Over 200 years, industry has mastered iron, fire, power and energy. Today, electronics shape our everyday objects with the widespread integration of chips; from computers and telephones to keys, games and white goods. Data, software and computation structure our behavior and the organization of our lives. Everything is translated into data: the digit is king.

This book is the first of a three-volume series exploring the digital era. It analyzes the challenges associated with the big data that accumulates on online platforms, keeping records of our actions and movements, as well as the state of the world and of knowledge. The book initially explores whether the omnipresence of digital tools leads to radical changes or progressive evolutions. Specific examples of the integration of such tools are then explored to illustrate tactical or strategic challenges that characterize the contemporary digital world.

Volume 2 focuses on how the digital economy transforms market relations and why this puts the political economy to the test, while Volume 3 studies the creative destruction caused by digital technology, modifying morals, conventions, law, society and politics.