Abstract
Current and future technological developments pose challenges for modern society, particularly for democracies. They threaten increased stratification, raising questions about the sustainability of the social structure on which democracy is based. The first challenge is global warming, which is widely recognized. Wealthy people may retreat to high ground, as they have in the past, leaving the poor to sweltering seasons punctuated by storms and floods. The second challenge, only dimly perceived, is the “singularity,” the possibility that industrial and agricultural production will be carried out by machines designed and maintained by other machines. If income remains tied to productive labor, this will lead to extreme inequality, where small numbers of factory owners have tireless, obedient machines generating valuable products while most people become unemployed, desperately poor and terrifyingly vulnerable dependents. A third challenge, also dimly perceived, is genetic engineering. While possibly providing everyone with longer lives and greatly improved health, it may turn out to be an expensive procedure that enables the wealthy to have smarter, stronger, more attractive children who can only produce fertile offspring with other children who have received the same genetic benefits. This would restore the claim of the privileged that they were entitled to their position because they were superior people, and their aspiration that their children would remain within their privileged class. Does democratic theory provide any guidance to policy makers about how to deal with these looming threats of extreme economic inequality, and thus strategies for preserving itself in the coming decades?
Presenters
Edward RubinDistinguished Professor of Law and Political Science, Law and Political Science, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA, United States
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
Economic, Social, and Cultural Context
KEYWORDS
Democracy, Technology, Climate Change, Automation, Genetic Engineering
