Social Sciences in China (Chinese Edition)

No. 6, 2024

Boundary-Breaking: Media Theory in the Digital Age

(Abstract)

Sun Wei

Human beings have continuously effected the externalization of themselves as embodied subjects through media technologies—a progressive effort that is part of the evolution of civilization. Current rapid advancements in software technology have bridged the gap between humans and machines, creating a new human-machine hybrid subject and a socio-technological system where humans and machines are intertwined, thereby prompting human civilization to evolve. The monistic theory of boundary-breaking, aiming to transcend traditional mediation theories, posits that media is boundary-breaking. Media dissolves the dichotomy between organic human bodies and inorganic machines, re-configuring humans and their environments (consisting of natural and artificial objects) into a dynamic, integrated system of connection, transformation, and generation. The current boundary-breaking of human subjectivity by artificial intelligence media is raising a series of significant issues in human society, warranting urgent academic attention.