In the digital era, data is practically the air we breathe. So why does everybody treat it like a product to be hoarded and sold at profit? How would our world change if Big Tech operated on assumptions and incentives more aligned with the needs of a healthy society? Are more data — or are bigger models — really better? As human beings scamper around like prehistoric mammals under the proverbial feet of the new enormous digital monopolies that have emerged due to the Web’s economies of scale, how might we tip the scales back to a world governed wisely by human judgment and networks of trust? Would Facebook and Twitter be more beneficial for society if they were public services like the BBC? And how do we settle on the social norms that help ensure the ethical deployment of A.I.? These and many other questions grow from the boundary-challenging developments of rapid innovation that define our century — a world in which the familiar dyads of state and market, public and private, individual and institutional are all called into question.
Welcome to COMPLEXITY, the official podcast of the Santa Fe Institute. I’m your host, Michael Garfield, and every other week we’ll bring you with us for far-ranging conversations with our worldwide network of rigorous researchers developing new frameworks to explain the deepest mysteries of the universe.
This week on Complexity, we speak with two researchers helping to rethink political economy:
SFI External Professor Eric Beinhocker is the Professor of Public Policy Practice at the University of Oxford, and founder and Executive Director of the Institute for New Economic Thinking at the University’s Oxford Martin School. He is also the author of The Origin of Wealth: The Radical Remaking of Economics and What It Means for Business and Society.
Diane Coyle is the Bennett Professor of Public Policy at the University of Cambridge, and co-director of the Bennett Institute, whose latest book — Cogs and Monsters: What Economics Is, and What It Should Be— was published by Princeton University Press last fall.
In the first episode of this subseries, we spoke with SFI President David Krakauer about how the study of political economy has changed over the last two hundred years due to the innovation of new mathematical and computational methods. In this episode, we examine how the technological milieu that empowered these changes has also transformed the subject of study itself: digital surveillance architecture, social media networks, big data, and (largely inadequate) attempts to formalize econometrics have all had a profound impact on modern life. In what ways do new institutions beget even newer institutions to address their unintended consequences? How should we think about the complex relationships between private and public agencies, and what status should we give the data they produce and consume? What is it going to take to restore the trust in one another necessary for society to remain coherent, and what are the most important measures to help economists and policymakers navigate the turbulence of our times into a more inclusive, prosperous, and sustainable world?
Subscribe to Complexity Podcast for upcoming episodes with an acclaimed line-up of scholars including Ricardo Hausmann, Doyne Farmer, Steven Teles, Rajiv Sethi, Jenna Bednar, Tom Ginsburg, Niall Ferguson, Neal Stephenson, Paul Smaldino, C. Thi Nguyen, John Kay, John Geneakoplos, and many more to be announced…
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Mentions and additional resources:
Toward a New Ontological Framework for the Economic Good
by Eric D. Beinhocker
Complexity Economics: Proceedings of the Santa Fe Institute's 2019 Fall Symposium
edited by W. Brian Arthur, Eric Beinhocker, Allison Stanger
Socializing Data
by Diane Coyle
The Public Option
by Diane Coyle
Common as Air: Revolution, Art, and Ownership
by Lewis Hyde
Pitchfork Economics
by Nick Hanauer
The Nature of Technology: What It Is and How It Evolves
by W. Brian Arthur
Geoffrey West on Complexity 35
Will A Large Complex System Be Stable?
by Robert May
Blockchain: Trust Companies: Every Company Is at Risk of Being Disrupted by A Trusted Version of Itself
by Richie Etwaru
Helena Miton on Complexity 46
The coming battle for the COVID-19 narrative
by Sam Bowles, Wendy Carlin
Recoupling Economic and Social Prosperity
by Katharina Lima de Miranda, Dennis J. Snower
Signalling architectures can prevent cancer evolution
by Leonardo Oña & Michael Lachmann
Why we should have a public option version of Google and Facebook (response to Diane Coyle)
by James Pethokoukis
Bryant Walker Smith on Complexity 79
“Premature optimization is the root of all evil."
— Donald Knuth
The Future of the Human Climate Niche with Tim Kohler & Marten Scheffer
Exponentials, Economics, and Ecology with David Krakauer (Transmission Series Ep. 6)
Embracing Complexity for Systemic Interventions with David Krakauer (Transmission Series Ep. 5)
Rethinking Our Assumptions During the COVID-19 Crisis with David Krakauer (Transmission Series Ep. 4)
On Coronavirus, Crisis, and Creative Opportunity with David Krakauer (Transmission Series Ep. 3)
Caroline Buckee on Improving COVID-19 Surveillance & Response
COVID-19 & Complex Time in Biology & Economics with David Krakauer (Transmission Series Ep. 2)
Rigorous Uncertainty: Science During COVID-19 with David Krakauer (Transmission Series Ep. 1)
Sam Scarpino on Modeling Disease Transmission & Interventions
Laurent Hébert-Dufresne on Halting the Spread of COVID-19
Andy Dobson on Epidemic Modeling for COVID-19
Nicole Creanza on Cultural Evolution in Humans & Songbirds
Melanie Mitchell on Artificial Intelligence: What We Still Don't Know
Albert Kao on Animal Sociality & Collective Computation
David B. Kinney on the Philosophy of Science
Kirell Benzi on Data Art & The Future of Science Communication
Chris Kempes on The Physical Constraints on Life & Evolution
Andy Dobson on Disease Ecology & Conservation Strategy
R. Maria del-Rio Chanona on Modeling Labor Markets & Tech Unemployment
W. Brian Arthur (Part 2) on The Future of The Economy
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