Googlism—Man,s New “Religion” in the Digital Age
Googlism—Man,s New “Religion” in the Digital Age

Summary/Abstract: 10.31261/PaCL.2023.09.1.06The aim of this paper is to present the main premises of googlism and to characterizethe various ways of understanding it. The paper comprises two main parts: the first part presentsthe main elements of googlism (the doctrine, moral principles, the cult and the community),which makes it resemble a religion in its conventional meaning. However, it emphasizes that thesimilarity to a religion is only superficial since one crucial element is missing: the affirmation ofa supernatural and personal Absolute and an existential, dynamic and holistic interpersonal relationbetween It and man. Sacralization and deification of a search engine can hardly be regardedas a constitutive element of a religion. The second part contains characteristics of googlism asa lay religion, with the sacrum reduced to natural aspects as a result of technology sacralization;a digital religion, that is, a technological space which favors the creation of new religious contentand practice; the “new spirituality” of the man of the era of a digital revolution; and, finally,a “joke religion,” which is a parody of religious life.

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