Apr.26.– Some big thinkers dare to dream that digital innovations will produce ideal political transformations. In particular, many of our smartest people think participatory democracy will emerge only via the internet.
The basic idea is that people will get their information from the internet, discuss issues on the internet, form political alliances on the internet, and finally vote, all while sitting in front of a computer. Is this a feasible future?
WIRED published a huge report on digital developments in Italy: an internet group called Five Star joined with a conservative populist group called Legga and snagged 43% of the vote in 2017 elections. Almost nobody saw this coming.
In his 2001 book entitled The Web is Dead, Long Live the Web, Gianroberto Casaleggio rhapsodized about how technology would force governments to become completely transparent and accountable to the will of the people. "Referenda on topics of national importance will become as routine as reading the papers on the evening news," he predicted ...
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