Читать книгу The Trace Odyssey 1 - Beatrice Galinon-Melenec - Страница 7

The use of the term “trace” is associated with many old and ancient practices - (traces of passage, heritage traces, etc.), but also with more specifically current contexts, such as that of the digital society. The question of the origin of a trace has always been of a particular interest to certain professionals: the investigator in pursuit of a criminal, the doctor researching symptoms, the archaeologist wishing to reconstruct the lifestyles of ancient civilizations, historians seeking to retrace the path of humans over the centuries, astrophysicists watching for gravitational waves, the tax inspector, etc.

NOTE.– The concept of trace questions every period in the history of humanity and the cosmos, both past and future. The force of the questions on the nature of the concept of trace and its consequences is accentuated when scientific developments open up new horizons and when humans become aware that their present choices produce conséquences-traces¹ in their lives and in those of future generations.

Today, more and more social actors in society (individuals, organizations, public institutions) are taking the concept of conséquences-traces into account in their activities, particularly as the digital society opens up other forms of presence in the world.