John Naughton, tech columnist at The Observer Newspaper, talks about that great Wild West of our time – Cyberspace. From its roots in “permissionless innovation” to the staggering dominance of a very small number of companies over most aspects of our lives, he surveys the absence of governance, and how two effective sovereigns – Apple and Google – have appropriated powers normally associated with sovereign powers of territorial control.
In our discussion Ed and I pick up on the de-globalisation of the internet, the digital divide and on surveillance capitalism – and while it turns out these problems are not new, the perennial importance of Truth to our Age of Enlightenment once again comes to the fore.
Talking points:
Weaknesses in our systems of governing are at the root of the souring of social media.
Constitutions can and must have provisions to ensure governments, politicians and citizens deal in reality.
The basics would be – independent feedback, deliberative democracy and measures to minimise the culture of lies and inflamation.
Most of our main challenges are bewilderingly complex, and they will never be solved through adversarial two-line posts. But they might well be mitigated by inclusive, deliberative conversations.
Article we were discussing:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/jun/13/silicon-valley-has-admitted-facial-recognition-technology-is-toxic-about-time
Google’s dominance in search, as graph that is well worth a view
These problems are not new (1984 interview)
BILL MOYERS: What I see and hear deals more with the emotions than what I read.
TONY SCHWARTZ: That’s right. We are in the business of using PR in a new manner, not in the old print terms of press relations. We are using PR as people’s reactions, personal retrieval of your feelings and associations. PR — people’s recall, of their experiences. PR — planning reactions. That’s our whole new business. It’s a PR business, planning reactions.
BILL MOYERS: But isn’t it manipulating people to in effect tell them what they’re feeling instead of telling them what they need to know to vote?
TONY SCHWARTZ: I use the word not manipulation, I say partipulation.
BILL MOYERS: Partipulation?
TONY SCHWARTZ: You have to participate in your own manipulation. In that, you’re bringing things to your manipulation. If you don’t want to participate in it, you could turn off the commercial. You could tune it out. But there are things that get into you. And that’s the participation.
The global network of local internets is a step closer
Facial recognition and racial profiling – cautionary tale (Podcast)
A spelling out of the substance and scope of surveillance capitalism (Alexander Nix/Cambridge Analytica):
China’s AI Surveillance State goes global
The world is awash with bullshit
The Social Dilemma (in case you haven’t seen it – well worth a view)
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