The Coming Wave: AI, Power, and Our Future

by Mustafa Suleyman

Trust in government, particularly in America, has collapsed. Postwar presidential administrations like those of Eisenhower and Johnson were trusted to do “what is right” by more than 70 percent of Americans, according to a Pew survey. For recent presidents such as Obama, Trump, and Biden, this measure of confidence has cratered, all falling below 20 percent. Quite remarkably, a 2018 study of democracy in America found that as many as one in five believe “army rule” is a good idea! No less than 85 percent of Americans feel the country is “heading in the wrong direction.” Distrust extends to nongovernment institutions, with growing levels of distrust in the media, the scientific establishment, and the idea of expertise in general. The problem is not limited to the United States. Another Pew survey found that across twenty-seven countries, a majority were dissatisfied with their democracies. A Democracy Perception Index poll found that across fifty nations two-thirds of respondents felt the government “rarely” or “never” acted in the public interest. That so many people profoundly feel society is failing is itself a problem: Distrust breeds negativity and apathy. People decline to vote. Since 2010, more countries have slid backward on measures of democracy than have progressed, a process that appears to be accelerating. Rising nationalism and authoritarianism seem endemic, from Poland and China to Russia, Hungary, the Philippines, and Turkey. Populist movements range from the...

Trust on Empty: Inequality, Disillusion, and the Authoritarian Temptation