Black Mirror, Yuval Harari and the innovator's conscience

Yuval Harari talks about the dilemma that he likes to present to the startups he mentors. When you develop an innovation, think of its worst possible misuse in the hands of a leader you most dislike,?he cautions them.?

The bestselling Israeli author and history professor paints a chilling scenario of how technology might disrupt human society and the very meaning of human life.

On digital dictatorships – "Just imagine a North Korea, where everybody has to wear a biometric bracelet which monitors your BP, your heart rate, and your brain activity 24x7. You listen to a speech on the radio by the Great Leader, and they will know what you actually feel. You can clap and smile, but if you're angry inside, they will know, and you'll be in the gulag tomorrow."??

On data colonialism – "When you have enough data, you don't need to send soldiers in order to control a country."

Innovations are equally vulnerable to governments and corporations

It doesn't have to be a political leader. Surveillance capitalism is often about an innocent innovation gone rogue, egged on by hungry VCs, quarterly targets, and ultimately, an unchecked greed for more.?

Facebook started out with the vision to "bring the world closer together,"?not to steal your data.

Amazon started out to make it easy for anyone to discover and buy anything, not to drive your friendly?neighbourhood store out of business.

The Israeli company, NSO's?first customer of their controversial spyware Pegasus, was the Mexican government, and it is supposed to have been used to capture the notorious drug lord, El Chapo. NSO's founder insists that Pegasus was built for the greater good, “If somebody says they have found a better way to get criminals, terrorists, paedophiles, I will shut down Pegasus completely.”

Although Pegasus's stated purpose is to be used exclusively by "vetted governments" to prevent organised?crime and?terrorism, it is known to be popular with authoritarian governments to spy on critics and opponents.

Black Mirror is not just a cult series on Netflix, it is reality

Harari finds the Netflix series Black Mirror?to?be the work of a genius. A critic has described the series as "a sci-fi anthology that explores a twisted, high tech near-future where humanity's greatest innovations and darkest instincts collide."

Each standalone episode presents to the viewer a ‘black mirror’ reflecting his tech-driven existence back at him. The human element is central to each story – so technology?is not inherently malevolent, it is an outcome of how humans use it, driven by their ambitions, insecurities, fears. It creates empathy, with relatable characters, conceivable scenarios and dark humour. Unlike much of sci-fi, it is not about robots taking over the world.

The cult series debuted in 2011 and has often?proved to be prescient – the death of privacy; obsession with celebrities, reality TV, social networks, gaming, smartphones; digitising the brain for eternity; social and commercial profiling; fake news and opinion manipulation; dating sites and matching systems; immersive AR/ VR; cybersecurity and cyberbullying; avatars resurrecting the dead, and more.

There is nothing bizarre about an exceptional work of fiction like Black Mirror. The fact is digital technology is already being used in crime, resulting in various pathologies, geopolitical conflict, social polarisation and growing authoritarianism in governments.?

A changing consumer and the innovator’s own conscience can be more powerful than regulation

It is not just for policy makers to legislate technology regulation and lay down ethical guidelines. Yes, there must be greater scrutiny of Big Tech, and well-defined standards for governing antitrust issues, transparency, privacy, cyber security and consumer data protection.

But the regulator, ultimately, is an interested party. And as far as industry self-regulation is concerned, historically, it crumbles in the face of cut-throat competition and investor pressure.?

What if the bright-eyed innovators, the geniuses?who are innovating to change the world, were to apply the ‘Harari Test’, described in the beginning of this piece. What if they were to imagine the worst misuse of their innovation, and go beyond its brilliance to build safeguards in it.?

A growing number of consumers today prefer products and services that are responsibly sourced, conform to fair trade practices, and are healthy, organic and recyclable. There is every reason to believe that consumer evaluation and preference for digital products and platforms, too, would be increasingly determined by compliance to ethical practices. Simply put, their respect would determine your love.

If the innovator were to heed this writing on the wall, and tap into his own conscience, maybe tech innovation would not be as addictive, intrusive, manipulative, alienating, as we?often?find it to be.

And we may yet elude the apocalypse.

(Rajeev Shukla is Co-founder & Managing Partner of Resonance Consulting, a branding and communication firm offering services that include Insight Mining, Brand Strategy, Identity & Design, Communication, Employer Branding & Employee Engagement, CSR Advisory.)