Digitalionary Development: From Homo Digitalis to Fomo sapiens
Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Abstract: This paper introduces the model of Digitalionary Development, a structural transfer of the biological theory of evolution onto the development of the digital user. The origin of the genus Homo Digitalis is set on 29 October 1969, the day the first message was transmitted over the ARPANET. Along the classical evolutionary factors (mutation, recombination, selection, genetic drift), it describes how the early network user evolved through several intermediate stages into today’s Fomo sapiens. The text is explicitly conceived as an analogical thought experiment with satirical elements and not as an empirical study. Its structure deliberately follows the Wikipedia article “Evolution” (de.wikipedia.org). Keywords: Digitalionary Development, digitization, evolution, analogy, social media, FOMO, attention economy, ARPANET, satire "1969, Homo Digitalis was switched on. The first word was a mistake, the result a new species. This wasn't an evolutionary development, this was a DIGITALIONARY DEVELOPMENT." - Gordon Bergmann
Author: Bergmann, Gordon
Language: English
Topic: Digital Media and Philosophy
Subfield: Communication
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7225751869
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