copyright for intangible copies of works. Ewa Milczarek examines these issues in Between Cultural Access and Creator Rights: Reflections on the Limitations of E-book Distribution, comparing the rights of purchasers of printed books and e-books, where the latter only obtain a license to read the work rather than ownership.

The distinction between storage and public access to multiple works versus making them publicly available remains a controversial aspect of the EU Directive 2019/790 on copyright in the Digital Single Market. Agnieszka Zielińska investigates The Use of Copyrighted Content and Artificial Intelligence: Legal Responsibilities of Online Content Providers Under Article 17 of Directive 2019/790, examining the legal parameters of AI deployment for verifying authorized content use and whether AI should be classified as a high-risk system under the EU Artificial Intelligence Act (COM/2021/206 final).

Comprehensive AI applications raise fundamental questions, particularly whether AI can be treated as a human-like entity. Currently, “narrow” or “weak” AI operates via algorithmic analysis of large datasets to identify patterns and support decision-making within defined human-assigned tasks. While technological progress may eventually lead to “strong AI” with self-awareness and human-like reasoning capacities, debates continue on whether such systems should be granted legal personhood. Damian Kaczan’s Compensation Liability for the Functioning of Artificial Intelligence in Medicine examines AI liability, concluding that AI should not be treated as a legal entity capable of bearing compensation responsibility, particularly in sensitive medical contexts.

Recent years have witnessed numerous changes in technology law, including the development of the Digital Single Market, adaptation of legal frameworks to digital formats, AI regulation, and the transmission of information via electronic communications. In this domain, the new Electronic Communications Act, replacing the Telecommunications Act, establishes rules applicable to both telecom operators and non-telecom entities. One contentious issue concerns the regulatory instrument of the general decision by the President of the Office of Electronic Communications (UKE) governing access to infrastructure, cables, and technical facilities, analyzed by Elżbieta Małecka in General Decisions of the President of UKE as a New Regulatory Instrument.

We invite readers to explore the articles addressing these diverse but interconnected issues, which collectively constitute the landscape of Cyberculture 3.0.

/Agnieszka Ogonowska, Bogdan Fischer/