The last few years have shone a bright light on the inequalities in society, with political movements from Brexit to Trump driven in large part by those seemingly ‘left behind’ by globalization biting back against a system they feel has failed them. It’s an extreme simplification, but globalization has given those with marketable skills a huge market for those skills, whilst at the same time making the competition for those with fewer marketable skills that much more intense.
Rather than helping to shrink this gap, technology promises to exacerbate it, with those people with both the will and the means to capitalize on what new technology has to offer roaring ahead, leaving those with neither languishing even further behind. That was the worrying prediction made by a recent paper published by the UN.
A force for good or ill?
The authors are adamant that what they refer to as ‘frontier technologies’ have tremendous potential to do good for mankind, but that they will fail large swathes of society unless the appropriate policies are implemented.
Foremost among the new technologies that are supporting the UN Sustainable Development Goals are renewable energy technologies that when partnered with efficient storage systems are already having a profound impact on environmental sustainability, especially in countries that are empowered to leapfrog developed countries with legacy infrastructure. New mobile technologies have also enabled the most vulnerable to gain access to basic financial services, which has helped to pull millions out of poverty.
There was considerable concern raised about the potential for inequality to be widened by AI and robotics by enhancing the economic efficiencies produced by globalization, and therefore exacerbating the gains made by winners and losses incurred by losers.
“Good health and longevity, prosperity for all and environmental sustainability are within our reach if we harness the full power of these innovations,” the UN say. “Clearly, we need policies that can ensure frontier technologies — which increasingly transcend sectoral, geographic and generational boundaries — are not only commercially viable but also equitable and ethical. This will require a rigorous, objective and transparent ongoing assessment, involving all stakeholders.”
Unequal society
As with most new technologies, or indeed changes more widely, there are usually those who lose out just as much as there are those who gain. This applies both within countries and between countries, especially as technology is not distributed equally across society. For instance, whilst some countries have managed to leapfrog technological generations, there are many that still lag behind.
The authors argue that it’s increasingly the case that innovations in frontier technologies are concentrated in a relatively small number of companies and countries. What’s more, if you fall behind, it can be not only impossible to catch up but to even achieve equitable and sustainable development.
The authors advocate not only the introduction of national policies to minimize any social and financial costs of adjustment, but also international cooperation to ensure that technology can be transferred around the world and function according to agreed upon standards. This can only be achieved by tackling concerns around growing market concentration to ensure that access is eased to frontier technologies.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the UN offer themselves up as a trans-national body that can help to provide this kind of support, suggesting they can provide objective assessments of the impact of new technologies, be it on sustainable development more broadly or on things like employment and wages specifically. You would like to think the paper wasn’t a job application, and if we think charitably there are nonetheless some interesting thoughts contained within it.
