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Next Civilization

Digital Democracy and Socio-Ecological Finance - How to Avoid Dystopia and Upgrade Society by Digital Means

Authors:

  • Offers a lucid account on the digitally driven transformation of society
  • Provides a balanced presentation of dangers and opportunities
  • Incorporates lessons learned on digital democracy over the past years

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Table of contents (14 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xxiv
  2. Introduction: The Digital Society

    • Dirk Helbing
    Pages 1-15
  3. Complexity Time Bomb

    • Dirk Helbing
    Pages 17-34
  4. Social Forces

    • Dirk Helbing
    Pages 35-61
  5. Google as God?

    • Dirk Helbing
    Pages 63-84
  6. Genie Out of the Bottle

    • Dirk Helbing
    Pages 85-104
  7. A Planetary-Scale Threat

    • Dirk Helbing
    Pages 105-129
  8. Digitally Assisted Self-Organization

    • Dirk Helbing
    Pages 131-152
  9. How Society Works

    • Dirk Helbing
    Pages 153-173
  10. Networked Minds

    • Dirk Helbing
    Pages 175-196
  11. The Economy 4.0

    • Dirk Helbing
    Pages 197-223
  12. The Self-Organizing Society

    • Dirk Helbing
    Pages 225-248
  13. Democratic Capitalism

    • Dirk Helbing
    Pages 269-283
  14. Summary: What’s Wrong with AI?

    • Dirk Helbing
    Pages 285-313
  15. Back Matter

    Pages 315-325

About this book

"Digital transformation" sounds harmless, given that the explosion in data volumes, processing power and Artificial Intelligence has driven humanity and the entire world to a point of no return. We will surely see a new civilization, but we are at a crossroads. The future needs to be re-invented, decisions must be taken.

After the automation of factories and the creation of self-driving cars, the automation of society is on its way. But there are two kinds of automation: a centralized top-down control of the world and a distributed control approach, supporting local self-organization. Using the power of today’s information systems, governments and big tech companies seem to engage in the first approach. Might they even build a „digital Crystal Ball“ that knows almost everything, including your personality, and a super-intelligent "digital God“ to control what we do?

We are much closer to such „science fiction scenarios“ than you probably think. 

In this much expanded second edition of "The Automation of Society is Next: How to Survive the Digital Revolution" (2015), the author discusses lessons learned on digital democracy, aspects of transhumanism and far-reaching thoughts about life in the digital age and what it may mean to be human in the future.


Authors and Affiliations

  • ETH Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland

    Dirk Helbing

About the author

Dirk Helbing is Professor of Computational Social Science at the Department of Humanities, Social and Political Sciences of ETH Zurich and affiliated at its Computer Science Department. His studies focus on pedestrian dynamics and traffic flows, computer simulations of social processes, globally networked risks and disasters, a socio-ecological finance system, digital democracy and smarter cities - upgraded by co-creation and collective intelligence. At Delft University of Technology, he heads the PhD School "Engineering Social Technologies for a Responsible Digital Future". He is also an elected member of the German Academy of Sciences „Leopoldina“ and worked in the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Complex Systems.​

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Next Civilization

  • Book Subtitle: Digital Democracy and Socio-Ecological Finance - How to Avoid Dystopia and Upgrade Society by Digital Means

  • Authors: Dirk Helbing

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-62330-2

  • Publisher: Springer Cham

  • eBook Packages: Computer Science, Computer Science (R0)

  • Copyright Information: Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-3-030-62329-6Published: 09 February 2021

  • eBook ISBN: 978-3-030-62330-2Published: 08 February 2021

  • Edition Number: 2

  • Number of Pages: XXIV, 325

  • Number of Illustrations: 3 b/w illustrations, 40 illustrations in colour

  • Topics: Complex Systems, Development Studies, Social Sciences, general, Digital Humanities, Biotechnology

Buy it now

Buying options

eBook USD 29.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 37.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access