Digital is the new dimension

Abstract

Digital technology connects the world but generates collisions that were avoided when distance separated people and ideas. Wealth meets poverty online, and Western science and economics meet Eastern body-mind-spirit. Understanding and empathy are torn by growing distrust. Yet digital technology also brings great benefits-enhanced food security, efficiencies in many fields and tools to steward our planet. Digital accounting and tracking today primarily serve for-profit private enterprises, making a few people rich while constraining opportunities for far more. Divisions tilt the winnings to whichever tribe leverages digital technology to win the power game. This parallels how European nations used weapons technology and division to colonize and exploit indigenous peoples. To change this, we must avoid framing choices as binary, as a face-off between personal freedom and collective needs; instead, we need paths that respect diverse cultures and reconcile differences. Southeast Asia, where diverse peoples have learned to cooperate and support each other, is one example that offers guidance on building trust in a digital world. This is a time of great potential as well as danger. If digital technology can be managed for everyone's benefit, society will be much improved. We have an incredible opportunity to share and learn.