Humanity in Cyberspace
A London-based IRL seminar series that brings together policy-makers, thinkers, investors and doers who want to make cyberspace fit for humanity.
last meeting - !8th April, Central London. More news soon. Topic, "What civil society organisations need from cyberspace, and why they are needed in cyberspace". Next meeting announced soon. More information - tony@metakarma.org
WHY?
Cyberspace has come into existence during our lifetimes, has become a central part of the world to almost all of humanity, has brought great wonders and great challenges.
It is also a space whose collective arrangements, laws and regulations are full of both promise and threats. We will get these right only by engaging constructively with deep questions about the nature of this commons, our experience of it and its place in the world. And that “we” must be very broad, and must certainly include people who formulate policy about all sorts of things that might seem peripheral to cyberspace.
WHAT?
Whether imposed by states and corporations or arrived at by democratic consensus, we will have more and more sophisticated rules around the use of data, the control of algorithms and especially AI, ownership of information and the mechanics of identity. Some of the futures that will be engendered by these rules will already have been honestly and democratically debated. But the space between intention and regulation is vast. It is a space that needs to be understood by policy-makers and opinion formers in order for it not to become diverted to particular interests.
HOW?
We hope to give public visibility to alternative visions of cyberspace to those proffered by the platform-driven data monopolies and the older but often still dominant old world of information-rich corporations and press groups. We will focus particular attention on the regulatory and legislative environment that is required to maintain a future that is open to alternative possibilities.
The format will be to invite a practitioner to describe a particular cluster of issues around data work and propose possible policy implications. The intention is to build up an open network of policy-advisors, regulators, academics, technologists, journalists, entrepreneurs and investors who want a humane cyberspace and appreciate the importance of data policy and regulation.
We will put an emphasis on how a combination of technology and regulation will bridge the gap between theoretical dreams and possible futures, and will therefore emphasise the practical aspects of change in our choice of speaker and of audience.
(… and yes, the poster was generated by MidJourney with the following prompt: “Poster 1950s modernist many ethnically and gender diverse groups of people advancing towards distant sunlit uplands optimistic of technology and cyberspace mixed race couple one of many at front of crowd looking in anticipation”. You can see some of the steps to getting there here.)