Theory of Knowledge - Course Companion for Students Marija Uzunova Dang Arvin Singh Uzunov Dang

art, music and literature, afrofuturism
Through
assumptions about what was
challenged
technological, questioned the priorities
considered
social costs of technological progress, and
and
what a technological future could look
reimagined
and who belonged in it. The most mainstream
like,
of these ideas is the nation of Wakanda
expression
the 2018 movie BlackPanther.
in
addition to afrofuturism going global,
In
futurisms all over the world are
Indigenous
alternative visions of the future,
birthing
or otherwise. These movements,
technological
their own different ways, are driving the
in
on digital justice and equity. There is
discourse
on this topic in section III, where we discuss
more
algorithms through an anti-oppression lens.
AI
how technology intersected
Understanding
systems of power in the past will help us to
with
how it influences the technologies
comprehend
built today, and the ways people will
being
the last 15 years we have witnessed the first
In
of an African American US President and
election
2011 Arab Spring, both seen as examples of
the
enabled by technology, specifically
democracy
networks on the internet. We have also
social
so-called WhatsApp elections in
witnessed
and Brazil in 2019, a Facebook-Cambridge
India
scandal, and rapid increases in fake
Analytica
populism, and political polarization
news,
authoritarianism. Is the internet a force
and
democracy and liberty, or for authoritarian
for
Has it exacerbated or mitigated the
populism?
II. Perspectives
II. Perspectives
II.3 Democratizing and liberating, or
controlling and authoritarian?
inequality and divides in our access to knowledge?
Making connections
Echo chambers and democracy
“Individuals empowered to screen out material
that does not conform to their existing preferences
may form virtual cliques, insulate themselves
from opposing points of view and reinforce their
biases. Internet users can seek out interactions
with like-minded individuals who have similar
values, and thus become less likely to trust
important decisions to people whose values dier
from their own.” (Van Alstyne, Brynjolfsson 1996)
Chapter 2 looks in depth at the question of echo
chambers and lter bubbles that may increase
political polarization. How else has technology more
broadly, and the internet specically, impacted how
we lter data and information?
interact with them in the future.
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