This article suggests AI may threaten democracy: https://gcn.com/articles/2019/04/24/ai-threats-democracy.aspx?s=gcntech_2504 19 However, to the extent that democracy is majoritarianism (rule of the majority <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democracy> ), AI might be used to increase its effectiveness - both in shaping the views of the majority (groupthink) as well as oppressing minorities who fail to adopt the majoritarian point of view. A case might be made that not only the social media but also the so-called "mainstream" media have been doing so. Conservatives certainly believe that to be the case, with more than a little justification in light of the well-documented biases of the media. Thus, democracy itself, unfettered, might be a bigger part of the problem than the solution, and while Churchill may have been right in his time, he did not live in the cyberage. https://richardlangworth.com/worst-form-of-government I'm thinking about writing an article entitled "Beyond Democracy and the Rule of Law" positing that we: a) now have the means to do better than majoritarianism, and b) already have too many laws, regulations, and guidelines imposed from the top down in narrative format and far too few actual self-expressed performance plans published in open, standard, machine-readable format to be socially supported and enforced by peers. At a minimum, the tech giants who are helping authoritarian governments adopt AI should be expected to develop and openly publish algorithms addressing the rules under which they believe it may be appropriate for anyone to attempt to impose their will upon others. See also http://connectedcommunity.net/ & http://aboutthem.info/ Owen
Received on Friday, 26 April 2019 03:59:49 UTC