*By Natalia Marroni Borges
We are not witnessing an unprecedented situation, but the repetition of a cycle that has spanned centuries, always remodeling itself. Revolutions have their highlights, and ours – the digital one – is here and now. At the heart of this maelstrom (or at the forefront, depending on how we perceive the opportunities), we are challenged to face the facts as broadly as possible.
The reality that the digital world is “out there” is largely a fait accompli. We've been on this path for at least three decades, built on a simple “WWW” and driven by the countless opportunities that emerged when the human voice broke free from physical boundaries and traditional media.
Since then, we have been inundated with an ocean of innovations and disruptions that would have been inconceivable before. Large companies, whose business models are the result of this digitalization – Uber, AirBnB, Netflix, Meta, Waze, Twitter, Amazon, Spotify – are examples of an undeniable reality, in which digital platforms have been protagonists of the biggest changes we have experienced in recent years. decades. The dynamic repeats itself: the platform is launched, users join and other disciplines try to follow its effects. Just remember the “boom” of Orkut, which precedes medical offices full of cases of anxiety, depression, bullying, harassment and eating disorders, as we were not prepared to have our lives invaded in a 24×7 model (and I still have doubts if today we are ). How could (or rather, can) psychology foresee the result of the overuse of this (and other) platform(s)?
Not too far away, Twitter, with its modest 140 characters, has redefined the way people get informed, form their opinions and behave (online and offline). In Brazil, we have already witnessed at least two tumultuous elections, where even the strategic use of technology was part of the game, while its impacts – especially legal and social – are only now beginning to be discussed more effectively and, even so, still needing a lot of deepening to reduce impacts without causing new damage.
Lately, the discussion has been around artificial intelligence, which is apparently “the hot topic”. There are fervent debates about ethics, legislation, the future of education and work, often with a rush that is disproportionate to the depth of the issues. The voices of Big Tech oscillate between “let's revolutionize the world” and “let's take a step back”, while we mortals wait anxiously and curiously for the next technological release that will transform our lives. It is curious to note that artificial intelligence is a topic that has been on the agenda for decades; do we really need to wait for the launch of ChatGPT to open space and pay attention to such relevant discussions in other disciplines that are known to be affected by generative artificial intelligence, such as education, sociology, law, philosophy?
Unfortunately, we have failed to adopt a proactive and strategic posture in the face of the transformative potential of the technological solutions that are constantly presented to us. It is evident that the march of technology will not stop. It is equally clear that the pace of change is only accelerating. Therefore, it becomes imperative to create ways of agility, mainly in the public sphere, so that we can, if not level, at least bring these disciplines closer together, given that this temporal mismatch has proved to be harmful to everyone.
All of this indicates the pressing need to approach technology with a comprehensive view, anticipating its impacts and preparing all disciplines to keep up with the accelerated pace of innovation. With strategic actions based on foresight, we will be able to work so that people and society as a whole are not at the mercy of constant changes, but are active and well-prepared actors to participate and benefit from the ongoing digital revolution.
*Natália Marroni Borges is a researcher at the ABES Think Tank, Researcher member of the IEA Future Lab group (linked to the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul – UFRGS), Postdoctoral fellow in Artificial Intelligence and Foresight and professor at UFRGS
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