The added value of digital technologies has become self-evident. Access

to information and services at all times is indispensable for implementing

business ideas and for managing our daily lives. No network?

No way! Politics and the business world have placed digitalization at the

top of their agendas. It is now a top priority as a key driver for ensuring

future prosperity.

To the same extent that a digital society is establishing itself, there are

growing fears that data and algorithms wield a destructive power, from

which there is no escape. Like a self-fulfilling prophecy, data and algorithms

are devouring jobs, privacy, and freedom, so as to ultimately replace

us with artificial intelligence. For many, digital technologies and

growing data mountains constitute a black box: complicated, complex

and non-transparent. Politics, it now seems, cannot keep pace with the

dynamics of technological developments and is powerless in dealing

with a globally operative digital economy.

In this essay, Geoff Mulgan asks what needs to be done in order to exploit

the benefits of digitization, without becoming hostage to its disadvantages.

The author, an experienced policy adviser and Chief Executive

of the Nesta Foundation, refutes the assumption that technology is

deterministic. He urges us “to think digitally” instead of merely staring

at new technologies. Iterative, collaborative, networked, and adaptive

are keywords that are meant take the focus away from traditional analysis

of structures and hierarchies toward stronger network behaviour.

For Geoff Mulgan, the ability to openly navigate and manage a complex

network of supporting relationships is crucial in order to be better prepared

for change: digitalization doesn’t pose us a technical challenge,

but above all a social one.