With the release of Swipe the Vote in 2016, Tinder broke new ground in the USA by claiming to be able to match voters with their dream-perfect presidential candidate. The matchmaking app tried to make voting sexy by employing its same cut-to-the-chase dating method. Who would bother to vote in the future if a set of sophisticated algorithms just identified, by trawling your data mine, your ideal candidate, or your policy options, just like Netflix or Spotify predicts your next TV series or your new lovable tunes? How would democracy look like in the future? How would the algorithms influence policymaking? Which skills will be needed by policymakers? What the role of political parties? These slides were presented at the event on democracy on democracy in the age of algorithms, held at the European Parliament on 7 November 2017. The slides are inspired by the research work Giuseppe Porcaro made during the writing of his first novel, DISCO SOUR, the existential odyssey of a heartsick politician to save a war-torn, post-austerity Europe from algorithmic autocracy. The novel can be pre-ordered at Unbound: https://unbound.com/books/disco-sour.

1. GIUSEPPE PORCARO ©2017

2. DEMOCRACY IN THE AGE OF ALGORITHMS
• VISIONS OF THE FUTURE
• ALGORITHM-BASED POLICYMAKING
• POLICIES IN THE OUTCOME ECONOMY
• HUMANS, THE MACHINES & DEMOCRACY

3. DEMOCRACY IN THE AGE OF ALGORITHMS

4. DEMOCRACY IN THE AGE OF ALGORITHMS

8. DEMOCRACY IN THE AGE OF ALGORITHMS
• VISIONS OF THE FUTURE
• ALGORITHM-BASED POLICYMAKING
• POLICIES IN THE OUTCOME ECONOMY
• HUMANS, THE MACHINES & DEMOCRACY

9. DEMOCRACY IN THE AGE OF ALGORITHMS
CONNECTION BETWEEN
DATA MEASUREMENT
& BEST ALLOCATION OF RESOURCES

10. DEMOCRACY IN THE AGE OF ALGORITHMS
CONNECTION BETWEEN
DATA MEASUREMENT
& BEST ALLOCATION OF RESOURCES
• HEALTHCARE
• TRANSPORT
• ENERGY
• URBAN PLANNING

11. DEMOCRACY IN THE AGE OF ALGORITHMS
A WEALTH OF NEW DATA
MORE SOLID BASIS TO TAKE DECISIONS

12. DEMOCRACY IN THE AGE OF ALGORITHMS
A WEALTH OF NEW DATA
MORE SOLID BASIS TO TAKE DECISIONS
INCREASED AUTOMATION +
REAL-TIME INFORMATION FLOW +
AUTOMATIC DATA PROCESSING =
AUTOMATIC POLICY PROPOSALS (?)

13. DEMOCRACY IN THE AGE OF ALGORITHMS
AN UPGRADED VERSION OF
EVIDENCE-BASED POLICY?
WHO WILL OWN THE EVIDENCES?
WHICH SKILLS WILL BE NEEDED BY
POLICYMAKERS AND INFLUENCERS?

14. DEMOCRACY IN THE AGE OF ALGORITHMS
• VISIONS OF THE FUTURE
• DATA-DRIVEN POLICYMAKING
• POLICIES IN THE OUTCOME ECONOMY
• HUMANS, THE MACHINES & DEMOCRACY

15. DEMOCRACY IN THE AGE OF ALGORITHMS
OUTCOME ECONOMY
COMPANIES CREATE VALUE NOT JUST BY SELLING
PRODUCTS AND SERVICES BUT BY DELIVERING
SOLUTIONS - SELLING MEASURABLE OUTCOMES

17. DEMOCRACY IN THE AGE OF ALGORITHMS
DEFINITION OF POLICY
DELIBERATE SYSTEM OF PRINCIPLES
TO GUIDE DECISIONS
AND ACHIEVE RATIONAL OUTCOMES

19. DEMOCRACY IN THE AGE OF ALGORITHMS
POLICIES =
SELLABLE PRODUCTS

20. DEMOCRACY IN THE AGE OF ALGORITHMS
• VISIONS OF THE FUTURE
• DATA-DRIVEN POLICYMAKING
• POLICIES IN THE OUTCOME ECONOMY
• HUMANS, THE MACHINES &
DEMOCRACY

21. DEMOCRACY IN THE AGE OF ALGORITHMS
WEAPONS OF MATH DESTRUCTION
(Cathy O’ Neill) Models are opinions embedded in
mathematics. Human bias, secrecy, values.

22. DEMOCRACY IN THE AGE OF ALGORITHMS
WEAPONS OF MATH DESTRUCTION
(Cathy O’ Neill) Models are opinions embedded in
mathematics. Human bias, secrecy, values.
ALGORITHM DETERMINISM
Models that make automated inferences about our
behaviors, interests, locations, finances, etc., use
pre-existing data.

23. DEMOCRACY IN THE AGE OF ALGORITHMS
NETFLIX DEMOCRACY
Artificial intelligence assistants calculate vote recommendations.

24. DEMOCRACY IN THE AGE OF ALGORITHMS
NETFLIX DEMOCRACY
Artificial intelligence assistants calculate vote recommendations.
TINDERPOLITICS
Direct democracy 6.0 swiping right or left your political preferences.

25. DEMOCRACY IN THE AGE OF ALGORITHMS
NETFLIX DEMOCRACY
Artificial intelligence assistants calculate vote recommendations.
TINDERPOLITICS
Direct democracy 6.0 swiping right or left your political preferences.
ALGORITHMIC CITIZENSHIP
Personal identity as a collection of data extending across many nations
with different citizenship and rights in every place.

26. DEMOCRACY IN THE AGE OF ALGORITHMS
NETFLIX DEMOCRACY
Artificial intelligence assistants calculate vote recommendations.
TINDERPOLITICS
Direct democracy 6.0 swiping right or left your political preferences.
ALGORITHMIC CITIZENSHIP
Personal identity as a collection of data extending across many nations
with different citizenship and rights in every place.
THE AGE OF MACHINES
Seamless integration between wearables, sensors, and policy-decision:
no need to even vote anymore.

27. It goes without saying that this does not
resemble the disordered, disorganised
elections of the Ancients, when – it seems
funny to say it – the result of an election was
not known beforehand. Building a government
on totally unaccounted – for happenstance,
blindly – what could be more senseless? And
yet still, it turns out, it took centuries to
understand this.
We ©1920 Yevgeny Zamyatin

28. DEMOCRACY IN THE AGE OF ALGORITHMS
WHAT DEMOCRATIC
PROCESSES
COULD LOOK LIKE?