6
1 Introduction: The Digital Society
about more powerful computers, better smartphones or fancier gadgets. The digital
revolution will change all our personal lives, and it will transform entire economies
and societies. In fact, in the coming two or three decades we will see some dramatic
changes. A lot of production and services will become automated, and this will
fundamentally change the way we work in the future.
Quite soon, within the next two decades or so, less than 50% of people will have
jobs for which they have been trained (i.e. agriculture, industry or services).
7 Even
highly skilled jobs will be at risk. How will the masses of personal data collected
about each of us then be used?
1.6 When Big Data Starts to Steer Our Lives
It may sound far-fetched at first, but we must ask this question: “Will we be remotely
controlled by personalized information, or is this happening already?” It is clear that
Google and Facebook know very well what we are interested in when they place
individually tailored ads that often match our interests and tastes. Google Now is an
example of a smart app that tells you what to do, if you have signed up for it. For
instance, if there is a traffic jam on the way to your next appointment, Google Now
may suggest you to leave 15 min earlier in order to be on time. Similarly, Amazon
suggests what we might want to buy, and Trip Advisor suggests what destinations to
visit and what hotels to book. Twitter tells us what others think—and what we should
perhaps think, too. Facebook suggests whom to be friend with. Apps like OkCupid
even suggest whom we might date.
While all these services can certainly be helpful we might ask: what will be the
consequences? Will we end up living in a digital “golden cage”—a “filter bubble” as
Eli Pariser calls it?
8 Will we just execute what our smart devices tell us to do? Modern
learning software already corrects us when we make mistakes. Smart wristbands tell
us how many more steps we should make today. Eye trackers can discover if we are
tired or stressed, and computers can predict when our performance will decrease.
In other words, we are increasingly patronized in our decision making by computer
programs. Will we soon be incompetent to live on our own? And, are we sliding into a
“nanny state”, where we don’t have a say? Has our decision-making, has democracy
been “hacked”?
Why should we care? Isn’t it just great that computers do calculations for us more
quickly than we can do them ourselves? Isn’t it fantastic that our smartphones help
us manage our agendas, and that Google Maps tells us the way to go? Why not ask
Apple’s Siri to recommend us a restaurant? I certainly don’t object to any of these
functions, but it is important to recognize that this is just the beginning of what is to
come. Little by little, our role as self-determined decision-makers is being eroded.
The next logical step will be the automation of society. How might this look like?
7 Frey and Osborne [3].
8 Pariser [4].
1 Introduction: The Digital Society
about more powerful computers, better smartphones or fancier gadgets. The digital
revolution will change all our personal lives, and it will transform entire economies
and societies. In fact, in the coming two or three decades we will see some dramatic
changes. A lot of production and services will become automated, and this will
fundamentally change the way we work in the future.
Quite soon, within the next two decades or so, less than 50% of people will have
jobs for which they have been trained (i.e. agriculture, industry or services).
7 Even
highly skilled jobs will be at risk. How will the masses of personal data collected
about each of us then be used?
1.6 When Big Data Starts to Steer Our Lives
It may sound far-fetched at first, but we must ask this question: “Will we be remotely
controlled by personalized information, or is this happening already?” It is clear that
Google and Facebook know very well what we are interested in when they place
individually tailored ads that often match our interests and tastes. Google Now is an
example of a smart app that tells you what to do, if you have signed up for it. For
instance, if there is a traffic jam on the way to your next appointment, Google Now
may suggest you to leave 15 min earlier in order to be on time. Similarly, Amazon
suggests what we might want to buy, and Trip Advisor suggests what destinations to
visit and what hotels to book. Twitter tells us what others think—and what we should
perhaps think, too. Facebook suggests whom to be friend with. Apps like OkCupid
even suggest whom we might date.
While all these services can certainly be helpful we might ask: what will be the
consequences? Will we end up living in a digital “golden cage”—a “filter bubble” as
Eli Pariser calls it?
8 Will we just execute what our smart devices tell us to do? Modern
learning software already corrects us when we make mistakes. Smart wristbands tell
us how many more steps we should make today. Eye trackers can discover if we are
tired or stressed, and computers can predict when our performance will decrease.
In other words, we are increasingly patronized in our decision making by computer
programs. Will we soon be incompetent to live on our own? And, are we sliding into a
“nanny state”, where we don’t have a say? Has our decision-making, has democracy
been “hacked”?
Why should we care? Isn’t it just great that computers do calculations for us more
quickly than we can do them ourselves? Isn’t it fantastic that our smartphones help
us manage our agendas, and that Google Maps tells us the way to go? Why not ask
Apple’s Siri to recommend us a restaurant? I certainly don’t object to any of these
functions, but it is important to recognize that this is just the beginning of what is to
come. Little by little, our role as self-determined decision-makers is being eroded.
The next logical step will be the automation of society. How might this look like?
7 Frey and Osborne [3].
8 Pariser [4].