With the progress of internet and interconnected technology, logical next step would be crowdsourcing the politics. I forsee that in the future we are going to witness virtual assemblies, digital voting and emerging local communities that are going to regulate the local matters in the community. This way the growth of small communities will be on the rise, and the integration of individuals into a cohesive whole will be made possible, through the smart use of technology and social networks.
Facebook is investing big bucks in lobbying the White House sensing this trend of distributed (crowdsourced) democracy. It is kinda scary to have a big brother Facebook poking it’s nose into the sensitive political questions of local communities. Anyway, distribution of power is becoming even greater, and the nature of the medium itself brought the power back to the people, and grasped it away from the ruling elite. This is a good thing, as I believe that now local communities will have more freedom and responsibility in regulating their own local area of influence.
This wil also lead to greater risk, which in turn will distribute the responsibility as well as the consequences on the constituents away from the governments. This in result will increase general efficiency, lower the costs of large goverments. Most of the work will be unpaid volunteering work of small group of people, based on cheap, or almost free technology. Imagine one day, you tell your kids to make graphics for the promotion of your local issue, that is going to be represented where you are the keynote speaker at your local assembly. Even people who don’t show up, will be able to watch the event from the comfort of their homes, because the events will be distributed via streaming services, and votes will be regulated via local social network.
A lot of potential for big change. My predictions that big systems like USA, will take time to adopt this, as they have robust two parties system. But the existence of third party candidates, might prevail in the upcoming war of media in next 20 to 30 years. It’s not going to be sudden shift, more of something like a gradual change. I am excited to witness this big change in the system, rushed by the emerging technologies. We’re going to witness massive power shift in next 20-30 years, increasing people’s liberties and responsibilities. Like on the example of Iceland.