The People vs Tech: How the Internet is Killing Democracy (and how we save it), is a great book I recently finished reading from one of my fave tech authors, Jamie Bartlett, who is also the Director of the Centre for the Analysis of Social Media at UK think-tank Demos.

Here's a photo of the book at one of my favourite places in the world - my swimming hole at Palm Beach, Australia.

In his new book he urges that people and our elected officials need to think outside the square, and get the balance right between control and freedom.

To move forward, technology needs to benefit more than the few who control and create these new ways of  communicating and interacting.

• Alert, independent-minded citizens invested with moral autonomy
• A democratic culture with a commonly agreed reality and a spirit of compromise
• Elections that are free, fair, and command public trust
• Manageable levels of equality, and a vibrant middle class with a shared investment in society
• A competitive  economy and an independent civil society
• A sovereign authority that can enforce the people’s will - but remains accountable to them

Whether you have the belief of a utopian or dystopian future due to the influence of robots, computers, the Internet etc, this is a great book to inform you on the potential that... Either tech will destroy democracy and the social order as we know it, or politics will stamp its control over the digital revolution. This book reveals why technology is currently winning the battle, and how we might turn that around before it’s too late.

Thoroughly recommended.