Artificial sociality in the human-machine interaction

The article aims at clarifying the concept ‘artificial sociality’ in the human-machine interaction by answering the question whether artificial sociality is a prerequisite or a result of this interaction. The authors conducted a logical analysis of the definitions of sociality and artificial sociality as presented in the scientific literature, and conducted an empirical study of artificial sociality in the human-machine interaction with three methods - comparison of means, correlation analysis and discriminant analysis. All three methods were used in the analysis of the same data: indicators of the potential of the human-machine interaction and G. Hofstede’s six cultural dimensions. With these measurements of culture, the authors interpreted empirically the degree of its ‘artificiality’ (based on the methodological assumption about the combination of ‘natural’ and ‘artificial’ in culture) which determines the development of artificial sociality. Based on the results of the application of three methods of statistical analysis, the authors conclude that in the contemporary world, there are both conditionally ‘artificial’ cultures that are the most favourable for the development of artificial (algorithmic) sociality and conditionally ‘natural’ cultures that hinder the development of artificial sociality. This type of sociality emerged under the development of writing and various methods of processing and storing information (catalogues, archives, etc.), i.e., long before the creation of machines. Artificial sociality is determined by the relative ‘artificiality’ of culture, and is a prerequisite rather than a result of the human-machine interaction.