Tag: democracy

Social Trading In this image we see a futuristic financial technology innovation where social media platforms have become a hub for trading and investment discussions. The

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post

Peter Biles
Date
November 11, 2024

Categorized
Arts & Culture

Tagged
CNN, Content creation, democracy, Free speech, Joe Rogan, Legacy media, Podcast, Politics, social media, Substack, Trump, Twitter, Washington Post}

A Big Question: Is Legacy Media Dead?

_{The rise of citizen journalism and considering what we lose without traditional "gatekeepers"} _{Peter Biles
November 11, 2024

4

Arts & Culture}

Used to, you had to go through the media gatekeepers to put your work out there. With the advent of the internet and platforms like X, Substack, YouTube, and others, however, the masses can all create personal accounts and honk news and opinions into the world. The competition is no longer just between different outlets, but now extends to individual people. Who can speak the loudest and draw the most attention? Who can create the most effective personal “brand”? The Washington Post saw a massive drop in subscriptions following its decision not to endorse a presidential candidate for the 2024 election. But its influence was already declining. The media giant responsible for breaking the vast background story of the Watergate Read More ›

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post

Peter Biles
Date
January 31, 2023

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, China

Tagged
AI, Biden, China, democracy, Surveillance, Tech, Trump, United States, Wired}

China Leads the World in Face Recognition Exports

_{The global power is exporting the AI to weak and autocratic countries, according to a report from Brookings Institute} _{Peter Biles
January 31, 2023

2

Artificial Intelligence, China}

China is the world’s leading exporter of facial recognition technology, according to a study conducted by researchers from Harvard and MIT. The study aimed to elucidate the ramifications of the AI revolution and what it means for such technology to be exported from a global power like China. They found that China is more likely than other countries to export AI technology to other countries. China also focuses on exporting facial recognition to countries with weak democracies that are experiencing social unrest and upheaval. Political motivation might be driving such trades. The authors write, The Chinese government’s demand for surveillance and political control translates into more exports of AI. Moreover, our finding that autocrats and would-be autocrats abroad demand surveillance Read More ›

Incognito warrior in iron helmet and red cloak.

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post

Michael Egnor
Date
August 3, 2020

Categorized
Ethics, Philosophy of Mind

Tagged
___longform, Aristotle, Darwinism, democracy, Edward Feser, Featured, government, Hannah Arendt, Karl Marx, Plato, soul, Spirit, totalitarianism, Tyranny}

What would Plato Say About Antifa? Or Darwin?

_{A careful reading of Plato and Arendt goes a long way toward explaining the current scene—but it is unsettling reading} _{Michael Egnor
August 3, 2020

8

Ethics, Philosophy of Mind}

In college, I hated Plato. We read his Republic, and, as a patriot and an idealistic young (small “d”) democrat, I was appalled at the hegemony of the Guardians and at Plato’s disdain for democracy. It seemed to me that his Guardians were the archetypal totalitarians, and that it was a fundamental human right — enshrined in the Constitution — to be ruled only by consent of the governed. In my dotage, I am more sympathetic to Plato — it’s remarkable how much smarter the old philosopher has gotten in the past 40 years! I am still uncomfortable with Guardians, at least of the secular sort. But I think John Adams got it right when he observed that “our Constitution Read More ›

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post

Mind Matters
Date
November 18, 2018

Categorized
Social Factors

Tagged
democracy, Google, Technocracy}

Google.com or Google.gov?

_{A political analyst argues that Google is beginning to mesh with governments whose values are compatible with its own.} _{Mind Matters
November 18, 2018

4

Social Factors}

Readers who follow the growing controversies over the free flow of information will find much to reflect on in Adams’s long-form discussion of how Google shapes the search for information in the pursuit of its social goals. Read More ›

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post

Denyse O'Leary
Date
November 1, 2018

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Social Factors

Tagged
democracy}

Should robots run for office?

_{A tech analyst sees a threat to democracy if they don’t} _{Denyse O'Leary
November 1, 2018

7

Artificial Intelligence, Social Factors}

In an adapted excerpt from Future Politics: Living Together in a World Transformed by Tech (2018), titled “Mr. Robot goes to Washington: How AI will change democracy,” lawyer and tech writer Jamie Susskind: envisions AI as not only fighting “fake news” but voting for us and helping to draft legislation. It’s a sobering thought, how far some tech analysts would be prepared to go in order to impose their own vision of order on an unruly but stable political system. Read More ›

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podcast

Jay Richards
Date
November 1, 2018

Tagged
art, democracy, free will, Freedom, obsolescence, Technocracy}

The End of Human Drama

_{Part 3: Yuval Harari on the end of democracy, volition, religion, and art?} _{Jay Richards
November 1, 2018

1}

In this third part of their reflection on Yuval Harari’s Atlantic piece anticipating technology’s march toward tyranny, Jay Richards and Robert J. Marks discuss the many assumptions therein. At the root of these speculations is an overestimation of the power of information processing systems and an underestimation of the human ability to be the true governors of their creations, not their docile “pets”. Harari rightly points to a better understanding of the mind as the way forward, but fails to appreciate its true nature, resulting in a dismal prognosis for art, religion, and democracy.

Does Technology Favor Tyranny?

_{Part One: Deconstructing Yuval Harari’s Silly Forecast of AI’s Future Impact} _{Jay Richards
October 5, 2018

2}

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 Read More ›

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post

Michael Egnor
Date
September 5, 2018

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Social Factors

Tagged
contagion, democracy, Plato, totalitarianism, Yuval Noah Harari}

AI is indeed a threat to democracy

_{But not in quite the way historian Yuval Noah Harari thinks} _{Michael Egnor
September 5, 2018

8

Artificial Intelligence, Social Factors}

Rapid, wide dissemination of ideas we don’t understand is the prime threat AI poses to humanity. It is an existential threat to human dignity and flourishing. And this threat is made graver, not less grave, by our democracy, which, as Plato understood, is the necessary soil of tyranny. Read More ›