Social and Health Sustainability of 5G Technology the Side Unpredictable Effects of the Unchallenged Digitisation of Society

Abstract

Mariano Dimonte*

The newest 4.0 industrial models supported by the fifth generation of mobile communication technology (5G) imply rapid change in the social structure and in everyday life. In particular 5G is aimed to promote the economical growth, largely driven by the technological advancements in Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and Healthcare sectors. Thoug industry exalts only the advantages of this acceleration of the digital progress, the collateral unexpected long-term social, environmental and health side-effects of 5G could be relevant. 5G is a paradygmatic case of the “physiological” delay of the science in the assessment of the potential adverse implications of the innovations in the most varied spheres. The sociologist Zygmunt Bauman (Liquid modernity; 1999) attributed to new media (internet, social networks, e-commerce) a crucial role in the loosening of social relationships, the loss of solidarity, the crumbling of political and cultural pillars, the more and more exaggerate consumerism and individualism. More recently, by Homo deus: a brief history of tomorrow (2016), the historian of science Yuval Harari warns us about the risks of an “hibrid” society generated by unpredictable interactions between genomics, nanotechnologies, robotics, artificial intelligence just catalyzed by 5G. Actually the uncontrolled and unchallenged technological progress makes the world increasingly complex and dominated by the uncertainty, but paradoxically the scientists rely on the technology to solve the catastrophic events that they hadn’t expected, but lucidly narrated in science fiction movies and dystopic literature, in which surviving humans and populations of autonomous androids compete to access the poor resources of a desertified planet. The current coronavirus emergency is preventig people to realize disadvantages and dangerous effects of 5G that are preparing to colonize the world. Purpose of the present paper is to problematize the theme of the pandemic risks coming from the undisputed blind race of the digitalization.