Technological, economic and social forces seem poised to thrust both greater freedom and greater responsibility upon people’s shoulders.
This diffusion of decision-making responsibilities is likely to be both a cause and a consequence of more dynamic, productive and sustainable societies in the future. Indeed, there is potentially a virtuous relationship between changes in governance and greater dynamism – one that finds sustenance in the capacity to be creative.
Technological dynamism is provoking new forms of governance because it entails a fundamental shift in the capacity to make and implement the choices that shape future technological developments.
This is the theme finale discussion centred around What do you think the future of governance will look like in 10 years? we would love to know what you think.
A Huge thank you for those of you who took part and remember even though we will move to a new theme, you are more than welcome to continue discussing this compelling subject. Following this discussion, we will open the category for you to continue posting threads surrounding this subject.
If we are examining rate of change in governmental behavior, the future may look a little better ten years from now, due to previously unknown possibilities. Catalytic events can be large and small. It may have been a single microphone and a wiretap that led to the Khashoggi incident being revealed in enough detail to alter the foreign affairs and actions of millions. Transparency is going to depend on the ability to deliver and disseminate information, more than gather it. Not long ago, nothing would have been said of the incident even though the same tools were in place.
Governments will increasingly and aggressively seek more information for a variety of motivations, and I see those ebbing toward efficiency. But unlike the workforce transitioning to robotics, at least in the US, government employees , to say it politely, are “comfortable and resistant to reduced budget”. Ten years from now, when we look to the future, which branches to feed, and which to trim will be more widely accepted. The massive abundance, should reduce the violence. Cameras on bad actors, works, if the information is released.
We will be able to see that, “something beautiful is going to happen, and there is nothing anyone can do about it.”
Unfortunately, the proto-fascist/authoritarian/ethnic nationalist/xenophobic/racist reaction to the social ramifications of technical progress & environmental degradation will still be prevalent if not dominant by 10 years from now. It will remain incumbent upon freedom loving progressive enlightened people in the world to be ever more unified & vigilent against this onslaught, emplying every advanced tool of information/communication & organization at our disposal in humanity’s defense. This is where blockchain & decentralized autonomous organizations may confer an edge on humanity’s resistance to reaction that were not available before. I would at least certainly hopr so.
I’m hopeful that the ideological ideas behind decentralisation will be so pervasive that these groups of hardliners will have no choice but to come along or risk being made irrelevant in accelerating the future.
