Shareable quotes from experts about the impact of digital life
Stories from experts about the impact of digital life, from @pewresearch and @ImagineInternet.
Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
Stories from experts about the impact of digital life, from @pewresearch and @ImagineInternet.
A clear majority of the responses from these experts contained material outlining certain challenges, fears or concerns about the AI-infused future. The five most-often mentioned concerns were: 1) the use of AI reduces individuals’ control over their lives; 2) surveillance and data systems designed primarily for efficiency, profit and control are inherently dangerous; 3) displacement […]
A strong narrative about online life has arisen in recent years that pushes back against the techno-optimism of the earlier days of the internet. A roundup of recent headlines underscores the darker storyline: The Global Risks 2018 report by the World Economic Forum lists “adverse consequences of technological advances” as one of the top risks […]
Many experts say digital life will continue to expand people’s boundaries and opportunities. Yet nearly a third think that people’s overall well-being will be more harmed than helped in coming years.
Other questions to the experts in this canvassing invited their views on the hopeful things that will occur in the next decade and for examples of specific applications that might emerge. What will human-technology co-evolution look like by 2030? Participants in this canvassing expect the rate of change to fall in a range anywhere from […]
About half of the people responding in this study were in substantial agreement that the positives of digital life will continue to outweigh the negatives. However, as in all great technological revolutions, digital life has and will continue to have a dark side. Roughly a third of respondents predicted that harms to well-being will outweigh […]
Misinformation and “fake news” have been around for as long as people have communicated. But today’s instant, low-budget, far-reaching communications capabilities have the potential to make the problem orders of magnitude more dangerous than in the past. Mankind has always lied, and always will; which is why the winners of wars get to write the […]
Following is a collection of comments by several of the many top analysts who participated in this canvassing: We will soon interact with digital technologies less frenetically Kenneth Cukier, senior editor at The Economist, wrote, “Many people are frazzled by the always-on internet, but this is a feature of our embryonic understanding of how to […]
There were considerably fewer complaints about the personal impact among these expert respondents. But their own lives and observations give testimony that there are ways in which digital life has ill-served some participants. The following anecdotes speak to the themes that the internet has not helped some users’ well-being. If someone would have told me […]
A large share of respondents said that technology alone can’t work to improve the information environment. Among these respondents, most pointed out two areas of concern: 1) The need for better funding of and support for journalism that serves the common good. The attention economy of the digital age does not support journalism of the […]
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