THE POWER OF MISSIONARIES. TWILIGHT AND DAWN OF SECULAR... - JAN KREFT

"The Power of Missionaries" is a fascinating journey into the depths of the missionary zeal that drives change in our world. The author analyzes the crisis of secular religion that accompanies the leaders of new technologies, their sacrileges, and the professionalized penance aimed at restoring harmony in the technological paradise on Earth. Alphabet, Meta, Apple, and TikTok become the main actors in this story, and repentant engineers regret every moment spent creating addictive algorithms.

• Analysis of missionary zeal in changing the world.
• Crisis of secular religion accompanying the leaders of new technologies.
• Sacrileges and professionalized penance in technology corporations.
• The role of Alphabet, Meta, Apple, and TikTok in building a technological paradise.
• Repentant engineers regretting the creation of addictive algorithms.
• Ethical disasters of Big Tech and the twilight of the techno-gods.
• New visions and myths arising from the ruins of the sacred covenant between the user and Big Tech.

When technology, the market, and competition became religion, the heads of new technology and media companies became missionaries of the New Techno-Enlightenment. Facebook (Meta) and Google (Alphabet) - organizations with strong cosmologies - "emanated divinity" and instrumentally used "sacred" values such as justice. The contemporary ethical disasters of Big Tech and the "twilight of the techno-gods" signify a crisis of legitimizing their innocence, agency, and impunity through secular religion. Faith in their good intentions and the neoliberal sacralization of the market is waning.

The imperative of "calculability of everything" is falling, the facade of the language of secular religion is being recognized, and "false metaphors" are being revealed. However, the dawn of a new techno-universe is on the horizon. New visions and myths are born on the ruins of the "sacred covenant" between the user and Big Tech. No longer the "repair of the world" but the "improvement" of man, and sometimes his replacement, as in the case of "generative artificial intelligence."

Prof. Dr. habil. Jan Kreft (Gdańsk University of Technology) is the head of the Center for Research on Algorithmic Management. He is a long-time journalist and foreign correspondent, manager of media and new technology companies. He is the author of several books, including: The Power of Platforms, The Power of Algorithms, Behind the Facade of Community, The End of Journalism as We Know It.

The book, published by Universitas Publishing House, has 220 pages and a format of 234x158 mm. The paperback cover adds lightness and makes it ideal for reading on the go. The year of publication is 2023.