Digital Rituals and the Technological Mysterium Tremendum
Daily life online is a dense web of practices that are acquiring a quasi-religious dimension. The morning check of notifications resembles a prayer, while scrolling through information feeds becomes a procession in search of meaning. These digital rituals are repetitive and understood by the community, manifesting meanings that transcend pure functionality. Technology realizes Rudolf Otto’s concept of mysterium tremendum et fascinans: on one hand, it fascinates with promises of omnipotence and immortality (transhumanism); on the other, it evokes fear of surveillance and loss of control. Consequently, the discourse on artificial intelligence adopts an apocalyptic structure, filled with prophecies of either salvation or the destruction of humanity.
Technophany, Space, and Algorithmic Time
Mircea Eliade defined hierophany as the manifestation of the sacred within the profane world. Today, its place is being taken by technophany—moments when technology (e.g., the launch of a new AI or space flights) reveals itself as an autonomous force. The difference is fundamental: hierophany points toward transcendence, while technophany points toward human creation, which we perceive as "wholly other." The perception of time and space is also changing. Algorithmic time is an eternal "now" that deconstructs cyclical sacred time, confining the user within the immanence of the moment without the promise of eternity. Traditional, communal sacred space is giving way to the network and smartphones—private sanctuaries where everyone performs their own individualized liturgy.
Homo Digitalis and the Evolution of the Sacred
Modern homo digitalis is an evolutionary continuation of the homo religiosus figure. While the latter saw the world as a web of divine signs, the digital human navigates a world of algorithms, existing in a state of permanent liminality—suspended between reality and virtuality. This process is the result of a long evolution: from Max Weber’s Enlightenment "disenchantment of the world," through the Romantic sacralization of nature, to the Nietzschean death of God. Today, the sacred does not disappear but adapts to new stages. The Third Sphere becomes a place where metaphysical questions intertwine with everyday life, protecting us from nihilism and the trivialization of reality by imbuing technology and science with deeper, meaning-making significance.
Provisio: Political Rituals and Market Simulations
The category of provisio serves a diagnostic function, allowing us to distinguish the authentic sacred from its simulacra. In the market sphere, it exposes situations where marketing simulates religious experience, casting influencers as prophets and product launches as revelations. Provisio is also applied in the analysis of political rituals (inaugurations, national holidays), examining whether they build a real community of values or are merely a media spectacle. In the legal dimension, the sacred manifests in non-negotiable values, such as human dignity. The sacralization of these goods establishes immunization thresholds that the law must guard against utilitarian cost-benefit analyses, preventing the reduction of the human being to the role of a resource.
The Third Sphere: A Barrier Against Nihilism
The sacred and the profane are no longer separate worlds; their boundary has become fluid and decentralized. In an era of desacralization, humans still need points of orientation and the experience of "something more." Provisio acts here as an authenticity filter, helping to distinguish transformative rituals from the empty choreographies of the digital spectacle. The Third Sphere offers a way out of the dilemma between naive faith and cynical relativism. It allows for the building of community and meaning in a world where technology, politics, and law must redefine their sacred foundations to protect human subjectivity from the nihilism of algorithmic daily life.
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