Fixing the digital economy with Douglas Rushkoff at OS//OS 2016

By Joseph Cederwall

New York-based Media Theorist and Professor Douglas Rushkoff is a confirmed Keynote speaker at the Open Source Open Society conference taking place at Michael Fowler Centre in Wellington on August 22/23rd 2016. Rushkoff is a bestselling writer, documentary filmmaker and thought leader on the topics of media, technology and culture. His bold predictions in this space have been proven right often enough that now even the big corporates like Facebook and Google take notice. Attending digitally via live video link with a Twitter Q&A, Rushkoff is an exciting addition to the OS//OS programme.

Rushkoff’s new book Throwing Rocks at the Google Bus: How Growth Became the Enemy of Prosperity centres on how and why the digital economy has failed to live up to its initial promise—and how he believes it is essential (and not too late) to fix it. In June, Charlotte Graham interviewed Doug on Radio NZ (available here). The following is a summary of some of the key themes of this excellent interview and a discussion of how these align with the core inquiries of OS//OS 2016. We hope this discussion serves as a great primer for anyone interested in how the conference could potentially be relevant to them.

How is the Digital Economy failing us?

It is becoming increasingly clear that the automation and mechanisation of the ‘digital’ or ‘sharing’ economy is delivering disruption but not necessarily widespread prosperity. In fact more than ever, according to Rushkoff, we are working for the economy rather than it working for us. The dominant ‘platform monopolies’ such as Facebook, Uber, Airbnb and Amazon may appear disruptive and efficient but in reality feature many ‘externalised’ or hidden human and environmental costs. They stifle innovation and competition, decrease wages and job security and in many cases destroy entire industries in their quest for market domination.

Rushkoff explains how the corporate finance system drives the endless expansion of such digital companies in order to meet shareholder demands for profits in what he terms a ‘growth trap’. This growth imperative is often to the detriment of original good intentions, employees and eventually even the companies themselves. He cites the example of Twitter which despite having an IPO of US$4 Billion and a pretty respectable turnover of US$2 million a year is seen by Wall Street as an abject failure due to it’s inability to grow further.

An outdated Operating System?

Doug is quick to point out that rather than the digital technology itself, such design flaws in the ‘Operating System’ of the economy upon which these digital companies are built is to blame for this destructive approach. Technology companies are simply better equipped to efficiently exploit these outdated rules, creating what Rushkoff terms ‘a digitally accelerated form of capitalism’.

Opportunity in the disruption

Doug states that the underlying nature of these flaws in the ‘code’ of our current economic ‘Operating System’ and the corporation itself are being clearly exposed by this increasingly dysfunctional digital economy. This presents us with a unique opportunity to create an economy which works to create a more fair and better distributed economy by ‘reprogramming’ this flawed code to include more appropriate legal and policy solutions to the unique problems and challenges of the digital age.

Open thinking

Doug is a passionate advocate for the use of ‘distributive’ or ‘peer to peer’ digital organising principles and technology such as ‘open source’ and ‘open data’ in undertaking this task. Digital technologies are due to their networked nature, inherently biased towards such open principles. However, in our digital age in which the offline world is becoming similarly networked, connected and interdependent on a global scale, Doug believes that this ‘open’ approach is also valuable in considering the wider challenge of designing better systems.
OS//OS 2016 will give attendees the opportunity to learn more from Doug and other speakers about how these distributed technology principles offer potential for fostering innovation and increasing value creation in our economy. An understanding of such approaches is fast becoming an essential tool for anyone working in the government, business or community sector.

Working Collaboratively

Doug also discusses how open principles have potential applications in reformulating our work arrangements in more collaborative and participatory ways. He believes it is time to move beyond the extractive industrial age obsession with ‘jobs’ and to re-evaluate the nature and purpose of ‘work’. A more human centred approach to work would view it as a means of meeting our collective needs including having a sense of purpose and obtaining essential goods and services. This would allow people more freedom to trade the value of their labour as peers and could better reward the crucial work of craftspeople, teachers, health workers and carers who create real value for society.

Doug’s key question in this area is ‘how can the economy serve more people as opposed to more people serve the economy?’ He gives some tangible examples of solutions such as the rise of cooperatives and worker-owned enterprises and a return to family farms and family businesses. Doug also discusses the exciting new field of ‘platform cooperatives’ (think Uber but owned and run by local drivers), which can eliminate the extractive tendencies of the platform monopolies and allow for more evenly distributed value sharing. The OS//OS conference aims to provide rich discussion of this important topic with representatives of such pioneering collaborative work models involved in the event.

Where to from here?

Rushkoff believes prosperity is within our reach—and could become the new normal. He offers some suggestions, however, true to distributive principles he believes no one size fits all tech fix or algorithm provides the answers. Rather, Doug believes slow iterative change is required and that a multitude of solutions adapted to local situations exist—we simply need to level the playing field. In these perilous and uncertain times, it is reassuring to know that Doug believes there is still time for us to ensure the survival of our species by following the path of more openness and distribution to implement some of these newer possibilities.

Register now for Open Source Open Society for the opportunity to learn more about Rushkoff’s exciting vision for a more distributed and inclusive digital economy. This will also give you the chance to discuss your own questions or ideas with him and other participants in an dynamic and participatory exchange.

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