1.13 On the Way to a Smarter Digital Society
15
must understand how these interactions—and the forces they are creating—can be
harnessed to our advantage in the same way as we have learned to harness the forces
of nature.
How will the digital revolution reshape our socio-economic institutions? And
what preparations can we make? While addressing these and other questions, I will
pursue a non-ideological approach, oriented neither politically left nor right, but
carefully exploring novel opportunities. I will try to explain how we can use the
digital revolution to make our society more innovative, successful and resilient,
through understanding the new logic of the digital era to come. I will discuss how
we can adapt our systems in real-time with novel technologies. Furthermore, I will
outline how we can build an information and innovation ecosystem that can create
new jobs and opportunities for everyone.
We are now ready to dive into the details of why our world is troubled and how
we can fix it—by using advanced “information and communication systems” in
entirely new ways. The following chapters will focus on subjects such as prediction
and control, complexity, self-organization, awareness and coordination, responsible
decision-making, real-time measurement and feedback, systems design, innovation,
reward systems, co-creation, and collective intelligence. I hope this journey through
the opportunities and risks presented by the emerging digital age will be as exciting
for you as it is for me!
References
1. R. Kurzweil, The Age of Spiritual Machines: When Computers Exceed Human Intelligence
(Penguin, 2000).
2. Ray Kurzweil, The Singularity Is Near (Penguin, 2005).
3. C.B. Frey and M.A. Osborne (2013) The future of employment: How susceptible are jobs
to computerisation? See http://www.oxfordmartin.ox.ac.uk/downloads/academic/The_Future_
of_Employment.pdf.
4. E. Pariser, The Filter Bubble: What the Internet Is Hiding from You (Viking/Penguin, 2011).
5. N. Wiener, Cybernetics, Or the Control and Communication in the Animal and the Machine
(MIT Press, 1965).
6. N. Wiener, The Human Use of Human Beings: Cybernetics and Society (Da Capo Press, 1988).
7. E. Medina, Cybernetic Revolutionaries (MIT Press, 2011); see also http://www.spiegel.de/ein
estages/projekt-cybersyn-stafford-beers-internet-vorlaeufer-in-chile-a-1035559.html.
8. M. Gill, Spriggs: Assessing the impact of CCTV. Home Office Research, Development
and Statistics Directorate (2005) https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn26801-mass-survei
llance-not-effective-for-finding-terrorists/.
9. J. Schmieder (2013) Mit einem Bein im Knast: Mein Versuch, ein Jahr lang gesetzestreu zu
leben (Bertelsmann).
10. D. Helbing (2015) Societal, Economic, Ethical and Legal Challenges of the Digital Revolution: From Big Data to Deep Learning, Artificial Intelligence, and Manipulative Technologies, Jusletter IT, https://jusletter-it.weblaw.ch/en/issues/2015/21-Mai-2015/societal%2c-eco
nomic%2c-_588206025c.html, preprint available at http://arxiv.org/abs/1504.03751.
11. Jeremy Rifkin, The Third Industrial Revolution: How Lateral Power is Transforming Energy,
the Economy, and the World (Palgrave Macmillan, 2013).
15
must understand how these interactions—and the forces they are creating—can be
harnessed to our advantage in the same way as we have learned to harness the forces
of nature.
How will the digital revolution reshape our socio-economic institutions? And
what preparations can we make? While addressing these and other questions, I will
pursue a non-ideological approach, oriented neither politically left nor right, but
carefully exploring novel opportunities. I will try to explain how we can use the
digital revolution to make our society more innovative, successful and resilient,
through understanding the new logic of the digital era to come. I will discuss how
we can adapt our systems in real-time with novel technologies. Furthermore, I will
outline how we can build an information and innovation ecosystem that can create
new jobs and opportunities for everyone.
We are now ready to dive into the details of why our world is troubled and how
we can fix it—by using advanced “information and communication systems” in
entirely new ways. The following chapters will focus on subjects such as prediction
and control, complexity, self-organization, awareness and coordination, responsible
decision-making, real-time measurement and feedback, systems design, innovation,
reward systems, co-creation, and collective intelligence. I hope this journey through
the opportunities and risks presented by the emerging digital age will be as exciting
for you as it is for me!
References
1. R. Kurzweil, The Age of Spiritual Machines: When Computers Exceed Human Intelligence
(Penguin, 2000).
2. Ray Kurzweil, The Singularity Is Near (Penguin, 2005).
3. C.B. Frey and M.A. Osborne (2013) The future of employment: How susceptible are jobs
to computerisation? See http://www.oxfordmartin.ox.ac.uk/downloads/academic/The_Future_
of_Employment.pdf.
4. E. Pariser, The Filter Bubble: What the Internet Is Hiding from You (Viking/Penguin, 2011).
5. N. Wiener, Cybernetics, Or the Control and Communication in the Animal and the Machine
(MIT Press, 1965).
6. N. Wiener, The Human Use of Human Beings: Cybernetics and Society (Da Capo Press, 1988).
7. E. Medina, Cybernetic Revolutionaries (MIT Press, 2011); see also http://www.spiegel.de/ein
estages/projekt-cybersyn-stafford-beers-internet-vorlaeufer-in-chile-a-1035559.html.
8. M. Gill, Spriggs: Assessing the impact of CCTV. Home Office Research, Development
and Statistics Directorate (2005) https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn26801-mass-survei
llance-not-effective-for-finding-terrorists/.
9. J. Schmieder (2013) Mit einem Bein im Knast: Mein Versuch, ein Jahr lang gesetzestreu zu
leben (Bertelsmann).
10. D. Helbing (2015) Societal, Economic, Ethical and Legal Challenges of the Digital Revolution: From Big Data to Deep Learning, Artificial Intelligence, and Manipulative Technologies, Jusletter IT, https://jusletter-it.weblaw.ch/en/issues/2015/21-Mai-2015/societal%2c-eco
nomic%2c-_588206025c.html, preprint available at http://arxiv.org/abs/1504.03751.
11. Jeremy Rifkin, The Third Industrial Revolution: How Lateral Power is Transforming Energy,
the Economy, and the World (Palgrave Macmillan, 2013).