Will infotech and biotech erode human agency, subvert human desires, and render free-market economics obsolete?  At first glance, there looks to be a wide gap between the future of AI and the destruction of democracy. Some futurists claim to have jumped that chasm. In a cheery little column published by the Atlantic, Yuval Noah Harari posits AI will ultimately destroy democracy and favor Digital Dictatorships. What is his argument and does it hold water?

Show Notes

“Why Technology Favors Tyranny” by Yuval Noah Harari’s  in The Atlantic

• 01:05 | Introducing Jay Richards
• 03:00 | Yuval Noah Harari’s view of the future
• 06:30 | Democracy and Tyranny
• 07:56 | Ownership of data
• 08:25 | Responding to Harari
• 09:50 | Survival of Democracy and military technology
• 11:00 | World War II and Man in the High Castle
• 12:24 | Harari and ordinary people
• 15:45 | A new useless class
• 16:50 | Bespoke labor
• 18:30 | Moravec’s paradox
• 21:40 | Democracy and the Free Market