ab nihilo

[Huda]

Please help me.
Would anyone please tell me what "ab nihilo" means in the following context and is it a French expression? This text is excerpted from Digital Sociology which is edited by Kate Orton-Johnson and Nick Prior, chapter 6: Afterword: Digital Spaces, Sociology and Surveillance.

In social media worlds the outcomes are not predetermined but they do depend on the activities of users in conjunction with the sort of tech-agency (through software) described by Burrows and Beer. And, importantly, they are never innocent. Thus, the mantra of ‘user-generated content’ has to be understood not as some free creation ab nihilo but framed and even in part constituted by codes of commerce, entertainment and government.

 

[bearded]

free creation ab nihilo

In Latin, ab nihilo means ''from nothing''. I would interpret 'free creation ab nihilo' as a fully new creation completely independent of all the rest, i.e. coming from nothing or from nowhere.
I don't think the expression has anything to do with the French language.

 

[Huda]

In Latin, ab nihilo means ''from nothing''. I would interpret 'free creation ab nihilo' as a fully new creation completely independent of all the rest, i.e. coming from nothing or from nowhere.
I don't think the expression has anything to do with the French language.

Thank you very much.

 

[Snodv]

As "ex nihilo" this phrase was once the root of a philosophical controversy between those who believed and those who denied that there was such a thing as creation of something out of nothing.

 

[Huda]

As "ex nihilo" this phrase was once the root of a philosophical controversy between those who believed and those who denied that there was such a thing as creation of something out of nothing.

What's the relation of what you said with ab nihilo?

 

[Snodv]

Ab nihilo from your quote and ex nihilo from philosophy mean essentially the same thing. Ab simply means "from" and ex means "out of," and they are synonymous here: made from nothing = made out of nothing.

 

[Huda]

Thank you all. I really appreciate your help.