Freedom and safety in a radical modernity
In the history of political and philosophical thought, the problem of freedom and safety has traditionally been formulated as a normative dilemma: how much freedom is permissible to “exchange” for safety and vice versa. This production, dating back to the works of Thomas Hobbes, John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, suggested the existence of some stable framework – state, law, society – within which this balance took place.
However, in the 21st century, the frame itself has changed. We are not dealing with a stable system where freedom and safety can be “tuned,” but with a mobile, multi-layered and technologically mediated reality. In this reality, the conflict ceases to be purely theoretical – it becomes empirical, everyday and embedded in the infrastructure of life.
This introduction sets the main perspective of the entire volume: to consider freedom and safety not as abstract categories, but as practices, processes and effects of specific systems.
Book 4 of 5,
Print length 130,
Language English,
File size 1,2 Mb (Pdf)
Contents
Introduction
• Transition from theoretical conflict to empirical reality
• Modernity as an era of total problematization of safety
• Accelerating change and growing uncertainty
• Technology as the main mediator of freedom and control
Key introduction:
• Safety becomes a daily practice, not an exception
• The line between private and public blurs
• Control becomes decentralized and invisible
• Freedom is transformed, not just limited
Methodological focus:
• Analysis of specific practices
• Interdisciplinary approach (policy, technology, bioethics)
• Shift from the state to network power structures
Chapter 1. Digital Society
1.1. Data and control
• Data as a new form of power
• Data extraction
• Everyday digital transparency
• Behavioral profiling
• Surveillance economics
• User as an object of analysis
1.2. Algorithmic power
• Algorithms as decision-makers
• Invisibility and opacity of algorithms
• Delegation of power to machines
• Predictive behavior management
• Control automation
• Algorithmic discrimination
1.3. Privacy
• Erosion of the private sphere
• Privacy as a right vs. as an illusion
• Voluntary loss of privacy
• Commodification of personal data
• New forms of digital autonomy
• Is privacy possible in a networked society
Chapter 2. Biopolitics and Body
2.1. Controlling life
• Life process management
• Demography as a policy object
• Regulation of fertility, mortality, health
• “Life” as a politicalcategory
• Biologization of safety
2.2. Medicine and power
• Medical institutes as control mechanisms
• Diagnostics as a form of rationing
• Expert power
• Medicalization of everyday life
• Transition from treatment to risk management
2.3. Normalization
• Norm as an instrument of power
• Deviation and control
• Self-regulation through internal standards
• Body as an object of discipline
• Production of a “healthy” subject
Chapter 3. Global threats
3.1. Pandemics
• Pandemic as a model of total threat
• Restriction of movement and rights
• Collective safety vs. individual freedom
• Temporary measures that have become permanent
• Politicization of health
3.2. Terrorism
• Asymmetry of threats
• Invisible enemy
• Permanent state of danger
• Expansion of state powers
• Fear as a political resource
3.3. Climate risks
• Environmental safety
• Long-term threats
• Global interdependence
• Constraints for the future
• Generational conflict
• Sustainability policies
Chapter 4. Risk Society
4.1. Production of risks
• Risks as a product of modernization
• Technologies as a source of threats
• Self-generated nature of risk
• Invisible and deferred threats
4.2. Risk policy
• Managing through fear
• Prioritizing threats
• Expert knowledge and power
• Politicizing uncertainty
• Conflicts of risk interpretations
4.3. Individualization of responsibility
• Transfer of responsibility to the individual
• Risk self-management
• Neoliberal safety logic
• Blame for vulnerability
• Erosion of collective guarantees
Chapter 5. Ethical dilemmas
5.1. Freedom vs life
• Is it permissible to restrict freedom in order to preserve life
• Absoluteness of life as a value
• Conflict of rights
• Tragic elections
• Ethical limits of safety
5.2. Compulsion for good
• Paternalism
• “We know better
” • Enforcement measures (vaccination, restrictions
) • Boundary between care and control
• Legitimization of intervention
5.3. Technology ethics
• AI Ethical Issues
• Autonomous Systems and Responsibility
• Technology Control
• Human vs. Machine in Decision Making
• Digital Control Ethics
Chapter 6. The Future of Freedom
6.1. Post-human scenarios
• Human transformation
• Strengthening the body and consciousness
• Biotechnology and control
• Loss of autonomy
• New forms of inequality
6.2. Artificial intelligence
• AI as a new subject of power
• Automation of society management
• Predictive society
• Loss of human control
• Delegation of moral decisions
6.3. New forms of control
• Decentralized control
• Self-monitoring and internal oversight
• Gamification of behavior
• Digital ratings and reputation
• Invisible governance mechanisms
Conclusion
• Modernity as a radicalization of the conflict of freedom and safety
• Transition from external to internal control
• Normalization of constant risk and surveillance
Key findings:
• Safety becomes total and penetrating
• Freedom transforms into managed autonomy
• The individual becomes both subject and object of control
Freedom and Safety (5-book series):
Freedom (book one)
Safety (book two)
Conflict of Freedom and Safety (book three)
Modern Contexts of Freedom and Safety (book four)
Normative Models of Freedom and Safety (book five)
Author Andrew Shamov
© Shamov.info Publishing House, 2026
Website: FreedomAndSafety.com
