Libertarians often take these mechanisms for granted and refuse to consider where they came from. For example, homes have electricity and drinking water. Once you go to the toilet and flush the water, the sewage enters a massive sewage system. That system is created and maintained by the state. But the libertarian mindset takes for granted that you use the toilet to flush the water and no one needs to keep it. But of course someone has to do it.
There really is no such thing as a perfect free market. In addition to competition, there is always a need for some kind of trust system. While certain things can be successfully created by free market competition, there are some services and essentials that cannot be sustained by market competition alone. Justice is an example.
Imagine the perfect free market. Let’s say I sign a business agreement with you and break it. So we go to court and ask the judge to make a decision. But what happens if you bribe a judge? Suddenly, you can’t trust the free market. You will not tolerate a judge taking the side of the person who paid the most. If justice is traded in a completely free market, justice itself will collapse and people no longer trust each other. Trusts that respect contracts and promises will disappear, and there is no system to implement them.
Therefore, competition always requires some kind of trust structure. My book uses examples of the World Cup in soccer. Teams from different countries compete with each other, but for competition to occur, you must first agree on a common set of rules. If Japan has its own rules and Germany has another rule, there is no competition. In other words, even competition requires a common foundation of trust and agreement. Otherwise, the order itself will collapse.
Photo: Yoshiyama Shintaro
in Nexusyou should note that mass media has enabled popular democracy. In other words, information technology and democratic institution development are correlated. If so, what are the opportunities for positive change in democracy, along with the negative possibilities of populism and totalitarianism?
For example, on social media, fake news, disinformation, and conspiracy theories are intentionally spreading, destroying trust among people. However, algorithms are not necessarily the spread of fake news or conspiracy theories. Many people accomplished this simply because they did it.
The algorithms for Facebook, YouTube, and Tiktok are to maximize user engagement. The easiest way to do this was discovered after much trial and error. This was to spread information that promoted people’s anger, hatred and desires. This is because when people are angry, they tend to pursue information, spread it to others, and increase engagement.
But what if we give the algorithm a different purpose? For example, if you give them a purpose such as increasing trust or increasing truth among people, the algorithm never spreads fake news. On the contrary, it will help to build a better society, a better democratic society.
