The Future Of Democracy

September 6, 2012 in Daily Bulletin

David H. Freedman looked at some of the ways that computers could transform democracy. They include:

  • In the future candidates could answer a series of multiple choice questions about their positions, backed with videos of them explaining their opinion. Voters could then see a graph that shows how the candidate’s positions compare to their own.
  • Online voting, because of its convenience, might also increase participation in elections – especially for the smaller races that don’t attract many voters but have a large impact on their lives.
  • An attempt to form an online party that would put up a candidate to fight in the 2012 Presidential election failed. But that doesn’t mean the idea is doomed. Both the Tea Party movement and the Occupy Wall Street Movement got their boost through the internet.

You can read more about the role that Facebook would play in this future over here.

Source: Discover Magazine