The Conversation of Democracy vs Dictatorship

It's that time again, when Yuval pops his head out to remind us of Spring.

"Democracy ultimately is the ability to say 'we made a mistake, lets try something else'. In a dictatorship you don't get that. You get some guy, usually its a guy, and if he starts making mistakes, tough. You cant get rid of him, there is no self correcting mechanism. In a democracy the whole idea is that every few years you get a chance to try something else. You give power to somebody, ok for four years you can try various policies, and then you have to give power back. And the public can say, ok lets try something else. The biggest threat to democracy is what happens if you give power to somebody who doesn't want to give it back. Now they have the power, and that includes the power to dismantle the checks and balances. To dismantle the self correcting mechanism of democracy. This has been the major problem of Democracy since ancient times." - Yuval Noah Harari

"Now partly because of the rise of AI, partly because of the rise of new technology, they are undermining the self correcting mechanisms of democracy. We see it all over the world, a varying paradoxical development, that we have the most sophisticated information and communication technology in history, and people are losing the ability to have a conversation. To talk with one another, to listen to one another, to agree on the most basic facts. Democracy is basically a conversation, and Dictatorship is one person dictating everything. Democracy is a conversation, and we now see the conversation collapsing." - Yuval Noah Harari

"As with so many aspects of our lives, AI presents potentially transformational benefits to healthcare – but to harness them, we must also beware of the potential dangers and pitfalls. This wide-ranging conversation explores how AI is already reshaping medicine, public discourse and human relationships. From accelerating drug discovery to threatening privacy, from strengthening democracies to enabling under-the-skin surveillance, the same technology carries both immense promise and extraordinary risk."

"This conversation with Sônia Bridi was filmed in Brazil in late 2025."

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