Digital Democracy Vs Dancing Democracy yet to see the impact of extreme automation

S Mohini Ratna
Editor, VARINDIA

Digital Democracy or Internet democracy incorporates 21st-century information and communications technology to promote democracy. They work in solidarity with marginalized communities to use technology to defend their rights, in which all adult citizens are presumed to be eligible to participate equally in the proposal, development, and creation of laws.

A question comes to my mind on whether digital democracy improves democracy? What seems surprising that instead of wasting time deliberating policies, there has to be a well-defined focus on doing the groundwork and getting things done. The idea is to bring technology into the spaces where citizens live, rather than expecting citizens to enter the space of technology. The premise is this: the government must first trust the people with agenda-setting power and then the people can make democracy work.

The advancement of tools of information and communications technology (ICT) has the potential to impact democracy nearly as much as any other area, such as science or education. The availability of digital tools and widespread access to the internet have been changing the traditional means of participation in politics, making them more effective.

Digital democratic innovations may change how governments rule by making them more accountable and effective. At the same time, there is an increasing challenge to democracy in the digital era with the tools growing more powerful all the time as new advances in algorithmic technologies and artificial intelligence are integrated into the marketplace for digital marketing and advertising.

The birth of Industry 5.0 is leading to the next generation of democracy i.e., dancing democracy, where moving faster in the digital era by making sense of Big Data with artificial intelligence. The combination of connected sensors, massive data gathering, and machine learning is driving unprecedented changes at home and work.

Driverless cars with artificial intelligence (AI) and automated supermarkets run by collaborative robots (cobots) working without human supervision have sparked off new debates: what will be the impacts of extreme automation - the confluence of robotics, advanced analytics, cloud applications, blockchain, and more is expected to create an all-new operating model.

Disruptive technologies are the largest drivers of change in business today. In fact, technology is shifting so fast that organizations are enlisting science fiction writers to help them visualize the future and consider opportunities for innovation. In addition, robots are maturing in both their accuracy and their interactions with humans, creating new applications from remote surgery to autonomous aircraft navigation.

Lastly, technological disruption is affecting all corners of business, and finance is no exception, indeed extreme automation. It is expected to empower finance to deliver more value with less effort, respond quickly to the needs of the business, and truly shift from traditional processing to strategic partnering.