Does technology enable a democracy to chose better leaders?

Question

At first glance, the opportunity to transmit information efficiently, would seem to enhance the voting public's ability to select their leaders. We have quickly have information and at a depth unavailable in the past. Therefore with better information, we have the opportunity for better choices.

Or is it counterintuitive? Does so much information confuse us and cause us to be less capable? Does it give us greater independence of thought or perhaps push us more to a
hive mentality that allows us to be more easily mislead? Does the vast quantity of information itself distract us? Are we so bombarded with details that we focus on the fluid surface issues that only have the illusion of depth?

Answer 1

Recent technological advances have worked to both engender greater democratic participation and to taint the process. Information, even in this age where it is so highly accessible, is fundamentally impartial, until it gets into the hands of spin doctors and propaganda machines of political parties. Hence, the Internet, and other modes of instant communication that are available today act both as a means to enhance the democratic process, and they also subvert it.

Whether our mindboggling access to information is beneficial to our democracy or deleterious to our democracy, has nothing to do with the technical means, at our disposal, that allow us to access this information, but instead it is the quality of the minds that have access to this wealth of information, that determines the health of our democracy.

Individuals who are credulous, and are easily swayed by fluffy sound bites, bereft of substance, have existed since the Middle Ages, and exist in today’s Information Age. To them this plethora of information is about as dangerous as handing a handgun over to a 6 year old child. They aren’t mature or discerning enough to use it properly. Then there is the minority in this country who can sift through this mountain of data, and parse out what is true, false, and outright lies. For these people this information is an asset.

Ultimately, the sea of options available to us, to obtain information about our political landscape, can only be of real service to the common man, when the common man’s mind is cultivated properly. He must, in essence, be taught how to reason properly, and this must start at an early age. Unfortunately, in an era where people are being increasingly preoccupied with the latest gadgetry that technology has to offer, subjects like math and science are displacing philosophy, history, anthropology, sociology, psychology, and the other humanities – the very subjects that teach people to reason and read between the lines - thus creating a population that cannot decipher truth from falsehood; reality from propaganda. This is why it is important that we compel our government to restructure the school curriculum so as to produce students who are well versed in the subjects that I have mentioned, for without a new generation who is adept at coming up with well reasoned opinions about society at large, we are doomed to be a people who are well informed automatons, who work at the behest of large corporate interest.

The invention of the Gutenberg Press, over 500 years ago, made information vastly more accessible than ever before, but this advance did not work to immediately curtail church corruption, and dictatorial hegemony over the people. These social advances came only years after the invention, when the minds of the population that was effected caught up, in terms of maturity, with the new found technology. I think the same will hold true for this generation. Technology can be either positive or negative. It is ultimately the minds that use the technology that determine which way it will go.

Answer 2

Very interesting. I never thought of it that way. I've been pondering the reality divide between those of us who get their information from a variety of sources on the Net and those who still get their information from Old Media (tv news, newspapers...). It's really staggering. Each pretends the other doesn't exist, then when faced with the obvious fact it does, ridicules its veracity! It's quite a phenomenon, and it's interesting to watch it play out.

I didn't even come close to answering your question did I? <<*chuckles*>>
I can't speak for others, but I think it has more to do with the core belief system of the individual than the amount of information available. There will always be an infinite amount of information available, it's up to the individual to decide how much and what type he/she consumes.

Answer 3

It makes me wonder what Hitler could've done, or would have done, if he had the Internet. I think technology is being used to disseminate disinformation and propaganda mixed in with real information, and real discoveries to confuse and divide people. It's also a way to isolate people. It appears that the Internet has improved people's ability to network and have access to diversity on an unprecedented scale. But, at the same time, people don't have to actually have physical contact or real relationships but can be sedated with "virtual relationships" in "virtual realities". In that context, when people are isolated in that manner, there can be a greater impact of disinformation and propaganda, on-line alliances can be formed ("virtual reality TV shows") and wedges can be used to divide people even further. I have no doubt whatsoever that information, communication and dissemination specialists have already done research and development on exactly how to use the Internet to increase conformity and diminish individuality.