Conference Presentation, Panel, Fireside Chat
Town Hall - Will Technology Save or Subvert Civility and Society?
- Technology is projected to deteriorate further and intensify negative consequences for democracy, polarization, and mental health if current trajectories continue and are not radically altered.
- Future governance is predicted to require a highly distributed, polycentric "troika" model involving governments, businesses, and the citizenry, as reliance on state or corporate entities alone is deemed insufficient.
- Legislative frameworks and enforcement mechanisms are expected to become essential to decouple technological advancement from the slower pace of policy, including the potential creation of nonpartisan technology assessment offices.
- Social media platforms are forecasted to continue driving polarization and outrage amplification due to business models tied to maximizing user attention, with algorithms predicted to systematically tilt content toward conspiracy theories and fake news.
- The influence of state actors, such as those in China and Russia, is expected to persist in manipulating digital discourse, necessitating dedicated resources to counter foreign-controlled digital spaces.
- Education systems are planned to be mobilized at a young level to teach digital literacy and civics, aiming to combat fake news and instill new behavioral norms for the digital world.
- Fiduciary laws and content responsibility regulations are anticipated to be introduced to hold companies accountable for recommending content and to address the incompatibility of the current attention economy with a healthy democracy.
- Specific data points highlight significant risks, including 79% of Americans avoiding political conversations, 17% of Twitter users being bots, and 70% of YouTube traffic being driven by algorithmic choice.
- The "voodoo doll" phenomenon, where tech companies use accumulated data to simulate and predict user behavior, is expected to continue dominating the attention economy without consent or sophistication regarding human nature.
- Severe societal impacts, including the rise of populism, loss of civility, and the collapse of shared reality, are predicted if misalignment between "medieval" institutions and advanced technology remains unaddressed.
- Future scenarios include potential government shutdowns of social media during extreme violence, which could threaten democratic levers, alongside the need to reduce the 17% amplification rate for words of moral outrage.
- A "Pugwash" moment involving experts is envisioned to establish norms for digital civility, while internal advocacy within tech companies is needed to shift culture and address incentives for harmful behavior.