Open Future

Open Future

A global conversation on the role of markets, technology and freedom in the 21st century

Interview: Cory Booker

“Making real the ideals of our country”

Cory Booker, a Democratic senator from New Jersey, on racial justice, fixing racial income inequality—and optimism

Interview: Larry Brilliant

How society can overcome covid-19

Countries can test, quarantine and prepare for the post-coronavirus world, says Larry Brilliant, an epidemiologist

Guest comment: Eric Topol

Telemedicine is essential amid the covid-19 crisis and after it

Online health care helps patients and medical workers—and will be a legacy of combating the novel coronavirus, says Eric Topol of Scripps Research

Open Future

We can harness peer pressure to uphold social values

People are natural followers, so use “behavioural contagion” to improve lives, says Robert Frank of Cornell University

Guest comment: Jacob Mchangama

Even noxious ideas need airing—censorship only makes them stronger

Restricting free speech in the name of liberty fuels illiberalism, says Jacob Mchangama of Justitia, a Danish think-tank

Open Future

Society doesn't think ahead but we can trick ourselves into doing better

There are mental techniques to bypass our natural short-termism—and to defend our liberty, says Steven Johnson, author of "Farsighted"

Open Future

Digital disinformation is destroying society but we can fight back

New laws can improve the integrity of information on the web, says Samuel Woolley, author of “The Reality Game”

Guest comment: Robin Varghese and Sarah Pray

To neutralise populism, give people more control

Providing individuals with greater agency can improve our politics, say Robin Varghese and Sarah Pray of the Open Society Foundations

Open Future

A cry for freedom in the algorithmic age

Humanity must retain the right to reject the network and uphold individuality, says Gaspard Koenig

Open Future

The power of liberalism can combat oppression in all its forms

True liberals stand for individual freedom, explains Deirdre Nansen McCloskey, an iconoclastic economist

Open Future

Don’t trust AI until we build systems that earn trust

Progress in artificial intelligence belies a lack of transparency that is vital for its adoption, says Gary Marcus, coauthor of “Rebooting AI”

Open Future

Surveillance is a fact of life, so make privacy a human right

America needs more and better protections over personal data, says Lawrence Cappello of the University of Alabama