IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 65

While humans are social beings, and hence always
engaging in some sort of social relations and striving to
identify with and belong to a group [14], [16], the types
of societies humans form impose different limitations
on individual freedoms (e.g., totalitarian, neo-liberal,
democratic, communist, or anarchic). Therefore, the
individual motivation to live in a particular community
goes beyond purely social needs. The acceptance of the
relative loss of autonomy incurred when legitimizing a
community's regulations brings some expectations
about the advantages that the community would deliver.
In most societies such expectations include a certain
degree of stability, security, opportunity, inclusivity,
and favorable economic and environmental conditions
for survivability [17].
Collectives generally diminish the uncertainties of
complex competitive living environments, by spreading
uncertainties across a larger-scale community (e.g.,
redistributing resources from surplus to deficit). They
can also help jointly achieve tasks that would be impossible or more inefficient to achieve individually. Since
collective contribution comes at an individual cost, individuals may be inclined to cheat [18] or (at larger scales)
need to be coerced into contributing [19]. To avoid such
phenomena, sustainable democratic communities must
ensure a certain degree of transparency of individual
actions within the public realm, and maintain incentive
mechanisms for rewarding or penalizing pro-social or
anti-social behavior, respectively [11], so that trust (or
social capital) may develop as a key enabler of a free
(non-coercive) society [16].

Goals and Rules for the Individual
and the Collective
Wherever the fulcrum between individual and collective
interests is placed, there follows a pervasive societal
challenge to identify and pursue the society's goals (i.e.,
objectives and values); rules (i.e., norms, regulations,
and laws) that will guide or constrain actions for achieving those goals; enforcement mechanisms (ensuring
compliance with rules); and assessment mechanisms
(evaluating whether goals are achieved). This interdependence between goals, rules, rule-enforcement, and goalassessment is essential, and irrespective of the actual
goals - e.g., from egalitarian resource distribution (e.g.,
distributive justice) to maximal individual freedom (e.g.,
free markets). Two major challenges occur here.
First, as most societies evolve in complex environments, it is difficult to identify the rules that can be followed individually in order to achieve collective goals,
and to update these rules fast enough to keep up with
changes in the goals, the societal context, and the environment. Recently for instance "institution lag" has been
the source of calls for more adaptive institutions [20].
SEPTEMBER 2017

∕

The mapping of goals to rules and to rule-enforcement
processes must be kept fluid and reactive to goalassessment. Such processes must consider top-down
concerns on the collective goal, bottom-up concerns on
individual constraints (e.g., personal goals and limitations), and overall concerns on the environment (e.g.,
resource availability).
Second, even when such context-sensitive translation
between goals and rules can be known and controlled,
an important question becomes: who can define, and
hence perhaps take advantage of, this complex process,
in order to favor their interests? This is a valid question
considering that societal power distribution is an everchanging process, continuously renegotiated and
reshaped by dynamic power struggles that reside at the
core of most social interactions [16].

As the "digital society" develops,
underlying technologies may disrupt
the mechanisms that ensure a relative
balance of power and opportunity
among society members.

A real vulnerability here stems from the fact that
minor changes in the goals, rules, their interpretation,
and implementation can lead to dramatic differences in
individual outcomes (e.g., wide income discrepancies)
and community well-being (e.g., economic "dead zones"),
over various time scales. Hence, significant advantages
are derived from control over the (re)definition of goals
and values, the (re)specification and (re)interpretation of
rules, and the (re)design of enforcement and assessment mechanisms.
Not surprisingly, the question of "who should rule"2
[3] - who should have the legitimate power to perform
such processes - has been at the core of societal definition throughout history. Sources of power range from
brute force, to political and economic power, and lead
to subsequent problems of who or what should control
the power of the rulers, and who should control the controllers (i.e., Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?). Hence,
understanding the key factors that guide the fluid distribution of power processes [5], [10], in terms of information control, decision-making, and action, becomes a
2

Rather than a moral question, this is an attempt to establish viable solutions for attaining common goals over shorter and longer terms.

IEEE TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY MAGAZINE

65



Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017

IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - Cover1
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - Cover2
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 1
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 2
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 3
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 4
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 5
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 6
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 7
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 8
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 9
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 10
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 11
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 12
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 13
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 14
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 15
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 16
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 17
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 18
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 19
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 20
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 21
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 22
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 23
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 24
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 25
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 26
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 27
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 28
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 29
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 30
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 31
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 32
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 33
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 34
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 35
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 36
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 37
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 38
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 39
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 40
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 41
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 42
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 43
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 44
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 45
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 46
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 47
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 48
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 49
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 50
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 51
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 52
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 53
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 54
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 55
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 56
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 57
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 58
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 59
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 60
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 61
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 62
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 63
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 64
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 65
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 66
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 67
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 68
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 69
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 70
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 71
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 72
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 73
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 74
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 75
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 76
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 77
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 78
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 79
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 80
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 81
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 82
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 83
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 84
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 85
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 86
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 87
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 88
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - Cover3
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - Cover4
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_march2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_december2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_september2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_june2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_march2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_december2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_september2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_june2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_march2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_december2020
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_september2020
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_june2020
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_march2020
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_december2019
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_september2019
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_june2019
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_march2019
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_december2018
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_september2018
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_june2018
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_march2018
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_winter2017
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_fall2017
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_summer2017
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_spring2017
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_winter2016
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_fall2016
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_summer2016
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_spring2016
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_winter2015
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_fall2015
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_summer2015
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_spring2015
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_winter2014
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_fall2014
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_summer2014
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_spring2014
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_winter2013
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_fall2013
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_summer2013
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_spring2013
https://www.nxtbookmedia.com