Beyond the debate — Capitalism vs. Socialism — what comes next?
Could AI-enabled governance provide a balanced framework for society?
Framing the conversation
Debates over capitalism and socialism are resurging. Should the means of production belong to private industry or the state? How should we manage the distribution of resources? What role do taxes and individual liberties play in our social and financial pecking order?
Many have grown weary of the left vs right narrative. An oversimplified framework that doesn’t raise the quality of the dialog. Usually, the debate is boiled down to “left vs right” platitudes and memes, which is reinforced by the media, social networks, and political pundits as people talk past each other in direct or indirect war games.
Every night across news channels we hear the debates. The 2020 presidential campaign will most likely follow the pattern wrapped in tropes, zingers, myths, metaphors, and psychological warfare tactics going back to the days before WWI. What other metaphors exist by which we can build civil discourse?
In reality, capitalism and socialism are human constructs. There is no “ism” doctrine or set of rules. Capitalism and Socialism are constantly evolving spectrums of values, with extremes at both ends of a complex continuum. The differences are rooted in the separation of labor and capital. They are simply tools which either serve or do not serve societies best interests. The ultimate question then, is what interests are we serving and for whom? Today’s Republicans and Democrats look nothing like the parties of old. They will both look unrecognizable in the upcoming election season.
Each outraged click means more money for the PPC ad machine. The debates go back and forth with the ferocity of sound bites, memes, and click-bait headlines designed to hi-jack the limbic system of tribal minded news-junkies. These debates, often loaded with misdirection, mistaken definitions, terms, and conflated subjects altogether make an already complicated subject that much more impossible to understand and grasp for the average viewer watching at home.
A recent Harvard University Poll reported that only 42% of millennials supported capitalism. 33% wanted socialism.
The key take away?
Capitalism = good guys
Socialism = bad guys
…or vice versa, depending on who’s talking.
Bill Maher says
“Someone needs to explain to the free-market crowd that when it comes to socialism, you’re soaking in it,” Maher said. “So many Americans hate the word ‘socialism’ but love the concept: Medicare, unemployment, disability, farm subsidies…”
Ben Shapiro writes
“ Ocasio-Cortez can rant about capitalism from her iPhone while wearing her Sephora lipstick, but she should realize that she’s a beneficiary of the capitalism she so despises. It’s easy to rip on capitalism’s shortcomings while living amidst its benefits.”
The problem is that these debates come down to the philosophical lens. The problem is that our views become intertwined with our personal narrative and identity. Entrenched outrage in our political positions provides a sense of safety in a mad world. Talking points are adopted from opinion news shows, as our social media feeds inundate us with articles we’re already inclined to believe.
The challenge is in piecing together a complex tapestry across economics, humanities, technology, and security to define and architect a brand new philosophical lens from which we can build a workable model.
It is undeniable that the world is on the verge of technological convergence that is rushing headfirst into 20th-century values and institutions. And this power isn’t only in the hands of governments and corporations. Distributed ledger technology (the blockchain) enables brand new structures of trust management across dispersed geographic areas. The next generation of “low code” and “no code” programming opens the door to citizen developers— no code skills required. Edge computing will unlock cloud and computation at the device level. We’re at the tipping point somewhere between a legacy model of “greed is good” towards a people-centric Star Trek utopia, and no one is certain what lies in-between, or if we’ll even get there.
We’re sitting in the front row as a collective, witnessing the evolution of human civilization and the biggest shift since WWII. What are we rushing towards?
What lies beyond the conventional concepts of capitalism and socialism?
The world faces constant disruption, a shifting international world order, automation, and uncertainty like never before. Looking backward on governance is as helpful to the challenges we face in the 21st century as looking to the model-T to design the next Tesla.
AI-based governance won’t happen overnight. But given the track record of technological shifts, it is all but an inevitability, even if it’s hard to see from the vantage point of 2019. But how will it work? How soon? Most importantly, what will be the ramifications? Looking at what’s happening today in China with its social-credit system, to Netflix’s Black Mirror warning of a dystopian vision for our future — the next decade will be anything but traditional.
AI-enabled governance will be made real for everyday citizens at a local level once cities and municipalities adopt sensors and data flows best practices. The most advanced counties are just beginning to invest in architecture towards their smart city/region vision. The infrastructure and sensor network will generate huge volumes of data, and provide the first step towards integrated services and data pipelines. A far cry from the siloed departments across multiple cities, villages, and townships. This technology will benefit communities and be a helpful advancement. Currently, AI is in a commoditization phase with the top tech giants laying the R&D groundwork for their respective platforms. China has an AI initiative to lead the world by 2030 and the USA just announced an American AI initiative in response.
The blockchain and AI tools, when taken to extremes, provide the means to either enslave or liberate people. More than bits, bytes, and economics, an intelligent ecosystem needs to be people-centric. Made up of next-generation organizations motivated by capitalist ambitions, but also a social impact beyond the constructs of the past. Above all, we need a system that places people at its center. The hard part is to what extent.
Envisioning a new world is never easy, but the timing for the discussion has never been better than now, even if it is uncomfortable.
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