Using new tools to solve the challenges that we face today
When The Economist asked me to contribute an article on how technology can help save democracy, I jumped at the chance. Tech and politics have been my twin passions for most of my life, although I was rarely able to indulge them since they were relegated by my overriding concern: chess.
But once I retired from professional chess in 2005, I was able to treat them as more than hobbies, aided by many expert friends who were kind enough to bring me into their worlds. From artificial intelligence to media and news, to polling and elections, I’ve had hundreds of conversations about using new tools—or making new ones—to solve the challenges we face today. The trick is that many of these challenges are the result of the same new technologies we’re hoping will save us!
You’re probably familiar with Moore’s Law, the observation by legendary technologist and cofounder of Intel Gordon Moore, that the number of transistors in an integrated circuit doubles roughly every two years. The popularly understood practical consequence is simple enough, that computers double in speed every two years. Moore’s estimation turned out to be quite accurate, becoming a “law” that has held since 1975.
The power of having such a stable improvement curve is tremendous, allowing for strategic planning across the countless industries that depend on computing power and computer prices.
The impact of this frequent doubling on other aspects of our lives has been far less predictable. The evolution of human society is terribly slow in comparison, alt ..
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