About us
“New eras of technological innovation, such as artificial intelligence and decentralized social technologies, have brought us to a constitutional moment in society. These technologies enable radical innovations in social, economic, and political institutions and practices, with the potential to support transformative approaches to political economy. They also demand governance innovation, both because we must learn to govern emerging technologies for the sake of democracy, and because technologies can deliver governance innovations to better democracy and a political economy supportive of democracy. There is the potential to overcome persistent injustices, power concentrations, and perversions of capitalism and democracy but there are also risks of catastrophe and exploitation that eclipse those seen in the twentieth century.“
The quote above from our foundational white paper, “Ethics of Decentralized Social Technologies: Lessons from the Web3 Wave,” frames the challenges that Governance of Emerging Technology and Technology Innovations for Next-Generation Governance through Plurality (GETTING-Plurality) is addressing.
Based at Harvard University’s Allen Lab for Democracy Renovation, this network of senior advisors, fellows, and researchers, led by Danielle Allen, assembles expertise from disciplines across Harvard and other higher education institutions. Network members collaborate with public and private sector impact and support partners including Plurality Institute, RadicalXChange, new_publics, UMass Initiative for Digital Public Infrastructure, Microsoft Research, Council for Responsible Social Media, Collective Intelligence Project, Open Society University Network, and the Digital Humanism Initiative.
Together, we hope to advance the understanding of how to shape, guide, govern, and deploy technological development in support of democracy, collective intelligence, and other public goods. Our focus is on how to do so, given the plural nature of human and artificial intelligence. The team will pursue foundational analysis and theory, field-building, and policy development in key focus areas to foresee and mitigate potential harms to democracy and to strengthen the public benefit and democracy-supportive effects flowing from technology innovation.
