Table Of ContentThe Internet and Philosophy
of Science
‘This book analyzes the Internet from the point of view of philosophy
of science, thereby providing new insights into the key technology of
our time.’
Donald Gillies, University College London, UK
From the perspective of the philosophy of science, this book analyzes the
Internet conceived in a broad sense. It includes three layers that require
philosophical attention: (1) the technological infrastructure, (2) the Web,
and (3) cloud computing, along with apps and mobile Internet. The study
focuses on the network of networks from the viewpoint of complexity,
both structural and dynamic. In addition to the scientific side, this vol-
ume considers the technological facet and the social dimension of the
Internet as a novel design.
There is a clear contribution of the Internet to science: first, the very
development of the network of networks requires the creation of new sci-
ence; second, the Internet empowers scientific disciplines, such as commu-
nication sciences; and third, the Internet has fostered a whole new emergent
field of data and information. After the opening chapter, which offers a
series of keys to the book, there are nine chapters, grouped into four parts:
(I) Configuration of the Internet and Its Future, (II) Structural and Dynamic
Complexity in the Design of the Internet, (III) Internal and External
Contributions of the Internet, and (IV) The Internet and the Sciences.
Following this framework, The Internet and Philosophy of Science will be
of interest to scholars and advanced students working in philosophy of sci-
ence, philosophy of technology as well as science and technology studies.
Wenceslao J. Gonzalez is Professor of Logic and Philosophy of Science
(University of A Coruña). He is a Full Member of the Académie
Internationale de Philosophie des Sciences/International Academy for
Philosophy of Sciences. He was a Team Leader of the European Science
Foundation program entitled ‘The Philosophy of Science in a European
Perspective’ (2008–2013). He has been Visiting Fellow at the Center for
Philosophy of Science (University of Pittsburgh) and a visiting researcher
at the London School of Economics.
Gonzalez has been a member of the National Committee for Evaluation
of the Scientific Activity (CNEAI) of Spain. He is the director of the Center
for Research in Philosophy of Science and Technology (CIFCYT) at the
University of A Coruña, where he organizes an annual conference on
Contemporary Philosophy and Methodology of Science. His publications
include monographs such as Philosophico-Methodological Analysis of
Prediction and its Role in Economics (2015) and the edition of 44 volumes
on philosophy of science and technology, such as New Approaches to
Scientific Realism (2020). He is the author of numerous papers on the
Internet from a philosophical perspective, such as ‘The Internet at the
Service of Society: Business Ethics, Rationality, and Responsibility’ (2020).
Routledge Studies in the Philosophy of Science
The Aesthetics of Science
Beauty, Imagination and Understanding
Edited by Steven French and Milena Ivanova
Structure, Evidence, and Heuristic
Evolutionary Biology, Economics, and the Philosophy of Their
Relationship
Armin W. Schulz
Scientific Challenges to Common Sense Philosophy
Edited by Rik Peels, Jeroen de Ridder, and René van Woudenberg
Science, Freedom, Democracy
Edited by Péter Hartl and Adam Tamas Tuboly
Logical Empiricism and the Physical Sciences
From Philosophy of Nature to Philosophy of Physics
Edited by Sebastian Lutz and Adam Tamas Tuboly
The Explanatory Autonomy of the Biological Sciences
Wei Fang
The Tools of Neuroscience Experiment
Philosophical and Scientific Perspectives
Edited by John Bickle, Carl F. Craver, and Ann-Sophie Barwich
The Internet and Philosophy of Science
Edited by Wenceslao J. Gonzalez
For more information about this series, please visit: https://www.
routledge.com/Routledge-Studies-in-the-Philosophy-of-Science/book-
series/POS
The Internet and Philosophy
of Science
Edited by Wenceslao J. Gonzalez
First published 2023
by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
and by Routledge
4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group,
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© 2023 selection and editorial matter, Wenceslao J. Gonzalez;
individual chapters, the contributors
The right of Wenceslao J. Gonzalez to be identified as the author
of the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual
chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78
of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted
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Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be
trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for
identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record for this title has been requested
ISBN: 978-1-032-16457-1 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-032-16832-6 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-25047-0 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781003250470
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Contents
List of Contributors xi
1 Creativity in the Internet as a Complex Setting:
Interaction between Scientific Creativity, Technological
Innovation and Social Innovation 1
WENCESLAO J. GONZALEZ
PART I
Configuration of the Internet and Its Future 33
2 The Internet as a Complex System Articulated
in Layers: Present Status and Possible Future 35
WENCESLAO J. GONZALEZ
3 The Future of the Web 71
JAMES A. HENDLER
PART II
Structural and Dynamic Complexity in the Design
of the Internet 85
4 Designing an Internet of Machines and Humans for
the Future 87
YAN LUO
5 Strategies for Managing Dynamic Complexity
in Building the Internet 103
OLE HANSETH
viii Contents
PART III
Internal and External Contributions of the Internet 135
6 Data Observatories: Decentralized Data and
Interdisciplinary Research 137
THANASSIS TIROPANIS
7 Digitization, Internet and the Economics
of Creative Industries 154
RUTH TOWSE
8 Digital Surplus: Labor in the Information Age 172
ENRIQUE ALONSO
PART IV
The Internet and the Sciences 193
9 Biology and the Internet: Fake News and Covid-19 195
WENCESLAO J. GONZALEZ
10 The Novelty of Communication Design on
the Internet: Analysis of the Snapchat Case from
the Sciences of the Artificial 208
MARIA JOSE ARROJO
Index of Names 233
Subject Index 241
Contributors
Enrique Alonso (Autonomous University of Madrid), Associate Professor
of Logic and Philosophy of Science. He is the author of the book
Contenido, verdad y consecuencia lógica [Content, truth and logical
consequence] (1995) and co-editor of Los viajes en el tiempo: Un
enfoque multidisciplinar [Time Travel: A Multidisciplinary Approach]
(2009) and Una perspectiva de la Inteligencia Artificial en su 50
aniversario [A Perspective on Artificial Intelligence on its 50th
Anniversary] (2006). He has also published ‘De la computabilidad a la
hipercomputación’ [From computability to hypercomputing] (2006),
‘El debate público en las redes sociales: Twitter. España como estudio
de caso’ [The public debate on social networks: Twitter. Spain as a
case study] (2013) and El nuevo Leviatán. Una Historia Política de la
Red [The new Leviathan. A Political History of the Network] (2015).
Maria Jose Arrojo is Associate Professor at the University of A Coruña.
She has been a member of the Research Group of Philosophy and
Methodology of Artificial Sciences of the University of A Coruña since
its constitution and has been working on these issues for 17 years.
Dr Arrojo is also a member of the Center for Research in Philosophy
of Science and Technology (CIFCYT) and a board member of the
Foundation Philosophy of Science and Technology [Fundación
Filosofía de la Ciencia y la Tecnología].
Arrojo has multiple publications on philosophy and methodology
of communication sciences, focused from the perspective of the design
sciences. Among them, two are with Gonzalez: ‘Diversity in Complex-
ity in Communication Sciences: Epistemological and Ontological
Analyses’ (2015), and ‘Complexity in the Sciences of the Internet and
its Relation to Communication Sciences’ (2019).
Wenceslao J. Gonzalez is Professor of Logic and Philosophy of Science
(University of A Coruña). He is a Full Member of the Académie
International de Philosophie des Sciences/International Academy for
Philosophy of Sciences. He has been a Team Leader of the European
Science Foundation program entitled ‘The Philosophy of Science in a
