Democratic Accountability and Innovation
Open, Collaborative, and Social
Smart City Expo World CongressNovember 14, 2018
Barcelona
Yochai Benkler, Harvard University
Understanding technologicalchange is central to understandingmodern society
If you, the regulator/legislator, do not get with the program, your society will fall off the train
If you, the regulator/legislator, do not get with the program, your society will fall off the train
1. A proprietary solution from a single firm is ALMOST NEVER the solution. Open standards, open data, and diversity will outperform over time
2. The choices you make are never purely technical and efficiency-based
Technological choices always involve choices about social relations: are your residents first and foremost:
clients to whom you owe a flow of services, or citizens, members of a democratic community
A Quarter Century of Innovation Studies
Atomistic invention Learning networks
Market-oriented innovation
Non-market necessary alongside market
Competition Cooperation & competition
Property Commons & property
A Quarter Century of Innovation Studies
Atomistic invention Learning networks
History: major innovations of industrialization rewrittenEconomic geography: Knowledge spilloversSociology: network emerges as primary explanatory modelEconomics: on the shoulders of giants; absorptive capacityTechnology: FOSS; Commons-based peer production
A Quarter Century of Innovation Studies
Atomistic invention Learning networks
Market-oriented innovation
Non-market necessary alongside market
Competition Cooperation & competition
A Quarter Century of Innovation Studies
Atomistic invention Learning networks
Market-oriented innovation
Non-market necessary alongside market
Competition Cooperation & competition
Property exclusively Commons & property interaction
Commons Studies
Spectrum Commons => 5G?
SmartGridComms
health
Urban connectivity
Spectrum Commons => 5G?
Rapid innovation cycles bydiverse equipment manufacturers and service providers with open access to spectrum outpaced carrier-centric proprietary innovation from 1999-present
Open spaces are as critical in data, information, and innovation infrastructure as they are in the
built environment
1. A proprietary solution from a single firm is ALMOST NEVER the solution. Open standards, open data, and diversity will outperform over time
2. The choices you make are never purely technical and efficiency-based
Technological choices always involve choices about social relations: are your residents first and foremost:
clients to whom you owe a flow of services, or citizens, members of a democratic community
If you, the regulator/legislator, do not get with the program, your society will fall off the train
Low-cost, low-service, high turnover Leveraging data for power over suppliers andworkers to achieve cost-squeezing-based profits
Relational contracting with suppliers, long-termemployee relationships, high-unionization, higherunion coverage, training and high-value strategy
Vertical integration; limitedcoalitions with workers; directcompetition with suppliers
Shopkeepers Retailers
Shared overall patterns => technology matters
High diversity on the most importantsocial dimensions => politics, institutions, culture matter
Local regulation, like zoning, played an important role
Robotics density in manufacturing higher in Germany than US for decades, but manufacturing employment declines more in US
Politics, unions, co-determination all work to contain patterns ofadoption
“Cobots” emerging as fastest growing segment
Too soon to tell if the “these robots complement humanlabor” is => lip service to calm political anxieties aboutthe future of work;
straight up efficiency-driven improvementA shift in the direction of innovation from labor-
displacement to labor-complementarity in response to political-institutional dynamics
Platforms: Choices
consumers
vendors
Neighbors, Co-WorkersPeers
NeighborsCo-WorkersPeers
Farmers markets are not the same as big box retailers
Squares, superblocks are not thesame as malls
consumers
vendors
Neighbors, Co-WorkersPeers
NeighborsCo-WorkersPeers
Carpooling
~13.6M in 2016 ~x2 mass transit commute to work x15 cycled
~8.5M use Daily /Weekly
Cost sharing
Technological ensemble is identical
Social-economic model different
Meaning is difference
Platforms: ChoicesLower transactions costsRegulatory avoidanceNegative externalities
On the vertical dimension:
Sharing Cities Declaration
Consumer VendorCommodified exchange
Peer PeerSocial production
Precarious labor &Extractive profits
Fair economic model & rewards
Form contracts of adhesion
Participatory community governance
Proprietary & opaqueTech & Data
Open & transparent Tech & Data
Regulatory arbitrage /Responsibility avoidance
Responsibility for impact; dutyto avoid, mitigate, redress harm
Efficiency/Innovation vs. Community?
• False choice: profitable for someone • Sidewalks, streets, squares, parks:
• Without commons cities would not be cities• Commerce and community are impossible without robust commons
Not just a “sharing cities” issue!
• “5G” => ubiquitous high capacity wireless connectivity• IoT => where is data stored and how is it controlled• “Blockchain” => what kind of decentralization?• AI is all about policy choices• Mobility• Governance
Not just a “sharing cities” issue!
• 5G is a carrier-centered definition of the problem of ubiquitous high capacity wireless connectivity, biased toward centralized control• Innovation in healthcare, smartgrids, even data all suggest that spectrum
commons-based strategies have innovated more rapidly • Community or municipal commons infrastructure technologically feasible but
requires institutional innovation, which can come from cities!
Not just a “sharing cities” issue!
• “5G” => ubiquitous high capacity wireless connectivity• IoT has vastly different implications depending • on where data is stored and how it is controlled
Not just a “sharing cities” issue!
• “5G” => ubiquitous high capacity wireless connectivity• IoT => where is data stored and how is it controlled• Blockchain supports decentralization
• hyper-neoliberal implementations• Commons-based implementations
=> depending on encoded governance choices
Not just a “sharing cities” issue!
• “5G” => ubiquitous high capacity wireless connectivity• IoT => where is data stored and how is it controlled• “Blockchain” => what kind of decentralization?• Artificial intelligence often masks underlying policy choices that
companies and governments need to make. These can be more or less participatory & transparent• There is no “ghost in the machine”• There are moral, political, and economic choices that engineers, companies,
and regulators make in how they design, train, audit, and correct the algorithms• Only transparency & auditability can assure democratic
accountability
Not just a “sharing cities” issue!
• “5G” => ubiquitous high capacity wireless connectivity• IoT => where is data stored and how is it controlled• “Blockchain” => what kind of decentralization?• AI is all about policy choices• Mobility• Governance: Democratic Accountability
Open knowledge, data, and information are as critical to the Smart City as streets, sidewalks, squares and parks are to the built urban environment.
Resist enclosure to the same extent that you would resist the privatization of all urban open spaces
Data access and transparency are a precondition to assuring that cities remain democratically accountable and that residents remain citizens