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Sustainable Digital Environments: What Major Challenges Is Humankind Facing?

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  • Roland W. Scholz

    (Faculty of Economics and Globalization, Department of Knowledge Management and Communication, Danube University, 3500 Krems, Austria
    Department of Psychology, University of Zurich, 8050 Zurich, Switzerland
    Department of Environmental Systems Science, ETH Zurich, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland)

Abstract

This paper identifies and discusses the benefits, threats, and vulnerabilities related to the digital revolution. It aims to motivate research and its funding regarding digital threats and vulnerabilities related, in particular, to anticipating unintended, undesirable rebound effects, tipping points, critically fast evolutionary change rates, trade-offs, etc. A brief analysis of the history of the mind and technology reveals slow technological development over tens of thousands of years (including the invention of a place-value digital number system). Then, a small series of groundbreaking ideas (e.g., binary logic, Shannon’s symbolic analysis of relay and switching circuits, architectures of computing) enabled the industry-driven invention of programmable computing machines. Ultimately, the mastery of electron and semiconductor physics allowed for economical and seemingly unlimited storage capacity that made digital tools available to all domains of society. Based on the historical analysis, a coupled human-environment systems perspective (that includes a hierarchy assumption ranging from the human cell to the human species) enables the identification of several potential challenges to society and science. First, digital nano-engineering promotes genetic modifications (i.e., directed evolution), and synthetic biology enables a new level of the appropriation of nature. The understanding of cell-based biocomputers may call for new forms of logic. These and other challenges require thorough sustainability research in order to anticipate major changes on all levels of human systems. Second, the human individual is exposed to new forms of vulnerability. In particular, the potential epigenetic effects resulting from the excessive use of digital information of historically unknown speed, density, and contents and the loss of (the Western common-law right to) privacy resulting from big data (whose ownership is often unknown) should become subjects of research. Third, digital technologies are responsible for rapid changes in all social and economic structures. The paper suggests that thorough, discipline-based interdisciplinary research is needed in order to develop basic knowledge for creating and managing resilient relationships between human systems and their digital environments.

Suggested Citation

  • Roland W. Scholz, 2016. "Sustainable Digital Environments: What Major Challenges Is Humankind Facing?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(8), pages 1-31, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:8:y:2016:i:8:p:726-:d:75035
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    2. Held, Martin, 2022. "Spatial transformation: An introduction to the Great Transformation towards sustainability," Forschungsberichte der ARL: Aufsätze, in: Spatial transformation: Processes, strategies, research design, volume 19, pages 27-49, ARL – Akademie für Raumentwicklung in der Leibniz-Gemeinschaft.
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    6. Barbara Brenner, 2018. "Transformative Sustainable Business Models in the Light of the Digital Imperative—A Global Business Economics Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-25, November.
    7. Lei Zhou & Qing Xia & Huaping Sun & Ling Zhang & Xu Jin, 2023. "The Role of Digital Transformation in High-Quality Development of the Services Trade," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(5), pages 1-16, February.
    8. Tan Wang & Xianbao Xu & Cong Wang & Zhen Li & Daoliang Li, 2021. "From Smart Farming towards Unmanned Farms: A New Mode of Agricultural Production," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 11(2), pages 1-26, February.
    9. Held, Martin, 2019. "Räumliche Transformation: Eine Einführung in die Große Transformation zur Nachhaltigkeit," Forschungsberichte der ARL: Aufsätze, in: Abassiharofteh, Milad & Baier, Jessica & Göb, Angelina & Thimm, Insa & Eberth, Andreas & Knaps, Falc (ed.), Räumliche Transformation: Prozesse, Konzepte, Forschungsdesigns, volume 10, pages 29-52, ARL – Akademie für Raumentwicklung in der Leibniz-Gemeinschaft.
    10. Liliya Satalkina & Gerald Steiner, 2020. "Digital Entrepreneurship and its Role in Innovation Systems: A Systematic Literature Review as a Basis for Future Research Avenues for Sustainable Transitions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(7), pages 1-27, April.
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    12. Venkatesh Mani & Catarina Delgado & Benjamin T. Hazen & Purvishkumar Patel, 2017. "Mitigating Supply Chain Risk via Sustainability Using Big Data Analytics: Evidence from the Manufacturing Supply Chain," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(4), pages 1-21, April.
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