Vint Cerf’s, Father of the Internet, Thoughts on the Social Contract 2020

Jul 14, 2019News

Vint Cerf, one of the fathers of Internet, discuss about The Social Contract 2020:
Vint Cerf recollects the founding of the idea of the social contract by Rousseau, which is about “what the relationship between citizens and the government is.” The people in theory gave up some autonomy in return for safety and a society, which they live in. It makes sense because if that people have the ability to do whatever they wanted, they can do that and no one is safe, but the other end, little freedom of action and limited opportunity was not a good society either.

He was convinced that the introduction of computer-related things, such as computers, the internet, social media, and AI, created a challenge for both governments and citizens. Citizens need to learn to become more literate, eg. knowing which sources are reliable, or deciding informations from search engines are reliable or not. He also note that cultures may react differently to technological developments.

He states that the solutions to these problems would not lie on algorithms, and that these problems actually stems from our cultural and societal norms. It should be solved by ourselves, via debate and discussion. However, it can only be done when there’s a universal underlying technological understanding, and when bad-faith actors are not of concern.

Issues will not go away when lawmakers and people in power “suppress the deficits”, giving examples such as passing a law and not doing anything after that, or writing an algorithm and leaving it as it is. It can only be done when worked with the culture, and helping people understand how technology can be abused and how they can defend themselves.

Boston Global Forum will introduce ideas and discussions of The Social Contract 2020 in future AIWS Summit segments.