Rep. Ro Khanna on democratizing our digital transformation | The TechTank Podcast

Digital technology has transformed virtually every aspect of human existence. We have online education, telemedicine, remote work, and e-commerce. Many of us spend hours a day online either communicating with other people, reading or watching media, or engaging in digital transactions. Yet there are several problems we must confront as we make this transition to a digital world.

Technology has divided us, fueled misinformation and disinformation, and accentuated inequality. Although digital tools make our lives easier and more convenient in many respects, they also challenge our privacy, security, and personal dignity. All those developments raise interesting questions about the future of technology and how we mitigate various problems.

To discuss these challenges, we are joined by Congressman Ro Khanna. He represents the Silicon Valley area, has taught economics at Stanford, and served as deputy assistant secretary of commerce in the Obama Administration. And he now has a new book out titled Dignity in a Digital Age: Making Tech Work for All of Us. We discuss his views of how technology has accentuated inequality, widened our political divide, and threatened personal privacy, and the policy actions needed to address those issues.

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TechTank is a biweekly podcast from The Brookings Institution exploring the most consequential technology issues of our time. From artificial intelligence and racial bias in algorithms, to Big Tech, the future of work, and the digital divide, TechTank takes abstract ideas and makes them accessible. Moderators Dr. Nicol Turner Lee and Darrell West speak with leading technology experts and policymakers to share new data, ideas, and policy solutions to address the challenges of our new digital world.