
Cyber Republic
Reinventing Democracy in the Age of Intelligent Machines
Related Podcast
America & Democracy Ep. 4: George Zarkadakis on Digital Liberalism
Monday, 02 November, 2020
Overview
Author(s)
Praise
Summary
How to make liberal democracies more inclusive and the digital economy more equitable: a guide for the coming Fourth Industrial Revolution.
Around the world, liberal democracies are in crisis. Citizens have lost faith in their government; right-wing nationalist movements frame the political debate. At the same time, economic inequality is increasing dramatically; digital technologies have created a new class of super-rich entrepreneurs. Automation threatens to transform the free economy into a zero-sum game in which capital wins and labor loses. But is this digital dystopia inevitable? In Cyber Republic, George Zarkadakis presents an alternative, outlining a plan for using technology to make liberal democracies more inclusive and the digital economy more equitable. Cyber Republic is no less than a guide for the coming Fourth Industrial Revolution and the post-pandemic world.
Zarkadakis, an expert on technology and management, explains how artificial intelligence, together with intelligent robotics, sophisticated sensors, communication networks, and big data, will fundamentally reshape the global economy; a new “intelligent machine age” will force us to adopt new forms of economic and political organization. He envisions a future liberal democracy in which intelligent machines facilitate citizen assemblies, helping to extend citizen rights, and blockchains and cryptoeconomics enable new forms of democratic governance and business collaboration. Moreover, the same technologies can be applied to scientific research and technological innovation. We need not fear automation, Zarkadakis argues; in a post-work future, intelligent machines can collaborate with humans to achieve the human goals of inclusivity and equality.
Hardcover
$26.95 T ISBN: 9780262044318 216 pp. | 6 in x 9 in 9 b&w illus.Paperback
$16.95 T ISBN: 9780262542722 216 pp. | 6 in x 9 in 9 b&w illus.Reviews
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A worthy study in politics, technology, and the possibilities of remaking democracy in order to save it.
Kirkus Reviews
Endorsements
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"An interesting and timely book about how liberal democracy will fare in the Age of AI. A must-read."
Arthur I. Miller
author of The Artist in the Machine: The World of AI-Powered Creativity and Colliding Worlds
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“Cyber Republic is a deeply insightful book about how society can restructure itself in the face of the AI-driven Fourth Industrial Revolution. It offers a wealth of ideas for cultural and technological adaptations to strengthen democratic principles, reduce inequality, extend citizen rights, and prepare for new regimes of work and wealth creation.”
Edward Ashford Lee
author of The Coevolution and Plato and the Nerd
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“Cyber Republic offers readers an overview of recent paradigm shifts in software and key ideas in civic engagement and governance. The book offers a helpful foundation for readers hoping to reason about the interaction between these two: how recent advances in software can—indeed, will—reshape our civic society.”
Sean Gerrish
author How Smart Machines Think