As some democracies flourish with direct, digitised governance, others still struggle to introduce simple contactless payment systems on buses. Science Editor Thomas Walsh investigates the deepening technological divide shaping our world.
We’ve come out of a pandemic and are heading into a climate-altered world, while AI reshapes the global economy. Astronomer Carl Sagan once warned, “We've arranged a society based on science and technology in which nobody understands anything about science and technology.” Western democracies, as they stand today, aren't cut out for the modern world - but is there an alternative to taking a DOGE-style sledgehammer to our institutions?
The Case for Digitisation
Countries must digitise to modernise and become responsive to changing technologies. The UN's e-government survey ranks countries by criteria such as online service provision, citizen engagement, digital infrastructure, and computer literacy. Denmark tops this ranking, closely followed by Estonia, Singapore, and South Korea. High-quality e-government means having a unified, user-friendly platform handling everything from taxes to employment records, with high investment in cybersecurity. Booking a GP appointment, for example, should be as simple as using an online portal, not a frustrating back-and-forth phone call.
Ireland ranks 20th globally and 11th in Europe, which is frankly a surprisingly high rating. It will have taken Ireland a decade to introduce contactless payments on buses if delivered by 2028, as anticipated by the National Transport Authority. The country cheered on the arrival of downloadable train tickets in 2024. Not having to frantically type in a code into a ticket machine before your train leaves is not groundbreaking progress, considering the technology in question consists of email and QR codes.
Ireland hasn't kept pace with existing technology, let alone positioned itself to take advantage of emerging ones. The security and accuracy concerns around large language models are indeed real, but various government departments and national agencies like the Central Bank of Ireland and Eirgrid have completely blocked staff from using AI tools on company laptops. Many reasonable, safe, and beneficial use-cases of AI do exist. Ireland could function better and genuinely make workers’ lives easier.
Science, Education and Trust in Institutions
Modern challenges demand an emphasis on science and education. The PISA exams measure the real-world problem-solving skills of 15-year-old students, emphasising understanding and critical thinking rather than memorisation. Only two European nations rank in the global top 10 for science - Estonia and Finland - with Ireland achieving a still-impressive 11th place. Finland and Ireland again score among the highest in terms of researchers per capita, but Denmark and South Korea are the highest globally.
Finland is also the world’s leading country in media literacy. Schools prepare children to spot misinformation and disinformation online and think critically about the media they consume. Denmark, Norway, Estonia, and Sweden follow closely behind. They are among the least susceptible to conspiracy theories. According to the 2023 International Public Opinion on Climate Change study, Finns are among the world's most likely to agree that climate change is mostly human-induced. During the pandemic, the European Social Survey found that Finns were the least likely to think that scientists were manipulating, fabricating or suppressing information in order to deceive the public.
Lessons from Taiwan
Taiwan is a vibrant democracy. The omnipresent existential threat to Taiwan’s democracy is probably what is driving Taiwan to develop institutions fit for the 21st century. While Ireland’s junior minister responsible for AI had reportedly never used ChatGPT upon commencing the role, Taiwan’s Digital Minister Audrey Tang was appointed after a successful career in AI and technology beginning at age 15. Tang is a technologist, but is more excited about digital democracy and enabling collective intelligence than artificial intelligence.
No, Taiwan has not yet become a surveillance state, thanks in part to the decentralised nature of its digital platforms. Nor have citizens suffered at the hands of misinformation and disinformation campaigns. Taiwan has been highly successful in combating election interference and covid-era misinformation.
Taiwan is at the forefront of what could be considered virtual citizens’ assemblies. vTaiwan is a decentralised, open-source platform that facilitates mass deliberation on national policy matters. It has discussed 28 policy issues, mainly around technology regulation, like ride sharing apps and non-consensual intimate images. It had 1% of Taiwan’s population as users at its peak. Moving beyond mere polling, it’s integrating language models to identify ‘bridging statements’, or common ground between diverse groups.
In Tang’s book, Plurality - The Future of Collaborative Technology and Democracy, they propose using technology to reverse the political polarisation trends that technology has started. Despite the degradation of platforms like X, Tang noted the brilliance in the algorithm behind the Community Notes feature. Users are placed on a spectrum using statistical analysis of their past behaviour, which roughly corresponds to a left-right political divide. The system rewards Community Notes that are deemed helpful by diverse respondents.
Across OECD countries, only 39% of people have high or moderately high trust in government, while 44% report low or no trust. Trust levels correlate much more strongly with people’s perception of their influence on decision making than with demographic factors like gender, age, or education. Digital democracy is bringing direct democracy to Taiwan.
Leaning into digital democracy is not without risks. There are few countries more vulnerable to cyber and infrastructural attacks than Taiwan, but democracy is under strain around the world. Perhaps we can work to ensure that one strengthens the other.