Background. The development of media and information structures in the recent decades has changed the scientific paradigm of knowledge. The scientists get focused on studying how the information is stored, processed and decoded using certain cognitive structures of the human architecture.
Hypermedia as a means of manipulating the minds of their recipients combine scientific knowledge and ancient and modern myths. The cognitive potential of media sources is expanded via replacing previous anthropocentric concepts presented in the philosophical, religious and scientific approaches to culture.
The Objective of the study is to look into the futuristic ideas implied in the media discourse and presented in the following conceptual spheres: Automated Labor, Cloud Technology, Cyborgs, Smart City, Artificial Intelligence, 3D Printing , Immersive and Augmented reality, Cryptocurrency Finance.
Design. The following sections of English media are analyzed: World, Lifestyle, Science and Technology, Culture, Sport, Medicine and Health, Business and Finance. They include news, features, editorials, columns, etc., videos and even memes. The online quality papers such as The Daily Telegraph, The Independent, The Economist, The Times, The Financial Times, etc. Network news portals (Reuters, BBC, Euronews, CNN), news websites and blogs (Huffington Post), video hosting sites (YouTube), cable and satellite television and radio channels (CNBC, Fortune, etc.) are in the focus of the research.
The sample includes 866 lexical units that shape either felicitous or dismal perception of the conceptual spheres identified within the media discourse.
The lexical expression of the concept spheres allow to shape the world of the future, which makes it possible to divide them into two categories. The first category contains lexical units that reflect positive associations with the technological advances that may occur in the human society of the future. The lexical expressions of the second category form a negative attitude towards the reality of the future in the recipient of media discourse materials.
Results. The futuristic worldview as a reflection of discursive concepts suggested and perceived via hypermedia is presented in two aspects either a positive perception of the advent of technologies and technological advance at a fast pace in the future, or a negative impact on humans and their values.
Conclusion. Shaping the view of potential worlds of the future in the English media discourse is a work with an open ending, which makes the recipient choose between good and evil. The split of the felicitous and dismal worldview helps the recipients to better understand its essence in the stream of potential technological and cultural changes in order to eliminate the social psychopathy associated with the emergence of new technologies.
The shift from the religious and philosophical paradigm to the scientific and futuristic worldview the attitude of people towards changes in social and public life.
Mental structures in the flow of hypermedia perceived through the futuristic concepts are to bring about new ways to explore the human nature and human intelligence, which contributes a lot to the development of science and are liable for further research.
Received: 10/24/2018
Accepted: 03/18/2019
Pages: 109-121
DOI: 10.11621/npj.2019.0110
Keywords: felicitous worldview;
dismal worldview;
news discourse;
hypermedia;
futurism;
anthropocentric-based concepts;
Available Online: 04/30/2019