At the Moment of Civilisational Transgression: Theoretical and Methodological Preliminaries Purpose

Abstract

The purpose of the study is to define a theoretical and methodological framework for foresight research on civilisational development in the coming decades. Research methodology. The research is based on interdisciplinary, scientifically critical, skeptical-empirical, and contamination approaches. These make it possible to integrate mental models from various scientific disciplines, domains of knowledge, and practical activities into the scientific field. The next stage of the study is deconstruction. It involves strengthening systemic afferentation by disrupting habitual conceptual connections and transducing their theoretical-hypothetical elements into unfamiliar contexts. (Re)(de)contextualization of existing methodological approaches to forecasting and designing historical-cultural and sociocultural development has made it possible to discover new cognitive links and to carry out their bricolage. The method of thought experiment is applied to record the state of "reaching a plateau" within a particular sociocultural domain. As a result of applying the outlined methods, a new theoretical and methodological framework is formed.. Scientific novelty. The response to technological singularity is the emergence of the metaverse – a transition beyond the plateau of civilisational development. Its key component, metaculturology, acts as a system for regulating entropy in cultural and socio-cultural processes. Conclusions. Two factors of civilisational transgression are identified: the autonomisation of the technosphere with uncontrolled entropy; the increasing probability of barbarism, manifested as the global, aggressive export of entropy. When demographic growth ceases to be dominant, the future of civilisation will depend on the metaculturological domain. The metaculturological triad includes cultural representations (software), heritage embodiments (hardware), and metaphor as the methodological programming language. The heritage-retrospective approach implies a permanent reinterpretation of cultural heritage through the collision of future, present, and past contexts. Further research should explore transformations of the logos of culture within the cultural-historical process. The general structure of civilisational evolution integrates theology – technology – metaculturology as its triadic framework, providing the basis for socio-cultural design of future development.