Technology Fears and Scapegoats

Robert D. Atkinson is Founder and President of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF).

David Moschella is Non-Resident Senior Fellow at the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation.

- Introduction. The roots and risks of today's techno-mythologies.- 1. Technology is changing the world as never before.- 2. Technology is destroying individual privacy.- 3. Social media is polarizing America.- 4. Technology is driving today's societal distrust.- 5. AI's arrival is an atomic bomb moment.- 6. Social media is the leading source of misinformation.- 7. Your data is gold.- 8. Digital technology is dangerously "addictive".- 9. The internet is extinguishing local languages.- 10. Social media is an existential threat to democracy.- 11. The pace of technology change is accelerating.- 12. Technology increases societal biases.- 13. Big Tech faces no competition.- 14. Silicon Valley doesn't value diversity.- 15. Facial recognition is inherently biased.- 16. Big Tech should be arbiters of "the truth".- 17. Digital technology is increasingly disruptive.- 18. Strong privacy regulations spur digital adoption.- 19. Big Tech practices "data imperialism" in emerging markets.- 20. BigData systems can't protect individual privacy.- 21. Data is the new oil.- 22. Productivity gains no longer benefit U.S. workers.- 23. Corporate profits are at an all-time high.- 24. Technology is wiping out the middle class.- 25. AI will lead to the end of work.- 26. Digital copying is victimless.- 27. U.S. broadband lags behind other developed nations.- 28. The internet is destroying journalism.- 29. Market concentration is at an all-time high.- 30. Big Pharma is driving high health care costs.- 31. Small businesses create most new Jobs and innovations.- 32. We have all the technology we need to fight climate change.- 33. China has invented a new form of capitalism.- 34. American manufacturing is roaring back.- 35. India will save the west from China.- 36. The EU's digital rules are a model for the world.- 37. Antitrust actions are needed to curb Big Tech.- 38. Federal R&D crowds out private R&D.- 39. Industrial policy is not the American way.- 40. Industrial policy doesn't work.- Conclusion. Returning to a pro-innovation American agenda.