The famous Yuval Harari in an article written in 2018, made a point that humans will “feel” irrelevant in the future as they may have a hard time understanding the technologies that will surround them.1 Many historians and political scientist concur with this narrative. This may be true to some extent, however, my argument countering this narrative, is that there may come a point because of technology such as AI, block chain and synthetic biology that humans, especially in developing countries will not care if they understand how technologies work or function. All they will care about is their quality of life and how these technologies can benefit them. Technologies like blockchain and AI gives the potential to lawmakers/governments makers to utilize them and govern effectively. Especially, developing countries that are struggling with issues of corruption, healthcare, balance of payment issues, terrorism, and elections.
Corruption is a cancerous disease found in many developing countries. A few notable examples of corruption include property ownership in developing countries. There are thousands of cases where a property ledger, handled by a centralized body (usually the government) has altered records and made holding property, a fundamental quality of a function of a running democracy, extremely dangerous. You could buy a piece of land for millions; a clerk will take thousands to alter records and you will fight a battle in courts for years. Now imagine, we have a blockchain technology that helps the local governments keep a transparent and immutable ledger to track of all property transactions in a safe, cheap, and effective way. Not only do you build back the trust with people through blockchain, but government can also do this at a fraction of a cost compared to today. If people and investors of developing nations are offered these services across property and social services in a way that builds trust, reduces human contact (less human contact less corruption) and keeps their investments secure, developing nations can start seeing their economy trend in the right direction.
Another outcome that requires urgent attention to these technologies by government/lawmakers of developing countries is how cheap labor can potentially very soon be offset by advancement in AI technologies. I remember having this discussion in our classroom and was immediately concerned how folks like Sam Altman speak about a future of universal base income (UBI) given that firms will cut costs and every American must be given a fair chunk2. These conversations make me wonder what will happen to countries such as Pakistan, Vietnam, and Bangladesh if their low labor costs are no longer advantageous and these countries become increasingly reliant on imports from the West. These developing countries will slowly be bankrupt. It could also be the case that these technologies are nothing more than a fad and everything stays as is. Either way, responsibility will lie on governments to hedge bets and find solutions for their citizen utilizing these technologies Society can take a lot of steps to make this transition happen. The government, a representation of the people, will first need to maintain an open mind. This may sound easy, but I have personally seen how some governments respond to these technologies by simply banning them. The mindset needs to shift from outright bans to educating and understanding. The voters must also demand this change from their leaders. Private sector must also come together to share knowledge and find solutions to complex challenges the citizens face.
Sources
1 Yuval Noah Harari, “Why Technology Favors Tyranny,” The Atlantic, August 30, 2018.
2 Sam Altman, “Moore’s Law for Everything,” accessed April 10, 2022, https://moores.samaltman.com/.
Hamza Haroon worked in corporate America for 7 years at Reckitt Benckiser, a CPG company. In 2020, he was appointed as Special advisor to Minister of Science and Technology (S&T) in Pakistan and later promoted to serve as Director Strategic Initiatives to Minister. He worked on policy initiatives including civilian drones, electric vehicles, and electronic voting initiatives. In April 2021, he was appointed as Director Strategy to Minister of Information & Broadcasting before joining Harvard Kennedy School.
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