Context of NBIC-Technologies Development: Institutions, Ideology and Social Myths

Abstract

The article presents the author’s viewpoint on the basic characteristics of the socio-cultural context of the development of convergent technologies in the modern world. The main aspects of this contextual area are the states of social institutions, ideology and social myths in conditions of institutional competition. It is proved in the article that modern convergent technologies in addition to the status of scientific and technological products have their own social and spiritual status in society as anideologeme of technocracy. Being an urgent issue of modern ideology, the problem of technological breakthrough is used by institutional subjects in their own interests, legitimizes their claim to power, and is turned into fetish. The relevance of understanding the whole complexity of social aspects of NBIC-technologies is proved by increasingly frequent using of this abbreviation withthe letter ‘S’(Socio) added to it: NBICS.

DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2015.v6n6s4p181