Episode 2308: Kenneth Cukier mourns the biliousness of our Big Data age

Few people have a better perch to observe technological change than Kenneth Cukier, deputy executive editor at The Economist and co-author of the best-selling book Big Data. I caught up with Cukier at DLD this year to get his take on the last twenty years of technology disruption. He began by remembering how, in 2005, tech giants like Google and Facebook were viewed simply as successful startups, not as the foundational platforms they would become. Cukier explores the emergence of Big Data, which he identifies as a crucial development that laid the groundwork for artificial intelligence. He notes two major surprises over this period: the unprecedented speed of technological change and the increasing level of social violence and incivility, particularly online. He expresses concern about the deterioration of civil discourse and human dignity in digital spaces. On artificial intelligence, Cukier argues that generative AI was a natural evolution from the big data era, though he's hesitant to call it inevitable. Looking ahead to 2045, he dismisses the possibility of achieving artificial general intelligence (AGI), suggesting this framework misunderstands the nature of machine intelligence. Cukier concluded our conversation with the counter-intuitive prediction that government will become more credible but smaller by 2045, returning power to communities and individuals.Kenneth Cukier is deputy executive editor, following two decades at the paper as a foreign correspondent, technology writer, data editor and commentary editor. He is the coauthor of the NYT bestselling book “Big Data” with Viktor Mayer-Schönberger, which was translated into over 20 languages, and “Framers” on AI and mental models, with Viktor and Francis de Véricourt. Previously Kenn was the technology editor of the Wall Street Journal Asia in Hong Kong and worked at the International Herald Tribune in Paris. He was a research fellow at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government in 2002-04 and an associate fellow at Oxford’s Saïd Business School in 2018-23. Kenn previously served on the boards of directors of International Bridges to Justice and Chatham House. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children.Keen On is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit keenon.substack.com/subscribe