Digital Democracy: Moving Beyond 'Big Tech' to Save Open Societies with Audrey Tang
The Great Simplification with Nate Hagens
Nate Hagens
4.8 • 552 Ratings
🗓️ 26 March 2025
⏱️ 85 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
As the world is increasingly shaped by the dominance of 'Big Tech' – including the race for Artificial Intelligence – the outsized impact on our democratic and information systems has left many with fears and confusion about the path forward. But what if we could use technology as a tool that helps preserve the values of democracy and increases civic engagement, rather than eroding them? Furthermore, what sorts of people, projects, and policies are already paving the way?
Today Nate is joined by Taiwanese Digital Ambassador at large, Audrey Tang, to explore real-world examples of how technology is being leveraged globally to address – and in some cases reverse – critical societal challenges, such as polarization, misinformation, and the erosion of trust in governments and institutions.Tang emphasizes the importance of digital democracy, civic engagement, and incentivizing care in our policy making decisions to create a better experience and world for all humans.
Is it possible to use social media as a tool that unifies citizens across polarized societies? How could technology be used to amplify the voices of citizens and influence policy making with human and planetary well-being in mind? And finally, even as technological corporations continue to consolidate power, what options are available to individuals who want to engage with technology in new and empowering ways?
(Conversation recorded on March 4th, 2025)
About Audrey Tang:
Audrey Tang is Taiwan's Cyber Ambassador-at-large and was the first Digital Minister of Taiwan. Audrey is celebrated for their pioneering efforts in digital freedom. Named one of TIME's "100 Most Influential People in AI" in 2023, Tang was instrumental in shaping Taiwan's internationally acclaimed COVID-19 response and in safeguarding the 2024 presidential and legislative elections from foreign cyber interference. Audrey is now focused on broadening their vision of Plurality — technology for collaborative diversity — to inspire global audiences.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | repeating the category errors of some business as usual language, such as |
| 0:06.3 | human resources or incentivizing corporations, just propagates this category error in our |
| 0:13.6 | thinking. So it's like trying to chart out a map, but with like very tilted lens. |
| 0:19.5 | You can't perceive the world, right? |
| 0:21.5 | When we see the Internet of Things, let's make it an Internet of Beings. |
| 0:26.2 | When we see virtual reality, let's make it a shared reality. |
| 0:30.4 | When we see machine learning, let's make it collaborative learning. |
| 0:33.9 | When we see user experience, let's make it about human experience. |
| 0:41.6 | You're listening to the Great Simplification. I'm Nate Hagen's. On this show, we describe how |
| 0:47.5 | energy, the economy, the environment, and human behavior all fit together and what it might |
| 0:53.3 | mean for our future. |
| 0:55.0 | By sharing insights from global thinkers, we hope to inform and inspire more humans to play |
| 1:00.8 | emergent roles in the coming great simplification. |
| 1:08.7 | Today I am joined by the Taiwanese digital ambassador at large Audrey Tang to discuss their work |
| 1:16.4 | championing the integration of technology and transparency into government functions |
| 1:22.4 | with the goal to further empower the voice of people in policy decisions. |
| 1:28.4 | Audrey Tang was the first digital minister of Taiwan from 2016 to 2024, where they were |
| 1:34.7 | dedicated to promoting a radical level of government transparency with aims to make all |
| 1:40.1 | government information, data, and resources as accessible to the public as possible. |
| 1:46.8 | Today, we discuss a few of their past successful projects, as well as the philosophy of |
| 1:52.7 | plurality, which guides all of their work. |
| 1:55.7 | In a global environment where the topics of tech and artificial intelligence can feel esoteric and out of reach for ordinary people, the projects that Audrey has introduced in Taiwan and beyond have resulted in real humans communicating and enacting effective policy changes. |
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