Conservatives Must Tackle the Problems of the Digital Revolution

Of all the policy debates taking place on the Right, perhaps none tests old assumptions more than the debate over the Digital Revolution. From gig work to the all-powerful algorithms of Big Tech, Silicon Valley innovations have vastly improved elements of our lives—but they have extracted a cost to our social order, ways of engagement and even our general understanding of liberty that is, in many ways, not yet fully understood.

Over at American Compass, these questions are beginning to take substantive shape—first, by defining the issues, and then, by considering the relevant benefits and trade-offs. One of the more intimidating features of the policy debate around so-called “Big Tech” and the Digital Revolution is its sheer scope. What is Big Tech? And how wide and deep is the issue? So it is helpful, as Compass’ Executive Director Oren Cass notes, to divide the challenge into constituent parts that, for the present examination, include gig work, the attention economy and black box algorithms.