Writing the 20th anniversary edition of my 1994 book “The Digital Economy” was a sobering experience. The book was very positive about the “promise of the internet,” and to be sure the web has brought about many great innovations.
But the book has a small section about The Dark Side — things that could go wrong. Rereading it 20 years later, I was shocked to see that every danger I hypothesized has materialized.
Our privacy has been undermined. The digital economy has created a system of “digital feudalism,” wherein a tiny few have appropriated the largesse of this new era of prosperity. Data, the oil of the 21st century, is not owned by those who create it. Rather, it’s controlled by an increasingly centralized group of “digital landlords” who collect, aggregate and profit from the data that collectively constitutes our digital identities.
Exploiting our data has enabled them to achieve unprecedented wealth, while at the same the middle class and prosperity are stalled.
In 1994, I hoped the internet would create new industries and jobs and, for a while, it did. But today technology is wiping out entire industries. Underemployment and the threat of structural employment is fuelling unrest.
Trucking, one of Canada’s largest sources of employment, will likely be automated within a decade. Digitized networks enable outsourcing, offshoring and the globalization of labour. Within the second era of the digital age — one centred on blockchaintechnologies, machine learning, artificial intelligence, robotics and the Internet of Things — many core functions of knowledge work are in jeopardy.
Yes, there is a new wave of entrepreneurism in Canada, but our regulations were designed for the old industrial economy and hamper success. Canada ranks dead last for creating billion-dollar companies in the 36 member OECD countries. With national economic borders becoming porous the old ways of protecting our cultural industries don’t work, nor do old ways of taxing foreign companies doing business in Canada.
The increased transparency enabled by the internet has also revealed deep problems in society. Canada is learning the truth about the horrific history of our Indigenous population, which in turn now has tools to speak out and organize collective action.
We also understand deeply how climate change threatens civilization on this planet, especially young people, who will suffer most and who are now organizing to re-industralize the country and the world.
I had hoped the internet would bring us together as societies and improve our democracies. But the opposite has occurred. We are often exposed solely to information and perspectives that reinforce our own views, with information and perspectives filtered to accommodate our pre-existing biases. The upshot has been more fracturous and divisive public discourse and democratic institutions eroding before our eyes, as trust in politicians and the legitimacy of our governments is at an all-time low.
Populist rhetoric becomes more appealing in these conditions, and many are vulnerable to scapegoating and xenophobia.
People everywhere are “mad as hell and not going to take it anymore.” As such they have become vulnerable to populism, xenophobia and scapegoating minority ethnic groups, races and religions for problems. Centrist parties are in rapid decline and extremist right-wing parties from Hungary and Poland to France and Germany are on the rise. Perhaps as unthinkable as the success of Donald Trump is the rise of Bernie Sanders, an avowed socialist who is odds-on favourite to win the democratic presidential nomination. The unfolding story is one of growing discontent with the deepening economic crisis and the old establishment that created it.
Conversely, the next era of the digital economy could bring epoch prosperity, with new networked models of global problem-solving to realize such a dream.
To meet these new challenges, the time has come for Canada to reimagine its social contract — the basic expectation between business, government and civil society.
When Canada evolved from an agrarian economy to an industrial one, we developed a new social contract for the times — public education, a social safety net, securities legislation, laws about pollution, crime, traffic, workplace safety and countless non-governmental civil society organizations arose to help solve problems.
It is time to update these agreements, create new institutions and renew the expectations and responsibilities that citizens should have about society.
We need new models of identity, moving away from the industrial-age system of stamps, seals and signatures we depend on to this day. We need to protect the security of personhood and end the system of digital feudalism. Individuals should own and profit from the data they create. We need new laws for autonomous vehicles, robots, drones and technology.
Our basic expectations of work are shifting, but our systems designed to support workers have not. Gone are the days when a worker might expect to do the same job or work in the same field their whole career. Students today are preparing for unprecedented lifelong learning, with the knowledge that technology will likely force them to reimagine their role in the workforce.
In the face of new models of work, we need to update our educational institutions to prepare for this kind of lifelong learning, and establish a universal basic income to support transition periods, providing a foundation for entrepreneurialism and investing in the potential of Canadians.
We must adopt new models for citizen engagement in our government. In blockchain we have found one such model, with the possibility of embedding electoral promises into smart contracts. Meanwhile, it enables secure outlets for online voting and other forms of direct democracy using the platforms voters use every day.
Networks enable citizens to participate fully in their own governance, and we can now move to a second era of democracy based on a culture of public deliberation and active citizenship. Mandatory voting encourages active, engaged and responsible citizens.
It’s also time for business leaders to participate responsibly — for their own long-term survival and the health of the economy overall. Even — or especially — in a time of exploding information online, we need scientists, researchers and a professional Fourth Estate of journalists to seek the truth, examine options and inform the ongoing public discourse. We each have new responsibilities to inform ourselves in a world where the old ways are failing.
Are these expectations overly ambitious or even utopian? We think not. Nothing is more powerful than an idea whose time has come, and the challenges facing our economic and political institutions today warrant such a change.
Now is the time for real, meaningful action, and for Canada to play a role as a global model for this new social contract. The time has come for a 21st-century royal commission on the digital economy, to engage stakeholders from across the reimagine our basic expectations.
The challenges of our era demand audacious solutions. Now more than ever, Canada has a responsibility to take on a leadership role in the new digital age.
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